[b]Miriam 
Chapter 5: Lowburg[/b]

The gate made its grinding climb to let the army in, they marched into the walled town as neatly as they had across the miles of road just before. Miriam kept her head low, most of the town had come out to see the arrival of the elusive king Averheim, whom rode first into the plaza of the simple township. Miriam spied the noblemen coming up to greet the arrivals, she spied the simple folk flocking behind them, eager to watch. Some of the faces she knew, she had come through this town several times over the years, to trade and resupply, she hated them all. This wasn't to say that the people of Lowburg were bad people, which they admittedly were, but Miriam's sour feelings were more of a general dislike towards everyone.

Miriam couldn't observe for long, she was pushed along by one of her guards and further escorted by three swords to the side of the square. She stumbled along and was eventually faced with an unusually tall man, he was dressed in plate and wore a soaked tabard above, which bore the King's sigil. The man casually eyed over the mud-crusted Miriam and eventually folded his large arms. He spoke up in a simple greeting, calm and without prejudice. 
	"Witch." Miriam puffed out a breath of disbelief, she slumped her arms out which made her tattered cloak flap. 
	"I am not a witch! You idiots." The knight shook his head and sighed tiredly, while one of the soldiers who had escorted Miriam blurted out accusingly. 
	"Just what a witch would say!" Miriam turned to glare at the man. 
	"Just what everyone would say, moron." She turned back to the presumably more intelligent knight and adopted a somewhat sweeter voice. "I'm just a traveler. Honestly, I haven't done a thing wrong." The knight looked from Miriam to Leia at her side. He then sighed and waved one of the soldiers over, he scuttled towards the knight quickly, carrying Miriam's bag with him. 
	"We found some things." The knight started, as he opened the bag. From within he produced one of the animal totems Miriam hoarded. "- Like this." Miriam threw her hands up. 
	"I burn those! It's wood, man. Not magic." 
	"And these?" The knight had put the totem back, to instead retrieve a simple, leather bound book which he waved slightly. "You read?"
	"What do you think?" Miriam folded her arms up defiantly, one of her dirty strings of long hair had fallen over her eye but she was too upset to correct it. "I'm not a witch, and those are just things." The knight had kept his cool throughout the interrogation and seemed in no rush to mob Miriam like the other soldiers had. 
	"She spoke with a ghost. She's mad, I tells ya." The guard from before spoke up, and earned another glare from Miriam, whom delightfully found he flinched away from it. "Tha's a threat, she threatened me!"
	"Pipe down, Mallard." The large knight grumbled. "Explain this ghost, miss." He nodded back to Miriam impatiently. Miriam blinked and furiously shook her head. 
	"There wasn't a ghost! It was a man, his name was Walter and he said he was a scout from your army! Not a ghost." 
	"And what happened to this man?" The knight queried calmly. Miriam had had her time to mull on that one during the march here, and submitted the end of her own thoughts. 
	"I can't say for sure, he must have gone out through the window, just when I opened the door."
	"We didn't see anyone, sir. We would've, tha' window wassint' big enough, no chance." The guard named Mallard blurted out. This time Miriam turned and wiggled the fingers of one hand at him, he ducked in a gasp of fright. Naturally, nothing happened, but it had earned Miriam a tiny chuckle. The large knight gave Miriam a look of indignation. 
	"Stop that." He began by saying. She returned a sly smile. "And to my knowledge, there is no scout named Walter. I will be sure to check with the Captain on that matter."
	"I haven't done anything wrong. Are you going to call me a witch just because I have books and firewood?!" Miriam stomped her foot into the mud, it was hardly resounding but she felt the urge to hurt something and the ground below her was a strong enough target. The knight looked over Miriam's head and glanced to the bustling center and presumably his king, he grunted and looked back down at the rogue. 
	"Lock her up for now. Let her family come pick her up." The three soldiers clicked their heels together and nodded in unison, two came from either side to cease Miriam by the arms. 
	"Wh- Hey!" The began dragging her down the road. At first she didn't struggle, to avoid more trouble but at the sound of Leia's yelp Miriam turned and stopped. The third soldier had tightened a rope around the dog's neck and began to pull fiercely on it, to drag Leia the opposite direction. "Leia!" Miriam called, she pushed against one of the soldiers who held her but was forcefully kneed down, then dragged further. Leia howled in lament, grinding her paws through the mud in desperation. Miriam cried out again, trying and failing to claw her way past the two guards. "Don't take her, please! You can't!" Miriam grunted and reeled over in a flinch, jabbed in the stomach by a gauntlet. The men then kept hauling her down the road, with much less resistance. Miriam felt the dab of tears beneath her eyes, her heart lay heavily in her chest and with a stuttering breath she fought her urge to cry. In the distance the yaps and barks of her friend became fainter, until she did not hear them at all. "I'm sorry..."