Chapter ONE - Weebly

was rough enough to have scraped his skin, but his
chains didn’t allow him enough freedom of movement to
do much more than rub his coat sleeve until it was
threadbare.
The manacles, however, might be another matter. If
he could remove some of the cloth covering the metal at
his wrist or ankle he could cut his skin on its edge.
Pulling his hand as far out of the cuff as he could, so that
the ring pressed into his flesh, and then bracing the cuff
and hand against the tree, Ethan was able to reach the
cloth covering with his fingers. He couldn’t grip it well,
but this covering hadn’t been firmly attached to the
metal.
He worked it methodically with his fingers, rubbing
at it again and again. The cloth came away slowly,
bunching beneath his fingers, until at last he could feel
cold iron. The manacle was smoother than he had
hoped it would be. Worse, its edge had been rounded,
so that it offered him little chance to cut his skin. Still he
tried. Shifting his hand again, bracing the cuff differently,
this time against the tension of the chain, he was able to
push that exposed edge against his skin, just below his