A Meeting in Spiritwood

It was time to go home.

My trip back to the Mongol tosgon was uneventful, the monotony of the ride up from Britain broken only once by a sudden row of torches blocking the roadway. The road through Spiritwood was nearly pitch black, only the feeble light of my lantern granting enough illumination for me to guide Star along the rough dirt pathway. I knew Trammel should be rising in the east, but nothing was visible through the thick trees of the forest; I could not expect any helpful light from Britannia's twin moons here in the depths of Spiritwood unless they were directly overhead. The road bend sharply around an especially dense grove of trees, so the flickering light of the torches wasn't visible until I was almost upon it.

I reared Star to a halt, and approached cautiously. A line of armored guardsmen stood, spears and pikes held at attention, eyeing the traffic suspiciously. Behind the guards, across the road, was a makeshift barricade of logs and furniture, with only a small opening just barely wide enough for a cart to pass through. A sergeant in plate directed several of the guardsmen as they stopped travelers, his higher rank evident in the badge he displayed with a swagger of unmistakable authority. Although it was late, several carts and travelers on horseback were lined up, waiting for the guardsmen to allow passage.

I guided Star into the line, and struck up a conversation with the man in front of me, an armored knight on a jet black charger, a massive steed that Star eyed distrustfully. The man mentioned hearing a rumor that a guild of rogues had been trying to smuggle magical reagents through Yew, and the guards were searching for contraband. I hadn't been aware that there was ever a restriction on reagents, but the guards of Yew were notoriously distrustful of magic, and preferred it kept out of their town, or at least out of Stonekeep, the small township south of Yew which was the guards center of power. Combined with an increase in orcish activity, annoying pranks by the pixies of the woods, and the rising tensions between the guards and the Mongols, the matter of reagent smuggling was the final straw, and the Guardsmen had closed off the road, monitoring all traffic until they could restore some semblance of order to the region. Having heard of their efforts to keep Yew peaceful, I could somewhat sympathize with the guards' cause, though the roadblock meant an added delay in my journey.

I finally reached the head of the line, and after some quick questioning, as well as a perfunctory examination of my backpack, the guards let me through without further incident. They bid me be quickly on my way, as this part of the woods was seeing more violence daily, as various guilds and factions contested the lands still unportioned by the newly elected regent in Britain. I thanked the guards for the warning, and spurred Star along the road.
The road was framed on both sides by solid walls of trees, darkness swallowing the lantern light on my right and left after only a few feet. Ahead of me, the trail vanished beyond the circle of illumination, and I strained my eyes to discern the twists and turns in the road before we were upon them, struggling to keep Star on the roadway. She snorted, as if offended at the idea that I could see the road better than she could, and for awhile I let her have free reign, pleasantly surprised at how well she kept to the roadway.

Trammel crested the wall of trees to my right, finally appearing as it neared its zenith, spilling pure white light down onto the roadway, and throwing stark shadows to our left. The forest around me lit up suddenly, a strange tableau of black and white, a surreal vision of the forest I was more used to in the daytime.

I was not especially fond of traveling by night, especially considering my more recent adventures. The last time I had visited Spiritwood at night, I had met a particularly angry Liche Lord and had barely escaped with my life, thanks mostly to the help of my good friend Gunthuk. More recently, I had stumbled across the secret ceremony of the Order of Sacrifice in the woods outside of Minoc, again on a moonlit night just such as this. Only the quick intervention by my friend Castile Elan and the fortuitous arrival of Lord Blackthorn had saved me that night.

My previous adventures notwithstanding, the woods of Spiritwood were a notorious den of highwaymen, as well as the rumored stalking grounds of countless uneasy undead. So it wasn't surprising that I was loathe to leave the roadway. However, as I approached the signpost that marked the outer limits of the town of Yew, I was forced to strike out across the now thinning forest. No road ran to my destination, the Tosgon of the Golden Horde, and I urged Star off of the roadway with trepidation and not a small bit of uneasiness.

The forest was sparser here, closer to the city where years of lumbering and building had thinned the trees. Although not clearly marked, the path between the town and the clearing which held the Mongol Tosgon was fairly straight, and actually passable on horseback. I had rode it countless times during the daytime, but night lend it a different, almost sinister air. The glowing eyes of night rodents flashed at me, vanishing as I approached, but blinking back into existence as I passed beyond them. Far off to the north, something large crashed through the underbrush, and something howled far off towards the south. I urged Star onwards, quickening our speed, turning suddenly and glancing over my shoulders, always certain something had been watching me, only to find the passing shapes of trees and bushes. An owl hooted almost directly overhead, and I nearly jumped out of the saddle. Star snorted back at me in annoyance, plowing ahead into the sparse underbrush, perhaps chiding me for my nervousness, and I forced myself to relax.

