Unrequited Destiny: Prologue

A mother brushes the back of her hand tenderly across the rosy cheek of her infant as snowflakes drift down from the sky. There they stood in a blanketed forest of shimmering silver trees and a single dirt path pounded by hooves of many a steed. Few minutes would pass that they did not hear the haunting call of a nearby owl and the rustling of leaves as tiny mammals foraged for food. Before them was a frozen lake surrounded by glittering shrubs and vegetation. Moonlight cast a calming glow upon the monochromatic landscape offering the only source of light on an otherwise darkened night.

The woman peered down at her tiny daughter with sorrow emanating from her eyes. The child was asleep, her white hair framing the younger image of the woman holding her with the exception of a silver marking near her right eye. Gingerly she lifted the cradled girl up to nuzzle her cheek to the plump cheek of her daughter. A fallen tear caresses the silky skin of her daughter as she is held close.

This is how they would remain a few minutes longer until not to distant hoof beats interrupted the solemn embrace. The mother's head jerked up, sending auburn tresses leaping about her slender shoulders and a shudder of regret down her spine. Just then, two figures cloaked in black ushered their mounts through a parting in the trees and rode in her direction. Instinctively, her grip on her child tightened; enough even to make the infant stir slightly. She only relaxed once they neared, but she still took a step backward as if she were trying to prevent the inevitable.

The riders did not dismount nor greet the woman pleasantly. Instead, the smaller of the two reached out with gloved hands for the tiny being slumbering in her arms. The woman hesitated, lifting the child one last time to place a tender kiss to her forehead. Tears spilled from her eyes just then, trickling evidence of her terrible sorrow before she handed over her daughter to the stranger.

As she did, she peered up into that black hood, curious as to what she would discover. When she did she gasped aloud, startled by the ice blue eyes that peered through brown curls belonging not to a man, but a young boy. He only smiled back, proving that although his eyes were icy, his heart was not and temporarily released her of her fear.

However, the moment to speak escaped her as the boy took the young girl and positioned her carefully in the crook of her arm, taking hold of the reigns with the other. He then nudgef his steed's sides and urged it forth from the clearing with his companion close behind. Larger snow flakes would follow their departure, cascading from the dark sky and onto the figure of the once blissful woman. It was as if Mother Nature herself wept for the mother's sudden loss.