The sun was high in the sky. It's hot ray's beating down on the earth and the air shimmering with heat. The slow, steady clop of the horses hooves crunched on fallen leaves and brittle twigs as it pulled its heavy load. The driver, a young, fresh-out-of-school knight, yawned as the summer heat made him drowsy. The brown-haired knight slouched in his seat and let the reigns fall loose in his hand, closing his eyes and allowing his head to begin to nod off.

Only after a few seconds did he do this when his eyes shot open at the sound of an echoing BANG! The horse, high-strung and skittish, reared at the sudden sounds before taking off in a wild run just as its hooves touched the summer-baked ground once more. The sleeping knight was far from sleep now. His heart raced, his ears drummed and adrenaline rushed in his body. Regaining his seat after the horses outburst, the young man cursed himself for relaxing and loosening his hold on the reigns. Fumbling around for a moment, he reached for the reigns that had nearly fallen off the seat and snatched them, pulling hard to stop the rampaging horse. His efforts were futile.

Scared out of its wits, the dark bay gelding galloped on the dirt track, sending the cart bouncing and nearly falling onto it's side. In a final attempt to stop the horse, the knight reached down for his sword and hastily unsheathed it. Raising the pommel above his head in a two handed grip, blade facing down, he thrust the sharp blade into the wooden wheel and held fast as the wheel caught for a moment on the blade. After those few moments though, the spokes shattered from the statue-like blade and sent the wheel in an explosion of splinters and the cart to crash into the ground. The horse, temporarily forgotten in the confusion, was thrown forward from the crashing cart and tumbled onto it's side, becoming a mess of flailing legs and hooves.

Picking himself up from where he had finally rolled to a rest, the weary knight groaned in pain. Spots of blood dotted his face from where some of the shrapnel of the cart had impaled his skin. His hand were red from his vice-like grip on the handle of his sword as he jammed it into the cart wheel. Slowly coming to his knees, then to his feet, he walked to the still panicking horse and spoke in low, crooning tones to calm it. Reaching down, he firmly grabbed the horses bridle and heaved up, aiding the horse into an upright position.

"There there, Joe," he whispered softly as he stroked the quivering horses muzzle, "everything's okay now." Eventually, the horse became still and visibly relaxed under the constant attention of the knight. Looking around, the youth assessed the damage done. The horse was sporting a few cuts and seemed to be favoring his left hind leg, but other than that, was in a good condition. The cart was something else entirely. The front left wheel was beyond repair and was hardly recognizable as a wheel. One side of the cart had been smashed open, spilling its contents on the road, the golden coins of the tax money he had been delivering sparkling in the afternoon sunlight. Looking around, he thought back to what had caused all of this. "Now, I wonder where that sound came from." With no response from the horse, he looked around at his surroundings, his neck screaming in protest. Just as he was looking at the cart again, the snap of a twig alerted him that he wasn't alone.

A tall, broad shouldered man with a thick neck and well muscled arms stepped clear of the trees and into the light. His face looked as if it had been permanently set into a cunning scowl, his eyes hooded by heavy eyebrows and his face covered in a thick, black beard. His head was bare and tanned, as if it had been shaved his entire life. He was dressed in dark grey clothing, accompanied with a dull black leather tunic, studded in silver pointed spikes. A belt at his waist held a broadsword and a long dirk. The mans eyes, dark and cold, cast a quick glance at the gold on the road before flicking to the injured knight and horse. Putting on a thin show of caring and alarm for the young man before him, the stranger spoke first.

"That was quite a fall, are you all right?" The voice was gruff and could hardly disguise his tone of mock concern for the youth before him. The knight, sensing that something about this person wasn't quite right, stiffened and stood up straighter, instantly on his guard. As young as he was, he wasn't totally ignorant and had seen the way the man had looked at the tax money. "Yes, thank you. My horse was startled by a sound and set the cart out of control."

His comment left no apparent room for a reply and after a few seconds of silence, the man spoke again. "Perhaps I can assist you?" Now the knight was on high alert. This man radiated trouble and the youth wanted nothing more than for him to leave. "No thank you. I'm perfectly alright to attend to these matters on my own. Now please, be on your way and good day to you." The man however, did not leave. Dropping his poor act, he took a step forward and let his hand drop lightly to his sword. "But I insist, let me help you." He tried for a disarming smile, but instead gave one with the resemblance to a grinning wolf, set killing on it's prey. "Better yet, let us help you." As if on que, more men appeared from the trees of the forest lining the road, circling the young knight. All were armed and all had a hungry light in there eyes as they caught the sight of the glittering gold.

On instinct, the knight reached for his sword, only to grasp at air. Casting around a wild look, he saw his sword laying in the dust, not that far out of reach. As if reading his thoughts, one of the men kicked the sword and sent it spinning into the bushes, hopelessly out of reach. "Wont be needing that to where we're sending you now sonny." He said in a low, manic chuckle. "Enough with the chatter boy's, get 'im!" In a flurry of movement, the group descended on the cart and knight, shouldering the horse aside, sending it into another bought of crazed panic. In moments, the tax money was gone as if it had never been there, the same with the armed men. As for the knight, he was still there, lying on the sun-baked ground.

His eyes glassy and his neck snapped.

>>----------><----------<<

And we're off! The first chapter is under way and I don't know about you guys, but this is waaaaayy better than the original prologue, oh wait there wasn't one...Hey, can anyone take a guess at who the mystery man is? I gotta say, feels great to be back(officially) with this book. Oh! One last thing. I found something rather interesting in the list of coming books. A piece of valuable information. If anyone can tell me what I just did there, I'll post what I found in the next update.

Till then,

~SO