Persephilia in the Dark Woods
By: Laura
Once upon a time, in the beautiful kingdom of Aurogatus, there lived a beautiful princess named Persephilia. She was a beautiful, happy princess, with long, flowing hair the color of spun gold, and piercing, ice blue eyes. She lived in a happy family with her loving parents, the king and queen of Aurogatus. Her family was loved by the people of the kingdom, for they were ruling the kingdom well, and the people were well-fed and happy. Her younger sister Amelinia was also beautiful and kind (although not nearly as beautiful as Persephilia).
Persephilia was leading a happy, productive life, until one fateful day. The day that changed her life started just like any other day. She was in her room, reading a book about the healing of ailments through magic, when the Queen, Sandinia, came into her chamber. "Dearest Persephilia, thou hath been locked away in thy room for hours, do thoust not think it wise to take a stroll through the gardens?"
"Dearest mother, I do think that you are right, a stroll in the gardens would be quite lovely," responded Persephilia as she set her book on her bed. She wrapped a shawl around her shoulders and headed out the palace doors into the crisp autumn air.
She wandered through the palace gardens, past flowering bushes, and around the fountains that sprayed water ten feet into the air. As she continued on she wandered out of the gardens and into the fields of wild-flowers that lay beyond. Wandering through the field, she saw a butterfly. She followed it as it flitted from flower to flower, and before she even realized it Persephilia found herself inside of the black forest.
Every child in the kingdom of Aurogatus knew better than to wander into the black forest. It was rumored that once you stepped in you could never get out, or at least not alive. In the black forest there were terrible things, the things of nightmares, the things that make your skin crawl and a chill go up your spine.
And now she was trapped. Trapped with no way out but to face the terrors and to make it through alive and out the other side. So, with tears in her eyes she began to walk…deeper and farther into the woods. As she walked ,it got darker and darker until she could not see her own hand in front of her face.
After she had been wandering for quite some time, she stumbled upon her first obstacle. Well, she didn't really stumble, but ran smack into it face first. When she looked up she had to cover her mouth to stop herself from screaming. She had run right into an ogre. It was huge, slimy, pond-scum green, with bulging red eyes and claws that could gouge your intestines out if it wanted to. "What are you doing in my forest?" the ogre said in a surprisingly high-pitched voice, that grated in her ears, like fingernails on a blackboard.
"I am merely a passerby. I must pass by you and get to the other side ,so if you would please excuse me, I would appreciate it." she responded.
"You cannot pass until you answer me these questions three. How do you spell 'Buoy'?
"Buoy. B-U-O-Y. Buoy, " said Persephilia.
"Yes. What is the name of the knight that threw Excalibur into the Lake?" asked the ogre, mennacingly.
"Now that one is more difficult, but I do believe that the answer is Sir Bedivere." she responded quickly.
"Argh. You must spell the word, Walpurgisnacht. Bwahahaha," the ogre cackled evilly.
"Walpurgisnacht. W-A-L-P-U-R-G-I-S-N-A-C-H-T. Walpurgisnacht," replied Persephinia coolly, "Now may I please pass?"
"Yes. You may pass....but beware, you can run but you cannot hide," said the ogre with an evil gleam in her eyes.
She then brushed past the ogre and continued on her way through the woods. She wandered up hills and over trickling streams. On her way she passed very few obstacles. Every once in a while she would come across an troll or a centaur, but very few of them put up a fight and allowed her to pass without much struggle.
After several hours of wandering without anything terrible happening, Persephilia began to let down her guard, hardly expecting the terrors that awaited her. After the long hours of wandering Persephilia had become very weary, and not so far down the path she spotted a clearing with a cool stream and berries to eat.
When she reached the edge ,she looked in, decided it was safe, and stepped onto the cool mossy ground of the clearing. But no more had she set down her foot than she felt the sensation of falling, and everything around her grew dark. She landed with a thud ,and it took her several seconds to realize that she had fallen into a cleverly hidden trap.
She regained her bearings and rose to her feet. Using the light that seeped through the roof of her earthen prison, she began to examine her surroundings. It appeared to be a large, dark, musty cave, with an odd orange glow shining from some distance down the corridor. She almost jumped when she noticed that she was not alone in the room, there were several other beings, which looked to be humans about her own age. She approached one of them and asked how long they had been in trapped in the cave.
"I have only been here for a short time," she whispered in return, "but you must be quiet, a monster lurks down that corridor yonder, and he will eat you if you disturb his rest."
At this news, Persephilia's heart began to fill with dread, for she was brave, but not so brave as to face a fire-breathing, human-eating beast. But despite her fear, she was not stupid, and she knew that in order to escape her prison she would have to face the beast.
So with trembling feet she began her walk down the corridor towards the distant orange glow. She approached the beast and got a closer look at it. It was a reddish orange color with the body of a lion, the face of what looked like a very ugly man, and long tail with a razor sharp stinger at the end that vaguely resembled that of a scorpion. She recognised it out of one of the books that she had read about deadly beasts. She picked through her memory trying to come up with the name of the beast, when finally she realized that it was a manticore.
She knew that manitcores were extremely dangerous and had a tendency to eat young humans. So she approached it with caution, and asked, "What is your purpose in keeping me here? "
"Haha! You have fallen into my trap, and I shall keep you here forever," the manticore growled.
If he will not cooperate with us, then we shall have to escape of our own accord, she thought to herself, and began to hatch a plan in her head. Her eyes filled with tears, and she began to sob, "Fine then. I shall stay." And she walked away pretending to sob. The manticore, being heartless and cruel, did not care and merely laY down and went back to sleep.
Persephilia went back to the other children and called a meeting of them all. As they sat down in a circle, she began speaking, "We must formulate an escape plan. And quickly. The beast is sleeping but who knows for how long. I have been thinking, we must drug that elixir that he is always drinking, create some sort of ladder, and climb up and out of the cave. And I intend to do it now. I will not stay in this cave for a moment more than necessary. Does anybody have any ideas about how to make a ladder?"
One of the girls spoke up, " Could we not take long strips of fabric from our skirts and tie them together to make a ladder?"
Next, one of the boys raised his hand and began to speak, "That is an exquisite idea. And you know those herbs, that grow by that wall," he said, pointing to a small bush of a green plant by the far wall of the cave, "if one eats the leaves of that plant, they will fall into a deep, deep sleep that lasts for several hours."
" Good. Good. Very Good. I do think that this plan shall work. Now, it is the duty of the boys to poison the beast, and we girls shall take our skirts and create a ladder," said Persephilia.
The children then began to work. The boys began to mash the leaves into a pulp and stir it into the Elixir that the beast made them bring him daily. The girls tore their petticoats into long thin strips and braided them together to make a rope ladder, with which to escape.
When everyone was finally finished, they all crossed their fingers and the bravest boy delivered the Elixir to the manticore. " What has taken you so long, you foolish little boy?" the manticore snarled.
"I am so sorry master, it will not take so long, ever again," he said meekly and walked as quickly as his feet could carry him back down the corridor.
"Did you do it? Did it work," the children whispered when he got back.
"I think so. Now we must only wait for five minutes for the Elixir to start working," he said, "Girls, is your ladder prepared?"
After the girls reassured him that it was ready, they sat down and waited for five minutes until they were sure that the Elixir had worked. They then threw the ladder up and over a large tree root that was at the top of the caves entrance. First, the boys climbed out and then they helped the girls up the rope and over the edge and back into the dark forest.
Never had Persephilia been so happy to know that she was in the Dark Woods. A feeling of relief washed over her for she knew that no matter the obstacles that she would encounter, none could ever be so bad as that which she had overcome.