"That's obviously not her, doesn't look anything close to this sketch." The men that had been pursuing the noble snatched up the savior.
"No hear me out. We split up right. Take some guys and just make that girl disappear with some proof. Then we say we found this one who can be a substitute who doesn't know anything."
"That probably won't work…"
"No wait, she was heading out towards Waypoint, no one wants to go and search there, they won't find her, and everyone knows the castle will take care of those that get to close."
Scratching his scraggly beard, the man who raised objections was still unsure.
"She does have a noble face…"
"It might work, and we can just split the reward and skip town, after a few cities even nobles like the count won't find us."
"Well, who's risking what then?"
These men were hired hands taking the job from a knight who was staying in the city. With his backing he could strike all of them down in broad daylight and then have tea and crumpets for all the repercussions he would face.
"Two of us should bring the girl, the rest should go after the other brat."
With her pursers settled, the noble child had a chance to get a surprisingly far distance. She had felt bad that her last piece of bread was given to that girl, The bread was the only thing else she had besides a few remanent clothes in the sack. Her last coin, a single pence, was tide to getting a ride to Waypoint, however she felt bad for lying, given how bad it was to be deceitful.
Curling up, she shivered in the back of the cart that was steadily driving to the approaching the town of Waypoint.
Waypoint was two places, one a crossroad town that actual humans eked out an existence via trade. The second was a single signpost with a lamp that never darkened, sat on a rise just out of sight of the town itself. It was the demilitarized zone of the castle, anything on the other side of the signboard was officially the territory of Dyne.
Once entangled with a villainous duchess family, the former noble family cut all ties to the empire and waged war on the behalf of the duchess family.
Alganon became a lost nobility in the conclusion of that war. Hundreds of years had passed, and the once fruitful nation had become a shallow shade. Officially no family members were left of the original family, no one had survived to claim the land, and the original token seal was still trapped in the castle.
"This is as far as I go, if your delivering to the cursed lands go to the post." Profusely thanking the elderly man for taking her this far, she skirted the town and left for the rise. It was half a kilometer to the post, just hidden from view of anywhere in the town. Long journey for a short-legged child.
"So, this is Waypoint, its…just a lamp and a sign." Having never left her manor before there was a lot of things she had seen on this trip. It was exactly as described, a weathered wooden post, with one sign board that read 'Waypoint' another that read 'Castle Dyne five Km' with an arrow underneath. There was a dangling lantern that illuminated the sign, not any use in the bright afternoon suns.
"Then it looks like this is the way I have to go." Five kilometers was a marathon for the child, but with nowhere else to go, and people still after her she didn't have a choice but to set off. Despite the heat generated by the four stars, as soon as she crossed the other side of the lamp, chills ran down every bone in her body.
"Why did it get so cold and moist all of a sudden." Tiffaney exclaimed aloud. For a moment she thought about taking the lantern but thought that might be rude to the others. As she wandered deeper into the direction of the castle the vegetation change, long scratchy shrubs and twisted gnarled trees became the norm, a far cry from the leafy poofy trees that she had passed on her way to the post.
Of the six originally to hunt her down her only four gave chase, they could out walk the small child and slowly caught up at the signpost. Watching the girl head blindly into the distance, the four grown men hesitated. No one had come back alive who crossed Waypoint; there hadn't been any exceptions.
"If we got no proof the plan won't work."
"Can't do nothing if were dead."
"She isn't that deep, if we run her down fast enough, we can just grab something to prove her lost."
"Not sure if this will work."
"Longer we wait the harder this will be, let's go!" Despite this there were still a few hesitant steps. Rather than out right run her down, they half jogged with quieter steps, planning to sneak up on the girl.
Oblivious the noble child simply moved forward, navigating the rougher terrain with her youthful flexibility. It hadn't taken long to find a rough dirt road that looked like it led to something. As she followed the road thick branches choked out every ounce of skylight. The further that she walked the more mist began to form, and the sounds of the living forest grew wilder.
"It's just you out here and you don't taste good, nothing is going to find you." Muttering to herself, Tiffany felt the eerie atmosphere was getting to her. Twigs snapped, sharp retorts in the misty moor. Nobles were supposed to be fearless humans far better than all others. Young children on the other hand decided to book it the moment she heard the sound. The road was not the best surface to run upon, however what appeared in front of her may have been far worse.
Aged, weathered wood and stone strew about a clearing in the forested space. Half the area was still covered by the mist making gnarled trees. Clear roads were formed between houses and buildings that had bites removed by something. Vegetation had claimed ownership, and a deserted village was not what the noble hoped to find. The main road ran to something like fountain almost undamaged due to its solid stone construction. Strangely in some places, rods stained in oranges could be seen in the stone walls.
As she continued to wander, she couldn't help but wonder what had happened here. She knew from her geography lessons that Dyne was a small section of the large farmland. An unprecedent space that grew crops identically year after year after year. No one held steward ship and the current ruling powers pretended that the whole section didn't exist, a grayed-out blob on the edge of the map.
"Hey, careful this place is full of lose rocks."
Wind carried the voice startling the noble out of her musings. Realizing she wasn't alone, she scrambled into a dark and shady store front in the plaza. Tucked in the shadows, she was invisible to anyone not in the room despite the large hole where the glass in the storefront use to be.
"We saw her come in, but it took us too long to catch up." One of the men, looked dull in the flittered light spoke for the group.
"All right Ill check left, holler if you spot her, she should be close enough to chase down."
Tiffany gulped, as she watched the four men spread out, one slowly encroaching in her direction.