The soldiers had them surrounded and one of Ellia's arms had been badly injured, the situation looked grim for both Anya and Ellia until one of the commanders stepped forward and gave Ellia a choice." Hand over the witch and I'll let you walk away." Ellia had never imagined he'd end up in a situation like this and to think it all started not too long ago.
A frown dawned over the young man's face as he walked down the uneven cobblestone path, he tapped his feet to a rhythm while walking and held his helmet against his chest. His eyes were staring daggers at the ground and his fists were clenched, For 8 years he had spent training to qualify as a knight, even with all his achievements and results the selection council chose a wealthy Nobel over him.
"This is bullshit." He muttered to himself as he continued walking home, stopping momentarily to look at a burnt stake in the city square, it seemed that they had burnt another one today. His stressed expression devolved into a blank face for only a few seconds. He clicked his tongue and resumed his brooding.
Without paying attention to his surroundings he accidentally ran into a child"Are you a knight?" the child asked him, it was unusual for a child to be out at this time, especially because of the recent problems this kingdom was having." Oh, this isn't mine." The young man answered as he looked at himself, normally he would see toned muscles and a refined physique but right now he was clad in full armour and with his sword at his waist. Never mind that, you should hurry back home, or are you looking to be cursed." he said in an almost playful voice. The child scurried off and the young man was left standing there with a slight smirk on his face.
He remembered the bliss of being a child, believing that you can be whatever you want as long as you put the effort in. His dream only lasted a few seconds, the sky was starting to get cloudy, and he needed the moon's light to get home, He picked up the pace and started moving faster, his house was at the edges of the city, and being out this late was already dangerous, his mood started to improve as the moon's light calmed his nerves.
When he finally reached his house, he saw that a few people were walking around with torches down the path, he shrugged it off as friends having fun. He entered his house, the single room with a bed in the far corner a cooking pot in the right corner, he didn't even have a proper lavatory and that's when he realized the reality of the situation, he lost all chances of becoming a knight today and it almost sealed his fate to stay in that house or become a slave, commoners were treated like dirt, slavery was common but it's not like the Nobel's needed them. If you were a commoner listening and obeying Nobel's was required, just the thought of being ordered around like a slave made the man's blood boil, he threw his helmet against the floor, took off his gauntlets, armour and went to light his lamp, he struck the flint and steel together a few times, the lamp and the steel cost him at least 4 years worth of savings and the rest went to his necessities.
When he finally managed to light up the lamp, there was a knocking sound on his door accompanied by a password." Can I help you?" The young man asked with a smile on his face as he opened the door. "Hello Ellia, We're looking for a woman about 20, have you seen her around here?"
He didn't recognize them, but they knew him, despite that he realized instantly what they were talking about, one of the men carried a net and the other a torch." Sorry I haven't seen any women around here. The men looked at each other and then back at Ellia a few times before answering." Well if you see anyone bring her down to the guard station." He nodded his head and shut the door
After shutting the door he went and sat down on his bed, he didn't have much food, so he pulled out two pieces of bread from his leather vest, he stared at them longingly, in the end, he only decided to eat one and save the other for the morning, after all, he needed the energy to figure out what to do tomorrow, he placed one piece of bread in a wooden plate next to the pot of water and went to sleep.
Ellia's eyes opened almost on instinct when he heard something or someone, all those years honing his skills seemed to come in handy. When he looked around the room he didn't see anything as it was dark, after picking up the lamp from beside the bed, he struck the flint and steel, just once was enough to light up the torch illuminating the small house, but the light also revealed a crouched over figure by the cooking pot that looked back at him when he lit up the room, for a few seconds they just stared at each other before they figure greedily gobbled up the other piece of bread he had been saving for tomorrow. The young man quickly grabbed his sword and pointed towards the other person "Just because you're hungry doesn't mean you can steal from others, how did you even get in here?" The person had long hair that seemed to have been overdue for a haircut and dirty rags for clothing. The stranger pointed towards the bed and quietly said: "Hide under." Ellia let out a sigh and sheathed his sword "Ok get out of here, but don't go around stealing from others." even though the stranger's face was mostly obscured due to the long hair, a smile was clearly visible. As the stranger was getting up to leave but bandages started to fall out from under the rags and the shape of his chest changed.
Ellia immediately pulled out his sword and pointed it towards the stranger once again. "Turn towards me very slowly." The stranger turned towards him bandages still falling out from under her rags after Ellia saw her chest he knew that the stranger was a woman." Move your hair to the side, let me look at your face." After the girl pushed her hair aside it revealed a woman in her late teens or early twenties, she had large almond-shaped eyes, a small nose, and pink lips. "You're that witch they're all looking for aren't you," Ellia said with a frustrated expression.