The Girl of the Flame

Chapter 1

An elegant, slender, young girl sits on an edge to a glistening lake. She wore peasant's clothes; a white dress and a black corset. The girl had long, luxurious, wavy, fire red hair and blueish-green eyes that sparkled like the lake before her. Behind her was a muscular, bearded man with brown hair and dressed like a lumberjack. He creeped behind the girl, readying himself to push the girl into the lake.

The girl swiftly grabbed the man's arm and tossed him into the lake. The girl stood above the man as he swam to her feet, "Fantastic work Isabelle. I see you've improved on your defense now, as well as combat." Isabelle smiled, "It's all thanks to your training Han." Han, soaked, walked along a pathway towards their home, and Isabelle followed behind him. They approached a tavern.

The first floor was the pub, the home where men and women come to get drunk or get a good meal, and the second floor was their home, where they sleep, bathe, and dress before having to work.. "It's almost opening hours. You think you could hold the fort down while I'm gone?", said Han as he put on his cloak. Isabelle nodded. "I'll be back tomorrow, in time to celebrate your sixteenth birthday." Han kissed Isabelle on her forehead before he departed. Isabelle turned towards the kitchen and dining area. She had a lot of work to get done before customers arrived.

Isabelle stood in the kitchen of the pub, waiting for the customers to come through those two front doors. Sure enough, the stampede of men came. Isabelle rushed throughout the pub with her trays of food and beer. There were a couple of bar fights every now and then but it was nothing Isabelle couldn't handle.

Finally, at last, it was almost midnight. The tavern was at peace once more, drunken men were sent onto their way back to their homes. Isabelle glances towards the wrecked pub, beer stained the walls and tables, broken beer glasses were shattered across the floor, chairs were missing legs, and the tables were either upside down, covered in beer, or covered with blood, from whenever a guy were to smash another's head on the surface.

After a long hour of work, Isabelle scrubbed, swept, and mopped the tavern till it was spotless. As she sat in a chair, outside the pub and there she heard a horse neigh. Believing to be a passing trader, or traveler, Isabelle ignored it. But then seconds later she heard a loud thud nearby.

Isabelle walked towards the sound with a candle. She lit a nearby lantern. The glow from the lantern revealed that, indeed someone was there. A horse was panicking in fright and a man in armor. A knight. "Whoa! Easy buddy. Easy.", said Isabelle to the horse. As she calmed the horse down, Isabelle tied it to a nearby post. Isabelle walked towards the knight.

Isabelle lifted the knight into the tavern with his right arm over her shoulder. She dragged the knight to the second floor. She placed the knight onto her bed, only because it was closer. Isabelle removed his helmet to reveal that he was a young, handsome boy who looked about her age. He had golden, blonde hair. She removed the rest of the boy's tarnished armor.

As she lifted the chest armor, she saw that he had many wounds. There were stab wounds all around from chest to back, as well as on his shoulder, and on his right arm. As Isabelle cleaned, and stitched the boy's wounds as a storm brewed outside. "Please be safe Han.", said Isabelle. She bandaged up his wounds. Isabelle pulled up a chair next to the bed, and waited for the mysterious boy to awake.