The carts stood ready, their wheels caked with mud from the journey ahead. The girls knew that this was their only chance, the sole path to safeguarding their lives and the unborn gamaaloth children nestled within their wombs.
With a palpable sense of urgency, they began their crawl through the narrow water channel. The walls seemed to close in on them, the passage damp and slippery beneath their fingertips.
Their hearts pounded in their chests, matching the rhythm of their labored breaths. Each step forward was a step closer to freedom, a step away from the clutches of the oppressive regime that sought to control them.
As they emerged from the water channel, their bodies glistening with moisture, they found themselves in the shadowy embrace of the secluded building's back area.
Before long, Queen Oda's regime soldiers would arrive to capture them, so the healer girls had to leave before the soldiers did.
