Again. It is happening again!
We could not reach the city fast enough. I had hurried to dress after sleeping naked beneath the stars. Fumbled to push my limbs through holes and strap on belts. I left behind whatever slowed me down and followed Aestos through the forest. Running. Hopping over bushes. Gliding through limply hanging branches and bracing the tears at my skin. My lungs crushed beneath the fear burrowed in my chest.
I feared what little of my people were left would be taken from me. Again. And I couldn't. I absolutely could not lose any more of them. I would not survive it this time.
Aestos had not told me how my people were in danger. I had not given him the chance to. But the anxiety prodded my mind with knives. Had one of my people offended a native? Had a fight broken out?
A devastating, more severe possibility clouded the edges of my mind. I did not want to believe it. To even consider it.
