Day 12 of the Fourth Month, Year 1016, afternoon

Nighweald Village, Goldburg Province

THE FIRST village that they found wasn’t very far from the woods. To reach it, they only had to walk a few hundred steps from the spot Windrunner threw them off at.

“This is Nighweald village,” he explained, while she was observing the trade of meats that were going on. The snow was still falling lightly, but no one seemed to be bothered by that. “It’s a hunter’s village. I rarely went here, usually, because I always went straight to the east, to the villages near Grizzle.” Now they couldn’t do that because the horse was mysteriously injured.

“Maybe we can buy a horse,” she suggested.

“Perhaps. I’ll see if anyone is selling. Do you have any money?”

Victoria was about to nod when she realized she was robbed bare by her kidnappers last night. “No,” she sighed while shaking her head. “My kidnappers took it all.”

“Ah, yes.” He looked over her once. “I almost forgot about that. We probably need to find you some new clothes. You look quite… awful.”

Ah, right. Victoria looked down at her dirtied clothes. Night of running around in the woods did not agree with her, and also, she started to feel just a tiny bit chilly. “I suppose that’s for the best,” she said. “Do you have any money that I can borrow? I promise I’ll return it.”

In later days, when he figured out who she was, he found this particular memory quite funny. The Crown Princess of the kingdom, borrowing his money and assured him that it would be returned?

But now, he only thought of her as a pitiful girl who got kidnapped. “Don’t worry about that,” he reached for his pocket. “Here. Go find yourself some clean clothes, I'll take care of the horse.” A few silver coins were put to her hands.

Victoria looked at the coins and was about to say thank you, but Dev already went off.

Oh well. She walked the other way, tried to find some sort of a tailor’s shop, but the village was quite small that it was mostly consisted of houses and farms. Victoria was fascinated. She spent most of her life in the capital, where it was bustling with business, and occasionally to the capital of other provinces when duties called. Maybe also snuck out once or twice to the towns around Naveland with her friends, but never as far as the villages in the countryside. Well, perhaps she had been brought around the kingdom by her father when she was a child, but she could barely remember that.

As far as she could see, there were only people selling some daily necessities. There were no one selling clothes, and after some thought, she understood. Here in the village, most people make their own clothes. Who would buy them?

She finally walked far enough to arrive at the center of the village, consisted of a huge open gazebo with some sort of garden around it – it wasn’t really that far, considering it was just a small village. The lack of people there made her frown.

There were only a few old women sitting in the middle of the gazebo. They all looked towards her when she came near. The flash of hostility in their eyes startled her.

“An outsider,” one of the old women, the one with some kind of burn on the side of her face, said to the others. “Not good.”

The others frowned. “It’s right,” another said. “What do you want, outsider?”

“Uh, I wanted to ask if you had any sort of clothing I can buy,” she said, awkwardly. Their rejection was so apparent as they didn’t bother to cover it.

They all looked at her from top to bottom, and she saw one of the women shook her head. The others looked hesitant for a moment. “No,” the old woman with a burn on her face said. “Now go.” The woman shook her head in distaste. Apparently, Victoria looked that bad.

Victoria bit her lip, wanted to argue, but the look of fright flashing between their eyes stopped her. Before she could go, though, another woman suddenly said, “Maybe we can help her. The poor thing looks horrible.”

With hopeful eyes, Victoria looked at them.

“No,” the old woman said sternly. “If she wanted clothes, she could find it in the nearest town.”

Victoria’s hope dimmed down. “Very well, thank you for your help,” she said, before turning around to leave.

While walking away, Victoria wondered why the people here were so hostile. She’d always thought the people in simple villages were more peaceful, simply because where they lived was far from the bustling cities. Perhaps it was a bit of a naïve thought, of a princess who hadn’t gone anywhere much.

She decided to just find Dev and head into the nearest town, as the women advised. Why would she linger in an unfriendly village?

She walked back to the little market they were before, but Dev was nowhere to be found. Victoria traced his steps before to the biggest house in the village, with the stables in its yard. She found him rather quickly, while he was talking to a man in front of said house.

