Escape from the Witch Hunters

It was a week after they had fled from the village and Evelyn and her mother were just getting settled into their new life.

“Can you go down to the stream and get some water for me?” Mother brushed a wisp of hair from her face as she stirred a simmering pot of stew.

Evelyn nodded her head even though Mother couldn’t see it and stood up. “I’ll be back!” she grabbed the two buckets, connected with a yoke, and started walking down to the stream.

It was still light out but the sun was slowly fading. A refreshing breeze flowed through her light brown hair.

The last of the winter snow has melted and spring is here in fullbloom. Evelyn smiled to herself. She had always felt as if spring brought renewal to the earth.The blanket of sickness and snow had passed and the flowers of regeneration had come.

She inhaled deeply before dipping the buckets into the stream and letting the water flow into them. She hooked them onto the yoke and pick up the buckets. She grunted as she stood up with the weight of water bearing down on her shoulders. Some water sloshed over the sides, wetting the dirt and patches of moss.

She had just entered the clearing when she heard the faint sound of hound dogs barking and horns blaring. That could only mean one thing. The villagers had called in the infamous Witch Hunters.

“Mother!” Evelyn dropped the buckets of water and ran back to the small hut. “Mother!”

Mother came rushing out of the front door. “What is it?”

“Hound dogs! I hear them!” Evelyn panted and placed a hand on her heart as if to steady her breathing.

Mother’s eyes widened with shock. “No. Oh no.” she held her face in her hands. “I never thought that they would actually summon the Witch Hunters!” she looked back at Evelyn and tried to compose her features. “Evelyn, you must take Chestnut, and get far away from here! Do you understand? You must go!”

“No! I’m not leaving you. You have to come with me!” she said with wide eyes. It was so soon!

“Evelyn. They will just keep hunting us until they find me, and if they find you with me, they will likely kill you as well. It’s better this way.” she tried to sound brave for Evelyn, but her eyes betrayed her fear.

“I can’t leave you, Mother.” Evelyn felt tears building up. “Please come with me. We’ll go far away, and they’ll never find us.”

“I’ll meet up with you later.” Mother promised reassuringly.

The dogs could be heard more clearly. Evelyn’s eyes darted back and forth in a wild flurry.

Mother hurried inside for a minute, before reappearing back outside with a bundle. “Take this, get Chestnut, and ride until you can’t ride anymore.”

Evelyn quickly tied the bundle onto Chestnut and swung her leg over the side, not caring if it was lady-like or not. “Please Mother. Come with me.”

Mother gave Evelyn a quick hug then backed up and into the doorway. “Goodbye, Evelyn. Remember that I’ll always love you.” tears welled up in her own eyes.

Evelyn was about to spur Chestnut into a gallop.

“Wait!” she dug around in her pocket before pulling a silver ring out. “Take this. It was my great-grandmother’s wedding ring.”

Evelyn nodded and stuffed it into her pocket.. “I’ll see you again, Mother.”

“Go and don’t look back.” Mother forced a smile on her face, knowing that she would most likely never see her daughter again. She just prayed that someone nice and respectable would take care of her.

The sound of horses cantering could be heard, and within minutes they would be seen. “Go!” Mother closed the door, after casting one last glance at her only daughter.

Evelyn dug her knees into Chestnut’s side, harder than necessary, sending Chestnut galloping deeper into the dark and scary woods.

“Why God? Why take Mother away from me?” Evelyn’s vision was blurred with her stream of tears. The witch hunters never left survivors.

By the time the hunters and dogs came into the clearing, Evelyn was already deep into the woods.

Evelyn had been riding until the sun was well down and well until the moon was high in the sky. Her tears had finally stopped streaking down her pale skin.

“Come on, Chestnut, just a little farther.” she so badly wanted to have the comforts of a home, a warm meal, a hot bath, and a cozy bed. Comforts she once shared with Mother. But those were comforts that she couldn’t have, not now, and most likely nowhere near in the future. She had only the clothes on her back and a little food in the sack that Mother had packed her.

The moon was bright enough so she could make out the dirt path with a few spring flowers along the way, but the shadows loomed all around her, enclosing her. The forest was eerily silent.

Then the silence was broken by a very frightening presence. A wolf’s howl.

Evelyn’s heart started to beat faster. It’s far away. She reasoned. It can’t get us. She held onto Chestnut’s reins tighter. She unconsciously slowed Chestnut down and looked from left to right every so often.

