His eyes moved towards the source of the voice and met with the blue eyes of a very prominent Noble - the most snobbish and obnoxious of them all, Waldo Drake.

Waldo dusted off a richly woven white woolen cloak, which had the White Harrow crest on the front left, and a large red Drake representing his family crest on the back. The wool was soft, warm and comfortable as opposed to the rough sackcloth clothes which the commoners wore. Sackcloth was made from the coarse hair of wild hooved animals and was plentiful and cheap.

Waldo pulled back the hood which extended from the back of his cloak over his head and frowned. His face looked as if he had smelled the most disgusting thing on the planet and was about to throw up.

This can't end well, thought Amadeus to himself. Nobles never bother to come into the commoner camp unless they were in a bad mood and were looking for someone to pick on. I better think of an excuse, and quick. Amadeus racked his brains trying to find a suitable excuse. After pausing for a short moment, he shouted, "I was only trimming the leaves! Let me down!"

"What is your name, commoner?"

"A-A-Amadeus."

"Ah-Ah-Ahmydeeoos, you say?" Waldo said with a laugh, waving his hand casually. "Do you think the Drake was only born yesterday? No sir, the Drake is much smarter than that." Amadeus twirled slowly around in mid-air, limbs flailing.

"The Drake knows that no commoner has been tasked with the trimming of leaves! And the Drake also knows you are only up to no good. Therefore, it is I, the fantabulous Drake's rightful duty to give you fair discipline," he added proudly.

It was well-known fact among the White Harrow commoners. Waldo hated commoners, and thought it was a bother to have them around. Actually, it would be fair to say that Waldo hated a large number of things. As a matter of fact, Waldo even hated his own name.

Even though he was in such a precarious situation, Amadeus couldn't help but to roll his eyes. Waldo always referred to himself as "the Drake" when he talked, which annoyed everyone greatly. Even the Nobles thought it was rather pompous of him.

Waldo paused for a moment to run his fingers through his long blonde locks of hair. He was one of those people who were blessed with ridiculously good looks, and he knew it. Much to his delight, many young girls would fawn over him whenever he walked past.

Suddenly, without another word of warning, Waldo jolted his hand sharply. Amadeus was flung forcefully backwards into a wall, and a sharp pain coursed through his entire back. He landed face first on the cold trodden snow with a crunch.

Amadeus' ears were ringing and he could not feel his face. He lifted his head up, just in time to see another spark shoot out of Waldo's fingers. Immediately, his entire body felt as though it was being pierced by a thousand needles. He writhed in agony and screamed, causing quite a stir. Nearby commoners curiously watched from a distance.

"Do you like that? It's a pain spell. Feels like pins and needles doesn't it? Don't worry; it won't hurt you... yet."

I can't take much more of this, Amadeus thought to himself. It feels as though my body is going to be torn into pieces. Can't let myself black out, or Waldo is surely going to kill me. I need to stay awake.... I need to... fight back. Think fast, how am I going to survive this ordeal?

The only thing more painful than the pain spell, was Waldo's talking. He just refused to stop. "This is the way the world works - we allow you commoners to stay in the edge of our strongholds, as long as you remain useful slaves. You however, are most definitely not useful."

He was right. The commoners of White Harrow were hopelessly oppressed, and forced to do manual labor and fulfill the every whim of the Nobles. Anyone brave enough to rebel was often punished horribly - either reduced to ashes, or worse, turned into some sort of nasty fungus to be scrapped off someone's boot.

Amadeus tried to erase the image of being a fungus on a boot from his mind's eye and tried to move his legs. He found that they were bruised but still functional. He then tried to move his hands. He wiggled his fingers through the snow and was pleasantly surprised to find that his fingers were not broken. Groping in the snow, he felt something hard underneath his hand. Good, finally some luck.

Running his fingers over it, Amadeus made out the shape of a rock the size of his fist. A plan started to form in his head. I could knock Waldo out cold and escape... Waldo's too proud. He would never admit to being knocked out by a commoner. No one would find out.

Before he could go further down this train of thought, Waldo raised his hand again. Amadeus ducked just in a nick of time, as a wave of fire went soaring over his head, singeing his hair slightly. Amadeus gripped on the rock firmly in his hand. No time to think, I need to act now or I'm going to die. Amadeus lifted it up in his hand and prepared to make a dash for it. He needed to move before Waldo cast his next spell.

He took a deep breath and rushed forward towards Waldo. The bystanders gasped as Amadeus charged wildly, with the rock lifted high above his head. He had planned to bring it down as hard as he could on Waldo's head. Before he could reach Waldo, he saw a flare of light emit from Waldo's fingers. A burning pain enveloped his entire hand, stopping him in his tracks. The rock immediately exploded into pieces, dropping with a pitter patter onto the snow.

Defeated, Amadeus held his hand between his legs and collapsed on the floor with gritted teeth. It was a wonder how he managed to stay conscious with the amount of pain he was feeling. This was turning out to be a very bad day after all.

"You dare raise your hand against the Drake?" growled Waldo.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared right next to Amadeus. He gave Amadeus a hard kick to the ribs which sent him rolling back toward the very first wall he had slammed into earlier. He landed on the cold snow once again, flat on his back. Waldo smiled with satisfaction.

No time to enjoy the scenery, he thought as he looked up into the clear blue sky. In the corner of his eye, he could make out the wall which he had collided against for the second time. He thought that this particular wall looked very familiar.

"I am going to blow you into tiny pieces and give the scraps to the dogs!" squealed Waldo as he brought sparks to his fingertips. He was not going to give Amadeus any time to recover.

