𝑰𝒗𝒚 | r. de noir

14. the capture

NOT HALF OF AN HOUR LATER, the three came upon the outskirts of the De Noir Castle. Loveday seemed to have grown tense, Olive noticed, as she started to linger behind.

"Is something the matter?" Olive asked, discomforted by the sudden change in Loveday's manner.

"I-I.. I don't think we should continue," Loveday stuttered. The woman's shaky hand clutched her walking stick, tightly.

Maria, too determined to stop, carried on ahead. "There it is!" she exclaimed, happily pointing up at the tall tower that loomed above. A banner of red, black, and white waved down at them.

Olive glanced ahead at the castle, and back at Loveday. The woman's face had turned pale, her smile, gone.

"You can't go in there," Loveday muttered under her breath. "Please."

Maria turned, noticing that there was a hold up. "Loveday, are you alright?"

The woman was stuttering, her lips so shaky she couldn't get out a single word. A crow cawed in the distance, as it perched upon the castle wall.

"I-I'm sorry," Loveday said, turning her back.
"I can never go back there!" Loveday began to scramble down the hill, away from the castle.

"Loveday," Maria called, hurrying after her new friend. Hesitantly, Olive followed. "Loveday! Wait! Loveday!"

Loveday did not stop, nor would she, Olive suspected, until she were far from here. Something must have happened to her once, at the hand of the De Noirs.

Maria stopped chasing after her, and instead set off determinedly to look for a way to get beyond the castle walls. For the first time since finding Maria in the woods, Olive felt afraid again. "Maria," Olive called, catching up to her. "Perhaps we should turn back. Perhaps we should come up with a better plan. Wait until dark, perhaps? Or even better, what if we speak with your uncle?"

"You know as well as I do, he won't listen," Maria said, continuing towards the edge of the treeline.

Olive wondered how long it would take them to get home. It felt as though it'd taken nearly all day to get from one end of the forest, to the other.

"We have to do this ourselves," Maria said.

"But, what if we get caught?"

"I don't know," the young girl admitted. "All I know is that I have to try."

Impressed by Maria's spirit, Olive let the girl lead the way. They followed the wall until they reached De Noir territory. The small village just beyond the castle gates buzzed loudly with men and women clad in dark garments, and the air smelt of iron and fire.

The merriment of the villagers that Olive had noticed during their educational tour of the Moonacre estate seemed to be lacking amongst the people who lived outside of the De Noir castle. The people were stern, their faces creased with focus on their work.

The exception was the drunken gibbering of a group of soldiers that appeared to have recently departed the tavern. They sauntered clumsily behind the girls as they made their way towards the castle.

"I have an idea!" Maria said, pulling Olive along as they neared the guarded entrance. Olive followed suit as Maria kneeled behind a stack of empty wooden crates that sat to the right of the wrought iron gates. There was a gap in the center of the gates which, while closed, formed a heart shape. A curious symbol for a clan with such a heartless reputation, Olive thought.

Though the girls had hidden themselves whilst they were well within sight of the soldiers, none of the men seemed to notice. They were busy entertaining themselves with mumbling the words of a shanty song. Maria and Olive shrank closer behind the crates as the soldiers arrived at the gate.