Epilogue

The Lady-in-Waiting

I don't know how long I've been running for, but there have been at least two sunrises since the battle where I shoved a dagger into the queen's back.

I've washed my hands what feels like a hundred times, yet I swear I can still feel her blood on them.

As soon as she died, I felt her magical leash on me dissolve, the power that sewed my lips shut disappearing. This morning was the first time I plucked up the courage to look at my reflection in a stream when I stopped for water. There is pure, perfect skin around my lips. No one would ever know the decades of torture I endured under the elf queen.

She died too easily. She deserved to suffer, just like I did.

Suddenly, the ground rolls and bucks beneath me. I'm near the edge of the forest now, near the mountains. I've heard of earthquakes, but in the north of Morrowmer, not in the south where I currently am. Crouching low to the ground, I grab onto the nearest tree trunk as the ground continues to rumble. With an almighty roar, everything shakes, and I'm thrown to the dirt.

Everything falls into silence, so I hesitantly stand and slowly creep forward, my eyes flicking around, looking for any threats. When I reach the edge of the forest, my breath leaves me in a sudden rush. The mountains stand before me, but they look like they've been carved in two. Between the two halves of the mountain, impossibly, is a pathway.

This shouldn't be here. Yet, somehow, just when I needed an escape, one appeared. Do I take it?

I've heard stories that the mountains were the only barrier that kept the foul creatures of the fae lands from Morrowmer. Stepping back from the mysterious chasm, I go to return to the forest when an unknown, piercing shriek fills the air. My head whips around, my eyes narrowing on the crack in the mountains, and I back away slowly. I don't perceive anything coming through it, but I don't want to wait around and see if it does.

Once in the safety of the trees, I finally turn my back on the mountains and start running once more.