Prologue
My heart is pounding so loud that I can hear the blood rushing through my body.
I run through the forest, tripping over the sprawling roots of a great oak tree and landing hard on my knees. Shooting pain radiates up my leg, my heart skipping a beat as I scream out in pain. A small part of me wants to stay on the ground, defeated. I have been running for so long. I could just close my eyes and allow myself to be carried into the darkness.
The wind rustles the leaves above me. Run, it says.
RUN.
The cool breeze snaps me back to reality and I struggle to get back upright, falling over my own feet in the process. I finally regain my balance, looking over my shoulder to make sure that my fall hasn’t allowed him to get close enough to grab me. Breathing a sigh of relief, I continue to the edge of the forest. Pain shoots up my leg, but I grit my teeth and push on. Run.
I am so close to the clearing; the trees are starting to thin, tiny streams of sunlight softly glowing against the leaves. Night is fading away quickly, the sunlight a welcome sign of safety—nothing bad ever happens in the light of day. I’m going to make it, I think to myself. I allow myself one more look behind me. Warmth floods my chest; a soft smile graces my face as I see nothing but trees behind me. I allow myself to slow, the pain in my legs and chest becoming too much. Just as I am about to step out of the thick forest into the clearing that leads back to safety, two hands grab the back of my cloak, yanking hard, pulling me back into the darkness of the trees.
A horrible, high pitched noise fills the land, causing me to shiver, chill bumps rising to the surface of my skin. My heart starts to beat even faster. I try to let out a scream, I try to call for help, but no words come out. The hands that pulled me back to danger spin me around so that we are face to face, and his large hand shoots up to my mouth.
It’s only when the stranger does this that I realize the horrible noise that I heard was me.
This is the end, I realize as I look at the hooded figure. Covered from head to toe in a thick black cloak, my attacker looms over me. Beneath the cloak, I can make out the thick muscles and lean body that has me rooted in spot. The only way I would make it out of this would be at his mercy.
I grab at the cloak that covers the stranger. I need to know who has been chasing me for what feels like eternity. I’m too late. The figure draws out a dagger, the hilt gleaming in the harsh rays of the rising sun. I stop trying to escape and take a deep breath, bracing myself for what I know is coming.
I close my eyes as the dagger pierces my chest.
At first, it feels like the sun itself was trying to rise from inside my chest, burning its way out to light up the world. Then I feel nothing. White light explodes from behind my closed lids, causing my eyes to fly open.
All I see is red.
The red of my blood spilling out onto the forest floor, soaking the orange and yellow leaves scattered about the ground. The hood of my attacker comes down as he roughly shoves me onto the forest floor, and the last thing I see before the world goes black are light grey eyes.
