Carwen and the Red Dragon

If You Go Down to the Woods Today

Every snap of a twig, every sound of a bird taking flight startled Carwen. She knew her fear was from the unknown. No matter what happened to her life Carwen was lucky enough to be sheltered from the harsh life of the woodspeople. No one had ever actually seen a woodsperson but they were supposed to be cruel creatures with sharp teeth and claws that stole children in the dead of night and ate them raw. Well that's what Carwen was told. She also heard they were away with the fairies. Carwen thought that was scariest of all. Faries were enchantingly beautiful and played with the hearts of young girls. There were stories of villagers entering the woods to go dancing with the fairies. Those villagers never came back. The howling of the wind was said to be the screams of those who were forever trapped in the fairy dance. Then again no one had ever seen a fairy either. But it was the belief that the unexpected could be real that fuelled Carwen to carry on. If Carwen didn't have that belief then her people really were doomed.

For days Carwen walked through the woods. Suprisingly she hadn't come across any Woodspeople, or fairies for that matter. She slept rough on the ground, sheltering under thick leaves when it rained. She ate and drank as little as possible; and tried to refill what she could of her water from the rain. It wasn't much. in the end her food and water had depleted. Her clothes and blanket were caked in dirt. Her feet were covered in blistered. Carwen could barely walk. The sun was blinding; the heat was overpowering. Carwen knew she wouldn't last long. Her vision blurred. Panting, Carwen stumbed into a tree and tried to hide herself as best she could before she passed out. Her eyes drifted closed just as she heared a girl giggling in the distance.