Red Water Lily

Chapter 1

The morning after Lily was beaten by Kain her whole body was in pain, sitting up made her want to cry. She had not slept because she wanted to be prepared in case Kain or his men would come to get her. Even if she would much rather stay in bed and not move an inch, her stomach was rumbling enough to wake a sleeping bear so she carefully stood up and slowly walked out of the shed, hoping to find something to eat.

Outside everything seemed normal, the sun was shining, kids were running around and playing and the big fire in the middle of the school ground were surrounded by some of the guards and workers heating up some meat. The clan territory was not excessively big and there were not many houses around.

Kain kept his men and their families inside the school building, the other five houses nearby belonged to the worker families while the rest of the clan lived in tents on the school ground. Back when Lily's brother was the leader, they had around ninety members, but since Kain either killed or banned those who refused him as a leader, and others simply just left, the clan quickly lost a lot of members and were only around forty members left.

While Lily was walking through the school ground, she saw Judy, her favorite person carrying some boxes filled with bread. Judy was the farmer's wife, although her husband lost his life while trying to save Lily's parents. It was now her son, Luke, who took care of the farm while Judy herself spent most of her time selling vegetables and bread at the marketplace that was built next to the school. A smile grew and a calm, peaceful feeling warmed Lily as soon as she saw the kind, green eyes, the grey hair in its usual messy bun and a piece of bread held out towards her.

" Oh dear, what happened to you? You look terrible!" Judy said and placed the bread in Lily's hand.

Lily sat down on the ground and took a bite from the bread. The flavors from the bread were dancing in her mouth, the bread was soft and fresh and melted in her mouth as she chewed it happily.

" Kain happened. I need your help, Judy." Lily said after she swallowed her first heavenly bite." I'm leaving this clan again, and this time I will make it. But I need to borrow clothes from Luke so no one will recognize me. Can you help me with that?"

Judy looked down at the ground and sighed while wiping away some dirt from her cheek.

" Of course! It's about time you get out of this hell hole for good. You deserve so much better than this! I'll miss you though." A tear escaped Judy's eye as she looked at Lily and continued." I'll pack a bag with everything you might need on your journey and leave it underneath the dead tree in the forest. You'll have to leave tonight because I heard the guards talking about how Kain planned to force you to marry him in front of everyone tomorrow at noon."

Lily almost choked on the bread when she heard about Kain's plan. She knew he was a mean man who always made sure to get whatever he could possibly want, but forced marriage? Really? Suddenly eating made her feel sick, but it would be such a waste to throw away the probably last piece of bread made by Judy she'll ever eat, so she quickly nodded towards Judy and ate what was left of it before she stood up and placed her hand on Judy's shoulder.

" I'll leave tonight. Thank you, Judy, for everything you've done for me and for letting me be a part of your family." Lily said before she pulled Judy into a big hug. Judy hugged her back tightly and sniffled.

"You've been like a daughter to me, I'll miss you so much! Please be safe and happy."

" That looks so nice I think I might join you." They both looked up and saw Kain walking towards them. An angry fire started to burn inside of Lily. If she could she'd beat him up as bad as he'd beaten her, but it was impossible since he had a guard with him. Lily frowned as she let go of Judy and crossed her arms over her chest.