“They say time heals all wounds, but that presumes the source of the grief is finite.”

- Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince

"Alarm!"

Behind the light from the bullseye lantern, three figures were dimly visible. Grimacing, he squinted his eyes, his vision blurry by the sudden illumination. Calvin could barely make out a crossbow, two spears, and probably brigandine armor.

Truly they looked like bandits; they talked like bandits; they acted like bandits even the tabard with the Nordmark crest could not help matters.

"Slowly raise your hands!"

"a...a..and drop the staff!" The smallest of the three nervously shouted and whispered to his companions, "That's a wizard staff! Saw it in a play!"

"Idiot!" The bulky man beside him cuffed him on the head and the crossbow discharged with a loud 'twang' narrowly missing Calvin and then skidded along the wall sparking as the iron bolt hit some flint-stone.

Embarrassed silence reigned until someone somewhere took up the alarm call, and clattering from several running persons, as well as a sharp crack from a door, slammed into a wall, spoke of some belated reaction to the shouting.

Grabbing a wand from his hip, he leveled the crystalline tip at the burly leader of the small group and injected some mana. With a rushing sound like a sail snapping in the wind, an azure bolt impacted the metal plates protecting the chest area with a loud crack shrapnel cut across the ground and the other two thugs while blood sprayed.

"Aaaah, get…" violent coughing interrupted whatever he wanted to say, and with only a second of hesitation, his two compatriots attacked. In the scuffle, the lantern fell to the ground and shattered, spreading a pool of burning oil that illuminated the scene with unsteady, flickering light.

A spear slashed from the side caught Calvin on the hip, and a burning numbness spread from the superficial cut where the coat had failed to catch the point. Hissing with the pain, he shot another bolt and hit the smaller brigand in the upper left leg.

"I'm hit!" Screaming hysterically, the weasely man backpedaled, stabbing frantically at Calvin.

Shouts from the main house sounded a lot closer this time, and a cloud drifted from the moon, and the whole scenery was bathed in soft white light so that he could clearly see the undead emerging from the ramp in a shuffling sort of run. Greenish light flickered in dead pupils, decayed flesh stretched across dry bones, ripping where the jaws opened wider than nature intended.

Cursing under his breath, the wizard jumped back, sheathed the wand, and incanted a short air spell.

"Father! There is the intruder!" The middle-aged, robed woman from the cellar lifted a humanoid thighbone, and a missile formed from dark energies shot forward. Hastily summoned flames shielded Calvin, but he felt the drain on his magic. What he wouldn't give for a gate!

In the underground cellar, he had not had the best vantage point and only seen her from behind, so he was surprised to see a sharply cut but still pretty face ravaged by void use and paler than the moon. The woman raised the rod she was holding for another blast, and he put strength into his leg muscles. Jumping with the assistance of his wind magic, he rose above the top of the wall.

"No, you don't!" The woman spat another formula, and the darkness beneath him birthed writhing tentacles of black shadowy matter grasping for his legs. Desperately he pointed his warstaff and gathered fire energies before shooting a ball of roiling flames at the ground rapidly coming up.

Orb and tentacles vanished in an explosion of heat and light; he curled in on himself, shielding his face and arms with the enchanted coat, but his legs were not so lucky, and he suppressed a scream as the flames cooked exposed skin and the leather trousers grew hot enough to hurt.

Several crossbow bolts sailed past as he unceremoniously impacted the walkway, skidding to a stop against the raised parapet. Groaning, he took stock of his injuries and, feeling pain but no further impaired movement, he quickly thanked Meloris before gingerly raising his head to look back over the side. He quickly pressed his head down again as a new series of bolts impacted around his lying position. Hearing some of the soldiers running up the stairs of the tower nearby, he made up his mind and, with the wind spell still reducing his weight, simply threw himself over the parapet rattling down the outside of the wall toward the ground below.

"Don't let him escape! Who gets me his head with or without the rest gets ten gold pieces!"

Struggling to his feet, Calvin made good use of his still active spellwork and, jumping over the scraggly growth of pines and underbrush, soon reached the neighboring hill. Focusing anew, he formed another spell, then swallowing nervously, he jumped from the steeply slanted side of the hill toward the Sleepy Green below. The moonlight glittered on the ice-free central part, and with a sharp jerk, the winds grabbed his body, letting him glide toward the other side.

Shouts from below and behind signaled that he had been seen. 'Nothing for it. I need some time to care for my wounds.'

Rushing downward faster than he was comfortable, he anxiously adjusted his posture and, with a final exertion, slowed his fall to tolerable levels before crashing into the densely wooded river bank and through the undergrowth before finally coming to rest beneath a large birch tree.

Grimacing away the new pain of scratches and bruising, he grabbed a small flask from his hip, and seeing that it had broken and was leaking some syrupy fluid, he shrugged and applied the viscous potion to his smarting ankles. Soon the soothing magic contained in the brew began to alleviate his pain, and the cracked and bleeding skin slowly closed. Even in the moonlight, he thought he could see the receding redness. 'When I get back, I have to thank Ms. Jangres for her expertise.'

Grabbing his staff and using it as a walking aid, he hobbled deeper into the forest before he lost sight of the river he could barely make out several torches on the distant bridge.

Reaching the clearing where he had left horse and companions, he braced himself for possible disappointment.

The moon was setting over the hills, and the stars shone coldly in the dry clear air when Vanessa and Iseret finally reached the sacred grove.

