Masked

Chapter 1

"Faster! Faster!" Little John cried as they rode through the foliage.

Arya laughed and rode faster. Arya and her brother, John were out riding in the woods--against their mother's wishes of course.

They had crept into the stables, saddled the horse and galloped past the stable boy. Arya felt a twinge of guilt, the stable boy was going to get a earful from their mother.

John giggled as the wind embraced them fiercely. "Faster!" He yelled.

"It's time to go home Johnny!"she yelled back, her words almost lost in the wind. She abruptly turned the horse around. It was getting dark and it was not safe to linger here any longer.

The trees rushed past and the wind roared in their ears as they made their way back the way they came.

Suddenly the horse neighed and lifted its front legs, almost throwing them off. "What is it boy?"Arya tried to soothe the horse but something had spooked it..

The horse neighed again. This time it managed to throw them on the ground. It made off deeper into the forest.
Arya rolled to a stop."John are you okay?"

"John?" She looked around. Her heart missed a beat. There was nothing but dead leaves on the ground.

"John, this is not the time to play games, where are you?!" She shouted frantically. It was well past twilight.

She stood silently and listened. The forest was eerily quiet. Nothing moved, not even a whisper from the winds..
She was scared....very scared. The stories she had heard as a child came rushing back to her.

Men dressed darker than the night owned the deeper part of the forest. They were part of a cult of somekind, their practices so dark and cruel that they couldn't be spoken out loud...

'Snap!' She heard a twig break and turned around. A pair of eyes redder than blood stared out from the darkness. She slowly backed up. The eyes continued to look at her unblinkingly. She took a few more steps, only to find herself up against a tree.

Her heart raced.

"Arya! Where are you?! I'm scared!"
The eyes turned in the direction of the voice.

John!

She mentally willed her brother not to come further.

The cloaked figure slowly glided forward.

"Arya?!"

Her heart skipped a beat as her brother came running into the clearing.

'Twang!' Something whizzed past her head and went right through the figure. It noiselessly slumped forward. Dead.

She turned around in suprise. "Arya! John! Are you alright?"

Her eyes widened. It was him.