It had been one and a half months since Mark had fist come to the ward. Over the weeks he had become friends with everyone else in the ward. Since he had been there he had become great friends with Joe. He was also good friends with Tom. Mark was the only one of the six that had a sibling in the ward so every now and then he would go and visit her and see how she was. He was now fifteen and knew he didn't have long to decide who he wanted to be an apprentice to.
"There's battle school, horse school, the diplomatic service, cooking and lots more to choose from but I think they're the only the only four that have spaces at the moment" said Tom through a mouthful of apple.
"There's scribe school as well, but I don't think you would want to go to scribe school" added Joe.
"Why wouldn't I want to go to scribe school?" Mark pretended to look offended.
"I didn't mean anything bad by it I just don't think you would like... that's very funny. Im just dying with laughter" Joe said sarcastically when he saw the smile on both Mark and Toms faces. They all started laughing. Mark had known about the choosing day for weeks now but he still didn't know what he wanted to do.
"Your right, I don't want to be stuck in a room all day writing" said Mark. He wanted something more adventurous. He wanted to be outside not stuck in a hot stuffy room doing something he found boring. Which was what writing was to Mark he found it boring and tiring. "What are you two choosing?" He asked hoping they might give him some ideas.
"I want to go to Horse school" Tom said. Tom got on well with animals and he had grown up on a farm before his parents died when he was 10. Tom's parents had died in a fire that had started on the farm. He was the only one out of his family to survive because he was out with his friends. He had come back to find the entire farm burnt down and his mum, dad and brother had died. He had no relatives so the Baron had let him stay in the ward.
"I want to go to battle school" said Joe. Joe was adventurous just like Mark and he would defiantly get into battle school even if he didn't want to. Mark didn't know what he wanted to do. He wanted to grow up and be a warrior but there was something holding him back. He didn't know what it was but there was something stopping him wanting to go to battle school. Maybe it was nerves that he wouldn't be accepted for battle school he thought as he was truthfully very nervous about it. There were lots of things he wondered about the choosing day like would he see his friends much after they had become apprentices? Everyone seemed so confident with what they wanted to do and none of them seemed nervous. He knew that they were but they were good at hiding it unlike him. He knew that they could tell he was nervous; he had no idea what he wanted to do and he wasn't going to work on a farm. He would rather go to scribe school. That would be more interesting than working on a farm.
It was a Saturday and all the wards were allowed to go around the castle. Mark, Tom and Joe were all outside sitting under a tree enjoying the heat. The tree was giving them lots of shade from the sun and they were all relaxing. It was mid afternoon and they had already spent all their money. Every week they were giver 4 coins to spend on what they wanted and each week the three of them spent it on stuff that they were never going to use. Between them they had 3 coins left and it wasn't enough to buy anything. Joe got up and stretched.
"Shall we go and walk around" he said. Mark and Tom shrugged and got up. They walked of and went to looked around the village. They had nothing to do and they were bored, they couldn't go inside because it was too hot and there was nothing of interest that they could do out here. As they were walking Mark felt something cold and wet on his top. He looked down and saw that there was a line of water dripping down his shirt. He looked at Joe and noticed that he was also covered in water. He looked over at Tom to see that he was standing there with his water skin laughing. Mark looked at him with and evil glint in his eye. Next thing Tom knew he was covered in water. Joe joined in and they were all chasing each other their clothes dripping wet.
Both Tom and Joe had run out of water and look at Mark who was grinning. He threw the last of his water at Tom who moved out of the way at the last minute, the water hit the person behind him soaking them all over.
"Ahhhhhhh" the person screamed. She turned around to look at Mark who was already trying to apologise. He stopped when he saw who it was. It was Becky.
"Becky!" he said shocked. He recovered from his shock and started to apologise. "Becky im so sorry I didn't see you there. I was aiming for Tom but he moved out the way and..." he stopped as water splashed him in the face. He wiped the water from his eyes and looked at her in shock again. She smiled innocently at him as if she hadn't done anything even though the evidence was in her hand.
"Becky Turner" he said. She was slightly taken back by the way he had spoken and was of guard. Mark pulled the water skin from her hand and threw it over her getting Lucy and Sarah wet in the process as well. Next thing they knew the boys had the girls chasing them with water. Mark ran and jumped behind a bush. The bush was on the edge of the forest. He saw Lucy come into view and he moved back. As he moved the leaves brushed against him. He instantly stopped hoping Lucy hadn't heard. She looked over in his direction and he stood still. She turned back to the village and walked off. He smiled he was about to get out of the bush to jump out on her when he heard a stick snap behind him.
He turned round and looked into the darkness of the forest. He couldn't see any one which only made his curiosity stronger. He looked behind him to see if anyone was looking and headed into the forest. Other people may have gone back to the village just thinking it was an animal but Mark wanted to be certain. He didn't think it was going to be anything else but he had nothing better to do. He walked past tree after tree and saw nothing unusual. He wasn't surprised. He was about to turn round and head back to the castle when he saw a slight movement out the corner of his eye. He didn't look over in case anything was there. At the moment if there was someone there they didn't know he had noticed them.
"It's dangerous to wonder the forest alone" said someone from behind him. Mark cursed under his breath. Why did he have to be so curious all the time?
It's a cliff hanger. You probably all know who it is already but tell me who you think anyway. This is set after Will and Alice are married so I would like to put a little about Wills family in the next chapter, but im stuck on a name for their child. Please give me any ideas for names and what they are like. I would obviously give you credit for it but I am just really stuck. If you don't want them to have children let me know too. Please review as it makes me HAPPY and I will know if you guys like it so far or not.