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The young woman lay on the ground, curled up, dreaming. It was a tortuous dream, filled with darkness, danger descending upon the forest. In the dream the woman ran, ran, looking for help. She could not feel the presence of her goddess, now totally absent from the forest. Ahead of her was the village. She could already smell the acrid smoke pouring out of it, filling the trees, rolling along as fog seeps across the ground.
She ran toward the fire, into the village, her thoughts blurred, her heart filled with terror for her father, her sister, her friends. Around her was carnage, her people slaughtered. Their bodies lay around, burnt, twisted. She walked through the village crying, desperate. Where was her lover? Was he lost as well? Had he escaped. The huts, both those on the ground and in the trees, were smashed as well. Everywhere was distruction.
The trees burned. The forest was hers, her land, her identity. As it burned, the person she was descended into shadow.
The woman tossed and turned in her sleep, a sleep that her people did not experience as she did, dreaming as they could not. Her eyes fluttered underneathe their lids. Her long hair flowed across her body with each movement as she thrashed about. She was breathing fast, her chest rising, falling, rising again.
She was Sylvan from her father's side, human on her mother's. She was a gorgeous creature, as her mother had been, with her mother's flaring red hair, round hips and ample chest. Yet she had distinctly Sylvan features as well, with pointed ears and a sharp, angular face. Growing up with the forest folk, she was in strong and fast, used to tracking and hunting and gathering.
She wore clothing common among her kindred, a silken shirt, brown woolen pants, soft leather boots and tunic. Now in her fourth decade, she was barely an adult by Sylvan standards. Though she aged more quickly than her kin, she still looked to be in her early twenties by human standards. The early morning sunlight shone upon her, and her state, her nightmare attracted forest creatures to her, rabbits and squirrels and deer, those she had made friends with over many turns of the sun.
One, a small red fox, moved to her, nuzzling her face. The woman's eyes opened, and she half perceived the fox, half perceived the nightmare, the devestation. For several moments, she stared, confused, a woman in two worlds.
Then she heard the voice trees echoing in her mind, pulling her further awake.
The young woman looked at the fox, her companion from past adventures, Foxy Brown.
"Oh dear Foxy, we have to find the others. There isn't much time."
Lantashi ran through the forest, the urgency of her dream forced upon her, the return of the danger imminent. Her steps pushed her quickly through the Wood Sea, but it was a long way to her village, H'shalyn, and she knew it would take her over a day to get there. She was fit, strong, but she would need to rest several times, and sleep. She could not run on forever. Her companion, Foxy Brown, would also her rest.
It was a hot day, especially for late autumn. Lantashi's skin glistened as she ran on. The forest was thick, with massive underbrush, but she knew all the trails, many hidden from untrained eyes. She was nearly silent in per passage, but the Sylvan could sense the forest surging forward with her. Deer, rabbit, fox, and elk would run along side her on parallel paths. Birds alighted and flew overhead. Even fairies would glide along side her, though her experience with them in the past told her to pay no heed, unless she specifically needed their help.
After a mile or so, her company would drop off, and more companions would run with her. She knew many of the forest companions by name, some in their own language, if she could speak it, or names that she gave them. All accepted her as one of them. The forest was so important to her, not just the trees, but the animal life. Especially her wild friends!! She would often run with them, play with them.
Lantashi stopped to eat a quick lunch, sharing berries and nuts she could find with her fox companion, and again for dinner. The sun set, and still she ran, but as evening turned into night both Lantashi and Foxy were spent. She was out of the deep forest for now, and had been running across rolling hills, past many scattered groves of trees. Her wild entourage had now fallen away. The sky was filling with stars.
Lantashi sensed another being close by, one that ran on two legs. She sensed it first ahead, then behind, and several minutes later ahead yet again. She didn't see the person, but an unnatural flash here or strange movement of vegetation.
"There is someone out there," Lantashi whispered to Foxy. "If you can get a look at him, I will see him through your eyes."
Foxy growled assent, admist a mixture of annoyance this late in the day, as she wanted to rest. The fox ran to the left, disappearing over a hill. Lantashi whispered a small spell as she ran up to a copse of fir trees, doing her best to blend in. She flew into it quickly and crouched beside a large, dark tree upon a bed of moss. She said a quick prayer to her deity, Airmed, goddess of healing.
Lantashi glanced among the hills but didn't see anything. She then rested against the trunk of the tree and closed her eyes, focusing on Foxy's sight. Foxy had noted the copse Lantashi hid in, and was doing a long, lazy circle around it, watching for movement. The grass Foxy ran through was tall, providing her some cover, but short enough that the fox could still see. Lantashi concentrated, watching. She had *not* imagined it. There was someone, something out there.
While she watched through her friend's eyes, the Sylvan's breathing slowed, her heart quieted. One minute went by, and then another. Nothing. If there had been something there, her friend should have seen it.
Lantashi let go of her animal sight, and took several deep breaths as she reoriented herself in the world about her. Standing, she moved deeper into the trees, into a small meadow in the center. As she started to breathe easier, the presence was back, and a quick motion in her peripheral vision. She swerved, reaching for her knife, but it was too late.
