A purple jet of light knocked her down. The lantern also fell and cracked into flames beside her. But she was unable to see things unfolding around her because of the purple colour which was not leaving her eyes.

During the purple blindness, she failed to realize she had gone deaf too.

Her vision began improving few seconds later. Still the shock was creating confusion to comprehend what she was seeing. Her hearing started to recover at the last. To her surprise, she regained it before the haziness faded from her sight.

"Rikilda!" she heard her name.

Gisella pulled her stunned daughter by her arms and wrapped her around her arms, "I didn’t know it was you."

"Mother," Rikilda gave her a light shove, "what were you doing here?"

"Nothing."

"Are you abandoning us?"

"No, my dear." Tears leaked from the corner of her eyes.

"If you are thinking of leaving the house then take me with you as well." Rikilda said, "Father is always vague on why we should not leave the house."

"Our ancestors were free to roam. The truth is, he doesn’t want us to join another clan." Rikilda wiped the teardrop, "He fears we will leave him so he creates scary lies to confine us."

"Mother, I also want to be a mage. Girls in eighteen of highest blood should be strong enough to move mountains. But look at me!"

"When we leave the house, I will send you to Metal Mage for learning sorcery." Gisella hugged her.

"Why don’t we leave right now?" Rikilda didn’t resist this time.

"Stop uttering nonsense." Gisella broke the hug, "My God. You ruined your dress." She looked towards her feet.

"I don’t care what father plans for me. I only care about freedom just like you."

The mother didn't have anything to say against it. She kept silent and hugged her tighter, somewhat in acceptance. Gisella melted down more and couldn't keep our eyes open.

"God! Fire!" she squeaked and made her open her eyes in the process. She stomped the spreading fire in horror.

No matter how much disagreement she had with Nortze, she couldn't risk giving away their whereabouts.

"Put it off. Help me out!" she call her daughter and both begin to extinguish the fire.

Gisella scraped the mud, getting a cut in hand while doing so. When she got a handful of moist soil then she threw it on fire.

In the same time Gisella reckoned her foot was doing fine to kill the fire. The drill continued from there till flames begin losing their heat.

A throw of soil later the fire was out. Understood near the smoking spot where hours Rikilda clapped to dust off mud from her palms.

She didn't find it wise to show the cut to her overly emotional mother. But she couldn't stop herself from getting disgusted from getting in her hands.

It was not different than manure to her. Another sniff made it smell like something else.

"Let's go." Gisella said after ensuring there were no bits of fire around, "I don't want to make your father angry over you-"

Gisella paused. Rikilda saw her expanding eyes even in the absence of lantern. She gulped her question to her dry throat after sensing tramps near to them.

Rikilda sweated berserk when the steps game closer to where they were. Still they couldn't guess the sound because it seemed it was coming from every direction.

The confusion showed a peculiar effect on Rikilda.

Foam leaked through her lips and her muscles loosened all of a sudden.

"Rikilda!" she caught her daughter before she could take a nasty fall. From trying to defend themselves from the danger, her attention shifted towards the well-being of Rikilda.

Gisella put her head on floor in a soft way while tramps of running had almost made to there.

During Rikilda's seizure Gisella wasn't aware of how close the person had come. She didn't care till the moment she sensed Rikilda's breathing.

It meant she had someone to live for.

She loosened her clench and drew an imaginary circle around them. When she was done, a purple cage of light surrounded them.

Through the bar she saw Nortze gazing at them. Nortze put his sword back on his waist. When he raised his head then Gisella noticed his bloodshot eyes. Once his eyes fell on his passed out daughter, he burst into tears.

Seeing him coming near, Gisella removed the bars then got a clear look at husband's cheek wet in tears. He knelt and sobbed, stroking Rikilda's hair.

Rikilda regained consciousness soon after. She didn't prefer to keep her head in Gisella's lap so she quickly got up on her knees. Nortze's finger, tangled on her hair, give her head a sudden jolt.

Nortze hugged both of them at once and didn't let them go.

"I will tell you everything. Please don't go." sobbed Nortze, " I am sorry."