Amber
by Katie Carter, age 14

Amber sat at her cold stone windowsill, staring out onto the cobble stone roads of war-torn France. There was a longing inside her, but she didn't know what she was longing for, so she sat there a while longer watching the candle lights go out one by one and the bustling town come to a halt. She had no family, so she lived in the attic of an abandoned factory, it was full of cobwebs and an eerie creaking echoed throughout the building, but she had nowhere else to go. Out of the frosty mist the shadow of a man staggered and collapsed in the middle of her road, under the milky moonlight she could see blood so contemplated whether or not to go down.

She decided that she might as well, seeing as he wasn't a threat because he was barely alive, so she climbed cautiously down from the rooftop and sat by his side. He opened his bloodshot eyes for a second and whispered in a husky voice "They're coming for me, I must hide". At that moment, angered voices echoed through the streets and Amber feared that he might be in danger. She dragged his lifeless body up two flights of rickety stairs and hid him under a piece of old factory equipment just in time to hear the sound of heavy footsteps march up the stairwell. She then clambered up into the rafters and watched from the shadows.

Three foot soldiers emerged in red uniforms with swords and searched the room half-heartedly. "Why are we searching for this man again?" said one who was clearly uninterested. His bulky friend then replied "Well he is a noble after all, he murdered a man, we can't have our royalty murdering who they please....." there was a pause then they walked towards the piece of equipment that she'd hidden the "noble" under.

She let out a gasp and fell from the rafters onto the hard wooden floor where the guards then held her up with their swords. "Who are you?!" the bulky one shouted as he pushed the blade into her chest. " M... my name is Amber, I... I heard you coming and I was frightened so I hid up in the roof, please don't kill me", they lowered their swords, looked at each other then one announced "He's not here, let's search the mill" and they climbed back down the stair well. Amber ran to the window and saw them vanish over the horizon before crouching under the factory equipment and checking if he was OK.

He was out cold, so she bathed the wound he had on his side and bandaged his broken arm. The next day she went out to beg for some scraps of food, when she returned the man was up and sitting on the windowsill. In the daylight she recognised him, he had long blonde hair, was dressed in noble's attire and had sapphire-blue eyes, he was a noble that lived nearby and she had sometimes seen him venture into town to buy swords and shields in the blacksmiths, protected by guards of course.

"Where am I?" he questioned, apparently confused.

"You collapsed outside of here last night, some soldiers were looking for you, so I hid you until they went" Amber replied, she was a little timid after hearing that this man was a murderer. His eyes filled with sadness and he sighed "Ahhh yes, how could I forget, my family disowned me and cast me out of our mansion after I..." He stopped and put his head in his hands. Amber then cut in, "I heard that you killed a man, is this true?"

The noble cast his eyes towards the sky and began "Yes it is... in a manner of speaking. A man of great importance attacked me; all I did was defend myself, it was me or him".

Once again there was a long pause, Amber was thinking whether or not this made him a bad man. Either way she was still hiding a criminal and would be hung if she was caught. "I really must thank you, I've never been saved by anyone before... I owe you my life" the noble said, "there is some money in my jacket, take that and get us some real food". Amber did as she was asked. This was the first time she had any money to spend at the market, a wave of excitement rushed through her as she felt the gold coins in her hand.

She brought back bread, milk and fish but her mouth was watering just thinking about it. It occurred to her that this noble Danzel couldn't be the cold-blooded killer that they made him out to be. She returned and then they ate. It was weird for her because she never had anyone to dine with before, he also felt mixed emotions. He had never been saved by anyone before, he had met someone who committed a completely selfless act, he had never seen that before. He stayed that night and ended up staying with Amber for a week, so by now he was starting to recover, rumour has it that the guards were going to start another search he thought it was maybe time to move on.

He had arranged for a ship to take him to the Far East, so he packed what little he had and waited for Amber to get back with the food, when she returned he approached her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Amber I am in your debt more than you can possibly imagine, but now I must depart, thank you so much". She just solemnly sat on the windowsill and gazed out onto the street, he left and she watched him disappear through a misty alley towards the docks.

For the weeks that followed, Amber carried out her day-to-day routine, then returned home to the dark, empty room and dined alone on stale bread or whatever she could find. She missed talking to Danzel about her day and hearing his amazing stories about places she had never visited. Meanwhile, on a ship heading for the Far East, Danzel couldn't focus either, he felt guilty leaving Amber alone and missed hearing about her day and teaching her things about the world. He sat in his cabin eating alone and made a decision, he would go back and get Amber then take her away somewhere where she would be safe and never have to beg again. The boat docked in England after a rough voyage, Danzel purchased some items for the journey back (clothes, dresses for Amber, swords, food) then sailed on a ship back to France. When he finally returned to France he headed straight to the old factory, waiting to see her face. He turned the familiar corner of the local market and saw the old factory in ruins. It had been burnt down ages ago, there was wood everywhere, charcoal covered the floor and huge beams stuck out of the ground. It was a very disturbing sight, Danzel feared that she may have been killed in the fire. He went crazy searching the town for her but she was nowhere to be found, so he sat alone in the ruins. Some guards where passing through and Danzel engaged them in a swordfight seeking the truth, his skills were too much for them and a few jabs with his blade made them say what happened to Amber.

"She... she was caught stealing from the town market, they have her chained up in the noble's dungeon... they say she was connected with a murderer that's all I know" the thought occurred to Danzel that if it wasn't for him they would have set her free, "Do you know if she is still alive?" he enquired, "No that's all I know, she was imprisoned weeks ago - anything could have happened".

Without hesitation Danzel headed for the noble's mansion, it had been ages since he had set foot there, the black steel gates before him gave off bad memories. He had spent so much time there that he had found a route into the mansion from underground when he had lived there, that is how he escaped before. He opened the trap door and climbed into the hole, when he lit a nearby torch he could see how dilapidated it had become, so he slowly walked down the tunnel. He came up through the fireplace of the cellar which had become dusty and moth-eaten in his absence, then climbed the stairs where he saw one of the guards that tried to hunt him down. Danzel sneaked up on him, but the blade to his neck and forced him to hand over his dungeon keys, then he bound and gagged him. After leaving the guard in an empty room Danzel went to the dungeons and searched for Amber. He lit a torch and the light illuminated hundreds of rows of cells, he searched one by one being as quiet as he could. Most cells were full of children, sick or dead people so it was a terrible sight but soon enough he found the cell Amber was in. He recognised her fiery red hair and the locket she wore around her neck, when he got closer there was no doubt that it was her. She was ill, her skin was pasty and she was breathing heavily, he wrapped a blanket around her and carried her out of the dungeon and into the hallway.

A part of him wanted to march upstairs, draw his sword and take revenge against the people who tried to imprison him, but he had Amber to take care of now so he just calmly took the tunnel out of the mansion and headed for the docks again. They both took a ship that was headed for the south of France, they just packed their things together and left. Amber was very ill but on the voyage across the sea Danzel nursed her back to health, every night on the ship they would eat together and Amber even taught Danzel a few things. She learned how to fence and became amazingly skilled at sword play so when they arrived at the south of France they had to obtain a house.

Amber was now Danzel's adopted daughter so they became a team, they found a mansion with a plot of land and together killed the master and claimed it as their own.

Who knew that something as horrifying as a murder could bring two people together in this way?