Forest of Dain, Kingdom of Dain- Mid Summer 14 years AR

Jon skidded to a halt at the top of the ravine, in front of him Ser Finn and Ser Hallr drew their weapons, Ragnar and Leo did too beside him. It wasn’t hard to figure out why, the thoroughly trampled bottom of the ravine was a warning. The large creature lying on it’s stomach was the threat. Jon could even identify it from the stories he heard in the village. Large, deer like antlers, brown fur and arms with long claws. The monster was a nightmare but not the walking death with rotting flesh that the stories described.

“Wait!” Leo rushed passed them heading for the monster, “She’s there!” He was pointing at the beast and Jon only then noticed the tip of steel extending from the monsters neck. He took off down the hill in a less than graceful manner, he tripped halfway down and shot to his feet once he landed, leaving his woodmaul behind. The others descended slower. He ran over to where Leofrith was already on his knees checking on her. He turned without thinking and started to lift the much larger wendigo off his sister.

With the help of Finn and Hallr they pulled the monster off her and moved it to the side. She lay there, unmoving. Her right arm, which had in the monsters mouth was broken and a gash on her left arm with a partially healed gash on her left leg.

“She’s breathing!” Leo said, lifting himself from he chest, “Her heart beats!” He went to move her but was quickly stopped by Hallr.

“Can’t move her till she’s healed, it could only make it worse,” He turned to Finn, “Get a healer here now!” Finn didn’t even wait and sprinted off, turning to his lycan form as he ran up the hill. Jon put his hand over her arm and started casting PURIFY..

“Will it be enough?” Jon asked as the gash was cleaned of dirt and debris, it disintegration into motes of essence and drifting away.

“You know HEAL right?” “Keep going, Finn will bring back someone that knows GREATER HEAL or MEND.”

Jon did just that and as soon as the wound was clean he started to cast HEAL. It wasn’t as powerful as the other spells and she’d bare scars that the more powerful spells would erase completely but it was better than her still having open wounds. The clean gash on her arm closed up quickly and he moved to the rough gash in her leg. He cast PURIFY while Leo held her hand. Hallr went back to pick up Jon’s woodmaul and with a swing brought it down onto the Shadowcats head before doing the same to the wendigo. Ragnar for his part was standing off to the side, on guard for anything else.

“This shouldn’t be here.” Hallr said starting at the wendigo he just ensured was actually dead, “We should have gone another week into the forest before we even had the chance to come upon one. Same with the spiders, they were closer to the center and further south last time we came here.”

“Four years ago?” Jon asked, both curious and scared as he looked at his unconscious friend.

“Yes, we were doing the same as now, looking for those mongrels,” Hallr admitted, “We never found them but something had driven the monsters and beasts in the forest to give up their homes and sent them running.”

“I think we know what Ser Hallr,” For his part Hallr ignored the tone of Leofrith’s comment.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t find them last time but to drive wendigo this far north? It’s different than last time.”

The two continued to discuss for another minute but Jon tuned them out, focusing on his magic. He switched and moved his hands to her head and casted again. He was feeling tired now, his essence feeling depleted. The golden light faded and he just brushed her hair.

“I can’t cast anymore,” he informed them.

“You did well,” Hallr said and patted Jon on the shoulder as he walked by, placing the woodmaul down, “Rest, there’s nothing more you can do. Finn should be back soon.”

The four of them waited in silence after that. Jon did do something though. He picked up his woodmaul to stand guard. After a moment he looked at Hallr.

“Are any parts of this dangerous?” Jon pointed at the dead monster.

“Ahh… only the eyes.” Hallr answered as Jon pulled out his broadaxe and started chopping into the monsters skull. After a moment an antler with a bit of skull attached fell.

“Takin’ out your anger?” Ragnar asked, watching as Jon started working on the second antler.

