Vivienne Ashford's Arc

Chapter 3 of 8

Vivienne reached the ground and let go. Her feet hit soft moss and her knees buckled. She knelt in the dark, gasping. The two creatures squirmed free and dropped beside her. Her arms burned. Her hands were raw from the vines. Above her, the burning gap glowed orange, and shouts drifted down. The guards would find a way out. When they did, she had nothing to fight them with. She forced herself up and stumbled from the tree fortress. Its living walls loomed behind her, leaves black against the sky. The spined creature trotted ahead, then stopped. It stared at something in a clearing and flicked its ears. Vivienne followed its gaze. A sword stood upright in a cracked stone base. The blade glowed pale blue, and strange marks lined the stone in colored light. She had no idea who left it here. She only knew she was empty-handed, and a weapon sat within reach. She gripped the leather handle and pulled. The blade did not move. She braced a foot against the stone and heaved. Nothing. The sword held fast, as if grown into the rock. "Come on," she whispered. Her arms shook. She had climbed a wall and had nothing left. The blade only glowed at her, calm and useless. Behind her, the baby dragon padded to the stone. It sniffed the base and puffed a small flame at the colored marks. The light in the stone flared. A hum ran up the blade. Vivienne felt it through her palms. She understood. The stone answered fire, the same thing that had freed her from the walls. "Again," she told the dragon, and pointed. It breathed a longer flame across the base. The marks blazed bright. The stone cracked wider with a sharp snap. Vivienne pulled with everything she had. The blade slid free. She fell backward into the moss with the sword across her chest. It was lighter than it looked, and warm. She rose and swung it once. The edge cut clean through a hanging vine. She was armed now. Her legs still shook, but the weight in her hand steadied her. A gate groaned open at the base of the fortress. Torchlight spilled out. A tall figure stepped through, sword drawn, and scanned the dark. Not a guard. This one moved slow and sure, and the guards behind it hung back. Her captor had come out to hunt her. Vivienne pressed against a tree trunk and held her blade tight. The spined creature growled low. She would not be dragged back to a cell. She raised the glowing sword and watched the figure come.