Running was hard, her legs ached and all she wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep. But she knew she couldn’t, they had to flee to save their lives. To save the lives of everyone who lived under Ragnar’s thumb. Grasping Auguste’s hand, she mounted the horse behind him, grasping him around the waist as they rode at full speed, past burning guards and throngs of confused onlookers . How oblivious they all were to how wrong their lives were.<br/><br/>But she couldn’t think about that. In her mind, she heard the voice of what could only be the Overlord, roaring as they broke the boundaries of town and plunged head first into the woods. For how long they rode, she didn’t know. It could have been hours or minutes-time seemed irrelevant past the pain in her head. All she knew was she had to hang on to Auguste, until she couldn’t. Until her arms went weak and she could feel herself falling.<br/><br/>“Stop” Her voice was small, but the massive animal seemed to hear her, suddenly drawing up short just when it would have been about to plunge into a wide, rushing river. Stamping its feet, the horse blew out a hot breath and tossed it’s main, upset from the sudden and unexpected run.<br/><br/>Slowly, Tilda slid off the back of the animal, landing on her hands and knees in a pile of leaves that the cool autumn winds had shaken down from the trees. Something within her felt off, like she had expelled a great deal of energy in a very short amount of time. Her head swam and she coughed, a small amount of blood coming up from her throat. For a long moment all she could do was stare at the ground, waiting for it to come into focus and stop spinning.<br/><br/>Somehow, she was aware that she wasn’t as alone as she felt and she fell onto her stomach, rolling over to look up at the grey sky that was still pouring rain, washing her face clean of tear tracks and blood, drenching the scent of burning flesh out of her dress. Laying a hand across her eyes, she shuddered violently. “I…did I kill those men?” The words were barely a whisper out of her mouth and she didn’t hear the answer as before she knew it, she blacked out.