The Sword of Dreams

Chapter 1

I had to find Zoe. This had gone on long enough. It was Sunday, and fifteen years since her father was captured. He hadn’t told them in all of that time where the magical sword was and it didn’t seem like he was going to tell the prince anytime soon. His thugs had failed miserably on the day that they captured him, and in a fit of rage he had killed them both. So, not even being able to track back to John house, to find the sword, the prince had to now rely on the old man to provide him information. John was so resilient, through years of practicing that he was able to withstand their daily torture. Once the prince realised they weren’t going to get any information out of him, the torture became a weekly event, but still nothing. The prince had aged into a tired and impatient. He was trying to break the old man but he had failed. It was only a matter of time before I went down in the morning to give him breakfast, to find his head on the floor. I had developed a sense of trust with John, and after each time I took him food, I lingered and asked him a few questions. He hesitated at first, but after awhile of my longing stares, and bringing him food and water, he relaxed and we would talk. Not of anything that would be of any use to the prince, I knew that would be too dangerous for me and him also, we talked of the woods, and the animals and the beauty that surrounded his sad imprisonment. I began to talk of the different seasons, to make him feel connected to something.

One morning as he was eating his porridge with honey for breakfast, he said that I reminded him of his daughter. My eyes flickered to him quickly for I hadn’t heard this information before. His eyes looked tired, and not from a lack of sleep. It was at this moment I realised I had to at least try and do something for John. Either way, he was going to be leaving this dungeon soon, and without my help, it was looking more like dead.

I didn’t say anything to him then, he seemed a million miles away anyway. Over the next couple of days I made arrangements. My lousy job as a servant would soon be over, but I didn’t care.

I would look out of my window every dusk, with such longing for the freedom of the woods that I knew this was going to be my chance.

I packed my belongings into a sack and then realised that everything I would need I either had on, or could find easily in the woods. My mother had given me a ring before she died a few years ago which I have never taken off. Nothing else mattered.

That night I snuck John enough food to last him a few days and plenty of water. It had been weeks since he had suffered at the hands of the prince and his strong guards, and I knew John was still strong to withstand it. He was napping when I went downstairs and I placed the tray on his bed table. The aroma awoke him, and his eyes opened. As soon as he had blinked a few times, adjusting to the candle I’d just lit, I asked him “You have to tell me where your daughter is. I’ve left you enough food and water for a week.’ My eyes were fierce and John sat up.

“No. You mustn’t bring her here, it will be more dangerous than you think,” he said.

“I don’t care. I have to at least try. I’m sick of seeing your sad face everyday and if she is anything like you, she will come. If she has worked out how powerful that damned sword is, and it is indeed as powerful as they all say, then she will really have the upper hand,” I said.

He pondered this for a second.

“But it is extremely selfish of me to even want such a thing,” he whispered.

I had to push. “You have many more years in you John, but not if we don’t do anything. Your daughter is eighteen or nineteen right?”

He nodded.

“Wouldn’t you give everything to see her again?” I said.

He sighed and then simply said, “Her name is Zoe. She lives in a shack hidden by overgrowth about 30 miles directly east. A huge willow tree marks a hidden path. You only realise it is there if you are looking.”

I was standing.

“I’d give my life to see her again.”

I was already out the door.