As the clouds were gently swept by the wind, the sun shone through the skies and its light fell upon the face of a boy that laid on the shore. His shorts were rolled up to his knees and his feet were planted on the cool sands of the beach. His white linen shirt was all wet from the tide that had risen.

  As the light disturbed his nap, he moved his hand in an attempt to block it, but eventually gave up – it was close to noon, the sun wasn’t going anywhere soon.

  Pushing himself up and crossing his legs, he was now sitting on the beach, scratching his head while looking for his net.

  “Looking for this?” A feminine voice said as his net fell on top of him.

  As he turned, he saw a white dress with blue details, tied in the waist so as to not let the hem touch the sand and sea water. It was a pretty dress, too bad his sister was the one wearing it, he thought.

  “I can’t even take a nap in peace. Huh?”, He said.

  “All you do is take naps, since you barely sleep at night anymore.”

  “Today was a slow day, so I thought I would wait for the fish to wake up.”

  “You know you don’t have to come fish for yourself right? You could have just bought it from the market.”

  “But that’s no fun.” He replied with a shrug that turned into a yawn.

  “Said the boy that slept from boredom.”

  As he went to scratch his eyes his sister took a few steps towards him, placing her hand on his forehead.

  “Liam, you are burning up again, it’s been a few days on and off now. I’m worried about this fever.”

  “I’m feeling fine, no need to worry.”

  “You know, with father working and mother at grandma’s house, I’m the one in charge around here, so you shouldn’t feel bad about coming to me for problems.”

  “I’m impressed! It almost didn’t sound like you are overjoyed from all the control you get to have.” He said.

  Just as she was about to let Liam get to her head, she employed all the wisdom and patience her sixteen years allowed her to have, and just offered her hand instead. Liam, however, got up on his own.

  Silently, they walked side by side on the beach towards their home town of Perlton, a rising trade center in the western shores of the Saint-Leona Kingdom. As they approached the settlement, its modest stone wall rose through the horizon, replacing the uncut stone and narrow trees of the region. Looking up, they could see sitting atop the tallest hill the Manor this city was built around. In that house lived the lords of that land – Liam’s parents.

  “Worried about father?” She asked, noticing Liam staring at the manor.

  “Not really, I’m already used to it. But I find it weird that his voyages are becoming more frequent recently.”

  “As his influence grows, so do his responsibilities. He is a famous captain for the kingdom, I doubt he will have much free time until he retires. You should prepare yourself for that too if you plan to become like him one day.”

  “Well, I don’t want to become like him, actually. I’d much prefer to just be a fisherman.”

  “If that is the case, you might need to start getting better at it.” She said half laughing as she pointed at the folded net on Liam’s shoulders.

  “What about you, Lisa? Do you plan to become Perlton’s ruler?” He asked, trying to hide the fact that he found his sister’s comment funny.

  “Ideally, yes. But every time father or mother goes to the capital I get a chill in my stomach thinking they will come back with an arranged marriage.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure as soon as your fiance sees your face he’ll send you right back.” He said with a smirk as he tapped Lisa’s shoulder.

  After a brief moment while Lisa decided whether to get mad or not, both laughed and resumed their walk towards the walls.

  Lisa and Liam were not too dissimilar from one another. They both had the brown curly hair from their mother and the blue eyes of their father. Their skin was a warm tone of light honey and their frames were slender. Neither of them were particularly pretty, a trait they had regretfully not inherited from their mother. Liam hoped he would leave his scrawny body behind and grow real muscles like his father, but as his fourteenth birthday had already passed, he was beginning to lose hope.

  As they walked across the stone arches into town, they were greeted by every person they walked past, and they greeted them back. That exchange was so usual to them as Perlton’s lord’s children that they would do it automatically.

  The main road of Perlton was laid in cobblestone, while most other streets were covered in gravel. Following the path from the arches to the Manor, buildings such as shops, stores and taverns dotted the main road, as well as spaces such as markets and the occasional residence of a merchant that could afford to live on the main road. The only other street that was as bustling as the main road was the Port Street, responsible for most of the maritime trade the town had been receiving.

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  Along with the Manor and the main square, the other most important place in town was the Church of the Saints, which served as place of worship for those in town and travelers alike. The church was a huge building made of cut stone and hardwood, built even before the manor – which was already built long before Liam’s family was granted the land. Inside the church’s main tower laid a huge brass bell which would seldom be rang nowadays. Except it was ringing now.

  “Ships! Enemy ships are approaching!” A man’s voice echoed from the top of one of the towers. “It’s the Kingdom of Lothier!”

  As soon as the man’s words propagated among the stones of Perlton, the calm town turned into chaos as people ran across the streets. Women collected their children as men ran back from their work to see what would be done. That was not the town's first raid, but it certainly had been enough time since the last that not even the adults remembered what to do.

  “Lothier? On the western coast? How?” Lisa said, confused.

  The Lothier Kingdom was Saint-Leona’s biggest enemy. Both nations had been at war for a long time. However, since Lothier is East of Saint-Leona, the town of Perlton was usually safe from this enduring conflict.

  As the people ran across the streets, Liam started to fear what was about to happen. He had never been through a situation like this. Soon the main road was filled with people coming and going from every side, the adults were all shouting commands, some of them directed at Liam and Lisa. Telling them to run to the Manor, but Liam’s legs did not move.

