WitchHunter ✔️

Shoulderblades

Ace

My Horse, a black stallion named Crow, gallops hastily behind Hale and the twins on their mounts. The archway over the main road draws closer in the distance, and my heartbeat begins to thump in my chest. That gate is freedom.

For the last 5 years, I've stayed. I've never once tasted freedom. When I was 4, Menagerie owned me, When I was 6, Velius did. As long as I can remember, I've always been a product. A pretty trinket at Menagerie, an Ace in the pocket of the WitchMaster. And my order is always the same. Stay where I put you, Little Thing. Stay, let them admire you. Show them what I possess.

But suddenly, now, my orders are to go. I slow Crow as we approach the black stone archway. There is no wall around the Ridge, the gate is merely an ornament, the town's symbol, a candle burning inside a hoop etched into the stone. We are a mile or so deep into the forest around the Kindleridge, and this is officially the city limit. I haven't passed by the gate before, ever. To get to the meeting of the 8 in Kingsbry, we would take a ship from the port and sail North, through the Bay of Kings, where mesas rise hundreds of feet from the waves below.

I've lived in Kindleridge basically my entire life, trapped inside ever since Menagerie took me in 14 years ago. My heartbeat hammers inside my ribs, and I can feel the pounding in my temples as well.

I'm allowed to go. I'm allowed to pass through the gate.

"Come on, Ace!" Hale shouts back at me. "It's not like you haven't left before!"

Right. I still belong to someone. I'm still property. But now I'm attached to a man on horseback, his shoulder blades facing the town I call prison. Now, I'm the property of someone alive, moving, going. I'm not running errands, or chopping off pinkies; I'm galloping on horseback across Haven.

Hale is right; it's not like I've never left before. But I'd never left here, and I'd never left without a keeper, someone to keep an eye on me to assure I don't get into any trouble, assure I won't get hurt.

I'm still a possession, but now I'm responsible for myself.

"Ochen, Crow." My black steed starts forward with a leap and I align my shoulder blades with those of the man in front of me. I'll follow him. Wherever he goes, I will follow, as long as it's away. Just away.