YEP I thought I'd try my hand at a little fantasy/romance here.

Some of my OC's from my other story may make an appearance.

The old Kingdom of Terrania had once been ruled by benevolent kings and queens for thousands of years, but the royal line had died out and then half the kingdom fell to the merciless Lord Lucal Blackheart of Draukkea and his black knights.

There were two beautiful green valleys' in Terrania, Terra valley and Nova Rose valley that had fallen to Lord Lucal, Terra valley was still unconquered and stood defiant against Lucal while Nova Rose valley suffered under his evil rule.

In the mountains between the two valleys stood the ruins of the once proud Castle Terra, the ancient home of the old kings of Terrania.

Lord Lucal despised these people, to him they were little more than slaves – slaves to be used by him whenever he wanted with WHATEVER he wanted.
He turned to the young knight who was also his little brother kneeling in front of his throne,

"It is time you start seeing the realm you may one day rule little brother" he said while glaring at his brother.
"It will be good for you, might even give you some character….finally." he continued,

"I will not disappoint you my lord", the knight answered respectfully,

"Good Marcus, I'm sending you to Nova Rose valley to help the prefect there, BUT you will not try to interfere with his duties unless they go against my orders is that clear, Marcus?" Lucal said, he knew Marcus didn't like to be called by his full name, it was his mother's fault she had called him Mark instead, she had been just as sentimental and weak as Marcus, but Marcus was his only heir after all.

"Yes my lord" Mark answered dutifully and rose, backed up a bit and then turned to leave for his chambers.

Mark didn't agree with how his brother ruled and tried as often as he could to lessen the plight of the people, who suffered greatly and even starved since Lucal's prefects taxed them so hard they barely had any food for themselves.
Mark entered his chambers and collected what he decided he would need for the trip, this would be his first trip outside Draukkea and despite everything he felt excited, Mark even packed his two petrified dragon eggs he was given by his mother before she died,
he didn't trust them with his brother, one was golden the other black as coal, he also packed down the ring his mother had given him, it was in the form of two dragons intertwined holding a purple dragon pearl in between their mouths as they joined.

After having packed what he needed Mark went to the stables and took out his horse Hazard a black powerful war steed, Hazard was in his usual grumpy mood and snapped a couple of times when Mark started saddling him,

"Behave my friend" he said gently, and got a harrumph as an answer from the horse, he laughed and petted Hazard on his mane before he mounted up and rode out of his brother's dark castle with his own personal guard from the order of the Dragon Knights, these men had served under him fighting goblins in the ancient mountains of Draukkea and were unquestioningly loyal to him, mostly because he always treated them as equals under the code of chivalry, and because he never asked anything of them he would not do himself.

Mark had only read about Terrania, the people were said to be warm-hearted as well as spirited and freedom loving, the land itself were told to be forever green and beautiful, always lush unlike his own homelands dark mountains.

Madelyn Shannon had managed to sneak out of the town to her secret cave in the forest where she could spend some time alone, Maddy as she was more commonly called lived after the circumstances a happy life as it was possible under Lord Lucal's rule, before the black knights took over her Father Jim had been the Sheriff and her mother was a witch and the towns healer something Maddy had inherited, though such arts was highly frowned upon by the draukkeans and the prefect in particular so they had to keep it a secret, Maddy was utterly terrified of them, as she could feel mostly evil in their hearts.

Her parents usually forbade her to leave the house since the prefect and his men had little regard for men and even less for women.

Since the draukkeans had taken every book or scroll they could find in the valley, Maddy had no way of learning of her powers or new spells so she simply came to this cave to practice on her magic powers, her mother had said she would most likely become more powerful than even hers.

As Maddy sat there playing with a light spell she heard the sound of approaching horses, she discontinued the spell immediately and tried to hide, the horses came to a stop just outside the cave they wore the black tabard of Lord Lucal's knights over their plate armour, before she could stop herself Maddy gasped, the lead knight suddenly stopped and looked in her direction.
He came forward with his sword drawn and rounded the rock she hid behind and grabbed her pulling her out of the cave,

"OH please sir, don't hurt me", she whimpered

Mark loosened his grip on what he first had thought was a boy until her cloaks hood fell off her head and revealed the most beautiful sight he had ever seen in his life, he couldn't help but stare like some village idiot.
She had long and thick raven hair and her eyes looked like a combination of amber and honey, her skin was olive toned with a hint of gold in it, and her ears were slightly pointed almost elfish looking.

Maddy was terrified that the black clad knight was going to hurt her until he seemed to loosen his grip, he took off his closed helmet and then she saw a young and handsome face, and his eyes….His eyes was beautiful they seemed to have a mix of green grey and blue in them as if whatever god created him had been undecided as to what colour to give his eyes, those eyes lacked any semblance of evil in them as they studied her for what seemed like an eternity.

