Chapter 2

Present day

Unlatching the lock that had been broken weeks ago, Linh quietly removed the cast-iron shackle from her ankle. She winced, her face pulling tight, when chains clanked together as she settled it upon the ground. The thin cloth below her did little to keep the chilly earth from assaulting her backside.

She checked that her captor remained asleep, his pile of travel bedding rising and falling with steadied breaths. It likely hadn't been changed in years, considering it reeked of his body odour.

Linh shuddered in disgust and crawled on her hands and knees to get away from him. Winter is almost over. It's safe now.

Being so far north, the area could become rather barren during the snowy season. Spring was in a few days. Although the mornings were rather cold and dewy, and the nights harsh and cruel, she refused to stay.

She could have survived another month here. It would be wiser if she did, but she also just... couldn't risk it.

My period ended. She hadn't told her ‘husband' it ended a day ago. She always played that it was long and gruelling, but Linh was smart enough to not let it drag on. He would have caught on and started checking for the truth otherwise.

She had a day of peace, and to let her body fully heal. I'm so glad it came. She didn't know if she would have had the strength to escape had she known this bastard had gotten what he wanted from her.

Digging her bag of belongings from underneath unwashed clothes and hide armour stained with dirt and dried blood, she didn't need to check its contents. She wouldn't waste time doing so.

The satchel held another garment, her second pair of shoes, and a jacket she would throw on once she'd left this ugly grey tent. Like an animal preparing for hibernation, she'd been eating sparingly so she could tuck away what may last a few days within the bag. She stole Bragg's water sack because fuck him – she needed it.

After pushing her feet within a pair of slippers and clipping their straps firmly on, she crawled to the corner of the tent opposite the entryway flap. With his dagger, which she also intended to steal, Linh cut a section of thread and opened it.

Frozen night air instantly stung her nose, but the chill was blessed.

Once she was outside, she ducked down when she heard a few stragglers still awake. That was fine, as she'd already mapped her way to freedom and considered a few drunken idiots may still be carousing. She'd exited the tent into darkness which would shield her, rather than within torchlight.

She skulked to the closest wall of the encampment, then followed it to the northern exit. A guard came into view, and she pressed against the wall.

I just need to wait. The guard barring her freedom disappeared momentarily – who cared what the reason was, so long as he temporarily left.

The moment she was outside of the camp, she put her back against the wall. The short, criss-crossing wooden logs in front of her were a sharp reminder of what danger lingered in the night. Beyond them, the valley of many dark mountains was outlined by the twinkling navy sky.

Her lips flattened with terror, while her brows narrowed in determination. I'd rather take my chances with a Demon.

With her satchel secure around her torso and her jacket on, Linh bit her lips together and shifted her weight between her feet.

I can do this, Linh told herself. I have a few hours before he wakes. Just a few hours to put as much distance as she could between her and the bandits who had taken her.

She leapt into a sprint.

Wind rustled past her ears and pushed back the stray hairs that had fallen from her braided bun. Her feet crunched in the dirt, dust, and mountain rock. Her racing heart filled her with warmth, even as her fingers grew numb from the cold.

Eyeing the top of a mountain cliff directly to her right, Linh groaned at the deadliness of her situation.

No. Don't be afraid.

It was either face the possibility of a Demon, or go back – and she'd claw, kick, and bite before she ever went back to that hellhole of a camp. She'd put the dagger to her throat before she let Bragg drag her back by her long black hair to his bed. Or she'd sink it inside his gut – whichever method gave her freedom.

Her breaths sawed in and out, frantic and tired. Despite their quietness, they sounded so loud against the canyon of rock. They reverberated against the trees as she swiftly entered a thin forest. Her footsteps thudded against the ground, occasionally slipping due to the nightly dew settling in. Although usually rather clumsy, she managed to keep her footing.

Throughout the night, Linh only ever rested by quickly leaning against a boulder or a fallen tree to massage her aching legs. She winced at the pain in her right foot, and fixed her calf-high sock bunched around the heel of her shoe. Then she unwrapped last night's vegetables and shoved them into her hungry maw, as they would surely expire soon.

I can't return home. As much as she wanted to, longed to, and knew she would be welcomed with open arms, she didn't wish to endanger her people.

Cupping her side, she tried to settle her seizing lungs and the stitch radiating across the left side of her torso. Limping, she blinked rapidly to fight the tears welling.

Why can't I just go south? Away from the hope of her family being closer with each step.

She knew the answer: the last time she went south, she'd been captured within minutes by Bragg's men. Going southward through the beginning of the mountain's canyon would have been suicide due to the Demons. The campsite down that way had more men patrolling it for danger.

Linh had been forced to go north, where she was more likely to escape successfully. But it'd take her weeks to go around the eastern mountain, and west was a death trap of falls and slips straight into the ocean.

She sniffled as weeks of fright, pain, and horror twisted her heart. Her chest radiated with hurt she doubted she'd ever shed, and trauma she didn't know she would ever heal from. I just want to go home.

At the tender age of twenty-one, crying for one's parents was usually frowned upon. Yet, all she wanted was her loving parents to bring her into the fold of a tight and much-needed cuddle.

I want my mum and dad.

She wanted the warmth of her fellow villagers, the laughter of her few friends, and the guidance of her mother. She wanted to prank her father or have him be his goofy self. She wanted to tease her younger sister. She wanted to go back to the life she'd been taken from, and knew without a doubt she couldn't return to it without endangering them.

They were already in danger.

From Bragg and his soldiers, from the Demons the men swore to protect them from while also robbing them. They starved them of much-needed trade, with every intention of abandoning them once the two villages in this part of the world had been stripped of their usefulness.

I have to go east, Linh told herself as she wiped her frozen face and settled her shuddering breaths. I have to go to Duneside. The town near Mount Vernant.

From there, she could explain to them who she was, and where she'd just come from. Their people were being choked just as much as her own village, and she doubted their mayor would hand her back to the cretins. They could help her go northeast around the mountain and travel down to Slater Town for aid.

It's really risky, though. And likely why they hadn't already done so. I'll go by myself if I need to.

A branch or stick cracking in the distance made her gasp, and she quickly bolted into action once more.

I need to keep moving. She couldn't stop for too long.

Day broke just as she was crossing empty fields, and Linh turned a longing glance towards the western peaks of this mountain range. Despite the light mist, the snowy peaks glowed in the sunlight cresting from the east. Linh turned towards the brightening horizon.

With her brows narrowed in spiteful determination, she made a vow. One that she made on each fogged breath, and in the lance of pain that jolted up her legs from each hard footfall. One that sang in each of her quick heartbeats that shunted pain throughout her chest, warning her she needed to stop running or it'd give out.

I'll come back. I promise I'll come back.

When she did, she'd bring an army to finally set them all free.