Chapter 1
The morning's sun rays gently caressed the golden sand of the vast empty beach. The molten silver waves crashed against the shore and echoed in the distance as they met the dark, jagged cliffs and rocky shore.
Two men racing each other mounted on their strong, well - bred stallions one as white as snow the other as dark as night interrupted the relaxing atmosphere of the beach.
"Sir Tristan, let us race to the cliffs and back. I want to further test the endurance of my stallion." Said the younger of the men who was riding the black stallion.
The slightly older man smiled,
" Yes, my lord. Let us race."
Just as those words escaped Sir Tristan's lips. The younger man urged his horse into a gallop, kicking up the wet sand behind him. Leaving a massive gap between himself and his companion. Sir Tristan sighed, and then urged his horse forward, almost following the exact path of the younger man.
The gap between them lessened and Sir Tristan was coming up behind the younger man, when the black stallion stopped suddenly, rearing, luckily his younger companion was well ridden and calmed his horse without issue. Tristan had to quickly steer his horse to the left of the black stallion, luckily he missed the other if only by a hair.
Once he had stopped he rushed over to his companion and with concern in his voice he questioned the Prince,
"What is wrong Prince Luca? Why did you stop so suddenly?"
He was answered by silence, the Prince seemed to be focusing on something in the distance. He followed the Prince's line of sight to the rocky shore just before the cliffs met the ocean. He saw nothing.
"What do you see my lord?" He questioned again.
This time the Prince answered,
"There's something over near the cliffs. I can't make out what it is."
A gust of wind blew past them and just where the Prince was focusing, Tristan saw a flutter of white material
"I see, my lord. We need to investigate and quickly." He said, urgency etched his voice.
They mounted their horses and raced over to where they saw the flutter of material. They dismounted and realised as they walked closer that the material was the tattered remains of a shirt worn by a lifeless man. The Prince ran over and checked over the body. What little remained of his shirt and pants were stained red with blood. The Prince put his ear the man's mouth, and the soft warmth of breath on his cheek confirmed that the man was alive.
"Sir Tristan, this man is alive. I have to take him to the castle straight away. He needs to be seen by the royal healer. You check the rest of this area. There may be others. I will send some of my royal guard to help you."
Tristan nodded and helped put the man onto the Prince's horse. As they faded into the distance he prepared himself for what awaited him, the floating debris and bits of driftwood being thrown onto the shore by the waves told him that another ship had been claimed by the hidden reef and large rocks that surrounded the kingdom. He dreaded what carnage awaited him.
The Prince arrived to the castle in record time. His horse was exhausted, but had proven to be strong and worthy. The gardener's helped the man off the horse, called for the stable hand to look after the exhausted stallion and rushed the unconscious man inside. The prince ordered a chosen amount of royal guard to assist Sir Tristan to find other survivors.
