Hi, i know this is the third story i have posted now and the others haven't been updated for a while but i wasn't getting very many reviews back anyway and so i am having a break from them for a while till some new ideas start to flow again. May be then i will finish them.

like always all the characters in this story were created by be.

lyra

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Prologue

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The middle aged woman stood from her crouched over position in the hen house, heaving her solid frame up to stretching her back, alleviating her aching muscles. In the distance behind her, you could see the mountains that were tinged with a slightly blue hue that contrasted with the crisp white of the snow that caped there tops. They seemed to go on forever, and the thin whips of grey smoke, that were clouds, gave the illusion that past the layer of clouds they went on forever in to the deepest depths of blue, one knows as the sky. The base of the mountains seemed to dissolve before your very eyes until you were looking at rolling green hills that almost stretched up to the back of the property. Sighing she bent over to lift the now full basket of eggs up onto her arm and carried them back into the kitchens. She walked in though the kitchen doors limping slightly with the uneven weight from the basket and started to struggle to lift them on to the main bench.

"Oh mama! Here let me help you" a young blond of 16, swiftly moved over to help the older woman who smiled lovingly at her.

"Ah Avena, thankyou my sweet" the likeness between the two was startling, they had the same baby blue eyes and thick blonde hair that shone like gold in the sun, and though not blood related the older woman had taken Avena under her wing after her mother had shown up on her door step pleading to take the child so no harm would come to her.

"Please, take her in. Raise her as if she were your own. She cannot stay with me, though I regret more than any one else, every moment she is with me she is in danger" the look in her eyes had be one so beseeching she had been unable to say no. Nodding she took the baby gently from the woman's arms and smiled down at her.

"My only request if that you call her Avena" she kissed the babies head and drifted back into the night hurrying down the street. Not long after that time she had heard news that the woman was dead. Her house had been burnt down in the middle of the night by the villages nearby; she had been accused of practising witchcraft, which had been her death sentence there and then. No one had ever been accused of being a witch and lived then on afterwards to tell of it. If the villages didn't burn you in the middle of the night the nobles would eventually catch wind of it and have you burnt at the stake. So she had brought Avena up to be one of her own not knowing whom her father was.

"Mama, what have we told you about carting heavy loads up to the kitchens? You know it's not good for you. Here sit down and I will make you a cup of tea"

"Avena, stop fussing over me I'm not that old yet!" she said standing up to continue work "the Master will be back for the week this evening and I best get supper underway so it will be ready for him when he gets in" Sighing and nodding her agreement Avena rose from her seat as well. Over time she had learnt not to question her mother when it came to her health.

"I just remembered we are out of flour and I will need to ride into town. If we are to make his supper properly we will surely need it." Defeat was obvious in the girls voice "I'll be back soon Mama don't work to hard"

The smell of fresh hay filled her nose as she walked into the stables. Plucking her riding cloak from a hook off the wall and fastened it around her neck. Though they were just out of winter the air still hard it's cold bite to it that caused people to become sick if they weren't careful.

"Going for a ride, little one?" Avena looked up from what she was doing and smiled at her older brother, Zack. Nodding her head she walked over to where he was.

"Yes, can you keep an eye on Mama while I am out she has been working to hard. She knows it's not good with her condition but she won't listen to a word I say"

"Of course" he said smiling "You better saddle up Pilgrim then ay" Zack said moving the horse out of the stall and into the open to be saddled. "I hear the Master is back tonight, and he's bringing the new Mrs. and her son down with him"

"Really? I didn't know he was bring his new family down, I thought it was just a flying business visit"

"Not from what I heard"

"I not sure if Mama knows, I'll ask her when I get back. Well I'll be back soon" She called before mounting her house and trotting out of the stable waving goodbye behind her.

She arrived at the market and dismounted her horse, fed him a carrot before wandering off to find the flour they needed. The town was noisy and bustled with people. She enjoyed every minute of the hustle and bustle in the market square. Little shops and stalls cover the walls of the town square eager to sell enough to be able to support their growing families. There were some gypsy wagons set up as well selling all kinds of fabulously dyed materials and silks, along with other crafts made by there people such as carvings, paintings and beads. She walked by gazing over everything with amazement not noticing the looks of from other young ladies around the market with young lads on their arms. Of course, it wasn't that she didn't see them, she would have to be blind not to. They way some of them were made up was enough to make her sick, hair corse from the curlers worn in their hair each night, faces furry with the many layers of make up applied, noses pointy and sticking up slightly, reminding her of the noses on the pigs back on the property. Oh no, she wasn't jealous of their lifestyle. She had just as much beauty as them if not more, but she was free where they never would be, there life would be ones filled with endless parade of parties where they would have to learn how and when to speak, they couldn't let there hair down. So she payed no attention to their appalled looks when they were cast in her direction.

