Senna ran. Her legs burned as she struggled against the water upstream. The river near her home was shallow this deep in the summer when they’d only had short showers for weeks. But as she got further away, the water started to creep up her shins, nearly to her knees. It slowed her, making her anxiously check over her shoulder for pursuers. The trees held many shadows and more than once she thought she saw eyes peering out at her. She tried and failed to pick up her pace, the water making it near impossible as it grew deeper.
Before midday it was up past her knees and she was forced to slow to a labored walk, exhaustion plaguing every muscle in her body. She panted heavily, clothes completely soaked through from her splashing and also sweating from exertion. She knew that she didn’t make it as far as she could have if she were stronger. If she weren’t locked in the basement and fed scraps for the past few days. But she held onto the hope that Rydan had convinced them she had gone downstream and that gave her time. She needed more time. Even if they believed him they would only go as far as the rapids, a few miles passed town, and if they didn’t pick up her trail on either bank they would assume she drowned or went the other way. She knew they would check upstream, just to be sure. If that were the case, they would make double or triple her time on the banks rather than in the water. She didn’t have long. A couple hours if she were lucky. But if she weren’t…
It was those thoughts that kept her legs moving even though her head spun from the sun beating down and her stomach twisted painfully in hunger. At least she wasn’t thirsty, having taken several falls and swallowing large mouthfuls of water each time. But each fall had sent water into her lungs and left her coughing and choking until she could breathe again, further slower her progress. There was one glaring problem to her quest: She had nowhere to go. There weren’t any towns upstream for quite a ways. At her pace, it would take days. Days she knew she didn’t have. But towns were trouble this close to home. People could have heard the news, her family reaching there and looking for her if she somehow managed to avoid them out here. If she decided to leave the river and run on land, the hounds would surely pick up her scent and find her. If she stuck only to the river, she’d be in trouble soon too. This part of the river was a small branch that forked off the main waterway. When she got to the connection it would be nearly impossible to transverse. The current was too strong and the water too deep. She hoped that she could get as close as she could though. If she could get to the main river she could let the current take her downstream as she swam across and exited on the other side. Hopefully that would be enough to throw off her pursuers. If she could make it that far and that was a huge if.
It was nearly late afternoon when she finally decided to stop. One side of the river had begun to turn from gently sloping hill to sporadic rocky outcroppings and then into a short cliff face. As she went on, both sides began to rise around her into tall cliffs, the river cutting through the jagged, rocky mountain. On one side, the cliff overhung the river and at the base of the cliff was a smooth, flat rock slightly raised out of the water. As a bonus it was also in the shade. Exhausted to the point of collapse, the river now gently swirling around her hips as she waded through it, she knew that her fight was over for now. She couldn’t go on anymore today without risking passing out in the river. She dragged her body out of the gently swirling river and up onto the rock and lay on her back, looking up at the bottom of the rock overhead. She panted for a few minutes, every muscle in her body screaming in pain. Once her heart slowed to a reasonable speed she forced herself to sit up through the burning pain in her abdomen and legs. She rifled through her damp bag for the bread. She had taken care to wrap it in a thick linen towel so by some miracle it wasn’t completely soggy.
Every bite had her feeling marginally better as if she could feel the energy flowing through her body. She hadn’t realized how desperately hungry she was until she took the first bite. When it hit her stomach she started ripping into the bread with savage bites, chewing as fast as she could manage. Her fear had taken priority, making all other needs a secondary annoyance. Once finished she took a few slow gulps of water from the waterskin and started to really look around. The river widened here into a sort of basin, flowing lazily through the rocks. In the middle there was a small island with some sporadic shrubs and patches of grass atop the rocky surface. Birds chirped loudly all around, the sound mixing with the burbling water and echoing off the stone walls.
Movement over the top of the far cliff on the other side of the river caught her eye. She turned her head and squinted, trying to make out any creatures. Immediately her heart started pounding harder, fear coiling in her stomach once more. But there was nothing there. She could have sworn for a moment she felt something peering over the edge at her but now it was gone. She tried to tell herself that it was just a curious forest critter sensing her presence. But it didn’t sit well with her. Whatever it had been had been large. She quickly got to her feet, muscles protesting. Bu fear had once again began to replace her sense of exhaustion and she quietly rolled off the rock into the river once more, adjusting her bag to sit out of the water as she waded upstream. She tried not to stir the water much as she moved against it as her ears strained to pick up anything unusual. Just as she noticed the sound of the birds chirping had died out came a distinct howl in the distance.
