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My life would never be the same again.
I lived with my little sister and my mother my entire life, my father was said to have been shot dead before I was born, and due to debt my mother owed from loans she had taken from our local mafia, she had been forced to sell herself for money to escape their wrath. That was how my baby sister was conceived.
Mother had looked after us to the best of her ability, but she, like the rest of the town we lived in, was indebted to the mafia. They had threatened her, beat her and raped her, but she never let them near me or my baby sister, Wendy.
Today however, her troubles finally ended. With her death.
For years, my entire life in fact, we've dealt with the lackeys of the actual crime boss in the mafia, whose name was Acnologia. He had never shown himself to us before because he preferred to stay in his mansion with his trophy wife Anna Heartfillia.
Recently, news spread the streets that he discovered his wife's infidelity with one of her body guards, a man named Jude, who also happened to be one of my dearest friends' father, and Anna's sisters' husband. He had his men gang rape Jude's wife Layla, and his daughter, Lucy, and mutilated Jude's wife beyond recognition as vengeance. When Jude finally returned home and found them in the raw state of their abuse, Lucy, who had run away at her mother's pleas, only barely escaped being shot dead along with her mother.
Jude had run back to the mansion to try and kidnap Anna, but he was too late. Just out of town, on the road to the upper-class city, was where her body had been set on display for the entire town to bear witness. It was still there too, only rotting and festered with flies and maggots. His had joined hers, for there had been an ambush waiting for him when he had arrived. He had been forced to eat Anna's bloody heart, and after Acnologia's men had raped and beaten him, he had been strung up, and left to die on a crucifix stake.
People who witnessed what happened told of his moans and pleas for the people to help him, even if only to end his suffering, but no one dared. He didn't deserve help, but any decent person with a shred of humanity wouldn't be able to watch a man suffer like that. Still, we did nothing. We all knew we would have joined him if we attempted to go against Acnologia's wishes.
He had, understandingly, been in a foul mood since then, and decided to accompany his debt collectors and protection money retrievers before he would return to his home in the upper city. The purpose? To remind the down towners that he was in no way, an urban legend, or a mere boogieman in the dark.
That is how only a week later, today, he turned up at our door.
He sent his goons to pillage our valuables to make up the sum of our increasing debt we had inevitably failed to pay back over the years. My mother begged him not to take out heirlooms, because they were all she had left to hand down to us. He paid her no mind, until I was pulled out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel.
I screamed as my shoulder slammed into the cheap plaster wall, bruising me, and making a rather large dent in the wall. I fell to the floor in a heap. My mother tried to rush to my side, but Acnologia pulled her back by her hair with one hand, and forcibly squeezed her face until she submissively turned her head to look at him.
"Her. Give me this girl for my next wife, and all your debts will be forgiven," he bargained, or rather demanded.
"Please, not her! She is my baby! She has only just turned fifteen!" My mother pleaded, but he pushed her back into a broken chair violently, and turned to stare at me.
"Girl, come with me now. Your family will be saved from their debts, and I will give you the greatest riches and pleasures this world has to offer, all you have to do is become my wife, and mother our children," he said to me coaxingly, trying to sound reasonable and charming.
I looked back into the bathroom where Wendy and I had been bathing, thankfully she had successfully escaped. I could only pray she had made it into the forest in time and without any witnesses. No one knew why, but the mafia never ventured further than a specific distance into the forest. We figured if they feared whatever lurked beyond, then so should we, and looking for trouble would never do us any good. The mafia were monsters, but they protected their own. Falling into the grey area between them and an unknown evil was something no one was stupid enough to do. We lived by a wise term, respect 'the devil you know'.
"I…I am too young, I- "I tried to say, when the man who had shoved me against the wall grabbed my shoulder and squeezed it painfully as he forced me to my feet. A strangled sound of pain left my throat, and before I realised what had happened, a puddle of blood swam at my feet, soaked through my towel and sprayed the walls around me. My ears rang from the loud noise that erupted from the smoking gun Acnologia had slid back into his inner jacket pocket.
My mother cried out in horror. I stared at the blood, petrified, I anticipated the pain of my new injury, I waited for the moment of darkness that signified the end of my life…it never came.
