**There is one thing I left out in the outline of the prologue, partly because I was tired and partly because I am still unsure about it. From where I left of the party of men and Dean travel the road, stopping for rest and food at an inn in a small village. While they eat in the commons a man joins them at the table. This man introduces himself to Prince Ladislas and Dean as Griff. He claims to be a traveler and asks of news but seems to take an interest in Dean from the start. He is a little strange for a traveler, seeming more like a scholar. During the evening Griff gifts Dean with a small coin pendant for him to wear, saying that he found it on the road telling him to keep it. After an odd farewell they leave and continue on the way to Carrador.
The meeting with Griff will tie in with a lot of the storyline down the track but for some reason it doesn't feel right to me yet so I will keep an open mind until I find a way to write it that works or feel better about it.
Chapter One
It is now seven years since the end of the Borderwars. Dean is hard at work in the Golden Crown, the Inn where he has lived since he was brought to Carrador after his families death.
Ladislas was the one who brought him to the Inn and got the Inn keeper, Vern and his wife to take him in. They have done well by him even if they are not the warmest people in the world and he is comfortable.
It is a busy night and Dean is busy. He notices a man he knows as Wal sitting in the corner, Wal is an adviser for Prince Ladislas who checked in on Dean a few times for Ladislas when he was younger. It isn't unusual to see Wal in the Golden Crown for a drink on occasion but something about the way he is speaking to his companion makes Dean take notice. Dean gets busy with the customers but notices when Wal gets up and leaves.
A short while later Dean is called outside to help stable a horse and as he is returning he hears voices talking on the other side of the stable wall. The tone of their urgently whispered conversation makes Dean freeze and listen.
One of the men seems agitated and slightly scared as he tells the other that they should re-think their plan. The other man is angry and tells him that there is no way that can happen and that the men are in place. When the first voice begins to protest there is a thud and he is silenced as his body is slammed up against the outside of the stable wall where Dean was hidden. The angry man holds him against the wall and says that nothing will threaten their plans, not even the Princes' witch man. He says that there are far more dangerous things to fear than the crown and he has no desire to be dead or worse! The orders were Summerfest so Summerfest it is, agreed?! After a moment the man is released and they move away.
Once Dean is sure they are gone he thinks over what he heard and knows it isn't good. Obviously there where people in Carrador who where planning to do something terrible on Summerfest but what was he to do about it? Who could he tell and what would he tell them? The city watch would laugh him out of the station if he was to tell them what he had heard, without even so much as a description of the alleged conspirators.
A few hours later he lay in bed, unable to ease the feeling of dread he remembered the men talking about the Princes' man and thought of Wal. He was at the Inn, maybe he knew something about this? Resolving to seek out Wal With this information in the morning he falls asleep.
Stealing away in the morning he makes his way up to the castle. He is stopped at the gates and tries to explain to the guards that he needs to speak to the princes adviser Wal and it is important. They dismiss his urgency and turn him away from the gates.
Dean protests saying that he is known to Wal and has some information that may be critical to him. As one of the guards raises his hand demanding Dean leave the Captain emerges from beyond the gatehouse, demanding to know what is the disturbance. Dean looks at the man recognizing him as one of the men who had ridden with Ladislas when he had been brought to Carrador.
After the guard explains the situation the Captain looks at Dean asking if this was accurate, Dean nods. With a cock of his head the captain asks who Dean is as he looks familiar. After he remember where he has seen Dean the Captain admits him, introducing himself as Reeves, Capitan of the Princes Army.
Dean is taken to Wal and recounts what he overheard, suddenly nervous as the seemingly useless information came out of his mouth. Wal is grave but friendly asking Dean to come with him as there is someone else who might be interested in what he has to say.
Dean follows and is surprised when he is taken to Ladislas himself. Ladislas seems genuinely pleased to see him again, he thanks Dean for the news and says that he needs attentive people like Dean out in the City, telling him to keep his ears open and return to the castle if he sees anything that he feels they might need to know.
Dean is excused and leaves, taking notice of the of grave expressions of the three men as the door was closed behind him.
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This is my original beginning for Fall of Light but I am questioning it. Is it right that Dean ended up at the Inn? Or should Ladislas have taken him to work in the castle... Not that I am a fan of the whole Castle boy rises to the occasion but is Inn boy really all that much different? I have no intention for Dean to be adopted by the crown or anything but I think that it is important that he and Ladislas become friends. Perhaps once the friendship grows no one will care how he came to be there?
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