Prologue.

Her village was one of the small nameless village that thrived at the foot of the Vamier mountains. She knew that she never belonged there. The children of the village were dark haired headed and brown eyed. She was different. With pale skin that looked like she was born under the cold mountains of Everus and hair as white as snow and eyes a bright amber auburn that looked fiery in the light.

Her village was small enough to be nameless and they were mostly crop farmers. Thriving on the produce of the little crops they could plant in their tiny backyard. Villagers rarely left the small settlement. There really wasn't much to see. News of the city was slow to reach them but it reached them everyday. The political unrest between Everus and Castamere was growing everyday. The two kingdoms although close to each other, were always at war, so much so that anyone from Everus coming to Castamere was killed on sight.

Still the little village thrived. They were small people with other worries. Their next meal was all they could think of. 

Her Aunt Kuya was the only family she had. She was all she ever knew and for as long as she remembered, She was called Summer. Although sometimes at night, her Aunt Kuya whispered the name 'Aeryn' over and over again till she fell into a troubled sleep plagued with nightmares.

Strict as she was, she was all the little girl had and she provided for her the little way she could. They made an odd pair. She was not young but unmarried and she made it clear to everyone that Summer was her niece, for some unknown reason, but she never spoke about whose Summer's parents were.

She did not allow herself to be courted. It wasn't as if the tiny village had a lot of eligible men either way. 

That day she remembered what happened. How she lost everything. Even though she was only a child, she would never forget the sound of those horse hooves,  the sound of men clashing swords or the horrible screams of everyone in the village. 

She was playing with the village kids while her Aunt Kuya was picking the shaft out of beans. She heard the hooves first and she turned quickly to look around. Aunt Kuya heard it too. 

One second she was smiling, the next thing she was being hauled out of her group of friends and pushed into a shed faraway from the village settlement. Her Aunt Kuya hid her in a basket under a bunch of dead leaves and branches in the shed. 

"Stay here Aeryn! Don't leave here until you hear nothing. Protect yourself! Do not be scared!" she whispered hurriedly and left the shed.

It was the first time she had called her Aeryn to her face. And as she left her with a kiss to the forehead, She knew it was the last time her eight year old self would ever see her.

She waited for what seemed to be hours. After the day passed and night fell, She was still in the basket, waiting to hear nothing. 

The next day hunger drove her to leave the basket. She scavenged around the shed but found nothing. 

When she left the shed, she found out that she was all alone. Her village was gone. 

Men and women laid lifeless on the floor in a tangle of blood and grime. There was nothing left but destruction and blood. It was bound to happen, her village was one of the tiny villages that littered the borders between Castamere and Everus. Times were hard and the hatred between the two kingdoms made the King of Castamere grow weary and paranoid. Village by village, he slaughtered them all, all in the name of ridding his kingdom of spies and bandits. 

She stepped around gingerly, the bodies searching for her Aunt Kuya. Her dress was drenched from tripping into the bloodbath and her face was wet with tears. It was a horrible sight for a little girl of her age to behold. She had never known war, but she had hearf stories of war. 

She stopped when she finally saw her aunt. Her aunt's pale blue eyes looked lifeless and her dark brown hair was covered in blood. Her clothes were torn and she could see the deep slash of the sword that delivered her final blow.

Then she heard hooves again, this time she did not run. She wanted them to take her. There was nothing left.

A tall man on a horse peered at her curiously. He gestured to his men and soon she was on a horse galloping away. 

She looked back for the last time. Everything she knew was gone. 

After several days on horseback with strange men who poked and prodded her with questions and fed her with bread and strips of dry meat. She arrived at Ludmilla, Capital city of Castamere and home of Wyeth, the King City. 

She was taken to an extremely large house with a dozen soldiers. The tall man who had looked at her curiously at her village walked in front. He was honoured greatly and servants bowed when they saw him. 

He was soon greeted by a fair headed woman, Summer thought she was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. 

But the woman looked at her with disdain and she turned away from Summer angrily after greeting the tall man. 

The tall man turned to look at me. For the first time. 

"This your home now girl." 

That was only the beginning.