They hunt in packs like wolves in the scolding desert. The ones that stray either become legends or die. You can imagine that there aren't many legends left, which is probably a good thing. The Mile men spare no one, and will not be bewitched by any beauty of flesh or coin.
It will be foolish to fight, as the battle with the desert would probably give a greater chance at life than becoming a slave to black ink. A poison that will make sure you meet your end if you escape.
The Mile men have the cure, a sort of precaution should they lose a prisoner, they would die within the seventh sun and leave nothing behind. This fate will not be mine, my sweet Lau.
I'm sorry to leave you behind but as you already know, I cannot willingly enter a marriage I know will end with my life slipping away at my own hands. You have got your love, cherish and protect her from this rotten town. Leave while the attention will be on my capture. Get out and do not look back. Please live happily, somewhere far from this madness. I wish you love and good luck my friend, Elora.
I put the letter on the table and swallowed hard. The time had come.
The moon was high. It would guide me far before anyone knew of my departure. I swung my packed bag over my shoulder, buttoning the fur coat covering my garment dress.
The night was cold, the opposite twin of the scolding hot day. The weather should not kill me before I reached my destination and my goal was set on reaching the capital. It would be a long journey through terrain that would change like the weather.
Maybe the bounty hunters would kill me, or nature would force me to perish alone and in agony, but it was a fate worth challenging.
I no longer had control over my life. After my father's drunken death, the town council had decided that I was to wed the new sheriff's son, to merge the two fortunes and lands of the richest families in town.
Wealth did not belong to a woman, and neither did land. Invisible ropes would become very real the moment I was married. Any chance of making my own decisions would cease to exist. So, I decided to follow my father's last will for me. To head to the capital and claim my inheritance. To claim what my father's death had unlocked for me.
The capital was more modern and far more accepting of women's freedom. Unfortunately, the modern influence had not reached the desert land, a rough terrain that spared no one ignorant of its dangers.
I opened the front door as slowly as possible to drown the exposed creek.
Looking back at the letter folded on the table, I knew he would be the one to find it first. He would look for me first, read the letter first and miss me first. He was the one to love me first and break my heart first.
We had given it our shot, but destiny had torn us apart and put us with other people. And we had accepted it, for it was all we knew. But I was leaving him behind, my dear Lau, wishing him health and happiness with a new woman while I tried to search for the same.
I grabbed the jade around my throat squeezing it one last time before I slipped out.
My father had given instructions on how to reach the capital. In his final letter, he claimed to leave me what my birth had declared. I never had much trust in my father.
He was a drunken fool who never raised me but merely provided a roof over my head. Of course, his teachings had been useful but to call him a father would be an insult to myself.
My mother had named me Elora after the desert goddess hoping, that her daughter would bring freedom and divinity as the old tales said. It was all just superstitious nonsense but, I cherished the name. It was the only thing I could fully claim. But this was about to change and I was going to be the one to change it.
As shadows danced on the townhouse walls, I silently ran across the main road dividing the town. They would awake with the sun, but the sheriff would not start hunting me before they could gather horses and that would take a few hours.
The night was black and deadly, cold like the corpses sleeping under the sands. I had packed what I needed for the journey. A six-day walk, past the dunes, the snowy mountains, and into the territory of the privileged.
They had a justice court for the peasants. Presenting my father's will could give me the freedom I wanted. To live and love as I wanted. I had no idea what he had locked away for me but I had to find out. It was the only thing left.
A wind grabbed ahold of my hair and I pulled my coat further up, trying to shield my chin. Fear started creeping in, but I put it aside. It reminded me that I was still just a girl, excited about the world before me yet still afraid of its dangers lurking everywhere. But I couldn't be that girl now. I had to be brave and strong if I planned to succeed.
The tiny sandstones under my feet helped me slip away in silence. I was invisible until dawn. The sun would expose me to the men who would be coming for me. They would hunt as soon as they noticed my absence.
The dark sky was painted with stars and lit by the subtle moon, shining its white light across the dunes. It would take only a few hours to reach the rocky cliffs and after that, the tundra awaited before I would finally reach the snowy mountains.
That was a place I had never wanted to go to. It was practically forbidden since it wouldn't take long for anyone to be buried under snow, or become the warm dinner of the snow lions or wolves roaming the territory. But I knew I could make it. If not, death would claim me, or maybe the town's slime dog, Carson would.
Carson was a sheriff's son. The only child of Margaret and Colt Rockwell, and a spoiled brat. Mrs Rockwell never once disciplined her son, but she was the only one who hated the promise of betrothing her son to me more than myself. She had tried to stop it, but Mr Rockwell knew what he could gain from my father. He knew by marrying me to his son, I would take his last name and share the house and land that my father had fought for.
Mr Rockwell would become the richest and most influential man in town and the next town over. Then the council, a group of old dusty men who had in my opinion overstayed their visit to earth, could never oppose the Rockwell family ever again. The future generations of Rockwell scum would reign.
Thinking of baring Carson's children made me gag, I would rather die before bedding that dog.
The sand stretched far like an endless blanket. I looked back at the small town as it shrunk with every step. It had never felt like home to me, that had died with my mother.
A light flared somewhere in town and a shot rang out. They knew I was running.
I instantly picked up my pace, adjusting my shoulder bag, and lifting my clumsy garment dress above my ankles. Time had not allowed me to steal trousers or anything else that would be better suited for the harsh weather to come.
But the sandy cliffs were in my sight. Maybe I could just escape them.
YOU ARE READING
My Darkening Ember
Adventure"This bounty is mine, Xander," He said. It was the first time I ever heard his name. Xander smirked, "Kill me first, then take her." He proposed arrogantly, a silver knife resting confidently in his hand. The man only nodded once as his hand slithe...
