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At least I had outgrown the nightmares about everything I’d lost when I became that.
Runo put the sword away.
A bell chimed at the edge of town, courtesy of my dearest mother, and Runo grabbed my hands by the rope attached to them. When he led me and my weak, shaking legs toward the next rotting log, I didn’t fight him. Fighting had never gotten me anything but a little more pain.
“Try to focus on the melons. My wife loves melons,” Runo told me, as he tied my ropes to the next rotting, uneven log.
I fought a snort at his words, moving a little on the log in an attempt to regain feeling in my ass.
The melons in front of me began growing rapidly, through no actual effort on my part.
Time passed slowly, as it always did. My energy trickled away bit by bit, draining into the ground, seeds, and existing plants.
A few more hours passed similarly before I was so completely exhausted that I may as well have been a corpse. Runo finally dragged me back to the tower he considered a generous home.
Fina hadn’t come outside to see me.
Neither had anyone else, adult, child, or otherwise. They always hid when I was outside, afraid I might infect them with my magic. It was ironic, really, that they feared my power so completely while relying on it wholly to stay alive.
I itched to develop enough control over it to finally make an escape, but that seemed like an impossibility after so many years.
Runo stopped outside the short door that led into my prison, the same way he always did. He untied the bindings on my wrists and ankles, then unceremoniously pushed my exhausted body onto the stone staircase at the base of my tower.
My legs gave out, and my ribs collided hard with the harsh stone. I groaned at the pain of the impact as I saved my face from yet another bruise with my forearms. My waist-length, dark green hair sprawled over the tanned skin on my arms, and it took a minute to pull it all out of the way. Runo closed and locked the door behind me, as always.
After lifting myself to a seated position with my shaking arms, I slowly used the wall to ease myself up to my feet, tugging my dark, oversized dress out from beneath me.
Every muscle I had trembled with the force of my exhaustion as I made my way up the stairs one by one.
There were so many stairs.
And I was so damn tired.
Still, I climbed.
I’d find a way out that night, I promised myself with every step.
When the moons rose, I’d figure out how to leave the town, I vowed, as I put one foot in front of the other.
Left.
Right.
Left.
Right.
Finally, I reached the top of the stairs.
Relief made my shoulders sag as I stumbled to my bed, ignoring the growl in my stomach.
The town’s bellies were full.
Their coffers were, too.
And yet there was never enough food left for me. They kept me hungry, drained, and trapped in a tower, all because it made their lives a little easier.
My back collided with the rough, old mattress, and I winced at the smell of mildew that assaulted my nose in retaliation. As despair began to creep into my mind, making my chest feel tight and my breaths shorten, I forced myself to close my eyes.
