Chapter 1

Hello friends! I am going to try and start posting things on here again so to start I thought I would post this first chapter of a story idea I have that I wrote in the spring. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

The trotting horse beneath Sarah was comforting enough to take the slight edge off her nerves. She hated rounds, and everything to do with them. Taking one hand off the reins, she wiped her sweaty palm on the inside of the cloak.

“Uh oh, someone’s nervous,” Leila said. Sarah looked at her friend and shot her a glare. “You would think by this point you would be used to talking to people.”

Sarah shook her head at Leila’s teasing smile and turned her attention back to the path in front of her. It was a beautiful day out. The leafy oaks of the forest around them shaded the traveling knights from the midday sun as they rode along the dirt path. Sarah could see blue jays and finches flitting in between trees and could hear their songs. Sometimes she wished she could fly away from her problems like the birds but knew her singing voice was no match for their melodies.

Sarah loved being a Knight and serving her Queen-in fact her one dream would be to serve on the Queen’s personal guard. Serving in the royal ranks was fine, but not as rewarding as getting to serve the Queen herself. Ever since Sarah could walk, she had been full of a restless energy that ached to be a part of something bigger than herself. Pair that with the gift of a wooden sword from her older brother, and Sarah was destined for Knighthood. Except for the slight downside that Knights were required to go out and talk to the people of the kingdom. Sarah’s heart started racing and she could feel the panic rising at just the thought of speaking to a crowd of townspeople. Making friends and small connection was fine, great even. But gather more than ten people in a room and Sarah was sure to pass out.

The sudden stopping of her horse reminded Sarah that she was in fact on duty and should be more alert then she was currently acting. Leila’s horse had also halted, as well as the rest of their crew. A shared glance with Leila had both Knights listening and surveying their surroundings.

A small boy walked out from behind some bushes on the side of the path. Most people, when facing a small band of the Queen’s Knights, did not dare to get in the way of the crown’s business. This boy, however, was staring at Sarah and her companions with a look of pure awe on his face, but Sarah could also see tear streaks tracking through the dirt on his face.

“Woah,” the boy said. “Are you real Knights?”

Sarah could not help but smile at the curiosity of the boy. Sarah dismounted and was glad for the relief from riding as her companions surveyed their surroundings to make sure the boy was not the beginning of a trap. Her legs stretched out and the ache in her back started to ease up a little bit.

“We are indeed real Knights,” Sarah said. She smiled down at the boy. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Jacob—do you get to ride horses every day?”

“Depends on the day. If we are doing business for the Queen, like now, we ride all day for a week or so.” Sarah watched as the boy walked closer to the horses, the opposite direction of where she was trying to send him. Surprisingly, her horse did not react to the stranger as it normally did. Maybe because the stranger was a seemingly, unthreatening child. Jacob reached out his hand as if to pet the horse, but Sarah tried to step in before he could.

“It’s probably not a good idea to pet him,” Sarah said. Jacob chose not to listen to her and instead pet the horse on its neck, or as close to its neck as Jacob could reach. Sarah shook her head as he continued to pet the horse unbothered by the fact that he stopped a group of Knights in their path. The look on his face was so full of emotion that it even took Sarah a moment to remember what she was supposed to be doing. She almost felt bad for the kid but quickly shoved those thoughts away. She did not have time to be helping this kid with whatever his problem was.

“Alright, well we should get going.” Sarah tried to nudge the boy back into the forest from the direction he came. “You should head home before your parents call us to find you.” Attempting to usher him away only encouraged him to cling to her leg. Sarah watched as fresh tears started falling down his face.

“No, please,” Jacob said. “You have to help me.” Sarah could not help but feel a little sad for this kid. She wanted to help but knew she did not have time as they needed to get to the next town by noon to deliver the Queen’s report. Gently pulling him off of her she nudged him to the side of the dirt road.

“I’m sorry but we are on a tight schedule,” Sarah said. “Maybe someone in town can help you?”

Sarah quickly mounted her horse waiting with the other Knights and turned to face where Jacob stood by the bushes. Jacob looked a little desperate and tried to speak before he was interrupted by Sarah’s second.

“But it’s about my—”

“We need to go,” Lillian said with a meaningful look at Sarah. Sarah took the hint and gave Jacob one last look before urging her horse on. She hoped the boy found help from someone who was not on a tight schedule.

Moving along, the rolling, green hills of the countryside reminded Sarah of childhood summers spent battling with the neighbor’s kid, Henry, using their wooden swords in the shade of the forest. How simple those times were, when the only ones who could hear her decrees were Henry and the forest wildlife. Yet here she was today, growing increasingly sweatier the closer they got to their destination. Jacob kept appearing in her mind, but she pushed those thoughts away. Being distracted would not help anyone, least of all herself.

The town of Wellspring was one of Sarah’s favorite towns to visit. It was small, which meant less people, but was also on the edge of the largest lake in the kingdom. She grew up next to this lake on one of the other sides, but still had a soft spot in her heart for any town along the edge of the lake. Looking down from the top of the hill, she could see the town backed by the lake with mountains in the distance. The clear blue of the lake never ceased to amaze her and was the product of many years of stiff legislation concerning pollution, one of the things that made Sarah proud to serve her queen. Little did she know the Queen preserved the lakes for different reasons.