Maddy stared up into his face, he could not be much older than her own sixteen years AND he was handsome, but he was wearing the uniform of the enemy "Why?" she thought to herself.

"Are you alright?" Mark asked her; she still looked frightened but seemed to have calmed down,

"Yes sir", she answered still with trembling voice,

"You have nothing to fear from me or my men my lady" Mark stated,

"But it's forbidden for us to be outside the gates, unless under guard" Maddy said unsurely,

Mark could see her bottom lip was trembling which made his heart ache, something he could not understand but he wanted to make her feel safe, he wanted to protect her, there were tears in her eyes which nearly broke his heart.

"Do not worry fair maiden, consider yourself under my guard then", Mark assured her and smiled.

"What is your name, maiden?" he asked courteously.

"Madelyn Shannon, but everyone calls me Maddy because Madelyn sounds so formal, plus it was the name of a queen long ago" Maddy rambled which made Mark smile, Maddy's cheeks started going a bright pink which got ever more red, "Does this girl have ANY flaws at all?", Mark thought,

"You certainly have the beauty of a queen", he said and bowed deep to her, his men followed his example, this all made Maddy's face burn even more, no boy or man had ever shown her such respect before and these were draukkeans who were said to be without honour or kindness, her brother was always acting like an oaf even though he was kind hearted.

"My name is Knight-captain Marcus, but you may call me Mark, at your service your majesty", he said jokingly with a smile.

Maddy curtsied as best she could still blushing heavily.

"Sir I don't think I should call you by name like that, the prefect always says we have to call him and his soldiers by rank", she said nervously,

"Well then you may call me Sir Mark" Mark smiled again, which almost made her swoon.

"Please let us escort you back to town, there may be dangerous beasts around", Mark offered kindly,

Maddy nodded and he lifted her up into the saddle, the large horse at first gave her an angry look but she soothed him by caressing him behind the ear, Mark looked surprised,

"First time I see him reacting so nice" Mark said, which earned him a harrumph from Hazard.

Mark mounted himself and with Maddy in front of him they rode off towards the town.
Maddy couldn't explain it but she felt oddly secure with him, he seemed different then all the other draukkeans, he reminded her of those knights in the bedtime stories her father used to tell her.

As they reached the main gate of Nova Rose which was the name of the town, the guards stood at stiff attention when they approached.

"Evening Knight-captain, we were told of your coming sir, have you captured a runaway?" the head guard asked with a wicked smirk,

"No I found her lost in the mountains" Mark said, it was partially a lie but he didn't want her to get into trouble for most likely sneaking out, and Mark couldn't really blame her for that he may be a draukkean himself but he was painfully aware of his peoples cruelty against hers.

"So where are your house then gentle maiden?" Mark asked with a smile,

Maddy pointed to the main street and said; "It's the large white one down the main street, Sir Mark".

Mark turned to one of his men,

"Sir Dunham you go with the men to the barracks and get them settled in, I shall be there shortly", he said, the man Dunham saluted Mark.

"Yes sir", he acknowledged, and gave the orders to the rest of the twenty men strong force.

Mark rode down the street with Maddy and when they came to the house Maddy had mentioned he jumped down and helped her down as well.

"He's like the knights from the stories", she thought, as he followed her to the door.

Before Maddy had a chance of opening the door it practically flew open to reveal a woman probably in her mid-thirties but still beautiful. Her skin was somewhat darker than Maddy's and with brown kind eyes despite her distraught appearance; Mark could see where Maddy got her beauty from.

"Maddy, WHERE in the name of the gods have you been girl?" she exclaimed worriedly and embraced Maddy.

"It's all right mother, I was just …lost" Maddy answered. Her mother turned to Mark,

"Please good sir she will be punished for running off, please don't take her away" She pleaded,

"Madam you have nothing to worry about, and please do not punish her she has been through enough as it is being …lost, I think she has learned her lesson" Mark said with a smirk towards Maddy who blushed again.

"I thank you good sir for bringing my daughter home safe" the mother said,

"Madam it was no trouble at all, it was my honour to see to your daughter's safe return" Mark said and removed his helmet and took Maddy's right hand and brushed her knuckles with his lips,

"Until we meet again then, Miss Shannon" he said and bowed, Maddy gave him a dazzling smile and was blushing even more now which, made her seem even more beautiful and her eyes seemed to sparkle.
Mark then turned around and mounted up and rode off, thinking about Maddy, even though he had only known her for a few hours which was strange he thought.

After closing the door her mother turned to Maddy,

"I've told you to stay in the house, at least to NOT show yourself to those vile beasts" she berated her daughter,

"But mother, Mark …I mean Sir Mark seems very nice" She retorted innocently",

"Just be careful, I don't want you to get hurt" her mother stated.

Maddy went to her room and thought of Sir Mark, even though she had only known him for a few hours which were strange she thought.

So that's the first chapter, I may continue it depending. Leave a review and tell me what you think.