“The creatures are out there. You shouldn’t be on the tower,” the man called up after her.

“They can’t be any worse than the creature in here,” Cara said as she crawled onto the landing of the guard tower. Her adrenaline was pumping, her heart pounding hard, and fast. She couldn’t hear what the guard was saying.

Reaching Cara grabbed the railing and pulled herself up.

The sky over the east mountains was streaked with orange, pink, and purple.

Freedom.

The hand of the guard grabbed the top rung on the ladder. He’d almost caught up to her. He would try and stop her, she was sure of it. Cara climbed over the railing and turned toward the wall. It wasn’t a far jump but it was a long way down.

“Wait. What are you doing?”

Cara jumped landing easily on the wall ledge.

“Take my hand, I’ll pull you back onto the tower. You don’t know what you’re doing,” he said, his voice kind and full of concern. Cara looked back at him and could see recognition in his eyes, but she didn’t know him. Her father kept her away from most of the people in the town.

“Cara. Aldrich’s bride,” he said. His outstretched hand dropped. “You’re Mortimer’s niece.”

He knows my uncle.

Cara was afraid he was going to try and stop her again. She looked down onto the other side of the wall trying to see a way to escape without breaking her neck.

“I’ll tell your uncle that you got away,” the guard said.

Cara turned back, surprised by what he’s saying. “You’re not going to try and stop me?”

He untied a red pouch from his belt and held it out to her. “It isn’t much,” he said, his face solemn. “Good luck.”

Cara was still scared to reach for the pouch. Afraid it was a trick and he was going to pull her back onto the guard tower platform. She was afraid he would snatch away her one chance to escape.

“The… things that live out there. They’re dangerous. You’ll need this,” he insisted, holding the pouch out again.

Cara snatched the pack out of his hand and was surprised when he didn’t reach for her or try to catch her.

He really is trying to help me.

“Thank you.”

“You should hurry. I saw Aldrich’s servants opening the house to prepare for your wedding. He’ll be coming to get you soon and discover you’re gone.”

The ledge was thin, and with the wind Cara didn’t know how long she would be able to stay on top of it. Kneeling on the wall she tucked the pouch under the thin bra that was one of the many Aldrich issued articles of clothing for the women. He was the only one with the connections to trade with the stronger cities.

Curving her hands around the edge Cara began to lower herself down the other side of the wall until she was hanging. Her feet scraped the stones as she tried to find a foot hold.

Her right foot caught hold under her toes.

I can do this.

Scraping her left foot over the surface, she struggled to find a hold. The wind blew so hard that Cara almost lost her grip on the wall. She couldn’t feel the grooves in between the stones with the boots on. Wiggling her foot, she felt the oversized boot fall free. Her toes ran over the cold stone searching and probing for a hold. Finally, she found a very thin ledge.

“Hurry, someone is coming,” the guard whispered in a hiss.

Releasing her hold on the top ledge with her left hand, Cara slid it over the sharp cold edges of stone until she found a place to hold on. Just as her other hand slid off the ledge, she heard him.

Aldrich.

“She was outside my house. This is her hair. Find her.”

“Yes sir,” someone answered him, a guard probably but anyone in Aldrich Town would do his bidding. Cara didn’t blame them. She knew what the consequences were for refusing Aldrich. Cara’s hands were starting to shake again.

So much for being fearless.

She lowered herself further down the stone wall, feeling her way as she went. Cara’s foot rested on a sharp ledge biting into her flesh. The descent was slow and difficult. Her muscles began to spasm and she had so much farther to go.

“You must have seen her. Where did she go?” Aldrich called out.

“I didn’t see her. She must have come by during the shift change. I didn’t see anyone,” the guard lied.

Cara gained another foot, but it was still too dark to see where the floor below began. If she let go she might suffer bruised feet, or worse broken bones.

Just keep climbing.

“What is this?” Aldrich’s voice sounded victorious.

Cara looked up, certain that he’d climbed the tower and was looking down at her. Her hold slipped and she slid down the wall, her nails scraping against the rock, and tearing away. She caught herself with her right hand, her arm jerking hard.

Biting her lip, she stifled a cry of pain as her feet searched out holds and grooves in between the stones.

“This is hers.” Aldrich accused. His voice sounded like it came from the tower. He must have climbed up while she was sliding down the wall. If he looked down, he might see her. It was still dark but the sun was continuing to rise.

“It’s the same shawl that all the girls wear. It’s the standard you yourself issue out to the women.”

“Are you saying it’s not hers? That this couldn’t be Cara’s?”

A muffled sound drew her eyes upward. Aldrich was smashing the shawl against the guard’s face. Cara watched in horror. She didn’t know what to do.

The guard fought his way free of Aldrich, he gasped for air as he leaned over the wall. His eyes were searching the darkness. He was looking for Cara, but he couldn’t see her even though she was only a dozen or so feet down the wall.

He mouthed the word, “Run.”

Aldrich slipped the shawl around his neck and shoved him over the wall. His pointed face leaned over the wall after he’d tied off the shawl to the tower. “You lied to me. You saw her. My Cara.”

The guard’s feet kicked, his heels scraping on the wall but they weren’t catching. He was choking. Aldrich wasn’t going to release him.

Cara reached up, climbing upward as fast as she could. The light caught her hand as she took hold of his shoe and pushed, trying to help him.

“No,” the guard gurgled out kicking her hand away.

I can’t let you die.

She reached up again as Aldrich pressed his face into the dying man’s neck. “Do you know how long I’ve waited to fuck her? To break her?”

He kicked her hand away again, only this time she lost her grasp on the wall. Cara pushed off from the wall with her feet, hoping to land on the other side of the mote around the outer wall.

Aldrich straightened away from the dead guard, blood dripped down his chin as he cut the shawl and turned away.

Water enveloped her into freezing cold darkness. The dim light from above cast a silhouette of the guard who saved her life and gave his own. He was floating on the surface.

Cara choked on water as she tried to crawl up from the depths of the murky liquid. She didn’t know how to swim, but her frantic movements seemed to be working though too slow to do her much good.

She kicked her feet harder, climbing faster. When she reached him, Cara pulled until her head broke through the surface. A deep breath of air filled her lungs. She coughed.

It was so loud, her coughing in the silence. Aldrich would hear her. Someone would hear her. The quaking of her body was so violent she knew her thrashing around in the water would draw notice.

Sharp rocks stabbed into her back expressing what little air she’d managed to get. The force pushed her back under the surface but she didn’t let go of her hero. She reached up again. This time her hand caught hold of a boulder.

Cara pulled herself above the surface again. She tried to climb, out but she couldn’t do it holding onto the dead guard’s shirt. With a silent sob, she let go and climbed out of the still water. Its slimy texture increased the difficulty of climbing out.

Cara’s body was still shaking too hard. Her teeth chattering like drums. The boots she’d kicked off were long gone, probably at the bottom of the mote.

She should go, run even, but Cara couldn’t leave him like he was. This man who saved her was floating face down in the filthy, still water. It was foul smelling, and with the sun continuing to rise Cara could see human waste floating along the surface.

Cara bent down and took hold of his jacket. She braced herself with her feet flat on the huge boulder and pulled. It was slow going pulling him up the rocky, muddy slope. When she stopped to rest, he started sliding back in.

No. No. Please, no.

Her arms shook with the strain to hold his head above the water. Using all the muscle in her legs she pushed against the boulder gaining another two feet of his body onto the slope. Cara climbed a step higher. She began pulling the dead weight from the water. It didn’t matter how many times she had to do it. Cara wasn’t leaving him to rot in filth. He deserved a hero’s burial.

I don’t even know his name.