Zora finally reached the dusty border where the town of Lardin ended and the open road began. Her heart was still racing from the sight of the captured witch, and every shadow seemed to hide a purple-robed sorcerer.
Strangely, as she moved further away from the town square, the chaos seemed to fade. She did not come across any more soldiers or men with glowing glass balls, but she stayed very careful.
She did not walk on the main path where anyone could see her. Instead, she stuck to the narrow alleyways and the tall grass beside the road, moving like a ghost.
When she saw a transport cart heading toward her village, she quickly hailed the driver. She kept her head down and her voice low as she paid for her seat.
She climbed into the back and sat among some old sacks of grain. The ride back to Gayle felt much longer than usual. Every time the wooden wheels hit a bump in the road, Zora jumped, thinking it was the sound of a horse coming to stop them. But the road remained quiet.
She reached Gayle while the sun was still high in the sky. She didn't meet the group of children who usually played near the village entrance this time.
It was still a bit early for them to be out, and the village felt very peaceful. As she walked down the familiar dirt path toward her house, she noticed that everything seemed perfectly normal.
The men were calling out to each other in the fields, and the smell of woodsmoke filled the air. It was a strange feeling. The news of the horror in the town had not reached the people here yet. To them, the world was still safe and quiet.
When Zora reached the gate of her small house, she saw her neighbor, Mrs. Gwen, outside. The woman was busy scrubbing a large wooden tub. She looked up and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand when she saw Zora.
"Zora! Why are you back from your shop so early today, dear?" Mrs. Gwen asked. She had a kind, motherly smile on her face.
Zora forced herself to look calm. She gave the same excuse she had been using all week. "I am just feeling a bit weak again, Mrs. Gwen. My head was spinning at the shop, so I thought it was best to come home and lie down for a while."
Mrs. Gwen didn't suspect a thing. Her face filled with worry for the girl she had known since she was a baby. "Oh, you poor child. You haven't looked well for days. You work too hard in that shop. Stay right there on your porch. Don't move a muscle."
The kind woman hurried into her own house. A few minutes later, she came back carrying a warm ceramic plate. On it was a generous serving of thick meat stew with two large slices of fresh bread on the side. The steam rising from the plate smelled wonderful.
"Here, eat this," Mrs. Gwen said, pressing the plate into Zora's hands. "It will put some strength back into your bones. I might come by later to check on you."
Zora thanked her and went inside her house, closing the door behind her. She walked into her kitchen and set the food down on the table.
As she looked at the steam rising from the stew, her eyes began to fill with tears. She thought about how the people in this village had always looked after her.
Mrs. Gwen and her little son whom she called Bubu, had treated her like she was their own family, especially after her parents passed away.
The thought that she was going to leave them forever without even saying a real goodbye made her feel a deep, sharp pain in her chest.
She sat down and thought about telling them that she was leaving for the capital, but she knew she couldn't.
If she told them she was leaving, they would suspect that it was because of the sorcerers, and also it might put them in danger.
If the soldiers came and found her gone, they would ask the neighbors where she went. She didn't want Mrs. Gwen to have to lie to the King's men.
So, she decided to write a letter. She would leave it in a place where only Bubu and his mom would find it after she was gone.
She wanted them to know that she was safe and that she was thankful for everything they had done for her.
She ate the meal slowly, savoring the taste of the home cooked food. It was the last time she would ever taste Mrs. Gwen's cooking.
After she finished, she began to pack her things. She didn't have much. She took a few sturdy dresses, her jewelry making tools, and the hidden bag of coins she had saved up from her shop.
She kept looking out the window, hoping the purple robed men would stay in the town for one more day. She needed just one night of peace to make her escape.
She decided she would leave very early in the morning, long before the sun came up and the farmers went to the fields. But she knew she had to feed tonight. She needed her full vampire strength for the long journey to the capital.
She didn't know how far it was or what dangers she would meet on the road, and she couldn't risk being hungry and weak. With her bag ready and her letter written, she spent the rest of the day sitting by the window.
She picked up a book and read the same page over and over, waiting for the sky to turn dark.
That night, when the village was finally asleep and the only sound was the chirping of crickets, Zora stepped out of her back door.
She moved so fast that she was nothing more than a blur of shadow. A human looking out their window would have seen nothing but a quick movement in the dark, like a trick of the light.
Using her vampire speed, she reached the deep forest in a matter of seconds. The cool night air felt good against her face as she ran through the tall trees.
She caught a small forest animal and fed quickly. She felt the strength flowing back into her body, making her feel more powerful and alert.
Her senses became sharp, she could hear the smallest leaf falling far away and smell the damp earth of the forest.
Once she was finished, she looked at the small shelter she had built in the woods years ago. She was going to break it down so no one would find it, but then she changed her mind.
She thought that maybe someone lost in the woods might find it and use it for safety. She left it standing and decided to take a short walk before going home.
She walked deeper into the woods, following a path she knew by heart. She eventually reached the spot her father had shown her when she was a little girl.
It was the exact place where he had found her as a tiny baby, wrapped in blankets on the forest floor. The ground was now covered in tall grass and thick vines. Zora stood there for a long time, feeling a strange connection to the place. She sighed and reached into a small pouch at her belt.
She pulled out a necklace. It had a unique pendant that looked like a tiny glass vial. Inside the vial, a strange liquid glowed with different shades of red, shifting and moving like it was alive.
This necklace and a pair of matching earrings were the only things her birth parents or whoever had kept her there had left with her.
She never wore them because they looked too magical and would make people ask questions, but she always carried them with her. They were her only link to who she really was.
She was about to turn back when she heard a rustle in the bushes nearby. In an instant, she blurred into motion and hid behind a massive oak tree.
She held her breath and peeked around the trunk to see who else was out in the woods at such a late hour.
A figure wearing a long, dark hood stepped into the clearing. The person moved very carefully, looking around to make sure they were alone.
Slowly, the figure reached up and pulled back the hood. Zora's eyes widened. It was a girl with very dark red hair and bright silver eyes that seemed to catch the moonlight.
She looked around the same age as Zora, but she had an ethereal beauty that made her look like she wasn't entirely human.
Zora could feel a strange energy coming from the girl. It felt like the air was buzzing with power. The red-haired girl looked around one last time and then began to chant in a low, beautiful voice.
It was a spell. As she spoke, the wind began to swirl around her feet, picking up the fallen leaves and spinning them in a fast circle. The girl's body began to glow softly, and her form started to change and shift.
When the wind died down and the light faded, the girl looked completely different. The red hair was gone, replaced by simple brown hair.
Her silver eyes were now a common brown, and her face looked like any other girl you might see in a village. She looked plain and ordinary, someone who would never be noticed and would hardly leave an impression.
"Whoa," Zora thought, her heart racing.
She was amazed. She had never seen magic like that before. It was a perfect disguise.
Zora began to wonder what the girl was. Was she a witch hiding from the search, or perhaps a Fae? Zora realized that she knew almost nothing about other supernaturals.
She had spent her whole life trying to be a normal human girl, but now she saw that there were others like her, hiding in the shadows and using their powers to survive.
She decided that if she made it to the capital, she would find a way to learn more. She needed to know what else was out there and more about her kind.
She stayed hidden until the girl walked away, her mind full of new questions. Finally, she turned and made her way back to the village, ready to face the long journey that started at dawn.