Silver Moon: Prologue & Chapter 1 (SILVER SILVENCE RE-NAMED)

Prologue

A slow wind swept through the charred remains of the kingdom of Osseir. The large capital of Elesnmíre had collapsed within flames. The citizens of the city had run for their lives and took whatever possessions they could carry as their homes where engulfed in flames. The fire was unnatural it was a mixture of magic, malice and hate with only one purpose, to destroy the royal family of Osseir and everyone who stood in its way. After five days the city was finally reduced to ashes and for five days more the citizens who had lost their homes and family wept as they mourned their loss, for the once great city of Osseir, was destroyed and their beloved rulers with it.

***

Cloaked in the darkness of night three figures ran quietly among the ruins of the burnt castle searching for survivors. The tallest of the figures reached the door to the once massive throne room when suddenly a bolt of silver light struck him in the chest. Sitting on the scorched throne was a half conscious boy. His eyes flickered under his half closed eyelids. The boy looked ten years old with raven black hair he was covered with burns and soot. Even in his weakened state he still had the presence of someone terrifyingly powerful.

"We mean you no harm!" Shouted the person the boy struck down. One of the man’s companions had rushed to his side in an instant and helped him up.

"We are friends of the royal family, if any harm happened to them we were given the task of finding survivors and helping them," said the third hooded person bowing deeply.

The boy lifted his head and revealed cold silver eyes that had lost their sparkle. The Figures suddenly bowed to the boy. The only person in the whole of Osseir who had eyes such as these was the crown prince. The young prince grimaced and his eyes screamed with sadness and loss.

"Do not bow down in front of me. In the span of only days I have lost all my family and have nothing left. I will go into hiding and people will assume I’m dead. While I am hidden from those who seek me out I will find the scum that did this and when I do I’ll come back to kill them and claim the land that is mine," The young boy said harshly. The sadness turned to anger as he slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

The three figures bowed even deeper and in the darkness of the night they picked the young prince up and stole away into the night.

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Chapter 1: Festival of the dead

Eight years later.

There is a legend that says those who lost their lives in the great fire will never be free from a cruse laid upon the flames until the true king takes back the land of Elesnmíre that rightfully belongs to him but until then the damned will attack those who live and take the lives of whoever is stupid enough to step on the cursed ground of Ossier. So where the great city of Ossier once stood grew a dense forest in its place, the bark of the trees permanently stained black. The forest is so deep and impenetrable that light barely gets through its surface. Travellers tell stories of demonic beasts that reside inside, born from the hate and torment of the souls trapped in the fire of Ossier. There were also rumours that the cursed forest of Ossier contains the Daeiklyn a race of feared elf assassins, they said if you were ever hunted by one you would be dead even before you hit the ground without spilling even one drop of blood. But in retrospect they were actually the capitals protectors but couldn’t stop the chaotic flames that overwhelmed Ossier, when the forest grew they made it their home and as penance to their failure they continued to protect the land waiting for the true king to return.

An old peddler made his way down the beaten old track that lead to Rowe, a settlement for those who lost their homes in Osseir, it was situated 20 miles south-west of the burnt kingdom and over time it became bigger and turned into a city a bit smaller than Osseir but increasingly more corrupt. The track passed by the cursed forest of Ossier. The forest always gave him the creeps; he pulled his beaten moss green jacket closer and spat in the direction of the forest defiantly. Suddenly a dark shape emerged from above the trees and landed with a thump in front of the merchant. The old man howled in fear and fell backwards. The shadowy figure turned around to face the man and stood quietly watching him through a hooded black cloak; the bottom of his face covered in black cloth like that of a ninja’s. A long sliver chain clinked at the person’s side and two long thin swords, like that of a samurai’s, were fastened to the person’s back in an X shape. One sword had a white hilt with the word ‘Sorrow’ engraved into it and the other had a black hilt with ‘Despair’ carved into it. The merchant gasped in awe as the figure pushed back his hood. Standing before him was a young man about eighteen with messy raven black hair that was spiked at the back and a long fringe at the front that covered parts of his eyes fell around the boy’s face. The merchant could tell the boy was incredibly handsome underneath the mask but he had one feature that stood out more than any other, a pair of silver eyes that caught the light which made them sparkle.

