Lord Wilfred Mandos, the protector of the Empire's Western borders, journeyed day and night once he received the words. "A brutal scene, all the victims' blood had been drained and splattered across the ground." Lord Dan's courier told him.
The Lords of the West had a particular interest in what happened around Westfort and Dark Forest. Nobody knew exactly what horrors were lurking in there, let alone the Scorched Lands. But it was a source of mysteries and fantasies, entertaining the entire Empire. For some, those were not fantasies, but most terrifying truths.
Wilfred arrived at the Lord Dan's Morrowvale camp, with a company of thirty riders and three knights, amongst them his oldest son and heir Alden.
Lord Dan had put up surrounding tents to guard the brutal scene. He did not want any civilians getting news of it. Further spreading rumours about the latest monstrosities roaming these lands. He had received Wilfred and Alden in person, but it was clear that he was in no mood for talking.
"Dear friend, it gladdens me deeply that you granted me my request." He said as Wilfred and Alden dismounted. "I regret, to once more, being the bearer of this sort of news."
"Thank you, my friend." Wilfred said humbly as he embraced Lord Dan. "I appreciate you are here in person to help us uncover this... Mysterious atrocity. Here, my son Alden. I bet you remember him since last time?"
Alden had now reached the age of eighteen. Being the son of a high lord, his parents had groomed him for governing since birth. It had made its mark, shaping his anguished looking face. Although, his humble ocean blue eyes balanced out the anguish with charm. He had left his golden-brown hair resting on the top of his tall and slender shoulders. He tried to put on a warm smile on his face.
Dan slowly approached him, eyeing Alden from top to toe. "Of course! He looks just like his father!" He embraced him with a firm, welcoming smile.
"Thank you, Lord Morrowvale." Alden said uncomfortably.
"Call me Dan!" He hugged Alden even harder. "No need for such formalities amongst us! We are basically family!"
Even though Lord Dan had pushed way above his fifties, he still kept a quick figure underneath his thick leather armour. On it was his house sigil, a lonely white mountain surrounded by green trees on a brown field. His eyes were devoid of life, bearing witness to a harsh past, filled with sorrows. His only son had died during the great civil war, The War of Brothers and his wife had joined shortly after.
Wilfred studied his son's reaction. He knew that Alden did not like people touching him; it had been like that ever since Alden had been a child. As soon as someone embraced him, he stiffened his entire body and later rejected them with a twitch. "A high lord can't resent the touch of other people." Wilfred had explained to his son so many times before. "High lords must appear warm and filled with emotions. Otherwise, they can never be loved or even related to. Your subjects will never accept a ruler they can't relate to. And men will never die for a Lord they don't love!"
Wilfred hoped Lord Dan would not notice Alden's uneasiness "Now then! Explain to me the situation. I just hope it is not as bad as your courier said it was."
Dan stepped away from Alden and told them about what had happened.
"Two nights ago, a merchant and his two partners asked for passage into the Scorched Lands." Lord Dan said, his voice filled with regret. "I gave him an escort of four men, to protect them from bandits. As he said he would be close to the Dark Forest."
Dan silenced for a moment and stepped away, scouting into the forest. "One man I gave him... Sean was his name... He was a real rock, careful and wise, he would never let them take any unnecessary risks. They had ventured out in the dusk and never came back." A wave of sudden anger appeared in his voice. "Now I think we have found them, at least five of them!" Dan pointed at two large tents, with extra sheets and flags. "There! We covered the scene from outsiders! We want no more stories going around, scaring my subjects!"
Dan whistled to his guard captain, who came immediately. "Take care of Lord Wilfred's men! Give them something nice to drink and eat. We will go to inspect the scene!"
Wilfred and Alden followed Lord Dan and his guards as they made their way through the small camp. Wilfred could feel how uneasy Dan felt about this, like he was to blame.
At the horrid scene, there were five mutilated corpses, surrounding something resembling a black totem, with heads from the mutilated bodies attached to it. The skin on the faces on the totem had been mutilated and burned, only leaving their eyes intact. The bodies themselves were spread out, forming a pentagon surrounding the totem. The hands and feet from the bodies had been cut and laid in a circle in the middle of the pentagon. There were black markings and strange symbols neatly carved into the skin of the torsos, which were pale, like all the blood had been drained from the bodies and now fertilising the ground beneath them.
