Locks & Willows

“There weren't always dragons in The Valley…..from the dawn of time, magic has always been a part of us, in every cave and cavern, in every village and land of Stormgate” Those words stood out from the pages of the history book I was reading. The dragons came after the sorcerer Nolan Sarath arrived in our land demanding to be made ruler or else he would curse our land with unfathomable terrors, I wish I could say thankfully that didn't happen, but Nolan wanted power, he wanted chaos, he wanted to be made a legend, and so he was, not from honor or respect from the people, but from fear, fear of the promise of what would happen if we revolted, fear from the minds of the people.

Nolan feeds on this fear, our fear, it fuels him and gives him power, power to control, what he controls is unknown to me, I only know what I was taught in school.

Of course, that was years ago and now Nolan is nothing but a legend told to children to keep us in line, but the impact of his tyranny rains true still to this day. Nolan had lived longer than any other sorcerer ever could, there are theories but his secret behind this is still unknown, but when he finally did pass from what was said to be old age, he chose his youngest daughter, Saorise, to take up his rule and continue the fear led monarchy he created so long ago.

But I don't believe that for a second, books are always written differently than the actual event, I closed the history book I was reading and stared out of the window centered directly in the middle of the room I shared with my two other siblings, one older, Athena, and one younger, Sirka, I was cursed with being the middle child. "Willow! Come down for dinner" my mother called from downstairs, the people of Wysteria were to have dinner just after sunset every night, any earlier or later and the offending family would be punished in any way the Guard deemed fit, this was just one of the many ways the townspeople were kept under the Saraths rule. I've heard stories from other children of families that were punished by the Guard for small infractions like early dinners, late taxes, and even slow-growing crops carry a toll as high as children being taken away from families to work as slaves. Mothers, Fathers, or even both parents being ripped away from children to fight in any land war the Saraths want under their rule.

I snapped out of the thought trance I was briefly trapped in and leaped up from the chair I was reading in and started down the stairs to the kitchen, our house was slightly large compared to the others in our town, I never knew the exact reason for this as every house in Wysteria was made to be alike in every form as another way to keep the people here from being special or different in any way.

My town of Wysteria is a small farming town with only one road through the center of town and walking paths to each house, the center of town housed the Guards house, the school, and the small general store. Each household was given one acre of land to grow their pre-selected plant to farm and then sell to the general store to be shipped to the city, each family were not permitted to keep any earnings from the farm profits and all earnings were to be secured until the yearly tax day.

At the start of each month, each family is given a crate of goods provided by the general store filled with goods needed to live such as vegetables, fruits, water, cloth for clothes, farming supplies, and pre-chosen protein, usually chicken or fish, as meat is reserved only for the people of the city. My family was given cabbage to farm, and my Father taught each of his daughters the craft as one day it would be our land to manage, Sirka had a green thumb and could make even the driest of soil grow the most delicious heads of cabbage, she also dabbled in growing flowers so our room almost always smelled like spring. Athena tried hard but could never maintain the small practice crops so she took to the kitchen instead with Mother and always made relatively great meals under Mother's watchful eye. I on the other hand was never good at cooking or farming, instead, I took to the books to learn as much as I could about history. Maybe I would make a good teacher, I'm patient most of the time.

"Nice of you to finally join us" Athena shoots to me with a snarky tone "Sorry I was reading, lost track of time" I said back to her in a nonchalant way "Athena leave your sister alone, she wasn't late so let us simply eat" my Mother Aria says to my sister. We finished the rest of dinner in silence, there isn't a lot to talk about as nothing ever goes on in our town, we all follow the rules, do our chores, and pay our dues. The last time a family was severely punished here happened long before I was born and since then the townspeople keep to the norm.

Today is the last day of the month so tomorrow is Crate day and it is my job to go to the general store to receive ours, I didn't mind this as I enjoy the walk and I usually get to go with my best friend, Calvin. Calvin has been my best friend since we were born, we have the same birthday and we are basically the same person. We live next to each other so sometimes we sneak out past curfew to the secret hideout we found and spend hours there talking, reading, and playing pretend, it's our little escape from reality. Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to have magic powers like the great sorcerers from before my time, but that is only a fantasy as Girls are never born with magic power only men from powerful families are born with such gifts. But it is nice to pretend and imagine a different way of life, one day I want to learn the secrets behind the Sarath family rule, nothing about it is right, but no one is allowed to question the Family Supreme as Calvin and I call them.

I wake up the next morning before sunrise to what sounds like an angry mob, I leap out of bed, to the window overlooking the town center and see a seemingly angry crowd in front of the general store. I throw on a jacket and shoes and rush out of the front door almost running into Calvin who must've read my mind because he was just about to knock when I rushed out. "You saw the mob too right?" He started, out of breath "Yes of course!" I exclaimed back, "Let's go!" I say as I started running in the direction of the general store, "I'm coming, I'm coming" Calvin said still out of breath from rushing around.

We arrive at the crowd and are met with angry shouts from the people, the crowd was so angry I had only ever seen the people this upset one time before. It was nine years ago when I was eight years old, the Guard announced that there would be no Crate day due to the wedding of Saorise Sarath, all of our rations were to be sent directly to the city, and the townspeople were outraged. There was rioting in the street, people got hurt, and the whole town was punished with doubled taxes that year.

I couldn't put together what was happening at first because there was so much shouting until I saw the sign on the door to the general store

NO CRATES TODAY

That was it, no explanation, no note, nothing. How do they expect us to survive a month with no food and no supplies to care for our crops?

"Someone has to do something about this Calvin" I said urgently "We can't keep living like this" I continued "Woah careful Willow, talk like that has serious consequences" Calvin said back in a hushed tone "Besides, what could we do from here" Calvin said inquisitively

"We go to the city"