Chapter Two - Gabrielle

Water dripped down Gabrielle's hands as she carelessly skipped towards her home, letting the bucket swing back and forth. Her mind was running over a story she had to remember, the last thing on her mind was that the bucket was almost empty. By the time to home she'd have to turn back for more.

"Gabrielle!" A girl only a few years younger than Gabrielle came running towards her. "Gabrielle!"

Gabrielle stopped and waited for her littler sister. Lilla stopped in front of her, raven hair falling over her shoulders as she leaned on her legs to catch her breath.

"Is something wrong?" Gabrielle asked, instantly thinking of her mother. A women who sometimes pushed herself a little too much.

"No!" Lilla almost laughed and stood straighter, smiling at her sister. Gabrielle never understood why, but Lilla had a very curious admiration for Gabrielle. An admiration she couldn't understand.

"Well what is it?" Gabrielle asked.

"Perdicas is here to see you." Gabrielle had to stop herself from groaning. "And he brought you flowers." Lilla smiled a little bigger, taking the bucket from Gabrielle's hand so she could go visit her husband-to-be.

"Well, I better go see him then." Gabrielle muttered. Lilla tilted her head a bit.

"Gabrielle... you're not still upset about this? Perdicas loves you!"

"But I don't love him!" Gabrielle argued, and despite everything it could do for the two families, that was all that mattered for Gabrielle.

"Some of us should be so lucky to have someone like him." Lilla said.

"Enjoy your free years." Gabrielle half-joked, then quickly went towards their small wooden cottage.

Lilla looked in the bucket and sighed. "There's no water!"

But Gabrielle had quickly run around the house to the door, stepping inside to see Perdicas holding a pathetic bouquet of white flowers that were beginning to wilt. Gabrielle forced a smile. "Hello, Perdicas."

He smiled brightly at her, instantly pushing the flowers into her face. Gabrielle took them, gave them a once over, and set them onto the table. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I...uh.. wanted to talk to you about some things..." he spoke slowly, thinking over his words.

"What things?" Gabrielle asked, tucking strawberry blonde locks behind her ear, then crossing her arms over her chest.

He talked so slowly and sounded dumbfounded with each of his words, it drove Gabrielle crazy. If she could just get him to look at a scroll maybe he'd irk her less with his language skills. But she supposed it wasn't his fault. His family hadn't much need to teach him those things.

"Gabrielle, could we... go for a, uh, walk?"

Gabrielle held her smile but let out a heavy breath. "Sure."


Lilla set the bucket down by the well and slowly went down to the creek. The water could wait a moment. She hummed to herself, letting her feet soak in the cool water.

Gabrielle just didn't see how lucky she was. She had a man that loved her to no end, would give her the moon if she asked for it, yet she was so set against marrying him. Perdicas was a good man, a farmer. A few of Lilla's friends liked to talk about how they wished they could be Gabrielle. She had Perdicas, literally had him wrapped around her finger. Perdicas was fairly desired, yet he only desired Gabrielle.

Lilla closed her eyes and tilted her head back, breathing in the cleansing air. Such a beautiful day.

Then a hand clasped over her mouth.


Gabrielle walked beside Perdicas, trying to listen as he spoke, but her mind kept drifting back to the story. It was about these two orphans who-

"...and children-"

Gabrielle's mind came to attention. "Excuse me?" she stopped to face him.

But Perdicas never got a chance to repeat himself, a series of screams arose. They both looked down towards the edge of town, seeing a large group of people being pushed about.

"STOP!"

"NO!"

"HELP!"

Gabrielle broke into a run, Perdicas followed after her. She had to push her way to the front of the panicked people, most were women. The few men that were there had swords pointed at them. Perdicas tried to pull Gabrielle back but she went forward.

"Alright. Now despite certain orders, I'd like to keep this clean. So we'll be taking the women."

And hand grasped Gabrielle's arm tightly. It was Lilla, a bruise starting to swell on her cheek.

"You won't!" someone shouted. The man looked at them all.

He, and the men behind him all wore dark armour with an insignia like a figure eight on their right arm band.

"Talus, come on, lets just grab them and go. We've still gotta..." he trailed off.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright, come on." the man, 'Talus', reached out and pulled Lilla towards him.

"No!" Gabrielle shouted, pulling her sister back to her side.

"Take me! Leave the others!" she boldly stepped forward, she didn't mean to make herself seem like a prize, but she'd rather the others (particularly her baby sister) stay away from harms way. These soldiers clearly didn't work for the good side. Gabrielle didn't know why they wanted the women, but she had a faint idea what soldiers (or any man) could want with the,.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise, then smirked. "Oh we'll take you, and anybody else we want." he gripped Gabrielle's wrists tightly and flung her behind him into two men who held her just as strongly.

Gabrielle put up a fair struggle, but there wasn't a way for her to escape, nor anyone else. She just wasn't strong. Gabrielle continued to try and pull away as she was pushed into a cart with a cage on top. All the while she kept a careful eye on her sister.

Tears streamed down Lilla's face as she came into the cart, she isntantly wrapped her arms around Gabrielle. Gabrielle hugged her sister tightly.

"Gabrielle," Lilla choked through tears. "whats going to happen?"

Gabrielle didn't answer as more were crammed into the cart, people were pressed against the cage-like walls.

The men there tried to get past the swords. Gabrielle winced as she saw an elder man get sliced on his side, he fell to his knees as blood poured into the dirt.

"Gabrielle?" Lilla asked.

Gabrielle just shushed her, shooting a death glare at the man who'd grabbed her, but he only laughed as the horses began clopping away from the village.