As we continued forward they did not lead me down the hall of torture I'd tread before but I was not surprised. What more did they need from me? They had likely found out all they would from Gregory, Dreda and the other poor souls who had been captured and forced to endure unimaginable suffering. They had died for my mistakes and though I dreaded whatever might await me at the end of this death march, I knew I deserved it.

I tried not to think about what method of execution they might have devised. How long and painful it might be. Whatever it was, I would endure it until my body gave out and in the end, I would be home with Mary, safely in death with my child as I should have been the moment her heart stopped beating.

Every ounce of my body ached through our seemingly unending procession from the prison. The chains around my ankles rubbed deeper into the wounds on my skin already so raw. My flesh burned from the chafed skin that was pronounced even more through my movement.

In the cell, I had managed to find moments of comfort but the weight of the chains and the motion of my body made that impossible now. Each step forward felt more grating than the last. And my resolve towards death did not keep me from all fear.

The moment our small solemn party arrived at the metal door at the end of the hall I hesitated. The anxiety of walking forward to unknown terror had cemented in my brain and natural instincts warned me that danger lurked ahead. The guards surrounding me had no sympathy. The man leading our party opened the large door and the man behind me rapped his baton smartly against my backside.

"Keep moving, human," he commanded.

Tears welled in my eyes at the added sting. I wanted desperately to ask where we were going. To be given some idea of what terror I might next face, but I know I didn't deserve such luxury after what I'd done. My friends had not been granted such privilege as they answered for every one of my sins. I swallowed back my fear and entered the bare room. The door slammed shut behind me and our party stopped.

I kept my head down. The weight of the collar around my neck was growing more onerous by the moment making it hard to even survey my surroundings but I could tell we had entered some kind of holding area. This wait was becoming unbearable. Torture just as horrific as the pain I knew I would soon face. And then, at last, the door on the far side of the room opened and the sound click of militarized footsteps came toward me.

"You, human,"

I heard a deep voice call my attention and I cringed at the sound, so cold and unfeeling. "Your master has returned to take you to your new home, but he wishes to inspect you first."

The words came into my ears but made no sense. I felt my brow furrow in confusion. But then I heard the next voice.

"Alice."

It was impossible. I was certain my mind must be playing tricks on me. I had been abandoned to death. I knew that already. I had made too many mistakes, gone through too many hardships. Death had been chasing me since I was a child and I could run no more. So why was it that voice I heard calling out my name...

I hesitantly raised my eyes, fearful to find that I was indeed hallucinating. But there was the face to accompany that deep kind timbre. Besides the head inspector stood two sibla men. One was unfamiliar but the other I recognized instantly. Despite my exhaustion. Despite the haze of fear and disbelief. Magnus Kendrick standing there in the holding room. Magnus returned. It didn't seem possible.

"Magn..." I felt the name almost slip from my lips in my shock. Luckily I quickly corrected my mistake.

"Master," I said, no less incredulous. "You —"

"Have come to retrieve you, yes." The sibla man cut off my words in a clipped tone. Even in my confusion and pain, I understood the danger was not gone yet. There was still a charade to maintain and I would play the game.

It seemed Magnus was a better manipulator than I could have possibly imagined. As for his care? I was still reeling for the idea that he would have returned for me. Why? I was nothing to him. He could have been free! He could have left me behind so easily and, with my death, put the entire unpleasant incident in his past. Yet here he was walking towards me, come to fulfill his promise.

The guards moved back as Magnus approached and reached out to inspect my body. I tried to hold still and remain obedient as his hands ran along my arms, but the moment his slender gray finger touched the raw skin beneath the collar on my neck I couldn't help but flinch at the pain. I saw a frown immediately come to the sibla man's face.

"Remove these chains," Magnus ordered. "The hand restraints are more than enough. The creature can barely move."

Silence followed his brazen demand. I saw my guards look to each other uncertainly, no doubt wondering how to respond to one who wished to take the chains from a potentially dangerous human. But a moment later the head inspector's voice followed.

"Do as Mr. Kendrick asks," he said. "She is his property now."

One of the guards approached and, with a key from his belt, he unlocked the metal around my neck. Another removed the bonds from my feet.

It was amazing the difference such a simple act made. With the weights lifted from my body, I felt instantly lighter than I'd felt in so long. In spite of the painful sores, I even managed to straighten my neck and turn it slightly. I stared up at Magnus in awe and gratitude.