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Panic surged through her. She would know that sound anywhere. It wasn’t a random dog or wolf. That was the answering call of a hound in a hunt, guiding its master through the forest. She dropped down, not caring that her bag went under the water now. She bobbed along, head just above the water, trying to stick to the side of the river under the outcroppings of jutting rock, trying to blend into the shadows. Though she knew it wouldn’t work if the hounds peered over the edge of the cliff. They’re training eyes missed nothing and she knew they’d likely come up both sides of the river to catch her. But still, she tried to hide as best she could as she desperately half ran and swam upstream, making agonizingly slow progress.
Her head whipped side to side, eyes searching the base of the rock for somewhere to hide as she went, knowing that getting out of the water and into cover would be her only hope now. She saw nothing but smooth rock meeting the river, as far she could see. She started searching higher and her breath caught in her throat as her eyes noticed a tiny crevice in the wall of rock a few feet up off the river floor on the opposite side. There was a small ledge in front of it, not large enough for her to stand on but maybe big enough to pull herself up. She stood and made a dash to the opposite cliff face, looking around for anything she could use to hoist herself up to the ledge as it was about a foot out of reach.
She found nothing to assist her and tried desperately to scale the wall. Her hands, shriveled from the water, found no holes to catch a grip in, nowhere her feet could find purchase. She looked around frantically for another place to hide but saw none. Tears welled in her eyes as she knew she likely had moments of freedom left. Just then a huge arm wrapped around her from behind, a large hand coming up to cover her mouth before she had any time to react. In her panic, she hadn’t seen or heard anyone approaching her. She began to flail, crying out behind the hand as tears poured down her cheeks. That was it, it was over, was all she could think as she was pulled tightly against a strong chest. She knew she had no chance of escape. The person holding her was twice her size, likely male and she was completely, utterly exhausted.
“Stop fighting me, I’m not your enemy,” A deep, gruff voice whispered in her eye, low enough that over her hysteria she barely heard the words. “I’m not your enemy but those that hunt you are quickly approaching. If you don’t calm down I won’t have time to help you.”
Senna’s eyes went wide at the words but she stopped fighting against the man holding her. Her heart thundered in her chest, not daring to believe the words she was hearing. But against her mind screaming at her to get away, she let her muscles relax against him, knowing she had no choice. He would do what he would with her regardless but a tiny fragment of hope flared in her chest at his words.
“Good,” He whispered again, loosening his grip on her and turning her back toward the stone wall. She turned to look at him, eyes going wide as she stared up into the face of the man who had become her only hope. He was one of the most handsome people she had ever laid eyes on. He was shirtless, bare chest gleaming in the reflection off the river. His deep green eyes stared into her own with an urgency that snapped her back to reality. She turned, hand shaking as she pointed up to the crevice in the rock wall a foot above them.
“P-please,” Senna said, pointing. “I think I can squeeze in there. C-can you lift me?” Her voice came out barely more than a whisper as she stammered, fear still holding a tight grip on her.
The man looked at the crevice and stepped back to really look at her, eyebrows creased in thought. His gaze returned to meet hers and he nodded once. Senna turned toward the wall and his hands were instantly around her slim waist, hoisting her up toward the ledge. She reached out and grasped the ledge firmly but he kept lifting her until she was able to get her foot on the edge. She turned to the side and squeezed her body into the crack and pushed herself inside. As an afterthought she poked her head back out over the ledge to thank the man but she was surprised to see he was gone. Her head scanned the river, eyebrows bunched in confusion to where he possibly could have gone when she heard a low whistle from just overhead and rustling along the top of the cliff above.
She ducked her head back inside the crevice and shimmied her body back as far as she could go, which was only a few feet. It was extremely narrow and not very deep. She barely breathed as she listened hard to the sounds of the forest. It was hard to hear anything over the gentle rushing of the river below. But then she heard them, male voices, and froze. Voices she recognized.
