The Fall of a Kingdom

Lets Play A Game

After walking for several hours in silence, Raven could feel the looks that Xavier kept passing her direction. "Do you need something? Or am I just that good looking?"

Turning to look at him she saw that he had turned red from the tips of his ears down his neck which caused her to giggle. She had only second-hand experiences from books she had read, but she believed what she did counted as teasing.

"You are very beautiful.." His words were so soft she almost did not hear them. This time it was her face that turned red, she had never been called beautiful before. In the books she read it was used to describe those who were more attractive than others, but as she had only ever met him she could not tell if she really was.

"Would you like to play a game while we walk? It could help us know more about each other and help pass the time since the trip will take until tomorrow." Xavier had been mulling over how he would get her to talk to him when he remembered a game he played as a child called 2 truths and a lie. "You do not have to if you do not want to, but I think it could be very interesting since we know nothing of each other."

Raven turned her head to look at him, she had never really played games before. Sure she had read about them but she did not really have someone she could play them with. Seeing the honest excitement shinning in his eyes she could not help but want to agree to play. "Fine, we shall play a game if it truly sounds interesting to me."

Xavier was barely stopping himself from jumping up and down like a boy, he did not want to scare her away from playing but he could not wait to find out more about this interesting girl. "Okay, so the rules are simple, we simply state two truths and one lie, and the other person has to try to guess which one is the lie. If you want I can go first to show you how it is done."

"That will not be necessary, that seems to be an easy enough concept. First I have killed a bear without a weapon, second I have seen a mermaid, and last I know multiple languages."

Xavier was shocked with what she had said, which of those are the truth, they all seemed like incredible feats. "Ummm, I am going to go with the killing a bear without a weapon."

"Nope that is true, I was 8 years old and had no choice but to protect myself. It is the mermaid silly, we are on a mountain, there are no oceans up here."

Xavier felt his face flush red once again, of course it was the mermaid, he was so caught up on how extraordinary all those seemed that he did not even think properly before answering.

"Alright my turn, First I am an orphan, second I was part of the kings army, and lastly I am 17 years old." As he finished speaking he took a peek at raven from the corner of his eye and could see that she was deep in thought.

"Alright the lie is that you are 17."

Shock crossed his face, he was sure that she would have chose one of the other two options. "And why would you say that?" He could not help his curiosity seeping into his voice.

She stopped walking and turned to face him completely, "I figure you are telling the truth about being in the army as your wounds came from a sword, secondly it was a toss up between the orphan and the age, but you just seemed to have a hint of sadness when you mentioned being an orphan so I could not help but believe that it was true."

Sighing he finally looked into her eyes, "Yeah I mean I have a family, but I have never had a mother and father as most children do. I was told that as a babe I was dropped off at the church and whoever left me only left a piece of paper with my name on it. Since then I was raised alongside other children who did not have a mother and father."

Not knowing what to do Raven moved closer to pat his back, she was unsure how to make him feel better. "I know it is a sad time, but I have never met the woman who birthed me or the man who I would have called father either. The only beings I have ever considered family are behind us up that mountain. Though we do not know them, I want to believe that they loved us and sent us where we would be safe. That is the only thing I can believe because anything less will only cause me pain."

Falling into silence they both once again began to walk down the mountain. Both thinking of the families they had made, and the one they would never have.