The Dark

chapter one

Hey for some reason I can't change the rating on my work. It's no worse than every other young adult book out there, if some of you were wondering why it was PG-13

chapter one

I walk in the forest. It swirls with color. The leaves are at their turning point; green tinted with oranges, yellows, and mostly red. It’s been a very cold autumn this year.

                I am not a typical lady. Or child. I don’t go to church every Sunday, or ever. I only wear dresses when I have to, and I know how to defend myself.

I am a survivor.

 I feel my knife’s weight in my hand. I move slowly, and lightly. I don’t make a sound. My worn leather boots trample the fallen leaves soundlessly.

                I take a slow deep breath, I draw my arm back. I let the knife fly. It sinks into the buck’s neck. An arrow rains down, and impales its hind. The buck stumbles, and I run forward and tackle. The last arrow flies into the buck’s neck, putting the creature out of its misery.

                “Good throw,” Alex says, and hops down from the tree. “Right in the neck.”

                “Good shots,” I say, smirking. “For a couple of children.”

                He smiles at me, his green eyes glow. “I’ll carry this back to the house, m’lady.”

                I glare at him. For a female, I am anything but a lady. “I’ll sink this knife into your neck, you bastard.”

                “Calm, Celeste,” he jokes. “I was only amusing myself.”

                “You mean the only thing you ever do?”

                “Don’t worry,” he laughs as we walk. “I bother Auburn as much as I bother you.”

                “Hmmm,” I ponder. “I’m not sure. You bother me quite a lot.”

                “Just walk,” he rolls his eyes at me. “I don’t want to be out in the dark.”

                Thud, thud, thud.

                “Get down,” Alex hisses, and dives into a bush.  “Hurry!”

                I jump down next to him. “Horses?”

                Soon enough, a dozen very large horses bound from the forest.

                “Palace horses,” Alex whispers in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. “Look at the reins.”

                The palace crest is imbedded in the reins, sure enough. “Why would they be here?”

                “Are we sure we’re in the right place, sir?” one of the riders asks.

                The first rider spins his horse around. The huge beast’s nostrils breathe out a wisp of hot air in the cold. “This is where the innkeeper said we could find her, we will find her!”

                We wait until there is only silence and the tick of small animals. We peek out from the bushes; the riders are gone. The coloring forest is once again serene.

                “What do you think was the cause of that?” I ask Alex, glancing around the forest.

                “A fugitive must have escaped,” Alex shrugs, and he adjusts the deer on his shoulder. “I don’t intend to confront those riders, so let’s get moving.”