Acnologia strode forward and pulled me to his chest. He pressed my face into his crisp, clean pale blue dress shirt, and I watched with morbid fascination as the blood bled into the fine fabric. I glanced behind myself, out the corner of my eye, and gaped at the corpse of my aggressor which was splayed on the floor with pieces of its head and plaster splattered everywhere.
"See, no one will touch you if you become mine. You will have the prettiest jewels, dresses, hats and shoes a woman could wish for, a home and a garden you may tend to as you please, animals to admire, and your own family to raise. You will no longer have to answer to others, because you will be their own mortal god and saviour," he whispered huskily in my ear. My mother tried desperately to pry me out of his hold without pulling off my towel, or touching him in any way. "We will take our leave now. Don't worry about your possessions, you won't need any reminders of this…life."
He cast a disgusted look at our small home, having seemingly forgotten that he was responsible for its current state of disarray, and carnage himself.
"Please, let me think about this? This is all so much for me to take in…so suddenly…why would you ever even wish to marry me? What will happen to my family? I-If you don't mind my asking…s-sir?" I asked him, and swallowed thickly as he lifted my face towards his own. He looked down at me calculatedly, as if he knew I was only trying to buy myself time. He also knew I was wholly at his mercy.
"You will address me only as your dearest, your love, or your husband, nothing else. You are of a suitable age to marry by my culture's standards. Once a girl leaves her family and becomes a woman, her only family is her husband and her children, you have no need of your prior family, but if it would please you, I will pay them a monthly sum for your hand." He persuaded, and brought his face closer to mine as he fingered a lock of my hair between his thumb and forefinger as if it were fine silk or some other pricey material, he was appraising.
"As for why I want you, you are young and beautiful. I thought my late wife was beautiful, a goddess sent to me from the heavens…may God have mercy on her, but you…you are the most exquisite, exotically beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes upon," he said seductively, he made no effort to hide the carnal lust from his voice or his expression. I looked at him in fear, but why me? My mother looked just like me, truthfully, she was curvier and even more beautiful than I was! And Anna…has he already forgotten that he was the one who murdered her? "I can see the wheels turning in your pretty little head, and I must advise against such poisonous habits and pass times. I presume you wonder why I have chosen you over Eileen? The answer is simple, she is a whore, she has been another man's wife, and a mother to other men's children. She is filthy and wasted, useless. You are more beautiful, young and innocent, you will be mine and only mine. As for my late wife…I did love her. I am however, a religious man, and a crime that cannot be overlooked in gods' eyes is adultery. I punished her so that god may have mercy on her soul. Murder can be justified, killing to protect your property, livelihood or your woman and family are just a few loopholes around gods' restrictions on mankind. Now…I will give you the night to say your goodbyes in good faith that you will accompany me to the cathedral in the morning. Your mother has much to prepare you for, for your wedding night. Pleasant dreams."
He leaned down and kissed the side of my mouth passionately. My mother had taken to barring the door so that he couldn't steal me away, but she quickly moved aside to let him out once he released me.
He ordered his men to clean up the mess they made, and left our home with eight goons with guns to guard the front and back doors, windows and other possible escape routes. I noticed that the doors leading outside from the basement weren't guarded however.
When the men had left our home clean but damaged, my mother looked at me from head to toe and helped me wash myself clean of the dead man's blood.
"Are you alright? I won't let you do this. My role as your parent is to protect you, everything I have sacrificed for you up until now will be for nothing if you end up with the likes of him," she said emotionally. I bit my lip and my throat constricted with repressed sobs.
"I helped Wendy escape. She fled into the woods, I don't know where exactly, but we need to find her! I told her to run as deeply into the black forest as she could, to hide away from the mafia in case…in case what happened to aunty Layla and Lucy happened to us. Mother, please find her and run away from here with her tomorrow during the ceremony. I kept a vial of rat poison I found in one of their warehouses some time back, I'll kill him or die trying! I promise, I won't let him have me, not in any way," I attempted to convince her desperately. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed my face into her neck as she soothed my bruised shoulder tenderly.
"I could never leave one of you here like that. Please run away, you need to run away tonight! I know enough magic to keep his men busy while you escape into the forest. Please do this for me. I love you so much, no parent should have to bury their child. I'll help you escape, and I'll try my best to follow behind you. You and Wendy must escape this town and run somewhere safe from Acnologia's influence. The forest is the border of his territory, I don't know what lies beyond it, but keep going, keep running until you find a place where you can live peacefully, find love, and grow old with a man you love and your own children. One day when you are a mother you will understand, and you will forgive me. Please do this for me," she sobbed into my hair and kissed my head. I cried as I held onto her for possibly the last time.