“Nope, when she wakes up, she’s going to want them,” Jon stated as the second antler detached. He moved around to the claws and started chopping them off too. He’d have to sharpen his axe after but he needed to do something, “proof that she killed a wendigo.” He wondered if she would make anything out of it, a trophy of sorts. He’d let her use his tools and help her if she wanted. The beast would be cut up anyways, not allowing anything go to waste. He was just making sure she had choice of the most impressive parts. Claws detached he pulled his boot knife and used the back of his axe to drive it between the gums of the largest teeth but stopped when he heard voices.

From the top of the ravine Rangers and knights streamed down, nearly two dozen total. Three ranges and a knight pushed Leo back and started casting their magic on Jaesmin’s unmoving body. Ser Erik came down holding Astrid in his arms with Lady Kyanna right behind.

“She killed it?” Kyanna asked incredulous at the sight of Jaesmin’s blade still sticking out from the back of the monsters head. She rubbed the blood off the blade and rubbed it between her fingers. Jon had forgotten about her sword but one of the knights twisted the head and pulled it out. The thin Falchion was slightly warped from the fight and the tip had broken off but it was still usable.

“It was dead when we got here,” Ser Hallr said, staying back while the healers worked. Ser Erik approached Leofrith and put his hand on his shoulder. He was carrying Astrid with one arm like a small child, her head buried in his shoulder.

“I’m sorry we did not follow you, you searched for your sister and I searched for mine,” Erik said, referring to when the rescue party split. The five that found Jaes following her tracks after she led the shadowcat away while the rest followed the two sets showing where Astrid and Jaesmin had run together. Leo’s face showed a little shock at the revelation that they’d been spending time with a Princess but quickly turned to understanding.

“I understand the importance of family Ser Erik,” Leo didn’t say anything else, there was no need to. After all, Leo had done the same and went after Jaesmin instead of following the tracks of the younger Astrid.

Jon simply went back to pulling the large fangs from the beast. He got them out with a little help from Finn, his strength a large help in pulling them out in one piece. Jon placed them next to the antlers and claws. Once he was done the others started to skin the monster while the shadowcat was gutted and ready to be carried back to the camp. He took her spoils and her sword into his arms and just stood by.

A few minutes later the four healers had her patched up the best they could. Physically she was fine but they warned Jon and Leo that there was no telling if her mind would heal from the injuries. Jon intentionally induced a vision looking for a solution. He learned about traumatic brain injuries, concussions, and oxygen deprivation but the results were less than ideal. Leo had noticed his face and Jon could only shake his head, there was nothing the visions could tell him to help her.

**********

Ser Erik held his sister as they loaded the unconscious girl onto a litter to be carried back to camp. A few would remain to finish processing the wendigo, despite the legends they were not rotten and could be eaten; though they didn’t taste very good. He rubbed his sister’s head and leaned back, she looked up and met his eyes.

“You can’t do that you know?” He said calmly but sternly, “You nearly died. You nearly got Miss Jaesmin killed.”

“Just the spiders!”

“Calm my dear, she shares your fear, ahem, dislike of spiders,” Kyanna said and in rare form of affection rubbed Astrid's back, “The girl will hopefully be alright but there’s nothing to be done except wait.”

Erik sighed, getting a raised brow from his future wife. She was the silent type usually and he kind of hoped she’d remain so at the moment. This was a matter between his sister and him.

“Dislike of spiders or not, we’re in the Dain. There could be other nests nearby and there was a Shadowcat and a Wendigo. You must be far more careful.” his calm words were betrayed by the side glare he gave his fiance. A mistake he knew, Kyanna was royalty the same as him, a warrior in her own right, but from a culture that was far easier to offend and take to anger. Throw in the fact that most men would tell him that it’s unwise to pick a fight with a spouse and he had stepped straight into it.

“Perhaps you need to explain it to me dear. I’m not aware of the dang-” Kyanna started but Erik was saved from his own failure of communication by Ser Afgheir.

