Eyes blinked in the morning light as she ran across the deserted land. Her arms hugged herself tightly, trying to warm the bare arms as a bitter wind battled her side. With bare feet she went, her breathing erratic but the single notion in her mind that she could not stop. Behind her the coast was melting away, and that was what she wanted.

The woman was clothed in nothing but a thin but gorgeous blue silk gown. At her side, slung over her shoulder, was a weathered but strong piece of rope. Attached to it was a battered iron rapier and a hastily tied riding crop. Her eyes wide she tried to pick up speed, but it was difficult with the harsh terrain she was on and the wind. It was an open plain like a tundra, with tufted grass and bare rocks for the vast majority of the land that angled up from the sea steadily. A forest was in the distance, and it was only by circumstance that this was where she was heading. Her main purpose was to get away from the ship that was lounging a mile or so offshore.

As a harsh whisp of wind battered against her she lowered her head and tried to continue on. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and she felt awfully exposed as the sun peeked out from a cloud and she groaned at its brightness. She closed her eyes for a moment as she ran and winced. She wished honestly that she had something on underneath this dress but circumstances were what they were … she did not. There was not anything under her, even underclothes and she knew there was only so long that she could continue like this.

But she had to run. Run fast and not stop, for though she could not see it she imagined the various rowboats behind her that were angling to shore, each one of them with an impatient rider and horse. His blood after all would only just be going cold, as it dripped through the decks.

It hung on the bare rapier still, dry on the metal. Her skill with such a thing was not strong, though, for she knew little in the ways of fighting and much in the general ways of reading people and subjecting them to her wants. But that skill even had not served her well, for she had been disoriented for too long now. Sunlight was barely even tolerable. And it was only getting brighter and brighter.

A noise behind her - a shout. She sucked in her breath and dared to look behind her. A single sailor had come onto land and was looking in her direction. Though he was over five hundred metres away he still seemed to recognise her, with her long streaming pure white hair.

He was pointing at her and yelling. Likely something like, “I see her.”

“Damn,” she whispered, her eyes wide with fear. Then she turned and ran like she had never done before.

And she enacted her final option. It would be make the men see what she could become but currently she considered it her only option. Now they could see her she had little time before mounts would begin to be summoned to chase her down.

She, the one who had killed their captain. She, the one who had technically killed her master.

Well, at least she was not a slave to anyone anymore. Or a prisoner. How many years had she spent below ground now? She was not sure, it had never been clear. But it had been long … far too long. And since she had felt power flow back into her she had become her other form once, just once.

As the sun was beaming bright in her eyes, she took time to strain in it, before she twisted her head back and saw her guess was true. A small but lithe horse was being guided onto shore, an eager rider already trying to get onto its back. It would be but minutes before it would be sent towards her, and even though she ran she would not last long.