Arissa's Fate (Redemption Trilogy) Read Online Free

identity!” one of the identical guards exclaimed to her, obvious worry ringing in his voice.
    I n one smooth motion, Arissa raised her head high, sweeping the hood off her head and smiled deviously when the guards all stared in shock, gasping her name when they recognized the escaped criminal before them.
     

Chapter Five
    The guards yelled for backup the moment they had ordered Arissa to the ground. Her knees hit the sharp pebbles painfully but she didn’t resist, not even when they jerked her hands roughly behind her back. She kept her head bowed down and her thoughts locked solidly behind her exterior barrier, hiding her plan.
    Two more guards appeared and each grabbed her by the forearms and heaved her to her feet. The first two that had caught her seemed flustered and disoriented, obviously younger recruits who didn’t exactly know how to handle a capture. As they returned to their post at the blockade gates, the looks on their faces spelled shock and bewilderment, much to Arissa’s amusement.
    She was marched through the narrow gates and she wasn’t surprised at what she found inside the new walls of the city. New buildings had been constructed quickly, some even temporarily, including the soldier’s quarters. All around them and far into the background, the rubble of what used to be Vailwood lay in blackened heaps. The only original thing that still stood was the reformatories.
    The huge, concrete structure stood to their left, still as looming and dark as always. Arissa shook her head when she thought of the last time she had been there, delivering one of the many criminals she herself had apprehended. The interior of that building was enough to drive anyone mad, or at least into a quick confession. She shuddered at the thought of him being there.
    Her boots scuffed unevenly on the rocky ground as the guards jostled her, guiding her roughly as they marched toward the looming prison. Arissa knew full well that not a single word would even be spoken to her. It wouldn’t be necessary, with the most wanted criminal in the whole land now in their grasp. They didn’t need the traditional reading of her legal rights or to be taken to the General. The first thing they would focus on was to get her behind locked and solid bars as quickly as possible and then run back to report their capture to the General, bragging of their accomplishment.
    The moment they enter ed the long, low tunnel that led into the jail, nearly all the light disappeared. In the far distance, Arissa could see the end of the tunnel, but by then it would be too late. She had to take advantage of her plan immediately, only allowing herself time enough for a short, quick gasp of breath.
    To her disappointment, with the identical uniforms that all the guards wore, she had been unable to identify any features of the men. She tried quickly to remember anything, even something as general as height. Both of the men seemed nearly identical.
    The light at the end of the tunnel was coming closer and soon she would be out of time. Her mind was flying, trying to decide which of the two was part of the plan.
    Before another moment passed, Arissa was nearly positive that she felt a gentle squeeze on her forearm where the man to her left held her by. Even if she had only imagined it, it was already too late to change her mind because she had already stopped abruptly, driving her elbow into the stomach of the man on her right. They both let go of her immediately and the man she had hit was doubled over. Before he could reach for his sword, Arissa’s foot was sailing in an arc around her body, smashing into the side of his head. He fell to the ground but was still conscious. Her hand snatched the sword from his belt before he could reach it, obviously disoriented and clumsy.
    Without thinking, or even caring, Arissa drove the sword deep and hard into the man’s chest. Ignoring the sickly gurgling, she straightened, posed ready to block an attack from the second