With

  a low groan, I lowered myself into the dingy, splintered washtub.

  Normally I would not have asked for one in such a sub-par inn, but

  the thick, pale yellow dust from the road was caked onto the sweat

  from the long afternoons riding towards the next village from the

  nape of my neck down to my ankles. The lukewarm water was

  disappointing and I sorely wanted one of the near boiling baths from

  back home.

  I

  had worked closely with the demons who were tasked to make

  improvements in Rafe’s castle when Evonia and I had decided that

  the Castle Yser needed expansion and updating many decades ago. She

  had her heart set on creating a vast and beautiful garden and mine

  was on a system that would allow me to lounge in a spacious, hot bath

  whenever I felt inclined without the necessity of several servants

  tracking their dirty feet through my room and breaking the privacy I

  so greatly value.

  People

  would recoil and wrinkle their nose at demons and their realm, but it

  would be hard to deny that their feats of engineering were anything

  but remarkable and inspired. In only a few short weeks, we had laid

  out a plan for a water piping system throughout the castle that

  allowed for not only my luxurious baths on demand, but water for the

  kitchen and at strategic locations. I often wondered if such a system

  could be profitable to disclose to other royals, but ultimately I

  never entertained that avenue as I derived some pleasure in perhaps

  having the only castle in the realm with such luxury.

  Regardless

  of the lackluster temperature, the muscles in my back and thighs

  slowly began to relax

  and release their knots.

  I wished

  I could have simple

  sat and

  luxuriated, but I got the shard of crude soap left for me and began

  to scrub away as much as the filth as possible.

  It

  did not take long for the suds to change to a sickly shade of pale

  yellow.

  The

  road had been cruel to me over the past week, alternating between

  overly hot, humid days and days of torrential downpours with viscous

  lightning. I had tried to press on despite the weather, but both my

  horse and I were getting a bit too old to be running around nearly

  passing out of heat one day to being a shivering,

  drowned rat the next. I had taken refuge in the first village with a

  proper inn along

  the road.

  Though

  calling

  my current dwelling a proper inn felt like a bit of a misnomer, but

  it was better than roughing it on the road.

  It

  had become easier to pick up recruits as I swept the land closer to

  the center castle. Higher populations of commoners found themselves

  clamoring for work and food within its shadow. There had been plenty

  of people desperate to try to achieve some of the charmed life they

  could see just outside of their reach. It did not take much

  convincing to get parents to agree to allow a noble lady from a

  powerful house to give their daughters a chance beyond the struggles

  of being a commoner.

  Though

  recruits were plentiful, it was becoming more dangerous to talk to

  the families. I had not been approached by any kingdom officials yet,

  but I was certain my presence was already whispered on lips

  throughout the collections of hovels that I visited. It was to be

  expected, but I had tried to keep at least my movements somewhat

  secretive, though it was hard once I had a few girls to follow.

  Purchasing

  the cart to pull the girls had helped me transport more girls and

  quicker, but it started to turn heads with a woman of refinement

  driving a cart of children plucked from abject filth. Regrettably, I

  had started donning a more modest appearance, even though it pained

  me to be seen day in and day out as some commoner. Luckily most of

  the people I interacted with didn't think much of my refined language

  and I seemed to be so far keeping exactly who I was secret.

  Somewhat

  cleaner than when I began, I eased myself out of the tub and to my

  feet. My back had gotten somewhat better with the switch to the cart,

  but it was still hard on an old woman's body, a fact that I had just

  started allowing myself to accept. What I once could have done easily

  and with gusto just a decade ago now felt like nothing short of hard

  labor.

  I

  had just returned from a trip dropping the newest group of six girls

  at the castle Yser. Six seemed to be the magic number that allowed

  them a reasonable amount of room in the cart. The trips back and

  forth were becoming more frequent as word spread, sometimes I hardly

  needed to introduce myself before a mother in tattered clothes would

  thrust their dirt-coated daughter into my hands.

  As

  I had drawn closer to the lands next to the castle, it seemed that

  times were currently at a desperation point and girls were being

  married off quickly, sometimes in exchange for a few chickens or a

  goat. The commoners seemed to have at least some tact and wait for

  the girls to reach very young adulthood, but they had little to no

  say to whom they were being sold.

  Mothers,

  afraid their young girls would grow to inherit the same future, were

  willing to give them up for the hope of a better life. Most cried and

  embraced their daughters with quivering arms, seeming not to want to

  let go, but eventually relenting with the knowledge that their lives

  would certainly be better in my hands. Even a few fathers approached

  me and asked me to evaluate their daughters, though they kept more

  stoic and only let the sadness show in their eyes if I decided their

  daughter was worthy.

  I

  had returned on this current trip to a small hovel of a village whom

  had greeted me with open arms and given me pick of the girls when I

  had arrived the last time. Spoiled for choice, I had picked the girls

  who looked most promising to return with me first, then I promised to

  return for others. I was thrilled to be able to return and make my

  job easy, but it seemed that the weather and the village had

  conspired against me.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Not

  only was the weather absolutely dreadful the whole way back, but upon

  arrival there was no longer an anxious lot of parents waiting to hand

  over their daughters. It fact, much of the populace had taken to

  hastily retreating indoors when I rounded a corner. No one felt the

  need to inform of the change of heart either, talking to anyone in

  the village had become a monumental task, leaving me to wonder if

  they had gathered together and worked out some agreement on their own

  and I was no longer part of the agreement.