Finally coming to her destination she went and picked up her bag of flour and went to pay for it. The bag was so big she had to crane her neck around the side to see where she was going, luckily it was big enough to last them though the next season of so. She payed for the flour and carried back though the crowds of the market place to where she had left the horse, putting the bag down on the ground beside her she shook out her arms. As she attached the flour to her horse she couldn't help but over hear conversation of some villagers just near by.

"…It's been along time since it's happened in this little village"

"And about time someone did something to remind them. I've seen people go in her house and come out again only to find days later they have been miraculously cured. Even old Jonathon Barnes who lives next door to me, awfully crippled in the leg he's been for years now, almost as long as I can remember. Yet I saw him just this morning walking on it normally!" there was a silence after the woman's story as the others thought over what she had just said.

"Like I said, it's been a long time since it's happened and I think it's about time it happened again"

"Miss Ella Harring best watch her back if she's not to end up burnt" As there conversation ended and they moved on Avena wait for a little while before mounting again and ridding back to the house, if what she just heard was correct this Ella Harring was going to end up burnt at the stake! It was no secret to Avena that she had been adopted and her mother killed villagers in the night from accusations of being a witch. The though of it happening again to some other woman made her blood boil with anger, she urged Pilgrim into a gallop and headed straight back to the house.

She rode quickly into the stables and dismounted before rushing back up to the house with the flour. She needed to tell someone about what was happening in the town, someone who had the time to listen to her, dismissing the thought of talking to her mother she went in search of Brenna one of the maids who worked in the house. Like Avena, Brenna had lived most of her life on the property and over the years Avena and Brenna had grown quiet close.

"Brenna?" she asked poking her head around the dinning room door.

"Avena! I haven't seen you for ages, you never come visit me anymore" she said with a sad tone in her voice

"Nor do you visit me" the smiled at each other before they both collapsed into laughter, both knowing that with the Masters return so soon they had barley anytime to talk like they used to.

"So what are you doing out of the kitchens I would have though there would be mountains of food to make!"

"I come with important news, I can't discuss it here, but meet me in the stables tonight and we will talk" Brenna bit her bottom lip and nodded eagerly at the seriousness in her voice. Avena smiled at her before hurrying off again. Brenna quickly walked back into the dinning room where she had been polishing plates and cutlery. It had been ages since they had met in the barn, they used to play there all the time when they were kids but after the Masters first wife died of the plague he began to stay out here more often and so they were forced to start there duties working in the kitchens and house. Though, now that he was married again thing would hopefully be able to go back to how they always had been. She hurried to get though all the silver and the rest of her chores so she would have no problem meeting Avena in the stable later that evening.

Wrapping her over coat around her shoulders she hurried across the ground to the stable, the sun was just going down in the sky and had cast a pink tinge over everything giving it and almost magical look. She quickly shook the thoughts from her head knowing the trouble that those types of thoughts could get you into. She entered the stable and looked both ways before climbing their secret ladder that lead up to their secret meeting spot. When she reached the top she hurried over to where she saw Avena waiting for her.

"You made it" Avena said quietly, she nodded quietly before sitting down.

"So what did you have to talk to me about?" she asked eagerly, she had been waiting almost all day to find out what had been so important. Avena told her the story of what she had over heard earlier that morning.

"So they are going to burn her!"

"Well that's what I really wanted to talk to you about" Brenna gave her a wary look knowing all to well the messes Avena frequently got her self into. "Oh, don't look at me like that. All I am proposing is that we save her"

"Avena, you don't even know who she is! Let alone trying to save her!"

"Well we have to do something, I have to do something" Brenna sighed heavily. Avena Smiled she knew that she had her.

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this is just the prologue, i'll probably end up putting the first chapter up in a few days, so if you ike the story so far and want to see where it's going check it out. thanks!

lyra