Escape from the Witch Hunters
Chapter 21

Ryia yawned and sat up. Today was the day that they would up and leave the Jolly’s hospitable home. Her sore throat was mostly gone, her drippy nose was gone, and for the most part felt well enough to travel.

She sniffed. “Bacon.”

Gillian rolled over and rubbed his eyes. “Did someone say bacon?”

She grinned and got out of bed. “I thought I smelled it. It must be our going away breakfast.”

She sighed wistfully. “It’s too bad we have to leave so soon.”

Gillian grunted and stood up, folding his blanket. “Yep. We’ve got to get a move on.”

He probably wants to get rid of me as soon as he can, she thought sadly. I shouldn’t be so much of a bother to him.

“I know what you’re thinking and you’re wrong.” Gillian cut in. “I just don’t want the officers catching up with us.”

Ryia looked at Gillian with wide eyes. That man reads minds.

He laughed softly at her expression and fluffed her hair on his way out of the bedroom.

He probably just said that to make you feel better, she shook her head and walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where Maria was frying the bacon.

“Where did my red dress go?” she asked Maria.

“Um.” Maria looked back at Ryia. “It’s hanging out on the line. I washed it yesterday and forgot to take it down.”

“Alright, thank you.” she smiled and turned to go out the door.

“Gillian! Go help Ryia get her dress off the line!” she yelled.

“I’m right here.” Gillian muttered from the table and got up. “You don’t need to yell.”

Maria rolled her eyes.

They both went outside to the clothing line, and Gillian took down her dress. “There you go.”

“Thank you.” she took it and went back inside the house, and into the bedroom to change.

“Is breakfast ready?” Gillian hopped up the back steps and into the kitchen where he sat down on a chair.

“Almost.” Maria mumbled as she stood over the fire.

She stood up and set the food on the table. “Now we’re ready to eat. Ryia! We’re ready to eat!”

“Gillian!” Ryia called timidly from the bedroom. “I need help.”

Gillian sat there for a moment, his eyebrow raised.

“Well don’t just sit there, go help here!” Maria kicked his shin.

He stood up opened the door to the bedroom. “You called?”

She stood in her red dress, struggling to get the laces tied.

“This seems vaguely familiar.” Gillian murmured and he tied the laces. Our wedding day if my memory is correct. Which I’m positive it is.

Ryia nodded silently, as if remembering it herself.

“There you go.” Gillian let the ends of the laces fall down dress.

She turned around and faced him. “Thank you.”

They didn’t move and Ryia looked down shyly.

He put his hand under her chin and made her look at him.

Her mismatched eyes bewitched him, making it impossible to look away. It’d be so easy just to lean down and, he stopped his train of thought, I can’t do that. I can’t take advantage of her. I can’t hurt myself again. Let her go.

He dropped his gaze and let his hand fall, their hands brushed, sending a thrill coursing through his body.

This isn’t right, he looked down dejectedly. “We should go eat.”

When he spoke, his voice cracked and he swallowed visibly before turning to go out the door back to the table.

Ryia stood there embarrassed and rather uncomfortable for a little while, somewhat disappointed how Gillian would look almost as if he thought of her as special, like Chloe, then pretend she was nothing to him. Was she anything to him?

She sighed and headed out towards the breakfast table.

“Goodbye my dear.” Maria sniffed and held Ryia in a tight embrace. “We’ll miss you.”

“Thank you so much for helping us.” she patted Maria’s back. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”

Maria let her go. “Oh, hardly! You and Gillian were doing perfectly fine without us.”

Ryia smiled and shook her head. “We both know that isn’t true.”

“Here.” Gillian shoved a small sack of something into Maria’s hands. “For all the trouble and stuff that got burned.”

“That isn’t necessary!” Maria waved her hand.

“Speak for yourself woman.” Markus said playfully and grabbed the sack of money. “Thank you very much, Gillian. It was a pleasure having two youngsters in our home once again.”

Gillian slapped Markus on the back a few times. “Thanks for having us. If the Great Father wills it, perhaps we’ll see you both again.”

Maria wiped her eyes with her hanky.

Gillian swung up on Red and helped Ryia get up in front of him. “Thanks once again!”

They waved goodbye and rode down the dirt path, and soon back into the woods.

It was going to be a very long, and very boring ride to Carenthia. It wasn’t that Ryia didn’t like being in Gillian’s company, she simply did not like sitting in the saddle all day in silence.

“Where was your mother from?” Ryia decided to break the silence.

“Rhône.” he answered.

“That’s far away, isn’t it?” she asked. “Across the Middle Sea if I’m not mistaken.”

He shrugged. “Yeah. She came to Norcliffe when she was seventeen. Or so she said. There, she met my Father and fell deeply in love. That is what she told me anyway. So she decided to stay.”

“What was her name?” Ryia searched her brain, but she was pretty sure that Gillian had never told her.

Gillian avoided looking in her eyes. “Amélie. Amélie Ryia. But she went by Ryia.”

Ryia’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh really. Very interesting.”

Gillian grunted. “It was just because you looked like her, and you needed a name, and it was the first thing that came to mind.”

“Oh.” Ryia looked at the road in front of her. “Right.”

She didn’t bother pushing more information out of him.

“I’m thinking to maybe we can stop by town tonight, get some sleep, and then leave as soon as it’s light out.” he smiled morbidly. “And we’re already married, so we don’t have to worry about being forced to marry by over eager couples.”

“Right.” Ryia sat uncomfortably on the horse.

They kept riding for another couple hours, passing tree after tree after tree, occasionally seeing deer in the distance, peering curiously at both Gillian and Ryia before taking off.

Soon the sun had disappeared and village lights could be seen through the dense mass of trees.

"Here we are." Gillian told her.

