After a life time of waking up at 5 in the morning it was with great joy that the Three boys slept until almost the afternoon on their first day of freedom. After they had finally risen from the most peaceful nights sleep they had ever experienced they set about tucking into the food they had taken with them. It tasted like heaven itself. Each mouthful stimulated and excited their taste buds and the boys couldn't get enough of it. Never before had they tasted such rich food, cheese, meat and bread was the first food they consumed after 11 years of gruel that was fed to them at The Sanctuary. They crammed as much food as they could into their eager mouths and moaned loudly when none remained, for they didn't feel quite full enough yet. However, not long after they had finished eating each boy felt a most terrible feeling in their stomachs and not long after they were all vomiting up the food they had just consumed. It then became clear to them that such a long time of eating nothing but gruel at The Sanctuary meant that their bodies were not yet used to the new food that they had just eaten. After each boy had recovered the conversation turned to what they would do next.

"So, what now?" Asked Sheldon

"We head for Mersham." Instructed Caleb.

"And then what?" Asked Blake almost aggressively.

Caleb shrugged.

"Well, that really is a brilliant plan." Said Blake in the most sarcastic way he could. This angered Caleb greatly.

"What did you expect? That I would have all the answers? That I had everything planned out? That we would just bust out of that place and live the high life?" Caleb roared.

"We excepted you to know something! This was your idea, not ours! You were the one that stuck a knife in that bastards neck!" Blake screamed back in return.

"Keep your voices down!" Sheldon attempted to quieten the two boys.

In the distance a quiet rumbling sound could be heard, it grew and grew heading straight for where the boys had camped for the night, and fear struck them, the search parties from The Sanctuary had been deployed a lot sooner than they imagined.

"Shit." This was the only word Blake could muster before the boys quickly gathered all their things and ran faster than they had ever ran before, weaving in and out of the trees with a certain gracefulness. The punishing training at The Sanctuary meant that they were all fitter beyond what is normal for a group of 17 year old boys, so it was only after a considerable amount of time that each boy began to slow down their pace. Their lungs heaved, each breath was like a knife in the chest and their legs began to ache beneath them, but the taste of freedom was to glorious to give up now, so they continued as best they could to out run the thunderous noise that perused them. Caleb's legs pounded on strongly beneath him. He would rather die than have to return to that awful place.

Not far away from where the boys were running, a scout party from Mersham was riding along on their horses. The leader of this party was Dimitri, the kings advisor. Upon hearing the sound of the boys running he stopped. Not long after 3 boys running at full speed emerged from the trees. They stopped and fell upon seeing Dimitri and his men.

Caleb didn't know what to do. In front of him was a scout party from Mersham and behind him was the pursuing men from the sanctuary, there was no possible way out of this.

"Who are you?" Dimitri demanded in a low voice. The boys just looked at each other, each reluctant to be the one to speak.

" I asked you a question. Who are you?" Dimitri repeated this time a little more aggressively.

"We come from the sanctuary." Caleb replied.

A loud murmur flowed through all of the riders. Boys from The Sanctuary? Impossible. It was even well known to the residents of Mersham that those who entered The Sanctuary almost never left its walls. Once Dimitri had recovered from his initial shock, he waved a hand to quiet down the commotion made by then men behind him.

"From The Sanctuary you say? Come with us."

The bright lights emitted by the hundreds of candles illuminated Cornelia's skin so that it shone. Her cream dress skimmed the floor as she made her way across the grand hall, her hair swinging graciously behind her. No more than a few meters away from her stood Connor Calford, her future husband. This thought alone made her sick. She felt her heart rate quicken, and moisture gathered on her brow from both the intense heat and the fear that coursed through her. A sickly smile appeared on his thin lips as he saw her approach. She did her best to return a smile to him, but even he noticed the nervousness emitted by her. Around them all the richest people in Mersham gathered in fine clothes encrusted with precious stones and gems at the ball that had been held in Cornelia's honour.

"Nervous, my dear?" He asked when she reached him. The light from the candles did not highlight his beauty as it did Cornelia's, rather it only allowed her to clearly see his empty eyes, his crooked grin and his mousy brown hair.

"Slightly." She replied, she did not like the way his question appeared to mock her, like he took pleasure in seeing her uncomfortable. He gave a slight chuckle, which irritated her even more.

Cornelia wished nothing more than to return to her own chamber and lock herself away, but instead she must stay by Connor's side all night and make small talk with him, and even dance with him as the evening progressed. Cornelia cursed the person who had organised this ball in honour of her engagement.

"There is nothing to be nervous about my dear." He chuckled again.

"Then perhaps you do not share my view on this situation, are you not nervous that you don't know me at all, that you don't love me, that someone else is forcing us to marry at such a young age?!" She explained to him. Connor laughed more loudly this time and replied:

"My dear, what on earth should I be unhappy about, I will marry a beautiful young lady, I will become the heir to the throne, I will one day become king, I will have everything I could eve wish for." A rush of nausea pulsed through Cornelia, she thought that maybe if she got to know Connor she could like him, and one day love him, but she saw now this would never be possible. His concern for only himself disgusted her, not only did he not love her, he also did not care about her, how could her parents do this to her?

"You'll have to excuse me Connor, I'm feeling slightly unwell in this heat." With that she turned on her heel and quickly exited the grand hall, leaving Connor behind her.

Apologies for taking so long to update! I hope you enjoy this, more chapters soon! Please review if you want more!