Prolouge- The Curse

     The prisoner laid bruised and bloody on the cold hard for of the dungeon in his castle. The frigid chains that bound him cut slowly into his wrists, causing them to bleed. His face was swollen from the repeated blows of his captor, a sorcerer who called himself, the King of Shades.

     “It would be wise for you to give up now,” the King if Shades sneered.

     The prisoner rolled over and stared at the ceiling that towered fifty feet above him. His eyes fluttered closed when the blinding rays of the sun shined down upon him. He groaned when his body was wrenched back over to face his nemesis.

     The King of Shades clicked his tongue. “Tch tch tch, poor pitiful prince,” he cooed. “It must be hard for you to make such a decision, I mean after the death of your dear parents,” he perused his lips in a mocking pitiful look.

     “I’ll… I’ll never let you take it!” the prisoner rasped as he braced himself for another strike.

     The King kicked him in the face with a growl. The blow was hard enough to knock the prisoner out……

      I stood tall at my father’s side. He smiled down at me and patted my shoulder proudly before he turned back to his advisor.

     “Sire, we need to take action. The Kingdom of Shades is planning on attacking your Kingdom any day now! I really think that you should evacuate or something!” his advisor pleaded.

     My father silenced him with a wave of his hand. “Enough. I want you to tell all the Mountain Guards to go deliver the message throughout the Kingdom. Tell them to have all the children and elderly evacuated. The rest will stay behind and be trained for my army, do I make myself clear?” his voice boomed.

     The advisor squirmed under my father’s gaze. “Yes sire, of course sire.” He turned and scurried out of the room.

     My father laughed good-heartedly as if there was some inside joke. He rubbed the back of my neck with his enormous, rough hands. “You’ll learn how to do this one day son,” he said to me and gave me a crinkled smile.

     I smiled back at him. “Yes, but I’ll never be as good as you are father,” I said to him.

     The King just laughed and patted me softly on the back.

    The dream transitioned to a scene a month after the King had gone to war.

    “Mom, it’s okay. He died for a good cause,” I soothed my heart-broken mother.

     Her sobs racked her body as she gripped me tightly in her arms. “But why? I told him that it was not a good idea to face this King if Shades guy. But he wouldn’t listen! He wouldn’t listen to me!”

     I stroked my mother’s hair in comfort. Just then, our advisor walked in.

     “Umm….. You have a visitor, my queen,” he informed them with a respective bow.

     The massive doors to our thrown room opened and a man walked in. He was probably in his mid-thirties, with long black hair and pale skin. His eyes were blood red and he wore a long black cloak which flagged out around him. He carried a sword in one hand and the crown of my father in the other.

     “My queen,” he bowed to her, “I thought it necessary that I bring back the crown of your fallen husband, before you die yourself.”

     I rushed forward with a roar of rage, drawing my own sword to fight. Something hit the back of my head and I passed out. Although my mind was in a trance, I could still hear the sounds of my mother’s pleas as she begged for her life. Her scream was the last thing I heard before I fell into the darkness.

     The prisoner cracked his swollen eyes open, his vision was blurred. The only sound he could hear now, was the sound of the King’s laughter.

     “You’re just as foolhardy as your parents,” he boasted.

     The prisoner let out an enraged roar. “Don’t you dare talk about them like that! My parents fought with honor and dignity, something that you are clearly lacking!” He fought against his chains, causing them to dig deeper into his skin. “I were not bound by my own cursed chains then you’d be dead on my floor with a sword pierced into your heart!”

     “Enough!” The king bellowed as he struck his hostage again.

     The prisoner spat a glop of blood out onto the floor. “You think your blows will silence my voice? You think that by torturing me and taking everyone that I’ve ever loved will break my spirit?” He paused to catch his breath. “Well, you’re dead wrong.”

     The King raised his hand to strike the prisoner again but instead, he gripped his belly and laughed. “Clever little maggot now aren’t you?” He whipped a tear from the corner of his eye. “It’s too bad that I have to destroy you. Now, but to our order of business.”

     “What business? I do not make deals with demons,” he spat.

     “Let’s be reasonable Sohcahtoa,” the King stated before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. “I will give you the key to your freedom and your life,” he waved the key in front of Sohcahtoa’s face. “In returned for the key, shall we say, to your Kingdom. Now, I think that this offer is pretty generous of me if I do say se grinned, exposing a mouthful of rotting teeth. “What’d you say?”

     “I’ll never give you my kingdom,” the prisoner said.

     The King napped his fingers. “Man, you do drive a hard bargain don’t you?” He moved away from Sohcahtoa and paced back and forth as if he was going into deep thought. “Alright, I’ll make you one final offer. How about I provide your villagers with protection? What if I promised not to harm them? I’ll even help you get started in the modern world because I’m feeling that generous. All I want in exchange for my generosity, is your kingdom,” he said.

