The light outside was blindingly bright, reflecting off the snow that covered the inner bailey. After so many days in the dark, it hurt to look at, and Valeri squinted his swollen eyes until they were nothing more than slits. He was free, or close enough to it. He could see the gate, just a hundred paces away, looking like a doorway to the Heavenly Shores bathed in the light reflecting off the snow.
Then, mere moments later, the soldiers flung him through it. He came down hard on his injured foot, and a broken cry escaped his battered lips. He staggered for half a dozen paces before he caught himself against a cart wheel, clinging to it to stop himself from falling all the way down.
If he fell down now, he didn't know if he had the strength to rise again. For a moment he only breathed, gathering what strength he had left to run.
And as the breath returned to him, so did the fury.
