𝐂𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒 (𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐎𝐍𝐄)

CHAPTER ONE | ARROW

A loud ringing came from the large bells that signaled the different times of day. The evening bell had startled me as I worked on sweeping.

'The day is fading away,' I thought to myself as I stood on my family's front porch. My amber eyes stared out at the fields across from me.

'Soon they will come,' I thought with a shudder before turning to pick up the broom I had dropped when the evening bell rang.

I quickly finished my last chore of the day when I heard giggling approaching me. Turning back around I saw my two friends running down the dirt road, giggling with every step.

Their happiness brought a smile to my face and I hopped down the front steps and rushed over to the white picket fence.

"Lynn! Emilia!" I called out to them. The two girls stopped giggling and ran over to me. Smiles were on all of our faces as we looked at each other.

"Hey Arrow," Lynn said as she twirled her dark brown hair. She looked to Emilia who nodded and then turned to face me.

"Want to come with us to the market?" Emilia asked me while leaning forward on the fence. I gave a slight frown as I looked towards the setting sun and thought about how much time we would have.

"I don't know girls, it's almost sundown and we don't want to be late," I said before adding quickly with fear in my voice as I spoke. "You know what happens to those who are late."

My two friends gave each other looks again before turning back to me. Lynn shrugged before turning to wall away. Emilia stayed behind and gave me a frown.

"We'll be fine, but if you don't want to go, that's fine," she said to me and then turned to walk away with Lynn. I looked after my friends before shaking my head.

"Wait up girls!" I shouted while unlocking the gate and running down the dirt road after my two friends. They turned to look back at me with a smile and then we took off running towards the market.

"So why are we going to the market again?" I asked when we had finally stopped running and just walked at a fast pace. I was feeling slightly out of breath, but I tried to keep it hidden.

"Well, we thought it would be nice to pick up some things to give our moms," Lynn said quickly as if she was hiding something from me. Emilia shot her a quick look before glancing at me and nodding. I looked at the two girls suspiciously, but decided to let it go for now.

"Alright then, well we better hurry if we want to make it back in time," I told them before taking off running again. I had left my friends behind for a little bit, but them they caught up with me and we were all laughing and giggling once again.

We kept running until the tall buildings that made up the market come into view. With smiles on our faces, we took off into the marketplace.

Just as we reached the entrance I a young boy on a pure white horse came riding up next to us. He looked at us with a small smile om his face while urging his horse to stop.

"Hey Archer," I said to him as we stopped as well. Archer looked at me and gave me a nod. "How are you doing today?" I asked him with a smile of my own on my face. He gave a shrug at my response.

"Eh, knight training is a bit hard," he told me. Lynn and Emilia were silent this whole time, but, as I glanced over at them, I noticed them staring at me and Archer intently. Shaking my head I turned back to Archer.

"Well I hope it gets better!" He gave me another smile before looking in the direction of the setting sun. His smile then turned into a frown before he turned back to me.

"I better be off, I still have to take Silver here back to the stables before sundown," and with that he rode off towards the knight stables. I heard some giggles behind me and turned to see Lynn and Emilia smiling at me.

"What's so funny?" I asked them ss we set off again. The two looked at each other before shaking their heads at me. We walked into the market and kept going deeper into it.

"You like Archer," Emilia said to me with a smile playing on her lips. I rolled my eyes in response before shaking my head.

"And he likes you back," Lynn added with a giggle. I looked at them with a sharp glare which caused them to freeze in place.

"Look, even if he does like me, I don't need a relationship at the moment and I don't like him like that anyways," I told them with a stern tone of voice. "He's just a friend," I added before turning away to look at a fruit stall.

'Maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh," I thought to myself while looking through the different types of fruits that the stall had to offer.

When I turned back around, Emilia and Lynn had disappeared and I was left alone in the middle of the market. With a sigh I left the fruit stall and headed towards the stalls with scarves, wraps, shawls, and other things of the like.

I saw a beautiful silver colored shawl with embroidered snowflakes on it. With a smile, I made my way towards the stall to look at it closer. It was expertly done and was stunning to look at. Turning to face the owner I lifted up the shawl with a smile.

"How much is this sir?" I asked him softly. The man turned to me with a frown on his face but nodded ay me anyways. He gave a look at the shawl I was holding before nodding again

"Fifty five gold for that one," my eyes widened at the price before I placed the shawl back down onto the stall's counter. I shook my head with a frown on my face.

"Sorry, I cant afford that, good day," I said to him before turning away to walk through the marketplace some more. I passed by many other stands, though most were closing for the day.

Finally I stopped at the milk stand hoping to pick up some for my family to use. As I waited in line I heard a shrill laugh come from behind me. My eyes widened in recognition and I spun around to face Amethyst and Amaryllis Channing. Two of the richest girls in The Fields.

"Well look here Amethyst," I heard Amaryllis say as I closed my eyes and turned away. Hoping that they would ignore me from now on. But, I wasn't so lucky.

"Ah yes, Arrow St. Claire," Amethyst said with a sneer. I felt a hand on my shoulder yank me around and push me out of line. "Go back home and get our father's money will ya!" They called out before turning to walk away.

That's when the next bell rang. This one signalling the sunset and the end of the day.

As well as The Reaping.