Ebony

It wasn’t long after until Ebony awoke. At first she didn’t know what was going on or where she was. But moments later it all came flooding back to her and she realized the danger that she was in. She took in her surroundings and saw the noble’s back to her, kneeling on the ground before the bloody corpse of her mother.

Now would be a good time to escape, Ebony thought.

She slowly got up off the ground and hastily yet quietly disappeared between some buildings. The problem now was where she could go to hide and avoid the noble. She considered the monastery but thought against it. The noble would head back there eventually. The tavern was out of the question too. Before Ebony could think of any other places to hide a voice came from behind her.

“You!” the noble cried.

Ebony turned and fled. She didn’t know where she was going and frankly she didn’t care, she just wanted to escape the noble before he killed her as well. She weaved in between several houses to lose him. Soon she was passing the monastery. She wanted so badly to hide in there but knew it was no use. No one would protect a gypsy, even from a drunk and murderous noble.

Eventually Ebony came to the edge of the town. Without stopping or considering where she was going she ran straight into the woods. She kept going until she no longer heard anything except her own footsteps running through the brush. She slowed down and stopped, greatly out of breath. For all Ebony knew the noble had stopped a while back but she didn’t care, as long as she was as far away from him as possible.

It was then that Ebony became conscious of her situation. She was alone in the dark woods outside of town and it was cold. Really cold. This is bad, she thought, this is really bad. She had slept outside before, but only in the summer and with her mother. And they had been fortunate enough to avoid fugitives.

The thought of her mother caused tears to sting Ebony’s eyes. My mother’s dead. It really hit Ebony then and there and she collapsed on the cold ground crying. She was alone in the world and shunned by everyone she met. I’m going to die.

Ebony wanted more than anything to be able to kill the noble for revenge, but she feared that she would die first either out of starvation or he’d kill her.

What Ebony did know, however, was that she could not go back to the village, that much was certain. The noble would find her and hunt her down. But as of right now there was nothing that she could really do. It was night time and it was dark out. Even the moon wasn’t lighting the pathway tonight.

Ebony wrapped her flimsy shawl around herself as she curled up in a ball on the forest floor. She didn’t care if she got leaves or dirt in her hair; she just wanted to be warm. She eventually cried herself to sleep.