What If?

Chapter 4

"This woman that you saw in the forest," Mirabelle said thoughtfully, "What did she look like?"

Joyce thought for a moment. "She was dressed in leather, not a dress. She had short dark hair and a bow and arrow. She aimed it at me, but then never shot."

"She never shot?"

"No. She lowered her bow and ran away."

The room of women was quiet. Everyone was listening intently. The thoughts in Joyce's head were spinning uncontrollably.

"What's going on Mirabelle?" Joyce asked.

"Joyce, you should consider yourself lucky to be alive." Mirabelle said. "That woman you described in the woods sounds like Adelaide, one of Jeana's followers."

"Oh..." Joyce whispered.

"You see, Jeana put out an order to kill the woman in red. There was a prophecy made about Dungannon after Jeana's curse. It said that there would be a heroine, a woman in red, that would come to save Dungannon from Jeana's wrath and restore the kingdom to it's previous glory. But the prophecy was somehow leaked to Jeana and ever since then she ordered the Essence that if they ever saw a woman in red, to kill her on site and bring her body back to Jeana."

A gasp escaped Joyce's lips.

And the room went silent once again.

***

By the end of Mirabelle's prophecy story, the village of Wedgemore was almost completely dark. It had been hours since Joyce had woken up in the woods and she was overwhelmed with information. What kind of a dream is this? She wondered. It's definitely the most life-like dream I've ever been in!

The circle of women had broken up into smaller groups. Some women were cooking in a nearby room and others were weaving cloth and blankets on looms. Joyce stood up and decided to talk to some of the other women in the room. There were all ages of girls. Little babies to old fragile women, but no males whatsoever. Joyce chose a group of three young women, maybe in their mid-twenties huddling weaving in a corner.

Joyce approached them and said, "Hello, can I come sit with you?"

There was a blonde girl and two brunettes. One of the brunette's smiled and said, "Of course My Lady!"

Joyce sat down next to one of the girls. "What are your names?" She asked.

The brunette who smiled at her answered first. "I'm Lavanya," She said pointing to herself. "This is Colette," Lavanya said pointing to the blonde girl, "And this is Willow." She continued pointing to the other brunette girl.

The girls exchanged greetings and Joyce decided to continue their conversation.

"So what are you weaving?" She asked.

"We weave blankets to sell in the village." Willow said.

"It's our cover." Colette replied.

"Cover?" Joyce asked.

"Yes," Lavanya said. "We are a part of the rebellion to restore Dungannon. We needed a safe-house and Mirabelle decided to open a weaving shop in order to hide our society. We call ourselves the Hiraeth. The Hiraeth is secretive and fights against the Essence."

"Really? That's awesome! So you hide in here weaving blankets, but the rest of the time you try and sabotage the Essence?" Joyce asked.

"Yes!" Colette said.

"How come you're so passionate about the Hiraeth?" Joyce replied.

"Well," Colette said unsure. "All of us here had men in our lives that we loved. And Jeana took them away from us..."

"She took away all I ever loved." Willow continued. "I had a sweet younger brother named Talon. He loved to play in the forest. He would have been a great hunter. He loved archery and could hit any target. Even on horseback!"

Willow paused and stared at the floor. Joyce could tell that this was a sensitive subject for all of the girls. But Lavanya continued.

"Yes, I had a young man in my life. We were in love. We talked about getting married... And then one day he was taken out of my life." She said. "I miss him so much! Gavin was my true love."

The Lavanya started to cry.

Joyce was silent. But then she asked Colette, "What's your story?"

Colette stared at the floor. But then she spoke. "I lost two people in my life. My husband, Hain, and my newborn baby Damon. I gave birth to Damon a few weeks before the curse. Jeana took away my baby. I have no husband to protect me and no child to love."

At that point, all four of the women were crying and there was silence again.

***