Chapter 68

This is it, thought Mariel. We will either be slaughtered like cattle...or the king's soldiers will stand down.

Her heart pumped faster as she thought of it. She was taking a huge gamble, not only with her life but everyone else's as well. If she failed, she would have the blood of thousands of people on her hands, and she did not think that she would be able to bear that.

As they drew nearer to the gate, villagers fled into their homes or deep into the woods. No one wanted to be near the castle.

It seemed as though she were moving in slow motion as they approached the thick walls of the castle and keep. Banners snapped in the wind, which tore through everyone's cloaks and threatened to chill them to the bone. With each massive step of the bear, Mariel could feel each breath as she inhaled, and relished the exhale, relished that she could still exhale and was not a dead corpse on the ground.