The sun had disappeared behind the powerful storms. Their relentless winds howled and wailed among the ancient trees in the glade. Rose led the way, weaving between briar bush and fern.

Toby pushed a low-lying branch out of his path. "Where do we find them?"

"Not sure," she said, shouting over the whistling winds. "I've seen one once."

Toby's short sword hacked into the underbrush at her back. "Well, what did that one look like?"

She laid her right hand on the girth of a tall elm and raised her other to halt the boy's advance. Distant rumbles rolled overhead. Her narrow gaze surveyed the shadow's depths.

"What is it?"

Rose hushed him and turned her attention back on a slight movement in the weeds young lady crept forward down the gentle knoll toward the disturbance.

"What do you see?" Toby whispered.

Another waft of her left hand.

A bright flash illuminated a patch of red fur as it ducked in and out of the weeds.

"There." Rose sped up to a jog in pursuit of the creature across the forest floor.

The nimble animal wove among the exposed root systems and scurried along the bank of a brook farther and farther away from civilization.

Toby's footfalls came closer together at her back. "Where are we going?"

"Don't know." Rose's breaths came in labored spurts. "I have a hunch."

She chased the fox along the babbling stream through toadstool rings and beyond the oaken glade. At last, the small animal came to rest before a rocky hummock protected by moss and fallen trunks.

"Great," Toby said. His chest heaved and sputtered to catch up to his lungs. "It's led us straight into the jaws of a bear."

Rose watched the forest denizen with growing curiosity. "I think it's -"

A bright flash followed by a shower of shimmering lights. Where the fox once sat, now a boy rested on his haunches.

Toby stumbled back. "What in all creation?"

Rose took another cautious step closer. "You."

The boy wore little more than a loincloth. He had a bow slung over his right shoulder and a quiver of bolts over his right.

He rose and offered a generous bow. "Honeythorn Gump, at your service."

"You spoke to my mother last," Rose said. A hue of concern tainted her tone. "What did she tell you?"

Gump glanced in the direction of another distant rumble. His keen blue gaze tracked it across the boiling heavens. "She offered little for conversation on that night, child." His eyes met hers once more. "Warnings were given, but they fell on deaf ears."

"What warnings?" Rose studied his youthful face for any deeper meaning. "The Great Tree?"

Gump's brow peaked. "Indeed." He studied them both as he spoke. "Darkness has returned to the Realm. These unnatural storms are only the beginning, I fear."

The girl's face wrenched in confusion.

"Darkness," Gump said. "Know you nothing of this world, child?"

Rose and Toby shared in a bewildered expression.

"He exists only to manipulate and destroy all of creation." The forest elf's words stung like barbs. "The last time his presence was felt here, he nearly toppled the world. This time, though," his voice trailed off into another grumble from Mother Nature, "things are different."

Toby walked up to the mouth of the cavern and leaned inside.

"You mustn't!" Gump's wise tone morphed into something akin to childlike.

Toby righted his torso. "Why have you led us here?"

"What rests in there is for her eyes to see," the sprite said, "and no one else."

The elf gathered a broken limb from the brush and wrapped a clump of moss over one end. He passed his creation over to Rose.

"What do you expect me to - ?"

With a sharp clap of his hands, the moss sparked to life.

"Take that," Gump said. "Follow the path all the way to its end." He extended a youthful hand into the cavern. "There, you will find what you need."

The girl's brow furrowed.

"Your mother is in the Great Tree." Gump's gray gaze turned into the gaping black hole. "The tools you need to free her await."

Rose ducked under a set of protruding roots that served as the archwork for the opening and poked her torch into the void.

"Go, child," Gump insisted. "Time isn't on our side."

The dancing flames illuminated an ancient network of roots and vines. Once inside, she followed the short and narrow corridor deeper into the hill. Mice and long bugs scurried and burrowed as she crept past over stone and stem. At its end, the path opened up in to a larger chamber. Crystalline calcite coated everything like a mid-autumn frost. The cone of her fire lifted from the twinkling roots to a sarcophagus in the room's heart. The innate lettering engraved in the stone lid's side had long since been filled with dirt and debris, but its words remained intact.

Here lies Jack o' the Wood. Hero of the Light and Fairy friend.

A dazzling glint drew her gaze to the right corner of the tomb.

"Remarkable."

Its golden scales shimmered beneath the snapping glow of Rose's torch. She nestled her flame in between two writhing roots and knelt closer to the treasures. The armor tunic felt cold under her hands. At its side lay a matching sword and jewel-encrusted scabbard. Rose took the armor in both hands and lifted it over her head. Once it had slid down her torso, she strung the weapon across her back and made her way back from whence she came.

Toby's eyes widened as she emerged from the cave.

"M' lady," Gump said, falling to one knee.

She crossed her arms and huffed. "What now?"

Gump stood and strode off into the wood. "Now, we must confer with the others and hatch a plan – and a good one at that!"