A strong hand blocked Lantashi's strike, gripping her wrist and preventing the dagger strike. She threw her elbow at the figure facing her, but it slipped an arm around her waist and with one fluid motion flipped her over its hip and onto the ground. The Sylvan landed gently, which surprised her. Lantashi's attacker could have run her into the ground much more roughly.
Lantashi attempted to use the momentum of the throw to roll back to her feet, but the figure deftly blocked it and pin her shoulders to the ground. An instant later, it was sitting on top of her, laughing.
Lantashi blinked, and then fury filled her face.
"I could have killed you, K'valak!! Damn you! You scared me half to death."
The full-blooded Sylvan laughed for several more seconds, looking down at his prize.
"You need to be much more careful if you wish to do that! When you run, the whole forest runs with you. Everyone watching knows where you are. I've been following you for hours. I just had to wait for you companions to retire from the chase."
Lantashi beat on his chest with both fists ineffectually. Her lover was tall for a Sylvan, and strong. He had long silver hair and dark brown eyes. His broad smile infuriated her. As she hit him, she could feel the muscles through through his dark green tunic.
He gripped her arms and forced them down across her chest, simutaneously lowering his lips to hers. She kissed him back, apparently admitting defeat in this wrestling match they had often played. He let go of her arms and ran his hands through her hair, as she moved her hands down his side... and waited.
As they kissed, he adjusted his weight. He was off-balance for a mere instant, but that was all she needed. Lantashi pushed K'valak away and planted a boot squarely in his chest. As he fell backwards Lantashi leapt to her feet, snatching her dagger off the ground. By the time the man had risen to his feet the half-Sylvan was behind him, blade to close his throat. She had failed though. He had caught her wrist in his grip, and his superior size and strength cancelled out any leverage she had. He turned and looked down into her bright green eyes.
They wrestled a bit more, trying to get each other off balance, but with less and less vigor, as their minds turned to other things. She dropped the dagger, grabbed his tunic, and pulled him toward her. They kissed for several minutes. Then a small growl distracted them, and Lantashi pulled away.
There was her fox, hair bristling, head low to the ground looking up at the pair.
"It seems Foxy Brown still does not like me," K'valak protested.
The woman, feeling light-headed, gestured at Foxy trying to shush her. She then turned to K'valak.
"I... we... I don't have time for this now," Lantashi sputtered as she caught her breath, her hand on her breast.
"K'valak, we cannot do this now. I'm in trouble... no, me, you, we're all in trouble. The shadows are coming back. And they are stronger this time."
The smile left K'valak. For the shadows had not left him untouched.
"The Council must be warned," Lantashi said.
She and K'valak and Foxy sat around a small fire, under the protection of a small cliff. The hills rose around the two. K'valak ate the meat of a small rabbit he had cooked over the fire. The warrior did not have quite the same outlook as Lantashi, though he had once pointed out it was part of the natural order of life. Lantashi shared her berries and nuts with Foxy, a very light meal even for her.
The sky was filled with a blanket of stars, and now a chill wind was blowing from the north, once again announcing the coming of autumn.
K'valak looked up from his food.
"I agree that we must warn the village. They must prepare. But would it not be better that we head off this evil at its root? The human called Night that is responsible this time. He is dead, gone. What else, what other power could bring this evil forth?"
The wind blew through Lantashi's hair, pulling at it. She shivered involuntarily. The goosebumps rising on her arms and neck could have been the cold, or the fear she had of the suffering that the Shadows would yet bring again.
"I feel Airmed watching over us," Lantashi said quietly. "But this is not something I can do alone. I couldn't handle it last time either. Look at me... I'm a ranger, but not a warrior, not a great wizard. I have my friends," here the Sylvan gestured to teh forest around her... "but even they were corrupted. I was left with my loyal companion here, Foxy."
She reached down and stroked the fox, who happily put her head on her paws.
"You are not alone," K'valak said sternly. "You have me."
Lantashi gave him a sad smile. K'valak was a good fighter, defender of the village. But even he had been subdued. Lantashi pushed back the memory of when he had attacked her, forced her to flee. Even in his altered state, he had been formidable.
K'valak had said he remembered nothing. Lantashi had never told him.
"I know I have you," Lantashi said slowly. "And of course you can come. But I was effective, stronger, with the group of adventurers that I had found in my travels. Aynos, Bertha, Mardoth... even that little nut named Metoo!"
K'valak growled... "That Aynos is a womanizer. I don't like him around you."
Lantashi laughed, her laugh echoing through the woods. Gods, it felt good to laugh.
"I might have been the only woman *not* to fall for Aynos, and he definitely isn't interested in me. He's a very grumpy. And I'm not into Horned Ones."
The warrior continued to glower at her, and the Sylvan ranger giggled. Her giggle caused K'valak's face to soften, and then he smiled.
"You are tired," he observed. "I rarely hear you laugh anymore. It is nice."
"Yes, I'm tired," the woman admitted. "I need sleep."
"Okay, you, and..." K'valak pointed at the fox, "... your companion there, get some rest. I will take the first watch. I'll wake you in a few hours."
Lantashi nodded, and moved off to a comfortable bed of moss not too far from the fire. At one time she had complete confidence in K'valak... but his eyes! His eyes when the shadows had engulfed him, and the same danger was returning.
Could she trust him?
And, would the village believe her?