To avoid her mistake last time and waking up in a rival land, she took many side trails in hopes that they would lead her in the direction she wanted to go. She didn't have a map on her, nor did she know the forest well, but she learned how to track direction by stars and the horizon in boarding school in secret. Those skills weren't offered to ladies attending, but nobody stopped her from taking out a navigation book from their tiny library while she was attending the school. And she hoped that she remembered enough to keep her from getting completely lost.
Large forests were scattered all over Caledonia, engulphing fields, towns, farms, and roads in their bodies, hiding them from view unless you were above the canopy all together, flying with the birds. Most of them, the only thing a traveler would have to worry about was large predators, but there were some that had superstition dripping from every leave. There was one in particular that had given Maisie nightmares as a child. The legend of it is used as a warning to the clans that good fortune always comes at a cost. A poor unfortunate little town had nestled itself on the borders of the forest a long time ago and had used the labyrinth of trees that was home to a plentiful of animals as one of their main sources of food and began to prosper. Then all of the sudden, townsfolk started to disappear; children, men, and women all started to go at different times of the year to never be seen again until a small force of hunters decided they would search the surrounding forest. What they found sent them all running back.
Each person that had gone missing was found hanging by their necks by a rope; one on every tree. No one knows till this day what caused them all to do that, but the town has since then been inhabited. The skeletons of houses the only thing left as a reminder of what had happened.
Maisie could feel the nightmares creeping back and she had to shake her head in an attempt to divert her mind to something else, but it seemed that an icy finger was determined to continue to run down her spine. Her eyes began to scan all around her and her sudden nervous even seeped down to Ogma who's ears twitched at every sound. All around her the trees started to look exactly like the last hundreds of trees she just saw and the shadows between them deeper. Then, as she was returning her gaze to the trail ahead of her, she had to pull up on Ogma's reins as a little girl materialized out of nowhere a couple feet in front of Ogma's nose. She managed to stop Ogma just in time before she ran over the girl, who barely even blinked at her near painful death. Ogma protested in snorts and shakes of her head, but Maisie didn't care at the moment. Her entire attention was on the girl who stared up at her with the lightest green eyes she has ever seen and long white hair braided in two braids. The girl stared at her, seemingly to look though Ogma and straight to Maisie. The girl's lips parted as if she was about to speak, but instead of words, a sudden high pitch scream pierced through the air. As Maisie hands automatically raised to cover her ears, Ogma reared up in fright knocking Maisie off the saddle. She landed hard on her back, the force winding her and as she attempted to regain her breath the little girl stood over her, a noose now hanging from her neck, the end of the rope touching her face. The girl's eyes slowly fogged over, and her face began to decay before her eyes, the scream progressing louder and more hoarse.
Large forests were scattered all over Caledonia, engulphing fields, towns, farms, and roads in their bodies, hiding them from view unless you were above the canopy all together, flying with the birds. Most of them, the only thing a traveler would have to worry about was large predators, but there were some that had superstition dripping from every leave. There was one in particular that had given Maisie nightmares as a child. The legend of it is used as a warning to the clans that good fortune always comes at a cost. A poor unfortunate little town had nestled itself on the borders of the forest a long time ago and had used the labyrinth of trees that was home to a plentiful of animals as one of their main sources of food and began to prosper. Then all of the sudden, townsfolk started to disappear; children, men, and women all started to go at different times of the year to never be seen again until a small force of hunters decided they would search the surrounding forest. What they found sent them all running back.
Each person that had gone missing was found hanging by their necks by a rope; one on every tree. No one knows till this day what caused them all to do that, but the town has since then been inhabited. The skeletons of houses the only thing left as a reminder of what had happened.
Maisie could feel the nightmares creeping back and she had to shake her head in an attempt to divert her mind to something else, but it seemed that an icy finger was determined to continue to run down her spine. Her eyes began to scan all around her and her sudden nervous even seeped down to Ogma who's ears twitched at every sound. All around her the trees started to look exactly like the last hundreds of trees she just saw and the shadows between them deeper. Then, as she was returning her gaze to the trail ahead of her, she had to pull up on Ogma's reins as a little girl materialized out of nowhere a couple feet in front of Ogma's nose. She managed to stop Ogma just in time before she ran over the girl, who barely even blinked at her near painful death. Ogma protested in snorts and shakes of her head, but Maisie didn't care at the moment. Her entire attention was on the girl who stared up at her with the lightest green eyes she has ever seen and long white hair braided in two braids. The girl stared at her, seemingly to look though Ogma and straight to Maisie. The girl's lips parted as if she was about to speak, but instead of words, a sudden high pitch scream pierced through the air. As Maisie hands automatically raised to cover her ears, Ogma reared up in fright knocking Maisie off the saddle. She landed hard on her back, the force winding her and as she attempted to regain her breath the little girl stood over her, a noose now hanging from her neck, the end of the rope touching her face. The girl's eyes slowly fogged over, and her face began to decay before her eyes, the scream progressing louder and more hoarse.
" Begone spirit! I am not the one you seek revenge on! Return to your rest!" Maisie yelled back, finally getting her breath back again. She sat up waving her hands in front of her, but the spirit of the girl remained, her hands just wafting through. Maisie could see Ogma stomping around in a circle, still quiet frightened and anxious. "Suaimhneach, (Calm), Ogma. Suaimhneach!" But Maisie wasn't calm herself, therefore Ogma didn't heed to her command. Between the scream on the spirit, Ogma's huffs and stomps, and Maisie's yelling, she was surprised nothing nearby heard them, but if anything had, she didn't know what it would be. This whole area was rumoured to be covered in spirtits
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