Across the scene, there were men under Lord Dan's employ, investigating the dead bodies. Wilfred looked at his son, Alden was shocked, it seemed that he had lost the ability to speak, he just stood there unable to move, barely reacting to his surroundings.
It's just understandable. Wilfred thought. Death and gore were nothing new to himself. He had seen worse in his days, but the same didn't go for Alden. Wilfred was curious to know how his son truly felt about it.
"It is not like anything you have seen, is it?" Lord Dan asked.
Wilfred said nothing, he just looked at Lord Dan and nodded.
"What do you make of it?"
Wilfred was unsure, he knew that Lord Dan was a rational man; he didn't believe the unnatural stories people told about the Scorched Lands and Dark Forest. And neither did he. But as he witnessed this, his thoughts went to something more than just humans. Even though no such other things existed, not anymore at least.
"I am not sure..." Wilfred muttered.
Memories of his childhood suddenly came back to him. Stories from his grandparents of some unusual men or creatures, living in the forest. They lived in symbioses with the trees, using them as homes. They would never cut them down or do anything to harm them. They thought the forest itself was alive, and it decided who could enter and punished those who did so with ill intentions. It somehow didn't feel so alien to him for some odd reason, like he had lived it himself.
What nonsense! Wilfred snapped out of his childish thoughts. They almost amused him. Only my brother would believe such stories!
"I would like to know... more." Wilfred said. The surrounding men all quiet down to hear him talk. "Does anybody know what all these symbols mean? Why are they mutilated in such a way? What did they get out of it?"
"No, they have all their belongings with them. They even had some gold in their pockets." Lord Dan answered, shaking his head.
Wilfred stared at him, telling him with his eyes to continue.
"We do not know what the symbols mean, maybe some religion from the east, south? I do not know, you have been to more places than I have."
Wilfred walked up to a corpse, studying the markings on the chest.
"Yes, it does resemble something from the far east. If I am not mistaken." Wilfred said, doubting himself. He had never actually been to the far east, but he was too proud to admit that he had no clue. "But for now, we keep all the possibilities open. I do not see any weapons lying around. It is strange that the bandits took their weapons but left the gold in their pockets."
Wilfred once again eyed Dan, expecting an answer. "It was not a rhetorical question!"
"Well, maybe they were content with what they found already." Dan said, starting to get more confused with what Wilfred wanted to say. "Their horses are gone, all of them. The three merchants as well as my four soldiers had horses."
"You haven't heard about any stray horses, have you?" Wilfred asked.
Dan just shook his head. "No, we haven't..."
"Also, there are no marks from horses here." Wilfred went down squatting and started examining the ground. "Which means that they did not get killed here."
"That is for certain..." Dan answered.
Wilfred quickly raised himself. "They should have at least fought their attackers. You said it was four soldiers as escorts, didn't you?"
"Yes, it was." Dan answered. "More than capable fighters, all of them."
"They must have been killed somewhere else, probably in the forest. Then their bodies dragged here. But for what reason?" Wilfred said, looking at his son, he still seemed in shock.
Wilfred was awaiting a reply, but none came. Alden just looked back at him with empty eyes, unwilling to speak.
Speak up! Wilfred got disappointed by his son.
"Artists want to display their creation to a crowd..." Wilfred shook his head. He wandered around the site, inspecting the blood marks closer. Then he looked towards the edges of the Dark Forest. "Can you even bring horses inside there?" He asked.
Dan replied by lifting his shoulders, looking towards a nearby guard who pretended to not understand the hint. He sighed loudly before speaking again. "Better if you speak with the scout who discovered the site."
Lord Dan waved for one of the scouts, allegedly one of the first ones on arrival. He was standing in the shadows with another, looking into the forests, as they were expecting something to come out of it.
"Waldor! Come here!" Lord Dan shouted.
Waldor rushed towards them.
"You were the first on site, tell us what did you see when you got here?" Lord Dan commanded.
