When the Sun Shines Bright

It was beautiful that day. Not a cloud in the sky, the breeze gentle and soft, and the spring birds chirping in a perfect harmony only achievable by nature. I'd never seen the sun shine so brightly.

I had been with my twin brother, Max, and we'd been running through the forest that we called home. Raised by our father, a huntsman, we were taught that the animals and people had a melodious relationship that brought goodness and prosperity to both sides, and it was wonderful. I never wanted my days of home and heart to end.

My brother and I would both learn the same things, despite him being a boy and I being a girl. We learned how to tie knots, how to skin prey, and how to take unclean water and boil it to cleanliness. We learned hunting and gathering, we learned communication, and we learned the three rules of the woods.

1. Everything can either be there to help you or harm you. Learn which is which and never let your guard down around something strange or unusual.

2. Keep quiet and stay calm. Hunting never goes well when the hunter is in distress, as that could bring about predators.

3. Always be prepared to do what you need to do to survive. No questions asked.

I never wondered about the rules, as they'd always kept us safe. Max and I wrote down what berries were good at dinner, and which would cause our necks to swell like a balloon. We kept quiet during hunting and always caught our prey, but we'd never had to do anything quite like what rule three entailed.

All of the forest hunters were summoned by the king on his son's birthday. He had commanded the hunters and the commoners to watch as he selected people to team up and fight to the death - for his own pleasure and entertainment, of course. Max and I had seen how this worked first hand in the woods, and it never went well. We watched wolves fight, and we watched rabbits huddle together as foxes stole through their dens.

And then, as the prince looked upon the crowds, he pointed. Instantaneously, two guards came behind Max and I and brought us to the stairs where the other hunters were gathered. I held Max's hand in fear, but he squeezed mine and reassured me just by touch.

And so it began.

The first day was hard. With only a knife and our guidebook, Max and I wandered through the forest until we found a tall oak tree that branched far into the canopy. We gathered sticks and shoved them into a hollow in the tree, keeping it like a cabinet. There were lavender flowers around the tree, and their blooms were edible, so we gathered them and fried them over a small fire made by our stick supply.

The next few days went easier until we met another hunter. She was swift and silent like a leopard, but she wasn't prepared like we were. As we slept, she attempted to climb the tree. She succeeded, of course, but found the wrong branch. Nobody else knew that she was allergic to bees until they stung her and died around her.

Days and days went by until Max and I were the only ones left. We rejoiced. We didn't die! The king ended the competition, and we went back to the palace steps, right where it all began on the first day. Our father was standing in the crowds, excitedly chanting our names, and all went quiet as the prince stepped forward.

"I said that the contestants would fight to the death," he began, his voice clipped with annoyance. "And yet here before me, I see two of my chosen still alive. Why is that?"

He bent down and met my eyes. I scowled and snapped my teeth together, scaring the prince with the display.

"Because this is my twin," I said finally. "I shall not fight him, and he shall not fight me."

The prince, now composed, shook his head and began laughing. He held his stomach and smacked his knee as though what I said was the most hilarious thing he'd heard, but went silent and still as a brick at the slight shift in the wind.

"You won't fight?" he whispered, leaning down and breathing into my ear. "Then I must assume that the hunter down there, who has been cheering for you and your brother, is your father. And I see no woman with him, so your mother must be gone. Shall I make you both orphans for your disobedience to the crown?"

I felt my breath hitch as he spoke and I subtly shook my head. "N-No. No, you don't."

The prince smirked and stood tall again, looking out to the crowds as Max and I remained in a kneel. "The contestants will go to my special arena and fight until only one remains! And the 'special' part of the event? The winner earns their family meals for years and years to come, as well as anyone else who asks them for it!"

Max met my eyes with a questioning sound, but I shook my head. We couldn't let these people down. They were hungry. They were poor. Just like us. And that's what I told Max, who reluctantly agreed.

So I had to fight. No, we had to fight.

We prepared separately. I didn't know how this would work. Would Max actually hurt me? Or would I hurt him? Or would we find a way to play it off?

I didn't know.

I stepped into the shaded arena with nothing but my hunting knife, looking around at the sand and the surrounding crowds. I hated this. I wanted to be back in the forest, free and happy, but I knew that I couldn't do that until this ended.

And it had to end.

So we fought.

Max came out at the same time as I did, only he didn't hesitate at all. He sprang at me and the tears in his eyes mirrored the tears in my own. We wrestled and lunged and parried, never stopping, never slowing.

I was taken back to my father's teachings for a moment.

1. Everything can either help you or harm you.

Max was a threat. Threats had to be taken out.

2. Keep quiet and stay calm.

I couldn't keep calm. I cried as I fought Max, silent tears slipping down my cheeks. They messed me up and made me lose my footing for a moment, but I regained it and kept fighting.

Before even bearing of thinking of the third rule, I remembered my father's law about relationships in the woods. It always benefitted both parties unless one side had to be ended.

Max and I rolled over until I could finally get a good grip on his bicep, my own arm swinging forward and fisting him with a right hook to the jaw. Dazed from the hit, Max went to the ground and held his jaw. I looked to the prince's box, begging for him to stop, but he simply shook his head and pointed to my father. He was being guarded by the prince's security team and I wanted to cry.

Max got up again and I kicked him down, sitting with my knees on his chest. He raised his knife hand and I grabbed him by the wrist, snapping it back and cringing at the crack of bone. I leaned down, sobbing, and kissed his forehead.

"I love you," I whispered, my shoulders shaking.

"I love you, Amara," Max whispered. "Do it. For Dad. For everyone. We knew this had to happen."

I shook my head. "I can't do it."

"Yes, you can," he said, using his uninjured hand to take the knife from my belt and put it in my hand.

"Always be prepared to do what you must to survive," he said. He pressed his forehead against mine, his hand wrapped around mine, and plunged my dagger into his heart.

I was too shocked to scream. I was too heartbroken to move.

The guards took me out from the arena as I sobbed, desperate to be with my brother, but they forbid me from it. I swore that I heard my father's voice that day.

When we were outside, I winced at the harsh light.

There weren't any clouds. The bird songs only sounded mournful to my ears. The breeze was too cold, too much like the touch of death. It had never been so hot and so frigid. I had never felt the burn of light as intensely as I did then.

I'd never seen the sun shine so brightly.