Prologue - Where It All Began

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Hey everyone, KaliAfro at your service.

This book has undergone a serious rewrite and I have also worked hard on the rest of the story. I hope you love this story as much as I have. Gives me the heart flutters <3

Cheers guys! :)

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I was in a field.

A field of grain.

I felt so small.

The grain swaying in the wind, the tips touching my hair as I trudged through.

All was peaceful.

All was quiet.

All I could hear was my mother's comforting laugh in the distance.

My... mother...

I was running, swiping at golden stalks flicking at my face.

"Mamma!" I called out to her.

It was but a moment before she replied to my cry, "My little flame! Over here!"

I followed the echo of her voice to the burnt oak at the north end of the field.

My mother's favourite place. Though I knew not why.

However, I grew to understand her love of the tree. But only through a story I loved to hear, and she loved to tell. I asked her to write it down for me, so that I may remember if she ever left me.

And she wrote it.

And she did leave.

But this is not a part of this particular memory. This memory was of the first time she told me.

I remember so well.

Her gown was white, plain. A golden chain hung low around her hips. Her feet were bare. A ring of flowers crowned her head. Her head of fire and eyes of the sky turned to me, and she gave the warmest smile. Her thin arms opened wide to me.

"My little flame. Come to me."

I did as she said, lifting my thin skirt and running to her as fast as my little legs could take me.

I jumped, and she caught me in her arms, spinning us around several times. Her angelic laugh rang in my ears, calming every worry I would have had in the world.

She held me close and walked to the burnt oak. "My little flame, I'm going to tell you a story," she said as she sat down at the base of the tree.

And I was quiet. I did not ask questions. I simply wished to listen.

"This story is of the burnt oak. And of a knight. And of a dragon..."

Now my first thought when she finished the first line of sentences was what about the princess? There were always princesses in such fairy tales, especially with knights and dragons. But I didn't ask.

"And of the druids that once roamed this land."

She then went on to explain what druids were and I was fascinated. Ancient priests and priestesses that were at one with nature, specifically chosen to follow the calling of the gods. Mother would one day tell me that she was descended from a line of such powerful mortals, but it was not this day.

"In the time of William the Conqueror, this knight came from a long line of Normans, his father being a proud member of the lords of the land and his mother an influential daughter of an adviser to the king. But he was not the first son. No, he was a second son. And to much luck, he was a favorite of his grandfather, the confidant to the king, and because of this special favor, upon his grandfather's death, a great fortune was disposed upon this second son and therefore he became a knight. And this young knight did all that the king bade him do, even when the kingship was bestowed to William's first son, to this day known as William the Second. Now William the Second was not a good king and, eager for the pleasures in life his obedience brought him, the knight did this king's bidding too, though not many of his commands were good.

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