“Ser Erik, we found signs! Just down the path, this ones family, killed. Not a week ago,” His announcement stopped even the irate Elvanni princess.

“I’ll take Miss Astrid back, go.” Erik cringed as he could tell by her tone that there would be continued discussion when he returned. He placed Astrid down and Kyanna led her with a gentle hand.

Erik followed Afgheir down a game trail that led it’s way through the hilly landscape. They came to a the base of a small cliff and Afgheir started to climb. They climbed up and Erik could already smell the scent of decay. As his head rose above the edge of the cliff he could see multiple rotting corpses with signs of predation and scavenging. Beneath the obvious scents that even a human could smell he noticed a familiar aroma. It smelled similar to a lycan.

“Sure you got a whiff of the scent already but well take a look,” Afgheir said as he approached the wendigo remains, some of the bones had been chewed. With enough practice a person could learn the different bite marks of different animals. Never exactly but he could clearly tell that it came from a large wolf like creature; either a werewolf or a direwolf. “Also got claw marks around here and on the stone over there. Biggest indicator is the prints in the cave back there.” Afgheir said pointing to the other evidence and led the way to the cave. The floor of the cave was filled with dirt and guano. In that was the obvious prints of a lycan or a werewolf. A paw like set of back prints and clawed hands on the front.

“Why do you say it was a week?” Erik said, the corpses could be a week but it was hard to tell from the predation. Scavengers and insects in the forest made quick work of what was left. The rest couldn’t be dated at all.

“Last storm to come through came from this direction, little over a week ago.” He took his water skin and emptied it at the mouth of the cave. The water flowed down into it, “Woulda washed the prints away if it was before the storm.”

“Anything else of note?” Erik asked looking at the prints, “How deep does this go?”

“Nothing else and not far, already been to the back of it, there could be some other caves nearby that they’re hiding in or they were just passing through.” Erik listened to Afgheir’s word and the area around them, it was defensible. A 20 foot tall cliff at their back wouldn’t stop their enemy but would slow them but no, there’d be other signs if this was near the den. This was just hunting.

“Let’s get some of our best trackers over here and see if they can pick up a trail.”

A few hours later the trackers returned, it wasn’t hard to find the trail the monsters had left, a string of dead animals leading to the southeast with the occasional clawmark or pawprint. They had a direction.

**********

Jaesmin awoke the following morning looking up at her tent. She felt fine, if it wasn’t for her vivid memories of fighting the monster, she could have been convinced it was just a dream. She knew immediately that it was the result of healing. She snuck out of the tent to find Cara sitting awake just outside not far away was Jon sleeping on the ground, using his arm as a pillow.

“You’re awake!” Cara nearly stood up so fast it seemed like magic and Jaesmin had to think of what spells were in the spellbook they’d lent her. It could have been. Cara hugged her like someone would an old frail woman. Jaesmin just returned it full strength.

“I’m fine, what happened?” Jaes asked and was filled in on the events that occurred after she’d been knocked out. She was carried back and the badgers took turns watching over her. Astrid was also perfectly fine, just scared. Cara was just about to wake Aethred for his turn, the last watch of the night. She thanked Cara and insisted she let them sleep. It wasn’t time for the expedition to get up so she decided to wander a bit, just not outside of the camp. She couldn’t believe her luck.

‘Spiders, then a shadowcat, and finally a fucking wendigo. I’m never leaving camp alone again!’

She wandered until she spotted Ser Finn and a Ranger sitting on top of a hill that was absent of trees. She looked around and realized it wasn’t where they had stopped for midday, the must have carried her here. She walked up to the two who noticed her approach.

“Wandering off again?” Finn asked with a chuckle and padded the grass next to him, “Neera, this is Jaesmin.”

Jaes gave a wave to the beautiful Elvanni woman sitting next to Finn. She looked around the same age but the timeless features of their kind meant she could easily be quite a bit older.

