Larina by Richard H Stephens

Author:Richard H Stephens [Stephens, Richard H]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781989257265
Published: 2020-04-13T22:00:00+00:00

All Great Stories Must End

Lichen beneath Larina’s grasping fingers made scaling the perimeter wall of the Banebridge Manor estate impossible. After dropping silently to the lawn, she kept her eyes on the return of several guards as they casually made their way back to the manor; oblivious to what had just transpired inside. Now that she had reached the wall, the truth of her original misgivings about the barrier were proving true. The flat surface, encrusted with wet lichen, wasn’t conducive to climbing.

There were seven guards in total; five men and two women. Slinking from shadow to shadow, she zipped across the lawn undetected by those employed to keep people like her out. She grimaced. They hadn’t kept her out, but the obstacle before her prevented her from leaving.

She sprinted along the base of the wall searching for a way to get over it—a crack in the stone, a statue erected close to the wall, a nearby tree or even a bush—something to give her that extra support she needed to reach the top of the wall.

Several times, she ran at the wall—jumping high and scrambling. More than once her fingertips flashed along the lip but she couldn’t hang on.

She passed by the back of the manor, its bulk a blotch of darkness in the fog. If she didn’t find a way out soon, she would arrive at the main gate. The black iron entry would be much easier to scale, but it was too well guarded. She’d never make it over before they took her down.

The eastern perimeter showed no signs of being any better than the western or northern stretches. As she slipped by the front of the manor off to her right, she dove behind a dragon statue several paces away from the base of the wall and listened. Doors were banging in the night and raised voices called out to one another. The guards had been alerted to the theft.

Sweat beaded on her forehead and soaked the inside of her leather clothing despite the cold, night air. It wouldn’t be long before they found her.

Shouts sounded all over the grounds—most of the voices a long way off. She could only imagine that they were tracing her progress across the damp lawn. She hadn’t taken any steps to conceal her passage so it wouldn’t be hard for a decent tracker to follow her route.

Discarding any hope of remaining hidden, she bolted along the eastern wall and rounded the southern face. The taller gate posts appeared through the mist up ahead. Standing on the inside of the iron barriers, four guards wandered down the main walkway toward the manor—their attention drawn by the commotion of their peers.

Larina wasted no time taking advantage of their lapse of vigilance. Keeping the wall at her back, she approached the gate without a sound. Thick, black poles and heavy iron cross braces comprised the bulk of the gateway. Swirling curves surrounded large, iron, dragon faces in the centre of each gate.

Though slick

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