"Hey old man how much further is it to Rowe?" The young man said casually as if he just didn’t drop out of the sky. Still awestruck it took the old merchant to finally reply.

"A-about two more m-miles…" stuttered the old man. Still shocked he watched the young man twist his head in the direction of the forest then back to him.

"Don’t tell anyone you saw me," said the young man and the merchant could hear the smile in his voice. At that the young man disappeared the way he came. Dumbstruck the merchant could only sit on the ground where he fell.

***

Jumping from tree to tree the young man made it to the outskirts of Rowe in less than 15 minutes. Soon he saw what he travelled all that way for, Rowe’s annual festival for the dead. Every year the town of Rowe has a festival that was solely dedicated to those who lost their lives in the great fire of Osseir but after many years it just turned into one big party instead of a memorial service for the dead. But the young man wasn’t there for the large stalls selling all kinds of foods, the music or the sites. He quickly entered the gates undetected and made his way toward the other side of Rowe where the monument for the royal family stood. It was a massive bronze statue of the King and Queen of Ossier with their eight year old son, the Crown Prince. Under the statue was a plaque that read "We will remember as if it were yesterday".

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in and whispered under his breath "I remember". Suddenly he heard someone approaching so he slipped behind the monument and watched as they came closer. It was a girl about his age with dark brown hair; her hair was a bit longer then shoulder length and fell over her shoulders loosely. Her skin was slightly tanned but otherwise unblemished and smooth. Bright intelligent forest green eyes looked up at the monument sadly as she touched the plaque. The young man stepped out from behind the statue startling the girl. At closer look she had a thin but full figure and a ruby encrusted dagger at her belt which she instantly pulled out of its hilt and brandished it towards him. He moved forward unperturbed by the dagger. Her face hardened as she backed away from the stranger. He couldn’t help let a laugh escape his lips. "What? The girl said. Her voice was unsteady and betraying her calm exterior.

"Nothing, you just remind me of a cornered mouse, why exactly are you scared of me?" He replied sweetly, tilting his head. She blushed and held the dagger up higher.

"Well when a suspicious fellow all dressed in black with two swords suddenly pops up from out of nowhere, forgive me for acting hasty!"

"Ah, I see. So sorry I just wasn’t expecting any visitors. Everyone is always at the festival instead of showing their respects to who their throwing the actual thing for." He said letting out an exasperated sigh. The girl’s face softened and she lowered the dagger slightly.

"Who are you?" she inquired.

"…Rhyken" He said simply turning back to the statue staring up at the face of the gentle face of Queen Eirwyn. When she was alive people would say she was the most beautiful woman in all of Ossier. She had long ebony hair that flowed past her waist and bright blue eyes. Her smile could charm even the coldest heart and stop a war in an instant. He then moved to the hardened but still handsome face of King Aden the strongest swordsman at the time, when he was alive he was broad shouldered with sandy blonde hair and a short beard. The statue depicted him with his armour on and his most trusted sword at his hip.

"My name is Willow." She said watching the cloaked figure. He pushed back the hood and pulled off the mask. He turned to her and smiled at her, "Nice to meet you Willow."

But before they could swap any more pleasantries a group of soldiers came into sight and began to move towards the monument, Rhyken could hear the officer in charge mumble "…Find her…she has to be here somewhere!" He raised an eyebrow and looked at Willow who was biting her bottom lip. He took off his cloak and threw it to her, "Wear it" he said turning to face the coming soldiers so that it would give her time to put on the cloak. She stared at him she thought he was a skinny pushover but saw that he was wearing a black top that hugged a slight muscular frame. He was wearing a black leather belt and secured to his right thigh was 5 dark silver throwing knives. A black iron wrist gauntlet was worn on his right arm. On the left side of his slender neck was a tattoo that symbolised what tribe he belonged to, which she couldn’t recognise. Even so she couldn’t help think how incredibly attractive he looked as she slipped the hood of the cloak over her face. Soon the head officer and three other soldiers were a few metres in front of them.

