Gretchen ran with all her might toward the smaller figure, who was running to ring the alarm bell. (Patreon)

  She was uncertain if she could catch her before it was too late, but it was a risk she was willing to take. As they turned the corner, her quarry screaming for help, she could see a wellhead and bell attached to a porch behind it. A strange choice of location for the village’s alarm bell, she thought. It looked like her enemy might get to the bell before she could stop her. But then, a miracle happened. The cobblestones with which the village had been so carefully paved, had been torn up around the well from so much traffic, and the soil below was wet. As her opponent’s boots hit the mud, they dug in and tripped her up.