Escape from the Witch Hunters
Chapter 24

Ryia opened her eyes, the sun was peaking through the trees, and the cold trying to penetrate her small body. Only she wasn’t cold. She was actually very warm. And, as her eyes focused, she became very uncomfortable.

She found herself in the arms of her husband.

Gillian’s arms were wrapped around her and she was facing Gillian’s chest, and his chin tucking her head in place.

What do I do? I can’t stay here all morning. But I don’t want to get up either, she hated to admit it, but she rather liked being right where she was. It made her feel safe and secure. And very warm.

Should I just pretend I’m asleep? she wondered.

She felt Gillian shift and she quickly closed her eyes and stayed still. She was sure he could feel the rapid beating of her heart.

His breathing changed and she heard him murmur. “Well this is awkward.”

He shifted and let her out of his arms and got up.

She rubbed her eyes and pretended that she just woke up. “Goodmorning.” she sat up and grabbed her blanket, folding it up.

“Morning.” he grabbed his blanket and rolled it up before tying it to Red and repacking him. “Are you hungry?”

“Not really.” she handed him her blanket.

“I guess we’ll just keep on riding then.” he started to disassemble camp. “And if we go through a town, we won’t stop. Right?”

Ryia nodded. “It’s fine with me.”

He stopped packing up. “On the other hand, I think I want coffee. You want any?”

She shook her head. “No thank you.”

“Your loss.” he grinned and started a fire.

She smiled and rested against a tree. Her heart was still racing from seconds ago and her legs still felt like jelly.

“So if we run into a farmhouse at night, we’ll stay there?” he glanced up at her. He was apparently not affected from that morning’s predicament.

“If you want.” she shrugged.

Gillian rolled his eyes. “You should be more decisive.”

“Yes. If we come across a welcoming farmhouse we’ll stay there.” she told him.

He smiled. “Yes ma’am. Although, I think I like it better when you aren’t so decisive.”

Ryia rolled her eyes. “Yes Mr. Indecisive.”

He shook his head and checked his coffee.

“It’s not going to be done that fast.” she told him.

“Just in case.” he peered into the pot and got a puff of steam in his face.

Ryia let out an un-lady-like snort.

“Don’t laugh.” he pouted.

“I didn’t.” she rolled her eyes.

“Don’t snort.” he corrected.

“It was your own fault.” she scoffed.

“Well-” he started.

“It’s boiling.” she pointed to the pot.

Gillian quickly took it off the fire and poured some into a tin cup, straining out the coffee grains as he went. “That’s how it’s done.”

He held out his cup of coffee for her to see and smell. “Not bad.”

She shrugged. “Not bad.”

“We should get going, huh.” he looked guiltily at his coffee.

“Uh-huh.” she nodded.

“You’re just repeating everything I say.” he noted mildly and guzzled his coffee.

“Yep.” she said then shook her head. “No I’m not.”

He finished his coffee, put some water in his cup and swished it around before drinking that as well.

“Welp I’m ready to go.” he stood up and put out the fire, putting some dirt on it. He put the cup in a bag and motioned for Ryia to get on.

“Up you go.” he helped her up and got on after her.

“Here we go again.” she whispered to no one in particular.

They rode through the woods, and as the day wore on, the sun shone brighter, warming them up considerably until they were bordering being hot.

“Do we have any water?” Ryia asked.

Gillian slowed Red down and check their leather skins of water. “A bit?”

He handed her the leather skins and she got a few drops out before it was all gone.

“We need water.” Gillian stated.

“Yes. We do.” she nodded and looked at empty skins sadly.

“Next town we replace, or farmhouse that we come across.” he told her and took back the leather skins of water.

“Or just the next well or stream we come across.” she added.

“Or that.” he nodded in agreement.

They continued on their way for another couple hours, all the while Ryia’s thirst grew greater. “I can’t take this.”

She leaned against Gillian’s sturdy chest and closed her eyes, trying to conserve energy, and maybe that way she could save some of her water reservoir.

“I see something.” he spurred Red into a canter until they had made it to a public well. “Red needs a rest. I suppose you could use one too.”

He hopped off and helped Ryia off as well.

“Water.” she looked fondly at the well.

Gillian raised an eyebrow and pulled up a bucket of water.

She waited impatiently for Gillian to finish putting the water in his leather water sins before drinking to her heart’s content.

“I’m going to have to fill this up again.” he whistled. “You are one thirsty girl.”

“It’s hot?” she shrugged.

He chuckled and filled it again.

Once he was done, he tended to Red, giving him a break before they got back on and continued riding.

There’s one that looks good.” Gillian pointed out a farmhouse in the distance.

