Behind the stacks of hay, Uriel was fuming with anger as he thought about the food that they were going to be giving away.
They would barely have enough for themselves after this, and yet because of his birthday, his mother had just cooked extra and used expensive ingredients to make it a treat for him.
He hated this day, there were so many memories mixed with the festival of Cair-Andriel, but worst of all it was the day that he was abandoned in this village, abandoned by his parents.
Without anyone in the village knowing when his actual birthday was they made the day of the festival his birthday and turned this awful day into a celebration for him.
It was a simple kindness from the people of Old Meadow, but it could never wipe that memory from his mind, and now the soldiers were making life miserable for them on this day once again.
Uriel was about to jump out and speak his mind, to his father Mr. Marsh, they had to take a stand now, his mother was right they couldn't allow this to go on.
But before he could do anything he felt the firm tug of Cassandra pulling his arm, "No, we'll get in ta' trouble if Mom and Dad find out that we've been spying," she said in a low whisper.
Uriel paused as he turned to look at her, once again he found himself taken by how beautiful she looked in that dress and her blond braids that emphasized the shape of her oval face, she looked exactly like how he always pictured nobility.
As he looked at her all the problems that they were facing seemed to fade away as he became aware of how close they were, their faces were just a few inches apart due to the tight space all it would take was a little movement and he would be able to kiss her pink lips.
And it seemed that Cassandra was sharing similar thoughts, as her clear green eyes trembled ever so slightly like little pools as redness crept into her fair cheeks.
They stayed like that for a whole minute seemingly forgetting about everything else, at the last second Uriel tore his eyes from hers and looked down, it simply wasn't right.
He couldn't allow himself to tarnish her honor, not in the slightest, if he wanted her then he had to wait just another year, just one more and they would get married.
As he looked down he suddenly remembered their parents and noticed that the barn had gone silent.
"Crap, we need to get back to the house," he said distracting Cass from whatever thoughts were running through her head.
They snuck back out through the secret entrance when they saw their parents were still busy seeing Mr. Marsh to his horse they breathed out a sigh of relief and made their way back into the house with cautious steps.
When they returned the smell of the food filled the house its rich and delicious aroma permeating every corner.
Cass went to check on the food still holding tightly onto the bedsheet, which Uriel found amusing since he had already seen her dress.
As Cass stirred the pot the door opened, and their mom returned.
"We'll be leaving for the festival a little earlier dears," she said as she came in and gave them both a gentle smile that hid her worry, if not for them overhearing the conversation they would have thought that everything was perfectly fine.
Then she looked at Uriel, "Sorry dear, but the food won't be ready when we leave," she said with a saddened look.
Uriel grinned at her, "Everyone knows that the bean curry tastes better on the next day mom," he chuckled, it wasn't like he was making anything up, the extra day gave the curry time to thicken and allowed the flavors to soak in even more.
Casey smiled and shushed the two out of the kitchen telling them to rest until it was time for them to leave.
The hours crawled by slowly, when the sun was finally nearing the horizon they heard the sound of the wagon's wheels cutting through the ground along with the klip-klop of the horse's hooves striking the ground.
Uriel went out feeling the cool breeze of the late afternoon, they were only a few days into the season of the frost, and he could already feel the traces of the chill.
He found his dad holding the reins, but at the same time, his eyes narrowed as he looked at the wagon that had a tarp thrown over a large pile of sacks.
He rushed to the wagon and pressed his hands against the sacks, feeling the familiar texture of beans, then as he moved his hands over them he felt a sack of flour, and there were multiple of each.
Those were the two things that they produced on their farm beans and wheat, and with this out of the storage they were officially down to half their supply at the beginning of the frost.
"Son leave it alone," Zek said noticing the sadness and anger in his eyes as he looked through the sacks, looking through them would only make him feel worse.
"We should fight them," he said looking up at his dad, his dad was built like a mountain, when he compared him to the soldiers there was no comparison, and Mr. Jack the blacksmith was even larger in size.
The two of them alone could probably take on a dozen men each and add the rest of the mighty men of Old Meadow and he knew that they could definitely make the soldiers regret their actions.
Zek sighed and climbed down from the wagon, he stood in front of Uriel and bent down on his knees to meet his eyes.
"Son those soldiers aren't just ordinary men, they have Eldrin's amongst them, they might look small and weak, but even one of them can kill a dozen ordinary men," Zek tried to explain.
Uriel gritted his teeth, "Well I have it too, if they want to use it then so can I!" he declared with fervent eyes, he too was a wielder of the mystic powers, a holder of Eldrin.
"Ye' don't know how to use it, lad!" Zek responded with an equally firm voice, "Do I have to remind ya what ya did last time," he said looking Uriel square in the eye.
Uriel grimaced as he remembered, "Dad let me learn how to use it, Mr. Cal knows how to use it doesn't he?" Uriel urged.
He tried not to give his power much thought in the past, he was just a farmer it wasn't like it was something that could help his farming skills, and it was quite dangerous he knew that from the few times he let it slip out.
But now that danger was on their doorstep he had to do something, Mr. Cal was one of the rangers a bit of an odd man, but he was the only other person in the village that had the power of Eldrin.
"Ay lad," Zek sighed, the last thing that he wanted was to get his son involved in the fighting, but at the same time he knew that it might be inevitable, "I'll speak to Cal tonight and see if he's willing to teach ya," he said looking Uriel in the eye.
"I'll tell ye' mother afterward so don't go tell her anything I don't want her worrying needlessly," he said and climbed back on the wagon.
Uriel took a few deep breaths to calm his breathing, he was surprised at how quickly his father agreed, the power of Eldrin could be really terrifying, but it showed how bad things really were.
Under normal circumstances his father would have never allowed him to use Eldrin, it was simply too dangerous to practice unless it was absolutely necessary.
"Lad go and check what's taking the ladies so long," Zek said as he got busy dusting the dirt off the wagon.
Uriel returned to the house and heard them in Cass's room, "Uh… Mom dad is asking what's taking so long?" he called out.
"We'll be out in a minute, just putting in a few finishing touches," his mother replied.
Uriel could only sigh, he couldn't think of what else needed to be done, Cass was looking unbelievably beautiful and he didn't think it was possible to make her look any better.
He returned to the living room and stopped by the little fireplace as he thought of something, he ducked down into the fireplace, brushed aside some ash and pulled a loose brick out from the corner.
It was the safest place in the house to put any valuable's, he reached in and felt a fat purse that jingled at a touch, but he left it alone and moved past it until his hand found what he was looking for.
He pulled his hand back and along with his hand came a sword.
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