Tiana saw lights in the distance which meant she was approaching a village. The young woman felt her money bag next to her belt and hoped for an inn. The little town seemed friendly - some children were playing in the puddles and when they saw her, they stopped and waved. Tiana smiled and waved back. There indeed was an inn - it was called "Three Pigs". The town's people joked that it was named after three fat sons of the inn keeper lady who spoiled them as much as she could. She stepped inside and a little bell announced her entrance.
"Well, hello there, how may we be of service?" the inn keeper greeted her.
Tiana flexed her shoulders and neck a bit before answering with a question: "Do you have a room available for the night?"
"Of course" the inn keeper answered "But you'll have to pay now."
Tiana took out her money bag. "Not a problem." and paid the lady for the room and some food as well.
The inn keeper counted the money twice before talking again. "Name's Myrtle, like the flower, if you'll be needing something, I'm here all night. Now let me show you your room."
They went upstairs and Myrtle showed her the room. Tiana thanked her and the inn keeper went to tell the cook to prepare dinner. "What a weird young person" Myrtle thought to herself while going down the stairs. She didn't ask for the name as it was not necessary (if you had money, you were welcome in Three Pigs no matter who you were). She thought that the guest looked like a young man, but the voice... it was tired for sure, but it sounded like a girl's. "But what would a girl be doing all alone at this time of night?" she thought to herself and stopped wondering about it.
Her trip was soon interrupted as a man ran into the inn and asked for a doctor. "Quickly! There is a man bleeding!" Two more men carried in the wounded person. He was missing an arm and was all covered in blood. They laid him on the table and the town's doctor who was finishing his second whiskey that night ran to him. He ripped his shirt and some more blood burst out like a small fountain.
"I need water!" he yelled to Myrtle. "Quickly!" he added as she ran to the kitchen to grab a bucket of water. But it did no good, as the man regained consciousness for one second and screamed "Witch!" and fell back again. The doctor checked the pulse, but it was gone. The inn keeper returned with the bucket of water but now it was just used to clean up the blood on the floors.
After some time she brought a meal up to Tania's door. She tried opening it, but surprisingly it was locked. Not many people who stayed at the inn locked their doors. She knocked and heard a grumpy "What?" from the other side.
"It's Myrtle, brought your meal!" she said. She heard boots stomping through the room and the door being unlocked. Tiana opened the door and Myrtle brought the food and drink and put it on the table. A sword, lying on the bed attracted her attention and she remembered the poor man who died.
"Thank you." said Tiana in a ruffed voice and Myrtle again thought she might be a girl. She decided to strike up a conversation.
"By the way, I didn't quite get your name."
"I didn't tell it."
"Well, might I know it?"
Tiana stood silent for a few seconds. She decided to tell the truth. "Tiana."
"Tiana? But that's a girl's name!"
"Yes, well I am a girl. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to eat now." she motioned towards the door.
"You know they brought in a man with his hand cut off." she saw Tiana stiffen up.
"Oh, really? What happened to him?" she asked trying to seem careless but she couldn't as the memories came flooding to her head again. Four men about to tie her up, approaching her... it was a good thing she woke up as she would have been a goner. One of them was already unbuckling his pants as he was approaching her. She cut off his hand first. Others attacked. She killed all of them. Well apparently, not all of them.
"He died downstairs on the table. He said a witch did it. Didn't you hear the screams?" Myrtle asked.
"I did, but I figured it was none of my business. Now if you excuse me, I'd like to eat my meal." Tiana said and shut the door in Myrtle's dace. She heard the lock click again.
"Hm, a witch..." Tiana thought to herself. "Well, if you could call my sword a wand, then I guess indeed I am a witch." She smiled and sat down to eat.
Myrtle went downstairs and went to the table which had the doctor and the men who brought in the poor guy in around.
"You're not going to believe it." she said. "There is a girl with a sword upstairs, she paid for the night and she arrived shortly before you did."
"What's a girl doing with a sword?" one of the men asked.
"Well maybe she's the witch." the doctor said.
One of the men put down his cup, stood up and pointed to the stairs: "Well, let's go and ask her then!"
They ran upstairs and knocked on the door. Tiana again asked "What?" before opening it.
"We'd like to ask a few questions if you may." the doctor said and one of the men punched his arm.
"What are you doing?" he whispered. "She might be a witch."
"Well, you can ask them through the door." Tiana's voice could be heard.
"We'd like to see the person we're talking to."
Tiana went up and opened the door. The men came into her room. "Well?" she asked. "What would you like to talk about?"
"Where does a girl get a sword?" one of the men asked.
"I'm just carrying it for my husband she answered, he's waiting for me in the next city." she lied hoping they would get off her back.
"Oh, really?" the man who brought in the wounded person said. "Where are you traveling from?"
"Aerdath."
"So you had to take the path through the woods?"
"Yes."
"Did you happen to see a murder happening there?"
"A murder? No, I didn't see anything of that sort." Tiana kept a straight face.
"I think you're lying."
"I am not."
The men stared at her. "We will have the priests figure you out." one of them said before leaving the room.
"I'll be right here." Tiana sat back and continued eating.
The men went downstairs and started plotting against the girl. They decided that the best time to strike is early morning as that would be the time when witch's powers would be the weakest.
In the mean time Tiana locked her door and decided to sleep before she would have to run again.
Early morning came and people gathered next to the inn as rumour spread there was a witch inside. A priest showed up as well, ready to condemn the sinner and the men ran upstairs to get the girl. They kicked the door, but it didn't give in. Tiana woke up from the kicking and quickly gathered her things. As soon as she was done, the door gave in and the men flooded the room, trying to grab her. Tiana took out her sword and yelled "Stand back!" to which men laughed and continue approaching her. One of them grabbed her shoulder and he soon lost the whole arm. He started screaming and the whole bunch stood speechless for a second before beginning to attack her even more vigorously.
Tiana did circles with her sword and jumped from one foot to the other. Her craft was amazing and if it was a fight for show, many would have stood in awe. But they were here not to admire, but to capture her and give her to the priest who would perform as the court of God. Blood was flowing and Tiana was slowly approaching the window. Men laughed as they thought that they have cornered her. Tiana did a few half circles with her sword to distract people by wounding them and before anyone noticed she put the sword behind her and climbed through the window on top of the roof. The people watching from the ground started shouting and whispering and throwing whatever they could at her, but it was no use. Tiana was running through rooftops as if she was flying and that prompted many people start chanting "Witch! Witch! Witch!". She ran out from the village into the woods, hearing that men were going after her with horses. She ran into the woods and instead taking the path, she climbed the closest tree and after jumping a few branches to climb the trees deeper in the forest decided to stop and wait for her followers to retreat.
She heard the panting of horses and men shouting but they couldn't find her. She was close to the top of the trees, so she looked at the horizon. The rain was traveling South and she could see a rainbow in the sky. She put her head down again.
"She probably made a deal with the devil and went underground!" one of the men shouted.
"Lousy witch. Well at least she'll never go to Heaven."
"Yeah, let's go back. She's been lucky this time."
She heard the horses go back and she laughed to herself. She decided to continue going through the trees and not the path for a while, so that nobody would see her. She still had some money, but it didn't seem it would rain soon, so that meant she could stay off villages for a while. That was a good thing. Tiana didn't like explaining herself, why she traveled and lived like that. It wasn't the first time she was called witch as well. But these little incidents amused her as well sometimes.
"Sure..." she thought while climbing down the tree and stepping on the path. "A young woman in control of her life must surely be a witch." Tiana smiled and started whistling.
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