Once I was washed and dressed into my most durable travel worthy clothes, I took what little money my mother possessed that she offered to me, as well as her favourite necklace, an heirloom passed down from generations. I set out to do as my mother told me. The necklace was said to have been created by an enchantress at least a century ago, she had been one of our most powerful ancestors.
I helped my mother douse the house in paraffin and oil, and waited patiently in the basement for the opportune moment to escape. The oldest living heir of each generation always retained their ancestors' magical abilities, my mother's ability was enchantment, I had already inherited my father's ability called, 'Requip the Knight', enabling me to manifest any clothing, armor, accessories or weaponry I owned or manifest from my imagination. It wasn't as simple as it sounded, but it has helped me through the years.
Acnologia also inherited his fathers' ability like his father before him, only he had killed his them himself to receive his powers. His father's ability was to absorb magic, and use it in any manner he chose to. An incredibly dangerous power to exist in an oppressor and subjugator.
I wondered briefly if Lucy had inherited her mother's magic, wherever she was, and I hoped that she was still alive somewhere and safe from harm. Her family was gone, and her dignity and self-respect had been shattered, but she had to know as I did that it was our responsibility to survive. For their sake.
"Erza, get ready to go. As soon as you hear the fight begin, you escape from the door in the basement, alright?" she asked me, and stroked my neck affectionately, searching my face for understanding. "Then you must set the house aflame and run into the woods. Don't look back, don't ever look back. Run until you find your sister, and keep running. Tell her I love her, and never forget how much I love you. I'll find you if I can, I promise."
I nodded and sniffed as I tried to restrain the sound of my sobs. She kissed my forehead one last time before running to the front door with an old rusty sword she had inherited from her own mother. An enchanted weapon.
As soon as the first yells and screams echoed above me, I unlocked the latch on the emergency exit and began climbing out. I froze in fear and indecision when I heard my mother cry out in pain. I forced myself to move, and lit the flint to light the fire that erupted throughout my childhood home, destroying everything I ever held dear. I heard their screams escalate as I fled.
I didn't want to hear them, but my ears strained to hear my mothers' cries, if only to know if she made it out safely. I didn't hear them and I hoped and prayed that she had somehow made it out.
I didn't have long to pray however, as shouts and gunshots went off in the distance behind me. I ran faster as they began closing the distance between us, and I decided to venture off of the road well-travelled and onto the path less travelled.
It was too dark to notice any signs of another person's venture through these same narrow paths, but I hoped that I would find Wendy along the way.
Men followed me like ravenous wolves through the woods, and when I finally thought I had gone far enough to lose them, I was mistaken. They had hesitated and swore, but they had continued running after me, chasing at my heels.
I screamed as the fastest man ahead of the others grabbed hold of my hair. I requipped a sword and slashed at him, only barely slicing through his arm, forcing him to let me go. He yelled out in pain, and I tore myself free from his hold and continued running.
He lifted his gun at me spitefully but swore under his breath and lowered it as he continued to chase after me, albeit slower than before.
I could just barely see a dark and gloomy building that looked like an old-fashioned estate of some sort in the distance. It looked abandoned, and could very easily have been stunningly beautiful once long ago, very long ago if its castle-like architecture meant anything.
I could barely run anymore and I needed a moments rest bit. The estate was the only place I was sure I had a safe chance at hiding away from the mafia and Acnologia, because if I was correct, they would be just as alien to their surroundings as I would be.
With new found determination I raced for the gates of the estate. If I could just get there in time…even if I was forced to hide in the overgrown maze in the old courtyard, as long as I escaped them that would be enough.
I had learnt my lesson by being caught by my hair, so I requipped a simple cloak that hid me in the shadows of the night, and covered my scarlet hair from sight and grasping hands.
Once I reached the gates I cried out in dismay. They were locked, and the gates were far too tall for me to climb over. I shook the gate desperately.
"Open! Please!" I begged, and a sob of despair tore from my throat as hot tears of defeat spilled from my eyes.
I gasped as the seemingly tight and unmovable chains around the gate fell freely to the ground, as if they had never been locked at all. Perhaps they weren't. I was awfully distressed after all, it wouldn't have surprised me if my mind had fabricated most of what had happened.
