We sat down inside the Boars Head, a local tavern and a tatty place with good food and ale.
We found a small round table at the back it looked old and could seat three right at the wall,
"I asked Rullia if she would like some ale and to share a boar meat platter?"
To which she shyly answered yes with a small nod.
I went up to the counter and ordered a platter with some greens and two large ales.
Just before the lady at the counter could speak I asked.
"Oh please add some bread sticks to the order to start?"
Stunned by the request the lady added up the full price on her abacus and told me.
"The total will be 3 bronze and 5 copper beads."
I took out my coin pouch and gave 4 bronze coins and said "Keep the change."
To which she smiled and went to prepare the order. I'm sure having an extra 7 copper beads will do her good. She was Mayla, a young woman who has worked here a while and has had it tough.
Walking back to our table I notice Yulia is keeping her eyes down and not looking around, she looks like she is afraid.
I call out to her.
"Yulia, are you ok?"
I take my seat opposite her and wait for her to reply.
"I'm fine, I just don't wish to be seen as nosy." She said with a small voice.
"The Governor himself, welcomed you here to our village, you're fine to stay so try to be more open and get to know your neighbours, that's fine if they live a bit farther away from our house too."I said with a reassuring smile.
Rullia nodded and stood up and faced the patrons of the tavern.
"Greetings to you all. I am Rulia Lavender. I'm new to the village. I hope we can get to know each other." Said Rulia.
A few people said welcome, a few nodded and one stood up and yelled "Welcome pretty lady!".
Then he fell over drunk.
"Well Roger is done for the night.said the men next to him and continued to drink.
"See, no reason to worry!" I said.
Rullia, still a little unsure nodded and as she was about to ask a question our ale and bread sticks arrived soon after our food did, we ate and drank and decided to leave when Rulia asked,
"Why did seeing me blush mean so much to you?"
I said to Rulia.
"I believe that a blush is the truest smile in the world, it's one from the heart."
Rullia was quiet and continued to walk, not to the entrance but to the river. I followed a few paces behind unsure what to think.
Just then Rullia turned to me in tears, her beautiful green eyes were red, her face seemed twisted in pain with her hands on her chest she called to me.
"Felix, thank you I've never felt like anyone cared for me in such a long time. I was unsure I'd ever feel that way again and for that let me share with you my story!"
I told her. "I'll listen to your story but do you want to tell it here?"
Rullia nodded and reached out her hand and pointed to the east.
"I come from a village about 5 days by carriage the village Putetire.
About two years age it was a peaceful village where the people were welcoming and kind when I was growing up.
They also accepted the small community of witches."
She paused and wept. It seems recalling all this has caused her to relive the loss and has become overwhelmed by her emotions.
I stepped closer to her and placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly and smiled when she looked up at me with her red face and her tear filled eyes that shone like the surface of the river at night in the light of the moon. I noticed the lines that the tears she already cried,they were still shining in the moonlight, it made me think how can a sight so beautiful be rivers of sorrow cried from a girl so soft…
From where I stood she was bathed in the silver light of moon with river shining to back drop of the dark forest.
After a few moments she stopped and continued her story.
"My family the Lavender family was just myself and my mother but I do not know what happened to her!"
She paused as she sobbed after she calmed herself down with a few breaths she let out a long breath.
"Haaah, I just did as I told and I fled the village.
But it all started 2 weeks before that day…
A man arrived in town, he called a meeting at the town hall after 5 days of staying in the village.
His name is one I can never forget or forgive, James Collden. Collden at the meeting claimed he was sent by the King to cleanse the land of the horrid Witch.
I remember feeling like all my insides dropped within me and I felt cold.
I remember thinking how can someone say something so cruel.
We like many other villagers left having no interest in his hate and bile.
But that day I was told if anything happens in the village against witches I must flee and follow the river and always keep it in my sights for 5 days until I reach here, Burr…
I just nodded and kept what my mother said in my mind.
It was 2 days later, the whole town was called to the square, in the middle on a wooden pyre stood a woman who knew she was a kind woman who often bought from our comunity and she was just there the day before to buy a remedy for a fever that her daughter had caught.
I looked closer I saw her hands were bound behind her back and she was bound to the pyres upright column.
Collden steped into the square and began to shout.
"This woman has been found guilty of the practice of witchcraft and she is the embodiment of evil and today we will set her alight to cleanse her and this land!"
The lady tried to yell and protest her innocence.
But before she could say much he stepped up and smashed her jaw with a baton he had attached to his belt.
There was no sound from her after that but I was filled with sorrow as I saw her blood drip from her mouth which was now deformed from the strike.
The people around protested. The din caused by the cacophony of voices overlapping was extreme.
Regardless of the protests he went to the side and took a lit torch from an armored man and threw it onto the pyre before anyone could do anything more. Soldiers in armour stood and forced back the crowd.
No one moved and there was silence for a time, until the only sound that could be heard was the gurgled screams of the woman on the pyre as the flames licked at her, burnt her.
I still remember the sound of it, some nights I relive that horrible moment".
Rullia went silent but before either of us could say anything, there was a sudden scream!
Startled, we both looked at the village. What we saw was something so unexpected neither of us were prepared for it.