Disappear

Delilah and I had been moving from town to town all along the eastern seaboard for the last 6 years. Delilah was now 25 and I was just about to turn 24. We had been completing odd jobs and working for just enough coin to get us by. We stayed with quite a few different people along the way, well of course until they found out that there was a missing persons alert for the granddaughter of some rich Countess. At this point, we weren't just on the run with each other but we needed each other, we relied on each other. Delilah was great at speaking to people and quite beautiful, so she made it easy for us to get work. Most recently, we found lodging in a barn house belonging to a farmer and his family in this tiny village out in the country. I was helping them with sheep and cows and Delilah was educating their children. On one of the last days of summer, Delilah came back to the barn very concerned and tired.

"Hey, what's the matter?" I asked her as I brushed straw out of my long blonde hair.

"Cassandra," she sighed, "I'm tired. I'm tired of moving. I'm tired of running."

I fiddled with a piece of straw.

"I live this lifestyle because you're my very best friend, but can we slow down? Can we find somewhere we can stay? I want a home, Cass. I want a place." She took my hand in hers.

"You know I can't stop until that old woman dies. I have to keep going." I pulled my hand away. "I understand, Delilah. This life is chaotic. I understand if you want to stay here. I saw that the farmer's son has taken a liking to you. You could stay and maybe start a life with him."

"Oh don't be disgusting, I have no interest in that." She said and laughed a little. "I do have interest in a home. Let's go somewhere we can start a new life."

I smiled, "Please let me know when you find such a place. A place where we can disappear and not be judged for being unmarried women living on our own."

Delilah sat down and took a small pamphlet she had been reading out of her bedroll.

"Delilah?" I said. She turned and looked at me. "You find a place, and I'll go with you."

She smiled.

"Good night, Cass." She said.

The next morning came and I woke up to find Delilah had already cleaned up her bed space and left the barn. I always started my day before her and I knew the children were not up yet. I headed out of the barn and walked around the house and the property. She was nowhere to be seen. It's possible she had gone to the marketplace for some light shopping but not without informing the farmer that she would be absent for her morning lesson. I grabbed my clipping shears and bucket and headed off to the pin where the sheep were kept. She would probably return for lunch.

A few hours later, the farmer came to see me as I was milking the cows. He had not seen Delilah yet today and was curious if she was feeling well. I told him she was under the weather and would be returning to her teaching tomorrow. Where was she? She had to come home soon, right?

The sun was beginning to set and she still hadn't returned. Now I was beginning to worry. What if she was in trouble? What if she had decided to leave me and go find a place on her own. I walked back to the barn as the air started to cool off. I had prepared some food for her in case she returned. I paced the barn for some time, constantly walking outside to look for her and then re-entering, hoping she had magically appeared inside. My only hope was that she would return safely in the morning. If she did not, I would go look for her. I blew out the candles, set her food up so the rats would not get to it and tried to sleep.

It was late in the night when the doors to the barn rattled open. I laid still hoping that this was Delilah entering and not an unwanted intruder. They rummaged around the area, but luckily it was too dark to really see.

Thump!

"Damnit!" I heard her voice.

"Delilah!" I said.

"Damn, Cassandra you couldn't have lit a lantern?" She said sitting on the ground rubbing her knee.

"Where the hell were you!" I asked. "Where have you been!"

"I had something I had to do." She said.

"It was too important for you to even tell me you were leaving? I was worried sick that something happened to you or someone got you! You're too beautiful to be out on your own, especially at night!" I chastised her.

"Oh hush now, you sound like Father Lindy." We never talked about Father Lindy or what happened between them. We felt it was best that we just buried it in the ground and left it there.

"We promised no more secrets." I said, purposely trying to guilt her into telling me where she had been.

"I know, I know!" She said as she sat down in front of me smiling.

"Well then, where were you?" I asked again.

"I've done it! I've found us a place to start over! And it's a lavish one! It's somewhere that the Countess Gamory-"

"-Gaylore," I interrupted.

"It doesn't matter!" She said and waved me off, "And it won't matter ever again. Guess where we are going?" She asked.

"Across the ocean, where that old bag won't find me?" I said, jokingly.

"Better! We are going to Iverdeen, and we are going together!" She said and squeezed my hand in excitement.

Iverdeen. Iverdeen was the second largest city in the entire continent. Iverdeen was under the eye of the royal family. The beautiful thing about Iverdeen is that the city was heavily populated so it would be easy to disappear. The ugly thing about Iverdeen was that it was crawling with city guards and the Countess definitely had some reach there with her ties to the royal family.

"But what if the guards catch us or find us? Where would we live? What would we do?" I asked.

"I have the answer to all of your concerns." She said as she held up the pamphlet she had been reading the night before. I read it carefully.

"HELP WANTED

IN NEED OF SERVANTS,

LABOR INCLUDES

COOKING, CLEANING, TENDING TO DAILY TASKS

AND MAINTENANCE ON THE MANOR.

- MADAM PYTHA

DAWNLYN HOUSE HEAD HOUSEKEEPER"

"House maids?! We've never been housemaids! How could we possibly get this position?" I asked.

"Well", She said as she nervously started to ball up. "I may have already applied on our behalf."

"Delilah!" I was shocked. I stood up and paced around the barn. "And when did you plan for us to leave? Were we going to discuss our departure?"