"Thank you! Thank you!" I praised the air, as I quickly pushed opened the gate. An arm shot out to grab me and pulled me back, I shrieked in fear, but I kept a tight hold on the gate, refusing to turn my back on the promise of salvation that lay just barely out of my reach.
"Filthy bitch! You stabbed my little brother! I don't care if the boss wants you, I'll make you pay in blood for what you did! He'll just have to find another girl!" He yelled at me, and tried to rip open the clasp of my pants.
I shrieked and kicked violently. I requipped a short sword and stabbed him shallowly in the shoulder. He screamed and held his injury as I crawled hastily to my feet and stored his gun in my requip space. I couldn't run as long as he had it, especially since he didn't seem to be joking about killing me, or defiling me at the very least.
I tried to run through the gate, but the man stumbled forward and grabbed my leg, I only barely kept my footing. He was pulling me back, and his comrades had almost caught up with him. I screamed at him to let go of me, and as if by miracle, the gate groaned loudly and slammed shut as if it were a recoiled spring. It wasn't locked or chained, so I took the opportunity to run away and find a place to hide before they would be able to pursue me.
I heaved and panted as I finally made my way to the front doors of the estate. I knocked on them once, just in case there actually was a person living there and I had only come to disturb them and bring them trouble. There was no response, only stark silence, and my heart hammered in my chest as I watched the mafioso try to build a human ladder to climb over the elaborate gates.
Desperately, I reached for the elaborate handle on the door. It was open. My breath caught in my throat, but I didn't waste any time as I entered the creepy abandoned estate and ran for the stairs.
I panted and coughed as I ran through the labyrinth of hallways down to a stone-like staircase leading down into an underground chamber where only a single ominous torch lit the darkness of the pit's depths. It couldn't have existed for too long, so someone must have lit it recently.
The thought of running straight into another trap occurred to me, and I quickly began back stepping until, against all odds, I heard sniffles and hiccups from somewhere beneath the stairwell. I grit my teeth as my inner self who couldn't bear to watch people suffer won over, and I gathered up my fluctuating courage and descended the stairs and find the poor, tortured soul.
I sped up my pace as light began illuminating the entrance above me. Slowly the torches at the top were being lit, lighting gradually as if to light the way for an approaching menace. I needed to free the person at the bottom quickly before we could be found. I stumbled as a cold chill and a wave of dizzying magical power flooded my veins. In the back of my mind, I knew what that meant, but right there and then, I refused to acknowledge its seemingly illogical meaning.
When I finally reached the bottom of the dungeon filled with prison cells, I saw a small figure bundled up pitifully into a ball under old moth-eaten blankets.
"Hey! Over here! I'll get you out of here, follow me," I whispered urgently, and gasped, a mirrored reaction from the emerged figure. She wailed and hauled herself at the bars of the jail cell. "Lucy?!"
"Erza, it's really you! Thank you for trying to help me, but you need to run before they get you too! They caught me after I thought I had gotten away safely, and then they threw me in this dungeon after I found this place and tried to take care of my injuries," she whispered urgently and sobbed, she pointed to a hidden exit hurriedly.
"Are you talking about the mafia? This is their hideout? And stop talking nonsense, I'm not leaving without you and we need to find Wendy, she is lost in these woods somewhere and I can't go anywhere without her…we can't go back home either," I confessed and looked down as I manifested a small knife, and tried to pick open the lock on her cell.
I ignored her attempts to convince me that she would be fine, and once the door clicked, I smiled triumphantly and swung open the creaking door, only for someone behind me to rip me back violently by my cloak.
I cried out in surprise and didn't think twice before sending my fist flying into my assailant's face.
Or rather it's skull.
I screamed blue bloody murder as Lucy ran out of her cell and pulled me harshly towards the exit by my hand.
"That's what I was trying to warn you about! They aren't the mafia, they aren't even human!" Lucy screamed distraughtly ahead of me as she pulled me along after her.
"Wait," I begged her and I pulled her to a stop. "We can't go out there, the mafia are after me!"