They had passed a fair amount of farmhouses during the day, although since it wasn’t anywhere near time to bed down for the night, they stayed in the saddle.

There was a lantern hanging from the porch of the house and candles lighting up the inside.

“Looks fine to me.” Ryia agreed.

Gillian almost smiled and hopped down from Red, Ryia following his suit. “Let’s see if they’re friendly.”

Please be nice, please be nice, she prayed. She was not looking forward to spending another night in the woods. Not to mention the place where she had woken up hadn’t been a very nice place. Well, it had been very nice. Only...unacceptable.

Gillian knocked on the door.

After a minute they heard a shuffling at the door and, “Can I open the door?” and “No, Caroline. You need to be in bed.”

The door opened and a trim woman with brown hair speckled with gray looked at them curiously. She wasn’t overweight, but she wasn’t the definition of thin either.

“Who’s that Kate?” a man with a pipe came to the door and Ryia could see that he must have had blonde hair when he was younger, but now it was turning a milky white color.

“Two strangers.” she looked curiously at the two travelers.

“We’re two travelers looking for a place to stay.” Gillian offered. “We’re willing to pay.”

“What do you think, Ben?” she turned to the man.

“Are you married?” he peered at them suspiciously.

“Yes.” Gillian held up his hand and Ryia’s, to show their rings.

Ben’s face relax. “Of course they can. Come right in! I’ll tend to your horse and Kate here, can fix you something to eat and drink.”

“Thank you kindly.” he told Ben and followed Kate into the house.

“Who are they, Mommy?” the little girl with blonde pig-tails asked Kake.

“They’re tired travelers that are going to be staying with us tonight.” she patted the little girl’s head and put something over the fire.

The girl walked over to them. “Hi. I’m Caroline, and I’m almost six.”

“Hello.” Ryia smiled. “I’m Ryia and I’m sixteen. I think.”

She nudged Gillian.

“The name’s Gillian McCormack and I’m so old my age isn’t even significant anymore.” he grinned.

“You can’t be older than twenty-one.” Kate looked over from her cooking. “Not with your wife bein’ so young.”

Gillian forced a laugh and scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah I’m twenty-one.” then added under his breath. “Almost twenty-two.”

Ryia raised her eyebrows. “Oh really. I never knew that.”

“You didn’t ever need to.” he shrugged. “I don’t like feeling so old. It makes me feel...old.”

Ryia laughed softly. “So profound. And you aren’t old.”

She patted his back and they sat down at the table.

“Are you in love?” Caroline climbed onto a chair across from them and looked at them like an adult would.

Gillian looked at Ryia. “Yes. Madly in love.”

Ryia’s heart skipped a beat. Stop, Ryia. It doesn’t mean anything.

“When did you fall in love?” she stood up on the chair so she could actually see better.

“Caroline!” Kate scolded. “Don’t ask such questions, and don’t stand on the chair.”

Caroline sat back down on the chair and lowered her voice. “How long have you been in love?”

Gillian glanced at Ryia for help. “Since I first met him.”

“How long have you been married?” she stood back up on the chair and leaned on the table to get a better look.

“Long enough.” he told Caroline.

“How long is that?” she wobbled a bit and quickly sat down, glancing at Kate, to make sure she hadn’t seen.

“Long enough to know that I love her with everything I’ve got.” he smiled at her. “So tell me, Caroline, how did you get to be so pretty?”

Caroline blushed and giggled. “Mommy says that people shouldn’t call me cute or pretty, otherwise I’ll become like Miss Priscilla.”

He looked at Kate for an explanation.

“Miss Priscilla thinks that she’s the greatest gift to humans.” Kate explained. “And if Caroline get’s told that she’s wonderful, she’ll end up believing it.”

Caroline turned to Gillian and Ryia and whispered quite loudly. “I heard Daddy tell Mommy that I’ve got him wrapped around my finger. But I don’t see him on my finger.”

She held up her finger for them to see, proving that there was in fact, no one wrapped around her finger.

Ryia smiled and didn’t bother to explain.

“So,” Caroline moved on, “do you want to see my dolls? Mommy makes me dolls after Daddy gets corn from the field.”

“Of course.” Ryia stood up and followed Caroline up the ladder and into her attic bedroom.

“This one is Miss Red.” she held up a red haired doll.

Ryia’s eyes went wide. This is a girl after Gillian’s own heart.

“She’s very pretty.” she held the doll that Caroline held out to her. “Who thought of the name?”

“I did.” Carline bounced happily. “Do you like it?”

Ryia found herself smiling. “Yes. It’s a wonderful name.”

