Witch Of The White Wood

Banded four

After the meeting with the Fairies princess in the deep forest the young knight would return, venturing further and further into the abandonned woods looking for signs of her but there was nothing. Any time he would get close to finding her the trail would vanish.

From a bunch of leaves that had been trodden upon to faint traces of a oh so familiar scent of morning dew and fresh flowers. Little hairs that had shed from her head and landed on the woodland floor that could only be seen when the sun landed over them making a small glimmer. Stanley searched each acre without straying too far from his home for her but no matter how many traces of her he could find, he never founf their source. She had left small indications of her prescence all over the forest but could not be tracked. She was the woods. And thats what he beleived, stories of Elven druids and nymphs which came from the gossiping mouths of the Elvish housewives filled childrens minds with the stories of gods and godesses which protected over the forest and could only be seen by those brave of heart and keen of mind. It was safe to say that superstition gave him an ego boost.

She was like a fairytale and the more he dreamt of her the deeper he fell and the more he wandered the woods trying to find her. He would daydream and plan each and every different combination of things he could say to her if he ever saw her again and eventually began to dream of a life for the two of them in the same woods they first encountered eachother. He knew it was overly romantic and unlikley he would ever meet her again but that didnt stop him from trying.

It came the day for the Elvish riders to visit the kingdom of Zaron and deliver a message from the King. Five of the best riders were chosen to accompany his father. Randy Marsh, being given the Kings blessing decided to bring Stanley alongside him as a hopes to inspire him to follow in his footsteps. He accepted.

The road to Zaron was long and twisted through the mountian roads where the settlement of non-conforming necromancers decided to land their home. They varied in shape and size but shared the common traits, black sooty hair, dark rings under their eyes, skin white as a sheet and dead black eyes. They dressed in the monochrome and as the riders passed their settlement a dark black cloud hung over the camp as they huffed on their pipes and stared at the faces of the riders. Stanley watched them with a sense of recognition as their leader gazed into his eyes, his thin lips black and turned into a frown. The chill of the air wasnt what caught him, it was the pain in their eyes that only he seemed to see. They swam with white ghosts of the past and an anger too unfathomable to name.

With a quick slap to the back of his horse Randy ushered Stanley away from the sullen men and woman and back into the forests of old.

The citadel of Zaron was vibrant and industrial as children without shoes ran through the streets, rosy cheeked women gossiped and pointed to the Elvish riding through the city and Human men sneered with their arms crossed, often shouting abuse to them as they passed. One thing caught Stanleys eyes though, a group of about four Human children his age watching them, shoving eachother to get a better look at the horses and their riders.

Headed by a tall tanned boy with choppy black hair underneath a brown hat who sneered at the Elves but was egar to try and pet the horses, he had wild blue eyes and a deep frown on his face as he tried to push his blond friend forward. He was a short, timid looking boy with short hair who had the lightest blue eyes Stanley had ever seen, he smiled at Stanley offering a small wave before the other boy whacked his arm and scolded him. A fairly short but pretty little girl stood behind them with her arms crossed watching the boys antics and staring up at Stan with a awestruck gaze. She had medium lengthed black hair and a choppy fringe over her pale features which were covered with a rosy flush. The brown haired boy next to her nudged her in questioning as he stared into her light brown eyes, he was a good looking young boy with dark brown eyes and deep set dimples. Although he was slightly chubbier than the others he looked just as scruffy. They all appeared to be around the same age and friendly with eachother dispite their different reactions to the Elves.