Alkadia part 3

After several hours spent pondering, as the sun was setting, Alkadia decided to go home.

Suddenly, she felt a slight pain. Warm liquid ran down her cheek. She touched it with her finger and looked at it. Her heart pounded, a wave of heat washed over her. It's blood, she thought. But what happened? She must have caught it on a branch.

The girl tried to feel the wound, and after a moment, her fingers felt the ragged edge of the cut. A spasm of pain ran across her face as it began to sting and burn.

"Oh my!" she moaned softly. "Now? Mercy, gods..."

To her surprise, the morning began to slowly heal and scab, and within moments, the only trace was cooling blood and a small scar shaped like a pale moonbeam.

The girl leaned fearfully over the water and tried to see the scar. But all she saw was her distorted, terrified face. After a moment, she walked away from the lake toward the village.

A strange feeling came over her. Something evil and mysterious hung in the air. It became stuffy, as quiet as a poppy field. Alkadia would have preferred not to leave the forest, to stay there forever.

She reluctantly entered the house and, without a word, went to the other room, where she had her bed. She lay down and covered herself with a blanket. She closed her eyes, and in an instant, a terrible exhaustion took over her...

From the first moments of sleep, strange images danced in the girl's mind. So strange and absurd that Alkadiana, suddenly awakened from her dreams, forgot about them.

"Alkadia, Alkadia!" the voice called. The girl opened her eyes and blinked.

"What's going on?" She sat up and saw Dhalia and Moldrak leaning over each other. "What's the matter?

" "We're sorry you learned the truth this way. But maybe it's for the best?" the man said.

"And you're just waking me up in the middle of the night for that?

" "No, not for that. Get up." The girl stood obediently.

The woman threw a warm shawl over her dress and slung a bag over her shoulder. She sat her on a chair in the kitchen and knelt beside her. She began speaking quickly, rushing.

"Your mother, your real mother, told me to save you tonight in a dream. Today your destiny will be fulfilled. But you must save yourself. Moldrak, please hand me that bundle. What's on the stove. Yes, that. Thank you." She pulled a necklace from her pouch. Amber—with an animal similar to a butterfly embedded in its center—entwined with a delicate mesh of white gold, leaving the animal unobstructed.

"Amber," Alkadia whispered admiringly.

"It once belonged to your mother." Dhalia smiled. "Now it's yours. You must flee the village. Find a man who practices magic, a friend of your real parents, named Morkham. He will help you."

She placed three gold coins in the pouch.

Suddenly, the loud neighing of horses, the ground shaking with the pounding of hooves, and the screams of enraged men echoed throughout the area.

"Oh gods, it's starting! Run, my love! Don't turn around and never come back here again!"

The girl quickly fastened her necklace, hid her money bag, kissed her guardians, and finally said,

"I love you. Goodbye..."

She ran out.

It was dark. Even the moon hid its face behind a curtain of clouds, making it easier for Alkadia to escape, but also for the bandits to attack the village.

The girl crept quickly along the walls until she finally fell into the forest and knelt behind a tree. The bramble bushes concealed her perfectly. Men on horseback jumped off and, swords in hand, ran into the houses. One of the houses was ablaze with flames, its tongues already licking the wooden thatched roof of the barn where the horses were kept. The neighing of terrified animals echoed, mingled with the screams of the villagers.

"Kryspin!!!!" Alkadia screamed, suddenly realizing that her friend lived in the burning building.

She probably would have run straight into the hands of her executioners, if it weren't for the horse galloping straight toward her...