Violet Riding Hood

Chapter 12

Vallery Arrested

The Dungeons of Swordhorn were a very feared place somewhere outside of the village, a vast system of underground tunnels that could be accessed only through a small entrance concealed by the rocks and the trees... the complex had been a legacy of the old days when the area had been a military campsite, home to one of the most isolated Battalions of the North.

It had been a very long time since the days of the Mountain Wars, but the dungeons still remained in a pretty good condition and the villagers sometimes used them to lock up robbers, poachers and scavengers for days and even weeks of darkness and fear.

The parents were fond of telling creepy stories about the dungeons to scare their children into obedience, but now the stories had become a sad reality after dozens and dozens of people had been arrested and taken to the darkness by the orders of Sage Sallyahel...

Vallery had nothing but her dreams to make her company in the shadows, and that night she had been dreaming about the first years of her life and how she would enjoy collecting wildberries at the forest.

The beautiful colors of the trees and flowers in Autumn were still intense in her memories, and she could even hear the birds singing and the soft whispers of the wind... her dreams were a gateway to escape, but then Catherine would always show up and ruin all of those good things.

Catherine advancing towards her while she displayed a wicked smile, Catherine with blood in her hands and showing her fangs as she slowly transformed into a terrible black monster...

"Vallery, come away with me..."

Vallery would run away from her and then she would be back at the shadows of the dungeons, terribly sad and desperate as she realized that everyone had forsaken her forever...

However, that day something finally changed.

"I am here to see Vallery Silvermoon" said the fragile voice of an old woman, speaking somewhere in the darkness.

Vallery was awakened by the sound of Julie's voice, and her heart started to beat with excitement as her face emerged from the mess of dirty blankets that she was wrapped in. It has been three days and their nights, or at least that's what it had felt for her, and this was the first time that somebody came to visit...

"And you are?" a soldier replied, opening a book and searching through the pages very fast- "The Captain has not authorized any visits to Violet Cloak..."

"I am Julie Silvermoon, her grandmother!"

Vallery opened her weakened eyes and tried to see something, but after all that time in the dungeons she was dazzled even by the soft light of a candle... it seemed to her that her grandmother was standing just a few yards away, judging from the shadows that Julie and the soldier projected on the ground.

"Alright, calm down! I see the authorization now, everything is fine."

Vallery was trying to protect her eyes from the light when the metallic door was unlocked a few seconds later, and then it was opened at last and Julie dashed into the cell to hug her granddaughter.

"My sweetie!" Julie cried, surprised to see Vallery like that- "Here I am, here I am..."

The smell of Wildberries Cake caused Vallery to cry, and for a very long time she could do nothing but attach herself to her grandmother like that was the best day of her life.

She could not believe the intensely red color of the apples that Julie had brought for her, the touch of her favorite blanket was incredibly comforting and the presence of a friendly soul in that darkness was unimaginably pleasant and sweet...