Crown of Roses

6 - Bidding Farewell

Vianna ran, her feet slapping down on the cobblestones as she ran through the chaotic crowd and watched Aclanian soldiers invade her city. In the distance, she could see fires burning. Terror clutched her heart, its iron grip chilling her bones as she tried to power through the screaming people. She watched people be struck down by soldiers, saw blood spill from wounds as shining steel cleaved through skin.

The chaos sobered her mind, the cogs turning with a renewed vigor as she ran. She was thinking up a plan, thinking of places to run. Desmor wouldn't be safe thanks to the Aclanian invasion, The south was out of the question. The eastern continent was too difficult to get to. The north was populated by the fae, and after the Treaty of Desmor, no one bearing human blood was permitted there unless invited. If an intruder was caught, they could be potentially be put to death.

Perhaps it was her brain still drunk, but her mind wandered toward the idea of traversing the northern Faelands and crossing into the High North. She didn't know if she shuddered from the cold of running or the fear. Her mother had never uttered its name, but she had told stories. Stories of the monsters that lived there, of the land that Vianna had heard only existed in stories.

She had always believed, believed that there was a place where darkness roosted with reckless abandon. She had listened eagerly when her mother had spoken of it, claiming that there lied the secret to magic and its true potential. Deborah had always scoffed at their mother and her story-spinning, but Vianna believed.

If the High North truly existed, it was perhaps the only place of solace for Vianna. She would have to cross Desmor and then tread through the dangerous Faelands to get to a place where, supposedly, the deepest evils lived. Desmor and the Faelands ensured death, but at least the High North could be a place where her fate would lie at least somewhat in her hands.

So she ran, shoving open the door of the Steaming Cauldron at just the right place so that the rusted hinges broke and she burst in.

    "Mother! Deborah!!" she yelled, searching desperately for her mother and sister. Her heart pounded in her chest and she could hear her blood roaring in her ears.

She launched herself up the stairs, bursting into the upper apartment to see her tearful mother and sister. Her mother and sister ran to her, embracing her and sobbing into her hair as they clutched her. For only a moment, she felt safe in their arms. Then reality hit her again and she opened her eyes to look at them.

"The Aclanians are capturing Oriane," she said sternly, looking to what little family she had.

"And they'll kill you since you're a magic-user," her mother said softly, tears welling in her beautiful brown eyes.

"I'll run. I swear. And you'll be safe?" she asked, voicing the thing they all knew had to be done. Viana had to run, or else she would die.

"The Aclanians, however brutish, are fair. Unless they know you use magic instead of simply bearing fae-blood, they won't touch you. They can't touch Deborah or me, we haven't been able to use magic for years. But you have. They'll find out and they'll kill you if they already don't kill you during this damned invasion," her mother said quickly as her sister stood, grabbing a satchel from one of the hooks.

"Mother, pack food and coin. I'll take Vianna to her room and help her get into something more fitting to escape," Deborah decided, grasping Vianna's arm and helping her up before ushering her into her room.

Vianna immediately went into her closet, fishing out a pair of high-waisted breeches she occasionally wore. They were dark and comfortable, something that would do her good for running. She then grabbed her worn boots, hoping they would serve her longer. Meanwhile, her sister plucked a dark green blouse from one of her drawers. It was loose and made from thick wool, both things that Vianna was thankful for.