Escape from the Witch Hunters
Chapter 26

“Thank you, Ryia.” Leonora smiled at her. They had just finished putting up the laundry to dry.

Ryia forced a smiled and nodded. “You’re welcome.”

She had been given a room, different than Daisy’s room had been. It had white walls, red colored curtains, a new dress that was a dark blue color and flowed out at the waist, and a huge bed, fluffier than she would ever need.

She had also met the family dog named Jaques after their country’s prince, although they called him Jack. He had immediately liked Ryia. He was white and had lots of hair. So much that his hair often covered up his eyes.

It had been half a day since Gillian had left her and she was already on the verge of breaking down.

“What’s wrong dearie?” Leonora led her back inside, into the sitting room where they sat down on a cushiony couch.

“It’s horrible!” she broke down on Leonora.

Leonora didn’t ask any questions, she only patted Ryia on the back, and gave her a shoulder to cry on.

Ryia sniffed and tried to get her crying under control as she explained. “It all started a while back, I met him because he was taking care of me, since I had been thrown from my horse in the woods, and I accidentally fell in love with him, and then he didn’t love me back, and then he left me.”

Leonora gave Ryia a confused look. “You mean that man who left you here, you love him?”

Ryia nodded. “But he said he only loved me like a sister, and so I never said anything, and we had agreed earlier that he would leave me once we got to Carenthia and-”

“Wait a minute, dear.” Leonora got up. “Burtly? Burtly, come here! Ryia need to do some explaining!”

She sat back down and after a minute Burtly was inside on the couch as well. “What’s this? Why’s our little girl crying?”

Ryia took a deep breath and started explaining the whole thing. How she was being hunted, how she was thrown from her horse, and Gillian found her. How they lived together, and then ran for their lives, when they got forced to get married, and then finally how they had gotten to Carenthia and he left her.

“Oh my poor darling.” Leonora stroked Ryia’s hair. “That’s horrible.”

Ryia wiped her wet face. “I can’t do it.”

“With time, you’ll get better.” Burtly patted her back. “I was once in love with a girl, and she left me, but then-”

“You what?” Leonora raised her eyebrows. “I hadn’t heard of that.”

Burtly grinned sheepishly. “It must have slipped my mind.”

“For forty years?” she asked incredulously.

Burtly’s eyes twinkled. “Um, she isn’t significant now. But as I was saying, I met your mother. And she was much better.”

Burtly and Leonora’s antics almost had Ryia smiling. Almost. “I’m already married, and I’ll never replace anyone as good as Gillian.”

“Well, Burtly’s meals will fix you up real good.” Burtly stood up and they walked to the kitchen. “You can’t stay unhappy when you eat this.”

“What he means to say, that it’s so bad for you that you stop thinking about your other problems and think about your weight.” Leonora laughed.

Burtly sent Leonora a sharp look. “Is not. Well, maybe a little bit. But it’s good for the soul.”

Ryia cracked a small smidgin of a smile. Thank you Great Father for my new set of parents. They’re better than I could have ever imagined.

“You’re new here, huh?” a voice spoke and Gillian looked up. It belonged to a young blonde lady who looked a lot like Chloe had. Only she wasn’t pretty to him.

He was in the small village in Carenthia, he had decided to stay a night before he headed on his long journey home.

“I’m just passing through.” he told her. He debated getting something to drink. He had never touched the stuff before. But if it could take away his pain, then he would do it. He finally understood how his father felt. The raw feeling that Ryia had left him with. He could finally know what if felt like to lose someone that important.

Don’t do it. Don’t become like him, he shook his head, trying to clear his brain.

He wanted to forget his pain. He wanted to forget Ryia. Only he couldn’t. No matter how much he tried, he wouldn’t be able to forget her.

The young lady sat down next to him, intruding into his personal space. “Wanna have some fun before you go?”

She discretely got closer to him.

He stood up abruptly. “No. I’m a married man. Good day.”

The girl looked rather surprised, apparently not used to having people say “no” to her. “What-why-” she stuttered.

Gillian barely nodded in her direction before flipping his payment at the person at the front desk and storming out of the building.

He went to the stables and grabbed Red before getting on and riding off in the direction of the sea. They were so close to the sea that at night, the fog would come in, making it impossible to see five feet in front of you.

He kept riding, the sun was almost overhead and even though he should have been roasting, the ocean breeze cooled him considerably.

He finally made it to the ocean, and he got off of Red, letting the cold air carry away his hurt.

“I’ve been told that drowning doesn’t hurt.” he mumbled to himself. “That you just fall asleep and then you’re gone.”

A cloud covered up the sun, and fog crept in around him chilling him down to the bone.

“Stop being a wimp and man up.” he frowned. The depression and despair was beginning to mess with his mind.

“I can’t live without her.” he concluded. “I’m sorry, Ryia.”

He swung onto Red and galloped out of the dense mist.

“You can’t be serious.” Ryia looked at the plate in her.

Staring back at here was a plate that had four huge flat cakes, whipped cream from the Nolan’s cow, fresh strawberries, along with a glass of rich milk.

“I’m completely serious.” Burtly sat across from her.

“I warned you.” Leonora smiled at her.

“I can’t eat this all.” she stared at the gigantic plate.