"You there! Have you seen a girl sneaking around here?" The Officer called out as he came closer, he was a head taller than Rhyken and twice as broad, and a scar ran from his left temple to his chin. The sword at his waist glinted maliciously. Rhyken cocked his head, "Can’t say I have, my brother and I were just paying our respects before we went to the festival."

The soldier looked behind Rhyken and looked the disguised Willow up and down until he finally grunted, "Usually the kids your age don’t bother with praying for the dead nor have so many swords." The soldier gesturing towards the two swords at his back and the newly revealed throwing knives strapped to his thigh.

"Our parents died in the cursed fire, I’ve had to take care of my younger brother all by myself so I became a mercenary to be able to pay for food and other necessities," Rhyken replied looking at the statue as pain shone in his eyes.

"Ah I see...I’m sorry about your parents young’n, well we best be on our way," The soldier said apologetically and skirted around them to continue their search. Willow let out a long sigh like she had been holding her breath the whole time. He chuckled and eyed her curiously after the soldiers disappeared out of sight he asked, "Why are they after you?"

She stared at him from beneath the hood before reluctantly answering him, "Let’s just say I’m making a stand against that snake sitting on the throne." At that he smiled and nodded revealing his tribe tattoo a bit more, it was of two lines swirling around and intertwining on either side of a sword with a elfin letter above it which meant death. Noticing her curiosity he touched the tattoo with a grin.

"I’ve never seen that tattoo before, what tribe does it belong to?" she said trying to get a closer look.

"If I told you you’d be afraid of me," he said calmly the sides of his lips curling into a sad smile, "I’d rather be friends with you for a little longer" he finished with a grin.

"I wouldn’t be afraid!" she retorted blushing slightly. He started to walk towards the festival beckoning her to follow him. Once they reached the edge of the festival he leaned down so she could hear him, "I’ll tell you if you tell me exactly why the kingdom is after you" he said pointing to a board with wanted posters of fugitives of the kingdom, in the middle was the biggest wanted poster with a rough sketch of Willow on it. She gulped and quickly looked at him but he didn’t have the look of someone who wanted the bounty, he just stared at her calmly. She thought about it and finally nodded. Satisfied by her answer he grabbed her hand and led her through the crowd to the gates he had slipped in through. As he passed still holding onto Willow’s hand the guards paid him little attention, they were too busy listening to an old merchant rant about a shadow beast disguised as a young boy leap out in front of him near the cursed forest. Chuckling slightly he continued his way out of Rowe until he and Willow reached the start of the beaten path that lead to Alcairne, the city of magic. He turned briskly down the path till he came to a clearing of trees on the side of the path.

"So Miss. Fugitive, what’s your story?" he said into the secluded forest with Willow trailing behind him slightly. She had pushed the hood back so that her hair fell forward over her shoulders.

"Ever heard of the sky pirate ship known as the Sacred Everlast?" She asked quietly.

"It’s one of the ships captained by a Sky Lord. Nearly everyone has heard of it" He replied.

"Well there are 3 Sky Lords, so which of them is the captain of the Everlast?"

"Ravenhart, leader of the Ravenhart Sky Pirates. They say Ravenhart goes against the false king and is organising a rebellion army but what does that have to do with you?" he said looking at her. She grinned slightly and pulled down one of her black fingerless gloves to reveal a tribe tattoo on the underside of her wrist. It was of a black bird with its wings outstretched and a blank part on its chest shaped like a heart. "My full name is Willow Ravenhart," her grin widened when she saw disbelief flash through his eyes. A small smile touched his lips, he couldn’t believe his luck.

