CH 1 – The Hunt Is On
Trouble seems to follow Savin, and to her delight it matters not the time line she's in.
Her tall flowing figure is not one of deception, sneaking around corners and hiding from unwanted eyes is what she's good at. The Wendron Witches helped her with this to an extent. Taken as a small child, she stayed in the forest until her curiosity became too much for her imagination. Her time there had not been one of a horrible nature as you might imagine (though there were moments). Savin often spent her time exploring, letting her unruly black hair glide behind her as she ran through the woods, hoping for more.
But the time had come when she had to tell the Witch Mother her final wish, before venturing into adulthood - as is costumed. Once she did, the Wendron's did not fair well to the news. Savin was a great profit to the coven, and if they could not have her, no one could.
To put it lightly, Savin has her far share of enemies.
And so, the hunt was on.
She was in grave danger and the only place safe from the Witch Mother seemed to be inside the walls of the castle, so to the castle she went.
With minor difficulties of getting in, there were some bigger troubles on getting out.
Queen Etheldredda had her eye on the lowly thief, and how could she not? Word had spread over town in a matter of days with concerns of the mischievous witch roaming the city. Though most knew she only had good intentions, this did not stop the majority of the castle from their imaginative rumors about the girl. It attracted much more attention to Savin then she would have liked, and eventually the Queen ordered an assault on the former witch. Guards were told to keep a watchful eye out for the girl, posters littered the streets (featuring a poorly drawn sketch for description).
To Savin's delight her reward was high, and along with this more rumors emerged. So she embraced the fact that she was not welcome either in the forest, or the castle.
She created havoc for Etheldredda, raising the price on her head even higher. Everyone became uncontrollably anxious to hear more. No one had ever liked Queen Etheldredda, and so the people inside the castle walls secretly egged Savin on, creating more distress. And more guards.
On one particular occasion, Savin's blue witchy eyes deceived her. To her surprise, a guard stumbled from behind a corner, revealing her standing alone in Snake Slipway.
This was their time.
They could easily catch her now.
The guard howled in delight, finally he might just get that long needed promotion.
Others soon followed, Savin ran down Snake Slipway as fast as she possibly could, desperately looking for some daring escape. But there only seemed to be an old hatch in an abandoned alley way, so down she went. Much to her surprise she dropped onto a stone cold floor.
'Ice? Since when were there tunnels of ice below the castle?'
Uh, a Wendron witch had no common knowledge of the castle, that was for sure.
Stumbling down the tunnels didn't stop her, she could hear the guards opening the hatch and soon she could see one not far up ahead.
Perhaps she could still make it.
By now the guards were down the ladder. Quickly she plied the hatch open from the ice, her numb fingers grabbing hold of the ladder in desperation. She didn't know where it led to, but she didn't care.. She had heard the rumor this morning, Queen Etheldredda had ordered none other than a death sentence for the girl.
She had finally reached the bottom of the long climb down. And that is when she stopped worrying about the frantic guards above, the death sentence on her head, and the numbness in her fingers.
A pair of dark eyes glimpsed at her in midst of the surrounding darkness.