Knights and Maids by Victoria Fairy (early reader chapter books txt) 📕

Once upon a time in a country for away from the world we know spring just arrived. Up to the horizon people just could see hills. Green hills in fact. The grass on them seemed to be greener than everywhere else. Just in the middle of all those hills was a little town called Stanheld. But the inhabitants of this town called it just the haunted town. That was because of a danger that was somewhere in the green hills. Nobody left the town for centuries. But everyone was sure they are protected by huge walls so that they could have a happy life. And that the town was ruled by a king who always did his best to find the danger in the hills.

The market day just started and everywhere in the middle of the town little stands grew out of nowhere. The traders sold everything people could think about. And every inhabitant was on the marketplace. They all looked around for something they needed. Somewhere in between all of that was a young blonde woman. She looked interested in every good shown on the stands and watched the crowd around her.
‘Good morning, Gemma.’ An old man grinned at her and handed some apples over to her. ‘These are for you and your two sisters. Oh, and tell your dad I’ll come over this evening.’ The young woman took the apples and bowed slightly but didn’t say a word. She never did. Of cause she could speak but she didn’t do it often outside her father’s house.
Her father was the owner of the pub. In the evening nearly every man and some women came to it. Even the king has been in the pub once. Something Gemma’s father has been really proud of.

On that evening the pub was full of people again. Gemma and her two sisters Enola and Rufina had a lot to do helping their father to serve everyone. The whole town seemed to celebrate a successful day.
Gemma brought another beer to a man who was sitting at the bar for at least two hours. He grinned at her and she grinned back. Just to be friendly. She didn’t like smiling at drunken people but there was no other chance in her position. She was the waitress and always had to be friendly.
‘Help yourself to a beer and drink with me.’, the drunken man yelled at the blonde girl. She looked a little puzzled. Gests never asked her to drink with them.
‘No, thanks. I have to work.’ she answered a moment later, turned around again and wanted to go to a table with three older women. But the man grabbed her arm.
‘We have to celebrate our freedom today. The king is sending another knight out to fight the evil in the hills.’ he explained his command and showed his teeth in a big smile.
‘What makes you think that this one will succeed when so many before him didn’t?’ She couldn’t free her arm but it wasn’t yet a situation to call for her father.
‘He’s young.’ was the only answer. The man let her arm go. He was sure she won’t run away.
Being young isn’t a guarantee to succeed. Gemma thought but didn’t say it loud. She wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to make him angry.
‘And he is my little brother.’ the man said after little while. To that point he didn’t look drunk anymore. His dreamy eyes seemed to be very proud. He really believed in the success of his brother. Gemma won’t believe in it until the knight comes back in the town. Since she was a child knights were sent be the king to find out about the danger but none of them ever came back. So she won’t believe in that young knight too much.
The blonde girl turned away and looked around. She was looking for the red curls of her youngest sister which she found in a little distance at the table of the old women. ‘Rufina!’, she called out and showed her to come over. The red-haired smiled at the three women and came over to the blonde one. ‘I feel a little sick. Is it okay when I get out for a while?’ she asked her.
‘Of cause. Should I come with you?’
‘No. Just pay a little attention to the gentleman at the bar. No beer for him anymore!’ Rufina nodded and gave the man at the bar a short glace. Then she went back to the table.
Gemma went out of the entrance door and a little bit up the street. There she looked around – checking if anyone was on the street. When no one was in sight she started running. Her run ended in the north of the town. The castle was here and knights were standing everywhere. On the left side was one of three gates of the town. They were closed most of the time and guarded. Nobody was allowed to get in or out. None of the guards moved and the gate was closed. The blonde girl caught for breath.
Gemma didn’t feel sick. She just wanted to come out of the pub. So she could get here. When a knight would leave the town he would do it that night. The knights always left at night and the blonde girl and her sisters always watched them leaving. This night she was alone because nobody else seemed to know about it. Why she believed what the drunken man said she couldn’t say. She just did it.
The gate exactly opened when she looked at it. She turned her head to the castle. There he was. The knight the man talked about. He didn’t lie. The knight was young. He gave her a little glance. Then faced the gate which was fully open by that time.
Gemma wasn’t sure but in her eyes he was nervous. None of the other knights ever were. Or they just didn’t show it.
The knight stopped in front of the gate. He looked at the two guards and hesitated for another second. Then he went through the gate. It would be open for the next hour. In this time the knight had the chance to come back to the town. No one ever came back but the blonde girl wasn’t sure about this one. He might come back.
The open gate wasn’t only for the knight to come back. It is for every inhabitant to see how the world looks from the outside. So Gemma went to the gate, looked at the guards and finally went though the gate to the other side of the wall. She never did this before even though she had the chance. Her father always stopped her. But he was nowhere in sight and her curiosity too big to resist.
She looked around and saw the young knight in a little distance. He was sitting on a stone. Gemma walked over to him. Standing in front of the knight she realised that he looked scared.
‘Why are you sitting her?’ The blonde girl couldn’t understand why he was sitting there when the gate was still open.
‘I can’t go away but can’t stay either.’
‘Are you afraid of what will happen out here?’
‘Actually I’m more afraid of the reaction of the inhabitants. They will hate me when I’m not going.’ he explained to Gemma.
She smiled at him. ‘Your brother will be proud of you no matter what you do. And nobody knows that you are sent by the king else. It’s just me and your brother. So don’t worry about that any more.’
‘You know my brother.’ It sounded more like a question when he said that.
‘I met him in the pub.’ she said but hid that his brother was already drinking on his success.
The knight looked around and so did the blonde girl in front of him. All she saw were hills. The normally green hills. At night they seemed to be gray. She always wondered what was there. She couldn’t believe in any danger when those hills lied in peace for centuries.
‘Okay. I’m ready now. Let’s go back to the town.’ He got up and took some steps to the gate. But the girl didn’t move so he looked puzzled at her. After one moment or two she moved. Automatically her steps led her into the opposite direction. This was her chance to come away from a life that bored her.
‘Where are you going?’
‘When you go back I have to do your job.’ she answered. Just one little glance she gave the town. She didn’t know if she could ever take a look at the town again but saying good-bye never was a strength of her.
The knight ran after her. ‘That is too dangerous for you. You don’t have a weapon and you’re a woman.’
The last sentence made her turning around. ‘Oh, you’re thinking because I’m a woman I can’t survive out here?’ She really became angry. ‘You don’t know how my live is in that town. You don’t know what I can do. You don’t know what it’s like to be woman. You know nothing.’ She screamed at him and suddenly felt a lot better. She turned around and went on.
The knight shrugged his shoulders and went next to her. ‘I’m Trajan by the way.’
‘Gemma.’ she replied shortly.
‘It’s nice to meet you, Gemma.’