“Yes you can. In fact, if it helps, I’ll tell you a little bit about ourselves to distract you from the hugeness of it..” Burtly held Leonora’s hand. “We got married nearly forty years ago, we tried to have children, but the Great Father didn’t see fit to give us any.”

Ryia stuffed a bit of flat cakes in her mouth.

“We finally got our wish seventeen years ago. We had a baby girl and she was like a bright daisy in our life. She brightened up our whole day.” he smiled at the memory of her. “She grew up to be a beautiful girl. She had many suitors as well. She was going to be married this spring, actually, but I guess the Great Father wanted to take her home to Him.”

Ryia nodded sadly and kept eating.

“So we put out posters, trying to replace a replacement daughter.” he continued. “That’s the tradition in Carenthia, to get a new daughter that is,” he explained, “and then you came to us.”

He patted Ryia’s hand. “We’re very glad you came to us. Nora and I were on our knees, begging the Father to either take the pain away, or give us another daughter when we heard Jack barking. I went outside and found you waiting there like a lost puppy.”

Ryia smiled and stuck a sour strawberry in her mouth, causing her to pucker her lips.

“I’m glad I found you too.” she added with a smile after she swallowed the tart strawberry. “I was afraid that I would be stuck with cranky people that would be mean to me.”

“You don’t ever have to worry about that.” Leonora smiled.

Ryia stuffed another big bite in her mouth.

“I can’t finish this!” she said after she had swallowed. “I’m not even hungry.”

“Well, we shouldn’t force the young girl to eat too much.” Burtly grinned at Leonora. “I guess we’ll just have to finish it.”

Ryia pushed the plate over to Burtly and Leonora. “I’m going to go explore the farm, if that’s alright with you.”

Burtly nodded. “Explore as much as you want. Just don’t go beyond the fence, otherwise people can steal you away from us. And we don’t want that.”

“Right.” Ryia nodded and stood up. “I’ll be back. Sometime. Hopefully before supper so I can help.”

“Don’t worry about it, Ryia.” Leonora smiled at her. “Go have fun.”

Ryia almost skipped out of the room and out the back door towards the heart of the farm.

It was past midday, the sun was high in the sky, but a cool breeze swept her hair in front of her face. “Annoying hair.”

She kept walking around when she came across a clear pond that had a white swing hanging from a tall tree that shaded half of the pond. “Well this is interesting.”

She got closer and inspected the white swing that had a coating of dirt and dust. She brushed most of it off with her hanky, and sat down on it, facing the pond.

Thank you, Great Father, for placing me where I am. I couldn’t ask for a better family than Burtly and Leonora. Although I can’t help but question your thoughts when you took Gillian away from me. I loved him. He was my husband. He was supposed to be with me forever.

“I should just trust him instead of complaining.” Ryia muttered to herself and kicked off the ground and started swinging. “After all, I have Burtly. I have Leonora. I have Jack. I have a wonderful place to live. Pleanty to eat. And I’m not being hunted.”

She smiled. “Thank you Father. You’ve taken care of me even though I might not have seen it at first. I have a lot to be thankful for.”

She got off the swing and walked down to the pond. There was a small dock, extending out into the pond, making it simple for Ryia to stick her feet into the crystal water of the pond.

It almost reminds me of the stream back where Gillian lived, she thought, then shook her head. You don’t need to think like that. He’s gone, and the sooner you forget about him, the better.

She kicked her feet in the cool and fresh water. “I found the jackpot.”

She smiled. Yes, she had a lot. Much more than she ever deserved.

“Ryia!” a voice called to her.

Funny. Burtly is beginning to sound like Gillian, she stood back up carefully, trying to not get her dress wet and she picked up her shoes.

“I’m over here!” she called back. “Does Leonora need help with supper already?”

Gillian came into view and her heart stopped. She stared at him for a minute, not sure if she was seeing things or not.

She dropped her shoes and ran to him as fast as she could. They met and Gillian held her close.

“I’m sorry, Ryia. I can’t do it. I tried to leave you, I swear I did. But I couldn’t do it.” his face was nestled in between her shoulder and her head. “I wanted to forget you, I was about to drink, then I contemplated drowning myself. I’m horrible.But living without you isn’t really living at all. I need you, Ryia.”

He took a deep breath and continued. “I know when I first met you I tried to ignore my feelings for you. I didn’t want to give you my heart because I didn’t want it to break. But I somehow, somewhere along the road I unwillingly gave it to you. I never intended to give it to you, but you took it without me knowing.”

He pulled away and looked into Ryia’s eyes. “I love you, Ryia. I love you with everything I’ve got and I can’t stand to be away from you for more than a day. I know I’m being selfish when I have a curse hanging over my head, but I need you to be in my life, so please tell me I can stay. Please Ryia.”

His blue eyes silently begged.

Ryia felt a smile growing on her face. “Yes. Of course! I don’t care about curses. I’m sure that I’ve been cursed more than once in my lifetime.”

Gillian’s face relaxed and he held Ryia once more, tucking her head under his chin. “You know what I’ve been wanting to do since I met you?”

She shook her head. “What?”

“This.” he held her tightly in his arms. “Now no one can ever take you away from me.”

With Ryia in his life, no curse could ever reach him.

The End