First met
After that day, I found myself walking toward the stream, the place I always went when sadness pressed too heavily on my chest. The wind rose suddenly, sharp against my skin, and I wrapped my arms around myself as I kept moving.
Ashadow flickered across my path. My heart jolted. The branches rustled overhead, but each sound felt too deliberate, like footsteps pacing me.
I quickened my pace.
When I reached the stream, I sank into the cool grass, Luke's words echoing in my mind. he wanted me to run. He had given me a way to do it. But...
I couldn't.
I let out a long sigh, My gaze drifted across the field until something caught my eye, a crooked old gate, standing half -hidden in the tall grass. Curiosity stirred, pulling me to my feet.
I had taken barely ten steps toward it when a voice cut through the night.
"You're on the wrong path."
I spund around, my pounding.
A figure emerged from the shadows. Tall cloacked, a sword at this hip. Moonlight caught the metal filtings on his belt. Asoldier.
I stumbled back. "Stay away!"
"I'm not here to hurt you," he said, his tone soft.
"Liar." My voice shook. "You'll drag me back so the king can put my head on the altar."
His face was half-hidden beneath his hood, but his voice carried no cruetly, only a strange quiet warning.
"The sacrifice is postponed," he said.
I froze. "What?"
"You don't have to run tonight. The Moon won't claim you. Not yet."
I pulled the jagged shard Luke had given me from my skirt and held it up. "How do you know that? And why should I believe a stranger in the dark?"
"Don't be afraid," he said steadily. "I'm telling you the truth."You don't need to run , the eclipse is coming."
I blinked. "What? Eclipse?"
"The Wolf Moon will darken at it's peak," he explained. "When the god's are blinded, no blood can be spilled. It's a law orden than the priests themeselves. But they don't know yet."
My blood roared in my ears.
"How do you know this?Who are you? Some cloacked coward too afraid to show his face?"
He hesitated, something flickering across his face, regret, or maybe caution.
"Names here are dangerous," he said at last. "But my words are true,"
"Then why stop me? If you know what I am, you could've let go, or killed me and dragged my body to your king a bag of coins."
"I don't wan't your blood," he said flatly.
I searched his voice. Part of me refused to believed him, but another part, buried deep, knew he spoke the truth. He spoke like someone who understood my fear.
"You have to go back," he told me. "If they find you gone, they'll burn the city you. They'll punish the boy who helped you. They'll lock in chains so heavy you'll never get get another chance."
I hesitated. His words struck deeper than I wanted to admit. And curse me, there was something in my chest, a strange recognation, as if my blood already knew his voice.
I drew in a sharp breath. "If I go back... promise me. Swear I won't die that night. Swear the eclipse is real."
He looked at me for a long moment; then said, "I swear it."
Mym doubt lingered, but half of me learned toward his strenght, as though my heart had already decided. I believed him, not because he was a soldier, but because his eyes wrere'nt cruel.
"What's your name?" I asked.
He paused. "Next time," You'll find out soon enough."
I should have been annoyed at his secrecy, but instead my lips curved faintly.
"Then you'd better keep your promise. I don't care about your name anymore."
I turned toward the palace. Behind me I heared him whispered. "I will."
I walk towards back to the palace. When I passed the crooked gate again, the urge to bolt for it nearly broke to me. Thinking of his words, "they'll punish the boy who helped you." This word pulled me forward.
This time the palace walls loomed above me, my heart was bruised from pounding so hard. I clutched the shard in my hand, hiding it in my sleeve, and slipped through the servants passage like thief.
The corridors were quite at this hour, though the silence felt heavy, thick with listening ears. amy bare feet made no sound against the cold flagstones. Every step seemed to echo inside my skull, louder than thunder.
When at last I reached my room, I go inside and I shut the door softly and pressed my back against it. For a moment I simply stood there in the darkness, my mind spund. A soldier, yet not like the others. His words carried no mockery, no threat. Only a warning, and promise.
I pressed my palms against my eyes, fighting back the tears threathened to spill. I should hate myself fo listening to him. But his voice haunted me, low and steady, "I swear it."
With that, I instantly go to in my chamber and sat down while my knees drawn close to my chest. Still, doubt gnawed at me. What if the soldier lied? What if this was some cruel trick to lure me back into the kimg's grasps without struggle? I buried ny face in the thin pillow, wishing the night could swallow me whole.
Yet beneath the storm of fear, somthing else flickered. A strange heat. A sense of recognation that unsettled me more than the threat of death. His presence had shaken me, his voice, his eyes. I shouldn't feel it, but I did. It was as if whispered his name though he refused to give it.
The chamber was still, but my thoughts raged. I turned the shard of iron over in my hands, its edge catching faint light from the crack beneath the door.
I whispered into the silince. "You'd better not have lied."
Then exhausted, I lay back and stared at the ceiling beams until sleep finally dragged me under, filled with dreams of eclipse moon.