When Dreams Come True

She had always been a dreamer. Her thoughts wandered to distant places she only heard stories of, to exotic beasts that were ridden by ancient heroes, and old magic.

Dreaming helped her escape her dull farm-life in the Plains. There were no heroes here, nor were there beasts or magic. Well, perhaps beasts in form of wolves. But there was nothing exotic about the place she called home. The Plains consisted of nothing but vast green fields, as far as the eye reached. The only thing that stood out was the Inacht river which was winding through the grass like a snake. But other than that there was nothing.

How often she longed to know what was hidden behind the Duvenir mountains in the far distance. People had told her a land full of ice and snow laid there, were there was never spring or summer. It was a place that only knew winter and its people were said to be as cold and harsh as their environment. One day she wanted to see this place with her very own eyes. But she was stuck here.

The carriage shook with every hole it crossed on the old dirt street they were passing. It was drawn by her families old horse which was obviously exhausted from the little work it had done today. How many winters would it last? Maybe one if they were lucky? Her father didn't have enough money to buy a new horse. It would be bad if their old one died now.

They were on their to the villages marketplace to sell wool. Her home was located in the heart of the Plains, directly on the Inacht. Fittingly her hometown was named after the river. She had always thought how creative that was, that being not at all.

You couldn't call Inacht a town, it was more of a settlement. It did have a castle though, albeit it was more of a ruin. Sitting on a small island in the middle of the river the castle had nearly burned down completely decades ago. Yet there still was someone living inside of it. A knight received this benevolent gift after his service to the crown in the last war nearly a decade ago. Together with the ruins he also owned all the land surrounding it, which included the settlement and the farm she and her father were living on.

She didn't know much about said knight since he typically kept to himself on his little island. Once she had applied to work there for him, but was turned down quite fast. There were rumors that the landowner was paranoid somebody could come to assassinate him for the gruesome acts he committed in the war. But if she learned one thing in her life, than it was to not trust rumors. Because that would mean she herself was a woman not worth to marry.

The thought made her heart ache. It was true, she was 24 winters old and yet to be married. For her father she was a walking disappointment, a sign that he failed at raising one of his two daughters right. Nobody wanted to marry her.

Although that wasn't exactly true. There were men who had courted her, but she did turn every one of them down. She didn't want to marry someone from the village and be stuck here forever. Her dream was to marry a merchant from one of the far away cities like her older sister had done and move away. Oh how much she missed her sister. But going to see her was too expensive according to her father.

All of that were nothing but dreams though. Going to see her sister, moving away from the Plains, exotic beats and heroes and magic. Nothing more but the dreams of a young women unhappy with the life the gods had chosen for her. A simple life.

As they went down the main road into the heart of Inacht she noticed the settlement seemed much more alive than usual. People were hurrying across the streets, only making way for their carriage if her father shouted at them. Something was off.

"Those damn simpletons all have a death wish today.", mumbled her father beside her. Alsor was a small, round man. Ever since her mother has passed away he had changed, grown cold towards everything, towards her. She couldn't really blame him. With his wife dead and a failure still living under his roof and eating his food the gods surely punished him. But he couldn't just cast her out. Leaving a child to fend for itself without any security was a sin, and Alsor surely wasn't a sinner. So he was stuck with her, the same way she was stuck in the Plains. Sometimes she truly hated her life.

"Look at that! So that's what caused all this ruckus.", Alsor proclaimed and gestured ahead of them. Her gaze wandered in the hinted direction and rested on what only could be soldiers. She counted maybe twenty of them, all with mighty warhorses in extravagant saddles and armor, the banner of the royal house fluttering in the wind.

"What are soldiers doing here so far away from the cities?", she asked quietly. She always was like that, rarely speaking a word and if so she'd keep her voice down. Speaking too much made her father mad.

"How am I supposed to know, Enia. Besides I don't care anyway.", her father growled back. He wasn't in a good mood today. Enia made a mental note to not speak again unless she was told to for the rest of the day. She really didn't want to anger her father. He never laid a hand on her, but his hurtful words were what she feared.

Their carriage came to a stop at the side of a small marketplace, near the soldiers who were shopping for supplies. Enia couldn't deny that they made her nervous, even though they didn't seem to mean any harm. But soldiers so close to the kingdoms border wasn't a good sign.

As her father jumped of Enia quickly followed him to the back of the carriage to unload their wares. Her eyes kept wandering off to the armored men nearby, wondering why they were here.

"Quit daydreaming and focus on your damn work, child.", scolded her father, which made Enia flinch. She nodded and hurriedly unloaded all the wool onto a small stand beside her. They would spend the day here and sell their wares. Those were her least favorite days. She hated crowded places and the marketplace was exactly that.

As soon as they were finished setting up their stand Enia went to care for the horse. She took the old animal off the carriage and hitched him on a nearby drinking trough so it could rest. While she was petting it affectionately and drifting off into daydreaming again, a unfamiliar voice interrupted her.

"You look like you can do basic work." It was a strange statement, one she hasn't heard before. Confused she turned around to see one of the soldiers. His armor was fancier than the others, so she assumed he must be higher ranked. For a moment Enia panicked a little. Was she supposed to bow? How should she answer that question? Was it even a question?

"But only the basics, she is good for nothing when it comes to anything else. Always daydreaming away.", the voice of her father answered instead of her. Enia didn't dare to flinch, too afraid to do something wrong now.

The soldier in front of her seemed to ponder for a moment before he nodded.

"You see, my men are mostly city guards. They don't know how to gut an animal, god beware how to cook. So I have been thinking about recruiting someone before we continue our journey, and your town happens to be the last one before the border. Now I understand that people are reluctant to join us, but it would be a great service to the crown.", the soldier explained while mustering Enia. She felt a cold shiver run down her spine.

"Take her." There was no hesitation in her fathers answer. It was quick and short, no questions asked. Her heart dropped and her knees grew weak. Given away, to unknown men, without a second thought. Without knowing where they went, or the reason behind it. What counted was that she was gone.

"Father, please.", she begged, but it was pointless. Her father didn't even look in her direction.

"I will give you ten silver for her service.", again the soldier, who now gave her father all of his attention. For a moment Enia thought about running while both men were distracted. But instead she was frozen in shock.

"It was a pleasure to do business with you then.", her father answered coldly. He reached out and shook the soldiers hand upon receiving the promised silver. Then he turned towards Enia, no emotion showing on his face.

"Do what they tell you to do and don't talk back. Be on your best behavior and promise to come home.", he ordered and Enia could swear that she could hear the tiniest bit of concern in those last words.

"I promise." The words left her lips in a pathetically weak way, her voice nearly cracking. She was so close to crying, but she didn't want to embarrass her father. He wanted her to come back, that's all she focused on. It showed that deep down, he still cared about her.

With that her father turned around and left her standing there with the stranger.

Enia suddenly felt alone, similar to when her sister had left back then. But now she was truly without family.

The soldier cleared his throat to get her attention. He seemed a bit bewildered by her fathers readiness to sell her off.

"You don't have to worry, we recruited a few other people too. All we expect you to do is to cook our meals and wash our clothes. We will return you home safely once we reached our goal. If you will follow me now.", he explained calmly and gave her a small smile. She could tell it was genuine.

It took Enia a moment before she could get her body to move. Her first step was shaky, but it was her first step into the unknown, so for once she didn't get mad at herself for being such a wimp.