Balen crept down the shadowy stone corridor, keeping low to the ground to avoid creating any sound. He slowed as the group passed a wooden door with a barred window, hearing low snoring emanating from within the room behind. He kept a steady pace, and waved to the rest of the group to follow.

The Fire Channeler you struck down now stirs. We must hurry. Balen felt the touch on his mind and quickened his pace. That is the door. Through there on the left.

He grasped the handle and turned it, but the door would not budge. Balen looked over to Maddox, and pointed at the keyhole, mouthing “Locked”. Maddox gently placed Sellene on her feet, and crouched in front of the door to look through the keyhole.

“The key is still in the lock.” Maddox whispered. “I need something to feed under the door. Paper, or a thin cloth.”

“The room with the guards sleeping. One of them had a book on the table next to him.” One of the Earth Channelers said.

“Too dangerous. They might wake up.” Thaida hissed.

We are running out of time. Sellenes eyes were wide and pleading, urging the Channelers to do something before the Fire Channeler woke fully and sounded the alarm. The Earth Channeler ignored Thaida’s protests, set her jaw, and turned to the guard’s sleeping quarters. She grasped the door handle, and turned it slowly, and there was a low creak as she pulled the door open. The guard closest to the door turned over on his wooden cot and mumbled something in his sleep.

The Earth Channeler tiptoed into the room, matching the rhythm of her steps to the rhythm of the snoring of a fat guard sleeping in the corner of the room. Snore. Step. Snore. Step. Snore. Step. Finally, she reached the low table with a candle and a book laying upon it. She lifted the book slowly, every movement in time with the breathing and snoring of the guards in the room. She took the candle as well, and then made the steady journey back to the corridor, careful to keep the steady rhythm.

Once outside, she handed the book to Maddox, and the candle to one of the Fire Channelers. Maddox wasted no time, and ripped the first page from the book, then slid it under the locked door. He pushed the thin handle of his wooden spoon slowly into the keyhole, and there was a quiet clink on the other side of the door as the key fell onto the paper. Maddox pulled the paper back out, took the key, and unlocked the door. It was then that the shouting started.

“Sound the bells! The prisoners are escaping!” The Fire Channeler yelled down the corridor. The guards were roused awake, and movement could be heard down the hall. Feet pounding on the stone floor.

“Go!” Thaida gasped, and the group scrambled to push through the doorway. Maddox closed and locked it after them, and then turned to Sellene, eyes darting around the room for exits. They appeared to be in a kitchen. A window revealed the barren landscape outside, and there was a door on the far side of the room.

“Which way now, Your Radiance? We’ll be in hot water if we don’t get moving.”

“There is a stairway from that door. Beyond that lies the room where Adeon sleeps. He isn’t there now though, before you worry. We should take some supplies from this room first. We will need food.” Sellene said, and took a leather satchel from a hook on the wall. She began scooping any food items she could find into it, as well as an empty wineskin and a few small bowls. Purpose seemed to have imbued her with strength. She moved quickly, and waved her hands at the Channelers, signalling that they should do the same. “Quickly, before they realise where we are!”

The satchel was filled with any food that would not be ruined if it got wet, as well as some sealed jars of dried fruits and meats, and then Sellene hurried to the door at the other end of the room. Thankfully, this one was not locked. Balen put his hand in front of the Goddess to stop her from going ahead, “Let us go first, Your Radiance.”

“Very well. There is no-one up there right now but go ahead.” Sellene said.

Balen and Maddox climbed the stone stairs, and the sound of bells and shouting could be heard ringing through the prison wing of the fortress. The Channelers quickened their pace, and the stairs brought them to another locked door.

“Now what? The key isn’t in this one,” said Maddox, “We’ll have to break it down.”

Maddox and Balen each placed a hand on the thick, sturdy wood of the door. They pulled the Power through the door, strengthening themselves, and then together, they heaved their shoulders against it. It didn’t break on the first try, but it did on the second. The room on the other side of the now splintered door was an opulent bedroom, exotically decorated with foreign tapestries on the walls and furs on the ground. Strange artefacts and diagrams littered a desk, and a large fireplace stood bare on the far side of the room.

