A pleasing land of drowsy head it was, of dreams that wave before the half shut eye…
Sleepy Hollow, New York, 1799
PROLOGUE
An elderly man charges through on a horse, holding a lantern attached to a pole and he looks back terrified. He hears thunderous hoofbeats, glances back again and his lantern swings wildly against a tree. The pole knocks the man off his horse and he hits the ground. He runs, trips, falls and scrambles back up.
He glimpses back and sees the huge black horse and then it vanishes with a mist. The man pushes through thorny bushes and jagged branches slit his hands and cheeks. The man bursts from the briar patch and tumbles to a trail. He lifts his bloodied face and he runs. He hears the hoofbeats again and they are deafening. A spur digs into the snorting steed's already bleeding flank. The pursuer's gloved hand draws a sword his blade ringing.
On the trail, the man runs away and he hears the shrill whistle of a sword swing as the pursuer blurs past. The man is still running when his head lolls back at an impossible angle…tumbles off his shoulders. His headless body hits the dirt.
Tell me your thoughts of this prologue.