Sequel: The White Doe ›
Status: 1 of 7 volumes. Complete.
A Good Run
Ten
It is yesterday and they returning to Athens from Sparta, running in daylight and now she is suffering brief hallucinations because of the fatigue and the poison. She lets Phidippides stay ahead of her, afraid of losing sight of him, but no longer worried for his immediate safety.
She sees the Horde and the way they slaughtered families and she remembers the feeling of the sword slicing through her body.
She sees Meltinias and his thin fingers counting the coins that men have given him just to look at her.
She sees Thoas, at once old like he is now and young like he was then and she sees herself and she is old, too, she knows.
She sees ships, seven of them, moving along the coast, galleys with their sails out, Persian soldiers on the decks and hatches leading below chained shut.
Then she sees the world as it really is, she is still running back to Athens and it has grown late and the night has fallen. She moves to a side and sprints, skirting Phidippides's position, taking the lead. Again, he seems to not know she is there. Her feet burn.
She sees no vampires and wonders.
She sees the galleys in her mind, moving along the coast towards Athens. She sees the hatches again. She sees the chain and knows that they are there not to keep what is below in, but to keep what is above out.
She knows what is behind the hatches.
She sees the Horde and the way they slaughtered families and she remembers the feeling of the sword slicing through her body.
She sees Meltinias and his thin fingers counting the coins that men have given him just to look at her.
She sees Thoas, at once old like he is now and young like he was then and she sees herself and she is old, too, she knows.
She sees ships, seven of them, moving along the coast, galleys with their sails out, Persian soldiers on the decks and hatches leading below chained shut.
Then she sees the world as it really is, she is still running back to Athens and it has grown late and the night has fallen. She moves to a side and sprints, skirting Phidippides's position, taking the lead. Again, he seems to not know she is there. Her feet burn.
She sees no vampires and wonders.
She sees the galleys in her mind, moving along the coast towards Athens. She sees the hatches again. She sees the chain and knows that they are there not to keep what is below in, but to keep what is above out.
She knows what is behind the hatches.