Darkness seemed a silly thing to be afraid of in Snowfur's opinion. Lack of light did not hurt anyone. She supposed it was the stuff that hid in the darkness that was worth being afraid over. At night the forest started to come to life. Owls hooted in the dark. Little bats fluttered overhead the clearing. The howls grew louder and steadily grew closer, causing the girl to feel uneasy. Snowfur began to believe the weird Grendel was justified in his quick departure.
Unfortunately, Snowfur could not hide anywhere. The clearing only had a few small rocks and a half rotten tree trunk. Stub circled the fire nervously, occasionally whining. His ears flicked nervously. He kept glancing between Snowfur and the darkness in front of him.
A growl rumbled from the darkness. Snowfur jumped to her feet and scrambled to get her bow out. She snatched an arrow and nocked it like Volugg had taught her. She was no marksman but she hoped she could defend herself.
A creature came into view of the dying fire light. An antlered skull with green glowing eyes greeted her. Snowfur watched as the rest of the body came into view and almost felt like she was back home in Icecrown Citadel. The creature was an odd amalgamation of wood, meat, and bones. It appeared like some sore of doglike monster. The canine monster opened its jaw. A rotted tongue dropped out from its jaw. Black liquid dripped out the mouth. The familiar stench of rot washed over Snowfur.
Stub immediately snarled at the dead creature, lips curling back up to expose his teeth. The grey white fur on his hunched back stood up. Without hesitation, the creature lunged at Stub. The two fought, each one snarling and biting at each other. Stub shrieked in pain as the creature scratched the hyena. Snowfur couldn't shoot the creature with it being in such close quarters. She remembered that she had small knife and went to get it but a growl stopped her.
Another creature jumped into the light. It was the same kind of doglike construction. It smacked Snowfur's bow out of her hands with one clawed paw and snarled at her.
Snowfur backed away, suddenly frightened. Stub noticed the second monster and tried to shake off the first to help Snowfur. Unfortunately, the first creature took advantage of Stub's distraction and bit him in the neck, ripping into his flesh.
Before Snowfur could do anything, the second creature jumped onto the girl. She fell to the ground and suddenly saw nothing but teeth. The jaws of the creature clasped around her neck. Teeth pressed down into her fragile fresh and she expected to die, but it did not bite down.
The sound of hooves thundered into the clearing. Snowfur tried to see what was approaching but the creature dug claws into the girl's stomach. It aslo tightened its grip on her throat.
A sharp whistle from above caused the creature to finally let go of her. Snowfur finally turned her head just in time to see heavy leather boots stop just in front of her, blocking out half of her vision.
"Ah. A female? Never caught one of you before." The voice was deep but not as deep as Snowfur's father or Volugg.
Snowfur tried to sit up, but the creature did not step off of her. The girl looked up and saw the legs, torso, arms, and finally the head of her...rescuer? Captor? Like the dog creatures, the face of the man was a antlered skull.
"Who are you?" Snowfur demanded.
The humanoid creature bent down and eyed Snowfur up and down.
"My prey call me the Huntsman. Are you prey?"
Snowfur shook her head aggressively. The Huntsman tilted his head, then whistled again. The monster backed off Snowfur's body. Snowfur sat up and was going to stand up before she noticed the Huntsman outstretching one gloved hand. She decided to take it. The Huntsman helped her to her feet. Stub was gone. Snowfur thought he might have been killed but there was no body. The other creature was gone as well. Before she could wonder where the hyena went, the Huntsman caught her attention.
With an overdramatic flourish, the Hunstman grabbed his skull and whipped it off. The Huntsman was no undead creature but a normal, living man. His eyes were dark blue like hers and his thick beard was coal black. The man's lips curled up and he gave the girl a toothy smile.
"If you are not prey, then you may call me Adalger. What's a tiny little thing like you wandering about the Crimson Forest?"
Snowfur looked around the forest, confused. "Why is it called the Crimson Forest? There isn't any red."
Adalger laughed. "How...cute. Well, come now."
The man grabbed her by the arm rather roughly. Snowfur had expected the man to ride a horse, but the creature was like the doglike creatures. Nothing but a collection of bone, meat, and wood in the form of a horse or stag.
Snowfur yanked her arm away from the Huntsman. "Where are you taking me? Where is my friend Stub?"
The Huntsman looked around. "Oh, that mangy dog? That was your friend? He ran off after my wicker beasts attacked. The wounds were not fatal. I can track it down later for you, but my master has been waiting years for you. He shouldn't wait any more."
Snowfur felt a chill run down her spine. He was talking about the dark man that she dreamed about. The one that called himself Snowfur's true father. While still worried for Stub, Snowfur just hoped this Adalger would find him quickly.
She decided to follow Adalger. It did not seem like she had many other choices. He helped her up onto his mount and then mounted up himself.