     “You’re lying!” Sohcahtoa glared at him. “Now I’m going to make you a deal. If you free me, then I may consider letting you rot in my dungeon instead sentencing you to death.”

     The King chortled. “You think it’s that easy, boy?”

     He stomped on Sohcahtoa’s stomach. The sound of the throne room doors opening made the King turn, his two Hench men walked in. He stood tall and rubbed his hands together.

     “Ah! Morons’ numbers one and two have returned from their mission. You have some good news I presume?”

     “We got her,” one man reported as he and his companion bowed before their King.

     “Who?” Sohcahtoa’s tone spiked as it hit the sharp tone of dread.

     “Excellent. Throw her in the dungeon. I’m almost done with this one.” The King gestures towards Sohcahtoa.

     The second man rose up and saluted him. “Already done sire.”

     “Really?” the King exasperated. “Well maybe I might just upgrade you two from moron to stupid today.”

     The men gave each other a confused look. “Is that good?” the first man asked.

     “Very. Now go!” the King pointed to the exit.

     The men scurried out of the room.

     “Who did you take?” Sohcahtoa demanded again, his tone sharper and with a hint of dread.

     The King turned to him with a smirk. “Someone who won’t be able to help you anymore.”

     Sohcahtoa thrashed wildly. A sharp pain shot up through his groin as the King kicked him. Sohcahtoa laid there on the ground, gasping for air. He fought the urge to shudder as the King whispered in his ear. “Now I’m only going to ask you one last time. Surrender the throne to me or I will take it by force.”

     Sohcahtoa smirked. “You already are taking it by force.” He then added more seriously, “but I will never give it to you.”

     The King roared in frustration, he murmured a few words under his breath and his hands became encased in black smoke. He picked up Sohcahtoa and threw him against the wall. “Fool! Now you leave me with no choice!” The man placed the tips of his fingers on Sohcahtoa’s forehead. “From this day forward I curse you and everybody else in the Shifter’s Kingdom. When the sun rises, you will walk the Earth as a beast. But when the moon is high, you will walk as a man. The land will eventually wither and die and I, the King of Shades, will truly reign supreme!”

      Sohcahtoa felt his body convulse as he was forced to shift. Bones twisted and bent. His mouth and nose grew and fused together into a long, narrow muzzle. A tail tore its way out from the base of his spine in a quick, wet snap. Never had his shift been as painful as it was now. Sohcahtoa’s eyes rolled behind his head, and he struggled against his binds on the floor. His screams echoed through the halls of his empty castle. He felt the chains fall from his wrists and ankles as they shrunk into long, slender legs. His horrid screams eventually turned into deep, throaty howls. When the King removed his fingers, the pain of the shift stopped and Sohcahtoa lay shivering on the floor. Before Sohcahtoa could react, the King bludgeoned him in the head, knocking him unconscious.

     The King whispered a few more words and the black smoke went from his hands to the floor, where it disappeared. The two men re-entered the room.

     “You called for us my liege,” one man said as they both knelt down before him.

     “Now I want you two to take our sleeping prince to the outskirts of the land,” he ordered them. “I don’t want Mr. Prince here to get any ideas about coming back.” He chuckled, “at least, not yet.”

     “Yes, sir!” the men acknowledge and fetched Sohcahtoa’s body. The King left them to their task. “Now I must go greet my other prisoner.” He laughed maliciously as he headed toward the dungeon.

Reviews

[Joan*Eckhart]

In the first sentence it states, "The prisoner LAID bruised and bloody on the cold hard FOR..." I think it's supposed to be, "The prisoner LAY bruised and bloody on the cold hard FLOOR." If that is truly a grammatical error and not intentional on your part then I suggest you proof read your work again because I've read publishers are not very forgiving when they read a story and see such mistakes, especially in the very first sentence!
After reading your prologue I can say that it was enjoyable and imaginative. The main problem I keep seeing is grammar errors which are easily corrected, but can lose you points with potential publishers. I look forward to reading more soon.

[Miranda]

Oh god! I didn't even realize that! Thank you pointing it out. :) I'll let my family take care of the grammer issues. They keep saying that they want to edit it. Thank you for commenting! :D

[Joan*Eckhart]

No problem. I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

[Faolan]

Good!!! I CAN'T wait to read more!!!

[Miranda]

That's great! I'm now trying to go through the final editing phase with this peice. Right now all I'm looking for is yes or no. Judging by your comment, I'm assuming that it is ready to be published in the actual novel. :D Thanks, I hope that you find the rest of it good too. :)

[Faolan]

yup!!