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Ongoing A 18 year old that struggles through everyday life, until fate suddenly had something else in stored for her that changes everything that she knew.

Let me tell you a story. This is not a story of a heroic knight saving a princess from a dreadful creature such as a dragon or a giant. This is not a story of a girl waiting for a miracle to happen. I am just a young girl of 18 years of age, living in a small cottage alone and writing on what it seems to be a piece of paper with ink and quill. Where am I, you wonder? To where I am momentarily, is not of importance, the only thing that matters at the moment is that you can read this, of course only when you find it when I am no longer around.

My life started normal like any other woman who seeks for supplies or to trade. What do I do for my own living? I crochet and knit, yet one thing that I keep in secrecy is that I write and read, something that is an abnormal thing here. Here, only men are allowed to read and write, since they are plotting new plans to conquer other kingdoms and such. For my own income, I crochet and knit winter clothes during the summer time. Of course, a little absurd to buy something, but they have started to learn their lesson to buy their necessary winter clothes in time. It is not something I complain about, having them looking for my little cottage and try to buy more clothes, but there are certain times I go to the villages and towns where they CAN buy it. I wouldn’t’ want them to burst in and reveal my secret. However, crochet and knitting are more of a job than anything. It is not really something I enjoy to do every day with sore fingers and blisters, but it does bring bread on the table for myself. What I do enjoy crocheting naturally is creating small cuddle stuffed animals for small boys and girls but those are a little trickier than regular scarfs or hand gloves.

What do I write, you wonder? I write a lot of short poetry mostly, engulfed by inspiration of nature around me. Just the other day, I saw a doe and a stag encircling one another probably fallen so deeply in love that they might expect a small fawn soon, so I created a heartwarming poem about it. No, it is not like I am searching for love myself, writing and reading are more of a type of love that I appreciate. The doe and stag did remind me about my parents, since they no longer are alive. My father had passed away when the king summoned him. He had to battle alongside him to conquer some small patches of land where the rebels have started to burn down houses, killing the man and boys, raping the girls and leaving no one behind to tell the tale. He was a good swordsman, but even that wasn’t enough for him to return home. Mother, she was a woman of secrecy. I wouldn’t say that she died from heartbreak, but her first job before meeting my father, was that she was nothing more than a w***e, who seemed to have “fallen in love” in a handsome knight who probably visited her most nights during the week than any other customer. After my dad’s death, her previous Masters, whatever that supposed to mean, hunted her down. So she left me behind at the age of what may be like 5 or 6. Grandmother took care of me right after that. By the time I reached 16, I was in theory old enough to take care of myself, but she passed away from a sickness, that the doctors explained was incurable.

I was walking one day with my usual cart that my grandmother owned. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury to buy a horse or even a donkey to pull it for me. So I ended pulling it myself with difficulty. The worst days for instance is when it is raining and storming. The roads get usually muddy and very difficult to grip on with my sandals. I usually want to stay home and do not go out to the market place that happens on each Wednesday, but if I wanted to enjoy my weekend, I would have to fight through the weather. Yet that particular day was as usual as you can imagine. The sun shining brightly in the blue skies, making me feel like wanting to write another poem, yet I restrained myself thinking to myself what I should write when I travelled back home. From my cottage to the main road took like not long for it was just a small forest path that fit the cart just accurately to go through. Sometimes, I admit, I cut some branches, for they were latching themselves in my hair and my clothes. When I did approach the main road, there was a large carriage passing by with 6 black horses pulling it and dashing off in a hurry. I only suspected it was some kind of royalty who wanted to meet the king, yet that assumption soon rose to be a faulty mistake. Further down the main road, an ambush began to emerge as the bandits out of the sudden began to attack the carriage. I wasn’t very pleased by the idea of these bandits being so close to where I lived. I knew for an instance that they were people that you had to avoid at all cost.

Slowly I began to push my cart more into the bushes and decided to get a closer look. I shouldn’t have done so, but I was too curious and you know what they say, “Curiosity kills the cat.” When I approached, my attention suddenly shifted to a group of knights on horseback riding towards the ambush from what I could see from the insignia, it was the king’s. The bandits did exactly the same thing, their attention shifted right to the army before they retreated. It seemed like they were trying to ambush whoever was in the carriage but didn’t seem to succeed. They ran into the forests with the knights following them closely behind. One of the bandits, that decided to run to where I was located, spotted me and drew his sword. I gasped for I began to run away, but soon I heard a thud and when I looked, the bandit lay dead on the ground. The knight who “saved” me, pointed the bloody sword at me, “You, come with me!”, he barked. I sighed and nodded. I walked up to him slowly with my rugged dress and patted the fabric a little to get rid of the dirt. He jumped off his horse before grabbing me by the arm, “What does a peasant girl like you do here?!”, he scoffed.