"Hold on tight, girl." Snowfur obeyed, gripping the bony spines that protruded from the animal's back. The Huntsman did not even need to signal the beast before it started to run. Snowfur bit her lip hard and tightened her grip. The very few times she had ridden horses before had never been pleasant. Volugg had let her ride Mudfur once and it had been fun. But the wolf was old and did not go fast. This constructed thing went fast. It rushed between the thick growth of trees and shrubs, dodging every obstacle without hesitation. Every fallen log or dip in the ground, the creature leaped over with ease. There were no roads in the woods, or any sign of humans ever entering the forest for that matter. Snowfur wondered why that was. She wasn't far from that coastal town but the people there did not seem to enter the forest at all. The journey itself did not take long. Snowfur noticed briefly that they were going up hill and eventually crested the hills, where the trees started to thin.
They came to a large depression in the hills, curving downward where no trees grew. Except one. This tree was larger than any other tree Snowfur had seen before. The trunk itself was thick and wide. She suspected it was bigger than Volugg's hut by atleast three times. While the tree was large, it was not very tall, barely cresting over the hill and the trees that surrounding the area. People could walk on even the smallest branches easily. Not a single leaf grew from any of the branches however.
The tree gave off a very foreboding feeling, but the girl did not know why. Besides the tree, pools of water were scattered over the landscape and there was even a set of waterfalls to one side. Mists clung to everything. The girl had not seen such a place before and over all it looked innocent enough. The sense of unease remained however. Before Snowfur could barely take the scenery all in, the Huntsman set his horse toward the tree.
"Is...is this where your master lives?" Snowfur asked.
The Hunstman laughed. "In a way. See that opening there?"
Snowfur saw that the tree had a sort of doorway made out of carved stone. She nodded.
"That's the entrance to Thros. Do you know what that is?"
She had never heard of Thros before, but something about that name unnerved her. Suddenly Snowfur felt scared. Everything about the tree seemed off. She did not want to go into that tree and was not about to be silent about it.
"No. And it doesn't sound nice at all! I'd like to leave," She stuttered, and tried to get off the horse. Adalger grabbed her arm and twisted it. The girl yelped in pain.
All friendliness vanished from the Huntsman voice. "Leave? Oh no, you are not going anywhere! I suggest you do what you are told or my wicker beasts will be feasting on you tonight!"
Snowfur struggled. "Let me go!"
Surprisingly, the Huntsman did but only because he was dismounting. He held out his hand.
"Now...are we going to be a good little girl? Or am I going to have to hurt you again? I prefer breaking fingers. Which ones are your favorites?" He said all of this with a sadistic smile.
Snowfur cowered on the back of the horse, unsure of what to do. Stub was no where to be found. Volugg was off to do shaman stuff. The only person in the world who could have probably saved her was back in Falconhurst and had no intentions of ever trying to save her again.
The girl meekly took the Huntsman's hand and dismounted the horse. Adalger kept a firm grip on her and led her to the giant tree.
She thought briefly of biting him and escaping, but there was no where to run. He knew these woods and could chase her down without even trying. She was trapped.
Arthas groaned as he woke, feeling tiny claws scratching at his face. At first all he did was sleepily brush the annoyance out of the way. But the irritating dog was persistent and dug at the human's face.
"What?" Arthas snarled, opening his eyes. Rot sat directly in front of his face. Beady little black eyes stared back at Arthas's glowing blue ones. Then, the dog barked.
"She can wait five more minutes."
Rot growled and dug at Arthas's face. Angered, the deathknight abruptly sat up which caused the dog to fall over backwards.
"I used to be the Lich King! You obeyed me. Not the other way around!" Arthas bellowed at the diminutive figure. Rot merely whined pitifully while struggling to turn himself back over.
The man sighed and picked up Rot, setting him down properly on the floor. The dog wagged its tail gratefully.
"Fine. I'm up. How...how should I apologize to her?"
Rot tilted his head in confusion and did not answer. He merely walked over to Arthas's things. The dog stuck his little head into the bag and rummaged about. While the dog did that, Arthas put on his pathetic leather armor, wishing for even steel plate.
The dog pulled out what looked like a mass of flesh, but when Arthas took it from the dog he saw that it was a doll. An ugly, heavily stitched thing with stuffing poking out of various holes. It closely resembled an abomination, one of the many horrors unleashed by the Scourge. Arthas looked at the doll, and then at Rot.
"Is this Sapphire's? Have you carried this all the way from Northrend?"
Rot barked and started hopping about the room. He had found it in Sapphire's room and stuffed it in Arthas's pack when the man was not looking. Sapphire apparently cared a lot about the doll. As happy as she was to see Rot, she would also be happy to be reunited with the inanimate toy.
Arthas took the doll and carefully tied it to his belt so it would be in easy reach. Sapphire might try to run again so he wanted to show it to her quickly. Catching her off guard was the only way he would be able to get an apology heard. Apologies were not his strong suit. He had no idea what to say but perhaps it would come to him while searching for her. He thought about taking all of his stuff but decided against it. All he took was his pitiful steel sword, a dagger, and the extra cloak he had found. Sapphire would no doubt be cold.
"Come on. Let's go find her."