Chapter 1 - Prologue

Aedan Cousland awoke from his deep sleep. His mabari hound, Prince, was growling at the closed door of his room.

Before he had had a chance to open the chest near his bed and retrieve his armor, the door was flung open and a servant called out to him.

"My lord, the castle is under attack-"

He looked up, disbelief on his face as he watched an arrow pierce the man's chest, cutting off his warning as he slid to the ground.

He quickly donned his silverite armor and readied his weapon and shield as Prince flung himself on a soldier who was moving to reach him. The mabari's powerful momentum threw the man to the floor, and he stepped in and finished him off. He paused briefly to adjust his shield on his left arm and charged at a second man-an archer-just outside the door.

There were two other soldiers who were banging at his parents' quarters door, and he continued to fight the man before him until he, too, lay dead on his feet. His gaze turned to the men who had not noticed him yet. He started when he recognized the crest on their shields.

Holy Andraste! These are Howe's men! What is going on here?

He barely had time to register anything else, as the men finally noticed him standing in a defensive pose looking at them, and they attacked.

Anger fueled his actions as he fought, and before he knew it, the men lay dead at his feet. The door to his parents' quarters quickly opened and his mother, dressed in leather armor, ran into the hallway, distraught and disheveled.

"Aedan! What is happening? I heard noises and I barred the door from the inside."

She gazed down at the dead men on his feet, and a hand flew to her mouth as realization kicked in.

"These are Howe's men! What? I cannot believe this!" She turned to her middle son, her shock quickly dissolving into worry as she saw him covered in blood. "Are you hurt?"

He shook his head, and rushed to give her a hug. Then, he walked to the men and searched the bodies.

"Howe has betrayed father, mother. There is no other explanation for this."

"Why would he do such a thing?" She said, her voice trembling with fury.

"I don't know, but I'll kill him for this." Aedan answered, his hazel eyes flashing momentarily. "We should check on Oren and Oriana mother," he said as he swept by her to retrieve the Cousland family bow and a quiver of arrows from a chest in her sitting room, which he handed out to her.

"Maker's mercy! You don't think-" The Teyrna faltered for a moment, her face growing pale, her green eyes startled as she looked at him.

"Mother, you can stay here, I'll find out what is going on..." Aedan began, trying to protect her from whatever they would find along their way, but the Teyrna would not have that.

"No. We must fight our way to your father. I'm not some Orlesian flower, Aedan. I can fight, and will assist you. Come. Let us see if we can save Oren and Oriana, before it's too late."

Aedan fell a surge of pride for his mother and turned, leading the way to a door across from the now open door of his room. When he opened it, a sore sight met his eyes. His nephew and sister-in-law lay in a pool of blood before them.

"No! These people are monsters! To slay an innocent child...oh...poor Fergus! " Teyrna Eleanor exclaimed, as she wiped the tears from her face.

"We must check on Azure, mother," Aedan grimaced as he stood up, now running out of the room into another area of the family quarters, where two more soldiers and two archers greeted him. The Teyrna started to shoot her arrows immediately and both Prince and he dispatched the melee soldiers first before turning on the archers.

That was a mistake. Next time, focus on the archers, first. The warriors will follow me anyway, wanting to cut me down.

The door to his younger sister's bedroom was wide open. Fear clutched his heart as he ran inside.

Azure was gone.

...

The young girl was in her night clothes and unconscious. She was lying on her side, and her hands had been tied behind her back. The soldier who was guarding her looked at her, lust plainly etched across his features. He wet his lips unconsciously and took off his leather gauntlets quietly.

His hand reached out, and finally touched the soft flushed cheek, and the desire in him grew as his hand moved down to cup a breast. The girl stirred and finally opened her eyes.

Bright green eyes regarded the ugly bearded face that was bearing down on her with disdain and disgust.

She squirmed, and wriggled, but the soldiers had tied up her hands and arms tightly. The man sneered at her, and he roughly took her in his arms and bunched her nightgown up, his hands roughly massaging her breasts.

