The forest was dark and thick with
pine trees, each tree heavy with branches and pine needles. The blackness of
night and the branches of the trees kept any light from entering the deep
forest. Any creature that didn’t posses significant night vision would be left
uselessly stumbling around in pitch black darkness of the inner forest. The
moon was full and glowing brightly but only the birds that lived in the forest
canopy could witness its beauty.
Something stirred deep in the
forest, forest creatures scattered as it quickly moved through the dense woods.
Despite the speed of the movement, the creature was making very little noise.
The creature moved like a specter, as it would have to float and pass through
solid trees to move so quickly and silently. The movement had direction and
purpose. The creature was rushing to meet intruders who carelessly entered the
forest uninvited.
Loud stomping boots marched through
the outer edge of the forest, moonbeams could still be seen through the trees
and the woods were not so dense that a group of men could not march. These men
were soldiers sent to find the specter of the woods, who they believed was a
fugitive of the kingdom and not a ghost or spirit of any kind. The men marched
deeper into the forest with their swords and armor. The soldiers carried attack
dogs and metal spheres packed with gunpowder. These bombs would put the odds in
their favor as many people and even kingdoms did not have access to gunpowder.
The forest grew darker as the
soldiers traveled deeper into the woods. Since the soldiers didn’t have night
vision they lit torches to light their way, this let them navigate the forest
but it also made them stand out. Even one torch would be a great glowing beacon
in such a dark forest, but ten men all carried torches and their presence was
known to every living creature for miles.
The
captain of the soldiers stopped abruptly jolting all the men as they were also
forced to stop. The captain, named Charles Godwyn, swung his torch around as he
scanned the darkness for movement. A noise caught his attention but had escaped
the notice of the other nine members of the group. The other soldiers looked in
every direction to help the captain locate the noise. “It was probably a small
animal or a bird” Said one of the soldiers. “It sounded like something took off
from the ground, jumped or flew with such force that it disturbed the ground
below it. So unless it was a giant owl or a jumping bear, then I think we are
close to our fugitive” Explained the captain in a calm and quiet voice. “Are
jumping bears real?” Asked one of the soldiers, sounding nervous. Charles
smacked the soldier in the head and sighed “No, jumping bears aren’t real. Now
focus. The fugitive must have a light source in order to travel at night” replied
Charles the captain.
Something
rustled in the branches above the soldiers. Two of the soldiers in the back of
the group fired an arrow up into the trees. The arrows both shot straight but
only hit trees. The distinct noise of an arrow plunging into a tree made the
captain sigh. The branches shook again but this time a small sack of powder was
thrown to the ground from the tree tops.
The sack broke open on the floor
and the powder turned to dust. The dust floated into the air and was pushed up
higher and spread around as the soldiers tried to move away from it as quickly
as they could. The movement and scuffling of feet from ten men forced the dust
into the air and caused them to inhale some of it. The soldiers all stood and
looked around. The powder didn’t explode or ignite, it appeared to be nothing
more than a bag of dirt or sand. “Ten soldiers all distracted and surprised by
a bag of sand” Charles said with another heavy sigh. He included himself in the
number of men that were distracted, he was equally disappointed in himself. The
soldiers had been carrying gunpowder bombs all day and were all aware of how
dangerous the bombs could be, so when a porch of powder landed at their feet
they reacted as if trying to escape a blast.
Glowing yellow eyes appeared from
the darkness. The eyes looked down at the soldiers from above. Some kind of
creature was staring at them while perched ten feet in the air on a tree
branch. The forest canopy went up twenty feet or more, which left plenty of
places to hide for anything that knew how to climb trees and leap across
branches.
The captain gave a signal to the
archers in the back and they each fired an arrow. Both arrows headed straight
at the eyes but instead of hitting anything, the arrows passed through the glowing
eyes and struck a tree with a loud thud. The eyes faded away as laughter began
to echo through the forest. The laughter was maniacal and disturbing, the
soldiers couldn’t tell if it was the laugh of a human or a hyena. Yellow eyes
slowly faded into view on another tree branch but this time the eyes moved and
appeared as though there were a creature walking along the branch. The eyes
were higher up as well. The first set of eyes were low like a hunching human or
an animal, the second pair of eyes would belong to someone standing between
five and six feet tall. As the creature moved the glowing eyes left a trail of
yellow light.