“I’m not selling,” The man shook his head. He was a strange-looking man with an even odder-shaped head. Victoria had a discourteous thought that he looked like a misshapen egg, but she quickly shooed that away. As a Princess, she couldn’t think like that of her subject.

“Please, sir. I really need to get to the city as soon as possible,” Dev begged.

“You could wait for the hackney,” the weird-looking man suggested. “It comes once a week and it will arrive tomorrow.”

“I’m truly in a hurry, sir.” Dev sighed. When she walked closer, he looked back with sparkling eyes. Uh-oh. “Please, my lady and I are needed in Dustor.” Victoria was taken aback for a moment before remembering that she did say she was undercover as a lady. Very well.

The man looked at them silently for a second. And then he considered her dirty clothes. “A lady?”

“She had been through so much,” Dev sighed heavily. “My name is Dev and this is Lady Victa. My lady was kicked out of the house by her brother in Savire, and we had gone through a long way until here. Unfortunately, the horse was injured suddenly. We needed to get to Dustor city, to the lady’s uncle. He is very powerful and will be able to help.”

Victoria almost raised her eyebrow in surprise of the elaborate story he spouted. Perhaps it came from his hobby of reading novels—truly, he was a natural at weaving tales.

The man frowned now. “I’m sorry, my lady. I am called Zindo, and I am the village head here.” He nodded at her, of which she nodded back. “Alright, come in,” he said. “We’ll see if we can get an agreement of the price of my horse.”

Dev nodded and followed the man while talking to him. Before Victoria could follow them in, though, suddenly a black-haired young girl pulled on her hand. “Don’t go in there,” she said with a low voice. “My sister said he’s a dangerous man.”

Clearly, Victoria was startled by the kid's words. She couldn’t be older than eleven or twelve Winters, perhaps. Alarm rang in her head. “Thank you,” she said, smiling. She was inclined to believe her when she saw those big blue eyes. But if this man was truly dangerous, then she couldn’t put the kid in danger. “Where can I find clothes?”

The kid was visibly confused, but when Victoria was about to explain, an older girl that looked similar to the kid came near. “Nieve, I told you not to run around,” the older girl scolded. Then she turned to Victoria. “I have some spare clothes,” she said, clearly having overheard them. “You should fit them.” Must be the sister, Victoria guessed.

The girl looked like she was about Victoria’s age. Victoria smiled thankfully. “Yes, as you can see, I do need some clean clothes.” She tried to not look back in worry. Dev was a Major in the military, he could handle himself, she thought. They just met, but she wasn’t as heartless as to abandon him to his own device. She would come back, after wearing some clean clothes, of course.

The two sisters brought her to a small house, not far from the big house. The older one ushered her in quickly. Their house was a cozy wooden building, almost similar to the woods of Dev’s cottage. The material probably came from the same nearby woods.

Victoria sat down on one of the chairs when the older girl gestured her to. “You shouldn’t be talking to Mister Zindo,” she said quietly while putting a cup of water in front of her.

Victoria nodded. “Yes, your little sister said as much,” she smiled to the younger kid. “Nieve, wasn’t it?”

The kid nodded shyly.

“Right, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Ellein,” the older one said. “And you are…?”

“My name is Victa,” the princess replied, obviously enjoying her new name

“I heard earlier… you said you are a lady to Mister Zindo,” Nieve suddenly said.

Ah. “You’ve been eavesdropping?” Ellein frowned. “Nieve, I told you to not get close to there—"

“I have to help the lady,” Nieve said, stubbornly.

“I'm going to get the clothes,” Ellein sighed and walked away from the room. “Pardon me, my lady.”

Nieve looked at her leaving sister, biting her lower lips, but not wanting to call her. Instead, she looked at Victoria seriously. “The village head is a bad man,” she said. “My sister doesn’t like it whenever I try to tell visitors that.”

Victoria could understand the older sister’s point of view. “Doing so put you at risk, Nieve,” she replied softly. She didn’t know what kind of dangerous the man was, but she needed to know. “Why is he dangerous?”

