Chapter One: Mariana
Mariana krept through the thickening darkness in the edge of the castle parklands, heading towards the town that consisted of thirty tightly packed houses and shops, littering the intersection of two of the most famous rivers; that had yet to dry up with the strange drought this year.
She was hoping to snatch a few bread loafs, stale or fresh, from the town’s vendors before they closed up for the night due to the rising of the shadow moon over their heads.
She paused in her path as she looked up at the creepy blankness of the shadow moon and she felt, in that moment, like all the moon saw was her; her in her baggy gray and brown shirt, once a pale ivory. She shook her head getting rid of distracting thoughts and continued on.
She entered the edge of the town and pushed herself against the buildings in the shadows, targeting the last open vendors, a group in the middle of the square.
“Ahh there it is.” She thought, spotting the bread vendor.
Mariana slid onto the cobblestone path that took a chunk out of the center of town and walked along it acting like a young farmers girl headed home before… The child taker snatched her. Passing the vendor she tripped, knocking a bunch of bread rolls on the ground.
“I’m so… excuse me… sir… miss.” Mariana spoke nervously as she picked up every single bread roll and set them back on the table, then she backed away and ran home, not looking back. Looking back would get her notices.
As she stepped back into the woods she heard the yells behind her and hoof beats. The baker had realized he was missing a whole loaf of bread. It was time for her to disappear into the dark.
Mariana sped up, her legs stirring up leaves and mud. The bread roll held in her dirty hand.
If she could make it to the river she could throw off the scents of the hounds and lose the town jailers. She had spent a night in town jail before for stealing less than bread and knocking over a vendor, which was owned by a highly respected food supplier. She wasn’t anxious to sleep in dirty straw and mucky water again. Yet the river was still a mile away and she could tell the palace hounds had started their chase.
She wasn’t going to make it so she darted to the west heading back towards the castle. The castle was only a half mile away, if she got there she could hide in the servant quarters and dispel her pungent scent amongst the others.
The castle yard was in sight, but the gateway was guarded. How could she have been so dumb. Of course there would be guards and now the hounds were getting nearer behind her.
Her eyes darted back and forth then without really thinking she leapt into the bushes beside the moat. It was a mistake. The ground beside the moat was muddy and slippery and she started to slip into the murky waters, she had never learned to swim!
Her hands flew trying to grab onto anything, the mud, the grass, the roots of the buses yet nothing was helping. By now her bottom half was fully submerged and everything she could have grabbed onto was out of reach of her flailing arms. It was no use, Mariana looked over her shoulder and watched the dirty water move closer. She closed her eyes and let herself sink into the repulsive waters.
…
Marina opened her eyes when she felt hands on her shirt pulling her out of the water and looked up to see an old woman standing there with an older man standing beside the woman.
“Come with us dear,” said the older woman “we can help you out.”
Mariana sat herself up in the grass and looked at both of them “no,” she said. Then she stood up and walked towards the woods on the edge of the parkland where she had been found.
Behind her she heard the man say to the woman “well we tried to warn her didn’t we.”
Mariana spun around and stared at both of them like she was trying to detect their secrets.
“What did you say? What are you warning me about.” The man and woman looked at each other then turned back to her.
“Never mind, continue on your way, we didn’t mean to bother you.” They both turned around and walked down the hill towards the village.
Mariana watched them go, confused mixed in with a concoction of other feelings like anger and laughter. “Old people are so odd and messed up. Their brains are eggs and thoughts are jello.”
She swings back around and struts into the woods, “Old egg brains aren’t going to scare me!”
The woods were starting to glow as the first lights of dawn cut through the leaves and placed wavering spots on the ground, it was almost magical.
“GET HER!”
Mariana froze and started looking around at the sound of the voice, it was a mistake; a bunch of older boys stormed out of the buses and surrounded her, one of them stepped forward.
“My pa told me you ruined his vendor, and now we don’t have a thing to sell, it’s all dirty from the ground. So you’re going to pay up, girly.”
Mariana, in the corner of her eye, saw two of his mates stepping up behind her, but she kept her gaze on the leader.
“So you heard it second hand from your father, but he wasn’t able to tell you a name was he, so how do you know it was me?”
The boy hesitated, “so you admit that it was you who caused my family grief?”
“No I never said it was me, I said, how do you know if it was me?”
“But you just said a second ago…” mariana could tell he was thoroughly confused now and was about to suggest he let her go when the two boys sneaking up behind her reached her and shoved her face first onto the ground.
“Arghh,” she growled, “let me go you big oafs!”
In response one of them pushed their boot onto her back and dug her even deeper into the muddy forest floor, the only thing she got out of it was a mouth full of unexplainable tasting sludge.
The leader, regaining confidence in himself now that he had a helpless target bent down beside her, “I’m taking you back to town and the punishment you deserve.” The boot left her back and in its place a hand grabbed her shirt once again and lifted her to her feet. Another boy, one of the ones who had done nothing but stare at her, brought forward a rope and tied her hands. “There would be no escaping this time around,” she thought submissively.