As the Wolf Howls by Michael Linford

Author:Michael Linford [Linford, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781910832202
Publisher: Rowanvale Books Ltd
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

Elspeth was trembling as she slipped through the door in the back wall of Orgent. In all her time living here, she had never known it be used and was unsure of how she’d manage to get much farther without plummeting to her death. She had to try though because she was sure the other option would be worse.

Stepping out onto the ledge, she could feel a cold wind blowing around the side of the mountain and realised this would make it even more difficult to manoeuvre around. Her best chance was to step sideways along the ledge, clutching any parts of Orgent’s wall that protruded, and try to make it onto the edge of the city, and flatter land. Tentatively, she started to turn to face Orgent and slip out onto the ledge as the door started to creak shut behind her. Just as she searched for a foothold, the door swung wide open again, splintering against the inside wall before a massive cloud of black ash tore Elspeth from the wall. She screamed as she was swung out in a wide arc, over the mountains below. She was then pulled back through the doorway she’d just escaped from by her feet. Inside the walls again, she felt herself get dragged along the floor, every rock scraping against her as her body was roughly thrown about, finally ending up at the feet of the stranger.

‘You dare to think you could escape? Me, with all the power I wield, against you, a mere serving girl.’ The stranger’s voice was angry and loud, causing Elspeth to curl up, cowering. ‘Stand up and face me, girl, or I will make you suffer even more than I have already.’

Elspeth crawled backwards slightly towards the emperor, desperately trying to get any protection she could. The emperor looked beaten and drained of all hope as he looked at her solemnly and spoke with his head bowed, ‘Just do it child, we cannot fight, we must do as he says.’

Slowly, Elspeth got to her feet. She was bruised and bloodied from being dragged along the courtyard but nothing was broken so she was able to stand. ‘W-what do you want from me? As you said, I’m just a servant girl — I’m of no use to you.’ She stammered as she spoke, looking up at this huge, menacing figure.

‘I know who you are and I know how close the princess is to you, so trust me, you will be useful to me. You and this fool’s privileged daughter share a bond, so you will help me get her back here.’

‘Never, I will never help you. There is nothing you can do to me that would make me help you or betray the princess.’ Fighting the urge to run, Elspeth hissed her words at him in an act of defiance.

As he moved closer towards her, the evil being’s featureless face changed slightly and two piercing red eyes appeared amongst all the black.

‘There is much I can do to you, girl, and I will.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.