“Well I… eh..”, I began, yet the words do not seem to be coming out.

“It doesn’t matter, follow me!”, he said pulling me behind him as he was heading deeper into the forest. Immediately, the alarm bells in my head were signaling. I rolled my eyes in irritation, but I did feel my own fear rising for I knew what he was planning. I pulled my hand and I slipped out of his grasp. Apparently he didn’t have his grip on me that tightly, just firm enough to pull me.

“No”, I said to him looking at him with my hazel brown eyes rather sternly.

“What you mean no?”, he barked trying to grab me again.

“I may be a peasant girl, but it does not give you the right to grab a girl and think you own her by just f*****g her”, I said abruptly. It indeed rather shocked him that a girl, that obviously was way younger than him, rejected the idea.

“You do know who I am”, he said frustrated.

“No I do not”, I said, “You have not even given me a name.”

“Why you little…”, he growled.

When I look at him, I could have sworn that he is old enough to be my father’s father. That is how old he appeared with his old greyish ruffled beard sticking out of the helmet that in my opinion was a way to conceal himself, so I wouldn’t report him to his wife or w***e.

“Look, you have come here for one reason”, I began, “to protect whoever is in that carriage, so before you are hanged for treason, you might as well do your job as a knight and move along.”

I knew for a fact that what I said to him would anger him. He leaned in to smack the side of my face, “You little b***h.” Naturally, I turned my head at the same time he smacked me, it felt less painful, you know?

He stomped away pushing me aside before leaping back on his majestic horse and riding off to join his comrades. I fell onto the forest floor, placing my hand on the side of my cheek to feel it slightly tingle. I sighed before getting back onto my feet and wandered back to my cart. I actually did not feel like going to the marketplace at all at this point, not with that knight lurking around, but I had no choice. I came by my cart and began to pull it once more onto the main road. The excitement and disruption of peace soon settled down.

I pulled my cart along, feeling some sharp stones pushing through the leather soles of my sandals like as if I was walking bare footed. To be frank, I rather feel the cold stones touching my toes and the sand soothing my skin, yet, I had still a long day ahead of me. Selling boring winter clothes… At least I could see my friend again, a small young woman around my age. She lived her life a little more luxuriously than mine. She had found the man of her dreams, as she would describe it and married him on the spot. To be fairly honest, to think about how young she decided to marry and even plan to have kids, turned my stomach. She was my friend yes, but it didn’t mean I would always be happy, happy and agreeing little miss.

I shook that thought out of my head as it was quiet on the main road. The carriage had disappeared into the castle and the market place ahead was literally full of activity. I knew there was some tension going around after the failed ambush, but there was a certainty that there were some precautions made with knights and soldiers positioned on the walls.

I entered through the main gate and pulled the cart closer to myself. I watched the people running around like mere sheep. It was amusing to me to see them as cattle, running around to find the most delicious patch of grass you can find, only these people were running after money. Golden and silver type of metal to distinguish your wealth and currency. Naturally, a very great invention I must say, but a very powerful tool that caused tons of wars and losses of lives.

I walked up to my usual spot and locked my cart down so it wouldn’t be moved easily. I grabbed two large sacks of stones from my cart and placed it at either side of the cartwheel. It did not take long for an old lady, probably in her 70’s, to approach me holding a large staff and her beautiful white hair fell down along her robe.

“Oh sweety”, she began, “I am glad you are alright. I heard about the ambush just up the road, are you alright?”

I nodded immediately, “Yes, I am fine. Just a few scratches of hiding in the bushes, that is all.”

“Oh well, if you want to pass by to have a cup of tea, you are always welcome”, she said. She turned to leave, but before that she stopped and looked at me, “Do you have any wool blankets I could buy from you? My dear old husband is constantly cold, despite the fire being on most of the time. Perhaps you could help me…?”

I looked at her and nodded, “Well I do have five different types of wool blankets. Do you want the thicker one?”

“Yes, I think that will do. How much would that be?”

“Just 20 gold pieces”, I said to her. To be fairly honest, I wanted to sell the thick blanket for 50 gold pieces since it did take me ages to make it, but since she was my best customer, I always gave her a discount.”

“Only 20 gold pieces?”, she asked looking at me. I grabbed the blanket from my cart and showed her the product.