“You on watch?”

“Nope! Just enjoying the night.” Neera said as she clung to Finn’s arm. Jaesmin realized that she was interrupting something. She made to get up but Finn just pulled her down again.

“It’s alright, were just watching the ants

“Ants?” Jaesmin asked, now taking in the scene on the other side of the hill. A large mound of earth could be seen in the moonlight, large bugs with green glowing antenna scuttled about it. That wasn’t the only strange thing, the valley below was full of massive trees. Each of them, oak and maple, reached at least 200 feet in the air and were wider than most houses.

“Don’t worry, their not dangerous unless you attack them,” Neera said, “They’re druid ants. They use their magic to grow the plants nearby to feed themselves, otherwise they’d strip half the forest clean.”

“Well it’s more the trees were here for.” Finn gestured to them like someone could actually miss them. Jaesmin did take them in again along with her new companions.

“There’s trees like that back home. No ants but the magics similar. All around Duratan. Maybe we’ll see some trees like the spires on this trip.” Neera explained looking a little homesick seeing the trees. Jaesmin caught her words and looked at Neera with surprise.

“The spires? How would trees be like the spires?”

“Hahaha, the spires weren’t built, they were GROWN.” Neera explained as if it was a humorous mistake that Jaes had made. Then again maybe it was, there wasn’t a lot of writings on the Elvan in Stilyra and she hadn’t been allowed near anything that even approached heathen texts.

“You’d believe her if you saw them, they’re massive… well, spires of carved magical wood rising up around the candle.” Neera slapped his shoulder at his comment.

“The flame!”

“Who grew them?” she tried to get the happy couple to get back on track. Finding out that some of the greatest structures on the isles were grown deserved some explanation.

“No one knows but there’s a legend.” Neera said and stared at Jaesmin with a smirk, if she was trying to build suspense or tease Jaes about the idea she wouldn’t continue, the pause worked. Only when Jaes was visibly frustrated did she continue, “Thousands of years ago my kind lived elsewhere, an island kingdom somewhere off the coast. One day a cataclysm hit and the survivors were forced to flee to the mainland, only this was thousands of years ago and the mainland wasn’t as settled and far more dangerous. Thank you.” He’d poured her another glass of wine, which she accepted. Jaes wasn’t sure where they’d gotten that, they had to have saved it for just the right occasion. She cringed when she realized she’d interrupted a romantic moment.

“You’re welcome,” he smiled and held her hand.

“well during this time my ancestors scattered into the mainland and formed the different nations of our kind-”

‘Different nations?’ she got caught on the words for a moment.

“There’s other Elvanni out there?!?” the realization hit like a wendigo… no too soon, hit like a horse. There were different human kingdoms why not Elvanni...

“Well… yes, except they don’t call themselves Elvanni. There’s no actual name for our race, least not one we remember.” She looked contemplative for a few moments before resuming her story, “Anyways, during that time a young druid set out to find a safe haven, a place for her family and her people to call home. She was ambitious and confident but not long after she left she was attacked, strange beasts of shadow stalked her in the night. Not shadowcats or anything like it but actual shadows. They were monsters of pure magic. As she ran she spotted a light, white and beautiful rising through the trees in the distance. As she got there she found a man, a simple human mage but powerful. He drove back the darkness.”

“Catch the light worship?” Finn added with a smirk. Jaesmin in fact DID catch the light versus darkness that she knew was the basis of the Elvanni faith. Neera glared at him until he looked at her and froze.

“Do you want to tell the story?” she asked in a tone of a scolding mother.

“No, go ahead… sorry” he said embarrassed.

“I forgive you…” Neera waited a moment after her words to give him a kiss, which he returned. Thus making Jaes feel like an idiot again but she didn’t want to leave the story unfinished.

“Umm the man and the druid?” the quiet words escaped her mouth, she almost slapped her hands over her face in shame. She actually did when she saw the faces of the knight and the Ranger, who apparently forgot she was there in a matter of seconds, she tried to hold in the giggle.