They came out of the woods and onto the road before riding into the sleepy town. As they rode, they passed a variety store, law office, a dining house, and then they came to the inn, that also happened to have a noisy bar inside.

A man was walking down the road alongside them.

"Excuse me, Sir!" Gillian called out.

The man looked at the newcomers. "Yeah?"

"Are there any other places to sleep besides," he looked at the inn and drinking station with contempt, "there?"

"Nope. That's the only inn in town." he shook his head and continued on his way.

"Thank you for your time." he said to the man as he was leaving, then turned his attention to Ryia. "So what do you say? Battle the elements? Or battle the noise, stench, and people?"

"Whatever you want to do." she answered quietly.

Gillian sighed. He knew she would say that. "You're still sick. We can't have you out in the cold. We're going in."

He hopped off Red and helped Ryia down. "I'm going to take Red to the stables, I'll be in with you in a minute."

He dragged Red with him, leaving Ryia to enter the loud and frightening place by herself.

"Alright." she walked inside of the noisy inn timidly.

As she opened the door, the noise increased, and the sound of terrible singing entered her ears.

She tried to fight her way to the front desk, but mass of sweaty bodies stood in her way.

"Excuse me." she spoke without much gusto, making it near impossible for anyone to hear her.

She got pushed against a tall body. She gave a small yelp and quickly backed away from it.

The person turned around and she saw that he had scraggly brown hair, beady eyes, a thick beard, and his breath stank of ale.

When he opened his mouth, he revealed brownish teeth, with some missing ones as well. "Well, excuse me missy. What's yer name?"

"I, uh, I have to go." Ryia quickly excused herself.

"Wait." he latched his hand on Ryia's arm. "I'm here all by myself. I been wantin' some female company. You could help me."

He intruded into her personal space, making her quite uncomfortable.

"I-I'm sorry, but I'm sure you're over fifty, and I'm not even seventeen, so if you'll excuse me." she wriggled out of his vice like grip and quickly made her way into an inconspicuous corner.

The man drunkenly stumbled after her and when he got to her he yanked her arm. "Don't run when I'm talkin' to ya, woman."

The putrid smell of body odor and ale almost made Ryia throw up all over the man's clothing.

She swallowed back a gag and whimpered. Where was Gillian? Why wasn't he here? Surely Red had been taken care of by now.

"I need to go-" she closed her eyes tightly.

"No!" the man bellowed. "You're gonna stay right here until I tell ya otherwise."

Tears flooded Ryia's eyes. Her worst nightmare about to come true. Her mother had warned her about men such as this one.

"There, there." he said in a kind tone, much different from his angry yelling a minute ago. He brushed her hair through his dirty fingers. "You don't need to cry."

"Please, just let me go." she pleaded.

"Nah. You'll like my company soon enough." he got closer to her. "Now how about a little smooch for this handsome face, huh?"

He didn't wait for permission and bent down towards her face.

Ryia wanted to scream but the man's flabby jowls covered her face before she had the chance.

Thankfully in his drunken state his aim was rather off and his soggy lips hit her nose.

Gillian looked around for Ryia. He had told her to wait inside, only now he couldn't find her.

He scanned through the crowd of drunken men, looking for a short girl with wavy light brown hair.

That's when he saw it. A fat man stood over his woman. A very fat man. And he was leaning down in Ryia's face.

Gillian hurried to the man was and as soon as he was close enough, his fist collided with the man's padded jaw.

"How dare you!" Gillian roared. He was thoroughly sick and tired of other men trying to take his wife.

The man fell down and Gillian helped him back up, only to punch him again. This time in his soft and chunky stomach.

"She is my wife and you have no right to impose on her that way!" he upper cut the man's face and the man fell backwards again.

The music stopped and the talking ceased. Everyone's attention was focused on the brawl.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know!" the man's nose was bleeding and he was whining like a sick child. "She didn't tell me she was married! How was I supposed to-"

Gillian was sick of the man's excuses. He kicked the man and dragged him out of the building and into the cold bitter air.

"If you had simply looked at her hand, you would have seen a ring. That usually means that the person wearing it is married." Gillian raged. "Now fight me like a man."

Gillian's face flashed with anger, the man's face was one of pure fear.

"It's all fair game once a girl is in there." the man ventured. "You shoudna left her if you didn't want her in the hands of another man."

"The nerve of that man." he muttered as he glared at the man.

A crowd started to form outside, everyone wanting to see what was going on. Seeing what the talk of the town would be next.

He charged the man, sending a blow to his face, then the shoulder. "This will teach you."

The man, even though he was slow and overweight, tried to fight back. He gave weak punches, unorganized and sloppy.

The man frowned. "You ain't playin' fair. It's an old man against a fit youth."

"Oh you're concerned about fair are you?" Gillian raised his eyebrows.

They circled the in the dirt ground, each of them waiting for the other to strike.

Gillian kneed the man's stomach, then kicked his shins, and banging the back of his head.

The man fell to the ground, breathing heavily. After a minute he stood back up, an evil look of contempt clouded his face.

He was still breathing heavily and he pulled a knife out of his belt.

Gillian's eyes went wide. This had escalated a little bit too much. He wasn't planning on killing the man, he had only wanted to-

The man charged Gillian, yelling a battle cry in the process.

He swiped at Gillian's stomach, missing by inches. Next he tried for Gillian's head, but Gillian ducked just in time. He felt his hair get ruffled, and his head got the tingles.

The outraged man charged Gillian again, this time getting his arm.

A warm liquid spread over Gillian's sleeve. Gillian looked and saw a stream of blood. He needed to get that fixed. And soon.

The man came at Gillian again, aiming for Gillian's heart.

Gillian ducked, but the knife still caught his temple. The warm blood cascaded down Gillian's face. The world becoming fuzzy before he completely blacked out.

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