Chapter 6

TOMORROW

I don't get up and go to work like I normally would. I lay with Zara that's sick and pining about the loss of our friend, she won't eat or sleep and I'm aching to tell her about my plans. I'm not staying here another day. I've made up my mind. I spent the entire night staring through the window. Tears had already forced Zara to sleep by then, but I was busy staring at the moon, in hopes of seeing Trish return. But that hasn't been the case.

I'm huddled in Trish's bed that's in the corner, hidden from prying eyes. It's been about the fifteenth time someone has come to find me, maybe by Grayson's order, but I wasn't sticking around to find out.

"Zara"

Her bloated eyes, red and teary, gaze up at me. She's wrapped up in blankets, blank but immobile as she stares everywhere and nowhere.

"I'm planning to leave"

She nods may be thinking I'll return in the evening. But I wasn't coming back.

"No I mean, I'm leaving. Running away, not coming back"

Zara blinks at me before turning away.

"You're crazy. Have you forgotten already? They killed Trish, they murdered our friend and now you're handing yourself on a platter?!"

I fold my hands across my chest in defiance.

"Which is exactly why I'm leaving. This- here" I gesture to everything around us. "I don't want this for the remainder of my life" Especially not with Grayson hounding me all the time.

And the craziest thing is I don't even know why he's interested in me.

"What have you got to escape from?" She asks her voice bitter as wormwood. "Grayson has chosen you as his mate. You know how many humans would kill to be in your position?"

I pushed off the bed, gritting my teeth, my hands straight at my side.

"You have it so good, I don't see why you're being this ungrateful"

"You think I want this? I don't want him, I don't know him or his motives behind choosing me. If you're okay with spreading your legs to get there, then be my guest. But I won't"

"Why because you've got dignity? Look around Leila. The world has gone to the dogs, there's no knight in shining armor coming to rescue any of us. They'd sooner trade us for gold or food. You've got your head in the clouds"

"I'm not a possession, I'm not cattle, I'm not a whore. I am a woman. There's no need for a man in armor, when I can do it myself"

Zara shakes her head already condemning me to failure, turning her back on me.

"You won't make it far. They'll find you. Probably won't kill you, but who knows. It's your life"

She's right, it's my life, which is why I'm taking it into my hands.

I hurry out of the barracks, only taking enough food to stow in my clothes but not make it too bulky to arouse suspicion. People are milling about, both wolves and humans attending to the business of the camp.

It's the trading day today. Wagons are filled with food and supplies to be taken to the outpost and other camps to be traded for weapons or grains or whatever the camp might need. There are also a few slaves that are attached to them. Both girls are in this group that Trish aided in escaping. Grayson must have caught them. That man was a terror of the night. Dread runs down my spine and there's this gnawing feeling to turn back. But I straighten my back and march over, acting like everyone else that's assigned to filling the wagons.

I grab a bag of hay walking with it, keeping it against my face just in case someone recognizes I shouldn't be here. The dogs are at the front, I remind myself avoiding their direction circumspectly. If they caught a whiff of the food I got, it would only cause pandemonium.

Dropping the hay into the back, I glanced around me, finding everyone more consumed with clearing their jobs than paying attention. Lifting the canvas, I hurriedly slipped in, stowing myself to the back behind a few crates, going mouse silent.

I'm stirred awake by the bump of the moving vehicle and lifting the canvas only a bit, find myself under the cover of night. I'm surprised to find I can finally stretch my legs, which is an enormous relief, but wonder how long we had been travelling.

My stomach grumbles in complaint, not having fed since breakfast and I fish a stale piece of bread from my clothes munching away. They must have dropped off a few hay to other camps without me realizing we had made a stop. Lucky thing I had crawled to the back or I'd probably be licking my wounds from my lashes.

I'm not sure what time it is when we stop again, the night still as the wind whistles through the trees, a owl hooting in the distance.

There's crunch of dirt around me and I go still, pulling my feet up against my chin, my back braced against the other side of the wagon.

"Ugh, my back f**king hurts"

A rough chuckle. "Just thank God we can stop for the night"

"Right?" The other man answers. "I thought he'd make us ride through the night. Sometimes I think he forgets were not all soldiers"

They both share a laugh and I register a slap, maybe against his commrades shoulder or back. It's a gesture I've come to realize they share.

"Let's just check that everything is okay and secure them okay?"

"Hey, up for a round of drafts?"

The footfalls stop at my wagon, fingers groping it's underside ready to rip if off, exposing the forbidden stow away.

"Now where in this place do you think we'll find anything to play drafts?"

"There's little stones around you daft"

"Oh" a throaty chuckle and a small tug against the only covering that keeps me hidden from the world. "I forgot about that. Help me get this off will you. Seems to be wrapped tighter than the others"

The canvas lifts mid way, the other counting off the hays that's before me, pushing them to the front of the wagon. My heart jumps to my throat as I cling tighter to my legs.

What the hell will I say when they finally find me?

Would they hand me over to Grayson?

No, most of them haven't figured out I was the Leila, Grayson chose and just thinking about it makes me feel cheap and icky.

"You finished yet?"

