A Walk in the Woods

It was a cool fall day when I took a walk
A forest lies right outside my house has become my escape
In this forest, troubles do not molest or stalk.
If I am not careful, I could easily lose myself forever.

Recently fallen leaves crunch under my step.
I inhale the thin air deeply as if it was an addictive drug
Around bushes and between trees I crept
The only sound audible being the pounding of my heart.

I froze in the unnatural silence of the wood.
Shouldn’t there be chirping birds and scuttling animals?
Wandering further, I suddenly realized where I stood.
There was a reason I kept returning to this forest.

Lying in the clearing was a stunning black horse.
Resting comfortably in the foliage that surrounds the clearing.
Stiffly I lower myself onto the moist dirt, not wanting to startle it out of force.
I start as the stud swiftly rises from the ground and whinnies.

Suddenly a slender figure leaps from the shade of an ancient pine.
Adorned in gold and opaque blue, the figure snapped its head at me.
He had pale skin and a lean figure, his dark green eyes boring into mine.
He was like a cardboard cut-out from a fantasy novel.

Bow and arrow attached to his slim shoulders, he bounded to the stud.
The horse nickers in delight as the man pats its head.
However his attention flickers back to me, sitting in the mud.
His thin nose crinkles with disgust and takes a step toward me.

He reaches for his bow, knocks an arrow, and points it between my eyes.
I cower in fear, beads of sweat rolling down my face mingling with my tears.
Just as he was preparing to let go, from the depths of the forest came the sharp cries of a bird.
The man lowers his bow quickly, glancing at the wood with annoyance.

He glares at me and spits at me with intricate and ancient words that ring in my at the sky ears.
He then turns from me to sprint to his steed and quickly mounts.
With a swift kick the beast leaped into a gallop and through the trees he steers.
I sighed deeply the breath that I had been convinced was my last.

Something on the ground catches my eye, glittering in the sun.
I cautiously rise and walk to the mysterious object.
Something inside me stirs as I realize these strange happenings had only just begun.
Resting in the grass was a glittering silver ring with a ruby set carefully into the band.

My hands tremble as I pick it up, feeling that somehow this ring had a meaning.
Turning it in my hand I see a deep engraving that made my heart skip a beat.
My name was delicately etched into the silver, its thin edges gleaming.
I slid it on my finger, snapped out of my distraction and let out a chilling scream.

I was surrounded by elves, all staring at me with their eyes of cold stone.
My screams became muffled as if my mouth had been bound shut.
Dread filled my heart as I felt an unseen force paralyze me to the bone.
The man from earlier stepped forward and tossed me over his shoulder.

The journey through the forest felt like eternity to my aching limbs.
The man, whatever he was, was not gentle as he bounded across the ground.
I hear multiple muffled footsteps keeping pace behind him.
Eventually he slows to a stop and shoves me off of his shoulder to the hard dirt.

I squint up at the sky to see a towering gate glowing dimly in the evening light.
Stern hands grasped my ankles and began to drag me forward through the gate.
Everything inside shimmers with light and elves swarmed around us with faces of fright.
Finally the dragging ceased and I felt the spell on my bones dissolve.

I slowly sat up and looked around and the gawking faces of the crowd.
Directly in front of me sat two large and majestic thrones in which sat their king and queen.
The king looked at me with what seemed to be kindness that encased me in a shroud.
He then looked at the man who had taken me captive with an intense glare.

"Why have you treated your sister in such a manner?" his authoritative voice boomed.
"Don’t you know that she is a princess as much as you are a prince?"
The statement hit me like a punch in the face, but also told me I was not doomed.
The so-called 'prince' fell to his knees begging for forgiveness.

My heart was hammering at the speed of light, my breath rushing in and out of my lungs.
I squeeze my eyes shut in an attempt to escape from this crazy event, gritting my teeth.
I jolt awake and sit up in my bed, tasting blood in my mouth from biting my tongue.
It had been a dream, a really believable and terrifying dream, but a dream nonetheless.

I smile and laugh softly, thinking my imagination was way out of control.
I slowly drifted back to sleep, not taking a second glance at my night stand.
On it laid the ring from my dream, its stone now turned black as coal.
Maybe one day I'd wake up from my dream, maybe a walk in the woods would help.