The quiet evergreen forest separates Verano from most of the world. The dense trees seem to shift, making it hard for travelers and even merchants to find. The inhabitants have grown accustomed to the secluded nature of their village.
Sophia often wanders the forest in her spare time, wondering what life truly is like outside the forest’s seemingly endless reach. The trees stretch on a far distance and very few in the village know what’s beyond it.
One day while picking wild herbs for the apothecary, Sophia hears a strange sound. A loud thud fills her ears as if someone is trying to chop down one of the trees. She looks beyond the forest towards the clearing to see a boy cutting a branch off a tree in the distance. The boy is turned away from Sophia. All she can see is the back of his gambeson, medium length black hair, trousers, a pair of boots and the sword in his hand between swings. She watches the knight training for a while, then he suddenly collapses. He clenches his stomach (she assumes) and groans in pain. Sophia pauses, unable to move. To her surprise, the knight manages to get to his feet. Through bated breath Sophia watches him pick up his sword and ready for more swings. Sophia immediately rushes back to the apothecary’s house.
After giving the herbs to the apothecary, Sophia goes home to make lunch. She packs a few sandwiches, fruit from her garden and fresh well water then returns to the clearing. When she returns, the boy is nowhere to be found.
The next day after her chores are finished, Sophia makes lunch early and heads straight for the clearing. To her delight, the knight has returned. He is still training as before. This time, Sophia gets a glimpse of his face. He’s young, perhaps her age. As she looks on, his hazel eyes meet hers. Sophia blushes and runs off, leaving the basket out by the trees.
The boy watches her go. “Is she from that village?” he wonders.
Sophia returns the next morning to see her basket as she left it. The food she had prepared was still in the basket to her surprise except it was now spoiled. Sophia takes the basket home and disposes of the rotten food before giving the basket a thorough cleaning.
After the day’s chores, Sophia prepares a new basket with the same contents as last time. As she heads out to the fields, she notices the boy facing towards her. He is watching the direction she’s coming from. His eyes zero in on her as she approaches the clearing.
“You’re the girl from yesterday.” the knight says. “What do you want?”
Sophia steps out of the trees and onto the clearing. She meets the boy’s gaze and displays the basket in her hands. “I brought you some food. You looked hungry yesterday.”
As Sophia takes a step forward, the boy places his right hand on the handle of his sheathed sword. Sophia stops and stares at the knight; a look of unease on her face.
“Don’t come any closer,” the knight says, practically drawing his sword. “I don’t need your hospitality. You and I are enemies.”
Sophia cocks her head to the side. “Enemies? I don’t even know you.”
“That village behind you is part of a warring nation with my people.” The knight says, pointing out into the forest with an intense glare. “That makes us enemies,”
“I don’t know anything about the war,” Sophia pleads. “This village isn’t involved in the conflict. Please, you look hungry, I don’t want you to pass out.”
As she speaks, the knight’s stomach rumbles and he clutches it with the hand he originally held his sword handle with. In his pause, Sophia takes another step forward.
“H- how do I know you didn’t poison that food,” the knight asks, fighting his hunger.
Sophia sets the basket down on the grass and flips open one side of the basket lid. From it, she pulls out a wrapped parchment housing a sandwich. The knight watches intently; his stomach continuing its protest against him. Sophia unwraps the sandwich. Ham and wild veggies stuffed with cheese between two pieces of bread. She glances up at the knight then sinks her teeth into the sandwich. She savors her own handiwork then waits several seconds before speaking.
“If it was poison, I would have symptoms by now.” As she speaks, Sophia places the sandwich she just reluctantly took a bite out of on top of the basket. She then reaches into the basket pulling out another sandwich wrapped in parchment. She takes a few more steps forward leaving her basket on the ground.
The knight watches cautiously as the village girl offers the second sandwich to him. The smell of the meat, and cheese entices the knight. His mouth waters and he instinctively stretches out his hand. Just as he’s about to grab the sandwich, his reason overrides his immediate need and he withdraws his hand, returning it back to rest on the handle of his sword.
“The sandwich you ate definitely isn’t poisoned,” the knight admits. “How can I be sure that the sandwich you are offering me now isn’t?”
Sophia lets out a sigh and shakes her head. She then unwraps the second sandwich and takes a smaller bite out of it. She waited several seconds then stared at the knight who let out a sign of his own.
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“You really don’t know what’s going on in Grudah,”‘ the knight asks, taking a bite of the sandwich. His eyes widen as he swallows his first bite. He then takes another larger bite followed by a few more, savoring each.
Sophia shakes her head. “We don’t hear much from that area. Just passing stories from merchants.”
The knight chews on his lunch and the village girl’s words.
“Very few merchants come to our village. Those that do have talked about a few skirmishes here and there but not much,” Sophia continues. “Thank the Lord that none of it reached us.”
“It’s worse than you’ve heard,” the knight says, finally finishing the last of his sandwich. “It’s practically a massacre. “Skirmish” makes it sound like both sides are taking territory. It’s as if they are unstoppable. They’ve yet to lose an encounter from what I’ve heard.”
“I take it you’re fighting in the war yourself,” Sophia says. As she does, she takes a closer look at the knight’s gambeson. The blue material is spattered with red. White lines show its battle wear.
The knight nods. “I got separated from my platoon and somehow wandered into this forest. I never knew there was a village beyond Ludeah.”
“Most people don’t know about us,” Sophia says, taking the leftover parchment from the knight’s sandwich and stuffing it into her basket. “The forest is said to shift with the wind, at least that’s what I heard from the Elder.”
“What does that mean?” The knight asks, puzzled.
“I’m not entirely sure myself. All I can say is I know the Lord is protecting us,” Sophia says, a warm smile on her face.
The knight gives Sophia an inquisitive look then gets to his feet. Sophia places the rest of her food back in the basket and stands with the knight. As they both look up at the azure sky, a red light flashes through the air.
“What’s that?” Sophia asks.
The fiery flare lights up the sky in a narrow beam with sparks trailing behind it. As it stretches across the clearing, it begins to die out then slowly it fizzles out. A popping sound is heard as it dies out.
The knight grins. “It’s a signal flare. One of my comrades is nearby.”
The knight takes off in a sprint towards one of the trees. At the base of its trunk, the knight grabs a black bag and slings it over his shoulder. He then grabs the silver helmet that it was beside and tosses it on his head. He lifts the visor to expose his hazel eyes to Sophia.
“Oh, I forgot to ask your name.” He calls out.
“I’m Sophia,” the village girl replies.
“Well, Sophia, thank you for the food. I definitely needed that. Now, I must be off. Farewell.”
Sophia waves as the knight turns and runs out into the forest to meet the person who lit the signal fire.