"Na, there's something still stuck at the back, lemme go see what it is"

I chew my finger nails off like a woodpecker, my anxiety soaring.

The stack of hay that has been my refuge is torn from before me and I await my sentence when somone's voice calls from a distance.

"Secure the wagon and get back here, you're missing out on all the food. The whisky is already done!"

"F**king assholes" the wolf hisses without even turning his head to glance in my direction. "Fisher just push everything back"

He pulls the canvas again covering me up and I release a breath.

"What was down there?!" Fisher calls.

"Nothing was just a large band of hay" the replies comes. "Let's go before the f**kers empty the barrel"

I don't attempt to move until their foot steps have faded, creeping slowly so as not to make the old wagon creak. I could stay and travel to the next stop with them instead of getting off here, but the longer I stayed, the greater my chances of being caught.

I admit, roaming the woods on my own wouldn't be the safest decision I've made, but I had a fighting chance of surviving than being with blood thirsty animals. In addition we were out in the woods, there's no saying whether they'd take me back to camp for punishment or kill me here.

The moon was absent from the sky I noted peaking out, and glancing around I slowly swung my feet over the top of the wagon dropping to the partially damp ground.

When I attempt to stand, golden eyes meet mine and I stumble collapsing on my ass. Dirt scatters at the heel of my feet as I kick to get away from it- the animal that now stands before me appearing from nowhere.

It was the same black and white husky that had laid atop Grayson's window. If that animal howled I'll be in big f**king trouble. I glance around, hoping, praying to find something to distract it, grabbing a small stone beneath the waggon wheel. But when I turned to face it again, it gone was. Disappearing into thin air just like it appeared. I didn't even hear it scamper away.

I closed my eyes. Either my fears were playing tricks on me or I was definitely too hungry to be going off by myself.

Without wasting any time, I quickly got to my feet and ran to the right into the woods, completely leaving the horde of men behind.

****

Birds twitter in the distance when I awake from my bed against a tree. The sun is hot and high, filtering from the trees above and I stretch from my position, stifling a loud yawn. I have to find water, both for a bath and drinking and be on my merry way before anyone found me. There's bound to be someone roaming the woods for people to kidnap or murder or worst. A stream rushes about a yard off, I could hear the flow of the water before glimsing the gleaming liquid in the sun. I hasten my steps, gathering the hem of my dress between my fingers rushing towards it.

The cold water chills my body down to the bone but I could hardly bring myself to care. I've never been around this much water, and waste no time stripping myself of my burdens wading into its depths. The sun has moved further along the sky reminding me that time was progressing with or without me. It was imperative that I found a human colony before nightfall. Someone from camp must have figured out that I was missing by now and if they sent Grayson after me- No. Yesterday was trading day. He would have gone back to the regency. He was their general after all. How long could a man leave his subjects before finding his house subdued? Because as much as they all wanted to pretend that they were entirely mature and responsible all the time, everyone knew the turth.

Good riddance anyways.

I haul myself from the sparkling death trap reclining on the bank in the grass while having my clothes sundried. I drift off to peaceful sleep having become complacent with staying up and watching birds soar across the azure blue. The sound of barking dogs tosses me from my sleep and I go stone still unable to decide in which direction to go. I hop into my clothes, pulling and pinning until I'm fully clothed, creeping to a near by tree, I laid against it listening as they drew closer.

The dog's barks drew closer, cascading and bombarding the area around me, forcing my skin to break out in chills, even with the fervent heat of the sun.

'Please be gone'

'Please be gone" I muttered beneath my breath, bracing myself against the tree as if it was my only lifeline. As if it would shield me from their prying eyes.

I glanced around the tree finding three dogs headed in my direction, sniffing, ears at attention in the air. I quickly retracted, closing my eyes and praying to the moon that they didn't find me.

Mother trucker!

The low growls of the dogs behind me meant I was completely out of time to flee. One came around my tree, baring its teeth at me and without hesitation I kicked at it, fleeing in the other direction of the others.

I could hear the thump of their feet behind me, or maybe it was how hard and rapid my heart was beating. There were shouts to 'find the dogs', 'follow them' which made me run faster all the more, their vicious barks behind me doing nothing to aid my cause.

Confused, lost, and desperate I ran back to the only heaven I knew finding an even worst nightmare with whitewashed gushing water. Men exited the woods entering the clearing where I was, while dogs growled relentlessly in my direction. Having found myself trapped, I jumped, finding myself bouncing around beneath the torrents, unable to grip unto anything properly.

When I surfaced again, I clambered for air, sputtering and freezing, meters away from where they all were. Of course, the stupid dogs chased me along with the banks, because having me drown wasn't enough.

"Grab unto the branch!" One of the men instructs hollering out to me.

"Go to hell!"

"You damn idiot, you'll prefer to die?! The current will drown you"

He wasn't lying, I was barely holding on as it was. Rapids we're just a yards span away from me, death traps and god knows what else lurking somewhere off. I contemplate grabbing after the only lifeline that seems viable, reaching for it, but then I underestimate the strength of the undercurrent, and am thrown to the other side of the banking, twirled around before being thrown off a cliff, plummeting to an ever-nearing yet never reaching depth.