Ashwyneth

There is a glade in the woods where I used to play as a child. Up in the hills behind Aldburg, where I was told never to venture. On the other side of walls that I should never have been able to climb.

Ash had been frequently visiting Mrs. Dorabel Baker ever since dear Owena's death. Though she was unable to do so much recently, as the colder weather brought on a larger amount of illness and injury, causing her to be quite busy. She knew Mrs.

“You've got a clean slate. Don't try to redraw the pictures that were there before. Use it to start a new masterpiece.”

Rough hands clamped on both arms, dragging her toward the door of her infirmary. She struggled violently, but she had already let them get too close. She should have stopped them before they were close enough to get to her. The two men shoved the door open, throwing her to the floor, the younger one sneering down at her, clearly feeling tough for being able to throw a small woman to the ground. The sense of the deep danger she was in shuddered through her body.

It was one of the very rare times where nobody was about to fuss over Ash. She was finally alone in her infirmary. She took her crutches and hopped outside, to the edge of the small pond in her back yard. She carefully lowered herself to the ground and set the crutches aside, then took her necklace from her neck carefully. She held it in both hands, cradling it lovingly. She remembered when he had given it to her.

For two months, I have lain on a bed. My sister has bathed me, changed me and my bedlinens, fed me and kept me hydrated.

Two months after I took an arrow for a girl I can’t remember, from a man I’d rather not.