The Shadow of the Forest

The Shadow of the Forest

By Stephane Eckhardt

Prolouge:
The sun rose over the eastern mountains, casting a gentle light into the valley of trees below. A thatched roof poked out of the trees in the middle of the valley. The thatched roof belonged to a small cottage where its owner was just now starting to wake. Emerald green eyes blinked open as their owner started to yawn. A hand came up to cover her mouth as she yawned. The door opened to the sparsely furnished room and a little girl with auburn red hair and emerald green eyes bounced into the room.



“Momma… Time to get up” The little girl chirped as she climbed up onto the bed. Her mother smiled at her.



“Alright Cora… Alright.” She ruffled Cora’s hair as she sat up. “Go call in Theron…” the little girl nodded and bounded out of the room to call their half wolf- half hound inside for breakfast. Daphne, Cora’s mother, got up and stretched. She dressed in a simple off the shoulder pale green kirtle. Daphne quickly brushed out her hair and put it up in a messy bun as she heard the wolfhound bound inside the house and Cora’s squeal of delight. She left her room and knocked on the door to the room that Cora shared with her twin brother, Alexander.



“Alex… time for breakfast… get up” She called, heading into the living room/kitchen of the cottage to start to fix their breakfast. A blonde haired boy, about the age of seven came out of his room, rubbing the sleep out of his clear blue eyes. He sat down next to his sister and waited for food.



“Momma… I had a strange dream last night…” Alex said as Daphne dished up some porridge. Daphne glanced at Alex.



“What was it about Alex?” Daphne asked as she dished up some porridge for herself, a little less then what the children had. She sat down across from her two kids and waited for her son to tell his dream.



“Well… I was out in the forest, hunting… and a man saw me and started to chase me… he chased me all the way back here… and he saw you and Cora… and… I can’t remember the rest. I just know I was scared.”



Daphne smiled. “Don’t worry about, son. I won’t let anyone harm either of you.” She finished eating and started to do the chores around the cottage. “Cora, Alex, you two can go play if you want, if you go outside, take Theron with you…” The children cheered and ran out of the house, the wolf hound on their heels. Daphne just smiled and continued working.





***





Lysander growled as he was thrown to the ground. He blocked out his father’s jeers and stood up again. He looked at his opponent and flung himself at the bigger man again. This time he managed to throw the other man off balance and toppled them over. Lysander quickly pinned the other man before the fight would drag on. After the ten-count, Lysander’s father entered the ring, glaring at the blonde haired fighter.



“That was the most… deplorable fight I’ve seen you in. What’s the matter with you?” He growled, cuffing Lysander’s ear. Lysander shrank back and glared at the older man



“I won, doesn’t that mean anything?” He asked, rubbing his ear. He dropped his hand once his father turned to look at him.



“You should have had him in the first few seconds of the fight…. Not twenty minutes. You are pathetic… it’s got to be your mother’s weak blood. That’s it… all women are weak…” He muttered the last part to himself. Lysander felt his blood boil when he heard his father badmouth his mother like that. The poor woman passed away three months prior due to an illness and Lysander’s father blamed her for being weak. She had to be strong to put up with an ass like his father.



“Don’t talk about Mother, that way…” Lysander said in a deathly calm voice.



“Or what?” Lysander did nothing. “Like I thought, get out of my sight.” He ordered.



“Yes Sir…” Lysander said between gritted teeth as he left the training yard. His hands were fisted as he entered his room. “Someday, old man. Someday I’ll show you what your ‘pathetic’ son can do…” He vowed, looking into a mirror. He sighed and let go of his anger when his friend Toras entered his room.



“Hey…” Toras said, tossing Lysander his shirt. “You forgot it out at the ring…”



Lysander caught the shirt and tossed it down on the bed.



“Lighten up… the captain’s hard on everyone.”



“Yeah, but you’re not his son…”



“Right… well… I… hey, guess what I heard?”



