The Silver Paladin

The first meeting

I first saw her years ago, when I was about five or six years old.

I was asleep in my room when I heard my dad running down the hall. I sleepily rubbed my eyes as I sat up in bed. I got out of bed, yawning as I walked to my door and opened it.

"Dad?" I asked softly, still tired.

Dad turned around and saw me standing in the doorway. He smiled at me as he put on his jacket.

"Sorry, Keith. Did I wake you up?" He asked, kneeling in front of me and petting my head.

"Is something wrong, Dad?" I asked between my yawns.

"No, son. I'm just gonna go for a walk." He said.

"Can I come?" I asked.

"Why?"

"I can't get back to sleep."

Dad chuckled and said yes, telling me to get my shoes and jacket, then we would go out. It wasn't the first time dad would take these night walks. He once said that it helped relax him, so I was excited that he allowed me to come along.

I quickly ran back into my room, grabbed my red jacket and boots, then ran back to Dad as he opened the front door.

I held his hand as we walked along the path in the rocky desert. We lived in the rocky desert just about an hour from the city. It wasn't the best place to live, but it was comfortable.

We walked around on the path for a while, until we heard something.

"Dad, do you hear something?" I asked. He nodded and held my hand tighter.

"I did, Keith. Stay close to me, okay?" He said. I nodded and stayed close to his side.

We followed the sound to a cave, as we came closer, we recognized the sound as a voice. A singing voice.

As we snuck around the cave, the voice became louder and louder. I couldn't help but feel calm from the sound of the voice. It was beautiful.

"Hello?" Dad called out, "Is anyone there?"

The voice stopped singing as we entered the main part of the cave. It was large opening with a hole in the ceiling, letting the soft glow of the full moon fall inside the dark cave.

"Come on out. We won't hurt you." Dad assured.

"How do I know that?" The voice said from the shadows. We followed the voice to a small corner of the cave. From what we could see, it was kid.

Dad smiled and came closer to the shadowed kid. The kid was shaking with fear.

"I promise, we won't hurt you. You can come out." Dad kept reassuring the kid.

Soon, the kid came out into the light, letting us see a horrifying sight that I would never forget.

It was a girl. A young girl, probably about my age. Her long black hair was running down her back in waves. She stared at us with shining blue eyes, but that wasn't the horrifying part.

Around her neck was a large wound, a lot of blood had already stained her torn white dress ans it looked like the cut went around her neck and over her right shoulder.

"Whoa! Are you all right kid? That wound looks bad. Why don't we go to my house and patch you up?" Dad asked.

The girl didn't answer, instead her eyes closed and she fell to the ground, dad quickly catching her before she could hit the dirt.

We rushed back home and dad patched up her wound. Apparantly the cut she had went around her neck starting from the left side, then went over her right shoulder and before gowing diagonally down her back and ending at her left hip. I let her sleep in my bed until she woke up again.

However, three days passed and she still didn't wake up. She didn't even stir, not once.

I got really worried about her. What if she never woke up?

Then, on the morning of the fourth day, I was woken up by not only the sun, but by someone shifting under the covers.

I opened my eyes and saw the girl trying to sit up. I fully woke up immediately, reaching my arms out to help her.

"Hold on a second, you're still healing." I said, helping her sit up.

She looked down at her hands as she sat straight up, her eyes dulled and lifeless.

"I'm gonna go get my dad, okay? Don't move a muscle." I said, running out of the room and down to get my dad.

~~~~~???? POV~~~~~~

It hurt.

It hurt a bit, but not too much.

After that black haired boy ran off to find his father, I gently touched the strange white cloth slowly bleeding red.

I felt something soft covering me and something firm underneath me. I looked down and saw a piece of cloth covering me. What was it called? Oh right, a blanket. And the thing underneath me is a mattress, right?

I looked around the room. It had many shelves filled with strange objects. And a few had books stacked on them.

Where was I?

Why am I here?

Why does my shoulder hurt so much?

"Ah, you're finally awake." A voice said from across the room. I turned my head and saw the young boy with a tall man. He had a scar under his chin and a warm smile with kind eyes.

He and the boy walked up to my side.

"My name is Heith Kogane, and this is my son, Keith." The man introduced himself and his son, Keith, who kept staring at me with flushed cheeks.

"We found you on one of our walks. You had a pretty bad wound on your neck and back. Can you tell us how you got it?"

I looked down at my hand. Where did I get this wound? Who gave it to me?

"No." I whispered softly, "Can't remember."

Heith and his son looked at me confused. Why were they confused? Did I say something strange?

"So, you can't remember how you got that wound?" Keith asked. I shook my head.

Heith sighed, "Okay then, how about your family? Do you know where they are? Maybe we can call them if you know their phone number."

I thought for a moment, but nothing came to mind. I couldn't picture any family I had, if I really had any family to speak of.

"No." I said, "I can't remember."

The two looked worried. Heith kept asking me questions about myself. Where I was from. What I was doing here. I answered the same thing. I just couldn't remember anything before now.

I had no past.

Heith sighed and stood up, "All right then. Since you don't really have a place to go, you'll stay with us for the time being."

I turned my head towards the tall man, my eyes widened with surprise.

"Really?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. Why not? You don't have anywhere else to go, so why not stay here with us for a while."

I nodded my thanks.

"So, last question. You never gave us your name." Keith said.

I thought for a moment and for the first time, I remembered something. I had a name.

"My name..." I said, "My name is Saoirse."

This was the beginning a life I hardly had.

A life filled with questions and very little answers.

A life....

That started with the first meeting.