  I

  had stayed a couple days, letting my whereabouts be known for any

  sneaky mother to deliver their daughter on their own. However, at the

  end of the second day, it was obvious it was time for me to move to

  another village. I could not get any of them to explain to me what

  had changed, but it was clear that in the time between leaving and

  returning, I had become unwelcome.

  A

  sharp rap on the door as the last button on my dress had been

  fashioned startled me. With a sigh, I concentrated on transforming

  the glamour on my face and clothing. It had been the first time in a

  while I had been able to don what I perceived as my natural form, it

  irked me to have to revert to someone of lower standing. With much

  irritation, I pulled the door open ready to unleash a curt word to

  whomever dared to bother me. Instead, the words choked in my throat.

  "Hello, Mari."

  Before

  me stood the face of Evonia, though aged beyond what she would have

  allowed to be seen. Ebony hair pulled back into a stern bun and

  crow's feet in the corner of her eyes, a small scar along her left

  eyebrow, it could be no other than Aela, one of my twin nieces.

  Though her face was familiar, it was also foreign with the effects of

  aging upon her skin. The twins had been children when Rela had been

  born, making them at least forty years old, likely older. It was hard

  to recall when put on the spot.

  "Aela,"

  I replied once I had tamed my surprise, "it has been a while."

  A

  dry laugh rasped out of her lips. "This is hardly a social

  call." Her voice was cold and sharp, echoing years of training

  and obedience. "I'm sure that you're clever enough to already

  know that."

  "Indeed,"

  I answered, "I thought you and your sister had vowed never to

  see your family again."

  "It's

  true, we have a new family now."

  Aela

  reached up to her neck and wrapped her hand around the silver and

  gold sun pendant around her neck. It was a gaudy, clunky piece of

  jewelry that the Great Church handed out to members. The highest

  ranking members would have a completely gold necklace and the bottom

  rank, entirely silver. Aela's necklace chain and center of her sun

  where both gold, leaving the sun's rays silver. From what I knew of

  the Great Church's hierarchy, she was somewhere near the top of the

  pack, not in charge, but close to one day taking that position.

  "A

  family that spouts nonsense and piety," I said with a dismissive

  wave of my hand. "It's sad really, they use all those promises

  of love and family to draw in the injured and cast out of society and

  feast upon them like flies. It looks to me like you'll soon be

  gorging yourself on others’ weakness. I thought you swore you'd be

  nothing like your mother."

  I

  didn't flinch when she raised her hand and struck me across the

  cheek. I knew it was coming, it had always been her way to lash out

  with physical violence. Both her and her twin from birth had hair

  trigger tempers who resorted to violence as default. It was not the

  first time she had slapped me and I doubted it would be the last. I

  didn't flinch, looking to her with an unimpressed expression on my

  face. She wanted you to fight back, give her reason to continue the

  assault, the biggest punishment was to not let her strike sink you to

  her level.

  "Well,

  you've not changed at all," I said with a sigh, "it's good

  to see that the Church has not hollowed you out completely. Yet."

  "Don't

  you dare speak any further about what you don’t know," she

  snarled, hand still on her pendant. "I came here out of the

  goodness of my heart, to give you a warning."

  "Ah,

  there it is," I exclaimed with a sarcastic laugh, "I was

  wondering when you'd get around to spouting about 'goodness'. Such a

  good little soldier for light, you stick to the script well."

  "This

  is the last time I will ever warn you,” she growled, “stop

  manipulating good people to give up their children for whatever evil

  plan you and the new harlot have concocted." She stepped back

  from the door and gave me a cold stare. "I could have killed you

  before you even knew I was here."

  "We

  both know my power is greater than yours. First hint of your magical

  aura and I would have ripped you apart. The price you paid by turning

  your back on us," I countered with an indifferent shrug.

  A

  coy smile bloomed on Aela's lips. "So even the infamous Mari

  Yser does not knows everything. I think I'll take my leave now and

  let you mull over what information you're missing. I assure you it is

  quite a lot and quite important."

  With

  a sharp rap of her boots on the wooden floor, she rounded the corner

  and left me to ponder what wondrous thing the Great Church believed

  they had now. Surely it was some new alliance or influx of recruits,

  but still, it bothered me.

  Aela

  and Auria had always been hesitant to come to magical blows with me,

  knowing that I was more potent and powerful. If Aela was being cocky

  enough to now deny my superiority, it meant she had something up her

  sleeve. I needed to get back to the castle and my contacts to piece

  together what I had been missing thanks to my traveling. If there was

  something big brewing, I'd be sure to return to a bundle of frantic

  messages.

  Unsure

  of the veracity of the warning, I had to give up recruitment for now

  and return home. It would be useless to try to continue anyway, I was

  certain the King had been informed of what was happening or would be

  very shortly. It was in my best interests to leave as soon as

  possible. If Aela would tell him of just who I was, knights would be

  sent after me and while I felt I could still probably best them, I

  was not feeling up to testing my might.

  Hastily,

  I threw my clothing together into a bag along with the extra bread

  from tonight’s lowly tavern meal. I would not have time to stop for

  provisions, so it would have to do for the trip back to the portal

  stone. A cold finger of fear crept up my back, ignoring the thoughts

  I was repeating that the confrontation had just been smoke and

  mirrors. Something in my gut told me that this was only the beginning

  of something big. Something that I might not live to see the final

  resolution.