Into the Dark

Prologue - Alanis

        The hall was dim, lit only by a single torch. The lordling lay dead in an awkward position on his bed, an arrow through his eye. Alanis crept silently into the room to retrieve the arrow.

        His father kept a watchful eye on both him and the hallway, making sure no guards were coming. He twisted the arrow slowly out of the dead lordling, careful not to break the arrow, or take the eye out with it. It was deeply embedded in the man's head.

        Alanis's father gestured for him to be quick. Alanis began to pull the arrow instead of twist, and as the arrow came out of the eye socket, he knocked over a large candlestick on the nightstand next to him with his elbow, sending it crashing loudly onto the floor. Alanis quickly ran to his father.

        "Stupid boy." Father said, knocking Alanis to the floor with a punch to the face. Alanis's head hit the stone floor, face first. He tried to stand, but was too dazed from the impact. Father kicked him in the stomach, sending Alanis into a coughing fit and further preventing him from standing up. Father walked from the spot where he lay. He heard people - probably guards - running his way. He tried to get up, but he felt too weak to move.

        A group of guards surrounded him, weapons pointed at him, even though he was helpless on the floor. A single guard went into the bedroom of the lordling.

        "Lord Culler's dead," the guard called, "Arrow through the eye."

        Alanis looked at the arrow still clutched in his hand. He feared they would kill him then and there. 

        "The boy's got an arrow, s'got blood on it too." a second guard replied.

        "Pick him up. Make sure there's no accomplices." The first guard said. Two guards picked him up by the arms. He felt warm blood trickle down his face from his nose. He couldn't hold his own head up.

        The first guard came up to Alanis and jerked his head up by his hair, "What's your name, boy?"

        Alanis said nothing. The guard pulled his hair back again. "I asked you a question, boy." Alanis still didn't answer. The questioning guard punched him in the face, sending blood and a tooth flying out of his mouth.

        Alanis saw Father moving across the bedroom, inching towards the window.
       
         The guard was screaming at him to answer him, but Alanis refused, craning his neck to see Father.

         The questioning guard picked him up and threw him into the bedroom. He landed on his arm, breaking it. He stared desperately at his father, praying he would help him, but his father did nothing but give him a pitiful glance before jumping out the window.

         The guards had just missed his father. Alanis cried out when they pulled him up by his broken arm. Tears mixed with the blood on his face.

        "We have to hurt you to make you talk, boy?" the guard whispered. He grabbed Alanis's throat.

        Alanis scratched desperately at the guard's fingers around his throat, before the guard hit him with the pommel of his sword, knocking him unconscious.