Breaking a tale

Luna - A way to get home

I couldn't believe that I had told them about the curse. My hands felt really cold now without the gloves on and I was scared about what strangers would do when they saw my arm but to be honest the gloves weren't any use anymore now that they were burning in the fire. I was sitting behind Dawn on her horse and we were riding into the mountains. Lantern had found his way onto my lap and had curled up to go to sleep, so I was now trying to balance not only myself on the back of a horse but also a sleeping cat. The forest was changing the higher we rode. The trees around us were getting thinner and the dirt path was becoming rockier until we were riding up the mountainside. It was incredible up in the mountains and we were so high up you could see the whole kingdom, it really put the whole situation into perspective as I could see exactly how far we had travelled since we have gotten here.

It was slow going as the horses could not run up the mountainside but after a day of riding, we were quite far up. We didn't see any villages or even any other people for most of the day until it was nearly dark. We didn't have any light sources with us, so we ended us stopping for the night next to a small cottage. At first, we thought it was abandoned but as it became dark we realised that someone was staying there as there was a small light coming from the window, but by that point, we couldn't move as it was too dark to travel. We were about to settle down from the night when an old woman came out of the cottage and walked towards us, she was quite short and shuffled along with a wooden cane. As she approached I moved my cursed arm behind my back, not wanting it to be part of my first impression. Biron and Dawn, noticed her while they were tying up the horses and stopped what they were doing, turning to watch the old woman walking towards us. She walked straight up to us before pointing her cane at each of us in turn before she spoke.

"Children, why are you outside?" she asked, her voice hoarse and raspy "Come, come inside, I shall keep you children warm tonight"

Dawn and Biron thanked the woman and went inside with her while I stayed out to finish tying up the horses and supervised Lantern and Squeak, as of course, they couldn't go in with the others. After I had finished, I hesitated. I could hear laughter coming from the cottage and I wanted to go and join the others inside but I was scared that something would happen to us. After Theodore's cottage in the woods, I didn't really trust people who lived in such solitary areas anymore, I knew I was probably being judgemental and being quite mean to the old lady but I just didn't trust her. Eventually, I built up the courage and went into the cottage but only after I had spent a good thirty minutes hyping myself up.

The inside of the cottage surprised me. Even though it was incredibly cold outside the cottage was so warm that after a few minutes I felt myself beginning to sweat. The house was also covered in gemstones and precious metals. Every surface was covered in various gems and even the walls had glittering objects attached to them. Dawn, Biron and the old woman were sitting in the living room around a roaring fire. It looked safe enough so I sat down on a sofa next to Dawn and relaxed slightly. The woman seemed nice and even provided us with a nice warm meal for dinner. While she was walking into the living room with the plates she overheard us talking about finding a way out of the tale, we had all agreed that the quicker we got out the safer we would be.

"I know a way out of the tale," she said, a glimmer in her eye. "I could give it to you for a price"

Everyone stopped talking and went silent, she had found the perfect way to catch our attention.

"Could you please tell us!" Dawn asked, almost bouncing with excitement "We would do anything to get home.

The woman chuckled slightly and I pursed my lips, gripping the hilt of my sword I knew this was definitely a trick. There was no way she would give the information to us without us paying greatly but I didn't say anything, looking anxiously between the woman and Dawn waiting to see how this was going to play out, the woman was smiling gleefully as she began to speak.