“And this one,” she held up another doll, “is called Cora. She’s Red’s sister.”

She held out Cora to Ryia. “Isn’t she pretty?”

Ryia looked at the plain yellow doll with painted eyes and lips. “Uh-huh. Your mother made these?”

Caroline nodded. “Can you keep a secret?”

Ryia nodded uncertainly.

Caroline stood on Ryia’s lap and cupped her hands around Ryia’s ear. “Mommy isn’t actually my mommy. I heard Mommy and Daddy talking, and they said that when I was really little, like this,” she put her hands close together to demonstrate how little she had been, “that I was set on the porch and so they had to take me in, because they couldn’t let me freeze. But I don’t know who my real Mommy is. But shh, don’t tell Mommy or Daddy that I know that, because I’m not supposed to know it.”

Ryia’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s very interesting.”

She handed back the dolls. “There you go. Isn’t it time for your bedtime?”

Caroline nodded sadly. “But I don’t want to go to bed. I was going to go to bed when you knocked on the door. But I guess Mommy and Daddy forgot.” she shrugged.

“Well come on.” Ryia crawled to Caroline’s bedside. “Let’s get you to bed.”

“Alright.” she hopped in bed. “You aren’t going to leave before saying goodbye, are you?”

“I won’t.” Ryia promised.

“Will you tell me a story?” Caroline looked at Ryia with her adorable brown eyes.

“Alright.” Ryia mentally shook her head. I’m beginning to be wrapped around Caroline’s little finger.

“Once upon a time, there was a young girl. She lived with her mother, she was happy where she was-”

“Where did she live?” Caroline interrupted.

“In a village. A village called Castile.” Ryia informed her. “Anyway, one day, she had to leave the village, because there were bad men after her. So she escaped on her horse, called Chestnut, and it was nighttime too. She got thrown from her horse and she hurt her head pretty badly.”

Caroling nodded for her to continue.

“When the girl woke up, she saw a young man looking back at her. Only the girl didn’t know who she was, and she didn’t know how she had gotten into the woods.” Ryia continued.

“I know how she got there!” Caroline said and pointed her finger. “She got thrown from her horse.”

Ryia nodded. “But she had forgotten. She also broke her leg, so she couldn’t move around very much. The young man who had found her, let’s say his name is John, John made her a cruch so she could get around better. And do you want to know a secret?”

Caroline nodded eagerly.

“The girl, whose name was...uh...Amélie. She found out that she was falling in love with John. And she couldn’t do anything about it.” Ryia looked down at her fingers.

“Is that a bad thing?” Caroline asked.

Ryia looked back up. “Not necessarily. But the only problem was that John didn’t love her back.”

“Oh.” Caroline nodded solemnly.

“Then the bad men stole Amélie away. John went after her and saved her, then they were on the run. They were trying to keep away from the bad men. They traveled for many days. There were a lot of trials, but they made it. Amélie was confused because sometimes John would act as though he loved her, but then he would tell her that she didn’t mean anything to him.”

“That’s so sad.” Caroline frowned.

Ryia nodded and Caroline yawned.

“Are you tired?” Ryia asked.

“No, keep going.” Caroline shook her head but close her eyes anyway. “I’m still listening.”

“Well when they finally escaped the bad men...” Ryia paused. This story had a bad ending. Why had she even started it? “John left her.”

She finished in barely a whisper.

Although Caroline didn’t care if it had a bad ending or not, since she was already asleep.

“She was left all alone in a strange land, and never found love again.” she added bitterly.

Stop it, Ryia. You shouldn’t think such depressing thoughts. Just enjoy the moments you have together.

She smiled at Caroline and crawled back to the opening of the attic and climbed down the ladder.

She walked into the kitchen where Kate and Gillian were. “Caroline’s asleep.”

Kate looked up in surprise. “Oh thank you! I totally forgot.”

Ryia looked uncomfortably and the floor and pulled out a chair next to Gillian. “It’s nothing.”

“Here’s your supper.” Kate set two plates on the table and set two mugs of water next to them.

“Thank you.” Ryia smiled and sniffed the beans, biscuit, and slab of meat on her plate. “It smells delicious.”

Kate blushed and poured herself a cup of tea. “Did you two want tea as well?”

“Yes please.” she ate a bite of her food.

“No, thank you.” Gillian shook his head.

“You’re a coffee person, huh?” Ryia looked over at him.

“Nope. I drink both.” he drank some of his water. “I just didn’t feel like having it.”

Ryia nodded. “I prefer tea. But I have coffee.”

“I prefer coffee, but I drink tea.” he almost smirked.

She shook her head and continued eating.