A man dressed in similar garb to Ath’asho peeled away from the column to join a cadre of warriors standing in blocky groups of ten within the square. His fist rose into the sky, a shout in the strange tongue given before he crossed his arm over his chest and bowed over the head of his horse. The warriors gave the same salute, the thumps of their fists and settling of armor so precise that it sounded as if one giant had made the action and not a score of individuals.
Blue, white, and gold, they appeared as the summer sky. Their pointed helms blinding as the sun’s rays drifted across them while Er’it marched past with Aida in tow. Parading her in front of them all as he jerked on her leash to keep her at a stiff run at his side. Forcing her past the sneering people and the dark thatched homes that crowded around them. Already her feet ached, legs trembling with the effort it took to keep pace with the beast Er’it rode. If she could be thankful for anything in that moment, it was that his mount’s clopping hooves kept her too occupied to become too frightened. Watching where her feet fell, dodging what few murky depressions of thick mire she could, there was little thought for the stares and the sheer number of them. No chance for her to fall into slack jawed wonder at the sky soaring overhead or the brilliant sun.
As the crowds thinned once more, the last of them drifting back towards the center of the village and all its chaos that Aida would have once given anything to see, Er’it slowed his creature. Allowing her to fade into a swift walk that still made the long muscles of her thighs twist upon themselves in anguished cramps. It wouldn’t be long before she fell though. Aida knew that as well as she knew the sun rose every morning. As the dry, packed road they traveled became little more than two runs in a sea of dusty earth and scrubby brush, she became more certain it would happen sooner rather than later.
One step in front of the other, she tried to ignore the sweltering sun beating down upon her as it began its slow arc across the vivid blue sky. The way her gown clung in itchy patches, sticking to her damp thighs as sweat dripped from her nose to the powder dry dirt below. Already her feet were sore, and they had scarce left Otaso’s castle behind. If she dared to look back, she knew she’d see the gloomy bulk of it squatting not too far against the horizon. She felt it watching her, judging her, just as its owner once had. Cursing her and wishing her dead as the thing in the dungeon had promised each time Otaso threw her into its bowels.
The very thought sent a chill rushing over her. Teeth chattering despite the heat, the salty sheen coating her turned icy. Unable to ignore the malicious presence burning against her back, Aida craned her neck to look over her shoulder. The massive train of people, beasts, and carts that followed them kicked up great clouds of yellow dust, air thick with lowing creatures, snorts, and the stamp of hundreds of feet. Even amid all of the chaos, her gaze found the hulking darkness of the castle with ease. Piercing through the multitude of distractions and fears to hold her in a frozen fist. While the distance was not great, they had gone further than she’d thought. Still, from this distance, she saw a dark cloud reaching across the land. Spindly fingers searching, clawing at the arid stretch in search of something. Someone.
A shaky gasp expanded her lungs inside the tight confines of her bodice. Unable to draw a true breath, the stiff and heavy silk constricting her lungs, panic swept in. A moment too much like her time in the vicious shadows of Otaso’s dungeons. The swirling drifts of blackness spread wider. Coming closer and closer. She tried to run, to put more distance between her and the malevolent thing that she knew was coming for her and her alone. Bone deep terror sending her slippered feet into a mad dash to get away before it could get any closer.
She fell before she could even turn to watch where she was going. Ground rushing up to her face, she shrieked and put her tethered hands out to catch her, only to have them jerked away as the ground rushed up to meet her. The rope dug in hard and fast, yanking her arms straight out and pulling her along the craggy earth as the line snapped taut. Lungs crushed under her own weight, she couldn’t even draw in a ragged mouthful of gritty air to scream as the beast plodded on, both the creature and its master oblivious to her plight. Aida twisted, her back bearing the brunt of the scraping rocks until a broken wheel rut tumbled her face down once more.
A shout went up somewhere behind her, equal parts surprise and anger. It caught her captor’s attention, but not to find Aida scrambling to get her feet under her as the monstrous beast continued to walk. Er’it wound the rope around his fist and wrist, hauling Aida forward with his incredible strength. She found the breath to shriek as the rocky earth tore through her dress. The gown meant for sitting rooms and tea by her window ripped open to allow the coarse ground to scrape at tender flesh. Abraded stomach and arm, her legs receiving the worst of it as all her kicking caused the fabric to bunch and twist.
Even at her
