Hi all! This isn't my first fanfic, but I absolutely LOVE Graceling and Fire. So this little idea came into my head.
Disclaimer: I do not own Graceling or Fire. Just my OC's. And this plot.
Aya POV
Tree branches whip my limbs as I sprint through the thick forest. Thorns try hold my back, pricking anywhere my skin shows, but I break through them anyways. I can hear the dogs barking, snarling, determined to catch me. Their master has made me their prey. My dress limits my movement, but I have no time to stop. I cannot risk the few seconds it would take to rip the skirt, not with him riding down on me. I won't let my parent's sacrifice go to waste.
An unseen tree root catches my bare foot, and I fall to the ground with a terror-filled cry. I try to scramble back onto my feet, but the dogs have already surrounded me. Their lips are pulled back, revealing long, sharp-looking yellow teeth, slavering jaws. They won't attack unless commanded by their master, but I don't risk attempting to escape. I know he keeps his dogs hungry. I curl up in a ball, it taking all my focus not to burst into tears. I have failed. My parents are dead for nothing.
Hoofbeats thunder behind me, then slow to a stop. My body trembles uncontrollably. The man, the dog's master, my parent's murderer, dismounts and stalks around me until he is facing me. I lift my head slowly, my terrified eyes, one purple, the other cream, connecting with his single grey eye, the other covered by an eyepatch. In a flash, I remember this man arriving at my family's little cabin in the woods; my parents pushing me out the back door, still in my nightdress, telling me to run, to fly, to get away; watching as that man traps my parents in the house, setting fire to it, destroying everything I have ever loved.
I remember his name. I remember the warnings my parents gave me about him. About his hidden nature, his hidden Grace.
Leck bends down to my height, opening his arms wide. "Aya," he says, "I've missed you so much, my beloved girl."
Not a bad prologue, eh? Review please!