Dragoness_Cutie

Ooo... I might have to post my story up here for some review... I thought I had posted a thread for it already, but I guess not. So... here it is!

A short story of mine that I wrote a while back and recently reworked. Only three and a half pages long, so hope it's not too long of a read for you guys... Well anways... give it a look and tell me what you think!


"Ylfedra's Memories"

A young-looking sprite looked over the cold expanse that was her homeâ€..?the new fallen snow, the rolling hills, the stark, colorless trees with their bare winter branchesâ€..?and she sighed deeply at the serenity of its quiet vastness. For as long as she could remember, since she was born and the forest began, her job had been to protect this land and all that dwelled in it. Every tree branch, snowflake, and squirrel was under her protection when the land was covered with snow and the winds brought cold from the north. Of course it was not her duty alone; the other winter sprites had the same job and, as a rule, helped each other whenever possible. Ylfedra, as this winter sprite was known, often had the task of causing the wind to blow harder to obliterate the tracks of a deer or raccoon being pursued by those vile creatures called man. They hunted for sport, unlike the other animals of the forest, and destroyed all they came in contact with.

Because of how they treated the forest, Ylfedra hated the humans, or in her own language, the kreetayuhs, roughly translated as the great destroyers. To keep them from harming her charges, Ylfedra would often use her magic to cause them to lose their way or to forget why they were there. In either case, the magicked kreetayuhs would usually fumble along the trail they had made in the snow and leave. As soon as they had, the Mistress of the Forest, Ylfedra, would call the wind across the snow, and all trace of the vile man-creatures would leave with them.

Though men, and those of her area in particular, were not evil, Ylfedra was prejudiced against them because they were not like the other animals. It seemed to her that their heightened intelligence brought with it a carelessness that was unspeakable. When they came into the forest, they never seemed to leave things alone, were never content to see the forests’ beauty as it was. They always had to change it and cause harm; cut paths through the trees instead of just parting the branches with their hands, killed animals for sport or frightened them, cut down trees, and other such similar things.

One day in particular stood out in the Mistress Ylfedra’s mind. As was her custom, on that day she woke when the sky began to sing the praises of the sun, bidding good-bye to the moon as she left the sky to sleep. The sprite had gone around the boundaries of her land and made sure none of the wretched kreetayuhs had entered in the night. As she went, she healed broken branches, looked in on the hibernating squirrels, and smiled down at the rabbits and groundhogs in their burrows. She brushed the tips of winter flowers, crystallizing their beautiful petals with frozen dew. Then she moved inward, towards the center of her lands, spiraling around until she reached it and the great oak that grew there. Here in the heart of her forest was where the other sprites slept, awaiting their seasons to arise.

Inside the hollow of the great oak lay Ylfedra’s three cousins, sleeping deeply: Tehran of the Spring Sprites, Mantassa of the Summer Sprites, and Gilleah of the Autumn Sprites. Each lay in their own niche, bringing their seasons to the place where they slept in waiting. Tehranâ€..?a sprite whose soft skin was a pale green and eyes and hair the color of budding leavesâ€..?lay in newly grown grass with budding flowers all around. Mantassaâ€..?a vibrant nymph with wildflower red and marigold yellow hair and darkly tanned skinâ€..?dozed lazily in a bed of grass as well, though hers was thicker and turning yellow and brown from lack of water with thick, lush flowers everywhere. And finally Gilleah, who wore the deep reds and browns of her season, lay in a pile of fallen leaves. Ylfedra’s own place, a small stretch of snow bordered with crystallized flowers, lay empty, and it would remain so until Tehran awoke and it was time for the winter sprite to lie down and sleep.

After checking on her cousins and seeing all was well with them, Ylfedra left the oak and walked her land, listening to the reports of the winter birds. One of them called an alarm. The kreetayuhs were coming in the forest. The hunting party had come again. Ylfedra thanked her little charge and cast a quick spell of Nothing Unusual on herself so the man-creatures would not notice her.

The men were trampling through the forest, and were not hard to find. Two bowmen had their arrows notched and ready to fire. A spearman behind them held his sharp stick at the ready. As they traveled through Ylfedra’s lands, they hacked at low-hanging branches and uprooted saplings that stood in their way. A family of deer heard the noise and ran through, startled. The men killed all five of them before Ylfedra was able to stop them, having just gotten to their location.

She quickly cast powerful spells of Fear and Must Run on the kreetayuhs, sending them running, terrified, from the forest, forgetting their weapons and kills in the process.

Remembering this, Ylfedra shook her head in disgust. Why couldn’t the man-creatures simply grow their plants and bake their bread? Why must they come into the forest and take so many lives unnecessarily?


A day like any other, Ylfedra woke with the sun and began her routine, mending and checking on her domain. Lastly, she came to watch her cousins’ slumber in the great oak, and smiled seeing that all was well. She left the oak to continue her day of tending to the forest.

