The Shamer's Daughter - A Fanfiction

Chapter 24 - Steps and Shadows

She didn't know if it was one or multiple people, but she was certain someone was following her. As soon as she had become aware of it, there was no doubt. All the time, clear in the silent night and the empty street, steps close behind her, but nothing to see. The streets grew more narrow as she walked further away from the castle and she could no longer see the spear of the church. Every window was dark and the shudders were closed, except for a single tavern where the innkeeper was kicking out the last couple of guests. She could see a blazing fire and smell the food through the open door, but one of the kicked out guests carried a dragon crest on his shoulder. And although he looked drunk, it put an end to her urges of getting closer and she kept walking. Dina turned down a street so narrow she could reach the house walls on both sides at the same time if she had been able to lift her wounded arm. There she saw the silhouette of a lady, who looked like she had just peed in the middle of the alley, which she probably had. Desperate as she was, Dina spoke and walked a little closer.

"Excuse me, Medama?" The woman slowly turned around to face her. She too was clearly drunk, but Dina didn't care. That only meant she wasn't thinking straight and wasn't a thread.

"Who's calling me 'Medama'?" She said with a blurry voice. Dina stepped out of the shadows so she could be seen, but made sure to keep her eyes at the ground as she had been used to for so long. The lady snorted as she saw her. "At least you're polite, but run along, I 'aven't got any money to give a brat like you."

"No no, I just... If Medama would only tell me where the church is?" Dina stuttered and barely knew why she asked.

"The church? Just straight ahead through 'at alley over there and then take a right." She tried to point but it wasn't very specific.

"Thank you, Medama. Goodnight." Dina thanked her and edged her way past the woman and continued the way she had pointed.

"Ey! It won't do you any good getting there." She yelled after her. "They lock 'eir doors just like anybody else."

*

She walked straight ahead through the alley and took a right. And there was the church, just as the woman had instructed. There was only one problem. It wasn't St Adela's Church. It was a little smaller and it looked pale and grey in the dim light of the moon. It was surrounded by an iron fence and the graves around it were crowded and squeezed together. When Dina grabbed the iron bars of the fence, rust fell off and turned her fingers red. For a moment she just stared through the bars with a completely hopeless expression on her face. She had come to St Mauda's church - but although she had heard its name, she had no idea where it was or how to get back to the Widow's house from there. She had just decided to go back and ask the peeing lady again, when she heard a screaming voice in the direction she was headed.

"Let go of me, you bloody bastards! I' done nothing wrong!" No doubt, the woman had been stopped by Dina's followers. Dina turned around at once and ran when she heard the men headed for her after the woman had given one last cry of pain. She turned a corner but not fast enough, because she heard the guards talking amongst themselves.

"Over here! I saw her shadow disappear this way!" The steps grew faster and had apparently given up on their sneaking silence. They were running now - and faster than a scared and hurt 12 year old girl. She didn't know where she was going. She just left the church behind and ran like a rabbit chased by dogs. Through alleys and courtyards, through someone's garden and over someone's fence. She squeezed through the tiniest places she could find, hoping the men would lose sight of her or just be too large and clumsy to follow. She ran through a line of laundry and after that directly through a pigsty, waking up two sleeping sows. Always choosing the dirtiest, darkest and most narrow ways. When she finally couldn't run any longer, she stopped in between two houses so close together there was no way a wheel barrel could pass through let alone a horse or a carriage. There was no cobblestone below her anymore, only mud. And there were no signs or street lights, just the smell of sweat, garbage and animals. She had come to the darkest, dirtiest and most miserable part of Dunark: Swill Town. She sat down in the mud, too exhausted to care about her trousers growing more wet by the second. She listened to the steps that kept coming. For a moment she thought she heard them far away, but it might as well have been another drunk coming home from the tavern. She sat still long enough to be absolutely sure that the only sound in the night was her own heartbeat and her gasping breath. She didn't know what the guards would do if they caught her. Probably not let her go again - seeing as the first attempt to follow her to Nico's position had failed. She had saved him and the Widow. For now at least. She sat there for almost half an hour. She might actually have fallen asleep right there, with her eyes wide open had it not been because of the cold. She was wet, both from the cold water, her own sweat and the mud she was now dipped in. All she wanted now was for a dry hiding place so she could get a little sleep. She was so exhausted that even the adrenalin couldn't keep her up much longer. She could try finding back to the Widow's house in the morning. Her legs would hardly carry her weight as she got up. She only decided on a direction because she smelled newly baked bread and her body automatically pulled her in that direction. She came to a very small courtyard that was slightly cleaner than what she had just come from. It wasn't as muddy and through an open window she could see a massive oven and a chimney that took up the entire wall. It must have been the bakery, because the only thing Dina could think of was the warm and pleasant sensation in her nostrils. For a second she considered stealing a piece of bread if she could get to it, but she knew that would be a bad idea and luckily, Magnus had fed her well before she had left his house. But in the corner of the courtyard, she saw a wooden cart leaned against the wall. If she crawled under it, she could get out of the rain that had started falling and the chimney would surely be nice and warm to sleep next to. She got down on all fours and crawled under it. It was the perfect hiding spot for the night. But she was shocked when her hand touched something, soft and warm.

"You better get away from me, cause I have a knife." Someone hissed right beside her ear.

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