I’d write a disclaimer, but, well, it’s all mine, so that would be sort of silly now wouldn’t it?

The first part is a bit harsh, it’s not all like this.  Or at least not the parts of it that are written at the moment anyway.  I don’t know why it’s called Dawn, I’ll probably rename it later.

Dawn

Prologue

He lay still as they ravaged the village.  Please, he prayed to the gods, let them not find us, let my son live.  They drew closer to his hiding place; he could hear the screams and cries of people dying horrible deaths.  There was no way the tiny village could withstand such an assault.  It was his fault; he had killed the people simply by living there.  For fourteen years he had tried to raise his son to be normal, to not know a thing about his destiny.  It was too much of a burden for any man to bear, let alone a boy.  Underneath him he could feel Lugh’s body trembling, could hear the muffled sobs as he listened to the cries of his friends.  Please let them leave, move on to another place, oh god don’t let them find us.

They drew closer now; he could see them through the cracks in the floorboards.  He pulled the heavy blankets over himself and his son and lay in the cold, darkness of the hollow, still praying for them to go away.

The footsteps did not recede, they came closer and stood directly over the hiding place.  The boots were heavy and shod with steel.  Blood dripped through the cracks in the floor and onto the blankets covering them.

Suddenly a heavy axe was thrust through the floorboards, slicing through the thick wood as if it were nothing but straw matting.  He felt the agony of sharp steel sliding through flesh, heard the snap as his ribs were crushed, felt the impact of ripping tissue and muscle and lungs collapsing.  He tried to draw breath, tried to say one last thing to his son, his breath failed, he gasped and gurgled, trying to form the words.  He felt rough hands pull him up and fling him aside like a rag doll.  He lay crumpled in the corner, his insides leaking out, watching as they pulled his bloodstained son out of the hollow, watched as the boy kicked and screamed, tried to break free of his captors.  He watched as his son’s eyes fell on his mutilated broken body and faint in horror.  His last words before he was engulfed in flames …I’m…Sorry…