Autumn's Fire

Autumn's Fire: Chapter 9

The night terror woke me up three times during the night, and every time, I dragged myself from the bed to wipe the cold sweat from my tired bones. The third time it happened, it was just before sunrise and the quiet chirps from the morning birds echoed into my room from an open window in the hall. Exhausted by the prospect of going back to sleep to what would likely be yet another night terror, I dragged myself up and wandered toward the door. I opened it slowly, only enough to walk out comfortably, and stretched in the hall, watching as the sun peered over the distant farmland, giving the landscape a soft orange glow. The sun stung at my eyes, and I wiped at the tears that sprung from them, still adjusting to being awake. Then, I wandered down the hall towards the kitchen and greeted Mum who was still here, but likely leaving soon.

"Good morning, love." Mum walked over and kissed my forehead, then leaning back she looked me up and down. "Are you sure you don't want to go back to sleep? You look like a walking corpse."

"I'm fine, Mum," I groaned, and moved over to the table where Mum had already set out an apple for me. I munched on it slowly, watching Mum flit around the kitchen hurriedly as she prepared for the day.

She had gathered up all of her things and was about to head out the door when she paused for a moment. "Don't forget to help the maids clean the house today. They'll be over in about an hour. Oh, and don't forget that the harvest festival started two days ago, so if you have time, try to head over to the Nalleths or the Rinehilts to help them with the harvest. We have to help out where we can since its their food we'll be eating at the feast next week," she reminded me and then blew me a kiss as she headed out the door.

I sighed, finished off my apple, and headed to my room to change into my cleaning dress. After I got changed, I sat at my vanity to haphazardly pull back my hair, when I noticed the chunk of amber sitting by the mirror. I reached out to touch its warm surface, and quickly made a decision; I was going to find a spell book. So, I threw my hair into a ponytail and trotted back into the kitchen to search the extra shop inventory we had laying around. I dug through whatever I could find, but it seemed that anything that dealt with magic was absent; likely from Mum putting it in the shop to try to make up for the items bought by Bellenai. By the time I had finished going through everything, I heard a knock on the door, so I made myself a mental note to stop by the shop later. All four ladies were there outside the door as I opened it, and Lilith immediately began squawking her complaints as soon as she saw me. I sighed inwardly and moved aside to let them in, so I could get the cleaning over with as soon as possible. Thankfully, the cleaning did go quite quickly, and after only two hours, I bid the ladies farewell and retreated back to my room to get changed.

As put together as I was going to get, I grabbed my satchel and headed out the door. The village was alive with the sound of workers in their fields as I stepped outside, and I sneezed as debris from Thali's farm wafted over to me on the breeze. Given that this was likely going to happen a lot today as people harvested, I dipped back inside for a moment to get a cloth to cover my face. I managed to find a white rag to tie around my head and got right back on the road towards my mission to retrieve a spell book.

As I walked, I realized that I would likely need an excuse as to why I wanted the book if I didn't want attention for my newfound interest, so I began brainstorming. It was possible that I wouldn't need an excuse at all, and I could just slip in, grab the book, and slip out, but I figured I would rather be safe than sorry. So, I devised a plan where I would get two regular books from the shop inventory and sandwich the spell book between them. Hopefully, this would be enough of a distraction, but if that didn't work out, then I planned to tell Mum that I was borrowing it for Thali who wanted to use some magic to help speed the harvest along.

My plan laid out in my mind, I arrived at the shop, which was unsurprisingly busy. The harvest festival was always a good time of year for the shop, since many people were picking out magical items, jackets, gloves, and anything else they may need to help with their harvest. With how noisy and full the shop was, I had a much easier time grabbing a spell book from the back room than I had anticipated, and I was out the door just as quickly as I had come in. My heart raced with the thrill of success as I jogged down the road, but then I stopped for a moment to consider where I should go. My original instinct was the lake, since I would be practicing fire magic, but with how many people would be out and about today, I quickly decided against it. Instead, I opted to go to the willow, where I could hide amongst its branches and wouldn't have to worry about the enchanted tree catching fire.