Stab, Twist, Pull

"I will not marry him. I will not marry him. I will not marry him," Raina chanted quietly as she sketched out her escape plan in the sand. She turned to Kojor. "Do you think it's a good plan?"

The lapdog glanced at her scribblings then looked into Raina's eyes with those large brown eyes, floppy ears hanging halfway down its snout. It was such a meaningful look. So full of wisdom and understanding. Raina could have sworn the dog nodded.

Kojor broke eye contact, sniffed Raina's feet, and ran in a circle around her. "You think it's a good plan, right?" Raina insisted. As if in response, Kojor raised one leg and urinated all over the sc.

Raina let out a small strangled sound, the purest manifestation of anger, halfway between a scream and a roar. She swung to slap the dog but it darted out of the way.

Raina lost her balance and fell chest-first into Kojor's still-warm urine. The same strangled sound escaped her, just more primal. Raina felt anger coursing through her veins like liquid fire.

She picked herself up, kicked off her sandals, and sprinted after her ill-mannered pet. Kojor darted around a shrub, unnaturally fast on its stunted feet. Raina caught up but the furry animal wriggled out of her grasp and darted around a rock.

"Come back here!" Raina yelled as she rounded the rock but Kojor had fled out of sight. Raina suddenly spotted a man in front of her but it was too late to stop. She slammed right into him and stumbled back, nearly falling before the man held out a hand and steadied her. It was Ervin, one of her father's guardsmen.

"What are you doing here?" Raina asked.

"Watching you, m'lady."

Raina turned an angry eye at the guardsman. "Why would you be watching me? Don't you have other duties? What do you think my father will do to you if he hears you were skulking after me?"

"It's his lordship who asked to watch you, m'lady," Ervin explained.

"Why would he do that?"

"You threatened to run away, m'lady."

Raina felt a sudden chill seize her. A wrinkle in the plan. You should have kept it to yourself, you impulsive idiot.

She could have kept it quiet but no. She had to tell her father that she would run away if he wed her to the brute. Her plan was to run away and strongarm her father into annulling the betrothal. Raina was Nylarn Lamanbhurg's last living child. The only hope for his bloodline and their survival. If she vanished, he would do anything to get her back.

He had no choice. The alternative was exile, poverty, and possibly death. But she had given away her leverage in a moment of anger. Now he would never let her leave. Her plan of saying she was going to the market and then making a detour was no longer feasible.

Raina steadied herself. Then she forced a laugh. It sounded fake to her and took all her effort but she hoped Ervin would buy it. "That was just a stupid rant. He took it seriously?"

"He did, m'lady," Ervin said.

Raina shook her head and went looking for Kojor. Ervin followed only a few paces behind. She turned to him. "Where are you going?"

"Following you, m'lady."

"You don't have to follow me everywhere. I am just looking for my dog."

"I'm sorry, m'lady," Ervin apologized. "But your lord father ordered me to not let you out of my sight. Not even for a single moment. If you vanish, he has promised to mount my head atop the gates. I prefer it atop my neck."

Raina released an exasperated sigh and jogged away with Ervin at her heels. Despite her carefree exterior, she wanted to wail like a widow. But she couldn't betray her inner feelings. It would just make her father tighten the guard on her.

For three days, Ervin followed Raina around. He became her second shadow. He alternated his watch with another guardsman, Dillard. Even when Raina went to bed, either Ervin or Dillard would be camped outside her door to ensure there were no nocturnal excursions.

As the days progressed, the beginnings of another plan took shape in Raina's mind. This was less thought out than the first one. More extreme.

She could no longer go into hiding and send letters demanding the annulment of her betrothal as a condition for her return. She would have to vanish entirely. Not only to free herself but also to punish her father. Let his blasted legacy keep him company in exile, Raina thought.

But first, she needed to get rid of her shadows. Dillard was a stone, immovable and unfeeling. He didn't talk to her and made no effort to be friendly. But Ervin… Ervin had possibilities.

Ervin was almost apologetic about his role and went out of his way to reduce Raina's discomfort with his presence. He maintained an appropriate distance and stayed out of her line of sight.

For being so considerate, Raina thanked him with an entire wineskin. It was a costly full-bodied Salandrian red, one of the finest vintages from her father's cellar. She laced it with a sleeping potion and waited.

It didn't take long for the potion to work. With her ear against the door, Raina could hear Ervin's heavy breathing. "Ervin," she called softly. Nothing. "Ervin," she called a little louder. Still nothing.

Confident her guard wouldn't be waking up any time soon, Raina tried the door. The bastard had locked it from outside. Raina was enraged. All her planning had amounted to nothing. She couldn't escape if she was locked in her room. Banging against the door in an attempt to wake Ervin failed.

