stephanie
Grappling with the rope and fighting for dear life I could hear the screams of blood lust at my back. I noticed a flare in the distance and watched as the entire northern wing was lit ablaze. My pursuers watched in awe as their castle began to burn and then turned their eyes on me. I couldn't help it- I grinned as wide as the sea before me. And now that I'd fulfilled my purpose and diverted their attention so the deed could be done, I completed my mission just as it was always meant to be. I relinquished my grip and fell into the masses, knowing that either way, we'd all end up in ashes by daybreak.
At the final grasp of rock, I hoisted my body and that of my younger brother over the side of the great mountain and was greeted by perhaps the most, earth-shattering, yet incandescently soft sunrise of my life. The air left my lungs along with years of hatred, the agonizing burden that begged for release. And as the shadows slowly danced away from the light, I couldn't help the tears that brimmed over my cheeks. Turing my head to the side, I found an expressions in those young, yet old, eyes that mirrored my own. A heave escaped my lips and then another- laughter found once again. It was a sort of delirious, contagious joy that overcame us until finally we began our trek down the great mountain. For as we passed over the ridge, we were finally home.