As the girls walked, Kamryn especially started to take notice of the difference of them all. Sophie was definitely the palest and Sage was the opposite. But those facts were obvious, Kamryn was more focused on their heights. She realized that even with her petite figure, Mary was the tallest with Sage a very close second. Sophie was slightly taller than Kamryn and Eve was the shortest- thinking of Eve, where was she?
Kamryn turned around, and Sage did too probably sensing that they were missing a head.
After less than a second of looking, Sage saw Eve crouching on the ground baby-talking to a doe who seemed to be pretty engrossed in their conversation. The doe and Eve both turned heads to look at them after hearing Mary's little giggle.
"What?" laughed Eve like a child.
"Oh, nothing," lied Mary. "Just that that deer seems to be enjoying licking the mud off your skirt"
Sophie, though Kamryn saw her smiling, turned serious. "It's getting really dark we should try and get a bit further out, or at least get off the path in case anyone comes looking for us"
"Okay" groaned Eve. "Where in this wide world are we supposed to sleep, though?"
"I think my cottage is just a 20 minute walk or something if we cross that river.. kind of cramped, though" Sage told them.
"You live out here? Your clothes are pretty neat and clean for someone living way out in a cottage."
Mary said.
"Was," Sage corrected her. "And, it's not that far from town if we were on the north side"
"Okay, but we're wasting time, it'll be way past midnight if we walk to your cottage," Kamryn interrupted. "But let's stop at that river to get a drink of clean water, at least."
"Yeah! I'm so thirsty" Eve agreed, putting her hand on her forehead for dramatic reasons.
After getting a quick drink from the river which was surprisingly clean for it's conditions, because the part of the river in town was quite dirty. The drink of water was mostly peaceful except for a curious toad jumping out of the grass, scaring Sophie and causing her to fall backwards on to her behind. 'Honestly,' every girl thought, 'how has life changed so much. Even if I was already on the run from these people, will I be caught again? Surely there is much of them alive and searching for me after seeing the fire, and what if the fire spreads? We have been so careless! Oh, never mind it has started to rain'...
"Wait!" Shouted Sage.
"What?" said Kamryn, startled.
"I need to get to the Larks residence. I need a book!"
"Damn it," Mary said, pausing to remember her name. "Sage. Just go to the library unless you have a death wish."
"No, not just any book." Replied Sage "And, maybe I do have a death wish."
"Okay, explain." Sophie ordered calmly.
"Well, um, it's a long story..." Sage wanted to explain. She wanted to explain how the Larks and their wealthy acquaintances weren't the only first people to find Blue Valley. How her great-grandmother snuck in to a carriage taking supplies to the area after hearing about the valley's existence. Well, it wasn't the first time. Her great-grandmother hadn't lived very far from it to start with as a child, she used to take long walks down the river bank and played with her sisters in the trees or practiced love spells on her crushes when the day was the right day, every year. How while she was in the carriage, she drew, instead of wrote her story how she got here and how she wanted to pass down her limited knowledge. How she passed down the book to Sage's grandmother who fortunately got an education to write the history of the valley. From ancient carvings in a cave, to shapes children had drawn on the trees until the book ended up in the Larks' hands and tried to kill her grandmother for "knowing too much".
"Horses!" Eve whispered after hearing the steps of horses and the breathing of the men on them.
Mary peeked around the trees and shrubs to see 2 horses. The first with one man in armour with a blue and grey pattern in it, signalling that he was working for the authorities. Or, more specifically, he was security for the Larks. The second one with another man wearing the same with a man wearing, well, rags with his hands tied.
Suddenly, the horse halted and neighed at the sky, knocking everyone off. Mary jumped out in front of them and quickly, with her skills, took one of the guard's sword off his back before he could even utter a word and beheaded him without even questioning him. Their prisoner, he looked to be, took this chance to stumble away from the scene but was stopped by Sage and one again knocked over.
Sage looked up to the rest of the girls, seeing that they easily handled the other guard and turned back to look at the man on the ground, and tried not to look at the beheaded corpse just a few meters away.
