Elwanda

Chapter 9 - Consequences

Laurel's sudden input stirred murmurs in the entire crowd.

Elwanda kept her eyes level with the soldier's chest.

"My Lord." Raedrim acknowledged with a bow.

Penelope did likewise, but Elwanda was too stunned and immobile to regard anything other than her brain furiously working a way out of the tight spot she had been forced into.

"Who is this?" Lord Laurel asked curiously. "She does not bow to me."

"You must forgive my daughter's ignorance, your most nobleness, but she is stranger to our ways here in Valbell."

"How interesting!" The Steward put forth. He climbed down from his horse and began to approach Raedrim. 

Elwanda's heart pounded worse than before.

"Why is that, old man?" The Steward asked when he reached the landlord.

"It is because Alora grew up elsewhere with her mother. She has only arrived Valbell a few weeks ago."

Within herself, Elwanda hoped with such intensity that neither Penelope nor Calley would say a word. In fact, she hoped that nobody would pitch in at all because Raedrim was a very well known landlord in Valbell, and everyone knew that his only child was Penelope.

In that moment, she began to realize that everything would go wrong. She was going to get caught.

The Steward walked over and came to hover in front of her. Up close, his breath smelled like mint and something baked. His cream colored attire was, as usual, well fitted. She kept her eyes down.

"Where did you grow up, and who was your mother?" He asked.

The sudden realization that her own voice might give her away made Elwanda panic. In that moment, she a felt strange aura and inclined her focus to the far end of the main square, where several horsemen held up large flags. Behind one of such banners, there was a leaning firebrand.

She opened her mouth to speak and thought – fall.

To her surprise, the firebrand toppled over and ignited the flag with rapidity, seizing every attention at once.

There was a loud hubbub.

The horseman in his startled state tossed the burning flag to his comrade and the latter's clothes went up in flames. Disoriented by the commotion, the victim's horse ran blindly into a stall, thereby setting more things on fire. People screamed and dispersed whilst other soldiers struggled to manage the chaos.

At the inn, Elwanda hurried into her bedroom and plopped on the bed, burying her face in her hands. The inn flooded with loud gossips and conversation over the incident as occupants poured in from outside as well.

"How on earth had all of that happened anyway?" A voice rang across the halls.

"Sometimes, those so-called soldiers are highly drunk even while on duty." Someone answered. "I blame Lord Laurel for allowing their employment."

"It probably was an accident." Another reasoned.

Tears fell down Elwanda's face, tears coaxed by mixed feelings. There was no way The Steward would leave Valbell without completing his sweeping search. And as long as he remained, she was unsafe, moreso because of the recent fire outbreak. The Steward was much too smart to be discouraged by a simple fire accident. If anything, he had marked her face because of it, and would not rest until she was thoroughly interrogated.

A feeling of infuriation made her rise and begin to pace the length of the room. She needed to leave Valbell before nightfall. Somehow.

Don't stop running because they won't stop either until they find you.