The Great Forest

The First Attack

Early March mornings in the Mortemountain Valleys were cold and frosty. This morning, it felt like all the cold had somehow migrated to William's room in high concentration. The warming pan had lost it's heat hours ago. Reluctantly, William took the pan from under his blanket and exited his room to get hot coals from the fireplace in the living room. He took note of how his breath was visible, even in the hall. He figured he would need to change his sibling's warming pans, so they don't catch a cold. 

As William reached the fireplace, he was disappointed to find the coals no longer red with heat. He knew he would have to kindle a new fire to get them warm again, which would mean fetching wood from outside. William sighed. The thought of having to get dressed and go outside when the sky was barely violet in such cold weather made him cringe. 

William walked back to his room. He changed into a thick, long sleeve wool shirt, and put on another blue long sleeve over it. He slipped on his leather boots and while tying them, realized he didn't have coat. He had given his favorite wool cape to his youngest sister, Adeline, thinking of the cold and wanting her to stay warm. Again, sighing at misfortune, William instead put on his vest, which laced like shoelaces in the front. The vest was beige with black lace, and was thick and warm. Hopefully warm enough. 

A creak from his door caught his attention. William turned to see Adeline pursing her lips and on her tip-toes trying to be sneaky. Her short brown hair was disheveled, and her large brown eyes were wide awake but lined with tiredness. She had William's cape draped over her shoulders and falling down to her ankles. William smiled at his five year old sibling.

"What are you doing up so early?" he asked as he knelt in front of her. She put her index finger to her mouth. "Are you cold?" he asked, this time whispering. Adeline nodded. William instinctively fastened the cape a little more snug around Adeline's shoulders. "I'm about to put more wood on the fire, to heat the coals. I'll change your warming pan for you. Here," William turned and took his blanket off his bed and put it around Adeline. "Now you'll be extra warm while you wait. Why don't you go back to bed for now?" he ushered his little sister out of his room and across the hall to her own. He made sure not to creak the door, or else he'd wake Arthur, who shared a room with Adeline. It wouldn't have made a difference though, Arthur was the heaviest sleeper in the family. Adeline made a jump to her bed causing a lot of noise, which did nothing to wake the snoring seven year old boy.

Once Adeline was snuggled down, William exited the room and walked towards the front door. He was quiet as he passed his parents' room, and Mikail's and Sabrin's, his other siblings. Once facing the front door, he braced himself for the cold. William stepped out into the frosty Match morning air.

He walked to the back of the house towards the barn. The wood was stacked against the side of the barn in a huge mountain, put there a week earlier by him and his father. William remembered their conversation as he grabbed the top three logs. His father had given him advice on how to efficiently butcher a deer. The conversation was morbid, but such was the talk in a family of butchers. William chuckled at the thought. The topic came up because of talk of possibly needing to hunt.

While William walked back into the house, he thought he could smell burning. The sun was beginning to turn the sky grey, and the early birds were waking up. William looked into the flow of wind. He saw a thick trail of heavy black smoke ascending to the mountains. Before he could think of what could have caused the fire, the Chapel bell began to toll. The ring was dense and foreboding, with an ominous chord. It rang between the mountains and back, waking everyone in the village. Something terrible has happened, it seemed to say. 

William stood silent. He was unsure of what to do in that moment. He was still holding the logs for the fire, and suddenly remembered his purpose for being outside. Just as he turned to go back inside, he heard someone yelling. He set the logs down by the door. When he turned around, a man was running down the street. William squinted to get a better look at him. The man was in obvious distress; he was wearing nothing but long johns, which were charred and dirty. As he got closer, William could see his grey hair was matted to his forehead with sweat despite the cold. His cheeks were flushed, and his eyes were wild. He didn't stop running until he reached William. "IT BURNED THEM! IT BURNED EVERYTHING! BURNED EVERYTHING TO A CRISP!" he shouted while grabbing William's shoulders. The man nearly fell on top of William, and shook him with a force that nearly knocked the air out of his lungs.

"What's all this ruckus?" William tried to turn to see who spoke, but the man grasping his shoulders was digging his fingers into his skin. William struggled to release himself from the crazed man's grasp, but the brute had a grip that was stronger than iron. "Let go!" William shouted. The old man stared at him with a rueful gaze. "YOU HAVE TO HELP ME! IT'S AFTER ME! IT'S GONNA KILL ME!" William felt strong hands pull the crazed man away. When he saw that it was his father, he let out a relieved sigh.

"Go send for the Sheriff, Will. Tell him to come here." Suddenly the crazed man leaped in the air. "LET ME FOLLOW, I NEED TO TELL HIM TOO."