Sora's Quest Read Online Free PDF

helpless.
    Then she had a terrible thought. Would anyone notice her disappearance? With all of the distraction inside the manor, she highly doubted it. The guests and servants would think she was hiding in her room, shamed by her deplorable performance. Ha! The Blooming hardly seemed like much of an ordeal now.
    The man in black continued to drag her up the driveway and then into a thick outcropping of bushes. He's going to take me to the middle of nowhere and kill me, she thought, something like an icy fist seizing her chest. I'm such a fool. She should have died in the manor by letting him slit her throat; at least then her corpse wouldn't be ravaged by animals.
    She dug her heels into the ground again, tossing herself to one side, almost yanking her arm out of its socket...but there was no way she could fight his strength. He adjusted easily. With a light tug, she was sent stumbling forward, completely off-balance.
    Then, through the murky, leafy darkness, she saw a horse. An ugly, awkward animal by what she could make out; dull gray in color, like the gravel beneath them, and built only for speed. Before she could protest, a powerful arm snaked around her and forcefully threw her into the saddle. A yelp of shock and outrage came from her throat, but quickly stopped when he jumped up behind her, the knife still glinting in his hand.
    Now Sora really began to panic. All her nerve disappeared. "Help!" she screamed desperately. "Help me! I'm being kidnapped! Help!" With wild abandon, she tried to throw herself from the horse, but the dark man grabbed her as she started to fall. He jerked her back against him and the knife was at her throat a second time. She winced. Her shoulder ached and throbbed from the struggle.
    "Silence!" he growled, pressing the knife hard against her throat, enough to draw blood. "You can die now, if you'd like."
    Sora could feel the sting of the blade. A thin, hot trickle of blood crept down her neck. She would have gulped, but she was afraid of splitting her throat.
    The man pressed against the horse, which had been pawing the earth impatiently, and the beast leapt into a gallop. Sora couldn't see how fast they were going since she was surrounded by darkness. From the wind in her face and the feel of the steed beneath her, she figured it was a formidable pace. Her suspicions were confirmed when they passed the gates of the estate in under ten minutes.
    The night was bitingly cold, sinking through Sora's clothes and into her skin. There was a cloak in her satchel, but no way to pull it out. Her captor was like a furnace behind her, she could feel his heat through the back of her thin shirt.
    The man turned off the front drive into a wide, open field, scattered with ferns and small bushes. The ground changed, now soft and muffled beneath the horse's hooves. Sora squeaked in surprise as the horse stumbled over a hidden rock, but the man righted the beast immediately. She clutched her satchel desperately and sent a silent prayer to the Goddess. How did this happen? I was supposed to be running away!
    And who was this intruder? A common thief? More than that—someone deadly. She thought back to Lord Fallcrest, lying wounded in the ballroom. Had the disaster been more than an accident? Had her Lord father been hurt intentionally?
    Was he even...alive?
    The thought sent her spiraling into panic. She had the sudden, horrible feeling that the birthday party had been sabotaged on purpose. Lord Fallcrest had been gone for quite a while at the City of Crowns. Who knew what enemies he had made...and in what kind of business he had been dabbling?
    The knife blade was lowered, though it stayed in her peripheral vision. She swallowed hard, tamping down her fear. No, she was overreacting. Her father was still alive—only slightly injured, like several of the other guests. This man was a thief, a lowly criminal. That's it. He just wants me for ransom!
    Her thoughts were strange, surreal. She felt oddly disconnected.