London Down Under

Prologue

Frenetic neighs reverberated, hooves beating crimson and bloodthirsty men roamed her land.

With every exhalation, the pain grew. Every step she took became burdensome, and she thought she could run no more. They were sprinting through a forest, hurling over gigantic roots and treading on rotten leaves. She held onto one of the trees, tempted to take a rest but he returned and grabbed her hand, interlacing his fingers with hers and an urgency in his voice, "We have no time!"

A gasp escaped her chapped lips as he pulled her faster, pushing her legs to catch up. The neighs were getting louder. The men were nearing. Her death imminent.

A monstrous oak tree came into their vision as she used the last of her strength to reach it. He suddenly stopped, pulling her back in the momentum and stared up into the sky. It was suddenly snowing in the middle of the forest, a rare but not impossible phenomenon.

"They're coming," his voice sounding defeated as he looked down at her sorrowfully. She gazed into those tender brown eyes. The same brown eyes who had taken care of her all these years, and swore to do so till his last breath.

Then she widened her own amber ones, realising what he was about to do and shook her head frantically.

"You can't...You've fulfilled your duty. Please, don't..." she begged him to reconsider.

She felt him grabbing the sides of her head and pulling her closer. He planted a long, hard and affectionate kiss on her forehead as she bawled in frustration and rolled her fists into the hem of his cloak, "Please...don't leave me...You're all that I have."

Upon release, she casted her eyes up at him through tear-filled eyes and whimpered as he took off his necklace hastily and put it on her.

"Servire et Servare. Farewell, Emily. I love you so much... Remember that."

He grabbed her shoulders, while she begged once more for him not to do this, "No...no!"

With one hard push, she felt herself falling back through an abyss, her last fleeting moments of being conscious was seeing her brown-eyed lover captured by madmen.