The man on the ground looked like he was contemplating if he should beg for his life or apologize to the woman standing over him.
"What is your name?" Sage ordered. Kamryn was honestly surprised by how she seemed so comfortable yet fierce in this situation.
Realizing she was talking to him, the man uttered the name "O-Osten.."
"Great, Osten" Sage said, searching for the words. "Give me those horses and take us to the Larks residence. East side. We will untie your hands, but don't try anything."
The man, Osten, had blonde hair that appeared to not have been combed in a few days. Osten looked up at the woman standing in front of him, no identifiable emotion on her face yet she was clearly feeling something about this situation and showing it but Osten couldn't identify what it was.
Osten stumbled up on to the horse with Sage following. "No, get off!" Sage called to Osten. "I'm riding front. We have no reasons to trust you yet." Without saying anything, Osten whom was confused got off the horse and back on to the ground. He was surprised to see her get up on to the big, tall horse swiftly and without any help. Her skirt did seem to be a hassle, though.
After some protesting from Sophie that this wasn't really important at the moment and that they should be worrying about other things, and some convincing from Sage, the plan was made. "No, no. This will help us, if I get the book then we can get out of here. You're a witch aren't you? I'm sure that book can help us. My, uh great-grandmother was pretty powerful. She put a spell on it. No, a good one! Just positive affirmation type stuff with some sprinkle of magick here and there. Okay! Great. Kamryn, you get on the other horse. Mary, Sophie, Eve... you take care of each other."
This whole time, Osten watched and listened confused. Witches? What did she say? Magic? What about her great-grandmother? Then the horses starting galloping on the now muddy road towards town. Oh, right. They're going to the Larks! This woman must have a death wish!
Upon arrival to the east side of the house, Kamryn took out a rope for Sage to use to climb in through the open window of one of the guest rooms on the second floor. It looked to be about 2 AM, everyone should be sleeping and Sage doubted they had guests tonight.
She pulled herself up in to the room and looked down at the ground to give Kamryn a thumbs up.
A book case drew her attention, especially an old leather book with faded purple paint which was decorated with shapes of roses. Sage picked up the book and brushed off the dust with her hand and carefully, as if the book was glass, opened to a page with writing. Her grandmother's writing, something she'd never forget. This was easier than she'd expected it to be. She put the book under her arm and just as she was about to climb down, an open door to a candle lit bathroom caught her attention. She walked in and saw makeup on the shelves above the mirror. Maybe someone was staying here, but Sage didn't worry about that now. She picked up lipstick and painted her lips a deep red which complimented her curly hair very nicely. Sage had always loved makeup, but she was usually to stick to cheap makeup of small amounts, all of this was luxurious in comparison.
Sage put the lipstick back right where she found it and stepped out of the bathroom. Just as she was about to walk back to the window to make her escape, the bedroom door swung open with a loud creaking sound. Sage turned around to see a horrified, pale woman with smeared makeup, green eyes, wavy, brunette hair and wearing a short dress with a plunging yet elegant neckline looking right back at her.
"Who are you!?" The woman asked, almost reaching a yell.
Sage, who now was leaning against the wall, trying to stay casual though she was just as horrified as this woman, joked. "I'm Sage, actually. You are?"
"Get out!" The woman, fuming, yelled at her.
Sage quickly climbed back out the window, in to the rain, to see Kamryn standing there looking unimpressed with someone, and a guilty looking Osten with his hands tied once again.
"Thief!" She heard the woman accuse one last time before reaching the ground.
"He tried to escape" Kamryn explained.
"Oh?"
"Yeah..."
Sage wiped the rain off her forehead and climbed back on to the horse.
"So, why is this book important?" Kamryn asked, gesturing to the old book in Sage's hands.
"It basically was my great-grandmother's diary, and passed on to my grandmother." Sage explained briefly.
"But how'd it end up, well, up there?"
"Because the Larks are narcissistic idiots" Sage said with a serious tone but a smile.
Kamryn chuckled a bit as they rode off in the rain.