  His eyes jumped from one side to the other, scanning the faces of the people that would run past him in search of someone with answers. But what he felt instead was a throbbing sensation on his skull as for a second his vision went dark. Holding on to Lisa to not fall, the boy felt his mouth quickly drying and his face warm up from the fever, but much worse this time.

  Feeling her younger brother grab onto her, Lisa snapped out of the deep thoughts she was in while trying to make sense of the situation. But that was not the time for that. She grabbed Liam by the arm and started pushing through the populace that seemed to not care anyone who they were now that the sound of cannon balls started overpowering the screams.

  The siblings started to be swallowed by the wave of people, having caught more than one accidental elbow to the face. As they tried to cross the road up the hill, Liam’s headache only started to get worse, and as he began to hold his head and scream, Lisa started to despair not seeing an end to the wall of people in front of them.

  It was not until a group of guards forcefully found their way across the crowd that Lisa was able to catch another breath.

  The guards were screaming commands towards the people of Perlton, but not being heard. A couple of them went straight for the siblings and grabbed them. Pulling Liam and Lisa to the center of their group. As their march slowly began to form for the manor, Lisa was finally able to tend to Liam.

  She was between the guards, being directly protected by the one that had grabbed her and that now had both his hands on her shoulder. Liam however was being carried by the guard that had picked him up as he could not walk. As Lisa extended her hands towards her brother, all she was able to grab was his right heel, and even it was hot to the touch.

  Tears began rolling down her face.

  As they ran up the hill, the guards got a better view of the situation.

  “How did the Lothier get this many ships to the East?” A guard screamed.

  “Look at the flags, just some of them are purple. The rest are mercenaries most likely.” Another replied.

  “By the Saints, can they really hire that many?”

  The conversation got interrupted by a cannon ball that hit the side of the hill, raising a cloud of dirt and splattering pebbles across their path. The enemy ships were getting closer, and some of the smaller vessels had already reached the docks. The guards looked at their more condecorated colleague for instructions.

  “We need to get the children out of here, take them to the capital, to Lady Grace.” Said the most senior of the guards.

  Following the orders, they circled around the hill into the back arches of the city, aiming for the road that would take them away from the coast.

  Even so high, Lisa could smell the scent of burning wood and gunpowder that rose from the city, although she could not see it from within the group of guards. All she could see was up, and dark clouds were coming.

  “Enemies approach!” Yelled the guard on the rear.

  “You four, take the children away. The rest, with me!” The senior guard said as he charged the invaders.

  When she was finally able to see the town, Lisa almost fell from disbelief. The Perlton that she loved was filled with invaders, blood and fire. It had all happened so fast.

  As the girl lost strength in her legs, the guard that was protecting her swept her off her feet and started carrying her. The guard that carried Liam was right beside him, and they were being led by two armed guards that guided the way to the arches.

  The rain started and quickly picked up in strength, almost unnaturally, one of the guards thought. Soon, the dirt path they were on started to turn into mud and become slippery. Circling back the hill had cost them precious time, and they knew that. But even their readiness was not enough for the brutality of the attack.

  The crackle of the first thunder roared across town, momentarily silencing both foe and friend alike, but not stopping the raid. The next sound the guards heard was of a pistol that boomed across the trees of the hill. And after a thud and a gasp, the guard that had been carrying Liam fell, dropping the boy to the ground.

  A second thunder fell from the skies.

  The guards in the front yelled commands among themselves as they circled around the trees to engage the attackers, as the guard that carried Lisa threw her against his right shoulder and with just one arm grabbed Liam from the ground and threw him against the left one.

  A third thunder blasted down, this time much closer to where they were.

  Having dropped his weapons, the guard had nothing to do but to run, as fast as he could, to get the children away from the attackers. They were clearly tracking them, and certainly knew who they were and the route they would take. The guard thought, worried about the meaning of this raid.

  The guard came back to reality as he heard Lisa screaming, and as he turned to check, he saw one of the invaders pointing a gun towards them. As an instinct, he dropped to the ground with the kids and managed to dodge the shot. But now the enemies were fast approaching and would soon have them surrounded.

  The man looked at Liam, who was still unconscious and now red as a tomato and breathing heavily. There was nothing he could do for him. So he turned his gaze towards Lisa, and with a gentle smile, whispered for her to run as he pushed her down the muddy hill.

  As the guard slowly stood between Liam and the rushing invaders, he branded a small knife he had in his belt. It was not enough to fight those who were rushing after them, but he was certainly going to die trying.

  “Don’t worry kid, I’m not leaving.” Said the guard to the unconscious Liam.

  As the attackers approached, he counted at least five, way too many. But not enough for him to cowardly run away and abandon the boy. He took a deep breath and let out a huge battle cry, and as he took his first step towards the foremost raider, the sky turned bright.

  A huge bolt of lightning exploded on the coast of the hill they were on, destroying the trees that were in its path and setting the other closest ones on flames. The ground was torn out, as dirt and stone soared high from the impact. What was left behind was just a crater of destruction and some of the armor of the fighters. In the midst of all the havoc, Liam laid untouched by the wrath of the storm.