"You can look her over more closely when we return home, brother."

My eyes turned now to the other sibla man, still waiting beside the inspector. Brother...this must be Torvald. The Kendrick man I had heard so much about in the talk of my former master and the guards at the holding facility. I could see the resemblance. Though not as tall as Magnus there was a certain something in their faces to denote kinship. But unlike Magnus, Torvald seemed entirely uninterested with the proceedings and from his tone, was eager to leave.

"Unless you have changed your mind and do wish to leave her here after all? I have other things to do today."

I an uncomfortable chill traveled through me at Torvald's threat, though I knew it was an idle one. The idea that after this tease of rescue I might be abandoned for good? I could not have imagined a worse torture than that. But luckily, I could see Magnus was highly annoyed by his brother's words. He glared at his sibling with true anger.

"I only wished to assess her state before transport," Magnus said, tone hard.

"And now you have," Torvald answered with equal annoyance. He had perhaps helped secure my release as Magnus had promised, but he certainly didn't seem happy about it.

"Handle her with care," Magnus said to the guards, clearly ignoring his brother altogether. "And see to it she is given some clean water to drink. We have a long ride ahead of us and I have gone to great lengths to retrieve my property. I cannot afford to lose her so easily after such effort."

As his eyes met mine again I hoped he could feel my gratitude. As if in answer to my unspoken words of thanks, I felt Magnus' hand take mine for a brief moment and give it a reassuring squeeze. A strange relief flooded me as I might never have expected. I'd been preparing for pain and death and instead, found salvation. As with our very first meeting, Magnus was breaking every rule I had ever learned to abide in my relations with sibla. Never trust, never forget your place in their eyes. You are an animal.

Even with Lexia, it had been true. I'd always cared greatly for my first kitchen overseer, but I knew she was a servant of my Master, a sibla around whom I must be careful. Magnus should be no different. Why then did I feel such trust?

Perhaps it was merely exhaustion. The longer I remained standing the more I felt the weakness of my limbs. As I was led from the room away from my savior I felt almost weightless in my dizzied haze. With the shackles removed from my legs and neck movement felt suddenly strange. Too free. A floaty feeling filled me, as if my mind were not fully connected to my body. I struggled to put one foot in front of the other in spite of the freedom I knew awaited.

The guards led me outside where I found the weather was exceedingly warm. It seemed that whatever cold of winter that had remained when Magnus and I ran from Dulane's burning estate, was gone now. The sun above shone down oppressively on my face and I had to squint my eyes to see the small metal trailer awaiting me, the door already wide open.

"In ya go," One of the guards said, pushing me hard so I tumbled forward, falling onto a pile of straw. My whole body screamed at the pain as the course fibers pressed against the wounds on my ankles but I didn't dare cry out. I did nothing more than right myself as best I could given the new wave of dizziness that overtook me.

"Here."

One of the guards stepped into the trailer had handed me a tall paper cup filled with water which I took gratefully, careful not to spill a drop. No easy task given my bound shaking hands.

The clean water touched my lips like the most delicious honeyed drink I could ever imagine. For weeks I had been given nothing but grimy brown liquid to quench my thirst, but this, this was heavenly.

I tried to drink slowly so as not to waste it all in one gulp but it was gone too quickly nonetheless. I was offered no more. Seeing that I had indeed imbibed my water, the guards closed me into the dark hot trailer. I didn't care. Exhaustion had overtaken me by now and I wanted nothing more than to close my eyes. As I lay my head against the scratchy straw and hard metal beneath me, curling my body upon itself, I prayed the miraculous dream I was living would continue. That when I awoke I would not find myself back in that horrible cell. That Magnus Kendrick would indeed be there waiting as he'd promised all along.

——
And with that, Alice is free... well kinda? 😅 In reality she has just officially become a slave again. Now she belongs to Magnus. We just know how he feels about her hehe. She might not fully trust it yet though even now. I actually broke Alice's story down into 5 parts:

Part 1: Early Life
Part 2: Redemption & Mary
Part 3: Loss & Rebellion
Part 4: Death & Escape
Part 5: Rebirth to a New Life

This ends the section of "Death & Escape". Next chapter begins the final part "rebirth to a new life"