Beront and his brother Berant laughed as they watched the noble girl fight for her life. They had no reason to kill her, no ulterior motive. They simply found it highly entertaining to watch a noble bleed.
Thonda closed her eyes in defeat, waiting for the moment of her death. She thought of her mother, her father, Summit city and tears streaked down her face. At least she would go quickly.
"Stop, you fools!" a high-pitched voice yelled suddenly.
The brothers turned to the new voice, Beront's hand loosened from Thonda's mouth long enough for her to take a deep drag of much needed air.
"Are you trying to save this girl?" Berant asked the stranger in a mixture of surprise and disbelief.
"I'm trying to save you boys since you clearly have no idea what you're doing."
Beront bristled at the insult. Thonda heard a low rumble in his throat before he let her go, turning to face the stranger.
Thonda dropped to her knees, coughing and trembling all over. When her fit had passed, she looked up to see a woman perhaps thirty moons, dressed in black robes. There was a hood covering her hair and hiding her eyes, but the firm set of her jaw said she meant business. She stood with her feet apart and hands loose – a battle stance.
"This doesn't concern you, Myrna,"
"It would be foolish to kill the daughter of Muri Kareese. Your one stupid act would put the entire Lowercity in danger. So yes, it does in fact concern me."
At the mention of Muri Kareese, the brothers stiffened. Myrna could see their minds processing the information she had just given them. They might not have been extremely bright, but even they knew not to threaten Muri Kareese.
"We don't need you meddling in our business." Berant declared finally, clearly the more outspoken between the two. "It won't happen again."
With those words, he pocketed what Thonda now saw was a small knife – barely even the size of a proper dagger. The brothers left reluctantly, throwing Thonda one last threatening glare before disappearing into the darkness.
The woman, Myrna, began to walk away too when Thonda called out.
"Wait!"
She paused but didn't turn around.
Thonda licked her lips, unsure what to say. She settled on a simple "Thank you."
Myrna smiled over her shoulder. "Don't thank me yet, princess."
"I'm not a princess," Thonda argued, getting up from the ground and dusting her dress off as best as she could.
This time Myrna laughed out loud. "As long as you live in the Summit, you're a princess to us." She turned around to look at Thonda properly. The young girl felt uneasy under the stranger's scrutiny, but Myrna seemed to decide something in her head because she nodded to herself and then instructed Thonda to follow her.
Thonda looked back in the direction of the market. Her mother would be looking for her. She turned back to Myrna only to discover that the other woman had already started walking.
She looked back towards the market again before hoisting her dress up and following after the stranger. She was better off with her after all.
"Where are we going?" Thonda asked breathlessly after what felt like an eternity of trudging through muddy pathways and dodging piles of mysterious substances.
"You'll know when we get there, Princess."
"My name is Thonda."
"You'll know when we get there, Princess Thonda."
Thonda frowned. The woman was certainly rude, something she wasn't accustomed to.
Right on cue, they reached what looked like an abandoned building. The windows were bare and the walls devoid of color. The steps leading into it were broken in several places and Thonda was sure the door wasn't in any better condition. Compared to all the other pitiful houses she had seen in the Lowercity, this was by far the worst. Of course this was where they were headed. The gods obviously had a thing against Thonda. She was sure of it now.
"Welcome to my extremely humble abode." Myrna smiled, giving Thonda a small courtesy before entering carefully into the house.
Thonda followed her in, mimicking her movements. She had a feeling they were deliberate and crucial to her survival here.
Inside, Myrna's home smelt of herbs and spices. She could see pots and pans of different shapes and sizes scattered around and as far as her eyes could tell, this was the only room in the house. It was dimly lit by a small lantern hanging on the wall.
In the corner, a single stool sat lonely and tired, obviously there to serve any guests they might have had.
"Your home. It's very…quaint."
Myrna laughed. "Oh don't mock me, princess. I know it is nothing pleasing to the eyes." She gestured to the stool. "Have a seat, I'm going out back to fetch my Eman."
An Eman was what people of the Lowercity called a seer or soothsayer. They were respected as much as Summit respected it's healers, but Thonda, just like the other nobles of the higher city, called them what they really were. Witches.
Before Thonda could protest, Myrna had already exited the small building and walked around it to the back where an old woman knelt in a patch of soil, her gnarly fingers carefully plucking undesired plants from a little garden.
"The girl is here?" She said without looking up at Myrna.
"Yes. Just where you said she'd be – with those idiot brothers. I got there just in time. They meant to slit her throat."
The Eman nodded thoughtfully, humming a light tune as she worked at the soil.
"You should come meet her. Tell her all that you've seen."
"I have seen nothing," the Eman laughed. She lifted her head so that her pale grey eyes were fixed in Myrna's direction. "As a matter of fact, not only have I seen nothing, I will never see anything at all." She let out another hearty laugh, enjoying her own joke. Myrna rolled her eyes, tired of this particular jest.
"You know what I mean, Mama."
The Seer stopped laughing then, bringing herself up ever so slowly to her feet. She wore a black dress similar to Myrna's but where Myrna's was plain hers bore several sigils and symbols indicating her station - the more sigils, the higher the station. Myrna's plain robes signified that she was an apprentice.
"Alright then. Let's have a little chat with your princess."
Myrna held out an arm to support her, but the older woman swatted it away.
"I may be blind but I know my way around this place. I should, after living here for 78 moons."
"Stubborn old hag." Myrna teased.
"Foolhardy ignorant child."
"But you're my mother, so what does that make you?" Myrna laughed winking at her even though she couldn't see it.
"The mother of a foolhardy ignorant child." The seer retorted without missing a beat, causing her daughter to laugh out loud.
They had reached the front of the building. Myrna's mother climbed up the frightful steps successfully and without hesitation, her feet finding the safe spots out of habit.
She pushed open the creaking door, startling Thonda to her feet.
"I don't want anything to do with your black magic." Thonda declared, thrusting her delicate chin in the air in an attempt to sound brave. She was anything but.
"Oh hush, child, and sit back down. I'm not a witch."
Thonda blinked. Once. Twice. Were they all rude here?
The seer shuffled into the room and Myrna shut the door behind her.
"I reckon you fancy folk can't tell the difference between a gift from the gods and black magic. I am Trienne and the gods have granted me the gift of sight."
Thonda stared at the old woman who now stood in front of her. She was either mad or simply ignorant because even Thonda could see that those old eyes had long ceased to work. Who had ever heard of a blind seer?
Trienne laughed. It was an infectious sort of laughter and Thonda almost found herself laughing with her.
"She's looking at my eyes, isn't she, Myrna? Probably wondering how a seer could see without eyes."
That was exactly what Thonda had been thinking. The observation brought warmth to her cheeks and she looked away. Trienne reached behind her, bony fingers finding a small pouch.
"Well, I don't need these eyes to see. They're very deceitful actually," she opened the pouch to reveal five smooth sticks and three round pebbles. "I rely on the eyes of the gods."
Trienne sat on the only available stool – the one Thonda had refused – and emptied the pouch onto her lap.
"Let me tell you what they see."