Prologue

In Kingsland, girls were unknowledgeable. There was no school for them after they learned to read and barely write their name. I asked why and I was told I didn't need any more learning. That didn’t answer my question, but I soon figured it out. Learning was for boys, and women could never be smarter than them. I hated it - feeling undermined and disregarded. I learned my name in a snap and reading was first instinct, but I was utterly disappointed that everything stopped for me there. So, I took it upon myself to explore the world. Girls weren't allowed to be buying books in Kingsland, or having them and reading them �" it was the law. So I stole them. I stole them from the store and the house and father's room and hid them all in an enormous oak's knothole deep within the forest. Each afternoon after I put all my siblings asleep, I rode out on Pinna, our black stallion, and read.

            I'd pick up a book, find a new tree, and climb as high as I could until I could spot the smoky fumes from the town's fires. One day I'd found the perfect spot, but sitting nestled into the nook was too hard. I sneaked some of father's nails and a couple of loose house boards that wouldn't be forgotten, and built myself a little platform. There were times when I came home with ripped skirts and bloody hands, but I just blamed it on my own carelessness. Mother knew me well enough. She didn’t ask any more questions.

            Jax, my brother, was the only one who found out about my evening trips and scandals. But he didn't tell. He loved me and trusted me, being only two years younger. We were close, so I wasn't worried about him knowing. He'd found my books after following me one day. When I saw him looking up at me in the tree, he just stared and smiled a bit. He was like that a lot. Not too talkative or loud, but soft and subtle. Sometimes I thought he knew more things about me than I did myself. Maybe he did, but either way, I didn’t think he would say anything to anyone about my books.

            I picked up any book I could find, so my collection in the tree was random and surprising. But there was another book that I had that was more strange and mystifying than the rest, speaking of something I wasn't ever supposed to know. Something I knew people in Kingsland weren't supposed to see. I found it hidden in a secret compartment in one of father's bookshelves while I was snooping. It had gold threaded bindings and crusty papyrus pages that weighed down the heavy book. The large outside cover was faded lavender vellum and had a rusty lock keeping the book closed. It was titled The Ignateous. Fascination overcame me, and I took it and hid it deep into my tree’s knothole.

            It was a long time before I dared to crack open the pages and explore the contents. One day I did, though, when I felt a storm hovering above and I was finishing up my afternoon of reading. Something in my heart told me to read it, skim it, do anything I could with The Ignateous before a drizzle began. I tore through the old lock and flipped the book open wide across my lap. My eyes caught strange words and phrases and things I'd never heard of before as I turned the pages.

The book spoke against the Kings of Kingsland and fought their authority. It spoke of someone called Luce’s Prophecy: the daughter Felicity, who would take the kingdom back to a group of people called The Ignateous. It all seemed wrong. It all seemed horribly different from the things I was taught about. The Ignateous was a book of treason. I shut it, returned it to my collection, and rode home in the pouring rain.

            The days after I first opened the book I didn't go back into the forest. What I'd read scared me. Why would father have a book that spoke of treason? He never said bad things about our Kings. In fact, he never did say anything about them. I felt lost and uneasy about the things that were mentioned. The sentences and words and people in the book tortured me. Who was Felicity and why would she want our Kings dead?   With these questions to propel me, I overcame my fear of treasonous words and went back an entire night to read the book, but the books were gone. All of them. It wasn't until my eighteenth birthday that I ever saw The Ignateous again.

 

Author's Note

Thoughts? :)

Reviews

[Tkmilling]

Well written, although it seems a little rushed as though not enough thought has been put into constructing the sentences with enough detail. Despite this, you get a real grasp of the character, which is rare in works of this length as it often takes much longer to get to"know" a character. There are some grammatical errors, but nothing to be worrying yourself massively about and you are missing a " in "it was the law.

As a new member to this site, Im not sure how all this works, but I did enjoy reading your piece and have yet to read chapter one. If I was to give any advice, it would be to stop using so many conjunctions like "and" and opt for commas, or semi colons instead as this will make your writing flow better and appear more "grown up".

I really really enjoyed this, can I ask...without ruining the story...is this set in a civil war era setting as it reads as though it is. Regardless, can't wait to read more!

Tkm