The Adventures of Lily Mirado

Chapter 3

As we approached the village, two guards were standing in front of large purple gate; the tallness of it gave a strange ominous foreboding. They were wearing some sort of armour with the helmets and all, strikingly resembling the knights in the Middle Age. Both of them were holding a long and menacing spear in their hands, making a cross to block the door.

They were peering at us, scratch that, they were peering at me mostly since I was the “unknown girl”. They were not pointing these spears of them towards me yet, fortunately, and although I could take on one of them, two would be a nuisance. Plus, I didn’t want to make such a fuss and they would surely not trust me again. So in tried to keep my breath steady and slow down the rapid rhyme beat of my heart. On the other hand, Dylan looked completely relaxed, as though it was normal for him to bring a new girl in the village.

“Bill, Georges.” He nodded. “Kerrie.” The two guards nodded back. “Who is she?” One of the guards, who I’m assuming is Bill, said. He narrowed his eyes and pointed his spear at me. “I’ve never seen her before.” Let me tell you one thing, it’s very scary to see a pointing object being so close to your face.

“Oh, she’s a friend.” Dylan said nonchalantly, waving his hand like it was nothing of great importance. “She’s going to stay with us for a while, you know, because of the Lord.”

At the mention of the word “Lord”, the two men immediately retract themselves and I saw something blaze in their eyes. Was it… fear? I was not sure as it happened so quickly. They nodded once again and pushed the gate to finally let us in.

I gasped at the sight in front of me. The whole village was busting with activity, men and women were walking, some in a steady, comfortable pace while others were running off to their busy schedule, I guess. Children were playing in the snow and chasing one after the other, laughing and smiling. I smiled, sincerely happy at their blissful innocence. There were merchants and vendors who were shouting at the top of their voice to attract potential customers and when the latter came close to their stalls, they were negotiating products. I realised that they were still doing the Barter System, you know, where they exchanged products without the use of money.

But the most interesting thing was that they were all wearing medieval clothes, ranging from peasants dresses to sophisticated noble dressing. It was as though someone has just turned the clock to go in the past and dropped us here. Back at the orphanage, I was reading tons of books to get a grasp of the world, and the different periods that constituted our history. I was always fascinated by the past eras.

An imposing castle loomed in the distance and although it was clear morning, it seemed that the sun was not shining in that part of the land. In fact, the castle was not really situated in the village, it was situated on a hill and its scary-looking towers gave me goose bumps. I shuddered at the thought and it took all my will-power to not think about it again.

Dylan and I were strolling in the snow when suddenly; we heard a trumpet sound blaring in the distance. And like that, it was as if something snapped. From everywhere, I could hear something like: “He’s coming! Oh no!” Everyone began dispersing and soon, only the two of us were left to stand in the silence.

I could feel Dylan’s body tensed up and before I could ask what was happening, he took my hand and practically pulled me to follow him. I just let out an annoyed “Hey!” but he took no notice of it. I wanted to protest but the emergency of the situation, whatever it was, made me drop the matter. So I followed him, well I tried since he was pulling me so quickly. I huffed in the air in annoyance and frustration. Whatever he wanted me to see apparently just couldn’t wait.

We soon arrived at a large open space; a big circle on the granite floor and there was a sort of wooden stage. People of all age were gathered in front of the stage and were looking frantically, some of them whispering to each other, but the scared look on their face only proved that they dreaded what was about to come. Dylan and I were in the complete back of the crowd, watching the scene in the shadows.