Castle on the Rock

AD 600

Almost a thousand years have passed. The world has changed.

Elyah wandered through the woods, each footstep as light as a feather over the crackling autumn leaves. She shivered in the chilly autumn air and wrapped the fur closer around herself. 

The world pre-dawn was peaceful and silent. The air was crisp and golden, and she could hear the distant calls of animals rising to face the new day. 

Her feet were wet and freezing with dew on the grass, so she took to one of the ancient paths from when the Romans had settled here. The cobblestone from hundreds of years ago still was firm beneath her pale feet. 

She continued to walk. With no direction, just wandering.

The path bought her to the old Roman fort, the wood and stone crumbling. She stepped into it and marveled at how large it was. 

How did the Romans do it? Create something that lasted this long?

It smelt of moss and mildew, a foreign sent to Elyah's nose, which was accustomed to the smoky scents of fire, meat, and wood of the village. In a way, she preferred these scents of nature.

In the distance, she could hear the hoofbeats thumping up the path, methodically, with an even rhythm. From the fort, she watched a rider gallop past on the horse. The horse was many hands tall, broad, and shining. It was unusual to see something so magnificent in Elyah's dingy part of England. She sprinted towards the edge of the path, waving her hand.

"Hey! Hey, stop!"

The mount and his rider slowed to a trot, slowing in front of Elyah. The rider was surprisingly young, his pale face flushed with exhilaration. He looked down at her, with an uncertain, wavering smile. 

She folded her arms across her chest, "where ya' going, and who'd you steal the horse from?"

An indignant look crossed his face, brow creasing, he said "It's mine. And for your information, I was going to visit the stone circle."

His voice held the plummy, educated tones of a rich man's son from the upper villages. Elyah grinned, he wouldn't know better than to help someone like her. 

Experience told her he'd want to defend his pride, so she turned on the mockery.

Nodding, she winked. "Sure it is."

"It is!" The boy shot back

"Uh-huh. I bet you don't even know where the circle is"

"Of course I do!" He was getting flustered. 

Almost there. She just nodded her head condescendingly.

"Come with me then, I'll show you!" 

She smiled and took his hand, grunting as she mounted the horse. It felt strange to be high off the ground. When I'm rich, the first thing I want is a tall horse, she thought.

The horse began trotting, and she gripped tightly with her knees. As they sped along, she felt a thrill of excitement at the prospect of seeing the circle. It was too far from the village to walk in a day, so she'd never been to the ancient place before.

Some hours pass

Elyah brushed her hand against a stone marker, marveling at the smoothness of the rock. Being worn down by centuries worth of weather must have helped. She couldn't take her eyes off the stones, it was covered by dozens of individual patterns, faded letters, and names, handprints.

The young rider was staring in awe at the rocks too. 

"They're amazing," he said breathlessly, "I mean, everyone said they were ancient but... wow."

Elyah looked over at him, and for the first time in a long time, smiled.

She grinned, "a monument to last two thousand years."