The last fence post brushed Amara's shoulder, then the trees swallowed her whole.
The shouts behind her burned her ears.
"Don't let her get away!"
"Push! Bring her back alive!"
Her feet dragged over roots and jagged stones, sharp jolts of pain shooting up her knees. Each breath tore at her lungs like fire.
Don't stop. Don't look back.
Her chest heaved. Tears stung, sweat mingling with dirt. She pressed her palms to her face, trying to choke down a scream a sob but none came.
How... how did it come to this? Her life... reduced to running, bleeding, lost in the woods.
Morwen hates me.
Hargrave would kill me.
Nobody wants me.
Branches clawed at her arms. Roots tore at her ankles. She fell once, scraping her knees on sharp gravel. Pain shot up her spine, and for a heartbeat, she thought she couldn't move.
Then the shouts came closer.
"She's slowing, push harder!"
Dark, aggressive, breathless. Shadows on her back.
She forced herself up. Heart thundering, tears blinding, legs trembling, body screaming but she ran.
The forest thinned.
Not into light - but into something worse.
The air changed. Thickened and pressed against her skin. The wind died. The insects fell silent, as if the land itself was holding its breath.
Her feet hit softer ground. Moss. Cold earth.
A wooden marker stood half-buried ahead, carved with deep, clawed symbols - old, weathered, darkened like dried blood.
She stumbled forward.
The moment her foot crossed the marker, the cold swept over her - sharp and alive.
Behind her, boots skidded to a halt.
"Stop!" someone shouted.
Another voice cut in, tight with fear. "Hold."
Torchlight flickered at the edge of the marker, suddenly small. Weak.
"She crossed," one man breathed.
"Then she's not ours anymore."
"The master said alive-"
"You want war?" another snapped. "Because that's how you start one."
Amara didn't understand. She didn't stop.
An arrow sliced past her shoulder.
She screamed - and ran deeper.
The forest closed behind her.
She barely saw them until it was too late.
Dark armored figures emerged soundlessly from the trees. Metal dulled, torches hooded low. Not guards.
Hunters.
"Please!" Amara whispered, collapsing to her knees. "They're after me... help!"
Hands seized her - fast, precise. One clamped over her mouth. Another wrenched her arms behind her back.
"No-wait-please!" She kicked, fought, tasted blood as her lip split.
"I... I didn't do anything!" she gasped into a gloved palm. "Let me go!"
A man stepped forward, voice calm, unreadable.
"You crossed into forbidden land," he said. "No human does that by accident."
Amara froze, confusion and fear warring across her face.
"It... It's not what you think!" she choked out, clutching her side. "I... I was running!"
Another voice, colder. "You passed the marker alive."
Her heart stuttered.
"That makes you either protected... or dangerous."
Rope bit into her wrists as they bound her hands.
Behind them, Hargrave's men shouted from the border - rage tangled with fear.
"She's ours!"
"Bring her back!"
One of the armored figures turned.
"This land is not yours," he said quietly. "Leave."
Another stepped forward - taller, broader. His eyes caught the torchlight and gleamed unnaturally bright.
Hargrave guards backed away.
"You'll rot in chains!" one shouted weakly. "The wolves will break you!"
Wolves? What were they talking about? She thought.
No one answered.
The forest already had.
Amara sagged as exhaustion took her. Strong arms caught her before she hit the ground.
"The humans forced her across," one of the armed figures murmured. "Alive."
"Our lord will want to see this."
They laid her against a waiting horse. Darkness pressed in around her, trees folding like a sealed door.
Exhaustion and terror pulled her under. For a fleeting moment, she thought she might finally see her parents, finally rest. Her knees buckled, body sagging.
Maybe... if I fall here... nobody would care, her thoughts barely forming.
"Let's move," one of the men said.
The horse jolted forward, carrying her deeper into the unknown. Shadow and silence pressed close, thick as smoke.
She drifted between consciousness and shadow, every breath shallow, every heartbeat a hammer in her chest.
What... waits for me beyond this forest... alive... or not?
*****
Meanwhile, back at the estate...
Hargrave's roar shook the hall.
"She got away?!"
The guards flinched. One shuffled his feet, another's hands trembled as he gripped the edge of the table, biting his lip. Sweat slicked their brows.
"She... she slipped through our fingers before we could stop her, my lord," one stammered, eyes fixed on the floor.
Hargrave slammed his fist against the wooden table. The sound echoed like a drum in the stone hall. His eyes burned with a fury that made the room shrink.
Get Morwen. She should have kept that girl locked! She will pay for this."
The guards swallowed hard, glancing at one another.
One muttered under his breath, almost too quietly to hear, "We'll die if we fail again..."
"That girl comes back alive or every one of you will regret it," Hargrave hissed, teeth clenched, nostrils flaring, his voice a whip in the tense air.
Another guard fidgeted, shifting from foot to foot, glancing at the hall doors as if expecting Amara to appear from nowhere.
Hargrave's gaze swept over them, heavy and scorching.
"Move. Now. And make sure Morwen answers for this."
Silence stretched over the hall. They all knew-this wasn't over.
