For a long while, we traveled in dead silence. That is, until the horses came screeching to a halt. I flew forward, to the edge of my seat. My heart skipped a beat, and I let out a small gasp at the sudden jolt. Sitting up, I stared out the window, hoping to find the cause of the abrupt stop.

Tolly roused from his slumber and turned in his seat to look through the window as well. His brows furrowed. his shoulders squared. There was mischief in the air.

The Lord High Commander snapped his book closed. His gray eyes narrowed to the front of the carriage. With baited breath, he waited.

"No worries!" the muffled tones of the carriage driver's voice bled through the thick doors. "It's just the wheel. We can repair it in no time," he assured us.

"Should I check?" Tolly leaned forward, his chest only a few inches from his lap as he craned to get a look outside the window.

The Lord High Commander did not say a word. Instead, he released the door and disappeared through the opening.

When I turned back to Tolly, he too had vanished out the opposite side of the carriage.

What was a girl to do?

Something was wrong. I could sense it. The air went still, the wind dying mid-howl. Every hair on my arm stood on end, as if something electric and terrible was about to bear down on me.

A shrill cry pierced my confusion and unleashed pure adrenaline into my bloodstream. Feeling a sudden chill spider-walk down my spine, I folded my arms tight against my chest for warmth, and I pressed my nose to the cool glass of the carriage window.

I could not see much out my window. I could see even less when the heat from my breath began to fog the glass. Temptation forced my hand to the lever of the door.

I squeezed my eyes shut, pressed my lips together, and swung the door back. I didn't see it, but I felt the impact of my feet hitting the moist ground. I felt my weight settle across my legs, bones and muscle and skin keeping me from spilling across the ground. I felt the sudden visceral horror of the Shade.

I didn't need to open my eyes to know. To truly know. I could feel it the instant that the balls of my feet hit the soft dirt. Hell had been loosened on the earth.

Instinct sent my hands to my short sword. My fingers wrapped around its hilt. The blade thrummed with energy at my touch, as if it has been freshly awoken.

Like before, the world had a green tint. The light was diffuse, and the shadows were darker than pitch. It was the Un-Forest. Outlines of trees, now skeletal and bare, sprang forth from a darkened land.

Catching my breath, I turned to find the Lord High Commander standing over our driver. His gaze fixed me. Even through the darkness and the patina of death, his eyes were clear and gray. His skin was pale. And, he stood cloaked in the wisps of darkness that circled us.

He watched me with a look of determination that I was sure could bend the will of lesser men. But, I was no man. I was just a girl, clinging to a sword without a single thought in her head.

Then, as if by magic, my gaze dropped to the inky forest floor, once so warm with its brown soil and colorful leaves. My throat closed, and my lungs clenched my breath, refusing to release it for fear it would be my last.

At my feet was the body of our driver. He stared up at me, eyes wide with horror. He had sustained a deep laceration to his stomach, and he was struggling against the binds of the Shade.

As I had done before, I unsheathed my short sword and unbound him from the jaws of death. I then pierced him with my blade, which caused his body to spring up in a powerful convulsion.

When I removed my blade, the world returned to its fiery autumnal colors, and the driver sat up, bewildered. Fear began to pool in his eyes as he attempted to sort out what, exactly, had happened.

"You?" he murmured, half-shocked, half-appalled. His eyes fluttered for a few moments as if he could not believe it himself. "Did you?" his voice went quiet, became less accusatory.

The Lord High Commander helped the man to his feet, "Come now," he assured the driver as he ushered him to the front of the carriage.

Mindlessly, I followed them to find the body of another man. A man who appeared still in the clay. All his color had been drained from him, and, in his hand, he clutched a long, tapered knife coated in blood. I could make out no wounds. No slashes. It appeared that his soul simply had been dragged to hell.

"That is the man!" the driver started, pointing hysterically at the dead body. "That man tried to kill me!"

The Lord High Commander and Tolly helped the driver to his seat and began speaking pacifyingly. Words of reason proved an effective tether for the man's unraveling psyche.