“I’ll bet they will have heard that. We need to keep moving.” the female Earth Channeler said, eyes darting around the room, looking for a way to escape. There were no doors beside the one they just came through. “It’s too high here to jump out of the windows, we should have tried that window from the kitchen.”

“They have more lookouts on that side of the fort. We would be caught instantly.” Sellene said, walking over to the desk, and rummaging through the papers, seemingly looking for something.

“I don’t like to question you, Your Radiance, but what is it that you are after? We don’t have much time.” Balen said, glancing around at the ragtag group of malnourished prisoners. One of the children was sniffling, and flinched at every sound of the alarm bells.

“Yes, yes. I know. This is important, trust me.” Sellene waved at him dismissively, and continued searching, opening a drawer in the desk and shuffling the papers inside.

“Hey, these idiots might think they need to tiptoe around you, but I won’t.” Thaida snarled, “You told us to go this way so we could escape. We need to go now, so tell us where we are going.”

Sellene lifted the papers out of the second drawer in the desk, ignoring her, and dropped them on the floor.

“Aha!” She said, and slid a small panel of wood out of the bottom of the drawer, revealing a secret compartment. She took from it a small key and a leather bound book, which she wrapped in a cloth she had taken from the kitchen and placed in the satchel. “Look for a trap door, under the rugs. I’m sure there’s another way out of here, and this is the key. I saw Adeon get this key when he… well, that doesn’t matter right now. Come on.”

The furs were quickly lifted and thrown to the side, and eventually they found it. Sellene turned the key in the lock, and the door was lifted. Footsteps sounded on the stairs.

“Hurry,” Sellene said, and reached down for the ladder to the floor below. Hastily, she climbed down, and slipped on the last rung, falling backwards onto hard stone. Maddox and Balen landed either side of her, jumping through the trap door without bothering with the ladder. They lifted her gently onto her feet, and ushered her to the side, allowing the rest of the group to jump down. When they were all assembled, one of the Fire Channelers held out a lit candle, illuminating their surroundings.

“This way.” Sellene pointed into the gloom, and the group followed her instruction, happy to keep moving away from the sounds of the guards close on their heels. The corridor winded to the right, and then back to the left. Then they came upon three doors. “I’m… Not sure which one. Wait a moment. I need to find out.”

“Oh great. We are lost! Why are we even following her orders? She is going to get us all killed.” Thaida groaned.

“Hold your tongue. She may have been captured by these traitors but she is still a Goddess. Remember your oaths, Acolyte.” Maddox said, and Thaida stiffened at the mention of her rank.

Balen spoke up, “Besides, she’s gotten us this far. I have faith in her. We will protect her and she will guide us. We can do this.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“That’s right. You shouldn’t take the meal out before it’s cooked. Be patient.”

“What is it with you and food, old man?” said Thaida.

“This one. We go through this door. There’s a window we can climb out of on this side, and we’ll be able to jump onto a roof. Then from there jump down to the courtyard, and the well is down there.” Sellene pointed at the door to the left, her hand shaking from exhaustion.

They burst through the door, and found it to be a storeroom full of crates and sacks. A thin layer of dust lay over the room, and the window was so grimy that nothing could be seen through it. Balen struggled with the latch, which had rusted over, and Maddox pushed him to the side, exasperated.

“For goodness sake, man! Just smash the thing.” He gripped his wooden spoon and pulled power through it as he punched through the thick, dirty glass. Balen flinched at the sound as thousands of tiny shards scattering down to the courtyard below in a mockery of rainfall. Maddox climbed through the broken window and jumped down to the roof below. “Lower Her Radiance down to me, lad. I’ll catch her.”

_______________________________________________________________

Flutes and strings rang out in the village square, and the patter of dancing feet rhythmically beating against the cobbles could be felt throughout the small crowd. Lysette smiled at Granny, the music raising her spirits as the pair drew closer to the fair.

