Smooth bone brushed Sosa`s leg. She could see neither the bodaki or her own limbs through the thick dark. Every muscle clenched, waiting for something to pierce her skin, or grab her so hard her shoulders would pop like Orolo`s.

　　Sosa,` Talon whispered from the dark. She wanted to answer but it stopped in her throat.

　　She drew up her legs away from the thing. As she pulled on her bonds, they came free. Confused she did not think to flee until something grabbed her arm and pulled. She screamed, but through it someone yelled her name.

　　It was not hard claws or teeth that held her, this was soft and warm.

　　Quick!`

　　She was pulled sharply towards where Talon was still tied.

　　She moved through the dark, feeling for her fathers arms. When she found him, she felt him jerk away with a surprised yell.

　　Mmawe!`

　　Hang on, Talon,` her mother bent to his bindings

　　The darkness swirled, disturbed by something within and Talon grunted as he kicked his legs against it.

　　Kala!` he shouted both in surprise and warning. Sosa! Get away, they`re here!`

　　Sosa wasn`t leaving him. The ropes fell slack and she pulled him hard trying to make him stand.

　　Run!` Kala shouted.

　　Talon was up, but Sosa could already feel how his legs would fail him when he took a step. She slid an arm under his shoulder and took his weight, all the while propelling him forwards. She heaved with the very last of her energy to keep her father from stumbling.

　　One of the bodaki was following, she could hear it breathing, claws digging into soil. In a few yards, they burst from the dark, escaped the trees, and collapsed onto the grass.

　　Are you okay?` Kala grabbed them and they huddled on the edge of the clearing listening to the bodaki pace just inside the cage of their darkness. The knife Kala had used to sever their bonds was bloodied. So were her hands.

　　Mmawe? Are you hurt?`

　　It`s not mine,` Kala looked at her hands. I&` she couldn`t finish.

　　It`s okay.` Talon pulled her close.

　　It isn`t.` Kala looked up at him. I don`t know what we`re going to do.`

　　We need to hide,` said Sosa. Keep low. Someone might be on watch, or if they find you`ve escaped they`ll raise the alarm.`

　　They crept as close to the trees as they dared, keeping a distance from the village until they reached the stores.

　　Not inside, you need to hear someone coming and be able to run.` Sosa spoke softly.

　　They sat behind a large storage shed out of sight of the village. Kala gripped Talon and began to silently sob into his chest. I can`t do this any more.`

　　It`s okay, it`s okay.` Talon stroked her hair.

　　It isn`t.` Kala found anger amongst her tears. None of this is okay. They tried to murder my husband and my daughter and for what? Because they tried to help?` Kala wiped her eyes. I`ve had enough of that man and his lies. He`s killed Hora and now the weaver is dead. For all I know Roo is dead. I still couldn`t find her!`

　　Mmawe, I don`t think that was&` Sosa began but Talon caught her eye and gently shook his head. Sosa stayed quiet. It was Jode, afterall, who had engineered the fear that drove their execution. Kala had eluded this only because of her reason involvement with so many villagers and Jode knew the limits of his influence. It wouldn`t be long before he found another excuse to rid himself of his troublesome chronicler once she had no one left to protect her.

　　The usual choir of horror drifted from behind the tree line, but it was the occasional stirring from the other direction that spiked Sosa`s heartbeat. The day had left many villagers restless. She wondered if Jode was among them. Somehow she doubted his sleep was disturbed by their executions.

　　Mmawe?` Sosa asked softly. Where is the spear?`

　　Bloodshot eyes turned to her. Still at home, why?`

　　And the armour, still hidden at the Hearths?`

　　A small nod, then a frown. What are you doing?` Kala wiped at her wet eyes.

　　We can`t stay here any more. I can`t just sit here and wait for someone to find us.`

　　Wait. Sosa, no,` said Kala. You can`t go back, if someone finds you they`ll&`

　　We can`t just hide here forever. Mmawe, trust me.`

　　In her mother`s eyes only denial but in Talon`s face, there was conflict. If they ran, they would be leaving Grammawe all alone. Would she understand? It was their only chance. They had made it through the trees before and with only the spear. If they had the armour Kala had been collecting too&

　　Don`t go anywhere unless someone comes,` Sosa said.