With her frustration mounting, Raina saw another way out. In his infinite wisdom, Nylarn Lamanbhurg had forgotten about the window. There was no one guarding it. But it wasn't an easy exit. Two floors was a long jump. If she landed poorly…

But Raina wasn't going to hang around and marry the brute who killed the man she loved. If her father wanted him so much, he could marry the brute himself. She stood on the window ledge for a long time, working up the courage to jump.

"For you, my love," Raina whispered, tapping a small leather pouch on her waist that contained Robyr's ashes. She had stolen them from his urn, only two spoonfuls, little enough that his family never noticed. With her hand locked in a fist around the pouch of ashes, Raina sucked in a deep breath and jumped.

Her stomach dropped but only for a moment. Raina suppressed a scream as a sharp pain traveled up her leg when she hit the ground. She had twisted an ankle.

She sucked in another breath and waved at Kojor, watching her from the window. The dog refused to jump. After one last arrogant look at Raina, Kojor turned back into the room.

"Traitor," Raina hissed at the lapdog. But she couldn't go back. She waved one last time at the empty window and suppressing tears, limped towards the stable.

Surefeet snorted in recognition when Raina let herself in. She stroked the horse's coat lovingly and tickled its chin. Surefeet wanted more love but Raina didn't have the time. "Later," she whispered.

Raina saddled and bridled the bay mare, tickled its chin one last time, and climbed onto its back. With a gentle tug of the reins, Surefeet ambled out of the stable. Raina made for the one postern gate she knew was unmanned. She unlocked it and stepped out. It wouldn't be long.

"Now girl. Let's fly," she whispered and spurred Surefeet. The mare went from a standstill to a full-on gallop in three strides.

Raina heard a shout behind her but she had expected it. By the time the guards on the walls got down to the stables to find horses for a pursuit, she would be out of sight and impossible to catch. Surefeet was the fastest horse in Lord Nylarn's stables.

With her cloak flapping behind her and the moon lighting her way, Raina fled to freedom. She didn't know what that would be like but she would figure it out along the way. There was no way on earth she was marrying the man who killed Robyr.

Raina looked back one last time as she and Surefeet approached a grove of cedars. The first of the pursuing horses was just emerging from the castle gates.

"Run girl, run!" she yelled at the horse and dug her spurs into its side, wincing as her twisted ankle smarted from the pain.

Raina knew the woods well and navigated them easily. She smiled when she heard pained neighing and screaming from somewhere behind her.

These woods were full of gnarly roots that could easily trip up unwary riders and their mounts, especially at night. Raina and Surefeet didn't have that problem. Raina had ridden in these woods countless times. She knew them as well as she knew her name. But she slowed Surefeet down just in case. She didn't want to lame the horse.

Raina thought of all the times she had ridden through these woods with Robyr. She remembered the desperate and hurried kisses they stole in isolated clearings and under trees. They weren't supposed to do that but they couldn't stay away from each other. They loved each other so much.

Raina's aunt Mariana was supposed to chaperone them but she couldn't watch them all the time. Aunt Mariana fancied herself a great hunter and went galloping after every little thing she heard scurrying through the undergrowth.

Whenever Mariana got distracted, Raina and Robyr would jump at each other, kissing, fondling, and dry humping like rabid animals until they heard the hoofbeats of Mariana's horse.

The priests said such things were wrong for unmarried couples but Robyr was her betrothed. Nothing she ever did with him could be wrong. They loved each other. And they were going to be married anyway.

Their wedding was supposed to have been held today. Raina had been so eager to become Robyr's wife. To kiss him and love him without needing to hide. I would have been consummating my marriage for the third time by now, she thought sadly.

But Robyr got his skull bashed in on a battlefield up north. And now Raina's father was forcing her to marry the very brute who bashed in Robyr's skull. She reluctantly took her mind off Robyr and brought her focus back to the road.

Raina spurred Surefeet when she got to a section with less gnarly roots and galloped on. She didn't hear any hoofbeats behind her but she knew that meant nothing. If the guards couldn't catch her, her father would just send hunters to track her down.

She couldn't afford to rest, and so kept going through the night. When dawn came, Raina was far from home but still on her father's lands.

She wanted to keep going but Surefeet refused to move. Raina couldn't fault the animal. They had been riding hard all night. It had to be exhausted. She knew that if she pushed the horse any further she would kill it.

Raina was tired too. Her head buzzed from lack of sleep and her ankle was killing her. She found a small creek and let Surefeet drink her fill. Then she tied the horse to a tree and let it graze on the abundant grass.

Raina herself drank some water and inspected her swollen ankle. She washed it and bound it with a strip of cloth from her cloak.

