#adisele

Once upon a time, there was a great Knight who was stalwart and brave. He roamed all over the lands alone for a long time and helped people who needed his help. But eventually he grew to be very lonely and seeked a traveling companion. He nailed notices to town boards and spread the word but no one came for a long time. One day, an older sorceress came upon the Knight and said, 'I am the woman you seek, brave Knight. Let me work by your side and I shall show you great power.'

The Knight, captivated by her power and beauty, accepted the offer. The pair roamed and helped the people over the land for many years. It was fun and the pair had a good time helping the people and eventually fell in love. Their love was so strong that many of the common folk said that nothing could break either of them as long as they had each other's backs.

One day all that changed. The older sorceress started to act distant and not very cooperative with him. He tried desperately to get her to talk to him and get her out of her funk as this would do no good in combat. The older sorceress continued to be unresponsive overall until one day when he woke up  she was suddenly gone. The Knight was distraught by this sudden departure and he felt like he lost a part of himself.

For months the Knight stayed to himself and helped no one, too bereaved by his loss of love. One day in the nearby village when he went to get provisions he saw another beautiful sorceress. Young and powerful he was automatically drawn to her. The sorceress seemed to notice the Knight's eyes upon her and made her way over towards him. 'I have heard of you, brave Knight and  the stories do you no justice since seeing you now, I can tell you are much more.' This made the knight very happy to hear since he was craving so much for affection and compliments that he was like puddy to this new sorceress. It was easy for her to get into his heart and company to work along side him and so the Knight and sorceress went out and fought like old times.

This, however, did not last long. One day after they were fighting bandits in the woods the Knight was crouched over the leader's body to check for the things the group had stolen. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his back between the plates of his armor and looked behind him, pain clearly written on his face and now mixed with shock at what or rather who was behind him. The  young sorceress was there with an evil smirk on her face.

''But... why..." he asked confused as he tried to reach behind him to the long dagger in his back but the angle made it impossible to grab.

'I was only using you to find this particular group of bandits. They have something I need for one of my projects. I never really cared about you, stupid fool.' The young sorceress said, pushing him over by the shoulder and watched him thud to the side, too weak to stop her.

The Knight's vision blurred and he reached out to try and stop the sorceress but it was to no avail. She got what she wanted and teleported away. Alone in the woods with a dagger in his back, the Knight knew he was close to the great end. His eyes slowly closed but just before he did he noticed a figure coming towards him. Maybe they'd finish the sorceress' betrayal on him.

The Knight was not dead. In fact, he was still alive. He groaned awake and looked around. He was in some unknown house in some unknown bed. He tried to get up but pain shot through him and he leaned back on the bed. 'Don't move, sir, you will open the wound again,' said a female voice. The Knight looked up and saw a woman nearby with a table of medical tools.

'Good woman... what happened? How did I get here?'

'I found you in the woods. It looks like you were stabbed by those bandits near you. You gave them a good fight, sir Knight.'

'The bandits... died before. My partner stabbed me in the back.' In more ways than one too.

'I am sorry to hear that, Knight. Please, stay here for as long as you want. I need to watch your wound anyway.' The healer said and started to fix up the table.

'You are very kind, miss. I will make it up to you one day.'

'Please, no payment is needed. I help people for the good of everyone.'

The Knight tried to put up a protest but just lapsed into silence. He looked around the small bedroom and noticed a few weapons not his own nearby on a wall. It looked like a shield and sword but he could see some dust on it. 'Were you a fighter?'

'Hm?' she looked and noticed his eyes on the weapons. 'Oh, yes. I gave that up ages ago due to an injury.'

'I could teach you how to get back to fighting again. It does you no good to be out here by yourself with no way to protect yourself.'

'I can handle myself, sir Knight.'

'Please miss, let it be my payment to you for taking good care of me and saving my life.'

The healer looked about ready to put up more of a fight but she could see that the man looked beaten down by more than the wound. 'Alright, sir Knight. When you are better you can give me some pointers on sword play.'

It took a while for the wound to heal and the Knight to get back on his feet before the practicing started to happen. He was never more at peace than when he was helping this healer who saved his life. It wasn't long until after they started practicing that their relationship changed. The healer started to see that this Knight was hurt by his life and she could see he was a good man and the Knight could see she was a kind woman and not like any other he met before.

When the practicing was done, the Knight decided to retire from the hero work and settled down with the healer and she was glad for the companionship and to find someone she could spend her time.

And the two of them spent their lives together and were happy forever after that.

Evela was sleeping in his lap by the time the story was done but Thalia was awake but yawned quietly. "That was a nice story, Daddy."

"Why, thank you, sweetie." he said as he sat up and carried Evela to her bed and tucked her in. "Did you like it?"

"I did!" she yawned again as he came over and tucked his other daughter in. "I liked how they were happy at the end..."

"Me too, sweetie. Me too." He smiled down at her and walked out of the room.