　　No, wait!` Kala reached for her, we should all go.`

　　Talon nodded, but she could see him struggle with the longstanding problem. Before him was a daughter he needed to protect, yet before him was a woman quite capable, probably more capable of pulling this off than either of her parents. She locked eyes with him.

　　No,` he said finally, pulling Kala gently to him again. If three go and three need to run then three need to escape or it is all lost. One can do that better.`

　　Sosa gave him a smile. Talon understood. Instead of leaving, Sosa knelt and took her mother`s blood stained and trembling hands. I need you to tell me how you escaped, Mmawe.` She took a guess. I need to know what you did to the man who was guarding you.`

　　Kala crumpled, trying to pull back her red hands. I think I killed him.`

　　It`s okay, it`s okay. I just need to know what I`ll find if I go home.`

　　No, no, no don`t go home, Sosa, please don`t go home&`

　　Mmawe!` Sosa`s voice was sharp and firm. I will be fine, but I need to know some things. Is Grammawe at home?`

　　Kala shook her head. I don`t know where she is, whether they sent her somewhere, or she just went wandering&`

　　That`s okay, I will be back soon, I promise.`

　　Perhaps just get the armour and leave the spear? That way you don`t need to go home.` Talon suggested but Sosa didn`t need to argue her point.

　　I`ll be fine, just stay right here unless someone comes.`

　　Sosa slipped though the night, a thief come to steal back what was left of her life.

　　Their hut was empty. Grammawe was still absent. She might be wandering, sleepless, or she might have returned home and Kala`s guard had sent her back to her empty hut for the night. The other problem with the empty hut was the lack of a corpse. If Kala`s guard had lived, he could be raising the alarm right now. Maybe he was too badly hurt? Maybe he had crawled off somewhere to die. Sosa wondered how bad a person hoping for this eventuality made her.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

　　The sleepless villagers she had encountered and hidden from seemed more restless than alarmed, but she stopped to listen at every passing sound. She felt around the dark hut, finding the spear and anything else that would make a weapon. The air carried a metalic scent, and her fingers found the trail of something wet.

　　The missing man might be dead, but if so, had died outside. He did not need to be alive to raise an alarm, Sosa realised. She should find him and hide him, buy them a little more time.

　　Sosa left the hut, carrying the spear. Keeping herself concealed, she tried to follow the glinting trail of wet blood through the dark, hiding with every approach of footsteps and waiting for sleepless villager to shuffle past.

　　What if the man at the end of the trail was still alive, what then? Sosa followed it, not to the council chamber and Jode, but to a cluster of huts, one of which belonged to Raela.

　　Sosa paused.

　　With his dying breaths the man was not trying to kill Sosa and her family, but just to get home or to get help. He was just trying to live.

　　In the dark her foot caught under something heavy and she nearly fell. The man lay still, blood pooling around him, shallow breaths struggling though his mouth. Sosa drew a knife she`d found in the hut. She knelt beside him, looking at his neck, her hands shaking. A quick slash was all it would take to stop him raising any alarms.

　　The man was a little older than her. His name was Nelo, a herdsman by trade, but a regular helper in the fields. No doubt he`d been there a lot in Talon and Sosa`s absence.

　　Her fingers trembled on the blade. If he raised the alarm before she got back to her parents&

　　She lowered the knife and slipped it back into her belt. She could not kill him. Her mother had attacked the man who held her at the council`s orders and she did not blame her for that. Kala had escaped to save her family.

　　Slashing a dying man`s throat was different.

　　Cursing her own humanity and leaving the spear, Sosa lifted the man to his feet and hung him off her shoulder. He was conscious enough to carry a fraction of his own weight and Sosa walked him slowly toward Raela`s hut. He slipped from her grasp at the door and crumpled to the floor through Raela`s door flap. There was a surprised yell from inside. Apparently the healer counted among that night`s sleepless.

　　Sorry, he needs help,` Sosa said.