“That is not worth 20 gold pieces”, she said.

My heart sank a little when she said that with a serious facial expression.

“I know how hard you worked on that”, she said looking at me, “That is not worth 20 gold pieces. Do not make it so cheap for my sake sweetheart.”

“It is the least thing I do”, I replied, “You know how they are with the taxes here...”

“True”, she nodded agreeing, “yet you need these coins to buy more supplies and you can’t make any profit additionally if you keep giving me discounts. It is really nice of you, but still. Here, have 40 gold coins.”

She walked over to me and handed me her pouch.

“Go grab the 40 gold coins from there. Go on, don’t be shy”, she motioned me to go on, whilst she took the blanket from my other hand.

“But…”, I began but she interrupted me.

“Hush child. I do not mind. Besides, as long as the money goes to you and not to those greedy royals, I am happy. The guards can’t do much if there is no money in the house, especially when we are that old.” She smiled at me.

I sighed softly. I adored her kind smile. It filled me with joy. Although on one hand I wanted to appear modest and generous, while on the other hand I understood to why she decided to give me more than I bargained for.

I nodded and took out the 40 coins for the blanket before giving the rest of the coins back to her.

“Thank you for this beautiful blanket”, she said putting her pouch away, “it is nice and soft.”

I nodded my head in gratitude and watched her leave. I sighed once more as I hid the money I earned in a hidden pocket on me where it wasn’t all that obvious to rob me. Believe me if I say, we women wore very uncomfortable clothing at this time. With these annoying corsets and fancy dresses. It actually utterly disgusted me. I was actually glad I was just wearing a torn dress, at least I didn’t have other people touching me and tie a corset around my chest. The thought of wearing one just send shivers down my spine.

For most of the day, there was no other customer than just that lovely old lady. I stood near my wagon and called out that there were some winter supplies they could buy, but no one bothered to turn their eyes on me. They were either buying some fruits and vegetables, perhaps even a few summer clothing. But I did expect someone to come every week, who usually bought the whole stock of my wagon and no, before you assume it was some random greedy old fart from the royal family, it was actually a merchant and a very nice man who love buying winter clothes. He always could use some to resell further up North where the winters come early and leave late. Besides that, he always liked to slime towards his customers how high quality my products were, made with love and perfection, he called it once. I shook my head with a small smile. He was a charmer but definitely not my kind.

There I saw him, a small charmer with his regular dark forest green robe with the hood covering his head. He appeared like the character Robin Hood, but much shorter in height. He reached the height to my shoulder. Imagine this, I am 1 meter 60 and he only reached to my shoulder. No, do not insult him as if he is a “Midget” because even those people do not deserve being called like that, even though people with no respect in their bones, make fun of them. I may be just a mere farm girl, well “farm” girl? I am more of a writer than anything, but hey, who would want to read my books?

Perhaps one day when they do not criticize women so much and don’t treat them less than dirt. I am more of a spiritual type of person and no not a witch. I do not own a cauldron, a flying broom and a small branch of a wand, I am just explaining that women are in some way magical, for they bring a spirit from the spirit world to our living world and “most” men, tend to forget that. They think they can f**k everyone they see, thinking that they own them. I just have to remember that incident earlier and I felt already disgusted. His filthy hands ripping my clothes apart, my everyday clothes that I can’t just easily replace for they are too expensive, tossing aside like a rag doll. In addition, his filthy stinky breath and lips striving across my fair skin and tainting them with imaginary filth that I can never truly wash off, even if I were to stay under a waterfall for the rest of the day.

“Hello again!”, a male voice said waking me from my inner thoughts, knocking me back to reality.

“Oh hello Charmer”, I replied.

“Had any luck today selling any of your fantastic goods?”, he asked looking at me from under his hood with his green eyes. I shook my head, “No, only that one lovely lady with her husband next to the blacksmith.

“That is all? With the winter rapidly approaching?”, he asked. He removed his hood and revealed his rather skinny facial appearance. He frowned a little and rubbed his chin, “That is pretty unusual for no one else around here to buy winter clothes from you.” I shrugged, “You asked that specific same question for the last few years since we’ve met.”

“Ah! But you see my dear…”, he began lifting his finger upwards, “This year it will be the grandiose winter that we have ever seen!”

I chuckled a little, “You said that last year and there were only a few inches of snow that have covered here. The wind was merciful that year.”

“Ah yes”, he added, “But not this winter my dear. What you have produced so far will merely keep the Royal Family warm, but not the poor people like you and me.”

