Prologue

The girl's large brown eyes stared ahead, her breathing coming in fast pulses. Sweat had started to streak down her face making the stray strands of her brown hair cling to the sides of her face.

The young girl's eyes turned to the woman tightening the leather restraints on her ankles.

"Momma" the girl sobbed tears welling in her large eyes, "Please… I'm scared Momma. What's happening?"

The older woman lifted her face, gentle brown eyes staring at her daughter's frightened face. After a moment the woman looked back to her work, tightening the strap roughly. The girl began sobbing louder and tears began to slip down the woman's face as well. "This has to be done," she murmered softly, her voice husky with emotion.

The girl strained towards her mother as she stood up, "Momma! Please!" She jerked violently towards her mother as the woman moved away, striding from the modest hut.

Once the woman was outside she covered her face with her hands and stumbled away, sobbing her grief.

As she moved up the hill she could hear her daughter screaming after her. "Momma! Momma!" The young girl's voice laced with fear.

Reaching a plateau above the hut the woman braced herself against a tree and watched the cabin through blurry eyes. She would stay and support her child through this trial the only way she could, by staying nearby.

All at once her daughter was silent. The woman felt her heart drop away as her fingers unconsciously gripped the bark of the tree. She strained for any sound or movement from the hut.

The cabin looked peaceful, serenely blanketed by the starry night sky. All was silent and the only movement from the hut was the flicker of firelight coming through the window. On any other night one could have thought this was an ordinary home on an ordinary night. It was a dreadful illusion and as she stood watching her home she knew it would never be the same again.

Suddenly the light flared through the windows and the earth rumbled under her feet. Her daughter began to scream, voicing her pain through the night sky.

The woman slowly sank to the ground her crying eyes rapt on the hut. She sobbed loudly as the cabin continued to flash with light, the earth continued to groan and quiver under her fingers, and she listed to the pain filled, heart wrenching screams of her daughter.