“Most visitors that came to his house… disappeared afterwards,” Nieve said with low, soft voice. “We… never saw them come out from his house. I’m worried… your friend…”

Victoria widened her eyes. That was a bad thing indeed. But she needed to find out more before acting. “How long has it been going on? No one said anything?” Disappearances like that, how was it not reported? She found that very odd.

“Since he came, a year ago. Everyone that tried to go out of the village to report it would be found dead the next day, or disappeared,” Nieve whispered. “Over time, no one would say anything anymore…”

Victoria frowned. “If he is so dangerous, why are you still living here?”

Ellein came from the other room with some clothes on her hands. “Anyone that knows, that try to leave, would also be killed,” she murmured. “No one knows how he knows everything. Even those that sneaked out would also be found dead the next day. Which was why you need to leave here as soon as possible. I’ll tell your friend to come after you if he comes out alive.” Ellein shoved the clothes to her hands.

Victoria got dressed as quickly as possible, then she walked out calmly from the tiny house. “Thank you for the clothes,” she said, smiling towards Ellein and Nieve. “Here is a little something.” She forced a few silver coins to their hands before walking away calmly.

But deep down, her heart beat fast. There was no way Victoria would leave a companion to their deaths, even though said companion was a stranger she accidentally met. No matter. She wouldn’t feel settled if she just left.

So, she walked back to the big house, through its fence, and arrived at the front door. It was open. Victoria knocked the door.

Slowly she pushed it open. In there, Dev was talking with the strange man, Zindo. After hearing what she heard from Nieve, her strange thoughts didn’t seem all that discourteous anymore. “Please, sir, I don’t have that much money,” Dev frowned.

“Well, it’s that or no deal.” Mr. Zindo sat back, staring. Both of them then looked towards her when they heard the door opened. “Ah, my lady, I began to think you disappeared.”

“Someone offered me some clothes,” she gestured to the tunic she wore. “Very kind of them.” She sat next to Dev, trying to act as if nothing was amiss. She was quite good at acting—after all, she needed that skill to escape the pressuring atmosphere of the palace. “I cannot afford much things anymore,” she said after a sigh.

Dev nodded along. “Yes, that is true. Mister, please, can we have it cheaper?”

Mr. Zindo considered. “Oh, very well,” he sighed heavily. “I do have a horse of less quality that I could sell cheaper.”

“Can it hold two people, at least?” Dev asked.

“It can,” Mr. Zindo nodded. “Come along, I’ll let you see for yourself. The thing is kept in my backyard.” He stood up and started walking even further in his house.

Victoria hesitated for a second, but Dev was already following the sketchy guy. She bit her lower lip, but followed along, cursing herself while doing so. She had no weapon at hand, except for the dagger she stole from the dead spy earlier. Involuntarily, her hand went to where she kept it.

The backyard that Mr. Zindo talked about did look like a normal backyard, with another stable on the corner of it. A brown horse was inside, but it looked quite normal, too. Maybe Nieve was mistaken…?

But when she turned around, she found that they were surrounded by five strong, muscular men. They all had a solemnly serious expression on their faces, ready to attack.

“Oh, Goddess,” she muttered.

Mr. Zindo smiled widely. “Well, why don’t we talk?” He looked at her. “Who is your uncle, Lady?”

She frowned. “Are you planning to demand a ransom?”

Mr. Zindo laughed. “Perhaps. That is a great idea.” He looked to the muscular men around him and nodded.

They all charged at Dev and her at the same time.

Victoria whipped out her dagger and started slashing. She preferred bows to swords, and swords to daggers, but anything would do at time like this. Three of them were going for Dev, and two towards her. She estimated she would’ve been able to handle one, but two big men?

She tried to slash one, but the other held her left arm tight, and her leg tried to kick him. With the dagger, she stabbed the other one and hit his side. She cursed inwardly. To fight against two muscular men, she just wasn’t strong enough.

She was agile enough, thankfully. Both men were stabbed with her dagger again—one on the shoulder, the other almost on his chest. That one groaned and stepped back, faltering. The other narrowed his eyebrows, charged at her again. She was ready to kick him, but he caught her legs.

Gritting her teeth, trying to stab the guy again. Unfortunately, she didn’t realize that Zindo had sneaked up on her and hit her head heavily.

It was dark immediately. []