Iseret, who had been trailing her friend, gave a quiet gasp when the scenery hidden by ancient enchantment was finally revealed. Amid the snow and cold bloomed a garden, not man-made but overgrown bushes and weeds scattered around some boulders covered in lichen and moss, flowers disregarding the seasons hung from their boughs and a small spring gurgled between roots thicker than a grown man's legs. A soft mist hung in the air, and an ethereal light golden and green in equal parts glowed softly from an unknown source without disturbing the imagery of a nighttime forest.

"Beautiful." Iseret softly whispered in Vanessa's ear.

The small elf grinned a bit smugly, "That is only to be expected of one the holy groves of Irkonos." Her face soon fell as she saw the fresh graves dotting the clearing. "I would not have thought it possible." She sighed.

"Why? Never seen a priceless work of art melted for its worth in metal? Never seen a jilted lover disfigure his unwilling object of affection?" Iseret whispered with some bitterness.

"Perhaps I was too naive," Vanessa answered uncharacteristically subdued.

Iseret saw her friend's depressed mood and stroked her back with a quick and soft gesture.

While they were overlooking the quiet grove, a large form rose from the side of the giant oak tree in the center. The silhouette had large animalistic ears and raised its head, sniffing the air.

"Wolf-Tribe." Vanessa quietly remarked. "Good."

"Are we needed then?" Iseret leaned toward and whispered in Vanessa's ear, causing her to shrink her neck shyly.

"Not necessarily, but I would nevertheless like to ask. Coming all this way and going before the danger has passed would be ironic and useless, wouldn't it?"

"I will wait here then and back you up as needed. At least it's warmer here."

Vanessa nodded and dissolved into mist before her form solidified again near the oak tree.

"I come in peace to inquire about Sirviel." The voice of the elf cut through the silence like a silver knife.

Suddenly the clearing became lively again, and four large men with axes ready surrounded the smaller girl as if by magic, surging from behind boulders and out of the dense undergrowth.

"Who are you?" A deep rumbling voice came from the one resting beside the tree, raising himself to an impressive height of perhaps two and a half meters.

"My name is Vanessa'ellariel Erellathiel. I know Sirviel. Feel free to ask her if you'd like to confirm."

"An elf. How interesting. I am Mordrak Redfang, a trailrunner of the Evenshade Tribe. You smell of old blood and death, and I cannot hear your heart. What are you truly?"

"I am what I said, but you could say I was cursed by her who drove my kin to ruin. I heard that dryads had been slain, and because of my friendship with Sirviel and the old bonds of my kindred and the forest sisters, I came to see what I could do to help."

"Mh." Mordrak tilted his head to the side and, with a languid gesture, touched the tree beside him. "Sirviel, I ask that you show yourself. There is a question I would like you to answer."

The clearing was silent and still again and even the brisk breeze blowing for most of the night seemed to subside a bit.

Gold-green light blossomed and a woman strode out of the side of the tree. Dark eyes came to rest on Vanessa, and the dryad lowered herself to better see her face.

Vanessa slowly, so as to not alarm the warriors surrounding her, brushed back the hood of her cloak, and pale hair fell in waves around her shoulders. Blue-white light glimmered in her large eyes.

"Is that you, princess? I thought you long lost to the sunlit dream." A voice like the spring gurgling among the roots caressed her ears.

"Yes, Sirviel. It is me. Or at least, what's left." Vanessa sighed self-deprecatingly.

The dryad strode closer, birch-staff in hand, and the wolf-tribe guardians slowly made way.

"You are much changed from the green sapling I once knew. Growth has gone and become stagnation, and life is changed to stillness. Where once you were a part, now you are the whole, and no roots are left." Sadness lingered in every word.

"At least you still live." Vanessa smiled bleakly.

"My sisters have left and gone back where it all began. Only I remain here. Perhaps that is something we share." Dark eyes glittering in the ambient light focused on Vanessa's glowing orbs.

"So you do know her?" The patiently waiting Mordrak asked.

"Yes, she played among my branches when we were much younger. Hundreds of seasons past." Sirviel stroked the staff in her hand, and new leaves sprouted along her caress.

"So she is a friend?"

"She is a friend, though much changed and unfamiliar after all this time."

"Good enough. Welcome to the grounds of the Evenshade tribe."

Calvin frantically looked around the small dell they had hidden the horse in, gasping for breath. And sighed in relief when he spotted the silhouette of his trusty mount, even more so as he saw that it was ready to leave at any time, saddlebags and harness secured.

"We heard some shouting from the fort. Is everything alright?" Kira, the quiet dark-haired hunter's daughter, asked concernedly.

Gina, the diminutive blonde, looked around nervously.

"I was discovered and could flee. They cannot follow the way I took but will come here soon enough. We should leave!"

"Are you injured?" Gina asked.

"Just some scrapes." Calvin smiled at her, grateful for her concern. "Kira? Can you lead the way? Going upstream away from the road and the fort would be best."

"That could be difficult with the horse…." She trailed off.

"We will have to manage somehow." The wizard patted the horse's rump and frowned unhappily at the surrounding forest.

Gauging the direction, the small river probably originated in Hundred-Streams to the north.

Distant calls drifted on the wind, and Calvin clenched his teeth, focusing on the next steps. "Let's go. It will not get better by waiting."

Kira did not wait for him to say anything else and decisively walked up to the forest's edge before vanishing between the trees.

Following they soon left the small dell.