Prologue

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It was a clear night. The dark purple sky hung overhead, speckled with a million stars. Eglantine adjusted a wrap across her shoulders and shivered. When had the summer nights gotten this cold? Or was it autumn? She couldn't remember anymore; all the days and weeks and months had gotten jumbled up... She traced shapes out of the bright dots scattered against midnight's canvas. A brisk wind hit Eglantine's dirty cheek and whipped strands of black hair across her face. She spit out the bit stuck in her lips.

Kalump kalump kalump! The thumps of rabbits' feet rang in the ground where the elven girl lay her head. As quick as a hummingbird, she was up on her feet. The dirt was brushed off of her glasslike wings, and a burlap sack was slung over her shoulder. The footfalls got nearer- about a few hundred toadstools away at most. Eglantine darted to the nearest rose bush. Her breathing was silent, but a bit choppy due to the cold air. She covered her mouth, hoping to not melt the delicate spikes and swirls of frost on the petals. If that happened, she would be noticed, and all would be lost. A few images of her old rusty cage buzzed in her head. The bars were dreadfully cold and rough. The only meal she had to eat were cold poppyseed puffs and a tin goblet of pond water. There was absolutely no way she was going back.

Two guards passed by, torches causing their faceted calcite armor to throw small specks of light across the trees. Eglantine's eyes widened, and she took three small, crouched steps back. Fear raced through her body at an unimaginable speed. She carefully twisted her hair into a plait, securing it with sap and grass. Two raven curls popped out and brushed her chin.

When the guards and their twitchy-nosed steeds were a hundred or so toadstools away, Eglantine ran into the forest. She picked up speed running down the steep hill that lead from the road. Soon she found herself deftly hopping over stones and maneuvering around fallen leaves. A bit of moonlight peaked its way through the trees. She needed water..

"The night is too beautiful to be so harsh," Eglantine rasped to herself, her words quickly lost in the wind. She kept her pace, though it was getting harder to catch her breath. Her shin suddenly caught on a root, and she tumbled into a stream. The water was numbingly cold. It rushed past, moonlight glinting off some surfaces, and crashed over her face. The sap washed away, and her braid unfurled itself.

"My sack!" she croaked, her throat numbed by the cold. "Where-'s my ssa-ack?" The burlap bag had fallen to the other side of the river. Its contents were strewn about, some rations floating downstream.

Nearly frozen cold, Eglantine let herself float down the small river as it tripped and burbled past rounded pebbles and patches of grass. She could feel every muscle freezing up and going limp. Her fingers brushed the cold stones in a vain attempt to wake her body. She let her mind drift away, and everything blurred together into darkness...

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