Great Beginning:

      I have walked walked the three miles from Leicester prison, tied to a horse carrying the two men who will hang me. Now they are sitting on the ground, swigging their ale before they begin their dirty work: one old, one young, but both toothless.

     --Raven Queen, by Pauline Francis

Now that beginning catches your attention right away. It's the details coupled with imminent death that make it work. There's also nice bit of poetic alliteration with "but both." I had to go read the first chapter for myself to see what happened.