She waited until he had pulled his leather armor off, and grimaced as he undid the ties of his breeches, working at the ropes that tied her hands. She felt them come loose, and gritted her teeth as the covered wagon she was in lurched forward slightly, finding a bump in the road. It did not slow down, however.

The man was busy sucking her breasts now, and his hands were hurting her, but she determinedly continued flexing her wrists, feeling the ropes slide a little. She was thankful that the ropes had cut her wrists, because her blood was seeping into the rope, softening it and causing the knots to loosen.

The man was taking his time, knowing full well that the wagon would not stop and they would not be interrupted before he had a chance to ravish this girl like he wanted to. He had moved on to her other breast and she closed her eyes as she continued to wrestle against the ropes, concentrating with all the strength she could muster, feeling nauseated by the man's advances nevertheless.

His hands were moving roughly to her navel now, and she felt fear surging in her, but she was stubborn. She pushed the fear away and the ropes suddenly started to slip off one hand. She smiled.

The man saw her smile and sneered.

"You bitch, you like that, don't you. Well, soon, my pet, soon, you will be screaming for more."

She waited for his head to disappear between her thighs. Her hands were free now, but the rope was still on her left hand. She smiled again and brought her legs up in a swift movement, knocking the man's head away from her. The man's eyes opened wide, but before he had a chance to recover, she was on top of him, straddling him.

Bringing her hands down, she wound the rope around his neck and pulled. Hard.

The man started to struggle, but she quickly pressed her knee hard on his groin and he cried out briefly. The girl then continued to pull at the ropes, strangling the man as he tried to fight her off him.

The wagon hit another bump in the road, and she was thrown back. The man shook his head, wheezing, as he felt the air course through his lungs again.

The girl cursed as her eyes darted around the wagon, and she saw something glint in the half-darkness.

Rushing towards the man, she took one of his daggers and before he had had a chance to fully recover, stabbed him squarely in the chest.

His eyes widened in shock as he died.

The girl got off him and sat as far away as she could. Glancing at his discarded leather breastplate, she tore off her nightgown and put it on quickly. Then she struggled with his breeches and put them on. The man had been short and they fit her, though the waistband was a little too loose. She tightened the strings the best that she could and stood up, swaying a little.

Satisfied that the breeches would not fall, she bent over and took the man's belts and sheathed his daggers, pausing to see what he had in his pockets.

She found a couple of health poultices, two small vials of deathroot poison, a lockpick kit and thirty silvers.

She smiled. That would do.

Her eyes glanced around the wagon and she found a chest in one of the corners.

It was locked.

She used the lockpick kit and opened it. Looking inside, she found three sovereigns which she quickly pocketed and a bunch of parchments. She pocketed those too, thinking that they might shed some information on why she was here and what was happening.

She frowned. Or...who she was.

She faltered but a moment, when she suddenly realized she could not remember her name.

She felt the wagon start slowing down and made her move. Opening the flap she saw she was in on a path of some sort which cut through a dense forest.

Taking a deep breath she flung herself out of the wagon before it came to a complete stop.

She started to run through the forest. She heard noises behind her and continued running.

She knew that the people who had her in that wagon would be looking for her so she pushed everything else away and focused on running.

She ran, even when breathing started to get difficult.

She ran, even when she felt her legs ache.

She ran and ran for hours until she felt that she would die from running, because she could no longer breathe, it was too difficult to breathe.

Fighting off exhaustion, she stopped, trying to catch her breath as she wheezed, holding on to a tree trunk before her.

She tensed as she heard the howling of wolves in the distance. She heard them getting closer, so she straightened up. Taking a deep breath, she started running again.

She was too slow.

The wolves were on top of her before she knew it, and she was flung to the ground as they attacked. They tore into her legs and back and she cried out, then turned to fight back, her daggers whipping out in front of her. She managed to kill two but there were at least twenty more.

She shut her eyes, fearing the worse, all the fight gone from her, when suddenly the wolves yelped and she looked up to see a man dressed in robes holding out a staff.

She tried to sit up, but had lost too much blood.

The last thing she saw was the man's face bending over her.

Then, everything went dark.