Chapter 1

Deep in the woods surrounding the kingdom of Camelot, in the time of King Uther's rule over the land, a girl of 14 ran through the woods with a boy of the same age and looks. Both had similarly curly hair, though the boy's was much shorter, and crystalline blue eyes hidden beneath their bangs. A ways off a shack stood, old and faded, but with the smoke coming from the chimney and the lively, homey feel it gave off, one could immediately tell it was a home full of warmth. An older woman stood on the front step waving to the children as they ran further into the woods. Her raven-black hair was tied up in a loose bun with curly tendrils hanging in her face, as if refusing to be contained. Her eyes were brown and showed a worry that she wished to hide from the eyes of the two that were obviously her children. She turned to go back into the home after giving one last look after their retreating forms and started cleaning the small home.

2 hours later

"Alyssa!" Mother was yelling for her again but Alyssa wasn't going to listen this time. The wind was blowing through her hair and her dress was wildly flapping in the wind. The tree she had decided to climb this time was much higher than her usual picks. That's why her twin, Mordred, had gone to tell mother on her. Alyssa didn't get why they were so worried about her. Did they somehow forget that she had bird wings and magic to help her along the way? Yeah you heard right. She said bird wings and magic. Mordred had magical powers too, but he didn't get the wings to fly. Mum said that she got wings from her father and her magic from her mum.

"Alyssa!" that was Mordred. Alyssa could hear him trampling through the woods and from where she sat she could just see the mess of black curls that was his hair. She sighed, knowing that she had better get down there if she didn't want to be in too much trouble later. She spread her wings and quickly glided down through the trees to the ground in front of Mordred. Up close she could now see that in Mordred's eyes there was fear, desperation and sadness.

"What's wrong?" Alyssa was getting scared now. Mordred never showed emotions like that. Tears were gathering in his eyes.

"It's mum. The knights took her!" Alyssa felt like a ton of bricks had just fallen on her. Her eyes filled and overflowed with tears, mirroring her brother's. The knights of Camelot were a death sentence to anyone with magic. Uther's knights were the reason Mum had brought them to the middle of the forest to live in peace.

"No! Come on," she grabbed her brother's arm and started walking them in the direction of the cabin. "We're going to save her."

"Alyssa we can't fight knights," Mordred had fear in his voice and the hand that Alyssa was holding was shaking violently. Mordred had nightmares about the knights when he was little. They were the reason that he didn't feel right practicing his magic. For Alyssa, they had always been the reason she practiced so fiercely.

"We don't have to fight them. We just have to get her free," Alyssa pulled Mordred down behind a boulder. They could see the shack and beside it, the knights were putting shackles on their mother. There were tears on her face and she was frantically searching the edge of the woods with her eyes, looking for the two of them.

Alyssa locked eyes with her first. She saw the silent plea for them to run, but she couldn't just abandon her. Alyssa looked to the horses the knights had ridden in on. There were four; two red, one black and one white. Alyssa looked to what they were carrying. One of the red ones had a bag full of clothes hanging from its saddle. Alyssa got an idea.

"OI! Fellas!" a knight came out of the house. "There are children's clothes in there. There must be some more magic users out here somewhere."

Alyssa's plan was going to have to work the first time. This was her only chance.

"Ignis," she whispered the word and for a moment, her eyes glowed the silver that meant magic. The clothes caught fire and all four horses reared and ran in the direction of Camelot. Three of the knights chased after them yelling, leaving only one knight holding their mother. It was Mordred's turn now. Alyssa looked him in the eyes and he stood, revealing himself to the knight.

The knight started to go for his sword, but before he could get his hand on it, Mordred spoke.

"Somnus!" the knight fell to the ground, asleep and out of the way. Their mother ran to them, whispering "recludam" and dropping the shackles along the way.

"Come on. We have to get out of here before they come back," she walked as she talked and before she had finished the three of them had walked back into the woods and the shack that had been their home for so long was out of their view.

TRANSLATIONS:

Ignis- fire

Somnus- sleep

Recludam- unlock