Dark and Light

Chapter 1

"Hurry Aramos. If you don't move faster, you'll never win this race." I said as we rode are horses through the lovely, green meadow outside of the kingdom. The wind passed through my hair as I laughed with joy. I loved riding out here, especially when me and my brother get to ride together.

"It is you who will need to hurry in a second." he said as he passed me by. "Catch me if you can Eliam." We both rode on, racing to the big tree on the other side of the meadow. The big tree was at least 150 ft. tall; casting all the other trees in its shadow. I always marvel at the immense tree because of, despite the size, its marvelous beauty. Its leaves were an orange, red color that shone brightly in the sun. It had a bright white fruit that was the juiciest ever tasted.

We rode on until we reached the big tree. We then both drew are wooden swords and jumped off our horses almost in perfect unison, dropping to a crouch, then a roll, and then finally springing back up into a figghting pose. Ready to stike at a moments notice, I waited for my brother's first move. He lunged to the right, but then contorted his body into a spin and swung with full force at the lefgt side of my midsection. I quickly parried, leaping into the blow as though to throw my brother off course. Instead, he used this to his own advantage, taking the momentum of my blow to trhough his body into spinning behind me and hitting my exposed back. I tried to jump foward, but it knicked my anyway. The pain made my lose my balance and I fell when I hit the ground. I rolled over just in time to raise my sword and block the next blow from coming down unto my stomach. My brother may have been the better in strategy and skill, but I won in brute force. I pushed with all my might, forcing him to lose his balance for a second, and in that time I took my move and leaped foward at him, tackling him to the ground. I dropped my sword so I could grab him and he dropped his to defend himself. I managed to get on top of him and pin him down. I smiled at my victory, but I had not won. He freed one hand and reached for the wooden dagger around his waist and at lightning speed he raised it up, the tip inches from my neck.

"Looks like I win once again, Eliam." he said to me. I tried to keep him pinned but he pushed me to the side. I held on weith all my might though and the result ended in us rolling down the hill together, laughing.

"What fun this was, Arramos." I said to my brother, wide smile spread across my face. We then stood as one, and headed back to our horses. We rode around the magnificent green meadow for a long time. The smell of the sweet flowers drifting through the air. This was our element. He was my twin. We did this every chance we got.

We both turned as one when we heard the alarm bells of the kingdom. We rode as fast as we could back. When we were about halfway their, we could both hear the distant clash of swords and the thudding sound of arrows hitting shields and the swoosh they made when being realeased from their bows. We sped up even faster then, pushing our horses to the mad. Dreading what we would find, we rode in utter slience until we reached the wall.