Waldor cleared his throat and straightened his back in the presence of the high lords. "We were out on a patrol and a black smoke caught our attention. We headed towards the smoke and then we discovered this... Totem..." Waldor said calmly as he had practised it. "The fire between the corpses had been burned out, the only thing still burning were their faces."
Waldor turned his head towards one corpse and pointed. "While we were closing in on the smoke, we heard terrible screams. But we do not know where they came from. It could not have been theirs, they had been long dead. And their heads were not on their bodies..."
"And there was nobody else here, was it?" Lord Dan asked, even though he knew the answer.
"No, but we could see branches of bushes and trees moving in the forest. Like they retreated once they saw us." Waldor answered.
"Did you follow them?" Wilfred asked.
Waldor shook his head. "No, there were only four of us, and they were in the forest already." Waldor stuttered. "They must have been a lot more than us, doing all this!"
"So, you did not want to catch the sons of whores who did this!?" Lord Dan roared towards Waldor.
"Of... off... of course... but..." Waldor stuttered further.
"Did you at least see them?" Wilfred asked. "Was it forest bandits or what? Or did you just try to run away?"
"No, we secured the perimeter... And... And..." Waldor started getting red and stuttered even more.
"No soldier of mine runs from some bandits, like some... Little girls." Lord Dan said with disappointment in his voice. "You will be reprimanded of this!"
"But we did not know. How could we! We had horses. And--" Waldor protested in desperation before getting interrupted by Wilfred.
"You did the right thing!" Wilfred said. "No wise commander would ever lead an attack into enemy lands with no intelligence nor vision. That is the perfect opportunity to get ambushed. Perhaps that was what got these men killed." Wilfred put his hand on Waldor's shoulder to calm him down.
Lord Dan crossed his arms. "However, this is just a forest, not enemy lands. Justice is obstructed when perpetrators flee the scene, and no one pursues them." He pointed out.
"You are right!" Wilfred said calmly. "But we do not know what we are dealing with here, do we?"
"Some sick, twisted sadistic bandits, that's for sure." Lord Dan answered.
Wilfred kneeled beside a scout in leather armour, investigating the wounds on one of the corpses. "What do you think, is this the work of bandits?" He asked.
The scout turned his head to answer Wilfred. "No, I have never seen bandits lay such a careful hand to a task."
"If it is not bandits, what is it then?" Lord Dan said, he started to lose his patience. "There is nothing out here. Could the followers of the New Way have ventured down so far south?"
The New Way was a utopian ideology. Believing that nature is sacred and should not be harmed no matter what. The followers thought that the old ways of greed, violence and working for material gains were abominable. Originally composed of less significant nobles, they got stripped of their lands and titles as they refused their lord's call to arms. They are rumoured to have established colonies in the great forests, living in symbiosis with nature. Like those in the stories Wilfred heard as a child, but, but of course, they are not supernatural. Although the New Way was not contained to the forests, they have many secret followers across the Empire.
"The New Way is not inhabiting this forest and they could never have done something like this." Wilfred answered.
Always blaming the New way, how could a bunch of pacifists be capable of this? Wilfred got annoyed by the suggestion. He had a feeling of dread surging through him. The living forest, punishing anything entering with ill attention. It does fit the descriptions in the stories.
"Then Bandits!" Lord Dan insisted.
"These lands are notorious for all its mysteries." Wilfred said. He now started to entertain the more unnatural explanation as his childhood memories came back to him
"People disappearing, strange encounters with mythical beings." Wilfred continued. "Even heard of children getting lured into rivers by a naked deity playing harp music. Either that, the New Way, or simply just bandits. Who knows? Either way, I assume it is time to investigate further what these trees really hide?" He pointed towards the Dark Forest.
Dan nodded. "It is indeed. Whatever they are, they are hiding in there! I would not have the bandits growing more confident and daring further raids into my lands!"
"In best case, it's some sick bandits doing human sacrifice or some other wicked ritual. In the worst case, this is a warning or message for us that more is to come."
Wilfred's son Alden started to get a hold on himself and joined the conversation. "You told us that there were seven in total who went out." He said nervously. "Where are the other two, and who are the dead ones here?"
Lord Dan didn't appear to know that either. He looked at his guard captain for an answer.
