Tears of Flame

Chapter 1

  It was the middle of the night when piercing screams of woman were heard. As the screams were overlapped by the the cries of a baby that echoed through the village. The baby's name was Arretez Marlowe, son of a wealthy nobleman and a poor scullery maid in the king's castle. The union of these two people would bring great hardship for Arretez.

As he grew up he learned his mother's trade and how to wield a short sword. The sword he used was a gift from his father on his 14th birthday. On this day, however, the king had found about the marriage of Arretez's parents. A decision that will change Arretez's life for the worst.

The next day Arretez's mother was dragged out of house. Her screams had forced Arretez to rush out of the house, only to witness her head rolling in the dirt with a permanent expression of horror. It was then his father was also being forced out of the house that made burning tears of anger stream down Arretez's face. He was engulfed with so much sadness and anger, that he barely noticed that a guard was dragging him away towards the castle dungeons along with his father.

His father was sentenced to hang. Sadly they couldn't speak to each other before a guard came out and grabbed Arretez's arm and dragged him to the village square where they held public hangings. As people started gathering, some more guards were pushing a man with a sack over his face, his father. They were stringing him up to the noose. He was filled with so much rage, that his knuckles turned pure white. Once they tightened the noose they signaled the executioner to pull the lever that will send his father to be nothing more than a strung up corpse. Once they made sure he was dead, a guard took him back to the castle.

After that ordeal that left Arretez crushed, he was sent to work for the king until he became of age. He worked and worked, making futile attempts to force the horrid images of his dead parents out of his head. Attempting to forget the pain that slowly tortures him, but as there was sadness there was anger. Anger like a white hot star, that burns in his soul waiting for his chance to have revenge.

For four long years he worked until the king figured Arretez forgot the mere incident of his parents deaths. He was gravely mistaken. When Arretez turned 18 he was finally released. He decided to go to his childhood home, when he walked through the slightly moldy door, it was almost the same. He decided to go to the place that used to be his bedroom. He grabbed his short sword before noticing that his father's sword was there as well, he grabbed that and walked outside. He wanted to go to the forest since there was nothing better to do. In this forest it was rumored there were ghosts, ghouls, and a cannibalistic hermit. Arretez explored the forest only to find these 'ghosts' and 'ghouls' were merely hanging skeletons and sheets covered in mud and dried rodent blood.

The farther he went the more he was reminded of the myth that a cannibalistic hermit lived in the center of the forest. After a few hours he started to relax when he heard the blood curdling screams of an unknown beast, he drew his father's sword. When he suddenly heard the thwack of a bow chord hitting an arm guard. After a brief moment he felt the arrow hit him in his left calf. At first he felt just pressure but right after that a pain like nothing he has felt before shot through his calf. He slowly fell as he lost consciousness.

He woke with the pain his calf still there, but not as severely. There was short middle aged man sitting across from him. He had medium length blonde hair and a beard, he had a hood on as well. Arretez was wondering where he was and why was this strange man was staring at him, the man reminded him of someone. When the man saw that he was awake he said "My name is Will McDonally."

His voice was stern but calming. Arrêtez looked at the man not believing that the famous Will McDonally was just sitting across from him.

"No you're not." I weakly laughed in disbelief. Legend has it that Will McDonally was a master archer that defeated a whole army with just his bow and a quiver of arrows. Arrêtez could not believe someone so famous would live in the forest all by himself.

"Why do you think that ?" said Will.