Chapter # 02: The Horse Problem

She had just arrived at the main stable to perform her daily duties. Although the villagers never wanted her to clean the stable and look after their horses, her excellent work convinced them to allow her to look after it. The days never went well for her, but that day was terrible.

"Where are our horses?" The crowd inside the stable was shouting.

"Today was going to be my son's first ride!" Another man said, "Who is responsible for this?"

"You don't have to worry about this," said Martin, the stable manager. "We have asked the king to investigate all about this. He'll be coming in any second." Martin was trying to calm down the people.

"Don't you think that your daughter will be in danger when the king arrives?" An old, short man appeared out of the crowd and stepped forward.

"Tom?" Said another man standing by.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to call her 'your daughter.'" The crowd laughed all at once. The girl went to Martin and hid behind her legs.

"Oh, yeah. Then laugh as much as you want." Martin replied boldly. "She is indeed as if my own daughter." The crowd began whispering.

"You can try to defend her, Martin." Tom said cruelly. "But you won't be able to when the king sentences her to the dungeons."

"Really? May I then ask what exactly is her fault?" Martin questioned back. He was trying to bring the girl's fate into safety.

"I don't really need me to justify this. All the people of Vandishers are here to witness what she might have done," said Tom while bowing slightly.

"She is the only person who is always responsible for incidents at this stable," said one man speaking from the crowd.

"She works at the stable. She must know what happened to the horses," another man said.

"Yeah. Why don't you ask her, Martin?" Tom questioned him, this time, looking at the girl.

"I..."

"Silence! The king has come." Then, the crowd split into halves and made a path between them to allow the king to reach the stable manager. The girl tried to look at the person hiding in the shade coming under the roof. King Elmund was a tall man with an eye patch around his head and a long stick in his hand. He was not fat like the others in front of him, yet he looked super strong. A wicked smile appeared on his face as he saw the girl. His only brown eye was popping at her.

"My very respectful king!" Tom bowed at him politely. Then he pointed at the girl who had never seen the king before. "This girl has been working in this stable for thirteen months. Never did she do anything wrong here. Her work had been perfect for everything but..." He paused. The crowd became more attentive to listening to him. "But not anymore."

"What do you mean?" the king asked smilingly.

"Well, my king. Her wicked face." He looked at the audience. "That smile, sir. Doesn't she look like she has done the thing? Like fleeing the horses away?"

"Tom! It always remains on her face. She's got nothing wrong with it."

"Let him complete," the king said. The girl remained calm, holding a smile.

"My king!" He cleaned his throat. "The girl is responsible for this happening because there was no one else here to do such a thing. Her neighbor or at least," He stared at Martin, "her fake father's neighbor..." The people began laughing at this uncanny joke. When they stopped, he continued, "He saw her opening one of the doors of the stable, but couldn't see any further because..."

"We all fell asleep." A man said hurriedly. The crowd looked at him. "I am that neighbor. I am a new one there."

"Exactly!" Tom said.

"So, what do you mean to say?" Finally, the king spoke.

"My king." Tom cleared his throat. "It is not possible for such a coincidence to happen that this man, Martin's neighbor, could fall asleep so suddenly when the girl entered the stable. There is no way other than that the girl herself made her neighbor fall asleep so he couldn't see what she was doing. So, what I am trying to say is that..."

"She is a witch!"

*****

"She is a witch!" The neighbor said again. The crowd looked at him. "She made me fall asleep so she could flee the horses away."

"My king, I think you understand what I am trying to say."

"I understand you, Tom." Then he nodded to his guards. They stepped forward towards the girl.

"No, no, my king. You must have mistaken her. She is innocent." Martin held her tightly behind himself.

"Leave her, Martin. You don't know what you are trying to deal with." Tom muffled.

"My king. She has done nothing." The guards reached to grab her hand. Martin pushed his hand away but another guard appeared from behind. He grabbed Martin by his shoulders and pulled him away from the girl. "Leave the girl! Please don't touch her." But none of them listened to him. One of them held her arm and started scolding her saying, "I've got the bad witch." Then everyone around watching this horrible scene started saying, "Get the witch away."

"She is not a witch! I can prove that." The voice of Martin appeared from behind. The king heard that but tried to ignore it. "King Elmund! I said I can prove that the girl is not a witch!" This time the whole crowd heard it. There was a sudden silence everywhere. Even the guards holding the girl stopped. They all looked at the stable manager for a second. He freed himself from the guard. Then everyone looked at the king for any further orders. After Martin had gathered up enough confidence to speak, he repeated his words again. "The girl is not a witch... and I can prove that." He waited for the king to say something.

"You won't be allowed any excuse, Martin." Tom said.

"Wait, Tom." Elmund was thinking of something else. Then he looked at Martin and said, "How are you going to prove that she is not a witch? Do you have any pieces of evidence?"

"No, I don't have any evidence, but I have a few words to say that may prove her innocent." Martin was determined to free the girl from the guard's grasp. Then she suddenly jerked her arm, and ran after Martin to seek safety.

"Well?" the king said.

"People!" He addressed the villagers present there. "First of all, look at us and compare ourselves with her. She eats like we do. She sleeps as we do. She lives as we do."

"She smiles but not like us." A person from the audience accused.

"Well, we all smile. Don't we?" He tried to convince the people with simple facts. "She smiles all the time because she has left nothing to cry at. At least she behaves like a normal but hurt person. She is not a witch."

"What about your neighbor on whom she casted a spell?" Another man asked.

"She would not have cast any spell. Maybe it's because he was too sleepy already?"

"What about the horses, then?" This question was not what Martin expected. He went in silence.

"I'll deal with this horse' problem." the king said after a few silent moments passed.

"Bu- But my king?" Tom said confusedly.

"I know, Tom." Then he ordered his army to leave the stable and went along with them leaving all the villagers including Tom and Martin astonished except for the girl. She was still standing there, smiling behind Martin.