Coalesce: The Escape
Chapter 19

Soft footsteps sound all around me. Something is wrong... everyone should be asleep... My hands aren’t bound. The wagon, the forest... Gone. But, why?

Why is this happening?

“Come, my dear,” An ethereal female voice calls to me. I don’t tell my body to move, but my legs carry me towards the voice. Everything seems out of focus, blurred and unclear.

“Who are you?” I ask the empty space around me.

“I am the fallen angel Castel. I have come to help you,” A woman with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes steps out of the trees. At first I didn’t notice the black shadowy wings behind her. She wears a black dress with a blood red ribbon tied around her waist. Her eyes are lined in black giving them more depth and adding to her beauty. Silver bands hang on her wrists and neck, her shoes seem to be made of nothing and everything. They shimmer like silk but look to be translucent.

“I’m Anyndel,” I say, unsure of myself.

“I know who you are, there is no need to be frightened. I can help you and your friends,” She extends her hand to me and I take it after a moment. Everything goes black then a bright flash of blue and I replace myself back in the wagon.

I sit up and look at Kylon and Eraleth to see them sleeping. I also saw Castel with us. She nods slightly and gives me a small smile.

Don’t worry, we’ll be out of here by tomorrow. I hear her voice in my head and I feel myself nodding.

I close my eyes and rest my head on Kylon’s shoulder. Now I feel as though a weight has been lifted from my chest and I can breathe again. It’s wonderful. A fallen angel has come and we’ll be out of this place by tomorrow. I don’t know what it is about her that makes me trust her so easily. My breaths slow and match Kylon’s and I begin to drift off into sleep once again.

The war, I still can’t believe it’s gotten this bad. Valley Forge is being taken, next it will be the empire... Who knows, we may not live in an Empire after this is all over. Hopefully it won’t come to that. How would everyone adjust to life without someone telling us what to do to stay safe? Without the guards to protect us?

It wouldn’t be the same at all. Would it? Nothing seems to make sense anymore. I’ll figure it out someday. Who knows if it will be soon or even years from now, but that doesn’t matter now. What does matter is getting out, and getting out alive.

Who knows what might happen, what might be waiting for us if we don’t manage to pull this off. Four against, possibly hundreds - this could go very badly.

The wagon creaks and tilts farther to one side, I open my eyes and blink.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing,” Kylon says softly, seeming to know what woke me. “Do you know anything about that girl in the black?” He asks, looking toward Sabille.

“That’s Castel,” I yawn and sit up a little bit. “She’s a fallen angel, come to help us escape.”

“That’s... Nice?” He says not sounding like he really knows what to think of it. I smile slightly then look over at Eraleth, who is asleep on his side.

“If it works, we’ll be away from here by tomorrow,” I say more to myself than anything. She only smiles at us and nods, as if she can’t speak.

“If it goes as I plan, yes.” So she can speak, that’s good.

“So, what is the plan exactly?”

“Well, if we-” She is cut off by an abrupt halt and we bump into each other and soldiers start grabbing prisoners and dragging them out of the wagons. This isn’t good at all... I glance wide-eyed at Kylon then Castel. Kylon opens his mouth to say something just as a soldier grabs his arm and another grabs my hair and pulls us to our feet.

I see Castel stand and her lips move, but I don’t hear any sound come from her. Then there are screams. Prisoners and guards all around us fall to their knees trying to cover their ears. It seems like they’re trying to block out some unheard sound. I glance around and see Eraleth running towards the wagon behind ours, the one where our things are kept.

I twist my wrists to try and loosen the ropes around them and try to ignore the searing pain. I almost forgot about my broken wrist. Kylon crouches by the wagon and cuts the ropes on his wrists on a protruding piece of iron. He stands and takes my hands in his and looks me in the eye.

“We’re going to get away from here,” He says with a smile and unties my hands. I can’t help but smile back at him.

“Let’s go help Eraleth,” I take his hand now and we run to help gather our things. He glances back at us, then starts to throw bags our way. Once we have all our things we replace Castel and run.

I glance back over my shoulder and can’t help but laugh at our victory. Kylon and Eraleth laugh too.

“I can’t believe we actually got out, and we have a fallen angel on our side,” Kylon says breathlessly.

“Wait, she’s a fallen angel?”

“Yes, Eraleth, where have you been? Oh, wait, you were asleep.”

“Be quiet,”

“Why?”

“Seriously, something’s coming,” He holds his hand up to stop us and we all stand in silence and wait for whatever is coming. I begin to draw my sword with some difficulty.. I turn to look behind us again and Sabille shouts something, her voice sounding afraid. I start to look at her.

Then I fall, the others along with me.