“Figures”, I said sighing. I saw him smiling at me.

“So! How much do you want for the whole cart?”, he asked me looking at me.

“Well what is your offer?”, I asked.

“I was thinking of giving you at least one hundred gold pieces…”

“100?”, I asked. I peered over to my wagon and thought back of what I had brought with me today. A few blankets, which I sold one for forty gold pieces was the more expensive one, whilst the others were worth at least 10 to 20 gold pieces. The sweaters and scarfs were at least 5 �" 10 gold pieces worth but asking for 100 gold pieces for the whole cart? He saw me hesitating and he shrugged, “I know just having one hundred for handcrafted items that deem a very good purpose is less than what you have expected, but that is the least thing I can do.”

I sighed, “If you offered 150 gold pieces, I would have accepted it, for it was the minimum amount I was expecting from you…” I admitted looking at him.

“150?”, he asked lifting an eyebrow.

“Didn’t you say in the far North how wonderful my products were?”, I asked with a smirk.

He laughed in response, “You heard about that huh?” I nodded, “Yeah, there were some interesting tales from the storytellers. ‘The Green Cloaked Man With Overprizing Handcrafted Items.’ for one.” The Charmer gritted his teeth, “I might be charging a little too much for your items, but fairly. I know how much time and resources you used to create something that simple to ensure people’s safety against the bitter cold. The only thing I added was a small percentage of profit.”

“Mhm and you think I won’t find out that you might been selling my products twice as much than I usual do?”

“I do buy it from you for a fair price”, he said worryingly.

“Yeah, a lower price than what you sell to the customers”, I said sighing, “Adding to that, spreading stories about how great my products are yet you keep the profits to yourself.”

I crossed my arms, “I am not scolding you, but you do see the point I am trying to make.”

He sighed and rubbed his forehead nodding, “You are right. I was selfish and you have every right to that profit as I do.”

“You are lucky”, I began, “You can travel and see the world. Whilst I, I am stuck here in this little town crocheting items against the bitter cold or stuffed animals for children.”

“Alright”, he began, “I will give you 200 gold pieces and on top of that, you can choose 5 items from my own wagon in exchange for all of your products. Would that suffice?”

I smiled a little, “I think that will be alright to do.” He stretched out his hand, “We shake on it as a fair trade made by friends.” I extended my own hand and grasped his hand as we shook, “Agreed.”

At the end of the day, I chose 5 items from his wagon. 5 useful ones at that. He had a large collection of unused colored wool that would definitely help me with the problem of my resources for crocheting and knitting. Two outfits that was rather really nice to wear on certain occasions. In addition to that, I had some seeds for my farm and a few food items to bring home with me, so I would be well off for the next few days. I thanked the Charmer and went on my way home with the damned cart.

I walked down the main road pulling my cart along with the night rapidly approaching. I decided to take a break for a minute or two, which usually one does not do. The time of the night approaching, usually is a dangerous time for young women and men. There were packs of wolves lurking around and there has been incidents where a child was taken and never seen again. Yes, children. Where unsupervised parents letting their children play in the forest even after dawn. I was truly not surprised if the children would be missing. Not to sound cruel or anything, but it could have been prevented. It had to take a few children for parents to finally take notice that it is too dangerous after dawn. I sighed placing my hands on either side of the handles and began to pull my cart along the road again. The one thing that did surprised me was why I have not become a buff woman yet. I chuckled a little in my mind. With me dragging this cart around already for a year or two, it amazed me that I was just as skinny as before.

I finally saw my little cottage in the distance. I smiled and thought to myself, ‘At least now I can relax for a few days and crochet or knit something useful.” Suddenly my attention was caught by a glistening spark in the corner of my right eye. I immediately turned my head to look, but the spark was no longer there. I frowned a little for I had hoped to identify it. I shrugged and thought it might have been a soldier doing his patrols.

I finally arrived at my cottage and pulled the cart near the shed. The cottage itself was rather large for a single person such as I. There are a lot of chores that need to be done if I want to maintain it. For instance, since there is a small vegetable garden in the backyard with a well, I have to maintain it so I can grow my potatoes and tomatoes. The well I have to check every two or three days to see if it is still clean. Sometimes I caught a few dead animals in the bucket that had fallen in and drowned. Last week I found a small dead red squirrel. I couldn’t obviously drink the water for a few days, since it was contaminated, so I used it for my plants. After a few days when I would get water, I would boil the water for tea and then everything was alright. Beside the cottage was a small shed where it kept my tools and logs dry. Sometimes I had to fix one of the boards to make sure no water dripped in.

