Chapter 1- Damian Sykes

Damian Sykes

“Sykes!” I hear someone shout through the groggy mist of sleep. I feel someone shake my arm, ignoring it though. “Water!” The voice yells. Water... what does that mean? I ask myself, not remembering what comes next. All of a sudden icy cold water is dumped on my head. I sit straight up. General Kane stands next to my tiny bed and Joseph is a few feet away, with an empty bucket.

“Get up!” Kane growls at me. Slowly I drag myself out of my bed. Kane stomps out of the room. I trudge over to dresser I share with Joseph and pull it open. Let’s see... I thing to myself sarcastically, What should I wear today? There is a grey shirt, another grey shirt, and lastly, a grey shirt! I grab the top shirt. I pull off my grey night shirt and pull on a grey work shirt. I do the same with some brown pants. Then I go to the mess hall. There are two lines, one for the knights and one for the servants. I slowly make my way over to the servant’s line and grab a tray. When I get to the counter, Mrs. Lawrence hands me a plate with some sort of food product on it. I grab some silverware and walk over to the table Joseph and I usually sit at. I dig my fork into the brownish grey mush and lift it towards my face. I start to gag when I smell it. It smells like a mixture of rotten eggs and horse manure. I lower my fork and slide my tray over to Kurt, who will eat anything. I swear that boy is a garbage disposal. Even with everything he eats, he still is a twig! I look longingly at the knight’s trays which are filled with slices of ham, eggs and rolls. My mouth starts watering, so I look away. After the meal I walk to the gathering spot for my group of four knights. My leader is General Kane, the other three knights are Lenny, Jasper and William.

“Okay, today’s assignment is to catch a girl who has been stealing from the market. She lives in the woods.” Kane reads off a schedule the king gave him. “We shall leave right away.” Kane heads towards the gates. I follow, not because I want to, but because I have to.

General Kane decides the horses are too loud, so we set off on foot, I am behind everyone. We walk through the town until we come across the girl rummaging in some one's trash can. The girl is a little bit taller than me. She has a light brown ponytail and her skin is slightly tanned.

General Kane starts to walk towards her, but he accidentally kicks a bottle and curses. The girl looks up. Anger masks the surprise she had when she heard the general. She turns and starts to run down the street. “Stop!” Kane barks, the girl ignores it, then he shouts an order to follow and we all do. That girl is super fast. She rounds a corner that we are about two blocks away from. Kane is out of breath, but he puffs for us to keep going. As we round the corner, the girl looks back at us, then takes off into the woods. When we get into the woods, I realize that the metal armor isn’t really suited for the thick trees and brush. I wish I could run ahead, but I can’t.

“Where is that girl!” Kane shouts at us as we stop.

“There!” Lenny says, pointing up into a tree. We all peer up and see the girl staring out of on of the holes in the side of the shelter.

I wonder how we are going to get her, then Kane shouts at us, “Lenny! Moss! Jasper! Arrow!” The two men spring into action. William just stands there, trying to look cool. I stand behind them, out of sight from that girl. “Match!” Kane shouts at me. I dig my hand into the pocket of my pants and pull it out with a tiny box in it. I walk forward and hand it to Kane. Kane lights one of the matches and touches it to the moss, which is now wrapped around the arrow. Then he shoots the arrow into the door in the bottom of the girl’s shelter. Quickly, the girl climbs out of the window. I don’t think I noticed the bandage on her leg when she was running. The flame spreads quickly. The girl is a few feet above the shelter when blood soaks bright red through the off-white bandage. She turns around and looks at the flames. I see despair in her face. Then she looks at us, then the ground. She closes her eyes, then jumps. Her ponytail flips around her face, before she hits the ground with a sickening thud.

“William! Check if she is alive!” Kane orders. When William does nothing, I walk forward to the crumpled body on the ground. I check her neck for a pulse and find a faint beating under the grime and dirt.

“She’s alive.” I whisper, barely believing she survived the fall.

“What!” Kane shouts at me.

“I said she’s alive!” I say, louder.

“Well, don’t just stand there! Bring her over here!”

I grab the girl’s arms and lift her upper body up. That’s when I notice that one of her legs is turned the wrong way. She broke her leg when she landed. I think. I drag her over to the others and lay her gently on the ground.

“Jasper! Get her!” Kane yells.

Jasper picks her malnourished body up and swings her over his shoulder. We trek back to the castle.