Then she sat with her back against a tree and stretched out her legs in front of her, relaxing while waiting for the horse to eat and rest. She caught herself nodding off. Once, twice, thrice…

When Raina opened her eyes, Hyrman, her father's best huntsman, was sitting against a tree in front of her. He had two other hunters with him, his son and a nephew.

A dozen horses grazed nearby. Raina cursed herself. Hyrman had had the sense to bring remounts on his pursuit. The thought had never crossed Raina's mind. If only it had…

"Forgive me, my lady. I didn't want to disturb your rest," Hyrman said. "Your lord father expects you back at Glory Point by sundown."

"What time is it?" Raina asked, desperately looking around for an escape route.

Hyrman glanced at the sun, high in the sky. "A little past noon."

"How did you find me?"

Hyrman whistled and a pack of six squat hounds used in boar hunting ran into the clearing, tongues lolling and saliva dripping out of the sides of their mouths. They looked at Raina like she was a tasty lamb chop.

"Can't you tell him you didn't find me? Please Hyrman," Raina begged

Hyrman's weathered face twisted into a look of disgust. He refused to dignify the request with an answer.

"Alright," Raina said. "I'm not going. "You will have to drag me back."

"Your lord father has given me permission to bind you hand and foot and sling you over the saddle like a sack of wheat if need be," Hyrman said. "I would hate having to do that to you, my lady. Please don't make me. Get back on your horse and return home with some dignity."

As Raina looked around at the hunting hounds, the three men, and their horses, she knew she was defeated. You should have brought remounts, her inner voice scolded.

She limped to her feet. Her ankle hurt a hundred times worse than it had that morning and Raina wanted to scream. Not just from the pain but from frustration.

Seeing her struggle, Hyrman hefted her with two hands like a ragdoll and planted her on Surefeet's back. Raina tried to make a dash for it but Hyrman held the bridle. "Don't," he said with a shake of his head. Then he tied Surefeet's bridle to his saddle and ordered his son and nephew to ride behind her.

The trip back to Glory Point was a gloomy one. Raina tried to remain stoic but she couldn't help the tears. Defeat pressed down on her shoulders like a boulder, squelching her and making her want to just lie down and die.

The ride to Glory Point was also quicker than Raina expected. They arrived with the sunset when Raina had expected an arrival closer to midnight.

Hyrman seemed to know a thousand shortcuts. Raina had thought she knew her father's woods well but she clearly didn't know them as well as Hyrman, who worked in them every day, was twice her age, and was the scion of a family that had produced Lamanbhurg foresters for three generations.

The walls of Glory Point seemed to suffocate Raina with the realization of her defeat. The castle was old but well-kept. Raina had always loved it but she had never dreaded seeing it as much as she did then.

Raina was received with hostile looks in the castle yard. The guards looked at her like they wanted to murder her. Then her family came. Her mother ran to her and embraced her. "My girl, my girl," Carla Lamanbhurg whispered, still sobbing.

Raina's aunt Mariana just shook her head, shrugged, and walked away. But it was her father Raina dreaded most. Nylarn Lamanbhurg didn't have one of the smiles he usually reserved for her. "I told you," he told her mother. "We spoiled her too much."

Lady Carla didn't answer. She just held on to her daughter. "Wipe those tears off your face, dear. They're not going to work today," Nylarn Lamanbhurg told Raina. Then he turned to Big Roror, captain of the castle garrison. "Bring the fool."

Big Roror gave a small bow and left. Moments later, he returned with Ervin, in chains. The guardsman's face was swollen from a beating and he stank of wine.

Ervin was famous for his capacity to hold his liquor. He hadn't expected a single wineskin to knock him out. But Raina had guaranteed that with her sleeping potion. As she watched Ervin's face, swollen from the gods knew how many punches, Raina shivered with guilt and pain.

"Drunk and asleep on duty, is it? Is that what I pay you for?" Lord Nylarn asked.

"No, m'lord," Ervin sobbed.

"What did I tell you would happen if you let her run?" Nylarn Lamanbhurg asked.

"You said you'd behead me, m'lord. Please m'lord. Have mercy. It will never happen again. Please," Ervin begged. As he said this, his eyes flicked to Raina and in them, she saw pure hatred.

"I am not some Reendeni pig worshiper, Ervin," Lord Nylarn said. "I do not break my word." Then he nodded at Big Roror. The giant unsheathed his greatsword.

"Noooo!" Raina screamed. But it was too late.

Big Roror's downswing was quicker than her scream. The giant's giant sword sliced off Ervin's head in one stroke. The head fell, rolled, and came to a stop at Raina's feet, lifeless brown eyes staring into hers. Raina screamed and passed out.