A Touch Of Fire

Chapter Two

I sat up, sweat dripping from my face. I wiped my face with the sleeves of my nightgown. 

"Another bad dream?" said my best friend Adeline from the bed a few feet away from me. 

"Yeah, just another bad dream again," I replied out of breath as if I had just been running. 

I swung my legs to the side of the bed to get up. I looked up to see Adeline already dressed and tying her long pink hair into a bun. Had I been asleep for that long? 

"Is it the same bad dream every night?" Adeline said, intrigued. 

"Yes, I have had the same dream for a few weeks now, but it keeps getting worse," I whispered to the ground in embarrassment as I went to fetch my clothes. 

As a scullery maid, I was required to wear a pinafore dress with an apron every day. It was a constant reminder that I was inferior to everyone else who worked in this castle. I couldn't help but dream that one day I would get the chance to wear a beautiful gown made from the finest of materials. It was all just a dream though, just like my reoccurring nightmare. 

"Hurry up and get ready," said Adeline, "we're running late already!" 

I apologised and quickly changed out of my nightgown. I was forever getting distracted but fortunately Adeline was always there to break me out of my daydreams. If it wasn't for her then I would have lost my job years ago! 

I tied my purple hair up into a bun hurriedly, but when Adeline noticed how messy it was she did my hair again. I constantly get told off for how untidy I look because my heads in the clouds when I should be more focused. 

Once we were ready there were many tasks to complete. First we had to set the fires in each of the rooms, for it was still winter and there was a chill throughout the castle. Then we had to sweep the floor before preparing breakfast. 

Me and Adeline stick to how we normally work, she does the fires in the rooms upstairs and I do the downstairs fires. After we had done all the fires we went to get the mops and brooms to clean the floors. 

After we had cleaned all the floors we helped the cook with the breakfast. We need to cook for the King and his family, then the Knights before they set to off to protect the castle and its village, then we have to feed the staff and ourselves. 

The King and his family’s breakfast was the same as usual, egg and bacon and fruit at the side. The Knights breakfast is warm bread with cheese and porridge. Our breakfast was always porridge but we didn’t mind because Adeline and I would put different flavours in everyday so we didn’t have the same boring one. 

It was silent as everyone ate their breakfast. I tried to make conversation with Adeline but I just kept thinking about the dream I had this morning. 

"So what was different in your dream today then?" Adeline said, starting the conversation for me. 

"I died in this one," I whispered to her so no one else could hear. 

"You died!" she almost shouted in shock. 

"Shhh, yes, I died and it was horrible! Oliver was there with me," I replied, whispering to her. 

"Tell me what happened at the bit where you died?" 

"Well, the Shadow Knight that we have heard in myths threw a knife at my leg and I fell to the floor in the dungeon, Oliver got angry and started to fight the Shadow Knight. I was more concerned about my leg to see what he was doing. Then I heard a horrible sound come from him and saw him drop to the floor. The Shadow came over to me, I tried to back away but my leg slipped," I paused.