Deepwood Southern Part

Roxanne Fletcher

As summer in Taingaard was reasonably temperate - at least to a point the native would rarely wear any extra fur or clothes - Deepwood stood green and lush with the impressive length and girth of the trees trunks telling a story about and old forest brimming with vitality. So in this part of the year there were little chance of Roxanne getting her face covered in white in this southern part of Taingaard.

The outer part of the forest would be reasonably accessible to Roxanne and a good hunter may be able to still be able to find clear digitigrade tracks of canine origin in the mossy undergrowth a couple of days after they were made - the less skillful hunters would see themselves having to proceed further into the forest to look for more clear signs of a small dog with a red collar.

As Roxanne would follow the tracks she would find herself drawn further into the forest. A small chipmunk would jump up and bite her fur coat lodging itself onto it. Was it trying to say, Roxanne was being foolish wearing so thick clothes when it was mid summer in Taingaard, or did it simply try to warn the foreigner that the direction she had chosen was perilous?

However if Roxanne continued to follow the tracks of the dog she would soon come across what - by all means - appeared to be the red collar of Gilbert, Brunn's run away dog. It had clearly been cut and the tracks leading on would look curious to any ranger or hunter. One set of hoofed tracks and one set of bare feet - but no paws were leading on into what seemed to be a more dense part of the forest where the trees were decidedly more wry and the leaves a shade or two darker.

The trunks of the trees seemed to all curl down this path and thorns would catch hold of any garment that came into immediate contact with them as the path narrowed and the trees seemed to close in on her from above. Before long she would notice oddly shaped bones lying around on the forest floor and some even hanging from atop of the trees. Some would be very small and some larger than the bones in the human body - but all weirdly shaped and deformed as when you look at some part of them through a magnifying glass.

Still the tracks led further into the woods and if she was especially aware Roxanne would likely find it odd that none of the hoofed tracks ever overlapped and seemed to keep a steady pace with the barefoot tracks beside it. If following the tracks further Roxanne would soon come to understand this mystery a little better. A small grove opened up and a run down wooden cottage was in the center of the grove with a large pot with boiling contents stood in the garden as in old lady standing on a stool on what seemed like hoofed feet while it's contents with a large stick mumbling strange cackling words. A little further behind her Roxanne would notice what seemed like an improvised wooden cage though while it was placed in the shadow of the cottage, she wouldn't be able to see more clearly if anything was inside it.

The old lady seemed preoccupied with her boiling soup for now, cackling intensely each time a large green bubble would appear and burst, which meant Roxanne was able to circle around the edge of forest to the cage seemingly without alarming the old lady. If Roxanne approached the cage a little closer she would see a shadow inside it, though it was definitely not a dog. Curled up in the far end of the corner sat a scrawly young man who appeared to wear little in terms of clothes giving Roxanne a gaze that told of both terror and surprise.

"Y-you're not her..?" he whispered thinking there were several differences including hair color and the fact she was wearing fur - something unheard of in Taingaard in the summer - but that was not the man's primary thought right now. "P-please help me out!" he said and and crawled closer to Roxanne grabbing onto the iron bars in desperation.

The young man hushed as per Roxanne's instructions and gave a quick glance toward the old lady who were still stirring the pot.
"Sh-she's the mistress of the forest..." the young man said with a guilty frown. "And I'm Gilbert... I'm guessing Brunn sent you to look for his dog." the young man concluded and sighed.

"The key yes... I don't know if she keeps it in her pocket or inside the house, but you must help me!" he pleaded.

Gilbert looked at Roxanne and bit his lip.
"I'm a shape shifter and it was a stupid bar bet I lost. I had to wear a collar while I turned into a dog and bark a tune while... well the details don't matter. But as things happened it seemed like the collar was enchanted so I couldn't change back. He then threatened me and said he was going to neuter me if I didn't comply - and then the day after he sold me to Brunn." Gilbert explained with guilty eyes.

"I had heard of a lady in the forest who could talk to dogs and people called her the Mistress of The Forest, so I went here when I had the chance to run but... even though she understood and removed my collar I was imprisoned in here - and I don't know what she's going to do to me!" Gilbert said as he suddenly saw that the woman had turned around from her pot and seemed to be heading there.

"I-I can only turn into that dog, and I'm too exhausted from being in animal form for so long that... I simply can't..!" Gilbert said reluctantly. "N-no wait come back miss!" Gilbert called out as muted as possible as Roxanne withdrew into the shadows.

"Where are you looooking!" the old lady said as she bared her teeth at Gilbert who gasped. The witch went down into her pockets picking up an old iron key with her wry fingers and unlocked the cage door which opened with a loud creaky sound. "Come on, let's get you to the pot, Gilbert!" she said and pointed her finger at him. Suddenly Gilbert's eyes went dim and his body relaxed as he stepped out of the cage.

"Yes m'am." he said and quitely followed the witch to the big black pot.

"Good, your manners improved significantly. Now I need you to go up into the pot and sit there for a while, Gilbert." she said and cackled giving him a light smack on the buttocks with her wooden ladle.

"Yes, yes go on dear! Soon you'll be shedding that form of yours and is ready to..." she said as she suddenly heard the fast footsteps behind her and turned around and quickly raising her finger towards Roxanne with an angry yet frightened look to her face. However Roxanne's tackle came before she could properly aim her spell and she fell to the ground with a scream. As she noticed Roxanne's knife she seemed to struggle twice as hard believing her life to be in immediate danger hissing and kicking, trying to seize control of Roxanne's knife hand with all her might.

Perhaps Roxanne would notice or perhaps not, but as the witch turned towards Roxanne her control over Gilbert seemed to have seized and he stood a moment and looked around before realizing what had happened.

The witch waved her hands frantically, but as things stood the old lady were... an old lady. As Roxanne punched and used the leverage of being able to put all her weight into the punch she'd hear the bones fracture in the witch's skull - blood gushing out her nose and the cackling turning into a hissing scream. However the pain from the punched seemed to strengthen the witch's resolve to survive causing her continuing struggle.

As Gilbert saw the witch being tackled by the warrior lady, he seized whatever he could see close by that might serve as a weapon - a quite heavy stone lay at his feet and he lifted it with both hands. After the first struck from Roxanne hit the witch Gilbert thrashed the stone down into the ugly witch's face making it even uglier than it had been from the start - and if not stopped he would continue until her head was little more than a bloody pulp and he was sure she didn't move an inch. Gilbert would then look at Roxanne - sweat dripping from his forehead and adrenaline pumping in his veins with blood splattered all over the front side of his naked body.

"L-let's not talk about this okay?" he would stutter quite shocked at his sudden and ruthless execution of the witch.