Delilah sat for a moment and carefully considered her answer.

"Well, I've arranged that too. I've paid for passage on a cart. We leave at dawn." She said.

It had taken us 7 days to travel from that dinky little farm town we stayed in to Iverdeen. We rode in on a straw cart with a gentleman who only let us stop to feed the horses, eat and use whatever hole we could find to relieve ourselves into. Delilah and I were both very grumpy and picking at each other. We had spent the entire last day in silence, afraid that we might say something that would cause the other to commit murder. Delilah had drifted back off to sleep when the cart came to a hard stop.

"Ho!" The driver called.

I sat up to see why we had stopped. I looked around and saw a beautiful forest. How did I miss crossing into this place? There were nothing but empty plains for the past two days. I must have dozed off. I looked ahead where the front of the cart was pointed. I gasped and started shaking Delilah to get her to wake up.

"What-what is it? What's happened?" she said, looking to the front of the cart. Her gasp may have been louder than mine.

Before us stood a smooth stone wall that must have been a mile high. At the center were two giant marble statues that looked as though they had been standing here since the dawn of time. The one on the left was a man wearing robes and holding a spear in one hand. His other hand stretched toward the opposing statue. The one on the right was a woman holding a lily in her right hand, and her left hand was outstretched touching the hand of the man. The woman had a peacock sitting at her feet. The man had an eagle sitting at his feet. Both statues were beautiful and covered in vines and moss from the years they had been standing here.

"Where are we?" Delilah asked.

"Iverdeen." The driver said.

The cart driver got off the cart and walked to the blank wall space between the legs of the giant statues. Immediately 6 guards dressed in gold and silver armor came out of the trees.

"Who goes there? What's your business?" One gruff man barked.

The driver took out a letter and handed it to the guard who immediately opened and read it.

"Very well," He said after a moment, "Proceed."

Suddenly the blank wall split and a gate opened. We could not believe our eyes at the gateway. We had been vastly underprepared for the beauty that was the city. Iverdeen was the largest city I had ever seen, set in the center of this dense forest. There were beautiful, tall buildings that covered hills with lush overgrowth everywhere.

The city was so diverse. You would see a person shoveling dirt and then next to him a beautifully ornate carriage would ride by. We sat on the cart taking in the sights of the city until our driver made a turn down a covered alley. At the opposite end was a slum-like neighborhood with children playing in the street and farm animals walking about. The driver stopped outside of a home and hopped off the cart

"Well, misses," He said and took his hat off revealing his bald head, "It's been a pleasurable journey but this your stop. Be safe out here, this city is plenty tempting and only gets you in trouble." The driver walked up to the front door of the house, knocked and then went inside.

"What now?" I asked Delilah.

"I suppose we find this Madam Pytha." She said.

We walked through the streets and alley ways until we found our way back to the main section of the city. It was getting late, and the sun was beginning to set. The crowd changed from a bustling group of people to a more seedy selection. Men watched us as we walked by and occasionally someone would make a strange comment.

"Cassandra we need to find food and a place to stay, it's getting late and I'm scared." Delilah said. I nodded, and we ducked inside of the first Tavern we could find. A nice looking lady came over and gave us some water and bread. We ordered some food from her and looked around at the crowd as we waited. There were more guards in this tavern eating, drinking and laughing. It felt much safer than the outside.

"I don't think we should go to that place tonight." I suggested. "I don't think it's safe. What was the name of the house again?"

Delilah took out the pamphlet and unfolded it, "Dawnlyn. Dawnlyn House." She said.

"Dawnlyn?" A soft voice from behind us spoke. We both turned to see who it was. There was a shorter thin woman in her late twenties standing there. She had yellowish green eyes and short, straight black hair. Her mouth and nose were very small, and she wore a long black cloak and hood that fully hid her body from the neck down.

"Do you have business at Dawnlyn house?" She asked. Delilah and I looked between each other.

"What's it to you?" Delilah said with attitude.

"I am a servant at Dawnlyn House." She replied, smiling.

"Oh!" I said and snatched the pamphlet from Delilah, "We want to fill the maid positions." I handed her the pamphlet.

She took it and gave it a wicked grin.

"Oh, I see." She said softly. "I am heading back in the morning, you may join me if you want. Or you can find your own way, but people tend to get lost on the way to Candlemure."

"Candlemure?" I asked.

"yes, that's where the manor is." She said.

"I apologize, do you mean to say that Dawnlyn House is not in Iverdeen?" Delilah asked.

"That is correct, the master likes his privacy as far away from his royal counterparts as possible." She said. "If you want to join me, please meet me out here at sun up. I don't like to be late." She turned heel and headed for the door.

"Wait!" I called, she turned. "Who are you?"

"You may call me Dezzy." She said, "Goodnight Cassandra." She turned again walked out of the tavern.

"Cassandra..." Delilah said nervously. "How did she know your name?"

"I'm not sure, but I don't like it." I said.

We managed to get a room at the tavern and we fell to sleep. That night I had a strange dream. I was walking through a meadow to a loan willow tree. When I walked up to the tree it reached it's limbs out to pull me in. I wasn't scared, in fact it was very calming and warm. I wanted to be held by this tree. As soon as I reached out and touched the tree, it died. The tree withered away into the ground and left a hole. I looked in the hole and a black hand shot out and grabbed mine. In that moment I woke up.