Knightingale [THE FIRST DRAFT.]

CHAPTER ONE

"In which we meet our heroes 50 years later."

[ THIS BOOK is available illustrated on my KOFI @/2ndstarart ]

A village lay just outside of Eyocahn's palace grounds, it didn't have a name - not many of them did. Yet this village is where we start our story, at dusk, in a small bakery housing two young girls.

The dwelling of stone and wood was, albeit small, but just enough for its residents; with a spacious room downstairs that held an oven of ember and flame, and rickety shelves that housed a multitude of shiny trinkets that its eldest resident procured. Counters lined the walls of the room, and a wooden island in the middle, covered in flour. The cause of the mess was found to be Mallory, a 16-year-old girl, currently kneading her third loaf of bread of the evening.

Another young girl leant on the island counter, the flour a continuous inch away from where she rested, as if it were scared her pristine dress, which was a wise decision. Edie laid her chin on her perfectly clean palm, yawning as she watched the monotony that her best friend was currently engulfed in. Her eyes darted across the room, landing on an open letter that lay near the front door, a bright red royal seal across the front of it, ripped in half by its recipient.

"You know, I reckon they may give you a higher status if you told the palace what you can do." The girl pushed before blowing at her ginger ringlets that had escaped their bindings and cascaded down her face after a long day, the small dainty flower in her hair had started to wilt. Mallory huffed in a most annoyed tone, kneading the dough into the table harder than she did before. She hated the palace.

Suddenly and without warning, a young boy entered the room, throwing his raggedy brown bag to the floor before slamming the door shut and rattling the house along with it. There stood Adric, with his shoulder-length, choppy hair pushed back by a long cloth tied at the nape of his neck, shoulders hunched as he slumped in on himself. "If she did do that, we'd be in danger of having more money." He mumbled sarcastically. He loved the palace.

He was a couple of years younger than his sister, and it showed, with the same brown skin, dark eyes, almost-black hair and splattering of freckles and beauty spots across their otherwise plain faces, you would swear they were twins. Yet over the years Mallory had started showing an age much older than she was, taking on the role of the parent since the age of 13, took its toll on her. Why she was granted this position at such a young age is not an answer that is ready to be explained, perhaps it never would, but trust me, reader, for their tale is not all mystery.

"We've been over this Adric," Mallory started, picking up the newly formed loaf, before placing it in a small wicker basket and covered with a cloth, to be dealt with in a few hours. "I'm not a performing monkey for a crowd of people who don't care about us!" She shouted, to be heard over the clapping of her hands as she got rid of the excess flour.

Edie waved the air in front of her face as she stepped away from the powdery dust cloud now forming, a glint in her eye and a smile on her face as she sympathised, "You won't be a performing monkey." She stretched forward to place a supporting hand on her friend's shoulder, coughing slightly. Adric rolled his eyes. "Just a performing bird." She continued, earning a face full of flour on her new gown in response; the culprit exhibiting a rather annoyed, yet good-natured smirk.

Mallory was one of the kingdom's 'blessed,' a magpie to be exact. It was no secret, nothing in their village was, so when a magpie with a wicker basket of goods hanging off their beak came to your door, all knew it was Mallory. She didn't trust the royals and she didn't quite know why. I suppose, like many people, she believed they knew more about Seraphina and the cursed girls than they led on.

"Oh, but it would be so hard to upstage the delightful Edie Fellowes." She retorts, wiping her hands on her short, white apron to rid the flour once again. The ginger across from her curtseyed, lifting up her heavy skirt to do so. Adric rolled his eyes as his sister started clapping, he found that Edie often dressed much older and richer than she ought to, and acted as such; he found her incredibly annoying,

"She certainly gives the knights a performance." He pushed himself away from the wall in which he had previously been slumped, lifting a bent hand to his temple as he mimicked the girl in jest, "Woe is me If only a big strong knight would -" Smack! He was in the middle of clasping his hands to his cheek when a hard ball of flour exploded on his face, luckily his eyes were closed so that when he opened them the flour rested softly on his eyelashes. He wasn't so lucky with his mouth.

Whilst Adric spat out wet clumps, Edie let out a loud chortle, Mallory wiping the girl's hands with a cloth hand towel before it sunk in how dirty they were now. "Big strong knight, huh? Wouldn't find one in this house." The ginger continued to laugh.

Adric's face boiled, balling his fists as they started to blend in with the white powder with his force. His eyes dart to the island counter, more specifically the bowl of flour that sat conveniently on its edge. Edie noticed. Mallory noticed.

In the same instance, Edie flung her arms in front of her face and Adric lunged for the bowl, however, his body crashed against the counter and his arm outstretched across the wooden top, no bowl of flour in sight. Edie lowered her guard as Adric snapped his head to the left at Mallory, a fury in his eye - after he took the time to winch at his pain for a few seconds of course. There stood his sister, the large bowl in her hands as she made her way across to the far side of the kitchen.

"Okay, you two. I would like to use some of this flour." She placed the bowl on a high cupboard, behind a small curtain, knowing Adric was too small to reach it. The girl chuckled as she caught Edie sticking out her tongue at the boy through the corner of her eye.

Adric too caught this, ready to lunge at the girl before, once again, something hit his face. This time it was the small hand cloth that Mallory had used prior. "Go and clean yourself up."

"But you started-" He started to argue, for it was Mallory who threw the first stone, so to speak.

"Go on." She insisted, almost pushing him towards the rickety stairs.

"I'm going. I'm going." He mumbled, slinging the towel over his shoulder as he trudged up towards the washroom.

Mallory waited for the door to shut upstairs before turning to Edie, a fire lit in her dark eyes. "He almost heard you!" Edie was taken aback, thinking for a moment about what on earth she was talking about, and her face showed as such. "They may give you a higher status if you tell the palace what you can do." Mallory mimicked the girl, lowering her voice so as to not be heard through the thin floor.

"Oh, come on, he wasn't even listening." Edie rolled her eyes, pursing her lips slightly in nonchalance. "He never listens to me anyway." She leant on the wall, crossing her arms, almost sulking.

Mallory softened her gaze, knowing that Edie very much liked to be listened to. "Maybe if you were nicer to him." She reasoned, cleaning up her workspace to begin preparing jams and jellies for her deliveries in the morning. Edie scoffed in response, standing up straight once again, making sure to brush out any and all wrinkles in her dress before coming to help her.

As she moved the basket of dough to the side she teased, "Then he would know your dirty little secret." Mallory smiled.

Truth be told, Edie quite liked Adric; she found him incredibly intriguing.