Chapter 1

 

Kristian rode his horse hurriedly to the front of his army of soldiers. He wanted to know what all the commotion was about.

As he got to the front of the crowd, he spotted the back of a small figure, dressed in a long robe and shouting out at his men, asking them to stay away. At the lone figure's side was the largest black dog he had ever seen. It was almost half the height of an average sized man, and it was growling angrily at the soldiers warning them to stay away, as it protected its master.

'What is the meaning of this?' Kristian shouted out, annoyed at the distraction to the journey at hand.

The lone figure turned around at the sound of his voice.

Kristian was speechless. It was a woman, and a beautiful woman at that! Her long red hair spilled out through her hooded robe; her brilliant deep green eyes were animated with both anger and nervousness. She waved a small dagger in his direction, letting him know she was ready to attack if there were any sudden moves.

'Call your men off now!' she said to him. Her dog was bent down on his hind legs, ready to pounce.

'Men, fall back,' Kristian ordered. 'Give the lady some space.'

'My Lord, we spotted this woman by the stream in front of us. We wanted to capture her and bring her to you as a gift, but before we could get a chance to get our hands on her, this beast jumped out from nowhere. It took two of the men savagely down, so we wanted to kill the monster. We wanted to avenge our honour.'