Chapter 1, Part 1
She tripped unsteadily between trees and over the jumble of branches, bushes, and rocks on the forest floor. Blood dripped from between her legs, leaving a trail of bloody footsteps behind her. One hand clutched her rounded belly, and the other held tightly to the hand of her young daughter. Her thighs trembled and a groan escaped her lips as another contraction hit her, but they had to keep moving east. If they were caught, not her, her daughter, nor her unborn child would be spared. She almost fainted with relief as she spotted the river through the trees, and again in terror when she heard the eager barks of the hounds growing nearer.
Here the river was shallow enough to cross by foot, but neither were strong enough to stand against the strong current. They waded into the cold river, icy from the mountain snow, and the tiny girl struggling to help her mother stay upright through the birth pains, but the rocks were slick, and they were both knocked into the water. The girl yelped as her tailbone cracked against a rock, but she bit her lip and stood again, trying to pull her mother to her feet. Her mother didn’t respond as she tugged on her hand, and dark liquid, too dark to be water, swirled around her. The girl looked up, wide-eyed in dread, as the howls grew so near she expected them to break through the trees at any moment. She glanced down again as she felt a tug on her hand, but her mother’s eyes were closed and the current was dragging her limp body downstream. Unsure of what else to do, the girl lay back down in the freezing water, wrapped her shivering arms around her mother, and let the river carry them away.
The river battered them as they were slowly dragged south out. Anita could feel her backside turning purple as it smashed against every rock in the shallow water. She quickly learned to navigate with her feet ahead of her, and to push off against rocks that cropped up before them. She struggled to keep her mother’s head above water, and to move her heavy body out of harm’s way, but she couldn’t keep her from being battered against the rocks on the bottom. She worried about her little brother, still in her mother’s stomach, but knew he would be okay if she could only get them to the east. She didn’t know what was in the east, but her mother had been desperate to get there, so that is where they had to go. When the river deepened, her bottom celebrated, but she was too small and too weakened to stay afloat. Somehow, she dragged them both to the east side of the river. She pushed her mother out of the water into the blessedly warm night air, and crawled out beside her. Her legs were too numb with cold to stand again, her eyelids drooped, and she fell asleep curled against her mother’s body.
NaNoWriMo word count so far: 496
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