(Author's Note: I don't write many short stories, but my local writing group had a prompt for the first line of a story, and I took it and used it, along with a germ of an idea taken from an Andrew Peterson song, Coral Castle,"'I don't need her love to love her all I can." I love the way it turned out, one of the few shorts I'm actually proud of. Enjoy! ~Kay)

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REDSHAFT

REDSHAFT

CHAPTER TWO

"Be wary of the walltop guards," I whispered as we jogged across the grass. "Let's not head to the forest, though."

He turned to me, slowing his pace, "Why not?"

"The stretch of ground is too vast, we risk being seen and shot. Let us head to the marshes," I motioned to the yellowing ground that stretched away to the left of the woods, cloaked in blue mists. "We will reach it in under three minutes instead of the ten or so to the treeline, and our position will be veiling by the fog."

Neighbor
Where?
Where am I?
                                                                                                    “At my inn. You were unconscious
                                                                                                               When he brought you here.”

Don’t move. My eyes squeeze shut like a hiding child.  The air throbs with my enemy’s approach. Go away, goaway-goaway. Terror pulls the air from my lungs in an unwilling scream. Save me. Save me.

Dissonance presses against my heart; everything fades…

Flickering candlelight caresses my eyelids. “Abigail, can you hear me? Child?” Despite pain stabbing my body, relief floods my mind.  Scarlet streaks blur my vision as I open my eyes. 

Part Nine: Rescue?