“Ohh, they’re playing music already! Shall we go watch the musicians?” Lysette said.

“Hmm, I don’t think I will, dearie. I need to rest my knees for a moment after the walk over. You go, I’ll be over there, with the food.” Granny took the basket from Lysette, shooing her towards the dancers.

Lysette looked around at the smiling faces of the men and women dancing arm in arm, but could not see Nora among them. Not wanting to get in the way, she skirted the area marked out as the dancefloor until she reached the small wooden stage that had been set up temporarily. It was a ramshackle thing made from a few sturdy tables pushed together. Lysette stood to one side of the performers, and clapped along with the jaunty tune the pipers played.

It always struck her as odd that she bore more resemblance to Mosey travellers than she did to her own Granny, who had pale skin and grey eyes. Lysette often wondered whether her mother had taken a lover from their strange nomadic clan. Granny remained tight-lipped on the subject, however, and refused to speak of her mother at all. Nora had teased her about it when Lysette confided in her, saying it must be that Granny was ashamed of her, and that her mother must have been pregnant by a ruffian. Lysette didn’t bring it up after that.

The dancers whirled and bounced to the tune, and Lysette found her feet were tapping to the beat before long. The reel seemed to be mounting in speed, until it hit the crescendo, and a last long note signalled the finale. Peals of applause and cheers echoed through the square, and the band started up a slower, nostalgic air. Lysette recognised the tune, and found herself quietly singing along with the musicians.

The once raucous crowd in the square hushed to listen to the familiar tune, and on the stage, a handsome fiddler with bright eyes and copper skin whirled around to face Lysette. A flush rose up the back of her neck and coloured the tips of her ears. The fiddler winked, and mouthed at her, “Come on up!”

Lysette reluctantly clambered up onto the rickety stage with a helping hand from one of the pipers, and the band repeated the opening of the song to allow Lysette a moment to join in. A deep breath, and she began again with the old folk song. Her voice wavered at first, she was unused to this much attention. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on the lyrics and the melody. A collective sigh of pleasure rippled through the crowd of onlookers when she reached the first chorus.

Her eyes fluttered open and she allowed herself to look to the audience, trying to spot Granny’s reassuring face. The chorus repeated and the villagers found themselves humming along with the song as though mesmerised. There was a heaviness in the air, thick and warm as a comforting blanket. Lysette smiled at the fiddler, and he gave her a short incline of his head, the bow swaying back and forth as he wrung heart-wrenching harmonies from the instrument.

The last verse of the song was where the music became the most intense, and Lysette’s voice chimed out above the rapturous strings and the cry of the flutes. A key change signalled the melancholy behind the song, and then, circling back to the chorus, Lysette raised her voice for a big finish.

The song ended. A silence settled over the crowd, in momentary awe. Lysette soaked in the appreciation of her performance. She had never felt she craved any kind of praise or attention, but she allowed herself to feel special. She let out a satisfied breath.

“Dead! They’re dead!” A commotion rose up from somewhere behind the audience who had just seconds previously been so enraptured with the performance. Lysette craned her neck to try and see what was going on, and climbed down from the stage to look for Granny. If someone was hurt, Granny could help. She pushed through to the other side of the square, and that’s when she saw. Her heart sank.

There were several bodies. Some of them were piled onto each other, as though they had all fallen together at the same moment. Lysette fell to her knees as her eyes came to rest on the dead eyes of her Granny. Red, bulging eyes. A trickle of blood from the nose.

“Her! She did this! Witch! Murderer!” A woman in the crowd who had just moments before, been engrossed with Lysettes performance pointed straight at her. “Only the ones who were close to her are unaffected! This must be her doing! I’ll bet that those poor folk in Rannell died because of her too! Look at that evil mark on her neck, and her dark skin! She’s a foreigner! A witch!”

The others looked at her in shock and then turned hostile faces towards Lysette, who was trying to crawl closer to the dead body of the woman who had raised her. She had to do something. Granny couldn’t die. She couldn’t leave her all alone.

