The Hathway Kingdom. (Book 1)

Chapter One.

~One. ~

The night was dark and storming when they first met. They had both ducked into a small cave opening when the sky had decided to open and cold rain fell from it. She was clutching a book in one hand and the front of her skirt in the other. She held her book above her head to try and protect her face from the rain. He had the hood of his cloak held over his head and his other hand was resting on the hilt of his sword at his waist.

She muttered several curses under her breath as she shook out her book when she entered the cave, pouting when she saw that the pages had gotten damp from the rain. Sighing, she looked back towards the entrance of the cave and crossed her arms over her chest as she watched the rain continue to fall. Grumbling under her breath again, she turned away from the cave entrance and looked around the space in front of her.

It was sparse, small mounds of rocks here and there but nothing much else. Sighing, she walked forward and over to the closets mounds of rocks where she sat down once, she had moved her cloak out enough so that it wasn't pressing on her neck when she sat down. She placed her book to the side, regretting that she had brought it with her as she knew that her tutor, Professor Ethan Strickland, would no doubt scold her for getting it wet when she returned to her home.

Oh well. I'll just tell Professor Strickland exactly what happened. She thought as she ran a finger over the indented print on the leather cover. The book was old, ancient compared to her, and she had been surprised when the Professor had given it to her to read.

Shaking her head to get the memory out of her mind, she looked away from the book and towards the cave entrance again as she heard and saw movement. Quickly getting to her feet, she hurried behind a larger mound of rocks for cover. She swallowed heavily as she peeked around the mound to look at the entrance, watching and waiting to see who or what was coming towards the cave now. She reached into the hidden pocket on her dress' skirt and gripped the handle of the knife that she had in there, biting her lip as she waited.

Seeing a shadow appear as a flash of lightning lit up the sky outside, she ducked back behind the rock mound, clenching her eye shut as she tightened her grip on the knife. Hearing footsteps coming closer, she peeked around the mound again, looking towards the cave entrance carefully. She watched carefully as a figure was soon silhouetted against the light that came from the cave's mouth and she swallowed heavily as she watched the figure cautiously.

They wore a cloak to protect themselves against the weather and, unlike her, they had thought to pull their hood up and over their head. She could also see the outline of what looked like a weapon, a sword, at their side. They were shaking their arms and hands to shake the water off of their arms and hands. She could hear what sounded like a male's voice muttering curses just as she had when she had first entered the cave and she held back a chuckle at the image before her. She placed a hand over her mouth to stop the sound from coming out as she looked back towards the figure again as they reached up for their hood and began to remove it.

When they had removed their hood, they had turned towards the centre of the cave now so she was unable to see how the figure looked. She frowned as she moved a little closer, squinting to try and see the figure's features. She placed a hand on the rock again before a flash of lightning lit up the sky again, silhouetting the figure again and she mentally cursed at not setting up some light in the cave before. Holding back another curse, she stepped forward again, freezing as some stones came loose from the rock mound and fell to the floor of the cave. She swallowed heavily and slowly looked up towards the figure as they seemed to freeze as well and turn in her general direction slowly.

Her grip tightened on the knife once more as she saw his hand go to the hilt of the weapon that he was carrying and he took a step towards her. She stepped back behind the rocks again, but she kept the male in her sights. He looked around the cave before she heard the sound of his sword being unsheathed slightly.