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| Ezra's Wood Posted by: Baclk at 04-04-2014 08:18 AM, Last Modified 04-04-2014 08:18 AM |
Ezra’s Wood
At the end of the War of Ages, a mage of great power set up a private place of solitude were no man, woman or war could bother him. It was a beautiful place with trees ten times the size of what a average man would normally see. Flowers flourished in the woods around a quite stream, which silently trickled through the frozen atmosphere.
A young man named Azoth was always asking questions about the wood and the magical barrier that protected it. He had heard the stories of the man who lived there and of the beast that protected him, yet it only peaked his curiosity. Often traveling the long distance to Copper, a small town that was built a mile or so away from the wood, he would rent a room in the tavern and spend his time asking the elder’s about the “Horrible” place. Ezra’s wood had gained many nicknames over its decades of existence. Its most common name through out folklore and stories was,il luogo dove il temp si ferma, which was Italian for the place were time stands still.
The owner of the local tavern, Momma K, loved everyone that walked through her front door. She was even known as the "Matchmaker" by those who were her close friends. If theirs one thing Momma K hated it was seeing a man without a woman in his arms. Now it bugged the heck out of her that she couldn't acquaint Azoth with some pretty girl. He had this uneasiness about him, whenever she would send someone over to talk to him, he'd freeze up or pretend she want there. But before Momma K would know it Azoth would do pretty good on his own………
"So Azoth when ya gona stop stinking up my tavern?" asked Momma K as she cleaned her large oak tables.
"How about when you get some better ale!"
"Hey! This is some of the finest ale you'll ever find within miles of here."
"That’s because your the only place that has ale within one hundred miles of here, " Azoth muttered under his breath.
"What did you just say boy!"
Azoth snickered under his breath, for he enjoyed the small amour of torment he gave the big old lady.
"Azoth Blint," Momma K began with a slight tinge of annoyance in her voice, "If you were any other customer id have you thrown out of my store!"
"Ay but im not any other customer am I?'
"True, very true, your a friend."
"That’s a good thing too, I would shure hate to see what you'd do to somebody who wasn’t your friend."
"Probably smash this pint into their face."
Azoth sighed and smiled, "I was serious about you getting some better ale you know, this stuff tastes like sewage."
"Aww shut up, by the way, when are you going to get serious about getting yourself a nice girl and settling down?"
"Momma K," Azoth said with a wine, "Why do you keep bothering me about this, its starting to get annoying."
"Well maybe ill annoy you into getting married."
"Doubtful."
“And why’s that? Most men your age are married by now.”
“I haven’t found the right person yet, and besides im not ready.”
“Well you know I can find you one. And AnnaBell still thinks very highly of you. How come you hardly ever talk to her anymore?”
“I know, I know and that’s because we hardly ever see each other anymore. And she’s way to young anyways.”
“You use that excuse all the time. Man up talk to her, get reacquainted.”
“No thanks Momma K.”
But for once Momma K was right Anna Bell or Anna as most people called her, had been one of his best friends until he was forced to move to the city. They had been best friends since they were five and seven years old. Azoth, being almost three years older than Anna had met her for the first time when Azoth’s mom had volunteered to baby-sit for Anna’s dad. They were inseparable fro that moment on, like a brother and sister that go along abnormally well. But thing’s had started to change when Anna’s mom passed away and then only months later war claimed her dad’s life. After that Momma K took Anna under her wing, but Anna was never the same. For the next year Anna and Azoth grew closer to each other than they’d ever been before. One day after things had finally settled down a raiding party of nearly two-hundred men burned down half of Copper and killed twenty-five of its residents. During the retreat from Copper the raiders were swallowed up by Ezra’s Wood, this wasn’t known until a local traveler passed by the wood and came back to the town talking about crazy things like frozen gutted men. What the town saw later that day no one was soon to forget.
The side of the Dome that protected Ezra’s home was the sight of a massacre. It was as if god had slapped the face of the earth and the two-hundred some odd men who had attacked the town were dead. But it was far from a peaceful death, it was a maddened frenzy to try and escape the invisible dome that had trapped them. As the hunter, Ezra’s protector, massacred the men they climbed over each other trying to escape their invisible prison. After the hunter had finally left their was a mountain of smashed, gutted and scared bodies stacked against the wall, no smell of death came from the other side of the dome. For many month’s the bodies stayed were they were, not decomposing as a corpse of two month’s dead should have. Then one day they were gone, this scared many of the people still living in Copper. Azoth’s mom demanded that they move, and out of compliance Azoth’s father agreed.
When Azoth went to tell Anna a nervousness he had never felt before crapt over him, like a spider slowly crawling up one’s leg. After stumbling through telling Anna he was leaving, he felt as though he had tore Anna’s life in two. So filled of emotion Anna didn’t bother to say good-by as she ran away crying. It would be almost fourteen years before they spoke to each other again, and that wouldn’t be under wanted circumstances.
“AZOTH!” Screamed the shooken voice of Momma K. “Azoth wake up,” she screamed again as she violently began to shake him.
“What do you want?” Azoth replied groggily.
“Its, Anna Azoth she’s been taken!” Momma K said with fear in her voice.
‘What?” Azoth was suddenly awake and had his attention fully on Momma K.
“Four men cam into the Tavern last night during her shift and started critizing her and making rude remarks about her looks. I had never seen them before but they looked line Klandorians to me.”
“Klandorians?” Azoth was confused and frightened; the Klandorians hadn’t been seen or herd from since the Great War.
“Yes Azoth, they’ve taken her to the outskirts of the forest. We think they’re meeting more men and then going to the………The Woods.”
