Savoirs

Serena

The night was cold and the moon hid behind clouds. I was walking towards my home when the knights had passed through. They were heading towards the forest for some reason and then three more passed by one of which had an arrow protruding from his shoulder. The man groaned and his companion's had shared troubled looks. They had rode past quietly and I had hid in the shadows. Women weren't supposed to be out alone but I had needed to go home alone tonight. There was troubling gossip through out the day that the power of light had returned. In many villages there was the presence of magic. Many grew up seeing people creating fire or making water float or even seeing someone be able to make the land do their will, like flatten or create hills or sometimes mountains. 

Of course there were other, rarer powers but those people tried to hide. I was one of the lucky few who had powers that you didn't need to use at all really. I was a much better fighter than anyone in this kingdom which was a pretty good accomplishment but I had a secret. I had the power to predict what was going to happen next. I had found out about it when I was little and my father had been yelling at my mother. It was a flash of light accompanied by a scene that was slightly transparent of my mother standing to walk away and my father grabbing her arm, spinning her around and slapping her. Then another flash of light and I watched as the scene played out again and I had run out of the house and into the woods crying. From then on I had hidden my power and practiced using it freely so I wouldn't have the random flashes of events happening to deal with. Now I was hurrying up my stone walk and into my home that I shared with a few other girls from the tavern. Lily was lounging in a chair and Mary was in her room with her door closed. Lily looked up and smiled at me.

"Mary brought home a boy." She slurred and giggled. I sighed and looked at her door wondering if I should intervene. "He was handsome. And his smile was amazing." She informed me. I knew Mary would be fine, we all brought home someone on occasion but Lily was a completely different story. I didn't need magic to determine that she was drunk off her ass. I put one of her arms around my shoulders and hauled her to her feet. She giggled and I half carried, half dragged her to her room and laid her on her bed. She giggled and I walked out of the room, closing the door behind me and walked into mine and fell onto the bed. It had been a long night and I was ready to get some rest. 

I was about to fall asleep when I heard something downstairs crash. I ran out of the room and down the stairs, worrying that Lily had gotten up and went back downstairs and had fallen. When I got down there I stopped dead in my tracks. Mary threw her door open and I heard Lily fall out of her bed with a thump upstairs. The guards stared at the two of us and then the boy came out of Mary's room and my eyes widened. I flipped through the next few moments and knew none of the choices ended well if someone didn't intervene. A guard drew his sword and advanced towards Mary who grew pale and the boy pushed her behind him, ready to battle the guard. But why would he have to battle the guard? I slid in front of the guard and ducked as he took a swing at me with his free hand. I tripped the man and he fell on his back. The sword clattered loudly to the ground and I picked it up and stepped back as he tried to sweep my legs out from under me. I pointed the end at the guards throat and made sure the others were in my eye sight. The guard grinned up at me and I met his gaze with my own cold expression.

"Well? You have me down and my weapon, aren't you going to kill me?" He asked like he knew the answer. I lifted an eyebrow, ready to drive the blade through his throat, my eyes iron hard.

"What do you want?" I asked coolly. He laughed and looked over my shoulder.

"The prince." He replied and I shook my head, already knowing what would happen, they would take him and he would die,  but why? If they were the kings guards sent to get the prince then why would they kill him, their ruler?

"No." I saw his hand move and saw the mark on his wrist and then Lily was giggling. I swore softly and the man's flickered over to her and grinned.

"Kill her." He ordered and the guards snapped into action. I took a step forwards and the man rolled away from me and got a knee under him. I blocked a swing from a guard and I heard Lily cry out and saw her fall to the ground, her blood staining her dress. Anger surged within me and I plunged the blade into the guards chest. Without a hesitation I spun and pushed Mary and the prince into Mary's room and managed to block a deadly blow from one of the guards with seconds to spare. I disarmed him quickly and he retreated, knowing he would not win without a weapon. The last handful that didn't run off I killed and when I turned to open Mary's door I was pitched forwards and landed hard on my back as the door burst open under my weight being slammed against it. I brought the sword up and blocked a blow from the guard and rolled to the side as he tried to swing at me again. It buried itself in the floor and Mary fought with the window.

He grinned and took a vicious swipe at me. I brought my weapon up to block it but I was too slow. I jumped backwards and the deadly blow was weakened thought the blade still caught my side and I cried out at the sudden pain. The man grinned and took another swipe. This time I managed to block it and cut his arm. He frowned at the wound like it was confusing and I lunged forwards and the blade slid into his stomach. Our eyes locked and I pulled the blade out with a jerk. He fell dead, surprise frozen on his face and blood pooling under him. I shuffled to Mary's door with a hand pressed to my side and she rushed forwards as I tripped over my feet and she barely caught me. She guided me to her bed and sat me down but I shook my head and stood again and shuffled towards the door, my hand pressed firmly against my side. She took my arm and pulled me back to the bed but I was still stronger. I shook her off and walked out into the night and lit a torch. The prince and Mary followed me out of the house and I threw the torch onto the wooden porch and turned and started walking away. I barely got three feet when I fell to my knees and Mary appeared in front of me, worry creasing her brow. Black dots were crowding my vision and I heard the prince say something before the darkness took over.