…It was a dark, foggy night when the body of a young woman was discovered on the outskirts of the forest of Down Bywynne. Her face was now frozen into a mask of hunger and pain, although it appeared to those who observed her that once, the mysterious woman had been a mortal of great beauty to look upon. Those who had found her lifted her gently into their arms, planning to inter her remains on the morn. As they did, however, a shrill cry rose from amid the dark cloths swathing the woman's frail form.
Peeling them away, the villagers gasped in awe. Revealed was a child of such extraordinary beauty, she seemed to light up the dim night with her loveliness. Her clear eyes were as green as the leaves upon the summer trees, her hair the hue of their color in autumn. As they moved to take the child, the woman's eyelids fluttered open. She feebly stretched forth her hands to take the child. They gave the babe to her, and she nuzzled it against her breast, cooing words of comfort to the distraught child.
As the inhabitants of Down Bywynne stared in awe at the bedraggled woman and the glorious babe, the sound of hoof beats reverberated through the woods. A lone rider emerged from the trees, the black metal of his armor glinting in the pale moonlight. Without a word, the woman fell back in the arms of those who carried her, and seemed to stop breathing. The child also, as if sensing danger, ceased its cries.
The rider dismounted and walked over to the woman. He was tall, and though his face was shrouded by a night-hued helm, every movement of his body seemed forbidding. Peering at her in the dim lighting, he turned to the tall man who bore her. "Dead?" he questioned in a breathy hiss.
Something in the malevolent tone of his voice prompted the frightened man to utter a breathless, "Yes!" Satisfied, the mail-clad being remounted his steed and galloped away through the night. The woman awoke from her swoon, and thanked her rescuer with her eyes.
From that day on, the mysterious woman and her child dwelt in Down Bywynne. As the woman grew older and the child blossomed into the loveliest of creatures that ever drew breath, a shroud of secrecy never left them…
hey everyone, this is my first fanfiction. i own all of these characters. this is the first page of a book that i have worked on off and on for a few years. i completed it last year, but every now and then i go back and do some more. i have sent it to several people and gotten very positive reviews--PLEASE tell me what you think!