ELIA
Breath tearing in her throat, pulse pounding in her ears, her feet slapping the dirt trail, Elia was almost at the clearing. She prayed that the guards were there, waiting, that all of this was some kind of mistake. She could see the light of the lanterns beginning to peek between the trees as the path widened, when a shadow appeared on the trail twenty feet ahead of her and she slid to a stop. Almost falling, she turned to run back, but the shadow of another man stepped out of the trees from that direction too, and she turned again—but there was a rustling in the bushes to that side.
Panicked, and backing away, she grabbed another rock from between the roots of a tree, but when she stood, the path towards the clearing was clear again.
But would one of them be waiting to ambush her?
