I was a light sleeper, always had been. As a girl I used to be able to sleep through nearly anything, but with a father who would beat me just for looking at him wrong I taught myself to wake up at the slightest sound so I would be out of the house and away just in case he was in a rage for no reason. That's why when Lucien shifted in his sleep, I shot up out of the bedroll, looking around terrified for a few seconds. Once it finally registered where I was and what had happened, I laughed under my breath. It was going to take me some time to adjust obviously.

I glanced up at the sky, noticing that it was starting to grow slightly lighter. Fog was creeping in over the grass. A snort sounded in the woods. Thunder was awake. Knowing I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, I pushed the blanket off of me, stood, and stretched. Sleeping on the ground had made my back feel a bit knotted. After a few satisfying pops, my back felt much better and I walked across the clearing to where Thunder was tied. He greeted me with a head-butt to the chest and a snort.

"Hey there Thunder." I slowly ran my hand down his neck, the coarse fur tickling my skin. I'd never been near animals at all before other than the occasional stray dog or cat. The horse seemed to enjoy me petting him and he stood perfectly still, as if he knew that I was still uncomfortable around him. The fog kept creeping in closer and closer. I shivered a bit and Thunder stamped. It suddenly felt very eerie around the clearing. Out of the corner of my eye, something moved. I froze and Thunder turned to stare directly at the spot. Lucien was still asleep.

'How does an assassin stay asleep if there's something around?' I thought annoyed. All I had was the dagger he'd given me earlier, but it was over beside my bedroll, completely useless to me. Something moved again, running across the clearing and disappearing into the trees. Thunder snorted and stamped his front right hoof. He was having none of this either. Quietly, I pulled his lead loose from the tree so he would be able to run if something were to happen. Looking around I spotted a few pebbles on the ground. As more shapes began to run through the clearing, I picked them up and tossed them at Lucien's sleeping form. One finally connected with the side of his head and he shot up, pissed that his sleep was interrupted.

He turned to glare at me, but once he saw my expression, he was on his feet in a flash. Within another second, he was beside me pressing the dagger he'd given me into my hand. Feeling a little safer, I stood with my back against his and Thunder pressed up against the two of us. The shapes kept flashing by through the fog, never coming closer than a few feet to us. Lucien was staring intently trying to figure out what was going on. As the clearing suddenly grew pitch black, he seemed to understand. He pressed a hand to my mouth making it clear I wasn't to speak or make a sound.

Slowly, row after row of ghostly figures came into view. It was too dark to make out any features of any of them, but they all stood perfectly still. Watching us. Deep ghostly laughter floated through the darkness, followed by footsteps. A shadow much larger than the others approached us. I was frozen with absolute terror, Lucien pushed his hand into my mouth even harder. The shadow stopped in front of us, just watching. I still couldn't make out any features, just that he was very broad shouldered and tall. Without warning, he bend down and placed a ghostly kiss onto my forehead. I felt my vision waver and slowly I fell to the ground, Lucien worriedly shaking me, trying to snap me back awake. The shadow placed a hand on Lucien's shoulder, before turning away. The other shadows bowed at the waist to us before everything just disappeared.

We were back in the clearing. The stars were fading and the sky was turning a beautiful shade of pink. The fog was clearing too. How long had we been in that shadow world?

"Lucien…what just happened?" I asked breathlessly. I was having trouble breathing steadily. He let out a shaky breath.

"I do believe we were just visited by the Dread Father himself Rivien."

"The Dread Father?" He blinked at me.

"Sithis. The god of the Brotherhood. He is who gives us the power of shadow and stealth. He is who we kill in the name of. How do you not know of Sithis?"

"I know of Sithis. I'd have to live under a rock to not know the name. I've just never heard him called the Dread Father is all." He nodded. I stood up and dusted myself off. I'd never been one to just swoon over stressful events and I wasn't too happy it had happened today.

"We need to leave. If we go ahead and break camp we should be in the city before midday." Quietly, I nodded and went to help him set up everything. Thunder followed me, nuzzling my arm as he walked. Lucien looked at his horse.