Trammel had passed its zenith, and with a sudden last flare, vanished beyond the opening of the canopy overhead, plunging the forest into darkness again.

My visibility was reduced to the circle of light thrown by my lantern, and I took extra care to watch for low branches, trusting Star to find a clear path.

She came into view so suddenly I nearly drew my katana in shock, but I checked myself. I reined Star quickly, coming to rest alongside of her. The woman was standing, leaning against a tree, head downcast, her shoulders shaking as if sobbing.

She was dressed in tattered rags, a garment that might have at one time been a dress; her hair was unkempt, long, dirty, and so gray it was nearly white. It was hard to see any real detail in the sparse illumination of the lantern. She had apparently not noticed us, intent on her own troubles. Without the lantern, the forest was nearly pitch black, and she had probably become lost, perhaps been waylaid by brigands, or simply run afoul of a wild animal. She certainly appeared afraid: her arms were crossed and she hugged herself, as if trying to dispel the darkness and the noises of the creatures of the night. I held out the lantern, and, trying not to startle her, spoke in a calm voice.

"Are you alright, miss? Do you need help?"

She continued to sob silently, hugging herself tighter as a breeze suddenly blew past. Her head stayed down, as if she was trying to stare a hole through to the Lost Lands.

"Are you lost?"

She shook her head slightly, flexing her fingers as they gripped her own upper arms. I dismounted, and came around to her, reaching for her arm. "Can you ride? I can lead you to someone who can help."

She backed away slightly, recoiling at my touch . I tried to calm her, but she shook her head, eyes still downcast, backing away. "It's ok... I won't hurt you. If you want, you can just follow us then. We're going to a small village where there are healers, and food, and clothing. Would that be alright?"

She simply stood, unable or unwilling to answer. I waited for a few moments, then mounted Star, and urged her into the woods again, slowly, watching to see if she followed.

She hesitated, then took a first faltering step, then another. It was agonizingly slow, but she slowly seemed to overcome her fear, and followed us.

The Tosgon was perhaps a half an hour away. I mentioned this, with no response from the gray haired woman. I had no idea of her age - in the dim light I could not see any apparent wrinkles on her hands, and her face was still hidden from view, masked by the dim light and her knotted hair both. I tried to strike up some conversation to pass the time.

"So... why are you out in the woods so late, if you don't mind me asking?"

I was shocked when she actually responded. Her voice was cold, like someone just waking up, a dull, dead, voice, like someone under a trance or spell.

"I was supposed to meet my husband."

"Your husband? Where were you supposed to meet?"

"There's a small tower in the woods. He was going to meet me there. I received a letter - he is on leave and I am to meet him there. The tower - it is special to us. It's where we met."

I smiled. "This tower... Is it near the clearing where the Mongol warriors have settled?"

She walked on in silence. I paused to duck around some branches, then continued with our conversation. "Why were you supposed to meet him so late?"

She continued her silence, and I despaired of getting any more information from her, but was shocked when she finally answered, haltingly, as if trying to understand the answer even as she said it.

"I left town at noon, knowing I could meet him, and we could return home by dinnertime. I got within sight of the tower... and..."

She trailed off. "What happened?"

"I..."

"Yes...?"

"I... got... lost... and... when night came I couldn't find my way back. I've been wandering... looking for the tower... and then you found me!"

"Good thing too... this forest can be dangerous... there are liches, bandits, ghosts, bears. You're safe now. Once we reach the Mongols, you can get rested up, and we'll find your tower in the morning. I'm sure your husband went back to town, and you can meet him in the morning."

She didn't answer, but continued her plodding gait. I expected another long spell of silence, so it startled me when she suddenly shouted out, "The Tower! There it is!"

I held out my lantern, looking all about, not seeing anything. "Are you sure? What do you see? The light here..."

She had come up beside Star, practically leaping for joy, her voice now vibrantly alive, her hair suddenly flowing and clean, her dress seeming whole. A trick of the light, perhaps, had led me to see her as dirtier than she truly was. "We've arrived finally!" She clapped her hands in glee, and spun around.

"I suppose so..." I said, dismounting and standing beside her. "Are you certain..."

"Oh, thank you so much, I can never hope to repay you, I am forever in your debt... I have no money, but let me repay you with a kiss..."

She finally turned her head upwards to me as I began to stammer out an apology, knowing she was married, and growing embarrassed. I was aware of her presence suddenly, beside me, her head close by, and I shrugged inwardly, turning and reaching out to her...

Just one kiss couldn't hurt...

The grinning, dripping, maw of death leered at me as my lips pressed against the decayed, crumbling flesh, and I backed up, unable to breathe, to scream, fighting a sudden desire to vomit, to give in to panic, to run screaming headlong into the forest.