I spun around on my heels and climbed back into the carriage. I had no use for false comforts. I did not want to hear what I was certain would become a common refrain, like a hymn, to explain me and my strange gift.

I hugged my chest and stared into the dying leaves. Time seemingly ceased its brutal flow, trapping me in a moment of sweeping grief. Everything I had ever known, had ever hoped and dreamed, had turned to vapor. And, now, this was my lot. It was uncertain. It was coarse. It felt terminal.

After a spell, the carriage dipped slightly under the Lord High Commander's weight as he entered beside me. Tolly was next, taking his seat in front of me. The men traded those strange, unknowable stares of theirs.

My attention drifted to the window.

Tolly settled back into his drowsy slumber. The Lord High Commander resumed reading from his book, and I continued staring out the window, wondering what was to become of me. Of Azure. Of this hideous power that I possessed.

When the silence finally began to send cracks streaking through my resolve, the carriage halted unexpectedly. Momentum thrust us forward in our seats, but we recovered without a word.

I moved closer to the glass, eyes greedily taking in the scenery. All I could see was a thick blanket of brush and evergreens. Dusk was beginning to break across the sky, turning the sun's light dim and golden.

Just as I was about to strain my neck for a better view, the driver released the door, and I had to grip the cushion of my seat to keep from tumbling out of the carriage.

"Ma'am," the driver murmured, sheepishly. He offered his hand and helped me out and onto the soft soil of the Seamless.

I stopped dead, took in a deep breath, and closed my eyes as soon as my lungs stretched to maximum capacity. The air was salty, and it rolled down my throat, eliciting a strange stinging sensation that brought a cough charging up from my chest. Hacking into the bend of my elbow, I took a few steps away from the carriage and the horses. When the fit ceased, my attention shifted to the banks of the mud-colored water.

I was expecting a bustling community to rival Ailes. What I found was oddly serene and sparse. There were only about fifteen people, including us, near the dock that fanned out into the water. Small boats moored to wooden pillars bobbed and drifted as far as they could before their tethers pulled them back.

"Riverly?" I turned to the sound of my name to find Tolly mid-throw. A rather large round package came hurtling toward my face. Only by the grace of the Gods did I manage to catch it before it slammed into my head.

"Err," I growled.

"You're welcome," called Tolly, a wry grin hanging from his lips like a taunt.

I gave him a heated glare.

"Follow me to the dock," he instructed, brushing aside my aggravation; his arms filled with packages.

Wordless and not at all happy about it, I did as he said, following ten paces off his stride.

When we reached the dock, Tolly instructed the boy working the ropes that we required three small boats. The worker nodded happily and ran off to prepare for our departure.

Tolly threw me a sly over-the-shoulder glance. "We'll make it to camp soon."

"Where will I go?" I asked, cuddling the package closely against my chest.

"Wherever the Lord High Commander bids you to go," he answered cryptically and chuckled. "You really need to stop worrying about things you cannot control."

I cocked a brow at this. "Arrog—"

"The infirmary," interrupted the Lord High Commander. "I have sent word for them to prepare a lodging for Riverly."

While his voice might have belied hope, his expression remained still and serene as he stared out onto the river. The River Lee was wide, almost endless, as it touched the horizon.

"How long?"

"We'll be there by morning," Tolly answered before I had the chance to get all the syllables out.

"The water is rather calm for this time of year," the Lord High Commander observed casually. "A good omen."

Tolly nodded in agreement.

The carriage driver moved past us onto the dock and began speaking with one of the boy-workers. I turned to see others who looked like passengers milling around near the banks of the river. The Lord High Commander and Tolly returned to the carriage, likely to oversee the workers moving the supplies to the small boat at the end of the dock.

Alone, I folded my arms against my chest and watched the waves of the water lick against the wooden posts.

Maybe I could escape, I thought to myself. The Seamless wasn't exactly bursting with activity, and both Tolly and the Lord High Commander were attending to more important details. None of the workers knew me. I was forgettable enough. I could blend, move to the edges of activity, and then get lost in the forest. No one would know where I went.