Then it howled again, only louder this time. Please Father, keep me safe. Evelyn looked , around her for any signs of a wolf.

Chestnut pranced nervously, as if he too, sensed the presence of a dangerous creature. Evelyn prodded Chestnut along slowly and cautiously. Another minute passed by. Another howl. Then another five minutes of silence. Evelyn’s heart began to calm down and her breathing became steadier.

Then without warning, a wolf leaped out in front of them, causing Chestnut to rear.

“Chestnut no!” Evelyn held onto the reins with every ounce of energy she had left from the exhausting journey, but still she went flying off his back. Evelyn glimpsed Chestnut galloping away with the wolf close on his tail. Then blackness consumed Evelyn.

Gillian frowned. He didn’t need this. He wished he had never seen it. He wished he had never gone riding that morning. He had enough things to take care of and he didn’t need another chore. Only he had seen it.

He rode closer to the lump of fabric. Upon closer inspection he discovered that inside the lump was a girl. Things are getting better by the second, be thought sarcastically. She can’t be older than seventeen, he swung off his horse to get a better look at the girl. “The question is, how did she get out here? And why-”

He looked down at her leg. Even though he was never officially a physician, he knew enough to know that something was wrong. A leg was supposed to be bent in that many places.

“Great.” he muttered and carefully scooped her up, the fabric of her dress getting in the way of Gillian’s hands.

“Here horse-y.” Gillian clicked his tongue.

His horse walked over and gently nudged the girl’s delicate and pale face. “No.” Gillian shook his head at his horse as he grabbed the reins and started walking back towards his house.

The girl’s face contorted in pain for a brief moment before it went back to its normal, expressionless and pale look.

Gillian raised an eyebrow and saw that her hair had been matted down by a red, sticky, and dry substance, also referred to as blood.

He panicked for a moment, as he knew that head injuries could be fatal. This innocent looking girl doesn’t deserve to die. Surely she doesn’t, he sighed. He looked for the cut on her head and his eye caught sight of a simple flesh wound that most likely wouldn’t harm the girl’s brain. At least not too much he hoped.

Evelyn tried to open her eyes, but the weight on her eyelids kept her from doing so.

She heard someone coughing. What was that? Where was she? What was she doing last? Was this her house? Why did her head hurt?

With much effort she was finally able to lift her heavy eyelids made out a pair of midnight blue eyes staring back at her.

Evelyn tried to scream and would have screamed if she could have, but no sound came out. Her throat felt like it was coated in sand and her lips were as dry as the Varisule desert. She tried to lick her lips, but even moving her tongue seemed like a daunting task.

The person behind those dark eyes seemed unalarmed by her attempt to scream and calmly held a cold glass of water to her lips and let bits of water trickle into her mouth and down her parched throat. She noticed that the person had dark brown hair or was it black? She couldn’t tell.

Evelyn tried to thank the person, but the only thing that came out was a small croak.

“Shh. Just sleep.” Evelyn felt the person gently place their hand on her forehead before she fell into a deep slumber once again.

Gillian pulled a chair from the table and set it next to his bed where the girl with the angelic face lay. He had no idea how she had gotten to the center of the forest. There was no wagon around and no horse, so she must have walked. But for someone to walk miles just to get into the middle of the woods just didn’t make sense. It didn’t look like an animal had tried to scratch her, in fact it looked as if she had fallen from something. But the trees around there didn’t have branches until nine feet off the ground, and he couldn’t imagine this delicate girl trying to climb one.

She had opened her eyes once, drank a bit of water, then she fell back asleep.

She was a bother to his life, he was sure of that, but something about her captivated him. Maybe it was her wavy light brown hair, or how she had one green eye and one blue eye, or the way her mouth was cast into a sad frown when she was sleeping - almost like she was having a bad dream.

Gillian shook his head. I’m turning into a dirty old man staring at a young innocent girl. What is wrong with me? He took a deep breath.

“I need some fresh air.” he muttered as he got up from the chair and grabbed his bow and arrow. “I’ll be back.” he looked at the girl, wondering if she could hear him, then he slipped out the door to go hunting.

It was probably unwise of him to leave the unconscious girl in his house by herself, but he needed food.

Evelyn blinked a few times and tried to keep her eyes open. She finally did get them open, she gasped and sat up quickly, causing her head to spin. This wasn’t her house. She looked down. Those weren’t her clothes. Where was she? How had she gotten there? And for the life of her what was her name? She felt like it was on the tip of her tongue, only she couldn’t spit it out.

