The great treasure hunt was an annual event that took place in the countryside, the tradition spanning for nothing less the five centuries.

The whole head and tail of the event was to find a trophy hidden in the heart of the forest and the task in itself was so demanding that it took two days to conclude.

Families would send representatives; people having high intellect and/or brute strength as the forest was laden with wild animals.

Two riddles were given, one on the first day and the other on the second.

It was a greatly entertaining and thus everyone looked forward to it.

The Heris-Mariale family was invited to watch and there was no need to participate.

Just as Qaya saw her teacher off, she ran to the West wing of the house, the space Dylan occupied. Thankfully, he was around.

She knocked on the open door, getting his attention. The man looked up from his work and the furrow in his eyebrows disappeared.

"Come in" he said smiling

"How has work been?" She asked as she settled into the couch in the study.

"As it should be"

"Are you very busy?"

Dylan looked up in confusion "is anything the matter? What are these questions? And by the way I wanted to speak to you about 'Hear'. How's administration going?"

"As it should be." Qaya promptly answered with an air of pride, the man laughed "I will confess that I have not be that involved but the workers report to me and everything seems to be going well"

"I am glad because your mother has been on my neck lately saying I'm burdening you with work when you're studying"

"Um that aside, I heard you received a special invitation to the great treasure hunt"

"Yes, I plan on sending the letter declining the offer tomorrow"

"What? Why would you do that?"

"I don't care for such events..."

"But I wish to go, I want to go the country side"

Dylan sighed and massaged his eyebrows

"I'll have to speak with Marie, and it will be burdensome because the country side is at least a five day journey. But we'll go if that's what you desire"

"Thank you" she yelled and ran to her room giggling.

She stopped in her tracks as she met Jaslin in her room, setting her food down.

"I am glad to see that you're cheery again" Jaslin said in a quiet voice.

"I am glad too" Qaya was so distant with Jaslin ever since that day

"I have brought you food"

"I am grateful, I will eat it"

As Qaya savoured the sumptuous meal, she grew weary under Jaslin's watchful gaze.

"Is anything the matter?"

"It's just...I perceive you are upset with me"

"Jaslin, what wrong have you done that I should be mad at you? All is well"

"I am relieved. If I might ask, why are you excited to go for the great treasure hunt"

"I simply want to go to the country side, I have business I want to attend to"

"If I may ask..."

"I am done with my meal" Qaya cut in and Jaslin knew that the other woman was not in the mood to entertain her questions.

"I will have a servant take the dishes" she said and left.

Qaya sighed. She had thought to herself if she should let Jaslin know her plan, after all she was the only friend that she had but at the moment she couldn't help but feel resentment in her heart. She also couldn't trust if Jaslin would support her or try to dissuade her.

In Cralville lay the largest correctional facility in the country and just by the side was a large mass of land were mistreated prisoners were buried without respect.

Qaya had done the math, the verdict declaring that, that poor innocent woman be excavated from her grave and be sent to the prison graveyard was two days ago.

At the moment, she would have been let out of her grave and will be in the process of preservation, so that the corpse smell won't kill its transporters.

All things being equal, the corpse will start it's journey to Cralville, three days before her and by the time she arrived Cralville, the corpse will just have been buried in the ground.

"It's stupid if I try to dig up the corpse myself, so I should try and arrive a day earlier, by that time the grave would have been dug but the burial won't have taken place. That's the best chance I have"

Qaya knew she was being stupid and reckless but she didn't want that innocent woman to be so disrespected in her death, still Qaya was curious about why she committed suicide just like that.

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Qaya gasped "was she killed?"

Either way, she would ensure that woman slept in a grave befitting of her life. Maybe that will console her and she'd be able to live past the injustice that Qaya Wright faced.

In the days that followed, the family took great care to prepare for the departure to Cralville. As Dylan Mariale was a meticulous man he made sure that no stone was left unturned, especially in matters that concerned his only child's comfort. So imagine the shock that hit him when she said she would leave a day before them and on horse at that.

"What?!"

"Calm down, I am not a child. I know my way there"

"No you don't, why would you even want to do that? You've waited patiently all these while, waiting an extra day shouldn't be too strenuous" Dylan pointed out

"I promise that I'll be fine...just let me do this. It's better that you give me permission so that I don't have to do this behind your back"

Her father stared on in dismay. What was he to do with this child?

"Okay I'll send you an escort, my most skilled guard"

Qaya smiled, she would eventually lose him once she got to Cralville "thank you so much, father" she smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

And so the journey started. The journey was fast because they were on horse and they only made two stops in the whole four day journey, the escort was in agony as he was feeling sleep deprived. But it was nothing compared to the agony that he put Qaya through by talking non stop. The girl was thankful that at least she could gallop away but this man managed to still talk no matter the situation.