"No way, they would never come out this far into the forest, let's go! Didn't you say Wendy was lost and alone somewhere? Why can't you return home, what happened? I know you had problems with the mafia as well, but they don't have any reason to be out for your blood like this," she asked me curiously, and continued pulling me along. I decided to explain as we ran. This place was giving me the creeps. The shadows looked alive and seemed to follow after us, and the wall's looked like they were resonating, listening in on our conversation.
"It all happened so fast," I panted, "Wendy and I were bathing when Acnologia and his men made a special unannounced visit, and decided to begin pillaging our things. I helped Wendy escape from the bathroom window, but one of Acnologia's goons grabbed me thinking I was trying to escape, and slammed me into the wall before I had time to properly cover myself with anything more than an old towel," I told her and pulled her to a stop so that I could catch my breath. She looked pained as she looked around us frantically, but gave me the moment of rest I needed.
"Acnologia demanded I marry him tomorrow and become his second wife, he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer and my mother feared for me…she made me run and fought off his men. I'm not even sure if she is still alive…" I choked sadly, and looked down in despair.
"That man is a monster! What they did to us…to mother…" She began to say as her expression convulsed into one of grief and despair.
"I'm sorry," I said sympathetically. She shook her head and took a deep breath before crouching down and lifting her arms behind her back.
"It doesn't matter. It was unforgivable, but I'm stronger now. I won't let anyone hurt me or my loved ones ever again! Climb on my back Erza, I'll carry you for a while. We need to run!" She whispered frantically. I was about to protest when she lightly tapped my calve and my legs gave out and I fell to the floor. She smiled sadly at me and I grimaced as I climbed onto her back.
She ran, and ran, and honestly it looked like we weren't being pursued anymore. When we finally reached the outside again, Lucy put me down and we ran towards the gates…but stopped short.
Two monstrous creatures stood over four, or five mutilated bodies of the mafioso I had been running from. I gasped in horror at them. They were just like the creature in the dungeon, skeletons, walking corpses, with only a little flesh to their bones with glowing, oozing, maggot ridden red eyes.
Their necks snapped audibly as they turned towards us, a snake slithered out between the jaws of one of the corpses skulls and its rotten ribs.
We screamed, and I pulled Lucy into the over grown maze of red roses after me. We ran, and ran, until we came to a dead end with an old water fountain in the middle of the enclosure, with three baby angels playing the harp, violin and trumpet back to back. It was old and chipped but that somehow made it look more antique and despairingly beautiful.
The only light there was, was the moonlight and its bare reflection on the opaque seemingly black water of the fountain, and the only colours that could be seen were the off-white, yellowing marble of the sculpture, and the varying shades of red, of the many fallen rose petals. Most were old and dead, but some were bright red, and glowed with life.
Lucy hugged me to her and we whimpered.
"It can't end like this! We're good people, we don't deserve to die such horrific, brutal deaths!" she sobbed. My knees wobbled as I pulled her to the fountain where we both took a seat and calmed our racing hearts with the acceptance that out deaths would come swiftly, and there wasn't a thing we could have done to save ourselves.
My only peace was knowing I had saved Wendy, and knowing that my mother would never know if I died before her...even though a hollow, knowing feeling in my heart told me that she was already dead. Wendy would hopefully live and find new friends somewhere, and run with the hope that we would be reunited one day.
I closed my eyes and pressed Lucy's face soothingly against my chest as I held her as she sobbed. I heard the soft falls of feet approaching us. I didn't dare look up into the face of the creature, but I did have last words to speak.
"I need to do three things before you kill me. First, I would like to apologise for trespassing on your land and striking out at one of your own, it was a reaction of fear, not spite or disrespect. Second, I would like to thank you and your people for killing the men who abused my friends and family and hunted me down. Lastly…I would ask you a favour, a last request. If you have to kill me for my transgressions, I will accept my fate, but let my friend go. She is the last of her line, and she has braved so many hardships lately, simply to survive and honour her parents sacrifice. She is kind and compassionate, and the world would benefit by having a person like her in it. Ending her life is unnecessary and would be a sin in a world lacking good honest people. My life should be a worthy trade for the both of us," I pleaded steadily and lowered my face. Lucy jerked away from me in horror.
"No! Please, Erza, you told me you wouldn't leave without me, so there's no way I will leave without you! We can- "she began, but I covered her mouth with my hand.
