The Villain of Renegade Castle

Far away in the Shale Mountains, across three millenniums of time and space, lies the legend of the Villain of Renegade Castle.

For three centuries the Villain had struck terror into the inhabitants of the Forest of Woolybak and had wrought havoc among the coastal villages as its fame and the legend surrounding Renegade Castle grew the more imposing.

It was not uncommon, for the folk of Woolybak villages and hamlets to only mention the Villain in soft whispers around campfires at night, the way you and I tell ghost stories.

For three centuries, the horrible Villain had preyed upon the innocent Woolybaks, even committing some excursions into the presumed safer Glen of Bonnybrook and nearby sea towns. Attempts to stop the Villain were made and times of peace descended on the valleys, but the Villain would return to terrify the people.

The woods around Renegade Castle held the best hunting grounds and its streams and moat were always full of fish, but no one dared step foot near the castle for fear of the Villain. No one knew who the Villain was or what it looked like, but there were whispered rumors regarding its hideous appearance and grotesque character. Some believed that fire flashed from its eyes and if it so much as looked at you, the flame would devour your heart and forever burn murky in your eyes.

Others said the Villain was cloaked in flowing hair and if you happened to be touched by it, it was as if poison had entered your body. You would willing follow the Villain to the castle, never to be seen again. Other stories were circulated, stranger, weirder, painting the Villain as monstrous, malicious, and un-human.

The reports of the Villain's exploits were even more extensive and terrifying to the townspeople than its description. The nobility from the Castle Nevermore tried to come up with how to overpower and conquer the Villain, force it to leave the Forest and thus end the reign of terror, but the years went by, and no real efforts were made to banish the Villain from the land.

Only a few of the nobles from Castle Rebelmind tried to get to know the Villain. Strapping young men, they went hunting in the woods and even fished in the moat of Renegade Castle. When questioned about the Villain, they just smiled and refused to speak. It was rumored among the other nobles that the three brothers of Rebelmind were in alliance with the Villain and that it gained inside information from the councils through them. The brothers were watched closely after that, and secret meetings of the council were held when important things concerning the Villain were being discussed. Nevertheless, the Villain still terrorized the people of the Forest.

For nigh three centuries, the Villain had harassed the talking townspeople, when suddenly it seemed that the Villain had fallen off the face of the earth. Reports still occasionally reached Nevermore Castle of Villain behavior, but when investigated, these were found to be forged. Some said the Villain had died, while others claimed it had moved away. Some glory-seekers claimed to have killed the Villain, but many of these would-be assassins wouldn't even step foot near Renegade Castle when the Villain was active. It seemed that only the brothers of Rebelmind knew and they would never even consider telling the townspeople of the fate of the Villain of Renegade Castle.

The years passed, and no villain terrorized towns and hamlets. But far from being forgotten, the Villain's fame and legend only grew stronger, over-shadowing the vales and glens with a shroud of doom and an air of impending fate for when the dormant villain of Renegade Castle would awaken.

For nearly one hundred years the forest heard and saw nothing of the Villain. New towns sprang up by the coasts and to the south, trade and commerce turned sleepy hamlets into bustling port cities which carried their exotic wares to the most interior cities and villages. It seemed that progress was touching all points of the globe but one. The Forest of Woolybak and the woods around Renegade Castle remained unchanged, overshadowed by the legend of the Villain, and not even progress could break the bonds of superstition and paranoia that held them captive.

Leaves changed color and fell from the trees. The rivers and streams froze solid like glass windows, then thawed into rushing torrents, and still the people lived under the shadow of the dormant villain. Years passed the same way, the Nevermore nobles spearheaded discussions of searching out the Villain, but no expedition parties ever made it through the powerful clan's castle doors. Being the ruling family in the Woolybak forest, the Nevermore nobles were expected to look after the safety of their subjects, and some complained about their general unwillingness to dispatch the villain or find the cause for its dormancy.

Then, as the eldest son of the Nevermore clan was preparing to take the throne, a new rumor surfaced, eclipsing almost overnight the legend of the Villain of Renegade Castle. It seemed that the Nevermore dynasty was not the rightful rulers of the Forest and that somewhere in the Forest of Woolybak, the princess and rightful heiress to the throne was in hiding.

Eager to be rid of the apathetic and sometimes cruel reign of the Nevermore clan, the people began searching and questioning, hoping to find their queen. It seemed that revolt was eminent and with the legend of the dormant villain eclipsed by the search for the queen, the Nevermore dynasty was understandably in turmoil. Fear of the Villain was gone, and hordes of peasants scoured the sylvan paradise near Renegade Castle, searching for a trace of the princess.

The hillsides had just begun to turn pink with heather when a new rumor spread like a wildfire to the very gates of Nevermore Castle.

"They say that when a silk handkerchief is delivered to the Castle of Nevermore that the real queen is about to show herself and claim the throne." The words were whispered ear to ear, for anyone mentioning the queen would be taken to a secret room in the Castle of Nevermore where it was said they kept victims without food or water until their tongues parched and their hearts caught fire. Preparations continued for the King's crowning, but the Nevermore clan lived in constant fear of the silk handkerchief, and the townspeople in fear of the castle summons.

But others were disappearing too, the best and finest of the town's young men were quietly removed from their homes and fields, and soon it was rumored that the Villain had returned, committing once again the ravages of olden days.

Then, one day when thunder shook the very ground and lightning rent the black heavens, a masked rider carrying the ensign of Rebelmind delivered a silk handkerchief at the Castle of Nevermore. Black.

A shudder ran through the kingdom. The handkerchief had been delivered, on the day of the king's inauguration. Faces were ashen and all waited with bated breath for the queen to arrive.

At four in the afternoon, the nobles of Rebelmind rode through the town. The people, eager to see what would transpire, followed them – right to the gates of Renegade Castle. Shocked, the people waited, "it's a trap," some muttered. "They are just trying to get us captured by the Villain."

Just then, the gates were thrown open, and in brilliant fanfare, the town's sons and brothers marched through in glittering array. Following them came a white carriage, and in it, a queen. Her long tresses hung longer than her skirts and her eyes flashed blue fire. A tall golden crown adorned her head and she wore a dress of white silk.

Gasps and questions swept the crowd. Who was she? How come she was in the Villain's castle? And what would happen next?! Silently, they fell in behind the carriage, following the long column towards Nevermore Castle.

When they reached the castle, one of the Rebelmind brothers threw open the gates and the carriage and glittering army swept in. The family was gathered on the balcony to crown their son king, but the crowd stopped in the courtyard and shouted, proclaiming the queen of the forest. Shocked, the young king turned towards the courtyard. Just then, a bolt of lightning rent the sky and in that single second, everyone saw it, the smoldering eyes that could only come from a heart afire, the hands and feet chained and shackled with iron bonds.

With a desperate, superhuman lunge, the young prince cast himself over the railing, tearing the bonds from his hands and feet, casting himself in a helpless, headlong plunge of fiery passion and desperate love towards the princess. The rightful ruler of the Forest of Woolybak and unbroken by four hundred years of usurpation, legends, and rumors, she had returned, larger than life, the lone Villain of Renegade Castle, the queen of the Forest of Woolybak, and captor of only one heart.