Sooner than Sarah would have liked, they were arriving at the entrance of Wellspring. Now that it felt like buckets of water had been poured over her, it was time to give the annual report and reassure the citizens their Queen was working for the success of people like them and not just for her own gains. She had heard of a little bit of dissent among the people of the kingdom and hoped she would not have to deal with any bothersome people today. The Queen had better things to do than deal with traitors. They had not heard anything from Wellspring in a month so it might turn out okay. Better to get his over with and move on to the next town.

At the rear of the group of Knights, unbeknownst to Sarah, Jacob had managed to follow from a distance watching the slow procession of the Knights enjoying the spring weather while on the way to fulfill their duties. Jacob longed to be a Knight. Especially since his mom was just killed, his only dream in life was to join the ranks of the defenders of their kingdom. He wanted to be able to fight back and hurt the people who hurt his mom. The only problem was the small fact that only girls could join the Queen’s rank. Maybe one day the law would change. Until then, his next best idea was to follow the Knights until they listened to him and took him under his wing. He already tried speaking to them once, but they ignored him. Maybe Knights were not that cool at all. He would have to make sure he was a better Knight than them and would always help children when they asked for it. Maybe he could ask again since they were heading to the closest town to him. They would have to listen to them, he would make sure of it.

Meanwhile, Sarah had made it to the town’s center where the small stage stood just for their report. The people here were like family to her so she should not be nervous. Yet she could not stop her hands from shaking or her stomach from feeling like it was going to expel everything she didn’t eat for lunch. Deep breaths. Ten minutes. That was all the time it took before she could be hiding in her room at their usual staying place.

Jacob found a place to hide in the crowds of people so he wouldn’t be seen but where he could still watch the Knights. Sarah and Leila were walking up onto the stairs now, followed by their other three companions, their armor reflecting the midday sun, as some of the local townspeople took care of their horses. Jacob thought they must be very hot wearing all those layers.

As Sarah stepped onto the stage, she walked up to the front so that the people could hear her best. She was tasked with giving the opening remarks, telling the people how much they were cared for and all that, and then Leila and Lillian would take over and talk about the infrastructure such as taxes and the progress of the kingdom.

Sarah stood and looked out to all the faces looking up at her. They all looked annoyed to be there, mothers were wrangling children to sit still while fathers glared out at the Knights. There was a tense energy in the air, and it made her feel a little on edge. Brushing it off as nothing, Sarah spoke her part. It was rather short, and she has had it all memorized for months so it was over before she knew it. She stepped back and let Leila and Lillian carry the rest of the report.

Midway through Sarah noticed movement at the back of the crowd. Glancing toward her two companions standing next to her, she saw that they had also noticed it. At that moment, someone in the front decided to speak up.

“Is it true that most of our tax dollars are just going to the Queen’s personal fund?” one of the townspeople asked. A couple other people chimed in in agreement with what the person said. It made Sarah so mad to think people thought of her Queen like this. Sarah was proud to serve Her Majesty and was proud of everything she was doing for her country. It was probably a good thing that Sarah was not having to deal with the crowd at this moment. Leila and Lillian brushed off the question and moved on to the next part of the report. But the people were not satisfied.

The crowd descended into chaos as they started yelling over each other for the Knights to hear their questions and opinions. Sarah jumped off the back of the stage and turned to go make sure the crowd did not descend into any violence. As she started running, she saw Jacob dodging people and running straight at her.

“Jacob! What are you doing?” Sarah yelled at him. He caught up to her gasping for breath.

“I told you—I need your help,” He said. “I was trying to get your attention while you were on the stage, but you did not see me.”

“Like I said, I would love to help but I am a little busy right now,” Sarah said. She did not understand why this kid could not take a hint. At that moment, a man in the crowd attempted to rush the stage urged on by the yelling of the crowd. Sarah really needed to get back up there but this kid would not leave her alone.

“Please, you have to listen to me,” Jacob said. He was now crying fresh tears and Sarah once again could not help but feel bad for the kid. The other Knights were trying to speak to the crowd with no avail. They decided to let the local law enforcement take over and head back to the stables. Well, Sarah guessed it would not make her a terrible person if she made sure Jacob was safe.

“Alright, let’s get you out of here,” she said, ushering Jacob into the nearest building which happened to be a small diner. Thankfully, it was empty because most of the town was outside. Sarah did not what happened. One moment everything was going fine, and the next the crowd was yelling at them. She would have gladly fought them back, but it would not have left a good mark on the Knight’s reputation. Better to let someone else do the dirty work here and save her sword for true enemies of the crown. Fighting was infinitely better than talking to people, but she would have to wait her turn.

Jacob sat down at a table leaving Sarah no choice but to follow suit. She sat down and was grateful for the relief from standing and riding. When even was the last time she had sat down to relax? Not that she was relaxing now—she needed to find out what Jacob’s problem was and go find the rest of her crew.

“Okay kid, what’s going on,” she asked.

“You have to find the bandits that killed my mom,” Jacob said. “They burnt our farm and took her away from me.”

“Oh, well the local knights should be able to help you with that. We don’t have a lot of time to go chase down every bandit in the kingdom,” Sarah said. She could see Jacob was distraught, but she knew she could not help him. The Knights were on a very strict schedule.

“No, you don’t understand,” Jacob cried. “You have to chase after these bandits.”

“And why is that?” Sarah asked. Her patience was running a little thin with this kid. She really needed to go but his next words had her full attention and absolute willingness to help.

“I overheard them talking—I think they are trying to kill the Queen.”