　　What happened?` Raela knelt to the man, feeling in the dark for him so she could lay him out. Sosa hung in the doorway, uncertainly I`m going to need your help,` Raela was adjusting him, I need some light first, and then you need to fetch lots of water. Can you&` The healer stopped when she realised the saviour was not moving.

　　Squinting through the dark, at the silhouette Sosa must have cast against the door, Raela spoke. Oh, Ale-ki, did you do this?`

　　No. But you understand why I can`t stay. I`m sorry Raela, but you`re on your own.`

　　Would Raela raise the alarm, or would this good deed buy her momentary silence?

　　It was too late to worry about now. Sosa ducked back outside grabbed the spear, then ran for the Hearths, diving into cover before nearly running into another nocturnal wanderer. Certain her heavy breathing would give her away, she tried and failed to hold her breath.

　　They`re not looking for me yet, she thought. Not yet.

　　She ran again, keeping low until finally she reached the Hearths. Darting from anvil to hearth, Sosa made it to Roo`s hut and uncovered the armour. She tried to pick up a few pieces, but it would be too noisy and cumbersome to carry. She should have brought a sack. The sheet that covered it was not enough to gather and carry the pile. There was only one way to get the armour out of the village.

　　Shaking fingers fumbled at leather strapping. Roo had been fitting everything with fresh straps and buckles as she had located each piece. Metal plates dropped noisily to the floor and Sosa cursed each time, waiting for the shouts that would come for her. If they came, she would run and leave it. Only the spear might be enough to save the three of them, but&

　　Her fingers slipped, shaking hands losing their grip. The straps would not do as she commanded and her fingers betrayed her.

　　When Eleris had been afraid, Sosa had not seen her panic. She had been swift, and she had acted with certainty. Sosa needed to be the same now. She dropped her hands onto her lap where she knelt and took in a slow breath. Sweat beaded all over her body. She let out the air which came in shivering lumps as her muscles shook. A second breath in and out, this time more steady. She let out the third breath in a single stream.

　　Sosa`s fingers moved slowly, deliberately and found each piece of armour in turn, feeling for the straps and fastens that Roo had made. The breastplate first, then the leg plates. Not every piece was here, but she fastened on what she had, finishing with the curved plates on her arms. She tightened the straps over bruises gained when she fought the men who took her, but she tightened them anyway.

　　The armour fit her perfectly, which was strange. It surely could not have been made for Gris, then? In the night air, it sparkled with its own light. Sosa took a gentle grip on the centre of the spear shaft so she could run easily, as Eleris had done. Moving carefully, the plates made little noise and with the weight distributed over her body it felt far less cumbersome than she had thought. If anything, the weight lent purpose to her stride.

　　She stepped from the dark of the hearthmaster`s hut into a different kind of light and looked around at the dark village. It was but a small dot in an expanse of forest; a dot where all their problems were concentrated. Outside of that dot, they had options. With only the spear they had travelled so far. Now they could go anywhere.

　　Perhaps Eleris would take them in. What other villages might they find? What other places? A few days ago, the thought of beyond the forest had frightened, her but what if they found the end of it? What if there was a place where the trees no longer ruled? Sosa might find the answers to her questions for herself.

　　She shook away the excitement this new clarity brought her and concentrated on the immediate problem. She stuck to quieter areas, but no longer felt it necessary to skulk in the shadows. Clouds drew over the stars, stealing the last of the light, yet the armour sparkled. Could others see the light? Or was she aware of it in the same way she`d grown accustomed to sensing the darkness?

　　Turning a corner, she startled a sleepless wanderer. She did not recognise him in the dark, could barely see his eyes widen before he fell to his knees mumbling pleas for Ale-ki to save him.

　　Sosa looked down on the man. He ceased his muttering and looked up, lifted one shaking hand towards her, then dropped his head, eyes clamped shut. Sosa walked past him.

　　Something darker than the black of night slipped from the corner of her vision towards the man, but when Sosa looked, it was only the deepening shadows of night under the failing stars.

　　Nothing more.