In a split second, a realization dawned upon Amadeus which brought a faint grin to his aching face. A familiar pungent smell wafted from it; it was weak but strong enough for him to recognize. Manure. This very building was the store which held the manure that was used as fertilizer for the fields of the Nobles.

Adrenaline pumped within his veins, willing his legs to move. Amadeus got up and bolted as fast as he could to the side of the building where he knew the manure was stacked up in crates against the wall.

Waldo came after him, with a confident swagger in his step. He kept the sparks flickering on the edge of his fingers, no doubt to deliver a deadly spell that would certainly kill if it successfully hit. It's now or never, thought Amadeus as he leaned his back against the wall. As Waldo circled around the building, Amadeus started to taunt him.

"Over here Waldo!" chirped Amadeus in as jovial a voice as he could muster under the circumstances. Amadeus knew Waldo hated to be called by his first name.

This seemed to infuriate Waldo further, and Waldo launched a large fireball in his direction. Amadeus stepped out of the way and the fireball hit the side of the wall, leaving behind blackened char marks.

"You couldn't hit the side of a mountain if your life depended on it!" Amadeus continued. Waldo launched another attack which was more powerful than the first. This time the flame burned a hole in the wall behind him and the bricks crumbled on contact.

Waldo gritted his teeth in anger and started to move in closer to get a direct shot at Amadeus.

Amadeus knew that the closer Waldo got to his target, the more powerful and potent the exploding spell would be. At point blank range, it could destroy an entire brick wall, what more a puny commoner like himself?

A maniacal smile started to form on Waldo's face. His entire body shook with pleasure at the prospect. He started to sneer with glee.

Amadeus had no doubt that Waldo would be pleased with the death of another lowly commoner, but he didn't plan to die today. Waldo casually took another shot and burned a second hole in the wall just next to Amadeus' head. He took his time, savoring the moment.

"I think you need to come closer to even have a tiny chance of grazing me! Is your head full of ice?" Amadeus goaded on, tempting Waldo to come closer.

"Forgot to take your brain out with you this morning, did you?" On and on, he stood his ground and continued to dodge the fireballs as he taunted Waldo into coming closer.

Finally, Waldo was an arm's length distance from him, just as Amadeus had hoped. The moment of truth had arrived - as Waldo raised his hand to emit another fireball, Amadeus recalled his years and years of experience evading the fists of bullies as he lunged into a very risky maneuver.

He sidestepped swiftly to the side of Waldo and ducked his head low and outwards. In mid-spell, Waldo tried to realign his aim, but Amadeus had already managed to get behind him. With all his might, Amadeus pushed Waldo head first into the wall. Waldo's head connected with the wall followed by his hand which emitted a great exploding spell.

The bricks of the wall shattered, and a shower of manure rained down upon the white ground. Waldo was caught off-guard and his entire head was immersed in brown and smelly paste, which covered his entire face and body. Amadeus imagined that Waldo could probably even taste it in his mouth. It was all rather disgusting.

Trying to breathe through the filthy smell of what he was covered in; Waldo put a hand behind his head, only to find blood. The loud explosion attracted more people, who shuffled over curiously to see what the commotion was about. They whispered to each other but kept at a safe distance.

Words could not describe how furious Waldo was. He had never been so angry in his life. The temples on his head felt like they were going to explode. With the last of his strength, Waldo swung around, just in time to catch the Amadeus by the neck. The wind whistled softly as both of them stood still, their strength spent. Amadeus choked and gasped, trying to breathe through Waldo's grip.

Waldo's face was filled with raw fury as he brought his palm close to Amadeus' face. Amadeus saw his life flash before his eyes and braced himself for the worst.

Just then, as if by a stroke of incredible luck, a shaky brick from the top of the hole in the wall came loose and dropped onto Waldo's head. A loud thud later, Waldo was lying unconscious on the ground. As he lay there covered in manure, the group who had seen the whole ordeal watched in awe. This was the first and only time anyone had dared to raise a hand against a Noble.

"Laying a hand against a Noble, it's punishable by death," gasped one onlooker. The others just stood there slack jawed as Madam Marcella rushed forward, filled with concern, and helped Amadeus to his feet.

"What have you done?" shouted the head of the camp, old Jarbus, who was the first person to be able to find the words to speak.

Old Jarbus - as the entire camp called him, was well ahead in years. He was known to be level headed and wise. He once belonged to one of the tribes of Exiles which roamed the wilderness near White Harrow but gave it all up for the commoners of White Harrow. Ever since then, Old Jarbus took up responsibility of leading them and had been striving hard to protect the commoners.

"I was only defending myself, he would have killed me!" shouted Amadeus in anger. He was still panting from exhaustion.

Old Jarbus stood there quietly for a moment, considering the situation carefully. He pointed at four large sized commoners. "You four, take this unconscious Noble back to the Noble town, but be sure to be discreet about it," he instructed them. "Stick only to the back alleys and be sure that no one sees you. Leave him hidden someplace where no one will find him until he regains consciousness."

The four commoners picked up Waldo Drake's unconscious and limp body without any argument. They started off and disappeared into one of the camp's intricate maze of alleys within seconds.

Amadeus felt uncomfortable. Old Jarbus had a worried look in his eye. One thing about Old Jarbus, he seldom had a worried look in his eye; and when he did, you could be sure something bad was about to happen.

"They will surely retaliate," Old Jarbus shook his head and frowned as the other commoners started to disperse from the scene. Turning to Amadeus, he gave a reproachful look and lowered his voice so that it was only audible to the both of them. His words filled Amadeus with dread.

"You may have just killed us all."

Author's Note: This is my first book, so if you did like what you read, do comment and vote :) It encourages me to keep on writing.