Dark Woods

Prologue

The mourn was brightening with the dawn of a new day,

As the small group slowly made their way,

They had been running or walking through most of the night,

Through forest and canyons during their precarious flight,

They came to a ravine with a mighty river surging below,

With cliffs on either side and not able to go back they had nowhere to go,

The enemy crept closer and closer to the small band,

Is this going to be the place where they make their final stand,

The enemy closed in and could see the fear and desperation in their eyes,

As the sun crested the horizon and a crimson light lit the sky,

Then out of nowhere one of the scouts appeared as she crashed through the trees,

“A crossing I have found," she said trying to catch her breath, “Quickly follow me,"

As the arrows and spears hit the ground around them as they fled,

Through the trees from which the scout came to a narrow trail she led,

The trail twisted and turned with a cliff face on one side and a fall to your death on the other,

For one of the party members found out when he almost lost his brother,

Faster and faster down the narrow trail, they ran as the arrows fell from the sky,

Around a corner, the party went, “there's the crossing”, the scout cried,

An old tree had fallen across the ravine and they ran across as fast as they could,

As the last party member crossed the enemy appeared at the edge of the Dark Wood,

All at once, the party grabbed the tree that had fallen across the ravine,

As the enemy began to cross the party pushed and shoved the tree till it fell with the enemy and could not be seen,

They then turned and headed back into the forest,

As arrows once again filled the sky and as the small party ran they barely missed,

They ran for what seemed many, many miles,

With legs burning and lungs gasping for breath they stopped for a little while,

Looking back through the woods nothing could be seen or heard,

“I think we finally lost them,” one of the members said gasping between each word,

Making sure they were not followed the small party then rested beneath an old oak tree,

“That was close”, one of them said as he got down on one knee,

“To close,” another member said as she looked at the small party huddled together,

A boy and a girl, an elf, a couple of dwarfs, and a goblin all looked around at each other.