A knock?

The evening had settled in, casting a golden glow over the small cottage as the sun dipped below the horizon. After the tense events of the day, Elaine and I had spent the rest of the afternoon in relative silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. The encounter with the soldiers in town had left a lingering unease in the air, a feeling that something was about to change.

We had just finished our simple dinner, the remnants of it still scattered across the wooden table. The fire crackled in the hearth, its warmth filling the room and driving away the chill of the approaching night. Outside, the forest was quiet, save for the occasional rustle of leaves in the breeze.

As I sat by the fire, trying to shake off the anxiety that had settled in my chest, there was a sudden knock at the door. The sound was unexpected, sharp in the stillness of the evening, and it sent a jolt of alarm through me.

Elaine looked up from where she was tidying the kitchen, her brow furrowed in concern. "Who could that be?" she murmured, more to herself than to me.

I stood, my muscles tensing as I moved toward the door. "Stay back," I said quietly, holding up a hand to stop her from following. "Let me handle this."

Elaine nodded, stepping back into the shadows of the room as I approached the door. My heart was pounding in my chest as I reached for the handle, my mind racing with possibilities. Could it be the soldiers, having tracked us down from the town? Or someone else, someone looking for the very same person they were searching for?

I took a deep breath and opened the door, ready for whatever might be waiting on the other side.

But what I found was the last thing I expected.

Standing on the doorstep was a little girl, no more than eight or nine years old. She was dressed in a simple, tattered dress, her hair a tangled mess of dark curls. Her face was pale, her eyes wide and filled with a mixture of fear and desperation. She was shivering, her small frame trembling in the cool evening air.

"Please," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Can you help me?"

For a moment, I was too stunned to respond. The girl looked completely out of place, lost and vulnerable in the darkening forest. But there was something in her eyes, something that sent a shiver down my spine—a depth of fear and sadness that no child should ever have to bear.

Before I could say anything, Elaine stepped forward, her concern overriding her caution. She knelt down beside the girl, her voice gentle and soothing. "What's your name, sweetheart?" she asked, brushing a stray lock of hair from the girl's face.

The girl hesitated, glancing nervously between Elaine and me, as if unsure whether she could trust us. But something in Elaine's demeanor must have reassured her, because after a moment, she spoke again.

"My name is… Elara," she said quietly, her voice trembling. "I'm… I'm lost."

Elaine's eyes softened with sympathy. "It's okay, Elara. You're safe now. Why don't you come inside, and we'll help you find your way home?"

The girl nodded, her small hand slipping into Elaine's as she stepped across the threshold. I closed the door behind them, still trying to process what was happening. Who was this girl, and why was she out here alone? There was something about her name that tugged at the back of my mind, a familiarity that I couldn't quite place.

Elaine led Elara to the fire, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders and offering her a warm cup of tea. The girl accepted gratefully, her hands still trembling as she sipped at the hot liquid.

"Where did you come from, Elara?" Elaine asked gently, sitting beside her on the floor. "What happened to you?"

The girl looked down at her cup, her voice barely more than a whisper. "I was… taken," she said, her words faltering. "By bad men. They… they hurt people. They took me away from my family."

A cold knot of dread formed in my stomach as her words sank in. This was no ordinary lost child. This was something far more dangerous, far more complicated.

"Your family," I said slowly, stepping closer. "Who is your family, Elara?"

The girl hesitated, her eyes flicking up to meet mine. There was a moment of silence, a tension so thick I could feel it pressing down on my chest. And then, in a voice so soft I almost didn't hear it, she spoke the words that would change everything.

"I'm the princess," she said. "The one they're looking for."

The world seemed to tilt on its axis, everything falling away as her words echoed in my mind. The missing princess. The one the soldiers had been searching for, the one who had sent the entire kingdom into a frenzy. And she was standing here, in this small cottage, looking up at me with eyes full of fear and uncertainty.

Elaine's breath caught in her throat, her hand flying to her mouth in shock. "Oh my gods," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Reimer, what do we do?"

I didn't have an answer. My mind was racing, trying to make sense of the situation, to figure out what this meant for us. We were harboring a fugitive—no, not just a fugitive, the missing princess herself. This was beyond dangerous. This was a death sentence, for all of us.

Before I could even begin to form a plan, there was another knock at the door.

This time, the sound was heavy, authoritative—**the sound of someone who wouldn't be turned away.** My heart sank as the realization hit me. The soldiers. They had found us.

Elaine's eyes were wide with fear, her hand gripping Elara's tightly. The little girl was shaking, her earlier composure crumbling in the face of the danger that had come knocking at our door.

"We have to hide her," I said urgently, my mind snapping into focus. "Now."

But as I looked around the small cottage, I realized there was nowhere to hide, nowhere that would keep her safe from the men who were surely standing just outside. The walls felt like they were closing in, the air thick with the weight of impending doom.

The knocking came again, louder this time, more insistent. We were out of time.

I stepped toward the door, every muscle in my body tensed for what was about to happen. Elaine pulled Elara close, whispering words of comfort that sounded hollow even to my ears.

I reached for the door handle, my heart pounding so hard I could barely hear over the sound of it.

And then, with a deep breath, I opened the door.