Forest of the Lost

Forest of the lost
By
Keaoden Silverstride

"There was a path somewhere around here I know there was!" She exclaimed to herself after turning the corner at yet another tall yew and finding no path once again. The day was turning down into dusk and with it, the forest all around the young maiden was quickly bathed in an ember light. Her shortcut home didn't become of what she thought it should of. Returning home from the festival became much more than a mere loss of direction. The forest was host to many of the feared nocturne creatures.

"Where am I now? I can't be lost, I can't be." The young girl pined to herself. Dusk was waning, and soon it would be gone entirely, all light along with it. Running at a brisk pace through and over the thick foliage her long dress caught more than once. Each time the girl would permit a small curse at the tearing.

Her efforts were all for naught, as the daystar fell so did all of the ember glow from the forest. The nocturne would be awakened, and she was still quite far from even the edge of the blackened forest. With no light of her own she dared not to move within and among the trees. Even the smallest sounds would bring the darkest of creatures immediately to her. The young girl sat at the base of a great oak and curled her slender legs up to her, huddling close to the strong bark of the stalwart sentinel for any protection she could glean from its massive trunk.

"What do you think you are still doing in this forest girl?" a crisp strong voice questioned the girl from the darkness above in the branches of her oaken protector.

"I'm lost" was her only scared answer.

"You shouldn't be here, only the most foul of the dark things live here." The voice came closer down to her from above. She knew she could see something of a silhouette in the space above her head.

There was a small flash that assaulted the girls eyes as the owner of the voice from the darkness lit up a lantern for the two of them. He was tall, with a great length of deep brown hair, and some sky blue eyes that glowed in the low light of the small lantern he carried. His face, was still hidden from her gaze, almost as if the light dared not show him to the world. "Come along; let's get you home before something else finds you."

The young girl only gave her savior a small nod as she quickly followed close by his side. Many questions paced within her mind, there was one answer given to her before she could ask it. The man's ears were long, and pointed towards the back of his head. He was one of the elven kind. This was like all those stories she had read about them, and this one, leading her along next to her, was real. The young maiden allowed herself to smile.

There wasn't far to the edge of the forest and the main road to which the girl would stay to from now on. "There, now head on home."

The girl was confused couldn't he still walk with her? "Couldn't you come to where I live?"
The man shook his head slowly.

"Why not? Could you show me where you live?"

He shook his head again.

"But, why?" was her only retort

"I live here that is why." Before the girl could say anything, the man snuffed out the lantern and with it went his image.

The girl stood on the edge of the dark forest with her mouth agape. She didn't understand exactly what he had meant but, she would just have to get lost more often