It is dark in the passage. So dark. Her pale gown shimmers as she makes for the winding stairwell. The sconces gutter as night’s stormy wind pierces the Keep’s inner skin and freezes her bones.

She feels nothing—hasn’t for years. Her face is a mask. Those once warm, honey eyes now glazed with sorrow, and the famous long braids disheveled wild and free. Free as her soul at last.

She gains the stairs, taking them two at a time, her bare white feet silent on that cold black stone. She passes his room quickly, hears his heavy night voice and the leman stirring at his side.

Had she the courage she would enter his chamber, pick up his jewelled knife and open his throat. It would be over in seconds… so silent so easy. She shudders—what if he awakens..?

She walks on, determined, reaches that final door.Beyond waits winter and her escape.
She pushes open the iron-studded door leading out to the rain drenched parapet above. Her hair is whipped wild by the icy blast of winter’s worst. Her eyes are dark pools. She looks up, ignoring the rain that has already soaked her thin gown; she smells the clean night air, sees the clouds scurry fast and high overhead, their weird shapes shifting from dragon to giant and from griffin to demon.
The gods are angry tonight. They need a sacrifice and she is coming. The storm threatens to topple her as she struggles toward the battlements. She slips, bruises her body but hardly notices. Regaining her feet, she climbs upon the parapet wall to stand, arms out wide at either side, the wind buffeting her frail starved body. Her toes grip the glistening stone and somehow she keeps her balance in the tumult.
She looks down.
Far beneath her feet, the surging boom of midnight water rages at the castle walls. She feels the Sea God stir from his long sleep beneath the waves. He is waiting for her, beckoning, promising escape from both sorrow and pain.
She is ready: hears her thudding heart beat slowing, feeling calmer now that the time is almost upon her. She looks down again, seeing the storm surge whitening where water battles rock far below. Icy rain batters her face numb, and the shrieking wind shreds her hair like a torn banner.

She doesn’t care. It is time. She smiles and closes her eyes, taking that first step out into the night. She falls. The cold sharp air rushing passed her ears. Down…down…and down again, into the noisy darkness and beyond. Leanna Barola is free at last. And the waves reach up to carry her home. *** Not really a blog but a taster from Gol currently on offer $0.99 only. To purchase the book click on this link Smarturl.it/golt