Forest Guardians
Thwack! The sudden crash echoed off of the surrounding trees alongside the lonely, dirt roadway before dispersing out into the dense forest. Although the sound of it had been dulled by the wood of the carriage’s cabin, it was still plenty loud enough to rouse the noble within that had been dozing off his lavish banquet meal from earlier that night. The seemingly endless spread of fruit, meat, cheese, and bread had left his stomach bloated and vulnerable to the rumblings of the carriage. Thankfully, the wine had eventually brought relief in the form of sleep, that is until this rude disturbance. A shadow was cast into the cabin as someone with a lit lantern approached to relay that there was a large, downed tree blocking their path forward.
“Well, get on with it post haste! I wish to be free of this horrid forest, the air here is nauseating.” With a twirl of the hand that was closely followed by several impatient snaps, the noble dismissed the shadow.
Gradually after some time wallowing in discomfort, sleep returned to coddle the noble and his upset stomach until a sudden awareness hit him like the intense gasping breath released once set free from a terrible dream. Outside the cabin had grown quiet. Climbing out into the early morning sunlight, he found neither the driver, his aid, or any of his guards. Filling their absence were several disconcertingly reddish patches of dirt, a dozen or so arrows, and a handful of discolored bones.
His mind failed to comprehend, a pair of bushes just at the edge of the roadway rustled, startling and sending the nobel onto his backside. Rooted in place by fear, the noble watched from the ground. But as several small branches parted slightly and a small brightly colored face poked through, the noble found his legs, carrying him all the way out of the mouth of the forest before his mind finally caught up and realized what in fact it had been that had spooked him. Laughter filled the forest that day and the next as its denizens awaited their next victim.
