17 Chapter 17: Nothing to do with you

You could read that?!' Emilya asked, looking shocked out of her wits.

Eve nodded. The question was not surprising. She had heard it from a few other people before as well, all wondering how a peasant like her could do that. But she didn't want to share the story with the woman now. What she wanted to know was more urgent.

'Yes. I can read and write quite fine.' She said, waving her hand dismissively as she turned towards the path to which he disappeared. 'But anyway I was wondering who that man was who just-'

Eve opened her eyes. Who was she looking for when she knew no one outside the village? She wondered, her brows knitting together in thought. The conversation kept flowing steadily as she once again started walking along the forest path.

'Impossible!' Emilya's shrill voice pierced through her mind, sending a wave of shiver through her spine.

'E-excuse me?' Eve asked, taking a step back in caution.

The air around her crackled with static as the woman raised her hand. Her heart thumped against her chest as the memory triggered the fear in her once again. And then everything went blank, except the feel of the forest floor beneath her bare feet and the sounds of the chirping birds perched in branches high above her reach.

Eve quickly drew her hands around her frame, cursing under her breath. It made no sense. Had she really lost her mind like the villagers liked to say?

"Stop thinking too much," Eve murmured, shaking her head, trying to suppress the uneasiness teasing the tendrils of her mind.

It didn't take her long before she found her way out of the forest. Eve stretched, finally letting out a sigh of relief as the narrow path merged into a wider road. Shaking her mind off of all things unnatural, she turned left, following the familiar route out the village she had followed only the previous night.

"That's it, Eve. keep walking forward." Eve said, forcing a smile on her face. "You have better things to worry about. Whoever those people are, has long left you behind for the good. They have nothing to do with you."

The moment the words were out of her mouth, she found herself at a crossroad. She took a deep breath as she stared at the place where the road diverged into two. She knew that she had to take the same road as yesterday, no matter what. Compared to the other one, this one looked much less traveled. It would be a safer option, just in case if someone from the village came looking for her.

And with that in her mind, Eve took the road to her right. It didn't take her long before she reached the familiar place. The sight before her took her by surprise. In the place of the bustling lodge that she had chanced upon yesterday was a rundown building, its porch accumulated with decades of layered dust and its only entryway filled with cobwebs.

It looked much smaller than she remembered. The windows were broken and the heavy door that she was sure she had pushed open only yesterday night was nowhere in sight. The building looked abandoned and that too for a couple of years at least. She was now sure that she had completely gone insane.

Eve looked down at her clothes. She rubbed her pale hand on the soft material of her skirt. How then could this be explained? She wondered, an eerie feeling settling over her heart. And that was when she noticed it. The once muddy road was filled with hoof prints of horses. She knelt on the ground, reaching her hand out to feel the dent.

"Warhorses." She whispered, her brows creasing in confusion.

She quickly stood up, rushing to the side of the abandoned building with much determination. She was quick to spot four holes where once the nails of the makeshift tent had been. Relief flooded her heart. Inside, there were quite a few hoof prints, similar to the ones on the road.

"Well then, it seems like I've not completely gone mad," Eve murmured, walking slowly back to the front side of the building. The sound of the soldiers' laughter drifted into her memory, along with the way they stared at her as she stepped into the place. She narrowed her eyes at the dust-covered stairs in front of her. "But then, how does it explain this?" She asked herself, crossing her hands over her chest.

Unable to make sense of the situation, she found herself searching her memories once again. This time, a pair of eyes surfaced in the back of her mind, burning gold as a pale face grew around it, slowly but steadily. She remembered who she was looking for at the lodge.

That man- his eyes, it looked all too familiar. It was peculiarly gold- a color that she had never seen on anyone else. It couldn't simply be a coincidence, could it? She wondered, snippets of her fantastical dream playing in her mind. Eve shook her head.

Neither the dream nor her suspicions made sense, much like her hazy memories of the previous night. The wolf that she had met twelve years ago was a female. She had even named it Blanchette. But the image was now stuck in her mind- a wolf morphing into a human figure.

"Hayyah!"

The sound startled her. Eve barely had the time to step aside when a carriage sped past her. She raised her brows, looking at the retreating box in confusion. The coach looked familiar. But where had she seen it? She wondered. The sound of running horses faded, only to be replaced by another pair. She recognized the next carriage as it sped past her.

Grace Tarleton's head was peeking out the coach's window as she looked behind her anxiously, her usually well-kept hair bellowing wildly in the wind. She caught a glimpse of her tear-stained cheeks before the carriage vanished down the road. A long howl rang through the forest as Eve looked back towards her village in horror.