"Find Wendy for me and run far away. Never come back, run until you find a safe place where both of you can live freely and happily. I hate to ask you to lie for me…but don't tell her mother and I are dead. She'll realise in time. Give her this for me," I said, as I pulled off my mother's heirloom necklace and concealed it in my hand that I placed over hers.
"You would take another's place? That is very noble of you, but I have no reason to grant your request, no matter how earnest it appears. We don't need material things, or bodily pleasures, and while we may kill you, we gain nothing by saving or ending your lives, apart from the satisfaction of knowing we will forever remain a mystery to the outside world, and that our peace will not be disturbed by greedy humans seeking fame, adventure or fortune," It replied, and I flinched.
"We are at your mercy. Killing us will accomplish nothing, and you must have already determined that we would keep our silence without needing to be killed, so if you do it…it would only be for your own self pleasure, something you hypocritically say you do not have. If you only want to kill, kill me and let my friend live. Perhaps you are heartless, but all creatures have souls, and yours needs salvation just as much as ours do," I pleaded, and the creature chattered its teeth creepily.
"I have no reason to comply with such a request, but as the master of this castle I, and only I have the right to allow those who enter to come or go freely. I will grant your request on one condition. I will not kill you, but you will remain here at my mercy until the day comes where I decide what it is that I will choose to do with you. You should also know that my castle cannot be found by anyone who already knows of its existence. Once your friend leaves, you will never see her again. I offer this mercy to you only because it was never offered to me, perhaps I too would have pleaded for the salvation of those who matter to me," It told me with a hint of sardonic satisfaction at the suffering it knew we were burdened to bear.
I knew I would accept its condition anyway; I didn't have any choice. I briefly wondered if marrying Acnologia would have been so bad after all. I only ended up trading one life or horrors and imprisonment for another. I looked at his feet and glared at the shadows that concealed him.
"Can you…please show me your face?" I asked it and it chuckled darkly. My heart squeezed painfully in my breast. I would find a way to escape. Somehow, I would. But until then…
It walked into the light, its appearance was the same demonic fanged skull that the other creatures had, only this one was horned like a devil, and had glowing red eyes and ominous black miasma pouring out of its clothes where its organs should have been. I wondered briefly if they were some sort of Japanese yokai.
I stared into its eyes defiantly. They seemed to smile with cruel mirth and excitement, a drop of blood fell from its skull down its forehead, running down to its eye and further down to its cheek, highlighting a carved marking on the side of its face.
"Deal," I whispered sadly, and outstretched my other hand. The creature grasped it, and for a skeleton, it had quite the death grip.
"Indeed," It said, and shoved Lucy against the thorny vines of the roses. I gasped and she screamed, only just holding onto the rose pendant I had given her.
"What was that?!" The creature growled and pointed at my necklace. I was stunned, and looked at him wide eyed and forlorn.
"What are you talking about?" I asked it cautiously
"That pendant is the possession of a sorcerous!" It snarled and strode up to me. I stood my ground and clenched my jaws together tensely.
"It was a family heirloom. I only just received it from my mother a few hours ago…what have you done with Lucy? Are you so cruel that you won't even let us say goodbye?" I asked it hesitantly, and tried my best to hide the sadness and despair from my voice.
It looked at me calculatedly, deciphering if I was truly being forthcoming with it. Satisfied with my honesty but unsatisfied with my answer, it grabbed my arm harshly and yanked me forward. My hood fell backwards and my hair fell free from my cloak.
It stared at me with wide eyes until I slowly freed myself from its hold and covered my head with my cloaks hood again. I peered at its face fearfully. It looked truly stunned, and for a moment I felt like laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.
"…I'll show you to your room. You are not permitted to enter our personal living courters in the west wing, nor are you allowed to leave your room without my supervision. We do not need to eat…but I will have our chef prepare human meals for you. If you require something apart from your freedom, do let me know. Now follow me, I may be immortal, but I do still value my time," It said irritably and walked forward, hiding its hand that had touched me in its pocket as if I had burnt it.
I followed it tiredly with my head bowed down and my hands holding up my hood. It stopped outside a room and stepped aside from it.
"You shall live here," it said, as it walked away. Before it closed the door behind me it said one more thing.
"I sent your friend to the other side of the forest away from the town I assumed the two of you and those men were from. Have a pleasant evening, I will see you tomorrow for an early dinner." It said, and left me in silence to contemplate resent developments, and how cruel the hand fate had dealt me had become.