I grabbed a few logs from the pile and walked inside my cottage. I pushed the door open and I couldn’t believe my eyes. My entire house was complete mess. All the papers I used to write my journals, my observations and stories were scattered around on the ground with the ink spilled near the fire place. My desk was placed on its side. My books and journals were thrown around the place and my clothes were laying everywhere you usually do not expect clothes to hang around like that. I almost dropped the logs I had brought in when I saw the sudden chaos. I sighed in agitation.

‘Now I have more to clean up…’, I thought to myself.

I closed the door behind me and locked it. I walked over to the windows to see if they were broken, yet there was no crack or forced entry. I scratched the side of my head in confusion. How is it possible for the criminal to come into the house when the door was locked and the windows shut? It would have been unlikely for Santa Clause to come in for an early Christmas visit.

I placed the logs of wood on a rack near the fireplace before I wandered towards my fallen friend who lay there on its side. I set him back to his original state and began to pick up my books, paper and journals setting them back to their places. I was a little concerned that something was stolen, but it seemed nothing was out of place, except for the whole mess that is.

‘Who would just cause a chaos and not take anything?’, I mumbled to myself. Suddenly, my attention turned to a sound in my bedroom. I slowly walked up to the small hallway that led to the bedroom. The first thing I grabbed that leaned against the wall was my grandmother’s hoe. I pushed the door open with the end of it. There I could not believe my eyes. The sheets of my bed was lying there on the ground and a small bulge visibly moved around. I grasped the tool rather firmly with both of my hands as I walked up to the bedsheets. The small bulge began to move towards me as I swung the tool at it. It whimpered in pain as the iron end hit what may could be its head.

I leaned down and grabbed an end of the sheets and pulled it towards me. There, laying on the ground curled up was a small bird larger than a cat. Its feathers were black as soot and its yellow eyes peered up at me. Any wise person would have struck the creature till it lay motionlessly on the ground so that it doesn’t have the chance to grow up to a large ferocious monster, but something inside of me snapped. Out of instinct, I tossed the tool aside and fell down on my knees before the small creature. It felt like I was under some kind of spell. The beauty of this creature was breathtaking. Even though black as soot, the feathers glistened like dark sapphire.

I knew I might have hurt the little creature and it was certainly afraid, but it showed some curiosity towards me. It lifted its little head and began to sniff the scents in the air. It stared right into my eyes as it did so. I saw myself in its eyes before it turned its direction to a noise outside. I immediately followed its gaze and saw something move near the window. Without warning, the small hatchling leaped onto the dresser that stood under the window sill trying to find a way out. For a moment there I feared that it may be its mother or worst, its father. I gulped and began to think of a plan to make sure this creature was reunited with its family. I eyed on the bedsheet and grabbed two ends of it. I approached the creature slowly lifting the sheet closer and dragging it across the wooden flooring. The small bird turned its head to look at me. I could tell he wasn’t all that pleased to see the sheet and to see me entering its comfort zone, for it began to leap off the dresser. I had to be quick but since the sheet was large enough, it landed on top of the young flying beast. I dived immediately to grab the bulge and carried it slowly outside my bedroom. I must admit that even for a small baby hatchling, it was strong enough to rip through some of my sheet with its small talons.

“Alright!”, I gasped walking with it as fast I could to the entrance door. I tried to open the door with my foot for I was not sure what would happen if I let one hand go from the sheet since the creature was struggling rather aggressively. Incapable to open the door with my foot, I extended my right hand and opened the door. I had to ensure that the tips of the sheet were held firmly in my left hand. I exited my safe house and took a few steps down the small path.

“Okay little one”, I said placing the sheet down on the ground gently and let go of the tips. I was sure, I couldn’t use that bedsheet anymore. It was torn. I sighed and mumbled, “You are making me buy a new bedsheet tomorrow.”

The small bird crawled out the sheets and began to run into the forest to the right of my cottage. For one moment I wanted to stop and prevent it from being attacked and hunted down by predators, but I “assumed” at that time wrongly, for there were no parents for it to return to.

Watching the small creature disappearing out of sight, I snatched my sheet off the ground and turned to walk back in my cottage when suddenly my attention was caught by a distressed sound deeper within the forest.

“Right”, I said out loud tossing the bedsheet over a fence near the door as I began to walk to the direction where I saw the creature last.