"They are all so mutilated, it is impossible to tell who is who." The guard captain answered. "However, you can see on the boots laying there on the ground, there are six boots like mine, the other four are not soldier boots. Thus at least three of them would be the guard escort, the other two must be from the merchants."
"What happened to the other merchant and the last soldier?" Alden said curiously as he looked towards the Dark forest.
Wilfred looked at Dan, who just shook his shoulders.
At the break of dawn, Wilfred and Alden, with their company, rode back home to their home, Sail's End. After investigating the scene of the corpses, Wilfred and Dan had been discussing the next course of action, during dinner at Westfort before the night. The childhood memories of the stories of the forest creatures had disturbed Wilfred deeply. He thought about it all night. He had barely slept.
"I want help from the Capital, if we are going to secure the borders and send expeditions into the Dark forest." Wilfred briefed Alden while riding, about his discussion with Lord Dan the night before. "At least two thousand men. That was what Lord Dan had demanded."
Wilfred's guard captain, Sir Heim, raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "Two thousand men?" He said with a degrading tone. "What is he going to do with them, chop down the entire forest?"
Wilfred shrugged his shoulders. "Yes, that was one of the options. The other option was simply to patrol the entire Western border. While sending deep exploration teams."
"Does he need two thousand men for that?" Alden asked.
"No!" Sir Heim shouted out loud. "Probably a tenth of that, there is nothing to the West but the blasted Scorched Lands! Lord Dan has always had a sense of drama." The company of knights joined in laughter.
Wilfred did not, however. "I will send him a hundred men to assess the situation." He snapped. "Just to show him I do something. Let's leave it at that!"
Wilfred would in the coming days, journey to the Capital, Avenheim, for a different matter. He had told Lord Dan he would try to get support, but he couldn't promise anything. The Capital cared little about what happened outside the Capital itself, further fewer thousands of miles away. A great laughter would most likely be the outcome of Wilfred's request.
Wilfred expected the crown prince to simply wave his arm, commanding him to burn down the forest, then be done with it.
Wilfred got distracted from his deep thoughts as Alden stared at him for attention. "Father, you have been acting strange since we left Westfort this morning. What is wrong, do you feel dreaded after the scene yesterday?"
Wilfred kept riding forth without answering.
"Father?" Alden repeated.
Wilfred slowed down. The rest of the column followed.
"Forgive me." Wilfred said regretfully. "It is nothing. I just got lost in my thoughts. Do not worry about me."
Alden didn't seem to believe him.
"But I appreciate you worrying about me." Wilfred said with a smile.
"Is it hard for you to see such mutilations? Are you afraid that this will continue?" Alden asked.
"I have seen more twisted things than this during my days." Wilfred said with a calm and warm voice. "Do not trouble yourself with this matter. Lord Dan will catch the responsible and bring them to justice."
Wilfred increased his speed, trying to close the conversation, but Alden followed his act.
"But you heard what the scout said, the one investigating one corpse, he believed they were very sophisticated." Alden protested. "You saw the markings too, but you said nothing."
"There is nothing in the forest, just some outlaws escaping justice. Dan's men just got ambushed while trying to apprehend them!"
"The stories you told us yourself when we were mere children!" Alden answered with a loud, determined voice. "Druids and elves inhabited the forest, catching lone wanderer's who entered."
Alden persisted even though Wilfred seemed to be disturbed by what he said. "Uncle Thomas mentioned strange markings in his stories, about those who visited him during the nights at Westfort. It looked familiar to what he drew."
Wilfred just shook his head. His brother was half-mad. He had always loved telling stories to everyone about magical creatures he spent time with when visiting the fringes of the Great forests and Westfort. He danced with them, drank with them and some he even slept with. Or so he had claimed in the stories. Wilfred wasn't sure if Thomas believed it himself, or if he just enjoyed sharing his wild imagination. Now he felt even more disturbed as Alden kept talking about it. He had seen the markings Alden spoke of before. He knew it deep inside, like a memory he had forgotten. But now he pushed his thoughts away and started galloping.
"Your uncle is crazy!" Wilfred shouted to his son as he rode far away from him. "I pray for you to not become like him. But I will surely ask next time we see him!"
Alden cursed to himself and took place in the column behind Sir Heim.