“She killed her own grandmother!” “Evil witch!” Murmurs in the crowd rose to deafening shouts. “Foreign hag!” “Go back where you came from!”

A burly hand grasped at the scruff of Lysette’s neck, and shoved her away from Granny’s body. All eyes of the villagers were on her, and she saw Nora amongst them.

“Nora, you know this isn’t true! You can’t believe that, I’d never hurt anyone!” Lysette called to her friend, but she had turned her face away and refused to look at her. “I’ve lived here all my life! You know me! Some of you have had remedies from me! Please! I have to help Granny; I might be able to save her!”

“Get out of here! You aren’t welcome, witch!” The stocky man who had pushed her snarled, blocking the way to the pile of bodies. “Leave, and don’t you ever come back to Ardenne!”

“Yeah, get out of Ardenne! Your kind isn’t welcome here!” The crowd rallied against her, throwing insults and threats at her. It wasn’t until the stocky man had fetched a farming tool from a nearby cottage and begun brandishing it in her direction that Lysette’s self-preservation kicked and she realised that she had no choice but to leave.

She turned and fled through the forest towards granny’s house, barely feeling her toes touch the dirt path as she ran. Tears stung at her eyes and her chest was so tight that she could barely draw a breath. She flew up the cottage’s garden path and burst into the house, closing the door behind her. Leaning against the sturdy wooden door, she slid down to the floor where she sat in a heap of skirts, staring at the air in front of her nose.

“This can’t be happening. This must be another bad dream. This is a nightmare.” Lysette pinched herself and felt the pain as a dull, faraway ache. It was nothing when compared with the stabbing pain in her chest. Pulling her knees to her chest, she rested her forehead on the mass of skirts and let out a heaving sob. Never in her life had she ever felt despair such as this. She was alone. Granny was dead and she had nobody left. She cried until she had no more energy left, and fell as silent as her beloved Granny.

A churning in her stomach stirred her, and she took a few deep breaths, feeling as though she would vomit at any moment. Her stomach was almost empty, she hadn’t had a chance to eat anything at the fair. Nevertheless, it was turning over and she dry heaved a few times. Then, everything changed.

She was not sitting in the hallway of Granny’s house any more. She was in the woods, and had a bundle of her belongings in a large basket, and could feel the weight of a pack on her back. The sound of shouting echoed distantly behind her, and she turned, to see a huge, blazing fire in the dark. Granny’s house. Her home. She turned again and kept walking, at a fast pace away from the angry shouts and the crackling flames.

Snapping back to her senses, Lysette found herself back in the hallway, sitting on the floor in an uncomfortable heap. A feeling of dread washed over her, and she stood shakily, her head still spinning from what had seemed to be some kind of warning.

She pulled Granny’s travelling pack down from its peg by the door. Granny had used this for if she ever had to make home visits to the neighbouring villages and stay for a few days. She wouldn’t need it any more. She carried it through to her room, and picked out only the things she needed, or couldn’t leave behind. The shawl Granny had made for her, a book full of information on herbs, a small mortar and pestle Granny had given her, a thick blanket which she rolled up. A spare set of clothing and undergarments. Then, she opened the little drawer in her bedside table, and for a moment she just stared sadly at its contents. The only item of her mother’s that she owned. It was far too precious for her to ever wear it usually, so she had kept it there ever since Granny had given it to her.

The design of it was simple, but to Lysette’s eyes and her Thracian sensibilities, it was exotic and extravagant. The pendant was a shimmering red stone, in the centre of a golden frame. It hung from a delicate golden chain that fastened behind the neck. Lysette only hesitated for a moment before she put the gaudy jewellery on, and hid it under her blouse.

Gathering a few items from the pantry and the herb shelf into a basket, a sense of foreboding settled onto Lysette’s shoulders. Her heart beat faster. She needed to leave now. She put on a warm coat and wrapped herself in her shawl, set the pack on her back, and, grasping a large basket filled with food and other essentials in her hand, she left the little cottage that held all of her happiest memories and made her first shaky steps toward her uncertain future.