#ipromiseiminquarantine

{25} The Protector of the Woods

by @fairiesdance on IG (721 words)

Anne sneaked through the forest. She had done this plenty of times before, but this time was different. She had been sitting outside her cabin when she heard something that didn't belong there. Something other than the animals of the forest. Something that could potentially be a threat to the animals. She crept on, getting closer to the source of the creaking.

Throughout her life, people had hit her and beaten her up. She was not like the other girls, as far as she knew, at least. Anne didn't want to marry a wealthy man, but she didn't want to marry a man she truly loved either. If she'd marry the man she truly loved, that would mean marrying her father and she certainly didn't love him that way.

The people of the town they lived in wanted their sons to marry Anne. Because Anne had no interest in them, her father declined every single offer. When people would ask her father why he declined, he would give them an evading answer even though he knew the truth. Most of them accepted the reason, but over time, they started wondering why she had declined. After all, their son was a better option than no man, right?

Anne was twenty when her best friend told her husband that Anne preferred women. Her best friend had known since they were thirteen and had seen no reason to believe that was wrong. Her husband didn't think so. He spread the news through the city and made sure that every parent whose son had been declined by Anne knew that she was interested in women in a, as he said, "absolutely disgusting and satanic way." The parents were disgusted, and Anne was hit more times than she wanted to remember within a month. The first week was the worst. She was hit constantly and there was no way out. The second week, animals started showing up whenever she was about to be hit. Every time, it was a different animal. Foxes, snakes, bears, birds, all of them.

Now, it was her duty to protect the animals. She saw several birds flee and heard some rodents run away from the danger. She reached for an arrow and let it rest on her bow.

A minute later, in which Anne made as little noise as she could, she saw the reason for their panic. A massive ogre was ravaging the forest, pulling out trees and smashing everything he could.

Anne pulled back her bow's string and shot the ogre in the eye. He was shocked and grabbed his eye. Anne took the opportunity to put her bow back on her back and pull her sword. She ran towards the ogre and tried to stab him in the heart, but he didn't agree with Anne. He swung his arm to Anne's direction and she intended to jump away, but he was quicker than she expected and he hit her in her side. She fell over and hit the ground. Thankfully, she hadn't been knocked out and she quickly regained her position. Her sword had been knocked out of her hand and to replace it, she pulled her daggers. The ogre swung another arm to hit her, but this time, she was quick enough to jump away. In the moment he was left undefended, she managed to stab him in the other eye, effectively blinding the ogre.

Again, he grabbed his eye and Anne ran to grab her sword. She shouted for him to come get her and moved to the side. The ogre stormed to the direction her voice had come from and Anne jumped from behind him and stabbed him in the heart from the back. He fell over and wailed. Anne had enough dignity to cut off his head to shut him up, but he managed to turn around one last time to hit her. She fell over, unconscious.

When Anne woke up, she found herself surrounded by animals. They had made a bed of leaves and flowers for her to sleep on. The forest animals had protected her all her life and now she had protected them from an ogre. This wouldn't be the last time something like this would happen, but Anne knew that every single time, she would be there to protect them.