The Golden Road

Originally Written 6/10/2020

A sinking shroud of darkened sky dappled with grey clouds loomed just behind the intricate wire paneled window that arched it’s way up the stone wall of the tower level that Ballad paced around. Her movements quick and every step thundered as she slammed her foot down with each movement. She moved as though she couldn’t wait to get around the cozy circular room she was in, only to return to her start point and begin again.

Her bright orange, hawkish eyes darted to the window from time to time, shoulders and neck tensing as she stopped in her tracks and canted her head to listen for any sound. But nothing but silence answered her beckoning ear. She shook her head, which dislodged several dark strands of hair from the overly tight bun. She looked over to the hourglass on a nearby counter and growled when she had to turn it over for the fifth time. She paced faster. To make her way back around the room with arms folded over her chest and a deep pressure building in her shoulder blades. As she waited, she’d touch a cameo locket around her neck. Feeling a burn there, a feeling rushing over her that made her heart quicken and the hairs on her body stand on end. It only built as the individual sands of the hourglass tipped down like the slow flow of sap down a wounded tree.

By the sixth time Ballad turned the hourglass over, she had a deep feeling of pressure in her chest like a cannon was about to explode. The sky outside was a deep velvet black color, no stars in the sky because of the smog the newly industrialized city produced. She walked swiftly over to the panned window and pressed her forehead against it. She closed her eyes and gripped the window trim till her caramel-colored knuckles turned white. A sudden tap, tap, tap against the very spot her head rested made her suddenly jump up and back. Her chest heaved for a moment and she stared, confounded for just a moment. Her eyes would slide to the barred door that led out of her tower prison.

With the quickness of a rattlesnake striking, she swooped toward the window and pried it open violently. The bird looked startled but held out its beak diligently, though scowling now. Ballad ripped the message from the bird’s beak and the creature took off with an annoying flap of its wings that clipped her shoulder when it cawed angrily and took off. A single black feather wafted back and forth to come to rest on the window sill. 

Ballad didn’t care, she tore the seal off and read the letter. Her eye’s scanning the page quickly as her heart raced in her chest. Six turns of the hourglass and countless laps around the tower room had yielded the message and a golden strand of hair. The message read;

“Follow the golden strand. - Lina”

Ballad read the note over and over again. Her eyes scanned the one line so fast they risked popping out of her skull. She looked up, blank for a moment and staring into the dark musty evening. She bit her lower lip, a knot forming in her stomach. “Is this Lina’s plan, a strand of gold hair?” she thought to herself. She furrowed her brow deeply, thinking. Was it worth it? Lina was, she knew that much. She continued to bite her lips for the stack of several more sands before she closed her eyes and nodded to herself. 

She’d creep toward her prison door and cocked her head to listen for any noise, but the guards that watched her door had long since thought she was unlikely to try anything. She had never caused problems in her years as a servant to the tower. But Ballad knew that could change. She tried to level her breathing before she made her way back to the window. She clutched the strand of gold in her hand and stared into the sky. 

She held her hand up and stared at the gold spun wire for a long while before she said “Well,” Shrugging and keeping her voice quiet as she leaned into to speak to it. “I’ll follow, just make it quick.” A noise f a door slammed nearby caused her to jerk her head toward her door and stare in horror. Three heartbeats later and nothing came of it. Ballad sighed and drew her wary eye to the strand in hand again. Waiting.

For a few moments nothing happened, then slowly the golden strand began to expand and lengthen. Ballad watched with wide eyes and mouth as it snaked it’s way out of the open window and pulled itself from her hand. It lashed around the nearest pillar and the rest draped like a rope out the window. Ballad walked over and gripped the window sill again, staring down. She was so far up she could barely see the ground. Her heartbeat picked up and she stared for a long time, unsure if she could follow it. The sudden sounds of another loud thud made the choice for her. She jumped and when she did her body made its way to the window. 

Ballad hiked up her long dress and clamored over the sill as the thudding grew closer and closer to her door. She’d wrap her hands around the long golden rope and slowly ease herself down till she dangled like a marionette. She closed her eyes tight and felt a slipper fall off. She refused to look down at its descent. She breathed hard and clutched, unsure how to begin the climb when the strand began to slowly descend. She clutched it tightly, eyes slammed together, hands developed surface wounds from how hard she gripped. Every now and again she would look down to see that the ground had started to take shape. The realization that it was close made her heart leap until she realized she could mark the very spot where she’d die if she dared let go. Her heart pounded in her chest like a freight train steaming through her body, sweat developed on her brow and limbs. She tightened her grip but it started to slip. 

The ground drew nearer, she could almost make out the outline of someone watching from a bush near the shrubbery. Her hand slipped suddenly and she felt herself start to fall. The golden strand disappeared under her grip and she tumbled down through the sky. She let out a gasp, a near scream. But the sheer terror as the ground, so close but so far, drawing nearer paralyzed her. She clamped her eyes shit and scrunched up her face as she prepared for the inevitable splat. 

Like a flash, Lina would dart out. Her body was lithe and overworked. More able-bodied than most others who held no standing in society. Her strong arms reached up and worry creased her face as she realized Ballad was falling. Like a flash, she darted under the other femme and caught her in her arms as they both fell to the ground.

Lina stared at her and suddenly grinned broadly, standing up swiftly and grabbing Ballad’s much softer hand to force her up and drag her off into the nearby forest. They ran for several feet before they stopped. 

Panting and clutching their sides, Ballad would look up and scowl “You said you’d come for me, not that you’d give me a way to die early!” she accused.

Lina grinned at her and suddenly grabbed her around the waist and back of the neck. Ballad pushed away for a moment before she relented into the embrace and didn’t emerge until she was flushed red in the cheeks and panting again. 

Lina stared and smiled and Ballad couldn’t help but join her when she said “I never said how. But I will always come for you.” Once her words stopped, no more could be spoken because Ballad had thrown herself into Lina once more.