Part One: Chapter One

The night was aglow from the large bonfire burning at the edge of Snowsdale. A slim figure stood in silhouette of the blaze, the flames lending a red tint to her gold hair. Sarra stared blindly into the fire, feeling tears burning at the back of her eyes.

Though this was a night of happy feasting and song, Sarra felt without cheer. She had fought against it throughout the entire day by keeping herself busy with the preparations for the night—the picking of flowers, baking of bread and stirring of pots of stew which had engaged her hands and mind enough to keep melancholy thoughts at bay. But when dark fell, the aching loneliness seemed to slip past her defenses.

Seeing her friends go off into the night with their own admirers and suitors opened up an emptiness inside her that she didn't know how to fill. She knew she was just seventeen, at the beginning of her life but all the same, the ache inside her wouldn't ease.

Abruptly she turned from the fire and ran a frustrated hand through her curls. Moping about everything was doing no good, her practical nature finally reasserting itself. She walked toward the edge of the wood and entered the shadows, deciding a short walk would clear her mind. The trees lightly rustled in the night breeze, giving off the clear scent of spring green. Sarra could feel her spirits lighten, her mouth curved into a slight smile.

The fragile calm of the dark was suddenly broken by a harsh whisper and a rough hand on her wrist. "Sarra."

Her heart dropped as she recognized the voice. The pressure on her wrist tightened as she was pulled around to face Rocham. Rocham was an ardent pursuer of Sarra in addition to being the last man Sarra would ever consider marrying. He was a drunk who would never admit to it and was known for his explosive temper. In addition to that, Sarra felt cold each time she met his dark eyes—there was something about Rocham that was evil.

"Sarra," he repeated, his rank breath hitting Sarra. She turned her face away.

"Let go of me." She took a step back, trying to pull her arm away but his grip tightened almost to the point where it would create a bruise if he held for a moment longer.

"You're always pushing me away, Sarra." His tone chiding, as if speaking to a wayward child. He pulled on her arm and she stumbled a bit forward. She hated the way he said her name, the "S" coming out like the hiss of a snake. She tried to wrench her arm free again but this time he anticipated her and brought his other hand up to grab the back of her neck as he tugged her captured arm. There was almost no space between them now. "You know I only want to take care of you pretty Sarra."

The pressure on the back of her neck increased. She fought to keep her body away from him. She could feel her heart beating faster in fear as the acid taste of bile rose in her throat. In desperation, she took the only avenue she could see open. She brought her knee up hard into his groin, stepping on his foot as soon as his grip loosened on her. As he bent over in pain, she gave him a hard push, for good measure, and turned in the opposite direction, running deeper into the woods.

She knew she was making too much noise as she ran but she didn't care. She wanted to be as far away from him as possible. The tears she had held back ran freely down her face, as she tried without much success to hold back the sobs. Her earlier depressing thoughts came back in full force. The only man who ever seemed to be interested in her was the one man that she would give anything to never have to see again.

"Sarra!" Rocham's voice echoed through the woods. She stopped, not wanting to have him hear her position, her breath coming in and out in small gasps as she tried to stop her tears and catch her breath. She looked around, searching for some place to be safe. Spotting a tall oak next to her, she grabbed onto one of the lower hanging branches and swung herself up, climbing as far as she could go before the branches grew too close together for her to move any further.

Choosing a wide and sturdy looking branch, she sat on it, gathering her skirts close to her feet and laid her head on her knees, trying to slow her breathing and calm herself. She could just wait him out, hoping he would grow tired of the fruitless chase and go home.

After some minutes passed, Sarra started to feel a sense of security creep over her when the tree beneath her shook with a sudden force and she was almost unbalanced from her seat. She grabbed on to the sides of the branch beneath her, keeping herself from falling. She looked down and flinched as she made out Rocham's leering face below. "Thought you could hide, sweet Sarra?" He shoved the tree again. Her grip slipped and she felt herself sliding sideways. In trying to rebalance herself, she grabbed for a branch above her head that, to her horror, broke and she came crashing down through the lower branches only to be caught in Rocham's arms.

The shock of having fallen and suddenly landed gave Sarra pause until she recalled who was holding her. She struggled to get out of his grip, hitting his shoulders and trying to kick her way out of his hold. "Let go of me!" she screamed. "Get your filthy hands off of me!"

Rocham laughed and brought her closer to his chest, pinning her arms in the process. His face bent down to hers and she could feel her eyes widen in fear. She was about to be raped and she didn't know how she was going to stop him. The crazed look in his eyes told her that there would not be much mercy for her now.

Just as his meaty lips were about to crush into hers, his face so close that she could practically taste his foul breath, she heard a savage growl and Rocham's head abruptly snapped back as if his head had been grabbed from behind. There was another hit from behind that sent Rocham stumbling forward, his hold on Sarra loosening so that she fell to the ground in a confusion of skirts and limbs with Rocham's heavy weight on top of her. That did not last long as Rocham was lifted off of her and his body thrown into the tree that Sarra had just minutes ago been attempting to hide in. Through the tangle of her hair, she could make out a dark figure go swiftly to Rocham's prone figure, pick him up by his throat and pin him to the tree. The figure's other arm reached out and took hold of one of Rocham's hands and with a sickening crunch and a cry from Rocham, broke the bones in his hand.

The tall stranger still had Rocham by the throat and the man ruthlessly slammed Rocham's head against the trunk once more. "You listen to me," a rough low voice spoke, "I'm only going to say this once and this will be your only warning: touch her or any other woman like that again, and I will hunt you down and kill you. You understand?" Rocham was grabbing at the stranger's arm with his working hand and the grip eased back enough for Rocham to nod.

"Good." The dark figure let go of Rocham completely and stepped away. "Now go." The words were quiet but still Sarra heard a wild note in the man's tone, as if he was controlling some violent urge to do more damage but just barely keeping himself in check. Rocham must have heard it as well because he scrambled back to his feet and took off into the woods, not sparing Sarra even a glance.

She looked at the tall dark stranger whose back was still turned to her. She noticed that all he was wearing to cover himself was a loincloth, the rest of his body exposed to the night. His back was broad and muscled, his arms and legs corded with muscle. His hair was dark, the moonlight not strong enough to fully penetrate the shadows that he was standing in.

Sarra realized that she was still lying on the ground and made a movement to get up, only to give a sharp hiss in pain as the raw skin on her arms and hands from her earlier fall rubbed against the ground. In an instant, firm but gentle hands took hold of Sarra's arms and back and lifted her to her feet. She instinctively brought her hands up to steady herself and came into contact with warm solid flesh that sent an instantaneous awareness of something that had Sarra's toes curling and her body thrumming alive. A soft gasp escaped her lips and the large hands on her elbow and back tightened, seemingly in response to her own reaction to his closeness.

She gazed at his large chest not quite wanting to meet his eyes just yet and noticed that his skin was browned from the sun but also had streaks of green running across it. Her hand made an involuntary movement, tracing one of these streaks and the muscles underneath her hand jerked. Her hand immediately left his skin and her gaze moved up.

And met the eyes of a god.

Author's note: I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry it has taken me a long time to update! Don't despair! I was just finishing some other stories and will be well in progress on this one very very very soon!