“Hard telling with a pea brain like you”



“Hey, I resent that… just for that I won’t tell you” Toras crossed his arms in a huff. Lysander laughed at his friend’s attitude.



“I’m sorry… Toras” Lysander tried to say with a straight face, but failed. Toras pouted slightly.



“I’ll accept that as an apology, since it’s the best I’m ever going to get from you.” Toras said after a while, his eyes twinkled with mirth.



“I am sorry… but what news have you heard?” Lysander said, panting a bit from laughing so hard.



“A new patrol is going though the forest on the other side of the western Mountains… and you’re leading it.”



“The western mountains…. But we have no control over that land, it’s untamed…”



“Exactly, King Vasilis wishes to extend his borders. And as knights of the Frost Vale, we need to obey his commands.”



“Aye…” Lysander said, sitting down on the bed. Toras nodded.



“We leave in this eve. Get some rest, friend” Toras said, leaving Lysander to his own devices. Lysander sighed and slumped back against the headboard. If he could secure the forest and lands for the king, surely his father will be proud. With that thought, He closed his eyes to get some sleep before they were to leave. Dreams of a fiery redhead with the spirit of an untamed hellcat frequent him. The red head he had tricked into his bed one night, seven years ago. Lysander opened his blue eyes. It was dishonorable thing for a knight to do, but they made a wager, if the woman could best him in a sword fight, he’d let her go, if not, she was to warm his bed that night. She almost won that fight too, but a trick had been her downfall. What a night of passion that followed.



She was a hellcat in the battle field, but she was a lioness in the bedchambers. He was surprised when she fought every time he pressed his dominance, not that he minded, the women he had prior to this crimson haired vixen, were meek and yielding to his seductions, but this woman… she… she was the one that he couldn’t conquer… the one that still, seven years later, made his blood boil in need. That supple body under his, yielding, yet unyielding at the same time had left its mark on Lysander. No other woman could measure up to that one warrior wench.



When the morning sun had entered that room at the inn, Lysander had woken to an empty bed, the red haired wench was gone.



Lysander sighed and got up from his bed. That female warrior he met seven years ago still troubled his thoughts, She was like a drug, and he was addicted to her. He wanted more, but in the seven years since, he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the voluptuous wench. He sighed as he looked at himself in the mirror, once they secured the lands to the west, he’d search for this…HIS warrior wench. He smiled and donned his armor.

Dreams Do come True

Dreams Do Come True

By Stephanie Eckhardt

(this was written as a school assignment in Feb 2005)

The gentle spring rain ran down the windows of an empty apartment. The tan paint, that looked brown in the rain, was faded in some areas more than others from the sun. A figure ran up the cracked walkway to the door. She fumbled for her keys as she hopped from foot to foot. She wasn’t dressed for the rainy weather and was caught by surprise when it started to rain. Finally finding her keys, she hastily put them into the lock and opened the door.

With a metal ‘clunk’, the lock was opened and the door was pushed inwards. The woman stepped into the apartment and flipped the light switch. Bright white florescent light quickly lit the dim room, temporarily blinding the woman. Groaning at the brightness, the woman kicked off her shoes and stepped into the hallway, tossing her keys into the small woven basket on the hall table.

“Yukio? Ya home?” She called, heading further into the apartment. Receiving no answer, she pulled off her jacket and slung it over the back of a chair around her kitchen table and padded over to the refrigerator. Opening the door, she poked her head in and looked at the barren refrigerator. “Yukio” she muttered as she closed the door. Her boyfriend had eaten the rest of the food in the refrigerator and most of the food she had in the house.

Leaning against the dark Formica-topped counter, the woman drummed her fingers. Where could her boyfriend have gone? Slightly worried, the woman headed for Yukio’s room. Nudging the door open a little with her foot, golden eyes peeked though the crack to the slightly disheveled room that lay beyond. Pushing the door even more, the woman stood in the door way and looked around for any life.

