The firelight had ripped through the shadows. Only minutes ago, I thought I had been left to die here, in the wildness of the dark forest, all alone. But that hadn't been the case. Just as the cold fingers of death made a grab for me, I had seen the light of a torch. The shadows had raced away as though the light was a demon full of bad. But the evil in a realm like this is the cold winter nights with the screams of children as bandits rip through their homes, or the pleas of their parents, begging for their child to be spared.
So when Knights in shining armour came to my rescue from the bitter jaws of death, I was both relieved and mad. If my mother survived the bandits, then I might be able to see her again. And yet, how much easier would it have been to just let go? Living was just too hard when you lived in a small hut, barely big enough for two people to live in.
'What are you thinking of, girl?' One of the Knights cut through my thoughts.
I stay quiet. They could cut off my head if I said the wrong thing. And while it would be so much easier, it would also be so painful.
'You can talk if you want, we don't have the power to hurt you. We aren't even real Knights.' I gasp. It was rare for rogues to help someone like me.
'But we ain't rogues, neither,' One pipes in.
'We're the beginners!' Another yells.
'BOYS!' The one in front of me
