Chapter Seven
Three days passed before Arissa arrived at the base of the intimidating mountain ranges astride Raze. In all the time since she had left, there had not been a single whisper of another human around her. There had hardly been a day when she hadn’t seen or at least heard the huntsmen prowling the forests, looking for her. Now there wasn’t as much as a fresh track. The thought unsettled her, making her even more paranoid and alert.
With so much ground to cover, Arissa suddenly felt completely overwhelmed. Alone, it was almost impossible to investigate every plane and canyon of the mountain. Before rushing into what could very well be a trap, she needed to stop and make a plan.
Varkland was the isolated, most dangerous city in the territory, located nearly on the peak of the mountain that reached high above Arissa now. It had been officially abandoned as a functioning city years ago, although many people still chose to live there. However, they were either fugitives that were in hiding or people who had run away from the battles that had claimed most of the land in recent attacks. Cowards and thieves and traitors lived there. In Varkland, there was no law, no rules, only the single goal to survive.
Why the General had chosen this derelict city, Arissa couldn’t imagine. The militia never stepped foot near it, but then again, it was the last place she wanted to travel to. Perhaps that’s why they had chosen it, to discourage her. If that was the case, then they didn’t know the first thing about her, after all.
Karson’s words echoed back into her mind, informing her that even the leaders who were trying to keep ahead of her were running out of places to hide. That was both good and bad news.
The good news was that it meant they would soon be getting desperate. They thought that somebody would have been able to capture her by now, but failed. Given her past that some considered sketchy and her present situation, Arissa was a major threat to the militia. They would be anxious for her to finally be imprisoned and would probably stop at nothing to make it happen. Doing so, they would become careless, especially since most of the army is made up of recent recruits and untrained greenhorns.
At the same time, it was bad news because they had an advantage over her. They held hostage one of the few things that meant anything to Arissa and they knew that. Using him as leverage against her was the smartest thing they could have done…and the stupidest. Now, Arissa would stop at nothing until she regained what she had lost and exacted her revenge on the General that she loathed.
The leader of the military had taken over what had been left to the land after the destruction and war years ago. A mass amount of the human population had been killed or banished, leaving only small villages and settlements. The man responsible now, whose name was undisclosed, thought of himself as ruler to what was left of the forsaken land, focusing solely on building the world back up to his standards. That meant that all people were treated as worthless peasants, the lone purpose of their lives was to act on his word immediately and spread the word of his great leadership to the other areas of surrounding land that had not been as fortunate as to regain the government that had been lost. The people who lived there, ultimately known as the Lost Ones, struggled for survival without the knowledge or means necessary to survive in their parts of the world. With what little was left to the countries and territories that had once been their homes, they only had one option besides dying of starvation. Only when they agreed to spend their lives serving the General and his army, would they be accepted to move into the cities that Arissa knew so well. Even with the empty promise of basic staples of survival, when the Lost Ones arrived, most ended up being executed simply because of where they had come from or the accent of their voices or the color of their hair. The General was very selective when it came to who he allowed in his armies and cities.
The reason Arissa knew as much as she did was because she had once been a part of it, becoming one of the most crucial figures in the General’s efforts in building his cities, sifting through his choice of people as if they were cattle. And it was directly connected to why she was being hunted now.
Distracted by her hateful thoughts of the General that she hated so much, Arissa still had not been able to decide on a solid plan. She and Raze still stood on the worn bridle path that was covered in horse tracks leading between the trees and over the knoll that started the long, treacherous journey into the mountains.
Feeling weakened and disoriented by her thoughts and before she could decide on whether or not to follow the path, Raze suddenly tossed his head in the air. He seemed oddly focused on another trail that was leading slightly askew of the one they stood on. Fresh imprints of shod horse hooves could be seen easily in the dirt. Only military horses wore shoes.
A hopeful smile lit Arissa’s face. “He’s here, Raze.”
______________