Except, my better part chimed in. It wouldn't take a lot of logic to figure out that I had fled into the forest. The forest looked expansive, but, it would not take much time for them to realize I had gone missing. At best, I would have about 30 minutes to make my run.

Thirty minutes wasn't enough. They'd surely come for me on horseback, which would eat into whatever lead I had managed to gain. And, when they found me, which they likely would, any hope of freedom that I could possibly bargain for would be gone. I would be shackled and monitored at all times.

I frowned as this scenario played out in my head.

Even if I could evade them, the forest did not seem particularly hospitable. How would I manage to get all the way back to the Silts without food, water, money, or transportation?

My frown deepened.

There was only one solution: Wait. They could not ignore the Harvest. They would have to return me to Silts in only a few weeks. I could survive until then.

And, so, I stood, paralyzed at the edge of the dock. My gaze turned to the river. Its waves lapped at the riverbank. Dark water pooled below me.

"Small miracles." Tolly's low voice rushed through me.

I did not turn to greet him. Instead, my eyes narrowed on the horizon, dim in the setting sun. Part of me fumed at his closeness. Had I never laid eyes on him, I wouldn't be here. Another part of me wanted to lash out at him. My sister was in danger. My Mistress could be in danger. Even if she had not gone to the Morning Priest about the nature of my taking, there would be questions. Unharvested Sullied from the Silts were never sent to the Killing Fields. The protocols for drafting Sullied would be too much of a procedural nightmare, and it would lead to resentment, infighting, and disunity.

"We board," Tolly murmured, shoving his shoulder against mine to push me along. Without much effort or thought, Tolly climbed into the faded blue boat. The wood was weathered and splintering. A strange triangular cloth suspended from a central post of the boat beat in the wind.

What is this? I wondered to myself as I took stock of the various ropes, tethers, bolts, and nuts. None of it appeared very sturdy for as old as the boat looked.

"Riverly," the Lord High Commander's baritone startled me from my thoughts.

I jerked up, back ramrod straight. I turned to find him stepping lightly into the boat. Instinctively, he turned and offered his hand. "It is safe," he assured me, face quiet and earnest.

Without a single word in protest, I grabbed ahold of him. As soon as I felt his hand close over mine, I moved to the edge of the dock, where I paused. Every fiber in my body cautioned me against leaving. The boat appeared unsteady, and, reflexively, I turned back to the forest. If I left the dock, I would be even farther from where I wanted to go.

"Riverly," the Lord High Commander said my name so gently that I almost missed it for the din of thoughts drumming in my head.

His clasp on me tightened, his warmth penetrating my skin, sinking into the tight muscles of my hand. I found his steadiness strangely comforting. It felt almost familiar.

Unsure of my footing, I slipped. He grabbed me by my shoulders before my legs broke from under me. In the tightness of his grip, I finally felt it. A strong sense of déjà vu overwhelmed me.

Was it a memory? I had lost so many of them, like pieces of a puzzle that had scattered across the floor. But, surely, I prayed, some of them must still reside deep within me, just waiting to snap back into place.

"Are you well?" I could hear the Lord High Commander's concern through the deluge of my thoughts.

But, before I could break from this strange feeling, a scratching in my brain forced me to retreat deeper inside myself. There was something there, but it wasn't where I expected it to be.

Maybe I had known him or his family as a child?

Maybe we had not always been strangers?

I could not deny that there was something familiar about the Lord High Commander, about the strange darkness that he could summon, about the way his hand fit against mine, the strange current of his power, which was so like my own.

And, then, it hit me. A flash of green and hands clasped together. The focus was narrow, but I could tell by the swing of the clasped hands that they were running. The sounds of leaves and branches crackling and the smell of musty earth transported me into the thick of the event. But, I could never pull out enough to get the full context.

Who was running? Why were they running? What was happening?

When the separate reality playing in my mind's eye stopped, I was left reeling. My head felt full; the dull roar of a headache emerged, and I could barely hold myself straight. With what little sense I could muster, I opened my eyes to find only blackness.

All earthly light had abandoned me.