Forever and Ever After (book1)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Weeks had passed and the Queen had yet to leave the Kingdom, everyone knew this from the way the Black Knight lurked on the road through the woods.

Trade had become hard with the new bully on the road; traders took the alternative route through the mountains taking up two days extra of travel, leaving nothing for the thieves to pick off. Some of the thieves though they could pick off people in the towns and villages around them but they always got caught, and they would always end up in the stocks. A mild punishment for those who are caught first time, even the King knew that a starving man would turn to steal off others.

On the fourth week, Isobel had grown hungry and tired from fear of getting killed. She could sneak out, across a line from her window to the tree tops, across some bridges and she would be able to go wherever she wanted without being seen by anyone; let alone the Black Knight. But even if she wasn't seen, who would she steal from to keep her and her Father fed?

She didn't want to risk getting caught in the villages or the towns. She didn't like what was happening to those who were stupid enough to be caught. Put in the stocks from dawn until dusk. If they were caught again they would lose a hand, a third time and losing their hand wouldn't matter when they're hanging from a rope.

"We need to be rid of this Knight," she muttered to herself. For weeks they had been surviving of nettle soup and the toll of that was slowing taking effect, she didn't feel safe enough to go hunting for any prey while that Knight was still a threat.

"You cannot kill him," her Father grumbled back. He had already been in this fight before and had stopped her from leaving too many times. "You told me yourself, there is no body in that armour. You cannot kill, injure or harm something that has no soul to body to hurt."

"There has to be a way to kill him...it...whatever it is," she growled. She wanted to poke around at the Knight to find its weaknesses, to find out how to kill it and by sitting around in a house, she wasn't going to accomplish anything.

Her Father sighed heavily and rubbed a hand over his tired face. "Isobel, I'm tired of fighting with you. If you really want to find out how to kill something that is created by magic, go to the lower town, in the Moon Light inn you'll find a man called Marcus. He might be able to help you if you can unscramble his gibberish."

Isobel jumped to her feet too eager to have something to do and didn't waste time as she grabbed her cloak and ran for the door. At least she would be out the house and have something to keep her mind from thinking of how hungry she is.

It took her twice as long to get to the village as she needed some way of getting there and as she didn't use the tree tops as much as the others, she had to find her way around rather quickly.

The villages on the way to the lower town were deserted; more than that, they seemed to be dead. No-one was outside, no-one shouted, no-one laughed, there was nothing anywhere as Isobel traipsed along the road. She pulled her cloak tightly around her to prevent the cold chill from creeping along her spine.

An evil thought penetrated her mind. She thought that maybe somewhere in the kingdom someone was being executed and everyone had gone to watch. There rarely was any need to executions but when there was it normally drew a crowd. She picked up her pace; wanting to make sure it wasn't one of the idiots she had warned about coming to the village to steal.

As she entered the lower town, she caught sight of a young girl, holding tightly to a piece of rag. "Hello there," Isobel said quietly so she didn't scare the girl. "Do you know where everyone's gone?"

The girl nodded but said nothing else.

"Can you tell me where they have gone?"

The little girl looked around, looking for any signs of trouble. "They aren't gone miss," she whispered so quietly that Isobel almost missed what she said on the wind. "Everyone is hiding, the Black Knight, he comes and no-one can stop him. The Prince is gathering all his men to go attack the Knight but they don't really know how to kill him. He scares everyone so that everyone is scared to leave their homes."