"Does he not tire?" Qaya thought to herself.

After hours of burning her ear off with small talk, Qaya managed to get him off her back.

As she saw town of Cralville up ahead, she abruptly stopped.

"Is anything the matter, my lady?"

"Let's take a break here"

"What? But Cralville is just up ahead. We can rest when we get there"

"I get your point but I have been feeling drowsy, I might just collapse out of exhaustion, you don't want that and even you, you don't look so good"

"Well we only took two breaks and that was at the beginning of the journey so it's not unusual that we both feel tired"

"Then let's just *yawn* sleep" she came down from her horse and started to clear space for her to sleep. The escort looked on skeptically.

She stretched and made herself comfortable "are you not sleeping?"

"I must guard you, my lady" he answered

Qaya didn't coax him any longer. She instead lie down and pretended that she had fallen her sleep. Once the escort fell into slumber, she got up and tapped him. He was as lifeless as a sack, he didn't even budge.

"Forgive your evil employer, I did this purposely" this was the note she left in his breast pocket.

She raced to Cralville and everywhere seemed quiet, it was night all ready but she hadn't expected that everyone be sleeping at this time, at least that worked to her 0advantage.

She left her horse at a stable and ventured out on foot to the prison yard.

Thankfully she didn't have to walk far, the prison was close.

"The heavens are being generous to me" she exclaimed to herself as she saw the carriage that brought the corpse, the arrived late.

She stealthily crawled into the prison compound and walked over to the carriage. The coachman was smoking a cigar by the carriage, she peeked at him and assessed the situation.

The man must have been so engrossed, he didn't notice when Qaya moved under the carriage and tapped it

"Praise God there's a hidden compartment "

She muttered.

She was getting nervous because things were going very smoothly and it felt like they would soon become awry but she had follow through with her plan. It was too late to be having second thoughts.

She crept up to the man and hit him on the head with a baton. She nervously checked if his skull was still intact and if he was still breathing; safe for the wound she caused, she was certain he was fine but she still felt uneasy what if he died from bleeding too much.

She stripped off his clothes and wore them. It was moment like this she was thankful for her build.

She headed out the gate and the guard stopped her.

"You leaving?" The man asked

Qaya frowned and assessed the guard's statement, there was a hint of familiarity in his voice, so even if she mimicked the coachman's accent, he would catch her.

She looked away, the cap, she was wearing, was doing a good job of shielding her face but she still couldn't risk it.

"I have to leave? There's someone I must visit"

"You sound funny"

"The cigar... wasn't some ordinary cigar" she retorted and let out a laugh that was borderline maniacal and depressing at the same time"

The guard shook his head and opened the carriage, it was empty "be careful, so you don't hit someone"

"I understand. Also when I went to use the loo, I met a man, unconscious, he seemed to need medical attention"

"Uhn"

"Hurry, I don't want him to die he has a wound in his head, I thought to tell you"

She led the carriage away, meanwhile the guard hurried to see who needed medical attention.

When he saw the coachman, he immediately knew he was done for.

He informed the soldiers and they set out to find the corpse theif.

Qaya decided to pass a path in the bushes to avoid detection.

"I have to find a place to bury her"

As she moved though the trees and shrubs, a bullet grazed her ear. She winced and that brief moment caused her to veer.

She regained her composure and increased the pace but the prison guards and soldiers were hot on her heels.

"Halt" the soldiers screamed but she disregarded their orders and kept going. It was dark and they were in the woods, a thorned plant grazed her and some of the thorns even clung to her skin, she yelped and this frightened the horse.

Another bullet flew and this time right through her shoulder, another into the horses side.

The horse let out a cry of pain and fell to the side. The force caused the carriage to detach and fly further into the bushes.

Even Qaya was nowhere to be seen.

The soldiers rushed to the dilapidated carriage, but both the corpse thief and the corpse were no where to be found.

***

Qaya grunted as she pushed the corpse on wooden wheel barrow she miraculously stumbled upon. She was regretting all her choices. Just what right did she have to steal a random woman's corpse. For what purpose? Did it matter if she was buried in a prison yard or normal death? Would the woman or her family even care for something like this?

Qaya rebuked her stupidity. All her body was in pain and soldiers were looking for her, yet she kept on moving.

Her mind went to her family and her heart ached as she thought of how sad her mother would be.

She was increasingly getting scared, because of her wounds she was moving at a discouragingly slow pace, the soldiers would sooner or later catch up with her.

She collapsed.

"I really was sleep deprived"

As she drifted to sleep, she heard footsteps but she was too weak to budge. A man stood above her, looking in surprise.

"And just who do we have here?"