"I feel fresh now. Thanks, Bele," Evelyn said as they strolled back towards their carriage which was waiting outside the village.
Staying at home to learn theory or going out only to practice the sword techniques, she had been concentrating completely on council exams. She needed some sort of break, which showed up with Bele. She was grateful to her friend as she knew that Bele cared for her, exactly the reason behind why she took her out in the carnival forcibly to refresh her mind.
"No worries," Bele replied, smiling.
They decided to take a different route to go out so that they can visit most of the stalls while going. This lane was occupied by the stalls of food. Their nose flared as they inhaled the fragrance as they entered the lane. They glanced to see every type of food being freshly prepared and served hot.
As they walked towards the exit enjoying the carnival, a man jostled Evelyn and continued to run ahead without looking back to apologize. He knocked down an oil vessel on his way, spilling all the content on the lane. The shopkeeper yelled at him but he didn't stop for any second.
She looked at the man's back in confusion. All she knew was that he was running away to escape from someone.
"Are you okay Eve?" She heard Bele asking her concerningly.
Before she could reply to her, they heard two people shouting "Thief! Thief!" and ran behind the man. One of the men slipped on the oil and slid towards the stand above which the fire was lit. His leg knocked down the stand, giving the fire required fuel to light.
Fire began creating its path, spreading in all directions wherever the oil was spilt. Soon the tent, made up of cloth, caught fire creating huge chaos on the peaceful occasion.
Fire ignited seizing everything under it. Soon a few other stalls, besides it, caught fire too. The stalls already being the food stalls, oil became the fuel ending up spreading it more. People started running away leaving everything behind them. Some people got stuck in their stalls and the stalls being surrounded by fire, left them no place to escape.
Evelyn's eyes widened in shock. She couldn't contemplate how it happened. Few minutes ago everything was so peaceful. And now it was all chaos. People's screams echoed in the market for help. She looked around only to see people running away to save themselves and not bothering about the ones who were stuck in the fire.
She made up her mind to save them. They were the people of her province. Being the next queen, she felt it was her responsibility to protect every life.
"We need to help them," Evelyn said loudly as the screams of people rose.
"What can we do?" Bele asked concerningly.
Evelyn's eye fell on an elderly lady who was stuck in her stall and screamed for help. Her feet dragged her towards the woman to rescue on their own. Bele followed her as well. Looking at them, a few other people came forward to help other people as well.
A metal rod that supported the tent, blocked Evelyn's path to enter the stall. The metal was heated up by the fire, she kicked it slightly but with enough force to move it from her path.
"You stay here outside. I will enter," Evelyn said to Bele and entered the stall taking care of the dress so that it wouldn't get caught fire. She held out her hand towards the elder woman and took her out of the danger safely away from the stalls.
Everyone who was stuck inside was out but the fire wasn't slowing down.
"Put water on it!" A man screamed. Listening to him, a few other men did the same.
"No! You will make it worse! Cause of the fire is oil. It will spread everywhere and we won't be able to control it," Evelyn screamed as she ran towards them trying to stop.
But before she could reach there, one of the men splashed a vessel of water into the fire. As Evelyn had said, the oil floated on the water and started spreading.
A small boy who was running towards the other side where his mother was screaming his name got stuck in the middle of fire. He cried for help.
Evelyn ran towards him but before she could reach, a man jumped above the fire to rescue the child. He came out of the fire and handed the child to his mother.
Evelyn sighed in relief as everyone was safe now. She looked at the man with brown eyes. He was the same person who had caught her attention. She felt her heartbeat rising as she looked at his gentle smile. It wouldn't be wrong if someone said that she had fallen for his selflessness.
Soon the village guards appeared taking everything under their control. One of the guard men escorted Evelyn and her friend to their carriage safely as they were prominent people of society.
"By lord's graciousness, no one is hurt," her friend murmured as they rode back to the palace.
Evelyn nodded in agreement. Rest of the whole journey back to her palace was quiet. But ironically her mind filled the thoughts of the man with brown eyes.