Happy birthday to meeee. Okay, I'm not too much a fan of birthdays, I did, however, want to post something. Because I can :D
And I decided to dedicate this whole thing to the most amazing woman I've ever met. And since it's for her I gotta finish it for sure - she scolded me before about my habit to forget to continue stories at one point. xD
Enjoy :)
Ten years ago.
It had been such a great day for little Ashley. Definitely the best tenth birthday she could have
dreamed of! Her daddy had taken her, her old brother and her mommy out for a picnic. Her grandma
Annie had been there as well. She had given her a pullover she had been working on for the past
couple of weeks. She had loved it so much.
Her elder brother Danny had even surprised her with a little wooden bird he had been carving under
her dad's instructions. Her father had been working as a carpenter and taken an interest to the little
art associated to wood many years ago.
Her mother had also surprised her with a new and cuddly blanket. She had known that she got cold
at night easily so the simple brown blanket made of wool had made her incredibly happy.
And her dad had had the idea of going out for the great picnic they were currently all having. He
knew how much she loved just sitting out there on the grass field and take in the scenery, playing
and running the day away while listening to his stories from time to time.
The day had been, without any exaggerations, perfect. So it was understandable how much she had
dreaded going home when they had told her that it was time. She had begged and begged but there
was no way around having to leave.
Recently, news of a feud had been spreading so it was not safe to go out of the town after sundown.
And the sun had started to set quite a few minutes ago. A lot of thieves, and even some murderers
had apparently made their way into the neighbourhood. People could never be too careful. The
rumours were spreading slowly, but they did spread.
A pair of rich noblemen had decided that either of them wanted to increase the land they were
owning. Which meant in armed men going into places, attacking and trying to take over them.
Oxleigh itself was pretty much at the border between two counties but it had never been really
considered an important place.
So the people were likely to attack other cities first. There were, however, often some groups of
lawless people who would enjoy taking a chance like this to cause trouble. To enrich themselves at
the cost of others. So the authorities had decided to just make sure that nobody would get in and out
of the town after the sun had set.
It would be the safest way for everyone. Furthermore, they had some guards positioned on each of
the gates. Most of them on the Northern gate since that was the place that would be taken down
during an attack if anyone decided to cause trouble.
Reluctantly helping her family pack up it wasn't before too long that they were heading back towards
the town. Her dad had offered to carry her home for the day, since today she was the princess. How
she had loved when her called her that. It was the absolute best!
So while he was carrying her on his shoulders she decided to take a look around. They had left the
town through the Eastern gate so they had been on the large grass field between the forest and the
town itself. She had wanted to go explore the forest with her dad and big brother but they had said
that right now that was too dangerous due to the current circumstances.
At first she was a little sad about it but when they had moved to her favourite oak tree that was in
the middle of the field to sit under it and listen to her dad's stories, she had stopped pouting and
finally continued enjoying the beautiful day.
Now, as they were on their way back, she let her lingering gaze drift towards the woods. As she
stared at the trees and wished to be able to run in between them, she suddenly saw movement.
Intrigued by it she kept staring a little more. She could see a whole lot of dark figures moving in and
about from tree to tree. She was a little confused as to why they would be running around there
right now. She had been told that the woods were dangerous after all right now. Someone should
probably go and warn them. She had no idea why they were dangerous, her family avoided the
subject whenever she was around, but she didn't want anyone to be in trouble because they didn't
listen.
She saw them move large wooden machines through the forest. But as soon as she saw these, they
had disappeared again already. She should probably ask her daddy why the people were playing hide
and seek in the woods at such an hour. She should definitely ask him.
Getting more and more sleepy because of the rocking movements from her father walking back
home, she decided to tell him whenever they were back home.
That definitely sounded like the best idea.
While little Ashley was sound asleep on her father's shoulders, the rest of the family had continued
making their way back home. Passing through the Eastern gate and after a quick talk to the guards
about the current situation, they quickly made their way back to the house they had been living in for
more than ten years now.
Her mother and grandmother had started making dinner together and her father had put her down
on the sheepskin in front of the fireplace, lighting up a fire shortly after.
She had always loved napping there. She wouldn't be all by herself in the dark room – it scared her
at times, even if her brother was sharing the room with her – so she preferred sleeping when there
were people around.
After they had put the food to boil, her mother joined her father and brother at the dinner table and
they were engrossed in a light conversation. It was rare these days since recently they had mostly
started about what her brother Danny would be doing with his life. He would be turning seventeen in
about a month and he had yet to decide which profession he would be striving after.
He had never told them but his father's love for working with wood had also been in his blood so
he was planning to just join into his business. He hadn't told them yet because he wanted it to be a
surprise, fully knowing that he would make his father incredibly happy with that decision.
Her grandmother kept Ashley company. The old woman usually spent most of her time knitting while
sitting in the rocking chair her son had made for her.
She had lost her husband in the war a couple of years ago and ever since then it had only been her
and her son. She had not been too happy about his decision to marry Christine. The woman was,
without a doubt, beautiful. She seemed very fishy, though. The way she acted was fake. Her smiles
were fake. There seemed to be a whole lot more to her person than she was letting everyone see.
But her son had been happy. And she had given her two wonderful grandchildren. Danny was just
like his father. Wild, shabby blonde hair and a smile that could kill. They had that from her husband.
May he rest in peace. Her son also had one of the most soothing voices she had heard in a long time.
She was not quite sure whose genes were responsible for that, but it didn't matter to her either way.
Sometimes, when he thought nobody was around, he would sing songs to his little daughter. And oh,
it sounded so wonderful. Ashley had been his jewel, his princess. He would carry her on his hands he
was so proud of her. She already felt sorry for the poor guy who would one day try to marry Ashley.