　　Feeling emboldened by her encounter, Sosa changed course to solve another complication. Grammawe. It was a gamble, but she had to check. Sosa stepped through the door flap of the old empty hut and something landed heavily on her shoulder. Sosa screamed and span around, ready to lunge with the spear. At the last moment she stayed her hand. Grammawe, you scared me!` she said, forcing her voice to quieten. You`re awake, thank Ale-ki. We have to go.`

　　Who are you?`

　　Grammawe, it is me, Sosa, we have to go now.` Sosa moved forwards as if to encourage the old lady to move, but Grammawe just looked at her, curiously.

　　You`ve never been shiny before.`

　　Well& I`m shiny now. Come on.`

　　Do I need anything?`

　　Sosa smiled sadly. There isn`t really time.` There was plenty of supplies at Gris` hut which, if Eleris had been truthful, should now be abandoned.

　　Where are we going?`

　　Sosa ushered her forwards, not answering until she was moving. To meet Talon and Kala at the edge of the village.`

　　Keeping her moving proved to be easy. Keeping her quiet was harder, but Sosa reasoned that at least no one would come and investigate the sound of an old woman talking loudly to herself in the night.

　　Sosa found a second wanderer in the darkness. The woman gave a yelp, backed up against a wall and tried to keep walking as if she could reverse through it. Her eyes locked with Sosa`s and the woman trembled,

　　What`s wrong with her?` Grammawe whispered loudly. Sosa urged her on.

　　Talon and Kala were waiting where she`d left them. With the darkness now near total, she could barely see Talon smiling.

　　Well, that suits you. Not great for a stealthy escape mind.`

　　Sosa looked down. Now the clouds obscured the last of the night sky, she was the only light source. She looked like a swarm of glow flies.

　　Grammawe stepped out from behind Sosa and Talon threw her arms around his mother.

　　We`re leaving then,` Kala whispered. It wasn`t a question. Then she hugged Grammawe as well. Please say you`re coming with us.`

　　I don`t remember being asked.`

　　We`re not leaving her behind.` Sosa said.

　　Talon released his mother and gave the armoured Sosa an awkward embrace. Thank you,` he whispered in her ear.

　　Sosa began removing the armour from her arms and legs.

　　Wait, what are you&`

　　Just take it and don`t argue.` She helped strap the pieces to her family, even Grammawe did not struggle as Sosa strapped a plate to her. She was left with her back and chest, one thigh and one shin covered. The other pieces were missing. Kala`s hand landed on her as she started loosening more.

　　No. These will be enough. They will work, even just one piece is enough to keep us safe for a little while. I, er&` she looked sheepish, well me and Roo tried it.`

　　I say we go to the Gris` hut,` said Sosa, though hut was hardly the right description. It was more like Eleris` palace. With the armour to protect us we should be okay. We rest, then we decide where we want to go next.` The others nodded.

　　They moved slowly away from the village, towards the trees, picking through the dark while the first drops of rain began to ping off Sosa`s armour. If we head back up to the funeral clearing, then we can find Gris` path to other village.` Sosa led the way. It would be slow but they were in no rush now.

　　They were free.

　　Talon walked alongside his mother, one hand on her arm ready to catch her if she stumbled. The four faintly glowing people walked carefully through the night and into the funeral clearing, the place where the dead were offered to the trees. They paused for only a moment. This was the last place they would be that was still part of their own village. Without speaking they each took a moment. Rain began to fall. Black drops in the black night ran down their bodies reflecting the sparkle from the strange metal.

　　They walked to the edge of the trees.

　　Where their village ended.

　　Where their new life began.

　　They paused on the boundary and stared into the night where their future awaited. Sosa looked at the other`s faces. She didn`t see the same excitement she felt, but what she did see was hope. Hope and tired relief. It was over.

　　A hand clasped Sosa`s and she squeezed it back. One more step and they would be free.

　　Just one step.

　　Then the screaming started. It rose from the village with just a single voice. Then a second joined it. Then a third. Soon there were so many screams it was impossible to count.

　　Sosa looked at the night ahead of her, her foot poised to make the step, and listened.