Monster High Origins-Draculaura

CHAPTER ONE:

A Desperate Request

The moon shone over the dark forest with its evil, glistening crescent smile, attempting to bathe the surly, cold land below in ethereal light. Trees stood bravely as the only barrier against this, broadening their leaves in a plentiful shield so that only tiny, fragmented shards stood a chance of entering. The wind shared the moon's delight in testing them, toying with their branches and leaves-creating a whistling chorus as branches and sticks whirled around in an uncontrollable dance-sometimes butting together in a mess of leaves, making it seem as if two wooden giraffes were tussling together over a dusty plain very different to this. It was a cold, clean night void of snow or rain, although an icy pang could certainly be sensed lurking in the air. It wasn't quite carried by the wind, nor had the winter been its complete origin. It was as if the very supernatural itself was creeping in the thick, unknowable woodland, waiting to strike upon some poor, human passer-by.

The forest lay on a natural gradient. Gradually sloping up to a monolithic cliff face, atop which was an old tower. The tower was a gargantuan stone cylinder punctuated with little wooden orifices that served as windows, along with scarred or blackened bits of rock hastily forgotten about after battles past had to be repaired. The tower peaked in a circular, pointed oak roof, shaped very similarly to the casing on an old foil. Just below this tower lay four circular holes alike the ones below, only with a proper wooden furnishing, one positioned on each 90 degree angle observing the land beyond. The light from a singular, hearty fire could be seen from the window observing the forest, illuminating the inside of the room and casting that same shape of light the moon tried to upon the forest. Despite this light being far warmer and more welcoming, the answer from the leaves remained resolute and unchanged.

Below the deep, cavernous verdant canopy lay an overgrown mess of fallen twigs, plants, mushrooms and small animals eking out what they could in the almost total darkness. For a newcomer to this woodland with no hardened boots or horse, finding one's way around proved to be its own game. The path was never a straight line for long. Any continuation was quickly blocked by a tree root, a patch of mushrooms you dared not to eat, or some passing creature moving quietly so neither prey or predator noticed and made a far less subtle move. There was no clear game path as is sometimes the case with woodlands; this one had seldom been braved over the past six hundred years, and before that there was not much more traffic. The inhabitant of the tower (who had also started this fire in their hearth) found no need to come here frequently themselves, or even keep a paddock nearby. Not even a miniscule vegetable patch tucked in some corner barely inside the forest.

They had other ways of getting food.

However, this unstable peace only involving nature was not to last for very long, this made evident as a human couple ran desperately to the tower. One was a man; clearly a warrior, using a salvaged officer's uniform as his only protection, a bayonet broken from the side of a gun as his crude weapon. Skin pockmarked by scars and poorly kempt facial hair. A battered old hat atop a forehead mapping out previous hard-fought battles-the only part that was remotely clean being the crest in the centre that he had once lived his life under. The other was a young woman who had been used as some canvas for all the dirt that accumulated on her dress over their plight. Her eyes were locked on the room at the highest point of the tower, for her that light could mean all sorts of wonderful, sweet luxuries that she had not tasted in months, possibly years.

Salvation. Safety. A place for her child.

For that was the reason they had had to fly from their homeland, running like the lowly mice of this forest. It was evident to any who saw the woman she was harbouring a baby, and it would arrive incredibly soon. The common suggestion was before Easter, giving her three months to find a place where they would not be found. But if they got into that tower, she would not need all that time.