Clothes and other personal belongings lay around the room, almost as if they were tossed there and forgotten. The only thing that was in somewhat order was the bed. Dark blue silk sheets drawn up to the head of the bed and neatly folded over and tucked in. A pair of pillows lay side by side at the head of the bed, both outfitted in dark blue silk pillow shams. A silver dragon embroidered in the center of each pillow. A black comforter, also silk, covered the bed from foot to head, though it was drawn back at the head, waiting for its owner to come home and crawl in.

The woman sighed; nothing in the room told her of her boyfriend’s whereabouts. “Where is he?” she asked out loud. Sighing again, the woman started to head to her room, which was across the hall. “Guess I’ll have to wait until he gets home to tell him.” She said, opening the door to her room.

A great contrast to the room across the hall, the woman’s room was in pale greens and yellows, instead of the dark blues and blacks of Yukio’s room. With a small ‘whoosh’, the woman flopped down on the bed and rolled onto her side, her head resting between her pillows. Black hair stood out against the pale green cotton sheets. Golden eyes slowly closed as their owner fell asleep.

Shivering a bit from the cold, the woman shifted in her sleep to lie on her back. Slowly, a pair of fuzzy black fox ears appeared atop the woman’s head. Three black fox tails appeared on the bed next to her, attached to the base of her spine. The woman was a demon, one that could change her appearance to look like a human, a fox in sheep’s clothing, so to speak.

The front door opened softly as Yukio came home. Dark brown hair hung in a loose ponytail down his back; Yukio shut the lights off, letting his green eyes adjust to the darkness, and closed the door behind him. Several paper bags filled his arms as he headed for the kitchen to replace the food he previously ate, kicking his shoes off at the door.

He had noticed his girlfriend’s car on the driveway and her shoes at the door, so he knew she was home. He smiled a bit as he put the paper bags on the table and slowly unloaded them. Putting the perishable items in the refrigerator and the dry foods in the cupboards, he kept out the foods for dinner.

He fingered a small black velvet box in his pocket. He had gotten the shiny golden band earlier that day and planned to pop the question that night. Quietly, Yukio prepared dinner for him and his girlfriend. “I hope Kit will like this” He said, slightly worried about rejection.

The smell of risotto wavered though the air, slowly waking Kit. Her stomach growled as she got off her bed. She looked at the door and smiled, seeing her boyfriend in the doorway.

“Hey lovely” Yukio smiled softly, pulling Kit to him for a kiss.

“Hey back” Kit said, kissing him. “I’ve got something to tell you…”

“Oh? And what would that be?”

“I got a promotion today” Kit smiled.

“That’s great news.” Yukio smiled, pulling Kit out to the kitchen where he had the table set, candles burning slowly. Kit’s eyes brightened as she saw the romantic setting.

“Since when did Yukio become romantic?” She teased as Yukio pulled out her chair. Kit sat down and Yukio pushed her in before moving over to his chair and sitting down.

“I’ve always been romantic, Or do you not remember the bouquet of dead fish.” Yukio  said in response. A smirk played on his lips “Dig in” He smiled and started eating. Kit followed suit and ate the food in front of her.

Soon both were finished with their food. Kit was about to get up and do the dishes.

“Umm…Kit….wait” Yukio said softly. Kit sat back down and watched her boyfriend.

“What is it, Yukio?”

After a long period of silence, Yukio moved and knelt down next to Kit. She blinked and watched him, waiting. “We’ve been dating for some time now… and I was wondering if…Will you marry me?” He asked, fishing out the box and opening it. The candle light reflected off of the golden band, the center diamond shined like it had a light inside of it. Kit looked at the ring, her eyes wide.

“Yukio….Yes, I will marry you” Kit said, hugging her boyfriend turned fiancé. Yukio hugged back, overjoyed that she said yes.

“Sometimes if you pray enough, dreams do come true.” Yukio whispered as he kissed Kit again.

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I had originally wrote this with my ex's character in the role of Yukio, and so I removed Zynn and replaced it with Yukio, changing a few things, but over all it hadn't changed since I wrote it back in 2005.