Prologue

The sky was as black as night from the growing storm. Thunder rolled and lightening crashed in the eerie atmosphere. Rain poured down as the sound of pounding footfalls was muffled by the slick ground. The wind howled and cried like a lone wolf on the edge of madness, nothing there to answer its calls. A girl no older than six or seven sprinted in and out of the dark alley ways and in between shops, buildings, and homes of all shapes and sizes.

No one was around to help her as she glanced helplessly about looking for some means of protection, her short boy-like hair sticking to her face. It was very late in the night and she knew she would find none. She knew she had disobeyed her father, again, in going to the Dark Forest even though he had forbade her to return there because it was not safe anymore. But she had to see that boy again. Faintly she could remember his friendly smile and striking blue eyes through her hazy vision. She could almost see his slightly darker skin compared to her lightly tanned flesh as if he were running right beside her. They had promised each other to meet one last time, but he never came.

Those big ogres chasing after her now had caught her scent and found her at the largest oak tree located deep in the forest. Luckily she had escaped them just in time, but not soon enough. They had picked up on her trail and were close behind her before she even made it out of the forest. And now she was on the verge of being killed or worse being captured by the enemy. Her father was not going to happy with her if she ever made it back home safely and in one piece. Mentally she groaned as she ran deeper into the city.

Frantically she kept looking behind her in search of her pursuers as they started to gain on her. She knew she was running as fast as her little legs could carry her, but that she couldn't keep this up for much longer. Stop following me already! Please..just..stop. Her chest hurt as her heart slammed against her ribs and her lungs screamed for more air to fill them. She felt the need to change, but changing wasn't an option, at least not for her. She wanted so badly to stop and turn into a bird or-or something. But she knew the change wouldn't happen.

She couldn't stop for anything. I need to keep running. I can't stop….I have to keep going her mind cried as she searched for a place to hide. She had to keep going, keep running until her very last breath because if not they would get her. And she could not let that happen. Not when the future of her people counted on her very survival. This war had been waging for many, many years in a distant land. But now the war had finally entered The Shifters' Territories, completely and utterly unwelcome.

The sound of the trailing footfalls receded behind her, growing fainter and fainter. Finally she thought they're gone. Slowing her pace into a slight jog and then into a brisk walk and finally down to a barely mobile pace she gasped for the air her lungs desperately needed. I'm safe…for now she thought as she made her way slowly toward the underground entrance to the palace.

Reaching the bottom of the stairwell before her, the torches hanging on the walls flickered with faint light along the shadow filled hallway. The young girl was drenched from head to toe. Her clothing plastered to her like a second skin. Her chest still rising and falling at a fairly rapid pace as her lungs begged for more oxygen to enter and fill them. Her phantom like footsteps fell silently on the stone floor as water slide off of her drenched body.

A commotion towards the end of the long hall made her stop short. The hairs on the back of her neck rose at the sense of danger. Something isn't right. Slowly, as if stalking prey, the young golden haired beauty edged to the end of the hall reaching an old secret corridor. Pressing her small body as close as she could to the wall, trying to keep in shadow, she peered out. Her large and innocent, dark brown eyes filled with horror at the sight unfolding before her.

Gasping in terror she caught the attention of the dark figures as the resounding thud of a body hit the stone floor. Before she could turn to escape a hand closed over her mouth as another arm wrapped around her frail waist like a steel band. Picking her up as she flailed and kicked the air trying to hit her captor in some way she heard the shadowy figures talking in hushed tones in a language she did not recognize. She felt stinging pains as the sensation of something sharp cut through the flesh near and around her eyes. She heard one word that she did recognize through it all, and that was her name, Rhian, before everything went black.

Those memories she kept locked away and buried down deep for nearly a decade remained until one day changed everything.…..