‘Great’, I thought to myself as I wandered deeper into the forest, ‘You entered the forest at night with no weapon.’ I shook my head in frustration and searched for a large branch that I could use for the time being. My fear began to boil within me as I no longer dared to take another step. ‘That bird can take care of itself’, I told to myself trying to comfort and reassure myself knowing that these type of monsters could take down castles and kill hundreds of soldiers. With that thought, I turned to walk back to my cottage but something held me back from returning to my comfortable home.

‘God, I am going to get myself killed here running after a bird, I told to myself gritting my teeth. I turned around and began to wander further deeper into the forest. I heard a pack of wolves howl in the distance which I could tell were at least far enough away from me.

I heard a small yelping sound coming from the left hand side of me which pulled me towards the site. I saw there the creature laying on the ground curled up in fear. A large group of bandits stood in front facing it with their weapons drawn. I rubbed the temples on my forehead with my fingertips as I was confused.

‘Yes, let me recap for you. I am standing in the middle of the night near a clearing where I see a bird being surrounded by a horde of bandits. Either I have fainted out of the blue when I arrived at home, or I was drugged by the Charmer or this…’, I paused and shook my head, ‘This can’t be real.’

I decided to hide behind what seemed to be a blackberry bush. I had to make sure I didn’t cut myself with the terrible thorns. I decided to observe the situation rather closely as the only thing I saw the scenery. Soon one of my first questions were answered.

They approached the creature with eagerness. I could even hear them spit out commands to have it come with them. One of them had a large leather bag. He slowly approached the poor creature which was shivering in fear.

I began to worry for the bird even though I do not know how it slipped into my cottage, but at least I know why. I thought back what my father would’ve done. I remember him before he left for war, me standing in the doorway as a wee little girl. He knelt down before me in his silver iron suit and placed a firm hand on my shoulder. He looked at me with his beautiful blue greyish eyes and said, “Your time certainly will come to a point where people will admire you, even though it may appear in first impressions as alien. Whatever you want do, however, is absolutely up to you how you proceed in life, but you will have to bear every inch of responsibility if it may or may not be to your advantage.”

During my years of growing up to be a young adult, I kept those words very close to my heart and soul. It actually kind of brought an inspiration in my life when I feel down. It certainly fills my consciousness with determination of wanting to help that small baby dragon, even though I wouldn’t know what the consequences would be for doing so.

As I looked over to see what other progress has been made, from out of nowhere, a few of the bandits fell down forwards with an arrow stuck in the back of their necks. The leader turned around only to be confronted what seemed like a young woman in her mid-twenties holding a beautiful elm bow, but I wasn’t precisely sure. I saw her leaping into the sky with such elegance as she flipped over the bandit leader and leg-sweep him. A male with black hair and dark clothing seem to come from the depths of the forest. He went straight towards the bird and picked it up whilst the woman was battling the leader one versus one.

Suddenly, a blade was pressed against my throat. I gulped as I heard a voice whispering in my ear to stand up and walk towards the open field.

“Drop your weapon!”, the man said who held me close to his chest with the blade firmly pressing against my skin. The woman halted her attack whilst looking directly at me. The leader dashed in and kneed the woman in the gut. She cringed a bit and stumbled back.

“Drop your weapon otherwise I will cut this pretty throat of this peasant girl”, the man said firmly grasping me tighter.

‘Girl?!’, I exclaimed in my mind, ‘Peasant?!’ I frowned and clutched my fist for a minute.

I saw how the woman before me dropped her bow. It landed on the ground with a thud as she glared over to the man and me. The leader nodded and smirked, “Not so tough now, huh?” Silence filled between us and tension began to rise. I peered over in the surrounding area for a minute. I could have sworn that guy who picked up the bird was here not long ago. I wondered where they had gone.

“It wouldn’t have to be this way, but that Thunderbird baby will be coming with us!”, the leader said chuckling in amusement.

“Funny. It is clear you do not pay attention to your surroundings, human”, the woman said looking at the other male in the corner of her eyes. I watched as he gasped as he saw that his objective had vanished.

“But that… That is not possible!”, he exclaimed, “He is going to kill me!”

“As I am going to kill you!”, the woman said as she tossed a small knife from her sleeve at the leader. I took that moment to elbow the man behind me in his stomach, causing him to let go of me for a moment. He whimpered in pain before he struck me across the head. I stumbled towards the ground hard. My eyes flashed before my eyes for a moment. I heard footsteps and grunting of a male’s voice. Soon I felt gentle hands across my shoulders and heard the woman’s voice before my conscious mind fell into darkness.