The Winter Born [COMPLETED]

Prologue ( Chapter 1 ) - Cathellyn

Okay, okay just a little Author's note here. The first few chapters are kinda crap, I'm not gonna lie. Hey! It's my first book, mmkay?? But it gets better by time. I will edit the crap chapters once I finish this book. But now... enjoy The Winter Born.

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The little girl runs through the forest with a wide smile on her face, her silver hair whipping behind her as her tiny feet dances on a pile of fallen leaves, leaping further and looking as if she was lighter than air. The trees blurred past her when she quickens her pace, hurdling over fallen mossy logs and landing swiftly back on the ground.

Her breeches are soiled with mud but she have learned to not be bothered by the earth. Her heart is beating fast and loud but excitement fills her body.

The silver girl's laughter filled the air, every breath she puffed out forming into white wind signalling that cold winter is on the horizon. But it is still autumn with red and yellow colouring the trees and crunched leaves beneath her feet and she intends to keep the fun until the cold comes. With father, of course.

A man with auburn hair follows the little girl, an equally big smile on his face. The girl spares a look over shoulders to look to her father but is too late to flee when the man encircles her waist and picks her up to the air. She shrieks in giddy.

"Caught you!" The man shouts out, letting out biting sounds playfully at his daughter.

The girl laughs, her wild silver hair making a curtain in front of her face. "No! You weren't supposed to catch me!"

" Aye! You will make a good feast for me!" The father continues to play for the silver girl.

"Never will you catch me!" She exclaims bravely, wiggling out of his grasp and dropping to the leaves before resuming her run.

Again, the trees blurs, the leaves crunches with her run and the girl laughs with her father.

"I'll gobble you up, little Cathellyn!" He calls out.

The girl, Cathellyn, does not turn around this time but runs forward, her heart beating with giddy and her feet burns with tiredness but she knows this is not only a game of chase, but a training. If she cannot outrun her father, she cannot flee a wolf or whatever predator the forest will bring to her in the future. Though she only lived for twelve years in this world, Cathellyn knows the consequences when the day comes that she will have to hunt alone.

But now, her father is with her-- happy and alive and smiling, and nothing could make Cathellyn's heart lighter. Her father eventually catches her after the girl finally looks over her shoulder-- a mistake; and she almost runs into a tree. She is now walking side by side with her father, relishing in the sweet burn in her legs while they trudge out of the forest after a day of hunting and a play of chase. Her short spear is in her hand while a sack of game in the other to feed her mother and sister.

"Next time," her father starts. "Do not look back, child. It may get you eaten."

"But then I wouldn't know if you are still chasing me or not," Cathellyn says, adjusting the sack in her hand. It's heavy but she can manage.

"Aye, you won't but what is a little pain in the feet compare to escaping the wolf? Do not stop running or look back, you understand?" His tone is soft but strong at the same time. He looks down to Cathellyn before ruffling her already messy hair.

Cathellyn pouts at her wild hair. "I understand, father." She didn't like that she is doing something wrong. Bruises are already on her arms and back from falling off trees, didn't she learn enough to hunt?

The father sighs audibly, pinching Cathellyn's puffy cheek. She yelps. "You'll understand some day, child."

I will. She thought, rubbing her now red cheek while her father continues forward. Then I'll become a great hunter.