"Traitor." The animal snorted and shook his mane. It didn't take us long to clean everything up. Lucien kicked dirt over the ashes of the fire to kill any remaining embers, latched everything onto Thunder, and we mounted up. Once back on the road we made good time. The landscape looked much like it did yesterday, the only difference being the mountains slowly coming into focus in the distance. I had heard Cheydinhal was a mountain City. It would have some beautiful views, especially in the fall. Lucien was very quiet on the trip, only saying a few words when he wanted me to shift positions a bit to make everyone a little more comfortable.

After about two hours of riding, Lucien directed Thunder off of the road and down a little path. After a minute I heard a dull roaring sound.

"What is that?" I asked. He didn't say anything, just stopped Thunder and dismounted, helping me down. We had stopped under some trees, the shade felt nice and cool. Sunlight filtered down through the leaves, little pinpricks of warmth dotting the path through the woods. Without a word, Lucien took Thunder's reins and gestured for me to follow him. The dull roar got louder and louder, the temperature dropping a few more degrees. Soon we could feel a light mist coat our clothes and skin. Once we rounded a corner, the trees stopped and I gasped. We were in front of a huge series of waterfalls, each crashing down into large pools. I looked around at all of the flowers that were just starting to bud, making note of how pretty they would be once fully bloomed. The trees grew up the side of the small mountain, making what I assumed would be a nice shady spot at the top.

"Lucien, this is beautiful." Thunder walked to the edge of the water and took a drink.

"I like to stop here when I can. We're a bit ahead of schedule so a short break won't hurt us." I looked around and found a large, flat rock that was mostly dry. A bit awkward in the robe, I climbed up and sat down, leaning back to enjoy the sun on my face. This place was beautiful. How could I never have known anything other than the city? I should've ran away ages ago just to see sights like this one. I looked down and saw Lucien at the edge of the pool splashing water onto his face. It was surely cold coming down the mountain like it was and it still being early spring.

"You're going to make yourself sick." I called. He just looked up at me, the cold water making his cheeks slightly flushed. The strands of hair that had gotten damp hung loosely around his face. He really was a handsome man.

"I grew up in the mountains Rivien. I swam in water colder than this in my childhood and I'm still here. You should come down and freshen up." I shook my head, long hair swaying with the movement.

"I'm good thanks. Cold isn't something I enjoy all that much." I was the person you saw bundled up in as many layers as possible during the cold months. I'd always wanted to live on the beach where it was warm all the time.

"Your loss then. The water feels wonderful." He splashed another handful on his face and whistled to Thunder. The horse took one more slow drink before walking over. "Come on, we need to go. This place is only about an hour away from the city so you can visit when you have free time." I slid off of the rock and mounted Thunder without any help. I was getting better at this. The assassin mounted up behind me and led the horse back through the woods. We didn't stop again until we had reached the city walls.

Dark and foreboding, Cheydinhal loomed ahead of us. The walls were made of dark stone, reaching high into the air. Towers at regular intervals along the wall were capped with dark purple shingles. I could make out the top of what I assumed was the cathedral and it was made out of the same dark rock. Fitting place for a family of assassins. The dark evergreen trees and mountains looming directly behind the city made for a rather chilling atmosphere. We dismounted Thunder and stabled him, then turned to go inside. The two guards at the gate nodded to us before returning their attention to the road. With a steadying breath, I followed Lucien through the shadow of the gate and into the city that would be my new home.

Hello everyone! I'm back! Sorry for the long delay between updates. Back at the end of July a very close family member passed away and I haven't been up to writing for quite some time. When I finally got into the mood to attempt continuing this story, I saw that the folder with all of my stories/ideas/chapters had been deleted and all I had left was what was posted online. Unable to remember exactly what I was planning on doing, I got a bit frustrated and stopped this story for a bit. But after giving it some thought, I think I have a good idea on how to progress to make this one match the story line of the original and be better than the old one. Sorry for the relatively short chapter, but I felt like this was good place to stop, otherwise I'd be typing forever as I did the next part. Thank you for your patience, and I hope to read your reviews :)

xoxo Eldest123323