The Path of Decisions Read Free Page B

the three young men
trying to get up. The leader of the cruel group could barely stand.
    Heart pounding with rage, Christine hardly felt the pain in her
wrist. Adrenaline flowed freely through her terrified body. It felt good to
fight back. It felt good to hurt those who had hurt her. There were no more
tears, only a new, unyielding resolve to continue fighting.
     
     

Chapter 3
    ESCAPE
     
    “W here are we going?” whispered Kelln, trying not to stumble in
the darkness. It had been three weeks since the interrogators had last beaten
him. Three long weeks since the Preacher had invaded his mind with his foul and
evil magic and ripped memories from him. Memories that betrayed thoughts that
his best friend Darius had the powers of a wizard. His body had been so
weakened during the interrogation that his legs were just now strong enough to
hold him up.
    “Just keep hold of my hand,” said Alessandra. She paused a moment
and looked around, as if deciding which way to go. Her long auburn hair was
died black again, the way it always was when she worked in secret.
    Kelln remembered the first time they met, back in Anikari at the
beginning of last summer, almost seven months ago. She was slightly older than
his nineteen years and wore many disguises as she had helped others come into
the Preacher’s fold. It was hard to know what she really looked like.
    It had been seven long months in Belor, and now winter was on the
cusp of ending. Once again Alessandra led him out of a city. Kelln had left
Anikari with her soon after his graduation from the academy. His father, the
city’s swordmaker, had defected to Belor to help the Preacher in his rebellion
against King Edward. Kelln had wanted to find out for himself what was
happening in Belor, so after consulting with Darius he had consented to
following Alessandra here.
    Kelln squinted his eyes and tried to see Alessandra in the musty
darkness, but no matter how hard he tried all he could distinguish was black.
Pitch black. The kind he could smell and feel. He tried to keep from breathing
too hard, as the smell reminded him of something rotten and left behind years
ago. Off in the distance Kelln strained to listen to small trickles of water
dripping on rock. The soft echoes grew louder as they walked in the dark
caverns. He knew they were somewhere deep under the Belorian royal palace,
deeper even than the dungeons he had been held and beaten in. It seemed like
hours since Alessandra had offered him escape from the dungeon prison where he
had been held unfairly for treason and murder.
    He didn’t know why she was helping him escape, though he hoped it
had to do with feelings she might have for him. She supported the Preacher by
helping the oppressed escape throughout the Realm and come to Belor to help the
Preacher fight. The fight that in Kelln’s mind was ridiculous and had little
basis in fact or reason. The Preacher taught that the people in Belor were
being burdened by King Edward and the Realm, that they had their own right to
rule themselves, and that the Preacher should be their ruler. Kelln saw it as
just another way for the Preacher to get more power. He hadn’t seen any strong
proof of anything to support the Preacher’s claims of any real type of oppression.
    Kelln felt rather than saw Alessandra slow down and turn in
another direction. Something scattered off in front of him. Something
actually lives down here? “I hope you know where you’re going.”
    Even in the dark, Kelln knew the penetrating look Alessandra gave
to him with her almond-shaped brown eyes. He was meant to be quiet and do what
she told him. That was the deal she offered him when she came down early this
morning into his cell. His heartbeat seemed to echo throughout the
never-ending, narrowing cavern. He bumped into the cool, rough walls more often
now.  He didn’t know if it was his weakening strength or the narrowing of the
walls.
    Kelln still wasn't sure he should trust Alessandra. He