She was almost totally naked, the worn, nearly destroyed tatters of a dress clinging to her almost skeletal frame. Crumbling bones, draped with leathery, parchment like fragments of skin shambled towards me, a grinning skull glowing green and tottering atop the head of the shambling corpse. Wispy bits of what might have at one time been hair, but now resembled nothing more than torn spider webs, flowed from the top of the skull, enveloping us as she closed with me. I felt a tree at my back, and then her arms were around me, cutting off all escape. The smell of moist earth assailed me, and the empty eye sockets stared vacantly at me as she angled her head upwards, bringing the grinning face up towards me in death's kiss...

I screamed, and the world went black.

I shot awake, startling Star, and sending her skittering back several feet from where she had been nudging my lifeless body. She knickered at me questioningly as I looked around the small clearing, lit by the warm morning sunlight. A bird chirruped close by, and the chill in my soul slowly faded, as I tried to shake off the effects of what could only have been a nightmare.

As I walked forward to mount Star, I tripped over something, and upon closer inspection, I found a crumbling piece of stone. A frantic examination revealed the crumbling foundations of a building that had at one time stood in this clearing; the clearing had been empty upon my first visit to Europa, over a year before, and I had never heard tell of any building here before that. Judging from the state of the foundations and stones littered around the clearing, no building had stood here for years... perhaps decades.

I silently mounted Star, and guided her out into the forest, not daring to investigate further. After only a few minutes I could hear the sounds of the Mongol Tosgon up ahead, as well as the smells of the cookfires. Moments later I broke free from the grip of the forest, and the cold chill which had gripped my heart ever since finding the crumbling remains of the tower.

Castile Elan closed the tome, and turned towards me, thoughtfully.

"Indeed... according to the town records, at one time a tower stood in the spot you described. However, the tower was destroyed twelve years ago in an orcish raid. The body of a guardsman was discovered there, killed by the orcs when they burned the tower, and left where he had fallen."

I swallowed, shifted uneasily in my seat.

Castile continued: "The rest is an anecdote; more of a town legend, though it was added to this text in a footnote later on. According to the tale, the guardsman's wife was reported missing soon after the burning of the tower. Her friends said she had gone to meet her husband at that very tower, and it was assumed the orcs killed her as well, but her body was never found."

I stood, mute, and walked towards the door.

"Town legends say that her ghost has been seen occasionally wandering in the forest - the townsfolk call her the Shade of Spiritwood." He closed the book and looked up at me knowingly. "May I ask why you were interested in this particular tower?" he asked as I opened the door.

I ignored his question, walking out of the house in a daze, and leaving the door wide open behind me.

I had finally gotten the spell right. It was a pleasing sensation to step back into the world of Atlantic, rather than fall heavily onto it.

I patted Star reassuringly, and we turned to take in our surroundings. It was late in the afternoon in the clearing of the Yew moongate - we could reach the town by nightfall, spend the night, and be back to the LFE tower by noon the following day. Finally, I had returned to the world of sanity, my own homeworld, Atlantic, far away from cursed histories and creeping terrors, back to the world of familiarity and reassurance.

The moongate clearing was empty. I nudged Star forward, and we walked past the circle of stones that marked the boundary of the magic circle which surrounded all moongates. I pulled Star to the right to avoid a solitary woman who was leaning up against one of the stones, facing away from us, staring into the forest, seemingly waiting for someone.

As we passed, she turned and looked up at me, her gaze piercing beneath the wispy gray hair which wafted behind her in the sudden breeze. She was dressed in a plain dress, but in the sudden flurry of wind, it took on an almost tattered appearance. As she passed out of sight behind me, she favored me with a quick, knowing smile.
I violently turned around in the saddle, struggling to get a better glimpse of her.

The stones sat, deserted. There was no woman standing there, and the wind suddenly gusted past, violently, and I grabbed my hat to keep it from being pulled off. Somewhere from the forest, I thought I heard a soft giggle as the wind died, but when I stopped to listen, only the birds answered, suddenly breaking the unearthly silence that I hadn't noticed until it was dispelled.

I stayed there for several more minutes, waiting, listening, but I saw and heard no further sign of her. A stray beam of sun broke through the leafy canopy, and I tore my gaze reluctantly away from the trees around us, and urged Star forward again.

I have traveled in the forests many times since that day, both in daytime and night. After several months without incident, I even began to journey intentionally at night, wandering the forests aimlessly, searching perhaps for some small sign that I hadn't imagined the entire thing.

I have searched for forests of Europa and Atlantic alike, but I never met the mysterious Shade of Spiritwood again.

© 2001 Daniel Lustig