It has been a while since I've added anything here. This story is set in the same setting as my other series, The Princess of Everdale. I enjoyed writing that series most of all and plan to expand Everdale with more stories going forward.
Hope you all enjoy this one! As always, any feedback is greatly appreciated!
*****
Maeve Greenbloom had only ever wanted one thing. Money. Lots of Money.
Maeve had never known her parents. Not long after she had been born, they had left her on the doorstep of St Catherine's Orphanage for Girls in the care of the Sisters of the Sacred Flame. The nuns that had raised her had been cruel and strict. They cared more for their imaginary deity than they did the children under their roof and they were swift to hand out punishments for even the smallest offences. Maeve had hated it there. She hated the suffocating black dress that she was forced to wear every day, she hated the hymns that they forced her to sing and she hated the terrible food they were made to eat. Friendships were discouraged by the nuns who preferred their charges to sit in silent prayer when they weren't attending lessons and so Maeve had spent the first sixteen years of her life alone and angry with the world she had grown up in.
That had been a long time ago though. After a particularly savage beating that she had received for questioning the ancient scripture, Maeve had fled the orphanage by filing down the small symbol of the Holy Flame that she wore and using it as a lock pick. She had lived on the streets of Everdale, terrified that the nuns would come looking for her and drag her back to the orphanage. She learnt to steal and to lie and, more importantly, she learnt how to fight. As the months passed it became apparent that no one was looking for her and so she turned her mind to the future. She found work as a mercenary, protecting shipments as they were offloaded at the docks or shadowing caravans as they travelled to and from the cities across the country. It hadn't been easy at first. She was young and there were few elves in her line of work. Some of the men she had gone to work for had laughed in her face, or had been too embarrassed to hire a woman to fight in their name and others seemed to think that their gold entitled them to much more than her swordplay. She had put plenty of them in their place overtime, but there were plenty more idiots where they came from.
It had taken her several years of hard work but she had eventually built a reputation as someone who could be trusted to get a job done. Her prices were fair but whilst the work was steady there was never enough for her. Her boots still wore thin each winter and the tiny apartment that she had bought herself remained grey and drab. She needed a big score. Something that would set her up for life or at least catapult her up the social ladder so that she might start taking on more lucrative work for the city's noble classes.
It had been one night in her favourite tavern when she had first heard of such an opportunity. The city was on high alert after the disappearance of Princess Talia, and the presence of so many of the city's guards on the streets had made people twitchy. Rumours were circulating like mad and even legitimate contractors like Maeve were doing their best to keep their heads down and out of the guards' eyesight. SHe had slipped into the tavern, content to spend the evening nursing a bottle of Fire-Whiskey, when she had overheard an old man talking about an encounter that he had had with a witch in a small town named Uppershale near Everdale's North-Western boarder. Ordinarily, Maeve would have dismissed the man as just another drunken fool but it was not the first time she had heard of a witch in Uppershale's forests. Magic was not illegal in Everdale but it was tightly controlled by the schools and universities that taught it. Creatures like vampires and witches were outcasts, their strange practices deemed immoral by the crown and the church. Maeve wasn't sure she believed in creatures that were innately evil, but she did believe in the large bounties that the crown offered anyone brave enough to bring back the head of such a creature.
Weeks had passed but Maeve could not get the story out of her mind, or the prospect of what she could buy with the bounty on the witch's head. One day, after collecting her pittance for guarding another fat merchant's newly arrived shipment of sugar from the east, she made her decision. She had packed her bags, donned her two short swords and booked passage on a riverboat and began the long journey towards Uppershale and the score that, she hoped, would change her life.
****
Uppershale turned out to hardly be large enough to be worthy of being called a town, but it was at least extremely pretty. The houses were crafted from silvery-white birch wood and roofed with peppermint shingles the same colour as Maeve's hair. A little bakery and cafe seemed to be the main social hub of the town and she was pleasantly surprised to see a large population of elves strolling through the market stalls that occupied the main square. She made her way over to the cafe and took a seat at a small table outside the red front door. A human girl wearing a knee length skirt the same colour as the cafe door and a white blouse came over to her and took her order, returning a few minutes later with a coffee and plate of sugared biscuits.
"Thanks," Maeve said, flashing the girl a warm smile and placing a few coins on the table for her.
"No problem," the girl replied cheerfully. "Can I get you anything else?"
"Any idea where I could get a room for the night?" she asked.
The waitress eyed Maeve's back pack and the two short swords crossed behind her back. "We don't get many visitors up here," she said. "The nearest inn is back at Badger's Point."
"Damn," Maeve muttered. Badger's Point was where she had disembarked the riverboat. It was a good three hour walk to get back there.
"What about farms?" she asked. "I'd be happy to sleep in a barn."
The girl laughed, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. "We don't do much farming up this way either," she said. "Most people are either crafters or come here to live out the last years. Surprised someone like you would be here in the first place."
Maeve shrugged. "I'm just travelling. I heard the forest was a sight to see this time of year."
The girl didn't bat an eyelid at the mention of the forest that bordered the town, but Maeve could tell that she was curious about her. "I doubt someone like you is ever 'just travelling'", she said.
"Someone like me?" Maeve repeated, leaning forwards, her elbows resting on the table between them.
The waitress blushed, her eyes widening. "Oh! No, I didn't mean... It's just you..."
Maeve laughed and waved her hand dismissively. She liked this girl. She was sweet and smarter than she realised. Maeve was also willing to bet she overheard plenty of talk about what was happening in the town whilst serving people their coffees and pastries.
A pair of older women with severe expressions took a seat at the table across from Maeve and one of them began to snap her finger at the waitress. The girl glanced over her shoulder before looking back at Maeve.