They walked in silence for some time. Gemma couldn’t believe that she really walked through the green hills. She had left her family to go with a man she just met to a place nobody knows. One thing was sure: when she will be back in the town her father always will have an eye on her. She would welcome that. But the question first of all was if she will return at all. Nobody did return in the past. So why should she?
The blonde girl never expected an answer to that question. But got some sort of a reply when Trajan and she walked down the hill they just climbed. The sun was about to rise.
‘Not a knight! She’s not a knight! Tell the others!’ something hissed. A little wind came up and Gemma had the feeling that something had gone. On the other side she still felt a presence and stopped walking. The knight stopped too and looked questioning at her.
‘What is it?’ he asked and looked around. He had heard the hissing voice too but didn’t feel the presence.
‘There is something or someone.’ Gemma answered and looked around. She couldn’t see anything but the feeling was still there.
‘You can feel me?’ the voice asked in a friendlier tone. Slowly some light came up and a shinning woman dressed in green was standing in front of them. ‘Nobody ever did that. Even my own kind not. You’re special.’ she said in a high voice. ‘My name is Klara.’ she introduced herself a moment later. ‘It’s nice to meet you two. Please follow me. We are already waiting for you.’
‘Waiting already?’ Trajan was confused. Not only by the waiting folk but also because of the woman who appeared out of mid-air.
‘You’re a Balish, aren’t you?’ Gemma was stunned. She never thought that her favourite fantasy beast really existed. A Balish was a mixture of a Banshee and the light of the sun.
‘That’s right So you heard of my people before.’ Klara said proudly while she turned away and walked some steps. ‘Oh. You can’t turn into light, can you?’ She turned to the other two again.
‘No, we can’t. And why should we follow