The wind ripped across the Cliffside like a living creature.
Elara pressed herself against the narrow ledge, her fingers slipped against the damp rock.
In below, waves shattered against black rocks, their thunder swallowed by the darkness. The abyss was endless, if dropped there would be no graves left behind.
Beneath her boots, the pebbles shattered loose and disappeared into the darkness.
She did not look down again.
"Elara!…."
Mira breathlessly held on to the rock a few steps behind her. Above them, in the forest they had fled, shadows are moving between the trees.
There, lantern light flickered.
Searching.
Elara pushed herself sideways along the stone and whispered, "Keep going." "Don't stop."
The ledge curved along the cliff face was narrow, dangerous, and just wide enough for one slip. It would descend toward the lower woodland paths near the border road if it went on as she prayed.
From above a horn echoed.
Too near.
Elara felt her heartbeat races in her ears.
"Great."
Let them think she was lost to the abyss in the sea.
After dragging herself over a slippery ledge, finally she came to a slope where grass pushed through rocks. Moments later, Mira stumbled next to her, almost falling.
In front, the lower forest stood in the darkness.
Far above, boots scraped the stone behind them.
Then—
A voice came above the cliff.
Calm. Sure.
Not rushed.
"Examine the coastline."
Elara stopped.
Don't be afraid.
Recognition.
She tightened her hand into a fist.
She entered the woods.
"He's near," Mira muttered.
Elara didn't turn around.
"He always is."
Elara forced her way through the bottom area, branches snagged at her sleeves.
The forest descended — away from the cliffs, away from estate, away from everything she had been told was home.
Home.
That term sounded insincere.
A memory emerged unintentionally….
A garden filled with white roses, bright sunlight and the fragrance of spring.
She had been small, no taller than the hedges, hiding next to Mira as bees floated lazily among the flowers.
The gate opened and the carriage wheels traveled on pebbles.
The sound of her aunt's voice was like a knife cutting through the air.
"All of this will be yours."
A boy, a few years older than her stood next to the woman, observing everything with curious and calculating eyes.
At a moment, he looked at her.
It had not made any sense to her at the time.
But she realized it later.
Years later.
The day he whispered to her—
"I'll have everything here."
A pause.
Softer shortly after that.
"You as well."
As she moves forward, the branches scratch her fingers.
Reality returned with a jolt.
Her heart pounded loudly in her ears as she gave a sharp gasp and slowed down.
No.
Never again.
She wouldn't be confined once more.
Mira's hand came up behind her shoulder and responded, "Elara!" "On the right, there's a narrow path between the trees."
Elara swallowed the fear rising in her throat, went straight into the darkness followed by Mira. For a moment, she could only hear the wind.
They remained silent.
They couldn't afford to.
The estate was behind them.
The family.
The cage.
There was only forest ahead.
and uncertainty.
Elara moved slowly along the pitch-black walkway. She hardly noticed that her hands were bleeding and covered with dirt.
She could still hear her mother's voice.
"You have to go. They won't let you live freely if you stay."
The cold silence of her father.
The sinister smile of her aunt.
The wary eyes that had followed her since she was a young girl.
Each hallway had been a jail.
Every act of kindness is calculated.
A silent prelude to something she was never supposed to escape, every day.
Right up until tonight.
Despite her weariness, Mira said steadily, "We go east. Beyond the river is a village. We may then cross the border from there."
The Empire that lies across the border.
Far enough.
Perhaps.
Elara glanced at the cliff behind them, the final barrier of her previous existence.
"I refuse to return," she declared.
Not to the manor.
Not to the future they had planned for her.
Not to the fate that awaited them in those corridors.
Mira gave a nod. "Then we keep going."
They are entering the forest cautiously. They were instantly sucked up by branches, and as dusk turned to night, shadows moved between the trees.
Every step seemed surreal.
Free.
Horrible.
Her chest was tangled with dread and hope.
She had no idea what lay on the other side of the border.
However, it must have been greater to the life she had left behind.
It must have been.
They had vanished into the darkness.
The final remnants of their passage were engulfed by branches that closed behind them. Even the sound of their footsteps soon gave way to the agitated rustle of leaves.
Silence returned to the Cliffside.
Below, only the ocean roared.
Minutes went by.
Then — footsteps.
A single figure approached the coastline cliff from the other side of the ridge, the sheer drop from which Elara had just managed to escape. At the ragged edge, he paused and gazed down at the raging waves far below.
That fall could not have been survived.
The disturbed gravel, however, told a different tale.
He looked away.
This time, it's across rather than down.
The land slopped gently away toward the inland forest beyond the ridge. Broken brush. A stone that has been moved. The smallest trace of hands on rock.
They didn't fall;
They climbed.
A gloved hands now rested flat against the rock—the same rock that still held evidence of her blood—
His silent breath was swallowed by the wind.
"Running won't save you."
A number of shadows waited silently behind him.
In the distance, the forest was dark and unending.
And somewhere in it—
His victim was still alive.