Chapter 4: Dew
THEY left the inn after dawn. They searched for the local garrison. It would be a likely place to start because Lee had mentioned that the local soldiers had been balked.
The garrison was a large brown compound with many empty rooms. They entered through a gate in the huge walls that enclosed the buildings. They were met at the gate by a soldier. He was to escort them to the Commander of the Garrison. It seemed that they were in the right place, if the Commander had known that they were coming.
They were lead to a room with a desk and some furniture. It seemed like an appropriate office for a soldier, neat, tidy and not very crowded. They were told to wait in the room until the Commander arrived.
They didn't have to wait long for he entered the room a few minutes after the other soldier had left.
"I'm Commander Locke," he said. "I assume that Lee recruited you for a mission. Please, introduce yourselves."
"I am Moran Zinbar," said Moran. "A bard from Makki."
"I am Carina Yar," Carina said. "A mage from Turkana."
"I am Ivy," Ivy stated. "A druid from the land of Tielmark."
"I am Lashana Gwen," said Lashana. "A mage from the Floating Continent."
"I am Ristar Gwen," said Ristar. "A Ranger who is also from the Floating Continent."
"My, what a diverse group Lee has picked," Locke said with a smile. This man seemed to be a jolly fellow at times when he had the opportunity to be happy. He was a plump man who was getting on in his years. His hair was starting to gray in places. But despite this he was imposing in height and probably very decisive. He seamed to posses a keen mind for he had managed to survive as a warrior as long as he had. It was also obvious that the soldiers respected and revered him.
"What is the mission we were called for?" asked Ristar. "Can you give us more details?"
"The guards that were patrolling the forest never came back from their rounds," Locke said suddenly completely serious. "I sent in some small search parties, but they haven't come back either. I sent Lee in search of some people who might be able to help."
"None of your men came back?" said Ristar worriedly. "That is very
odd."
"It is indeed," agree Locke. "I cannot spare any more soldiers and the townspeople won't go into the forest. They believe it is now haunted by some malicious being."
"We should have a look around this forest, then," said Moran. "Maybe this will turn out to be a tale I can tell in some distant inn." Moran smiled at the thought.
"You should start out soon," said the Commander. "The forest is big, but not big enough that you can't search it all before nightfall. Another, larger city, called Nyma, lies on the other side of the forest, to the northeast. Then men that disappeared were patrolling the forest between here and the crossroads containing the road to Nyma. You should search that area first."
"Okay," said Ristar. "If that is all, then we'll head for the
forest."
"Good luck to you," said Commander Locke as they left.
The five women walked through the town as they headed for the forest. They passed many shops and houses. They saw the forest towering over the rooftops of the small city.
They reached the edge of the forest and looked upon it. The tree's leaves shone with a slivery-green glimmer. They would look lovely when they started to turn to shades of gold and red and yellow. The undergrowth consisted of grasses and small flowering plants.
The sunlight highlighted the growth with a sparkle as it shown down from small holes in the canopy far above. Everything had its time in light or in shade in the forest.
Quietly they tramped through the forest in a semicircle, looking for signs of the missing soldiers. Soon Ristar found a footprint from a booted foot. They searched for the next and found it. The person who had made the print was headed northeast, towards Nyma.
They followed the tracks on and on until they came to a small clearing. In the center of the clearing were two large trees. Not far from one of the trees were a few motionless bodies.
The bodies where those of some soldiers. The odd thing was that they was no mark upon them and they were deathly cold. No arrows, no swords, no blood could be seen anywhere about them except for their own. They saw no mark of strangulation or any sort of puncture wound. They noticed that all the corpses where facing one of the trees.
They carefully studied the trees from a distance. They were two tall oak trees with thick trunks. The lowest branches of each tree where high above their heads.
Suddenly, out of one of the trees came a nymph. She was tall with wild hair, slanted eyes, a pale complexion and scant clothing. To men she would have appeared beautiful.
They thought about what they knew of nymphs and came up with a reason for the mysterious corpses- the nymph. It was rumored that no man could look upon a nymph and live. Such was said to be the curse that came with the beauty of nymphs.
Good thing we're all women, thought Moran. For women are immune to the curse of nymphs.
Since Carina could talk the language of nymphs, she attempted to get an explanation for what had happened here.
The others stood by dumbly, not understanding a word that Carina and the nymph were saying. The conversation didn't seem to last too long.
Carina came back to the group and explained what had happened. "The nymph's name is Mina. She says that her sister, a dryad, used to live in the neighboring tree. Her name was Fireoak.
"The other day, some men came near the tree. Since Mina doesn't speak Common, she stayed in her tree. Fireoak spoke Common though, so she came out to talk to the men. Since dryads look almost like nymphs, yet don't have deadly beauty, the men were astonished at
seeing such a rare creature.
"The leader of the men whispered something to the others," she continued. "They surged forward and grabbed Fireoak. Then they were gone. By then Mina was out of hiding. Two soldiers arrived then. They had probably been nearby and had heard Fireoak scream as she was captured, so came to investigate. They saw Mina when they approached the tree and they dropped dead, literally.
"Then later more men came. They, too, saw Mina and perished. That's how it's been, till we came."
Then Mina said something in nymph to Carina.
"Mina wants to know if we will rescue Fireoak for her," Carina translated.
"Tell her that we will," said Ristar.
The nymph looked very pleased when she heard the answer from Carina.
"Let's see if we can find the tracks of those men," suggested Moran.
They spread out in a large circle and searched for any clues that would show where the men entered and exited the clearing.
After a few minutes Lashana yelled that she had found something. The others ran towards her.
There, on the ground, were many footprints from booted feet. There was a path through the bushes that had been made within the month.
They followed the trail through the forest. It curved this way and that way never going in a totally strait line but always heading northeastwards.
After a few hours of walking they came to the edge of a forest. There they found a road that branched off into three directions. On road lead southeast along the forest's edge. Another lead northwest and a third lead northeast. There also the found a signpost with
individual arrow shaped signs pointing along each road.
The arrow pointing southeast was marked "Dew." The arrow pointing northeast was marked "Nyma." While the arrow pointing northwest had the word "Danger" scrawled upon it. And also the word "Orcs."
They headed northeast because the men hadn't come from Dew, nor were they orcs, so they assumed they had come from Nyma.
The road twisted ant turned in a confusing manner, but it kept heading towards the northeast, to the city of Nyma.
Previous Chapter Gathering: Index Home Next Chapter