This wasn't how it was supposed to end, thought Quill. Her head was full of a dull buzzing, and even though she'd pillowed her sunken cheek on her arm, the world spun around her again and again and again. Still, her fingers gripped the underside of the door, pulling on it over and over to make it clank, metal-to-metal, against the frame. Relentless. She'd always been relentless. The sound would be her final act. She'd leave the dead, empty world, the last human to make a sound. [i]Clank, clank, clank.[/i]

Her eyes closed. Sleep would overcome her soon, though she fought it. She'd die in her sleep--one of the few peaceful moments of her life.

A sound snapped her out of her buzzing stupor. Quill's head lifted inches off her arm from where she was sprawled on the cold, dirty floor. It was all she could manage. Had she imagined the sound? She listened hard and heard nothing. And then--there it was again.

"Please, are you there?"

Someone was in the hallway. Her heart jolted in surprise. She'd been so sure she was the last one left and that she'd die there, locked in her cell with no way to escape. But no, she was wrong. Maybe only those in the castle had died! Maybe there was life out there still! And someone was in the dungeon, a man, and he could save her, perhaps. Maybe he'd free her. Maybe he'd take pity. Quill clanged the door harder, trying to draw him nearer. She tried to speak, but only a rasp came out, barely audible even to her own ears.

[i]If he finds out why I'm here, he'll never help me[/i], Quill realized. Society reviled murderers, regardless of the circumstances, and the Duke had been beloved. He'd given money to the needy, visited monasteries, and charmed the lords and ladies of the court. If whoever was down there learned who she was, he'd gladly leave her there to die.

[i]So I'll become someone new[/i], she decided. She'd shake off her identity, much as she'd shake off the dust and dirt covering her, and she'd be reborn as someone new. 

"I'm here," she tried to call, but her mouth was so dry the words made her cough. Still, she didn't give up. "I'm alive!"