“They cant go their! They’ll be killed!”
“I know Azoth, but Klandorians don’t believe in superstition, they’ll go their and die. No one ever survives the Woods, and if they do they can never get out.’
“Well theirs always a time for firsts.”
“What ya mean Azoth? You going to go rescue her?”
“Ill sure as hell try, I’ve been trying to figure out a way of getting out of that place for years but nothing exits those walls once you go in.”
“Your committing suside going up against armed men. They are trained to kill you know, how are you planning on getting them away from her?”
“Still have my old re-curve bow?”
“Figured you would ask about that, she’s downstairs under the bar. I’ve tried to shoot her but every time I do it she slaps the tar out of my wrist. Cant use that hand for a week after doing that ya know.”
“She’s specially made for me, do you still have my old quiver?”
“Yep, but you only have three arrows in it how do you expect to take down four or more men with those.”
“Don’t worry ill have enough, trust me.”
“All right but be careful, if you die and Anne lives I will never hear the end of it.”
Azoth didn’t hear the last words spoken by Momma K for he was out the door and down the steps of the balcony above the bar before she had time to utter the first word. After grabbing his bow, quiver and saying a silent prayer he was off. He didn’t bother to put on shoes or change from his mottled gray sleep clothes because stealth was of a essence in rescuing Anne. His sleep clothing was perfect for night time wear because it blended into the dark like a shadow, and being barefooted allowed him to feel the ground beneath his feet so unnecessary noise wouldn’t be made. As for his almost empty quiver he wasn’t worried for the local mage put a spell on it so every time he fired a arrow it would appear back in the quiver thirty seconds later. It took Azoth a full fifteen minutes to run the mile to the dome, witch was slow but acceptable, before he saw the campfire of the Klandorians.
Slowly approaching the campsite he could count ten different tents and four or five men patrolling the outskirts of the campsite as sentries. Slowly coming up behind the first guard Azoth pulled the first arrow out of his quiver, although he wasn’t planning on shooting it, it would come in handy for what he had planned. The arrow was a foot and a half of smooth white cedar, witch couldn’t be broken unless a sever amount of pressure was applied, for feathers a phoenix tail feather had been broken up into the three balances he needed, topping of his masterpiece was a two inch Brodhead guaranteed to pierce anything up to one-thousand feet away. And the Brodhead’s doubled as more than just a arrow head, it made a excellent knife.
Three feet away from the guard Azoth made his move jumping, grabbing the guards mouth, and slicing the neck. Azoth repeated his process until all the sentries had fallen, now came the hard part, finding out how many people were left and if they had already gone into the Wood yet. He had no clue how long it would take for the Klandorians to figure out their friends were dead, so he waited. Less than an hour later two Klandorians came out of the tents to relieve the guards, finding they were dead they ran back into camp and woke everyone else, witch is what Azoth had been waiting for. Now he knew how many men he was up against and were Anna was. One by one the men climbed out of their rickety tents and started to gear up, about five minutes later the leader came out of his hole and started barking orders.
“You three search the area, find out who did this, they cant be far.”
You can automatically assume they never made it back.
“Were are they three men I sent to look for the murdering person who did this?” Yelled the captain of the scum.
“They never came back sir,” the Klandorian replied uncertain of the were about of his comrades. These were the last word’s he spoke before an arrow entered his skull and he dropped to the ground dead.
“Who are you?” Yelled the frustrated captain. “I want to see the coward’s face that’s killing my men from a distance.”
“Who’s the coward,” Azoth asked teasingly, “I’m not the one who stole from the tavern and kidnapped a girl.”
“She’s a security item nothing more, we will turn her loose as soon as were out of your country.”
“Sorry not good enough,” Azoth said as he released another arrow from his bow, this one entering the man standing to the left of the captain with his sword drawn.
“What do you want!”
“The girl and the items you stole from the Tavern. Send them over now and ill stop killing your men.”
“Is that all?”
“No I want you and your men to leave now, go through Ezra’s Woods and never come back here again.”
“Is that all,” the dumb captain asked again?
“Yes, now send her out with the items from the Tavern and leave.”
“Yes…,” the guard stuttered, “Men set the girl free and give her the things we stole, were leaving.”
“But all of our work?” one of the men replied dumfounded.
“I don’t care just do what he says and lets go!”
Anna walked out of the middle tent carrying the bag of stolen goods with a triumphant smile on her face. Spitting on one guards faces she ran over to greet Azoth with a look of longing and thanks in her eyes.
“Azoth, thank you!” she said as she threw her arms around him, tears in her eyes. “I thought I was going to die for a while.”
“Well I’m glad your ok.”
“Thanks!” she repeated almost squeezing him to death. “Were did you sent the soldiers?”
“Into the Wood were they will meet their death and answer for what they have done wrong.” As if compiling with his statement screams arose from the forest and then their was a chilling silence.
After arriving back in town Azoth was hailed as a hero for saving Anna and returning the stolen goods from the Tavern. Momma K rewarded him by promising to buy some “better” ale. The town was so grateful people were giving him free food and just about everything else you could imagine. After all the hype and praise was over he had some time to spend with Anna, four months late they were married and moved into Azoths old house. Azoth lived out his days teaching about the laws of nature and how it can and cant be used. Anna became the proud mother of a baby boy and girl and took over Momma K’s job when she passed away. Azoth wrote several stories and became a local legend. Although he never went into Ezra’s Wood he swore even to the day he died that he saw a small little man standing at the edge of the woods.
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Comments:
| Sebastian : Sounds like you wrote the after reading the Night Angel trilogy |
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