"Nice to meet your acquaintance, Captain Ravenhart," he said as his smile widened into a grin.

"So are you going to reveal which tribe you belong to?" she said impatiently.

"If you wish. You know this elfin symbol means death right?" when she nodded he went on, "Well my tribe’s name means death and lives by the shadows, I am one of the elfin assassins…The Daeiklyn" Willows eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"What?! How can you be?! You’re human…right?" She cried out her words in a slur.

He chuckled, "Yes I’m human"

"Then how?" she exclaimed.

"Even elves make exceptions" his mouth curling into a sly smile. Suddenly his eyes darted toward a patch of tall oak trees a few metres into the distance and leaned back abruptly as a second later a throwing star whizzed past him. Willow was shocked but Rhyken didn’t look in the slightest bit phased.

"You missed Khan" A short but thin boy said walking out of the patch of trees.

"Shut up Jak, the Elders would’ve killed me if I really did hit him" Another boy stepped out but he was tall and broad shouldered.

The smaller one known as Jak had deep purple hair that flicked out at the side his were eyes were also purple but were so dark they were almost black. His skin was fair and he was stunningly good-looking as was his companion. His companion was taller and had shaggy blonde hair that curled up against his muscular neck but instead of pale skin he had tanned skin the colour of honey. Two blue eyes were framed by high cheekbones and a mischievous grin. They both had elongated ears and Willow realised why they called elves the fair folk, they were absolutely stunning. As they came closer she could see they both had the same tribe tattoo as Rhyken but in different places. Khan’s was on his collar bone and Jak’s was on the back of his hand.

Rhyken seemed to be trying to achknowledge them as little as possible. He looked kind of irritated they had shown up, "Willow, meet my tribe brothers, the big one is Khan Duskglow and the small one is Jak Ranewén".

"Hey come on Rhyken introduce your best friends properly to the pretty lady" Khan said pouting slightly gazing at Willow.

"I don’t think someone who throws dangerous sharp objects at me is what I call a ‘best friend’" Rhyken said with clear annoyance.

"I was only having a little bit of fun," Khan said his face beaming with playfulness.

Rhyken gave him a look that said ‘Do it again and I’ll smack you upside the head.’

Willow couldn’t help but laugh at how childish they were acting. Branson smiled at this and Jak stood there looking expressionless.

"Why are you here?" Rhyken said finally.

"The Elders finally confirmed the death warrant of Lord Garret he finally pushed the boundaries too far" Jak said in all seriousness, "They said to come and tell you."

"You mean Lord Garret of Rowe?" Willow interrupted. Rhyken looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"These are things you don’t need to know" Jak snapped.

"Wrong, she can help us." Rhyken said firmly. Jak look perplexed and finally nodded obediently. Rhyken turned to a confused Willow, "Lord Garret has been supplying the fake King’s army for some time but he has now started dabbling in the forbidden dark arts, the King turns a blind eye while Garret tortures people with experimental magic and then dumps the bodies in the cursed forest. The forest has seen enough death as it is and now it seems the Elders have finally had enough" Rhyken said anger blazing within his silver eyes. Willow bit her lip frustrated that her spy network didn’t inform her of what Garret was doing.

"So Rhy…you gonna do it?" Khan said with a serious look on his face. Rhyken’s eyes darted to the elf.

Slowly he nodded his head deep in thought, "I will but I’ll need your help."

Khan grinned mischievously a strange light danced through his eyes and Jak nodded submissively smiling slightly. Rhyken looked at Willow seriously, "I will need your help to. Do you think you could grant us safe passage to Palidin?" A smile came to her lips, "I think something could be arranged."

They nodded silently as Khan and Jak looked puzzled. Rhyken then told them his plan and after he was done Khan was the first to speak, "Back to Rowe then?" Khan asked.

Rhyken smiled, "Back to Rowe."