Swords and Staffs

4. love at first sight

Alistair:

"You're so nice to me...."

"Thank you. But I'm afraid thanking me isn't necessary, Arlene."

"It is, you are really lovely."

"Thank you? You are quite pleasant yourself; I missed the times we had together." I blushed.

"I love your eyes..." she said, her face glistening.

"Thank you? Your eyes are stunning as well, just like they were before," I answered playing along with it, this was probably an effect of the mandrake root I mixed in with her water as a painkiller.

"What?" she asked, seeming to have come out of a trance, mouth wide open.

"I was returning the compliment..." I said confused. She looked completely baffled.

"Returning the compliment?"

"Yes...you liked my eyes, I said-"

"I did?!" she interrupted seeming shocked.

"Yes," I said giggling, this girl was funny. I wondered if I should talk to her some more.

"I am so sorry; this has become somewhat awkward. I have to go...."

"What! You can't go! I mean, you're not even fully rested yet, you need to rest." I stuttered starting to panic.

What if we never saw each other again, what would I do? I was intrigued to find out more about the girl I had suddenly come to recognise from my childhood. I was best friends with Arlene before the feud started, all I remember is that she was this girl who went to my school which was the only freedom I had! I never really got into that much detail of who she was, or even her last name. We just cared about playing and escaping reality with imaginary worlds and characters. I wanted that back. The happiness that was her.

"I'll be fine," she started to get up from the bed.

"Goodbye Alistair, it was nice to see you."

As we both left the tent, I noticed that the sun was now setting, after a perpetual storm.

She began to stare at our camp flag, she looked like she had just seen a ghost."Are we in the Templars' camp?" she asked me. She seemed extremely concerned. She looked terrified.

"Yes," I replied, her eyes widened. Her whole face turned milky white.

"I can't be here!" she yelled and started to run.

"Arlene! What are you talking about?"

"What? Are you friends with the Templars or something? I'm a mage! I can't be here!"

That word made everything start to sting. My insides twisted and I felt as if I were about to vomit. Mage!!Anything but that! My childhood best friend is a mage! How did I not see this before?

"You're a mage! No, you can't be! This is not happening! I can't be talking to you right now!"

"What? I don't understand. Look, I'm sorry Alistair but I really must be going," she edged backwards a tiny bit, and she finally realized... "Wait you're a...a Templar!" her voice broke when she said the word.

"Stay away from me!" then she started galloping towards the opening of the forest before I could respond.

"Arlene! I'm not going to hurt you!" I said in worry, shouting after her. She didn't answer. She just ran. I stood there in silence as I watched her get smaller and smaller until she finally formed into a minuscule grain of sand, and then disappeared completely. She was gone.

Arlene:

I raced out of the camp and towards the forest. It was dark now and the small streams of saltwater poured from the clouds. This wasn't real. It couldn't be real.

"He is not a Templar, he is not a Templar, he is NOT a Templar!" I kept on repeating to myself as I stumbled and staggered towards home, oblivious of any obstacles.

If he was a Templar and I was a mage then how could we know each other? Why had we been friends before and didn't know? There was something about him that took my mind off my mother and gave me the happiness and courage that I needed to move on. What if I could never get that back? What if I could never see him again? I had been so lonely just lately; he was what I needed to heal. I was being so stupid, he was a childhood friend, yes, for a brief second, I remembered how much I cared about him, yes, but I didn't know that he was a Templar!

As much as I wanted to see him, I knew that it was the worst idea anyone could think of.

"A Templar and a mage. A Templar and a mage. A TEMPLAR and a MAGE!!" I fell over the root of a tree and lay there in a heap.

I curled up into a small ball and wrapped my arms around my legs. Streams of tears ran down my face causing the mud beneath me to become soggy and damp. My head ached, my palms sweated, and my now-bandaged wound stung and throbbed.

Could I ever go home? After what had just happened would I have the right to come home? I shivered at the thought. I had betrayed mother, I had broken our promise, to never trust a Templar, for a brief moment I did trust him! I liked him.

A dreaded image decided to evade my thoughts and interrupt my weeping. A terrifying image of my father snapping my staff in half and ripping the mage's symbol off my armour made me feel uneasy. Disowned. Father would disown me if he ever knew about me even socialising with Alistair.

However, I had spoken to him before but that was in another life! We were unsuspecting, small children who had no idea of what their future would be, of what they would grow up to become. He's dangerous now, not at all like before. I was genuinely scared of Ali and that scared me even more! He's a Templar, that's what they do...