The men began to panic and one of
them lit a bomb and threw it. Charles saw this and shouted “NO!” but it was too
late, the bomb was air born. The bomb struck the tree and exploded. The sound
of the explosion echoed through the otherwise silent forest for miles. The
shockwave knocked the soldiers back and the blast destroyed several branches
and ripped a chunk out of three surrounding trees. The soldiers were so close
to the blast that chunks of wood pelted their armor and the light from the
explosion temporarily blinded them.
When Charles came to his senses he
noticed blood on his face and a dent in the side of his helmet caused by a
flying high velocity chunk of wood. His men were slowly recovering and some
were barely getting back on their feet. Charles walked over to check on his
soldiers and saw one of them was dead. While all of the soldiers had been
knocked back by the explosion or by chunks of wood one of the soldiers had been
noticeably stabbed in the neck multiple times. The assailant would have had to
strike precisely into the small gab between the helmet and the chest armor,
which meant that if the creature or person they were tracking had killed a
soldier they would have had to jump from the tree branches, escape the
explosion, get next to a soldier, stab him on a very precise spot several times
and leave before anyone noticed.
The soldiers grew more nervous at
the skill of the criminal they were tracking. Then they heard its voice. “You
were fools to come after me and bigger fools to track me at night!” the voice
echoed through forest. “You are a wanted fugitive! You killed the prince of
Gahlor and fled from justice. You have been credited to be agile and quick but
no human could navigate through the dark forest as you have done this night. So
if you are indeed Katharine Dohl then you need to come with us for the murder
of the prince and now an imperial soldier!” Captain Charles called back. The
voice laughed again, the laugh chilled their bones but the soldiers stood firm.
“I was Katharine until I was driven from the land. I believe you and I remember
things differently. I am now a ghost, a specter of the woods. I am a queen
spider and you are all in my web. Now flee before you are consumed by my
hatred!” Yelled the voice of Katharine. Her voice was only vaguely female, Her
voice sounded otherworldly and threatening. “We can’t leave, I don’t care if we
have to blow up the whole forest! The Prince must be avenged!” yelled the
Captain.
Suddenly bright yellow eyes
appeared in front of Captain Charles. It was a females face, she looked sad but
her glowing yellow eyes and pale face still made him nervous. She looked undead
with her paper white skin and scars across her face. “I avenged the victims of
the Prince. The Prince was a monster and does not deserve to be avenged” Said
the haunting face of Katharine. “Katharine? What happened to you?” Asked
Captain Charles as the ghostly face of someone he used to know shook him to the
core. “I am not Katharine anymore, I
am Delirium Doll, the stitched together girl, the undead witch of Gahlor, the
specter of the woods and I am your death” Delirium snarled then vanished into
the darkness. Before Charles could react another soldier screamed and blood
splashed across the captain’s armor. A second soldier had been killed, this
time stabbed through the throat.
Charles was horrified by how
bloodthirsty Katharine had become, she used to be a sweet girl who lived in the
town just outside the castle. She studied medicine and plants with her father
and wanted to help people, not hurt them. Charles thought about what she had
said, about the Prince having victims and about that strange name, Delirium
Doll. She said she was like a doll stitched together also her last name sounded
like Doll.
“But why delirium?” Charles muttered, then he realized, the
powder was a poison, altering the perception of the soldiers. They were
delirious and seeing ghostly faces and glowing eyes. Katharine was killing them
off slowly while they threw bombs at illusions. She could have killed everyone
by now if she wanted to.
“Men,
retreat! We’ve been poisoned, your sight has been altered!” Charles shouted.
The men all turned and began to quickly
march back the way they came, holding their shields up while they went. The
situation was more complex than Charles first thought and even if Captain
Charles Godwyn wanted to capture Katharine, he wouldn’t be able to while being
poisoned in a dark unfamiliar forest.
Katharine
watched the soldiers retreat from the safety of the tree branches. She decided
to spare the soldiers, men who were just doing their jobs. She had proven her
might and coated the soldiers with so much toxic dust that anyone who goes near
them will see ghosts for days. That was enough revenge for one day.
