Just to let you know that the writing in bold and italics is Marks dream/memory. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own rangers apprentice.

It was midnight and Mark lay in bed. He was sleeping but it wasn't very peaceful. There were beads of sweat on his face and his hair was plastered to his forehead. He moved about in his sleep and his blankets had fallen of him into a heap on the flaw long ago, due to his fast stiff movements. He was having a nightmare which sadly was a memory.

It was nine o'clock at night and Mark was outside the back of his house. He pulled back the string of the bow and fired an arrow aiming at a tree. It flew past the tree he was aiming at and flew off into the field ahead of him. Two arrows were planted firmly in the tree out of the five he had shot. The others had flown of into the field and planted themselves into the soft mud. On the first couple of days that the arrows had been hitting the tree they had made a loud thud as they went into the bark. Mark had winced every time hoping that his parents hadn't heard him. If they found him outside now he would be in a lot of trouble.Mark had gathered hay and straw and then tied it together on the tree to muffle the sounds of the arrow making contact with it. Mark fired the last arrow at the tree and it hit the hay. He smiled and walked over to it, he pulled out the three arrows that were in the tree then traipsed into the field to collect the remaining arrows. He could just make out the arrows sticking out the ground. He pulled them out of the ground and walked back to where he had been standing before. He fired another arrow when he heard a shout from the door of his home. His parents had heard him.

"Mark get in here now." Mark ran into the house like his mum told him knowing that he was going to be told off. Mark stopped and thought for a moment, her voice seemed more panicky than angry. His mum was rushing around the house and she ran into Molly's room. Mark hardly saw his mum run. He could hear his mum waking Molly up and getting her out of bed.

"Mum, what are you doing?" he asked. Mark started to worry, his mum would never wake his sister up at this time. "Mum?"

"Mark help me pack some food." Mark turned round and saw his dad. He ran over to the cupboard and got out the bread. He passed it to his dad and ran back to the cupboard to get more food.

"What's happening?" he asked as his dad threw a cloak over to him and told him to put it on.

"Bandits are attacking the village. You need to get your sister out of here. Get as far away from the village as possible, do you understand?" Mark looked at his dad who grabbed him by the shoulders. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes I understand, but aren't you coming with us?" Mark looked his dad in the eye. Mark's dad knelt down and pulled Mark into a tight hug.

"Look there will be a greater chance for you and Molly to get out of the village alive if me and your mum don't go with you. You and Molly are smaller and you will be quieter on your own. I trust you to look after your sister and get her out of here, I know you will be able to." Mark's dad looked at Mark, there were tears in his eyes and Mark could feel his eyes burning as he realised that he wouldn't see his parents again. Mark started to cry.

"I don't want to leave you. I can't go." Mark was pulled into another hug by his dad.

"Mark you have to go. Promise me that you will look after your sister."

"I will look after her, I promise I will." Mark buried his face into his dads. Molly walked out of her room with his mum right behind her. Molly's face was tear stained and her eyes were red raw. Mark quickly wiped the tears away. Molly and Mark's mum walked over. He hugged his mum tightly.

"I will look after her" he said to his mum.

"I know you will" she kissed Mark and gave him the bag with the food. "I know you will, now go." Mark nodded his head.

"We love you both always remember that. No matter how much we have shouted at you we have always loved you and you never forget that" said Marks dad as he placed a dagger in Marks hand. It was small but it was better than nothing if he needed it. Mark took it and placed it in his belt.

"I love you both too." He grabbed Molly's hand and pulled her towards the door. Molly got out of his grip and ran over to her mum and dad and hugged them.

"I love you mum, I love you dad." She cried into her parents arms. Mark could feel tears rolling down his face.

"We love you both" Mark's mum said. "Now go, go." Mark ran over to his little sister and grabbed her hand. He knew what he had to do. His mind was telling him to run and get his sister to safety but his heart was telling him to stay with his parents. He followed his mind no matter how much it hurt him and pulled his sister out the door. All around him he could hear screaming and shouting as people ran for their lives. He pulled his sister towards the forest to the only safe haven he could think of. If they were in the trees it would be harder for someone to follow. His sister slipped and fell on the ground. He picked her up to see if she was alright. She hadn't hurt anything. Quickly he pulled his sister behind him as a bandit swiped his sword at her. It missed her and he pushed her behind a tree. The bandit swung the sword again and this time Mark wasn't so lucky. The sword caught his leg and sliced into the skin. Mark let out a yell of pain and fell to the ground. Mark could fell the blood dripping down his leg, he could feel the fear building in him. He didn't want to die, not like this. The bandit was about to lunge into Mark with the sword when he was pushed to the side. The bandit fell to the floor. Mark looked over at who had just saved his life. It was a stranger, Mark had seen him in the village but never talked to him. He didn't even know the man yet the man had saved his life.

"GO, Run!" the man shouted. Mark smiled his thanks at the man and then grabbed his sister from behind the tree and ran for the forest line. He turned round and took a quick glance at the village he called home. Many of the houses were on fire.

His house was on fire.

Mark sat up in his bed. He was gasping for breath as if he had been running for miles. His wiped the sweat from his eyes and wiped his wet hair of his face. The top of his shirt was wet and so was his cushion. Mark walked over to his desk and pulled out a small dagger.

"I miss you."

It was the only thing that he had left of his parents except for memories. He let the tears fall down his face. He remembered talking to his sister that night when they were hiding in the forest. He had told her that he would get her to safety and that he would let no harm come to her. He smiled, he had done that, he had kept the promise he had made to his parents. There were a lot of things that he hadn't told Will. He hadn't told Will about the knife which he had hid in his boot when he had first seen Will and he had done his best to cover up the wound on his leg. If Will and Halt had seen it then they would have asked questions and he hadn't wanted to talk about it at the time, he still didn't. He didn't think he would ever want to talk about it. He put the dagger back in the draw and went and sat on his bed. He sat next to the window and stared out of it. He wasn't tired anymore even though it was midnight and he didn't think he would get any sleep for the rest of the night even if he tried.

I hope you liked the two chapters. Let me know what you think about it and if something is wrong like grammar or spelling as it will improve my writing.