The Way of the War

Chapter 1

Joseph

Her eyes stare at me from across the room. Even from all the way over here I can tell that they are beautiful.

Her gorgeous red hair is done up in an odd fashion. The top layers are pulled away from her face and is gathered at the back and is arranged in a way that you occasionally see ribbons tied up like. The rest of her hair falls gracefully over her shoulders and down her back.

She wears a dark green velvet dress that has gold thread woven through it to form a beautiful pattern.

She stares at me with an odd look. It is as if she has seen me before and is trying to remember where she has seen me from. I have not seen her before though because surely I would remember such beauty.

She stands in a sort of intrigued way, either she is intrigued by me or she is intrigued about whatever her companions are talking about.

Her whole body faces her companions but her oh so perfect face is turned towards me. Her hands are cupped around a wineglass full of wine.

She interests me, so much so, I feel like going over to talk to her, but I don't.

My friends are talking to me again. I reluctantly turn my attention to my friends and away from the beautiful girl across the room.

My friends are the type or guys that like to tease and they are teasing me.

"Hey Joseph! I dare you to go over and talk to her! I dare you!" one of my friends, Robert, is always daring me to do stupid things, and right now is not the time to be teased about a girl I will never talk to.

You see she is one of those girls who will never talk to us four guys. We are from completely different places. Robert, Peter, Steven and I are just four guys that belong on a farm, while she is something out of a fairytale; she has probably never even been out to the country. So here we are, at the annual ball, that occurs each year, and we are on one side and her, the other.

"Come on. Go talk to her. Or are you to chicken?" Steven joins in.

"No."

"Aw come on chicken!" Robert says then he starts making chicken noises.

"Come on give the guy a break!" Peter so helpfully steps in. "I dare you to go talk to her," he gestures to a girl in a purple dress with a turned up nose "and if you do Joseph will talk to the girl he was staring at."

"Okay. But only if you talk to her first" and Steven points to one of the maids.

"No. No more. You guys will get into so much trouble if you two do stupid stuff. And anyway we have specific instructions to avoid talking. Remember?" Robert points out.

"You started it." Steven tells Robert.

"But I was only joking." He says with an apologetic expression that makes us all crack up laughing.

"You know if you laugh any louder the entire room will stare." A voice from behind us sends us spinning in their direction.

There she was, perfectly perfect. Her eyes were a beautiful colour, they started with amber in the centre around the pupil, and then they turned a beautiful green. She was even more gorgeous up close, she took my breath away.

"Well?" She asked with a voice was as soft as velvet.

"Um. Sorry." Steven replies with a guilty voice. Steven, of all people, is shy around this beautiful girl. Steven was always attempting crazy stunts and was nearly always in a bar chatting some poor girl up. Now he is completely tongue-tied and he is the bravest out of all of us!

She nods with a slight bob of her head. And that one movement sends a chill down my spine.

We all stiffen when she does that one simple movement.

"It's not polite to stare either." She says with more force than before and every single one of us turns our gaze towards the floor with guilty looks on our faces.

"Are you making poor boys feel guilty for looking at you again?" a man, maybe a little older than us, asks the girl.

"Of course not my dear brother, Jayden." She replies with an innocent voice that makes even the rock hard Steven melt.

"You sure?" he asks again.

"Of course." She replies in the same tone again.

"Anastasia what are you doing to your brother? He's all tense." Another girl around the same age as the man says, and then rubs her hand affectionately along his back.

"Honestly Marie, you worry too much." The girl, Anastasia, replies in a voice the makes Marie shoot her a look that says 'shut up!'

"Guys there's free food!" another boy around our age says behind them with his arms full of food.

"Of course there's food idiot! It is a ball." Anastasia replies, her voice as sharp as a knife. The boy's face falls.

"Anastasia! Don't talk to Benjamin like that! So what if he's new to this! You don't say things like that!" Marie says accusingly.

Anastasia shoots her a look that could kill if used in the right way, and Marie sends her a look back.

"No fighting! I don't want to be kicked out of another ball because of you two! Don't forget why we are here." Jayden says in a warning voice before he turns and walks away.

Marie follows him and with a quick "Come Benjamin." Benjamin follows as well with a quick sad look thrown at Anastasia before he turns away.

She turns back to us with her mask back on, she shows no emotion just looks at us with intense eyes.

"It's not polite to have your mouth hanging open either." She says to a love sick Steven.

Steven slowly closes his mouth and mutters "Sorry" under his breath.

"I haven't seen you around before. Do you come from the city?" Robert politely asks attempting to start a conversation with the silent beauty.

"No. I'm not from around here, I come from a place called Panem" she replies with a soft tone of voice.

"Oh? I've never heard of a place called Panem." I add.

"No, you wouldn't have. It is far away from here. We travelled days to get here." She tells us.

"How interesting. I have seen all of my father's maps and I've never seen a place called Panem." Peter also adds to the conversation. Before she asks a question about his father he adds "He's a salesman. He travels all over the place to sell his things."

"Oh. Well Panem is not on any map. It is a very small town nestled in the woods far from here. Not many people live there and not many people go there." She replies.

We all nod. She gives a shaky smile that even though isn't a very good one makes us all melt at her expense.

"I must go. I'm sorry we couldn't talk longer but I can't stay long." She gives one last smile before she disappears into the crowd of dancers who have taken over the dance floor.

"No wonder you were staring at her Joseph. She is gorgeous." Steven breaks his spell of silence and becomes the Steven we know and love. He nudges me playfully and we all end up in another fit of laughter.