Prologue. . .
I had never wanted to
be a hero. Indeed, it had been one of the farthest things from my mind. All I
had wanted was to grow up, do normal things, then die old, surrounded by my
family. But fate, it seemed, had had other things in store for me.
My name is Taynan
Rayner, and this is the beginning of my story. It has all those things in it
that bards love to sing of, love, enchantment and beauty. . .but it has its
dark side too. My name means Dark, and that is what I have always best
understood.
There is the Lady,
Nerys. She is beautiful, wise and filled with grace. Her family is rumoured to
be descended from the Fey, and looking at her one is most inclined to believe
it.
There is the Lover,
Kyrie. He is strong and noble in appearance. One of the best men to have ever
walked this benighted earth. He was a knight, in all he did. A warrior of the
Light, upholding justice and protecting the meek.
There is the Mage, Adonai. He is not one of us. He came from a hot and strange land, from far across the ocean. We have never known exactly what to make of him, but he proved to be true in the end. Despite his wearisome tricks and fanciful posturing.
And then there is, as
always, the Villain of the piece. Corbett. Black Raven is the meaning of his
name, and his harsh cries in battle sounded like the ill-omened bird he was
named for. Covetous and sly, he had his own ways that were dark and ill
intentioned to everyone he came in contact with. Yet in the end, he has gained
my respect. He was a man who could have been better then he was.
Finally, there is
myself. Taynan. What should I say about myself? My family history is something
I am not proud of, beset with dark and worrisome traits. Madness, necromancy
and incest trails the Rayner name like a dark fog. I am only what I am, a
scribe, a poet at points, a knight and a servant to the Forces of Light. I see
through the Darkness that besets the world, I see the beings that live in the
Darkness and I point out the way that others such as Kyrie may bring them to an
end. I am the hound of the Hunter, and my nose is sharp.