“Oh right. Well whether the man chose to accompany her or she chose to search in the direction the man traveled is debated but they ended up together. Years passed as they searched the continent for a new home and slowly they fell in love…”Neera’s words softened and gave special emphasis at the last word, “One day they stumbled on a large valley in the mountains with a crystal clear lake and abundant life. She knew when she saw it that they found their new home and they sent word to the others-”

“They left?” Jaesmin blurted out, so far they were alone! Why would you leave right away!

“No they sent word. It might have been magic or they simply had others traveling with them that didn’t make it into the stories…” Neera’s look spoke volumes at how getting interrupted by Finn and now her was getting a little old. Her face calmed down after a second.

“Sorry,” Jaesmin squeaked out and looked at the ground.

“Anyways, knowing their quest was at an end, the man decided to tell the truth to her. A secret he’d held in for years and he feared telling her in that it might end their love but he told her to honor that same love…” Jaesmin held her breath and waited. Moments passed.

“What? What?” She finally couldn’t hold it in and by Finn’s laugh, it was just what Neera was trying to do.

“He wasn’t a man at all, he was a dragon!” her hands spread wide to illustrate a being of extreme size and power, “He used his powerful magic to take the form of a human since the day they met. He worried that his love would view him as a monster and leave him… she did not, she embraced his giant snout and kissed his nose. She loved him for who he was, not what he was…” She stopped there and looked at Finn. He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Smart girl,” he whispered.

“She was… He returned to his human form and returned the gesture of love. When they kissed, he borrowed some of her druidic magic and built something she’d dreamed about. She had seen visions of great towers rising to the sky, scraping the clouds themselves. So he used her magic, and his, to change the landscape around them. Trees moved and grew massive and eight of them even moreso. The largest arranged in a circle as their leaves fell and the branches twisted forming eight spires that reached to the sky.

When the others arrived they found the two waiting in that spot. They told the story of their adventures and a column of golden light reached past the sky itself behind them when they finished. The dragon lit a fire in the exact center of the spires. A light of pure dragonfire the size of an apple that still burns to this day. They stepped into the light and the last thing they said was Darah’ten, ‘light prevails’, before they disappeared and the column faded to nothing….” Jaesmin ignored the talk of visions, she was too engrossed in the story. A kingdom born from the work of a dragon.

“That’s beautiful… Where’d they go? Is it true?” she asked when she realized the story was finished.

“No one knows where they went, hopefully they’re still together and I want to believe it’s true.” Neera sighed at her own words.

“Want to?” Finn asked.

“It’s a legend about how our people were born from love and a bit of dragonfire… Who wouldn’t want that?” her words turned calm and light with a slight bit of mischief. She said quickly, “better than lycan origins anyways. Lucas becoming the first lycan, running from the empire, fighting a war, and sacrificing himself so Hrothgar and other lycans can sneak away to the isles.” Finns jaw dropped as she blurted out his own peoples legend in a sentence.

“That’s not how- Okay that is the basics but it’s leaving out a lot of context! ” he tried to admonish her but failed horribly, a wide grin growing across his face “And we know our origin is history not legend. Oh and his name was Lycas… Way to ruin a story!” He tackled her lightly and started to tickle her. She squirmed and giggled.

“Ah I think I’m going to go.” Jaes got up and dusted off her pants, turning quickly before she saw something she didn’t want to.

“Wait, sorry. You don’t have to.” Finn said but didn’t stop his attack. Neera was biting his ear...

“That’s okay… you two, ah, have fun.” Jaes said and left quickly.

“I’ll tell you bout Lycas later!” Finn called out but Jaes wasn’t sure she could look at him with a straight face. She’d ask Ser Afgheir or Dame Helga instead.

“Bye Jaesmin, hehehee, it was nice meeting you! Will you stop…”