Random Prompts

v.2

"They'll gut you and make you dance while your organs spill out of your fat little tummy," She'd said with a smile.

My grandma owned a small cottage deep in the woods, after I was abandoned on its outskirts, she'd gone walking, looking for herbs that were supposedly local, and found me. Her name was Altz, a shorter version of her true name, which regular people couldn't pronounce. She clothed and dressed me and in return, I obeyed her whim and didn't go farther or out of the woods. I kept beware of bright irregular lights in the dark forest and stayed in the shadows. I'd go out to collect herbs. But today she'd stopped me from my normal errands with a youthful hand and pulled me in front of the fireplace. A carpet that I'd swept off too many times with its intricate patterns that I'd get lost in. The Maze Carpet, I'd called it.

She gave me The Talk. Told me about the fae and the ancient trolls that lurked in the night.

"Today young one, I tell you of a tale that has been passed down generations throughout my own heritage. Listen closely, little foul because your detriment will always be linked to the stories of my people." I'd scooted close to Altz, her stories had always been weird but made sense when I was in the forest, working.

"The fae are tricky creatures, they make work of your damage and injury." Altz had lots of rules, weird ones, and plain simple ones. Today she'd added new ones, " Do not apologize to the forest. Do not say thank you. You hear a little foul?" I nodded. "A name is not one you need or to be given, trade is frowned upon in this house, deals, contracts, none of them. Be careful, watch for anything in the trees, and don't look at it directly in the face." But all of this I knew.

"Do not be afraid of the forest young foul, for it has raised you right."