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A rush of air left her lungs as she hit the roof. Her feet dangled over the edge and gravity pulled her down. Her fingers scratched at the shingles, trying to catch the lip of one before she fell two stories to the ground.
Her jaw was set with determination. The tips of her fingers catching on the smallest edge. In one fluid motion, she yanked herself to a stop and began pulling her body up. The shingle loosened at her weight.
Oh gods… oh gods…
She cursed under her breath and then said an extra curse for Shelby just for good measure. There was no way he would have been able to hold off the guard as she had. Ace was confident this was something only she was great at.
A guard thudded against the roof to her right. His boots landed only a couple of yards away, he watched her from his crouch. What the hell? Most of the guards who worked outside of the castle were lazy sons of bitches. Not him. Had Queen Sienna sent out her personal guard to find them?
Another guard smacked into the clay tiles between them with a yelp on her other side. He skidded against the tile as she had. His hands reached out for anything to take hold of but couldn’t quite get a hold of any one shingle. The guard—the one on his feet—flattened to his belly trying to catch his comrade.
The man slipped over the edge and a shout of surprise left him. It was only a moment later, when Ace was already up and standing again, positioned to sprint away, that he landed with a sickening crunch. Ace winced at the noise of bones breaking. She tried to push away the flashing images of blood that immediately came to mind.
The guard behind her didn't stop to mourn his friend. Maybe they just hadn't been close. Or maybe he was just good at his job.
Below them, voices were calling out for help. Someone was shouting for something to stop the bleeding. At least people on the street weren't looking at her.
At the end of this roof, there would be another jump. Ace was already preparing herself. A tree grew next to the building offering a few thicker limbs toward Ace and her grand escape. She pushed all that she had into this last run knowing just how close the guard was behind her. Too close.
For a split second, she thought about praying to one of the gods. If she didn't make this jump, she’d either be in the hands of Queen Sienna, leaving this world in cosmic imbalance, or she’d be broken. Splattered on the ground just like the last man who couldn't make the jump. Either way, she was as good as dead.
As her feet sent her propelling through the air toward the limb she remembered how useless the gods had been during moments like this. They hadn't saved Ace on her deathbed. They’d let her die. She was now the hands and feet of the gods; they themselves were useless. That was the thought traveling through her head as she smacked into the tree limb and wheezed the last of her air out.
She took a chance and glanced behind her, wondering if the guard would land next to her again. He hadn't left the roof. He'd been the only guard that made it across the buildings going as far as she had. And he didn't look as if he was even going to attempt this one. Not that it was much farther than the last…
He didn't move from where he was standing as Ace made her way down the tree. Here and there bark splintered against her cheap clothing and poked her skin as she scaled along the trunk. She kept eye contact with the man until her boots hit the ground, then she was running into the sanctuary of the forest. He didn't call after her or point anyone in her direction. The man stayed silent. Ace couldn't shake that thought.
She pushed through the brush and leapt over the shattered bits of debris that collected on the forest floor, her momentum creating a wind that blew her hair off her face. Occasionally, raindrops that had gathered on the canopy above her dripped down onto her still wet clothing. Sweat and rainwater kept her damp.
Her ears strained to listen for anyone following her as she made her way to where she thought was the two-mile mark. The entire way she hadn't stopped thinking about the guard who’d said nothing. He made the jump…he could have made the second jump… he could have shouted for someone on foot to chase her when she got to the forest. He could have… He could have… He could have… Why didn't he?
Ace turned west. Eventually her sprint slowed to a walk. She hadn't had to distract the guards for too long, leaving her to wonder if she moved fast enough if she'd run into Shelby before she reached the cave. The man's legs were longer than the river that ran the length of Maipeg.
Ace tried to keep her focus on the stretch of land between her and the cave. She wrapped her arms around her body as the wind traveled through her thin clothing. All of her was still damp and her hair was only getting frizzier by the second.
Occasionally, she stopped and leaned against a tree, catching her breath and listening. Her skin goosebumped on the back of her neck. Her eyes were on a constant loop of her surroundings. Were the guards so certain that they would be able to track them with the help of the warlocks? Twice now Ace and Shelby had made the escape into the woods and no one followed. Twice couldn’t be coincidental. It just couldn’t. That last guard had practically let her go.
Ace couldn't tell if it was paranoia that made her constantly look and listen or if it was the sixth sense that someone was watching, but she couldn't shake the feeling. With the dirt road that led out of the city behind her, she was able to pick up the steady sound of water running. Eventually she weaved her way through the trees and made it to the side of the river. She followed the twist and turns as water chased over rocks and she walked against the current.
At some point when the feeling of watching eyes grew too daunting and began to eat at her from the inside out, she started running again. She ran and the feeling chased after her, always lingering behind a tree or next to a bush or in a shadow. When she saw water crashing over a cliff she ran a little faster.
Now was the truest test to see if Shelby had really meant what he said. Ace didn’t feel as if she had been particularly convincing when she told Shelby that they needed each other. No matter what happened, Shelby was right. She would always need him more than he needed her. Ace hated that. The thought of it alone tasted sour. She knew it, admitted to herself, but didn't want to speak it to life. If she said it out loud, she was certain it would be true and it would always be true. So all she could do was hope Shelby was an honorable man…as honorable as a man could be after he helped a criminal, in his opinion, sneak into the queen's first event of the season.
Ace could make do without him. She could figure out her own way just as she always had. She certainly could make do without the bickering, but as long as she had a warlock or a grimoire packed to the brim with spells then she knew it was going to work out.
Where water hit water there was a heavy mist that dampened the bank. She gave the forest one last exam, finding no one, not even a squirrel or a rabbit or a wandering deer. Along the cliff, behind the waterfall, was a ledge just wide enough for a single person to cling to the edge and make their way through the veil of water.
The brunt force of the river arched away from the slender path, but the misting was still thick enough that Ace couldn't see into the cave. Gods, she hoped there was a cave on the other side. Or there was the possibility she could be walking into a trap. When Shelby left he didn't have a weapon but if he knew about this cave beforehand perhaps he knew that there were weapons already here. Maybe when she made it through the veil of water she would impale herself on the end of his sword. And then she wouldn't be his problem.
She took small careful steps, her fingers curling into whatever pieces of jutting rock she could find. The ledge was covered in a thick green sludge and every time she pressed her weight into it her boot slid just a smidgen. She tried to peer down where the waterfall met the river below, and couldn't make out any rocks. But that was all she could imagine was down there…
So she supposed it was either into the cave and potentially to the end of a sword or let herself slip and fall and maybe she could bang her head off of a few rocks before she was submerged underneath. Both ideas were equally as enticing as they were terrifying. Ace was sure that the tiny sliver of fear she got when she thought about that was only residual effects from her previous life, because she was ready for it all to end. She told herself she was ready for peace.
Every inch of her clothing stuck to her, and as the mist began to cling to her hair, she shivered. The rain had been cold but the river was icy. Droplets stuck against her skin like icicles.
While Pasia was warm nearly year round, this river was fed from the top of the mountains in Opeach. Ace wasn't exactly sure how it held its frigid temperature as it traveled such a distance from a different country. She stretched her arm out and her fingertips touched nothing but air. Cave or fall to her death? She gave a nervous chuckle at her own morbid thoughts before she decided to commit and thrust herself into the void.
Her body instinctively wanted to press her eyes closed to protect herself from seeing whatever was to come, yet she kept them wide open. She would meet death just the way she had the first time; she would watch it if it tried to take her life again. It was okay if that was her destiny, but she was going to make death look her straight in the eye as it did its job. With that one step, Ace was certain she was meeting her destiny…whatever that was.
