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Chapter 1
A dark village road. The wind whistles through the trees.
“Tonight is the night. No one can stop me now.” A man in dark clothing says to himself. A stray dog lumbers out into the street. The man pulls a pistol from his long and black jacket, as fast as lightning, the dog is dead. The man approaches a house, and looks through the open window. A young girl sat, writing at the kitchen table. The girl sighs and puts her head down on the table. The man gazes at her for a few minutes, then ducks back into the shadows. Swiftly, he runs through the woods, making almost no noise. He enters a cave, where a small fire crackles. The man removes his helmet, to reveal curly brown hair, bright brown eyes, and the face of a 15-year-old boy. He sighs, sits by the fire, and runs his fingers through his hair. “Annewen, I have spied upon you for to long.” He sighed, as the fire crackles. Meanwhile, Annewen pulls a picture out of a drawer. In the picture, a silhouette of a man running through the woods, his helmet gleaming in the light, his black cloak flapping in the wind. She places the picture by the open window, and heads to bed.
In the morning, the man is walking on the outskirts of the town. Annewen walks about town, greeting everyone with a friendly smile. The man catches a glance of her smiling, and silently wishes that she would smile to him like that everyday. He walks towards the town, keeping a safe distance behind Annewen. He hears Annewen talking to an old village elder that was selling paints. “Ah, are you at it again young miss?” The elder asked.
“Yes. I keep seeing this man in dark clothing. Though it may only be my imagination, I have grown accustom to this man.” Annewen said smiling, and blushing slightly.
“Ah, my lass. But what if this man is real?” asked the elder, smiling.
“Then I do so wish we meet someday!” Annewen said as she paid for the paints and headed home. The elder smiles as he thinks a single word.
Lólindir.
As Annewen made her way home, the elder went around to the back of the shop. Into the woods he called, “Lólindir! Show yourself.” From the shadows emerged the man in dark clothing.
“Yes, Grandfather?” Lólindir asked, bowing his head.
“It seems you have your sites set on young Annewen.” The elder smiles.
“…Yes Grandfather. But she would not love a tramp like me.”
“Ah, but she does admire thee. Go to her now. Tell her how you feel.”
Lólindir smiles, not able to contain his joy. He bows again and runs off towards the small house at the edge of the forest. Swiftly, he runs through the forest, his heart pounding.
“She … admires me …” He thought out loud. He got to Annewen’s house, but stopped before the door. He looks through the window, and spies Annewen painting on a large canvas. Lólindir leans against the wall and lets out the breath he had been holding. I can not do this, He thought, she will not accept me. He stands, listening to Annewen hum an old folk song. In the house, Annewen was painting like she had never painted before. In this picture, there was the mysterious man that she had not met, standing at the edge of the forest near the village. “How I wish I could see you, meet you, talk to you…” she muses.
Just then there was a knock at the door. Annewen goes to answer the door and is surprised to see the man of her dreams.
“Uh … G-Good day Miss …” Lólindir says as he bows. Annewen’s eyes go wide and she acquires a shocked look on her face.
“I … I have come to … to tell you … you …” Echo stammers, blushing.
“You are the man I have been seeing in my dreams and around town…” Annewen says.
“Yes. Annewen, My name is Lólindir. And …”
“Come inside Lólindir. Tell me there.” Annewen leads him into the small house. Lólindir looks around and sees many a paintings. Paintings of simple things, like a townhouse and a forest lake, but there were also complex paintings of a man running through the woods, his helmet shining.
“These are marvelous…” Lólindir says, his eyes scanning each painting in the room.
Annewen looks up and smiles.
“I spend a lot of time painting…its quite fun…” She says, blushing slightly.
“I can see that you take pride in your work…”
“No one but you and the paint seller has ever seen my paintings…”
“But you shouldn’t keep such…Masterpieces inside! These are magnificent.” Lólindir turns and looks at her. Annewen stands and walks toward him.
“Will you model for me then? I’ve waited so long for you, Lólindir.”
“Anything for you, my fair maiden.” Lólindir bows, secretly smiling to himself.
“Do you have a place to stay, Young Lólindir?”
Lólindir starts to say no, but something stops him. Something inside him says not to trouble the young maiden.
“Yes, Miss Annewen. I have … accommodations somewhere.”
A disappointed look flashed on Annewen’s face, and she turns away. Lólindir flinches like he was stricken. He opens his mouth to say something but he just turns away.
“Sorry for intruding on you like this. I’ll be leaving now.” Lólindir says, barely a whisper.
Annewen watches him leave, then gasps and calls out to him. When he turns around, she says, “You never got to tell me what you came here for, Lólindir.”
“You shall find out next time we encounter, Sweet Annewen.” With this, Lólindir turns and runs into the forest. Annewen stands at the doorway and watches him go.
Later that night, back in the cave, Lólindir drew out a knife. He stabbed into the cave wall and curses.
“I had the chance! I had the chance to tell her, and I failed!” He yells, striking the cave wall over and over again. He douses the fire and lies down on the ground to sleep. That night, all he dreamt about was Annewen’s sweet face, and the look of sadness that crossed it when he said he could not stay at her home.

He awoke early, before the sun rose, drenched in a cold sweat.
“I must tell her today, I must!” He said to himself. He sets out to the mountain region.
Back in the village, Annewen awakes, she too drenched in a cold sweat.


((more later))