PROLOGUE

My heart was beating faster than I was running. The rain was a soft sound in my ears, normally a pleasant sound that would pull me from my bedroom to stand and smell the perfection of the rain, letting the wonderful scent wash into my chambers, but right now, all it did was make it easier for my fathers men to find me, and I did not want to be found.

"TATIANA!" called my fathers right hand man. I skidded to a halt and looked out from behind a large tree as I saw Estos and a small group of men stop not far away.

"Lord Estos," said the high voice of a squire I knew well. "What will Lord Swann do if we do not return with her?" the squire asked in a rather frightened tone.

"Probably have our heads on pikes." Estos hissed to the boy. "So if you want to keep your head on, find the girl!" he snapped as he spun his horse around and eared the horse back the way they had came. I sighed and watched the rest spread out and rush in directions I was not headed in. I smiled at my luck and took off running as fast as I could towards the neared village or town I could fined, I needed new clothes and I needed them quickly.

It ran for almost twenty miles, and it was early morning before I found a house on the edge of the woods. I saw a man chopping wood in the morning air. The rain had stopped about two hours ago, but the mud was still very slippery and that was what made me fall…at first.

I had stepped out of the woods in hopes of approving the man and offering any money I had for new clothes and possibly a horse, but when the mud made me fall, I soon realized that I had been on the verge of collapsing as it were. My arms and legs were numb from the cold, I felt the pain in my feet, the slippers I had been wearing were not made for running through the woods, and my dress was torn and covered in dirt.

"Seven hells!" the man shouted as he rushed over to help me stand, but my body refused to stand. The man, who had to be in his mid to late thirties, scooped me up and carried me into the house, laying me on a bed as I heard a woman rushing about the house. I soon lost track of what was happening, as I slipped into unconsciousness.

I woke, the next day to find the woman of the house, sitting by the fire, knitting something I soon saw was a hat. When I sat up she turned and smiled at me.

"Thank the gods! Honel! Honel she is awake!" the woman called as she rushed over to me. I was in the middle of trying to stand when she pushed me back down. Either I was very weak, or the woman was very strong for he age. "Now you rest there!" she said firmly, like a chiding mother. "I will fetch you some soup." she said rushing off to go do so as the man from before came from around the door and walked around the corner to see me.

"We thought you might not make it." the man, Honel, I gathered, said putting his hands on his hips and looking me over.

"I need clothing and a horse. I have money, I can pay for whatever I am given, but I need a healthy horse, we will have a long ride." I said, a small smile on my face as the woman rushed over with a bowl of hot soup. The very steam from the soup near me made my stomach growl its damned to have it.

"You have to at least get healthy yourself child." the woman said. "I am sure that where ever you have to go will still be there in a day or two." she said, firmly. I was to busy putting as much as I could of the soup into my mouth, ignoring the slight scolding sensation as I did so.

"Where is it you want to get to so quickly?" Hanel asked, stepping forward as he looked me over. I smiled, whipping my lips clean on my slightly still dirty sleeve and handing the woman the bowl back thanking her.

"I am heading north towards the wall." I said as I tried to stand again, as if I could start walking now, but my still sore and tiered knees buckled some and I sat down again, shaking my head.

"What is for you at the wall?" Hanel asked as he helped me sit down again, looking confused. "They won't take a woman." he said simply.

I smiled and decided it wasn't best to tell them that they were probably likely to take a woman if they weren't aware she was one.