FFF: A New Life

A double shot of flash fiction today, 200 words. This is using one of my characters from Fates' Motif, my upcoming fantasy novel. I'm hoping to release it next week. We're that close.

He met them at the edge of the wood. They were huddled in the shadows, cold and hungry. As he led the couple toward the wooden town wall, he casually flipped a coin in his right hand. The gesture served to keep them calm.

The man spoke, "Thank you, Master..."

"I am no one's master." He chuckled. "Call me Sorn."

"Sorn. We owe you a great debt. If we had stayed in--"

Sorn cut him off with a sharp look. The woman's hair would need to be dyed. Brown was the color of the locals. "I don't know what you are conversing about, good sir. You, your wife, why you have all lived here as long as memory serves."

The man nodded. "Well… thank you."

Sorn inclined his head, but did not respond. They were at the wall. He reached down, swept a bush aside, and pressed the coin against a flat stone. Green light warmed beneath his finger. He pressed it and waited, keeping vigil on the empty night. When the grinding abated, he kicked the stone and dropped into darkness.

"Come. I assure you this passage is safe," he called. “Your new life awaits.”