She could only imagine what kind of ordeal Raife would be putting the poor guy through.
She really hoped she would still be around once it was time for that. She put her hands in her lap,
momentarily stopping the scarf she was knitting for her granddaughter and took a look at the curled
up sleeping beauty.
Just like her father, the girl had a wonderful voice. Whenever she sang along with her father, you
could easily hear it. Sometimes, when she was taking care of the kid while her parents and brother
were out for work or otherwise busy, she would ask Ashley to sing for her. While she did not know
too many songs yet, she would always comply her grandma's wish.
Talking about the sleeping beauty, she stirred a little under her grandma's gaze and turned on her
back, placing a small hand on her stomach. She slightly opened her mouth and cute little snoring
noises came from her mouth.
She still worse the smile she had been wearing throughout the whole day. Grandma Charlotte
sincerely hoped that the child would be able to wear a smile like that forever. She was such a good
child, she never wanted her to have to feel any kind of harm.
Ashley did, however, have quite the interesting sleeping habits. She usually tossed and turned a lot.
Sometimes she would speak in her sleep. Sometimes she was fighting monsters, sometimes she
dreamed of being a princess.
At times, she even suddenly started singing in her sleep.
Other times, though, nightmares would make her cute little face scrunch and the girl whimpered
or even cried. Whenever she noticed that she would be there to gently stroke her head so all the
bad dreams would disappear. Not long after the affection, Ashley's bad dreams would usually turn
around and she kept sleeping peacefully.
Looking at how amazing and smart her granddaughter was, Charlotte felt sad that she had so very
little possibilities for her future. She surely was smarter than her brother already and she was a lot
younger. She also knew Raife had been teaching her how to read and she could sing better than
anyone else in the family already.
She was extremely curious and could never get enough of learning about things. But during these
times, even the smartest and most amazing woman would still just end up being someone's wife.
Charlotte did not like the thought but there was nothing anyone could really do about it. Maybe
somewhen, in the far far future things would be different.
But much to her regret, Ashley was born into a time where she would never really be able to live out
and up to her full potential.
She could still do her best to make sure that whoever she would end up with would respect her
enough to not suffocate her talents, though. She was sure that Raife thought the same about that.
Hence her suspicions that whoever wanted to marry Ashley one day would have to go through some
of the most terrible ordeals imaginable.
Chuckling at the thought she got back to knitting the scarf for her little granddaughter.
Ashley was still lying on the sheepskin dreaming about the beautiful day they had. She was so sound
asleep that her family decided to let her sleep while they were eating dinner. She did eat plenty
during the picnic after all so she probably wouldn't be too hungry anyway.
As Raife was about to pick up his little princess to carry her to her bed, a loud sound stopped him in
his tracks.
He got to the window at the back of the house and stared into the darkness, trying to figure out what
was happening.
A crash. Followed by another. And another.
Shouting and screaming people.
Something was definitely wrong.
He dashed towards the door and tried to get any kind of information as to what was happening.
People were running around the town, hastily rushing from one place to another.
When a young man with a torch in his hand passed his house, he grabbed him by the shoulder,
demanding answers. "Kid, tell me what's happening here?"
The boy must have been around the same age as Danny. He looked scared, terrified, as he spoke up:
"It's bad, sir. We were guarding the East gate and were just about to switch shifts. Suddenly, like out
of nowhere they came rushing out of the forest," the kid was fidgeting, like he didn't have a lot of
time and was unsure of what exactly was happening altogether, "They just came and attacked! They
had arrows, burning arrows! And a lot of swords and, and, and..."
"And what kid? Get a grip!" Raife was usually a patient man but this sounded like it could harm his
family. He needed the information and he needed as much of it in as little time as possible.
"They have battering rams. They're trying to tear down the city walls," he stopped as another
crashing sound was creeping through the night, "and it looks like they're almost done. Everyone
is gathering at the market place to try holding them back while the women and children are being
guided towards the next town, down the Western exit."
"Thank you kid, I'll be there shortly," with that he let the boy go. He knew everything he needed to
know. And he knew he needed to act fast if he wanted to make sure everyone would be out of the
danger.
They were living pretty close to the Eastern gate and if their attackers really did manage to break
through it would only be a matter of time before they would try to tear down their house and do
God knows what to Ashley and Christine. Maybe even his mother.
He stormed inside the house and gave orders to Christine and his mother to quickly grab some things
they needed and get ready to get out of town as quickly as possible.
"Danny," he had started saying, "the men are meeting at the market place in order to hold them
back..." He fell silent for a moment. He hated the thought of having to ask his only son to risk his life
in order to fight those people back. Before he could continue to even think about how to break the
news to him, Danny had interrupted him,
"It's okay dad, I'll be coming, too. We have to defend mom, Ash and granny after all." He smiled. That
was his son.
After a few minutes, they had gathered everything they needed in order to leave the town quickly.
He gave his mother instructions as to where they were supposed to be heading. He knew nobody
knew their way better around this area than his old mother. She had grown up here after all.
Ashley had slept throughout the whole situation. Still peacefully resting on the sheepskin she had no
idea of all the things happening around her. She had been a very very heavy sleeper. This was the
night that habit was to change for forever.
Raife knelt down next to his youngest child, "Ashley, Ashley honey."
She slightly stirred and slowly opened her eyes to find herself looking into her father's worried face.
Mimicking his look she spoke up, "Daddy, is something wrong?"
"No princess, everything is fine," he forced a smile. He didn't want the child to be scared, "but we
have to leave, we have to leave really fast."