As always, the birds were her watchers. An alert sounded. The kreetayuhs had come to the forest again. Most of them were hunters, but there were a few with the scent of magic about them. Thus told, Ylfedra quieted the birds and slipped into deep cover, warning all the animals to stay out of sight.

She drifted on a winter wind near enough to the group of man-creatures to see and hear them, though not enough for the reverse to be true. She used her magic to cloak herself in spells: Look Over There, Nothing Unusual, and other such spells that would render her invisible to the humans.

The men did not notice her, as it should have been, but seemed to be more single-minded than usual. They did not look about themâ€..?except those who smelled of magicâ€..?and headed in a straight line towards the center of Ylfedra’s lands. There are no animals in the center of my forestâ€.¦ perhaps they are heading through it to get to my brother Dracien’s land, she thought to herself, smoothing blue-white hands through a deeper blue mass of spiked hair nervously.

“Bloody sprites,â€.? one of the hunters muttered. “They won’t be interfering with us no moreâ€.¦ running us out of the forest!â€.?

Silently she followed them, the wind carrying her just above the snow. As they drew nearer the great oak and she processed the meaning of the human’s words, Ylfedra’s nervousness grew to fear. She rushed ahead to the resting place of her cousins, but the magi of the kreetayuhs noticed her and bound the winter sprite with spells of Stillness, Frozen Magic, and Silence. The forest’s protector thus disabled, the magi gathered around the great oak.

No! Ylfedra cried in her own skull, unable to stop the hated man-creatures. They cannot harm them! Do they not know what will happen if the other season sprites are no longer here? The cycle will be broken, and I will be here by myselfâ€.¦ I will be completely alone and I will die! As will the forest! It cannot survive without each of us here to protect itâ€.¦ and if one of us is gone, the other three will follow.

She tried to weave spells of Forgetfulness and Confuse Them, but she could not. The spells the kreetayuhs spun on her were strong. They must have used gems to store their magic inâ€.¦ the spells they cast on me draw from that store, not their own bodies, so they are free to cast on my cousins at will!

The chanting and spell weaving of the human wizards began to take effect. The three sprites within the great oak all awoke at once. As they always did when waking, the sprites began to weave the subtle spells that would bring the previous season to an end and theirs to rise. However, with all the spells at once, the forest was confusedâ€..?it was being told to be all the seasons at once, which was impossible.

Mantassa realized first that something was not right, and seeing all of her cousins thus awake, questioned them. It was not long before all three’s spells were in a frenzy, trying desperately to put things to rights. But since Ylfedra was the current reigning Mistress of the Forest, the spells she had laid on the forest were stronger and slowly killed the magic of the other three. And with their magic, so too did the three sprites die: Tehran’s pastel colors brightened into those of summer, Mantassa’s grew darker as those of autumn, and Gilleah’s deep ones grew lighter and lighter until they were white.

Ylfedra alone, who was just now able to free herself from the man-creature’s spells and begin weaving her own upon them, was not affected. She cast her spells with more fervor with each passing moment. Forgetfulness and Something Else To Do were the first she threw at the men, followed closely by Must Hurry Home.

As the kreetayuhs left her territory absent-mindedly, Ylfedra turned inward and took her place among her cousins. She knew that when all the other winter sprites took to their rest, her magic would no longer sustain her. She would meet the same fate as her cousins. It was only a matter of time. And when she died, the forest would do likewise; it needed the magic of the sprites to exist. All the animals would be exposed and thus easy prey for the greedy Great Destroyers.

Well, she thought bitterly as she went back to her land, performing her daily routine. Those greedy, selfish destroyers will have what they want. All the animals they can kill. Do they not realize that once these are gone, there will be none to replace themâ€.¦ none for another season, another yearâ€.¦ ever again?

For the rest of the winter she tried not to think of her fate. She and her magic grew weaker by the day as her season came to a close. On the last day, she lay in the snow and closed her eyes. Tears ran down her cheek as she felt the magic fade, felt the other winter sprites lying down to sleepâ€.¦ all the sprites of spring rise up and begin weaving their spells. She took a last breath and whispered a word of farewell to her domain as she drifted off into the final, infinite slumber.

The forest thawed in the following weeks, but instead of sprouts and returning birds, there was only silence. The only sounds that seemed to echo through the land was the falling of branches as trees died, the cries of animals as they died from hunters’ arrows or of starvation and the loud footfalls of man. Within the year, what was once a proud forest was a wasteland where nothing would grow and no animal would wander.

The kreetayuhs soon saw their mistake and cast out the magi who they had forced to make the spells. They cursed them, for the hunters could no longer bring meat from the forest and were even loath to walk through it now to go to other, more prosperous lands. And lastly, they cursed themselves for not remembering the balance of all things. They had known better than what they did, but their greatest folly was not realizing what harm it would cause. The forest was dead now, and would never be otherwise.

The cycle will be broken, Ylfedra had thought to herself. If only the Great Destroyers would have realized how true those words were and what they would mean.