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Writers: Estelle
Date Posted: 18th November 2021

Characters: Alyena, Evalya, Gil
Description: Alyena is woken in the night with a warning
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 9, day 17 of Turn 10
Notes: Mentioned: Corowal

Alyena awoke in near-darkness with a gasp, heart pounding, all her
senses alert. Eyes wide, she stared into the dim shadows of the
cothold's main living area, where she'd been drowsing by the warm embers
of the kitchen fire after the day's work. There was only the stillness
and silence of an isolated farm at dusk.

Had it been a dream? She could only remember fragments now, and the
nameless fear. She listened. No sound except her breathing and the beat
of her heart, but still the dread crept over her, the hairs rising on
the back of her neck.

**Someone's here.**

As soon as she'd thought it, the moment she started to turn, a hand
covered her mouth, muffling her scream, and an arm pinned hers,
preventing struggles.

"Quiet," the man hissed. "It's me. Do you remember?"

At first she couldn't think, but then it came to her. The man who had
visited the cothold, bringing a message of support. And a bag of marks
that she still kept hidden under her mattress, untouched since they'd
had all the supplies they needed from the Weyr. Why was he here? What
did he want - what had his name been? Gil?

She nodded.

"Listen. There isn't much time. You need to leave." Cautiously, the man
removed his hand, but remained crouched by her chair, whispering. "Right
now. They're only a few minutes behind me."

"Leave?" Even as she asked, Alyena was standing, partly to put space
between them, but there was something in his voice that told her he was
deadly serious. "What do you mean? Who?"

"Two of the men who met in your old barn, and their followers." Gil
straightened, backed up. "I know you listened. They're not sure, but one
of your neighbours saw the bronze dragon landing and talked. They think
you betrayed some plan of theirs."

Her breath caught. She remembered those voices.

**We strike at the Hatching. We'll know when the watchdragon keens...**

"A plan?"

"They had someone at the Weyr, but it went wrong. I don't ask. Don't
want to know. There's no time. Wake your children and leave." He glanced
over his shoulder at the door. "Go to the main Hold, to Lord Corowal or
his steward. Don't trust anyone else."

He was gone before she could ask him to wait, if he'd go with them.
Alyena looked at the empty doorway, half-wondering if she'd dreamed it.
She could still feel where his fingers had pressed, firmly but not
painfully, into her cheek.

Then she ran, soft-footed, to the little room that the children had
shared, where now only one remained. Kneeling by the bed, she shook
Evalya's shoulders, and the girl woke, rubbing her eyes. "Mama?"

"We need to go. Quickly, now. Get your coat and boots." The man had said
they had minutes; there wasn't time for more. The child, sensing
something in her voice, asked no questions as they returned to the main
room of the cothold. The coats hung on a hook by the door, faded and
shabby but still warm, one of the few items she hadn't sold. As she
pulled on her boots, she remembered something and returned to the
bedroom to retrieve the bag of marks from under the mattress.

Evalya was waiting by the door. Alyena opened it a crack, looked out
into the yard. There was only a faint glow on the horizon now, clouds
covered the moon, and the old barn was a darker shape against the
skyline. The air was heavy and oppressive. The road wouldn't be safe,
but there was a large stand of trees on the hill that bordered the
neighbouring farm. They could circle around, meet the road further along
the way to Emerald Falls.

At the last moment, she turned back, towards the shelf where the last of
her kitchen knives was kept. It wasn't as sharp as it could be, but it
was something. Slipping it into the pocket of her coat, she took
Evalya's hand and they crept out into the dark evening.

Instinct told her to keep low, skirting the edge of the barn, then
running out towards the fields where Zith had once raked the earth into
furrows with his claws. Barley now grew in the field she and her
daughter had planted, not very thick since they'd had little seed and no
farmhands to help, but it provided some cover. They slowed, hoping it
would be easier to hide despite the temptation to run for the deeper
cover in the trees.

When they reached the edge of the wood, they ducked behind a large tree.
Alyena breathed deeply, trying to calm her racing heart, then peered
around the trunk.

At first it looked quiet and still, a low dark cluster of shapes at the
bottom of the slope they'd just climbed, fenced in. No movement, no
sound. Had she dreamed it after all, dragged her daughter out here in
the night for no reason but the shadows in her head? Was she losing her
mind?

Then something flickered behind the shutters. She held her daughter
close to her, trying helplessly to quell the panic that threatened to
overwhelm her senses. The brief light became a glow, steady and dull
yellow, and it illuminated shapes in the yard around the cothold. Three,
four, five of them.... The breeze carried the scent of burning wood and
something thicker, oily. She heard a faint crackling, and then after a
time she saw the flames leap up, and a crash as part of the roof fell in.

Then, she saw the figures move. Not together, back down the road.
Spreading out.

Searching.

One was heading for the trees.

"We need to go." She clutched Evalya's hand, pulled her deeper into the
trees. It was darker still here, the trees clustered thickly. Brambles
scratched their skin and tugged at their clothing. Getting to the road
was forgotten, she only knew they had to get away. Hide.

When they stumbled into a clearer path, she gasped in relief, but it was
short-lived when she heard her daughter's cry. Whipping around, she saw
no-one else, but Evalya had fallen to one knee and when she rose, she
cried out again and leaned heavily against her mother.

"What's the matter?" She looked back at the trees behind them.

"My ankle. I...I think it caught on a root..." Evalya blinked away tears
and tested her foot again, then gasped in pain. Alyena knelt down,
unlaced her boot and felt in the dark for the injury. As best as she
could tell there was no break, but her daughter flinched as she moved
her fingers around the bone.

"It's all right. We'll go slowly. Lean on me." She kept her voice calm,
but thought of the dark figure, imagined him coming through the field.
Was he already in the woods? There was no way she could carry her
daughter all the way to Emerald Falls. Could they shelter at the
neighbouring cot? The man had told her not to trust anyone, and even if
they weren't involved, would they give her up to save their own family?

"We'll hide," she whispered. "We'll be quiet and small, and wait until
morning." The hours would be long until dawn, but the men would have to
leave when it grew light. Then she'd think of something.

Last updated on the February 10th 2022

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