Highbridge House loomed above me, and all my doubts about returning flooded me with fear. The small stone and wooden bridge that leads to the Keep looked almost as uninviting as the tall stone towers that cast their shadows over the valley. Just looking at it brought back the stories that I’d heard as a kid living in the small village that had once served the lord of the manor. The lords had long ago given way to a more civilized gentry and the lording was now done by a council of elders whose wisdom often made the originals lords look good.
She had slipped out of the main gate unnoticed. The guards hadn’t been paying quite enough attention. The door behind her was closed. And there was no going back. There wasn’t for me either. Only I wouldn’t face the wrath of a powerful and angry father. My father would be angry, too. That was a scene that would eventually be played out. I pushed the thought from my mind and concentrated on the task at hand.
While the business of governing had been related to the committee. There were still some Old School Lords who thought they still ran the country. He had ruled the valley until the last few decades. But he still acted like he was the overload. To that end, he had demanded that his daughter get married to a suitable gentry and bear him a son to carry on the name and position. She had refused flatly to follow the ancient customs. The fact that she wanted to run off and marry me made her father irritate beyond his years. I was a servant’s kid, a ner-do-well, and of the lowest social order. My people came in the side and back doors.
Never the front door.And I was a girl too.
She had slipped out of the main gate unnoticed. The guards hadn’t been paying quite enough attention. The door behind her was closed. And there was no going back. There wasn’t for me either. Only I wouldn’t face the wrath of a powerful and angry father. My father would be angry, too. That was a scene that would eventually be played out. I pushed the thought from my mind and concentrated on the task at hand.
While the business of governing had been related to the committee. There were still some Old School Lords who thought they still ran the country. He had ruled the valley until the last few decades. But he still acted like he was the overload. To that end, he had demanded that his daughter get married to a suitable gentry and bear him a son to carry on the name and position. She had refused flatly to follow the ancient customs. The fact that she wanted to run off and marry me made her father irritate beyond his years. I was a servant’s kid, a ner-do-well, and of the lowest social order. My people came in the side and back doors.
Never the front door.And I was a girl too.
