The Village

Julius climbed off the rock on the far side where Eva could not see him, circled it and then approached the visitor. He had studied her from his vantage point as she descended into the valley. She was a young woman with dark hair that fell in loose waves around her shoulders. Her skin was pale, almost translucent. She wore a simple dress made of sturdy brown wool and a long-sleeved blouse underneath, which she had rolled up over her wrists despite the cold, as she was hot from the exhausting climb. Her slim waist and the way the dress clung to her curves suggested that she was wearing a corset underneath, as was customary for the fine ladies of the city. A petticoat gave the dress volume and warmth, and thick stockings peeked out from underneath. Her boots were sturdy, laced up to her ankles and looked as if they had been walking for many miles. A scarf was wrapped around her neck and a small rucksack hung from her shoulders.

Despite her robust appearance, there was a fragility about her that touched Julius. He knew instinctively that she was running away from something. Over the years, he had always welcomed people to his village. Basically, none of them had specifically wanted to come here, they had all just wanted to leave a thing as far behind them as possible in order to forget it. All of them were caught up in their past. Something was different with this young woman, he realized.

Eva was undeniably beautiful. Her features were delicate, almost ethereal, and her eyes sparkled with a fierce inner determination. Julius couldn't help but feel pity for her. She probably believed that she had completed the most difficult part of her journey after the arduous climb into his valley. But he knew that she still had the hardest part ahead of her.

At least he could make her arrival easier.

“There's no inn or anything like that here,” he continued the brief exchange, ”but there's a spare bed in my house in my granddaughter's chamber, if you don't mind sharing the room with someone.”

“No, certainly not. I would be very grateful if you would take me under your roof.”

She pretended to be satisfied with this offer, but Julius realized that it wasn't what she had hoped for. If she wanted to put up a front, it wasn't up to him to tear it down. At least not yet.

“Come on!”

He signaled for her to follow him and marched off in the direction of the houses without looking back for her. Regardless of his advanced age, he set a brisk pace and Eva had to hurry to keep up with him. As soon as Julius had joined her, the guard dogs also calmed down.

When they reached the small settlement, Eva realized that vegetable gardens had been planted on the south sides of the buildings, where she discovered cabbages and onions. The houses were grouped around a village green on which a well had been built. A stream of clear mountain water gushed steadily into a stone trough and out of an spillway onto the ground, where it flowed downhill in a gutter and was lost in a meadow.

Eva would have expected it to be less cold in the more or less wind-protected area than on the open path. But on the contrary, she shivered more than before when she stepped into the circle and the gray stone facades stared at her from all sides with dull dark window eyes.

Julius walked straight towards one of the houses that stood out in no way from the others, opened the door and stepped inside. It was so low that he had to bend down to go through it. Eva followed him out of the daylight and into the shadows without hesitation.