~ Power ~

Chapter 3 - A Shocking Secret!

Freya sat at the table for a moment, unnerved. She wondered what the sound was downstairs. Was it the stone merchant come to collect his money? Would Lena be okay down there by herself? Freya got up from the table and walked towards the door that Lena had just exited through. She paused for a moment. Lena hadn’t explicitly told her not to follow her, but Freya had gotten in trouble in the past under similar circumstances. Her mother had always said that it was “implied”. Whatever that meant. Freya edged over to the window and peeked downstairs. All she could see were the back stairs and the entrance to a downstairs cellar.

What if it was the stone merchant and what if he had brought friends? Lena could be in danger. Freya decided that it was worth the possibility of punishment in order to make sure that Lena was safe. She opened the door and began descending the back stairs. About halfway down she had a troubling thought about exactly how useful she would be to Lena, if push came to shove. All she had, after all, was a piece of Amethyst and a piece of Red Jade. What was she going to do, heal them…or slightly raise their body temperature? Regardless of this, she continued to descend. Her father had taught her a few Karate moves once, and she had practised them every day for two weeks, until she was given a dollhouse for her eleventh birthday and lost all interest in self-defence. But the knowledge was still there, somewhere.

When she reached the bottom stair she heard Lena’s voice in the distance, and what sounded like a whimper. As she turned the corner and entered the cellar, the whimper became louder, she realised it was a man’s whimper. Maybe Lena had taught the stone merchant a lesson or two, she was pretty tough. Freya navigated her way through a labyrinth of old furniture and wooden crates, following the sound of Lena’s voice.

‘How many times have I told you? You venture outside only after dark, and, you do not make a sound. Not ever.’ Lena’s voice was harsh and authoritative and what she had said confused Freya. She decided to hide behind one of the boxes and keep listening to the conversation.

‘But miss, I haven’t eaten in three day–’

‘What on earth are you talking about?’ Lena cut in, ‘I brought you food just last night, you filthy beggar.’

Freya peered over the crate to observe the scene. Lena was standing menacingly over a man backed up against one of the poles supporting the cottage. He had short brown hair and wore glasses. He looked dirty and had a couple of cuts and bruises on his arms.

‘Food? Fish heads and chicken feet? My dog wouldn’t eat that shit!’

Lena made a loud indignant noise. ‘How dare you speak to me in that manner! And fish heads and chicken feet are far more than you deserve.’

Freya slumped down behind the crate. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Who was this man? Why was he in the cellar of Lena’s house?

Just then she spoke: ‘I am going back upstairs now to have my breakfast. You will not make another sound. Not one. Understood?’ Lena returned to the entrance and bolted the cellar door shut. Freya estimated that she had approximately three minutes until Lena realised she wasn’t in the cottage and began to get suspicious. She jumped out from behind the box and ran over to the man up against the pole.

‘Who are you?’ He said as she came into his line of vision.

‘My name is Freya. But we can talk later mister. We need to leave right now.’

‘I couldn’t agree more. But the door is bolted shut. I’m afraid we are trapped in here until she decides to open it up again.’

Two minutes. Freya looked around the cellar frantically.

‘Do you have any tools, any hammers or anything that we could use to get through those wooden boards?’

The man shook his head and gave a grim laugh. ‘If I did, I would have used them by now.’

‘Do you have any rocks?’

‘What?’

‘Stones. Gemstones. Like the one that Lena wears around her neck.’

‘Um, no. Only the ones you see on the ground here, and I doubt they are of any use.’

One minute. Freya remembered the stones she did have: Amethyst and Red Jade. She pulled them both out from her bra and clutched them tightly. She could hear Lena’s footsteps increase in velocity now. She knew Freya was no longer there. Freya clutched the stones harder and began to cry. ‘Please…’ she said, to no one in particular. All of a sudden her right palm started to burn. She let out a yelp and then dropped the Red Jade on the ground. She looked at her hand, it had been badly burnt. She started blowing on it and waving it in the air. But then she remembered the healing properties of the Amethyst and grabbed a hold of that instead. Her hand healed almost instantly. Freya could hear the back door opening again. Lena was about to come back down the stairs. It was time to do something. Anything.

Just then, Freya had an idea. A flash of inspiration. She put both of the stones in the same hand and clutched them tightly. She turned around to the man with the glasses and said, ‘Get up, we’re getting out of here!’

She walked up to one of the walls of the cellar, made from plank upon plank of solid hardwood. She paused a moment and then focused all of her energy on making something happen. Lena had almost finished descending the stairs, which gave them approximately one minute to make good their escape. All of a sudden, a flame burst from Freya’s clenched fist, and then it quickly became a ring, and then a ball, completely encompassing her fist in flame. Freya looked at it with sheer astonishment, but she soon realised time was a factor and snapped herself out of it. She brought her hand up and punched the cellar wall. Her ball of flame carved straight through the wall like a hot knife in butter. She beckoned for the man to follow her and he did, just in time. As soon as they had both made it through, the wall crumbled and the rest of the cellar began to collapse with it. Freya paused for a moment, considering Lena’s fate, but then turned and ran into the nearby woods with the man in the glasses.

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Here are the options for this week:

1.      Freya and the man camp out in the woods and get to know each other a little better, she finds out who he is and why he was in the cellar.

2.      Freya insists that they keep moving until they are well out of range, hoping to find a village or other settlement.

3.      The man turns out to be a fugitive. He turns the tables on Freya and kidnaps her.

4.      Freya decides to go back and see if Lena is alright.