No Dreams In Darkness by cuarthol

Pass of Aglon

Prompt: Not a lot of options

By the time she reached the eastern edge of the valley she had lost all sense of how much time had passed.  She had lost her sword and her armor, her helm and somewhere her shoes had gone missing as well.

Now she only wore her tattered and threadbare shirt that hung half way down her thighs and the rough spun breeches that were singed in spots and all along the bottom cuff.

But she did still have the small pouch at her belt.  She clutched it, not willing to look inside to see if that golden treasure she had stolen was still within.  If she did not look she could pretend it was.

Sloshing along the riverbank, she sniffed at the water, taking a tentative sip first before gorging herself on it.  Then she plodded along until she reached the ford and continued east with little idea of where she was going or where her path might lead.

Part of her knew she needed to go north again, and when she crossed the second river she could feel the pull of that terrible will that consumed their minds, but it felt distant here, divided among too many.  She gazed at the cold hills that flanked the pass north, then turned and looked south into the dark, twisting forest.

Back and forth she looked: north or south, back to her master or… 

A shudder ran through her at the thought of going back.  For the moment she did not think of what other option she had, she only knew she did not want to go back.  She did not want to feel the vicious lashes of the taskmasters upon her, fight over scraps of rotten meat - if they were lucky - she did not want to have her thoughts driven out by His will again.  

She crouched like an animal and ran nearly on all fours south along the river until it turned sharply to the east.  There she ran on until she was within the dark expanse of the forest.