She ran.

And ran.

And ran.

She was pretty sure she’d lost them at this point, but it didn’t matter.

She didn’t care if she made to much noise running through the woods, because it would be hopeless either way.

Running.

Running.

She felt the gazes of all the creatures whose sleep she disturbed, all the owls and wolves,

all the goblins and faunes, the centaurs and the fae.

She silently cried to herself, still not slowing down in her sprint.

All was lost, the elves had fallen, and she’d been the witness of it all.

Now came the age of demons. Like herself. Her mother didn’t listen to the warnings of her neighbors when they told her that Hedwig would bring misfortune over the elven race.

Of course, her mother didn’t believe them, and neither did Carrie.,

Until now that is.

The daemons had come for her, it had to be. What other reason would they have for invading the elven capital.

She brought the destruction upon Velehar, she was the reason the daemons came, and now she was the only likely survivor of the once so proud elves.

As she ran, she entered a meadow, a cold, uninviting place, with several tall and vicious-looking shadows, one of them being an old watchtower upon closer inspection. Hedwig debated with herself whether to enter it or not, it wasn’t likely that is was occupied.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

All was dark, the only thing able to enter her eyes were the borderlines between the trees and the night sky, no moon hanging in it.

She entered the tower, feeling a wave of humid and stagnant air hit her. Not being able to see more than an inch in front of her, she just layed down on the stone-floor.

And fell asleep.

***

The morning air was cold and humid for the 10th month, making Hedwigs breath visible when she woke up that morning. Just for a moment, she had the bliss of sleepy ignorance, but her memories of the last night came back just as she started to wonder where she were.

The sun shined through a small open window located high up in the tower, warming Hedwig up, just a tiny bit. She sighed. With little time to feel sorry for herself, she went up and brushed the dust of her not-so-travel-friendly clothes; An azure blouse and brown pants, coupled with an old pair of boots.

There was stairs that presumably led up to some other floor of the tower. Hedwig started to walk upstairs, startled by how much noise her own boots made against the stone. She came upon a short narrow corridor leading up to a large, seemingly heavy door made of darkwood.

She pulled the handle of the door, making it screech in the wake of its long dormancy. Inside, everything seemed untouched, like someone lived here yesterday and just went out to gather some herbs. It was messy, cylindrical room with a bunch of medical plants and vials scattered on the single table and the floor, and hunting equipment of all sorts were hanging on the walls, several bows with arrows, rugged swords and rusty spears.

There was also a set of clothes, not really befitting of a hunter nor a healer or an alchemist.

A small (although still big to her) brown leather coat and a pair of sturdy boots that looked newly made, as well as a triangular hat with a red feather on it. The boots and the hat fit her pretty well, but the coat was to big. She put them back.

Neighboring the room layed a smaller room with a bed and a small table.

She noticed the dead body in the bed.

Screaming, she fled back into the first room, slowly getting her courage back to go back and check it. “Come on, it’s dead, what can it do to you?” she slowly tried to convince herself. She crept up closer to the bed, studying the corpse. Only now did she see that he had a large stab wound in his chest, and that where his heart probably were when he was alive, a large gaping hole allowed Hedwig to see the now red mattress under him. His eyes were wide opened in chock, and his mouth was open, seemingly ready to scream at any moment.

Was this the job of the demons as well?

The corpse still very much unsettled her, but not as much as before. Maybe it would be right to give this poor guy a proper burial?

Hedwig went back into the workshop and sat down at the desk to take in what she just saw.

Even if she just fled from the total destruction of the elves, she didn’t actually see it, just hear the screams of pain and death; she’d never encountered death at such a close distance before.

How could anyone work with killing people?

She decided to search for something to eat before dealing with the corpse in some way.

On top of the desk, she found a pouch with a bunch of nuts in it, and after exploring for a bit, she found a small room filled with dried meat and fruits. She devoured some of it, and then decided to search for the charm that kept parts of the building so fresh and preserved.

Usually, charms were pieces of enchanted paper, made to put some effect on the area directly beside it. They were usually very easy to spot, since they couldn’t be obstructed by anything to work, but she found nothing.

She noticed the effect had a clear border, and tried to locate the middle of said effect, and found a small piece of black, shining stone. She moved it to the desk to look at it closer,

what magic was this? She sat down at the desk.

Suddenly, Hedwig froze as she heard a loud cough from the bedroom, almost dropping the small stone.

The corpse walked out into the workshop, staring at her with his dead, cold eyes..