The Wish Game

Infiltration in the Village

About four days after my escape, I finally reached my home village. The security around the road had been tightened; sure they knew that I had escaped. I narrowly escaped the multiple checkpoints by switching carts.

I got off the final cart about 10 km from the village border. “Let’s make the last run on foot.” I already expected the officials to already alert the borders near my village and it'd be impossible to switch carts here.

So, I began to walk the final ten kilometers through the forest, avoiding the main road. In about two hours, the village border was visible and, as expected, it was heavily guarded. I climbed a nearby tree and observed the guards’ pattern.

I observed for about three hours before realizing that I was out of rations and must act on the first chance. Fortunately, I got it soon. They didn’t close the border completely, but rather guarded the most important travel routes.

This left the cattle routes relatively unguarded. I jumped off the tree and walked towards the nearest cattle route. The little grassy patch was totally empty and I used it to get back to the village.

At the border, there were only three guards and I tried to slip in without arousing suspicion. I almost got away when one of them asked me, “What are you doing here girl?” I pulled up the scarf and replied without looking back. “Just gave my father his food.”

The guard closed up and tried to look at me. “Take off the scarf. We have a selected from your village on the run.” The other guards noticed as well and came there. “What happened?” One of them asked and the first one replied, “This girl came in from the track and said that she took food for her father.”

“Check her thoroughly. She is surely not a resident; the village has been on lockdown for five days.” The other guard who seemed to be the leader ordered. I was in trouble and the three guards approached me from three sides.

I looked at the trio coming towards me and ordered me to take my scarf off. My left hand reached for the dagger hidden in my clothes while my right hand held the scarf in place. ‘What should I do? Run away and try to get in again? Attack them and disappear in the village? Surrender?’

My mind was filled with all kinds of similar thoughts. Finally making up my mind, I began incanting a spell. “Remove your scarf and show your face.” They brought out their weapons, only to be a spear and two staffs. My spell incantation completed and I slowly pulled down the scarf to show my face and…

“Poof…!!!” I released the spell to cover the air around me with smoke and ran back outside. There were two wizards among the guards, so, they'd probably know where I'd been going, and besides, I had more freedom outside.

The guards came behind me and I saw through the corner of my eye that one of them was calling the others as well. I smiled thinking, ‘Come on, you’ll now have the entire forest to search for, and by the time you realize where I am, my work will be done.’

I quickly climbed a nearby tree and began jumping from one tree to another. One guard looked up and spotted me, “Over there! Don’t lose her track.” The scarf still hid my face, so I was confident that they didn’t see it.

Soon, the other guards also joined them and I led them deep into the forest. The forest was my playground until a month ago and I was aware of every route and way inside. But they didn’t and it didn’t take them long to lose my track, as well as the way in.

I left the guards to find the way out from the forest and entered the village from the now completely unguarded cattle route. The village inside was quite lively; people were not stopped for that reason. It seemed that the lockdown only meant that people wouldn’t traverse the border easily.