Night Fall

Chapter one

Melodie tilted her head up towards the stars scattered in the night's sky. Steam flew into the air as she sighed and rubbed her hands together trying to warm up. She lent against the wall to the tavern and pressed her arms up against it feeling the bricks warming her skin. She knew she'd have to go back in soon, but she hated the idea of having another drunken man pull her onto his lap.

She felt trapped inside the tavern and even outside she could still see the walls of the village fencing her in. She longed to go beyond the walls out into the forests, paddocks and anything that lay beyond them.

'Melodie' Baralie shouted from inside the tavern. She didn't move trying to pretend she didn't hear anything.

'Melodie' He shouted again this time stepping outside. He looked around the empty courtyard. He stopped when his eyes fell on Melodie. Her wavy dark brown hair fell to her elbows; it was blowing slightly in the wind but still looked perfect. Baralie sighed and walked over to her.

'You can't stand here forever' he said putting his hands in his pockets.

'I don't want to, I want to explore, have adventures I can't have them standing here, I have to go out there' She said nodding to the horizon.

'Everything you need is here' He said leaning next to her.

'How can you say that when you've had so many adventures of your own? How can you not go back to that?' She asked

'I've found what I'm looking for' He said looking at her. She smiled

'Tell me more about the outside world' She said turning her slender body to face him. He smiled and looked into the night sky.

Baralie had straight blond hair and the bluest eyes she had ever seen. She had lived in the village her whole life and had never been further than the tree line. Baralie had come into the village when knights invaded his home village in France.

'What do you want to here?' He asked

'Tell me about the ocean' she said in wonder. He had told her of it before, about how he sailed across it to reach Briton.

'Ahh la mer comment je manque les vagues' he said quietly in his natural language. Baralie taught her French so she understood most of it.

'Les vagues?' She asked confused of the new word.

'Waves' He said looking down at her smiling.

'I promise you'll see the ocean' he said brushing some hair from her face.

'But for now we have to get back' He said walking back towards the tavern door. She nodded knowing he was right. She took one more look at the stars and walked inside.

The tavern was unusually crowded that night, mostly men were either shouting to each other or passed out on the floor. Melodie walked over to the bar and pored three drinks for some drunken men at a table in the corner.

'Hey lovely' A drunken man said pulling her onto his lap. She cringed inside as his alcohol stained breath reached her.

'If you do not let go then I can't give you your beer' She said holding the mans beer out of his reach. He looked from her to the beer and licked his lips. He pushed her of and grabbed his beer. She sighed thinking she was worth less then a mug of beer. As she began to walk away the man pulled her back down onto his lap roughly.

'I always get what I want' He said pulling her closely and kissing her on the lips. She tried to pull herself of but he was too strong. She felt sick in the stomach, suddenly the man was pulled back and with a loud yell fell onto the ground. Melodie jumped up quickly enough to see Baralie with a knife to the mans throat.

'Don't ever touch her again' He said through gritted teeth. The man nodded slowly.

'Beauty's a curse if you ask me' He said stepping over the man and walking towards Melodie.

'Yea maybe I should put on a few pounds' She said wiping her mouth with her hand.

'I think it'll take more than that' He said smiling. She smiled back before walking back to the bar to serve drinks the rest of the night.

By about 3am Baralie had dragged the last drunken man out into the courtyard.

'I'm going to bed' Meldoie said yawning.

'Ok, remember we have to get water from the well at 5' He said smiling.

'See you in 2 hours' she replied with a mock smile.

'Oh, did I say we I meant you.' He said throwing her a bucket.

She moaned and trudged of to bed. She woke up to the sound of a rooster on top of her room. The sun was just coming up and there were orange and yellows streaked across the sky. She put on a light blue dress and brushed her hair slowly. She looked outside and gasped as she saw the position of the sun.

'It's got to be at least 6.30' she said to herself grabbing the bucket and running out the door. People were already awake and getting ready for the day. There was a short plump man hurrying people along and ordering them around.

'Come on people, The Samaritan knights don't come here every day' he said waving his arms at people to get them moving. Melodie ignored him running through some long grass to reach the well. She looked into the distance and saw a figure already there.

'I'm sorry' she yelled to Baralie who was lowering a bucket into the well.

'It's alright' He said smiling as she came to a stop next to him.

'Did you get any sleep today?' She asked noticing his tired blue eyes starring back at her.

'Go get some sleep' She said as he shook his head.

'I'll finish up here' She said noticing he was about to argue. He wanted to say something but the thought of sleeping was too strong to ignore.

He thanked her with a nod and walked of to his room. It took about 20 minutes to attach two full buckets to a pole and heave them up across her shoulders. She walked slowly back to the village. The water sloped around in the buckets, sometimes coming out over the sides and soaking her dress.

She walked through the long grass and onto a path. She stopped as she heard trumpets and men yelling from the gate. 5 men ran to the gate and pushed it open. When it was fully open 7 knights rode in. Kids were running along side them and everyone had stopped what they were doing to see what was going on.

'What's going on' Melodie asked a nearby man.

'Arthur and his knights' He replied looking excited. She sighed thinking she'd have to clean up after them.

'What's going on?' Baralie had woken up from all the noise and come down.

'Arthur and his knights' she said still looking at them.

'Probably have to clean up after them' He said quietly. Melodie laughed and looked at him.

'What?' he asked laughing a bit.

'Nothing' she said smiling

'Tell me' He said quickly putting his arm around her neck in a head lock.

'No' she laughed as the two buckets of water rolled onto the ground spilling water all over the path. She started to hit him in the stomach to make him let go.

'Stop that really hurts' He said mockingly.

'There's more where that came from' she said laughing.

'Stop that this instant' yelled the plump man running up to them. They both stopped and looked up.

Melodie didn't move just laughed to herself about how red his face was.

'How dare you wet Arthur's path' He said

'It's not his path' she argued.

'Ok were sorry' Baralie laughed putting his hands between them.

The man stormed of muttering something to himself. They both looked up to see the knights ridding past. They seemed to move in slow motion, She longed to be one of them they seemed so free. One of the knights looked down at her and smiled. He was handsome with curly brown hair. He looked to be as young as Melodie. He looked back at her still smiling as he reached the top of the path.

He climbed of his horse still looking at her. She felt her cheeks going red as he continued to stare at her. She smiled slightly to him as he smiled back.

'Oh brother' Baralie said rolling his eyes.

'What?' She said getting snapped form her trance.

He was looking from the knight to her smiling.

'He's a knight, don't even bother' He said picking up the buckets.

'He'd have adventures; I want adventures, why not?' She asked looking back at the knight who was talking with the other knights.

'He's probably not interested' she said ignoring Baralie's laugh.

'Why wouldn't he be, you're beautiful. Just put on a nice dress and any man will like you' He said walking back to her.

'Yea, you can bye me a new dress' she said getting excited.

'What…no that's not what I meant' He said

'C'mon Baralie, I never ask you for anything' She said grabbing his hands.

'You ask me for everything' He replied.

'So, what's one more thing?' She said smiling. He looked at her and smiled.

'This is going to be expensive, isn't it? He said rubbing his eye.

'Maybe' she said

'Don't you like anything cheap?' He said looking at her.

'I like you.' She said smiling and dragging him up to the village.

Please Review, tell me what you think or what you think should happen next.