The cabin was small, it had a kitchen and a bedroom, the bedroom was separated from the kitchen only by a thin piece of material.

Just then a strange young man, maybe twenty years of age, with midnight colored hair and dark blue eyes, came through the door holding two rabbits and a bow and quiver. She recognized him as the person who gave her water earlier.

Evelyn’s eyes widened. She quickly pulled the sheets up around her body even though she was in a shirt and trousers. “Who are you?”

The young man set the rabbits down on the table and raised an eyebrow at her. “I should ask you the same thing.”

“I-” she paused, “I-I don’t know. I’m somebody. I just don’t remember.”

“Uh-huh.” he dragged a chair into the bedroom and sat down. “I’m Gillan.”

They both sat there, not saying anything for at least four uncomfortable minutes.

“Your eyes are mismatched. You have one green eye and one blue.” Gillan coughed. Nice going, Gillan.

Evelyn, suddenly remembering her manners, spoke up. “Nice to meet you, Gillan.” she frowned. “I don’t know my name.”

“Well, I can’t just call you Girl.” Gillan nodded in agreement to himself. “How about Ryia?”

Evelyn raised her eyebrows and looked like she might say no but didn’t. “Alright.” Does he realize that he’s talking more to himself than me?

Gillan was glad she didn’t ask about the name. It was his mother’s name and he had no idea what possessed him to offer it to the girl he just met. It’s the similar features. Gillan reasoned with himself. His mother was a touchy subject. Why did he need to be reminded of her every time he looked at the girl? He wasn’t complaining though the girl was definitely a beauty. Gillan gave himself a mental shake. I’m going crazy.

“So, Ryia.” Gillan said the name carefully, as if testing it. “How did you get so deep into the woods? And may I ask why you were in the woods?”

Ryia frowned again. “I was in the woods? But why would I go there?”

Gillan assessed her carefully to see if she was telling the truth or not. “Yes. You were in the woods. I found you with blood on your head and with a broken leg.”

Ryia’s eyes got wide. “I had a broken leg?”

“Yep.” Gillan nodded.

“What happened?” shock added another layer of whiteness to Ryia’s face.

“I don’t know. I was hoping you’d tell me.” he sighed.

Ryia looked under the covers and at her right leg which had the splint. “You did this?”

“I did.” he looked at her face, waiting for a reaction.

She looked at it for a moment before realization dawned on her. She looked scandalized and her face turned more pale. If her face gets any more pale she’ll turn into a ghost.

“Don’t worry, I’m not an eccentric hermit.” Gillian mumbled. Although he was almost classified as a hermit...but she didn’t need to know that.

Her eyes were still wide and she looked down at her clothes, as if realizing for the first time that she had never changed them herself.

“My father was a physician and I studied under him for quite some time, if that makes you feel any better.” Gillian didn’t know why, but he didn’t want the girl to look at him as if he were a scary old perverted man who lived all by his lonesome self in the middle of nowhere. Because he wasn’t. Yet.

Ryia sighed in relief and let her head rest on the pillow once again.

“Where do you live?” she turned to him with her bewitching mismatched eyes.

“In the woods.” he replied. When she gave him a confused look, he elaborated. “About a day’s ride from the sea, and about a week away from Carenthia.”

“Oh.” she looked back at Gillian. How had she gotten there? And what was her name? She pursed her lips and scrunched her eyebrows.

She was silent for a minute her mind in a whirl. She let out a frustrated grunt. “Well thank you very much, Gillian, for your assistance. I’ll be taking my leave.”

She tossed the ratty blanket off and started to stand up, but as soon as she put her weight on her right leg she started to collapse.

Gillian lunged and caught her before she hit the floor. He hit the floor with a dull thud. Her eyes were wide as she let out a frightened squeak. “Are you okay, Gillian?” She looked up and found his face just inches from hers.

Ryia’s heart was beating so fast, she was sure he could see it. She looked into his intense dark blue eyes and noticed how a strand of his dark hair fell over his eyes. She would never get tired of looking at his face in fact, she had never seen anyone as handsome as him in her village, and she was tempted to believe he was an angel. Only the pain in her leg told her otherwise.

She didn’t know how long they were in the position, but she finally looked away shyly and used his support to sit down on the bed again.

“You’re not going anywhere.” he said. “I’m not so evil as to kick you out while you’re injured and I won’t let you go out into the wilderness to die.”

Ryia could only nod. She knew her cheeks would heat up if she looked at him again.