First Page of Forbidden Forest

I'm trying to decide whether to use 1st or 3rd person. There seems to be an unwritten rule that classic fantasy be written in 3rd (it sounds more formal, for one). But I kinda like to break rules. Let me know if the third person works for you.

Forbidden Forest

Chapter 1

Mud squelched between my toes. Shoving my spear-shaped hoe into the ground, I lifted a sodden lump of earth and scattered three seeds inside. I did this over and over again as rain ran down my face, dripping off my nose and chin, and my back clenched into one big cramp. But I didn’t let any of it slow me. If I finished fast enough, Shan and I would have time to go fishing in the river. And I’d finally be free of the mud and the drudgery . . . for at least a little while.

When I finally ran out of seeds, I straightened up with a sigh to roll the kinks from my neck. “Sella’s, time to go,” I called impatiently to my three-year old sister. When she didn’t answer, I threw off my damp smelling wool hood to look for her. But instead of freshly plowed fields, all I saw was a thick black-green line of the Forest.

All the blood seemed to leave my body, pooling with the water in cold puddles at my feet. I’d strayed too far from the village—dangerously close to the Forbidden Forest.
Like hunch-shouldered sentinels, the enormous trees strained toward me like reaching arms. I grabbed my hoe and held it like a spear—a dull, mud caked spear. I knew it was laughable, but I felt a little better with it in my hand. I took a startled step back, my eyes automatically searched their shadows for the dark face of a Treeman.

“Sella?” I called again, and even to my own ears, my voice sounded hollow. How long had it been since I’d last seen her?