Kingsley Family/Erik/The War of the Lich King

Wisps of Winter

Dancer's hooves were quiet as the stepped through the dark soft footrails that winded through the Naan Forest.  Erik trudged along at the old steed's side, lead in hand as they traversed the dark and treacherous forest together.  While Erik was a somewhat slight man, Dancer was an old horse, and Erik decided it would be the nice thing to do to give him a break for a while.  They were after all a team.  Though a small one with just the two of them.  Still it was nice to have the company, Erik had been so long without a companion to talk to (other than his parents who he tried to avoid at all costs lest he find their ire), that he babbled on to his horse the whole trip.  Dancer did not have much to say back, but he was a good listener, and Erik appreciated that.  Enough to earn a little reprieve from carrying his weight and the few possessions Erik had taken with him.

Erik sighed looking over at the dark gnarled trees along the path.  Huh.  That tree looks familiar.  And so does that owl sitting on it. The owl indeed just stared at him.  Watching with wide open eyes, drinking him in.  He shuddered a bit, realizing how deep he must have gotten into the forest.  As he tried to avoid the owls unending gaze, he glanced around some more.  He realized in some horror that he actually had no idea which of the many winding paths he had actually taken.  He also realized, as he dug around his his bag for a map, that he did not actually plan a route ahead.  As a cold breeze billowed through the dark forest, Erik pulled his travelling cloak closer, both for warmth and the illusory hope of safety it provided.  In the bleak canopy hanging overhead he began to see more sets of yellow eyes opening and staring back at him.  Dozens of owls all staring directly at him.  Even Dancer began to seem a little spooked, hoofing at the black dirt path nervously.

As the young priest's eyes darted back and forth they landed on something even more startling.  A figure in the bushes.  They wore a long dark travelling cloak and a big, black hat with a wide brim that obscured the top of their face.  Erik clutched his lantern with an iron grip as a light snowfall begin to drift slowly from above.  "Who's there?"  He called out.  "Can you help me?"

The figure seemed almost to float through the undergrowth as it approached Erik and Dancer on the dirty footpath, once it emerged though, its steps were clearly visible.  As they got nearer Erik could make out more of the stranger's features in the dim lanternlight.  He seemed to be a man, though his face was pale and his bright red lips held a knowing smile.  The hat still covered his eyes, which made Erik a little nervous, but another person around would be a welcome change and this person seemed like they belonged here so he figured it was his best chance at finding his way.  "Can you help me?"  Erik sputtered again.  "I think I'm lost.  Well I say I think, I know I am.  Lost that is.  In this forest.  Though I suppose in sort of a general sense too, like metaphorically lost because I'm leaving home see because my father's a jerk and all my friends left me to go to some place called Halcyon, and my girlfriend disappeared and might be some sort of evil monster creature.  I don't really know about monsters much so I couldn't really tell myself but I heard some rumors that maybe she was, do you happen to know anything about monsters?"

Erik began to trail off, as usually whoever he was speaking to would have interrupted him by this point, but the man in the hat didn't say anything.  "Um..." Erik offered trying to fill the silence.  "So do you know the way out of the forest?"

The man's smile widened from beneath his enormous hat.  "There's a lot of things to know about this forest, Erik."  The young priest considered it somewhat odd that this stranger knew his name.  But plenty of strangers had known him before.  Maybe this man was a Lavrazi, they travelled about enough, or had heard of the Valentic Order, maybe even attended one of his preachings before.  He didn't consider it too much more than that, as he really needed a way out of the forest, and this man, despite how scary he seemed, seemed like Erik's best hope of doing that.

"Um. Okay." the priest said scratching his head.  "So do you know the way out then?  Is it dangerous here?  It seems a little dangerous, like maybe some sort of wild animal will jump out at me or like a bandit or something, or maybe a Tilogian, I have no idea if they go this far south but it seems like a place they would be in, mainly because it's really creepy and scary and stuff."

The stranger chuckled ominously.  "It's not the living you need to be afraid of, Erik."  Finally, the stranger lifted his head, looking up at Erik.  His eyes matched those of the owls all around him, except they were blue.  Blue as ice.  And they stared at him with a cold, freezing intensity.   They watched him, staring just like the birds above.  Suddenly the icy breeze blew through the forest again and a panic came over Erik.  He quickly babbled some extended excuse and dashed to his horse.  He felt a hand brush past his cloak as he stumbled towards Dancer, taking a quick leap, his foot landing directly into the stirrup as he swung the rest of his body over the old beast and commanded him into a rushed gallop.  Erik clung low as Dancer darted down the dirt paths of Naan Forest.  Though he still felt the horrifying gaze of a hundred birds and the cold stare of the strange man on his back, his natural instincts took over as he galloped through the forest, taking branching paths at random, just trying to get as far away from the horrible stranger as he could.

While the wind blew past him, he felt the chill get colder, and from the treetops began falling a thick snow.  Erik rode like this for several minutes, until Dancer began to tire and slow down on his own.  The blizzard was coming down fast and the cold was quickly beginning to get to him.  I never should have left, what an idiot you are, Erik.  Now you'll die alone in the cold.  He began to cry, wondering what his last moments might be like.  He leaned forward and put his arms around Dancer's neck, sobbing as his tears froze quickly.  Burying his face in the old horse's mane he didn't see ahead of him why Dancer had stopped.  It was only after that he lifted his head up and wiped his face on his cloak that he saw why.

An old, rusted, iron fence stood in their way.  Beyond it, deep in the woods, looked like an old manor house, the snow had already stuck to the ground and was starting to pile up.  As he looked around trying get a better look of the front courtyard, he saw another figured approaching the gate.  He gripped his lantern tight again, and begun digging in his bag for the kitchen knife he had brought with him for protection.  The figure lowered her hood to reveal a pretty young woman, fair hair and features.  She held up her own lantern.

"Who goes there!?"  She called out.  Erik squinted in the dim light, trying to look at her carefully.  Her eyes looked like normal eyes, and that seemed like a good start.

"Um.  I'm Erik of Lavraz?  Um, Erik of Portion?  Well I'm not really of Portion anymore, but I'm from Portion.  Then I went to Lavraz, and then Portion but now I'm here so I'm not really anything.  I guess I'm just Erik.  Kingsley.  I'm Prince Kingsley's son.  If you know of Prince Kingsley.  Listen its really cold and there's a spooky monster out there can I come through the fence?"

The young woman seemed a little surprised at the mention of his father's name.  "Oh!  Um... Prince Erik, come in.  Lord Wulfgang doesn't usually have visitors but I don't think he would want someone to freeze!"

"Actually, I'm not a pri-" He started to correct her, but the loud creaking of the gate's hinges interrupted him.  She waved him on through and pointed him to the stables where Erik took off briskly towards, eager to get out of the cold.  The young woman followed quickly behind arriving as he dismounted and giving a quick word to a confused groom who had peeked his head out of the stable.  "Let's get you inside to meet Lord Wulfgang and Lord Erwin." She told Erik. She gave him a little smile and he nodded dumbly as they trudged their way into the old manor house. As she shut the door behind them, Erik immediately felt better. While the lantern light gave the place an ominous glow rather than an inviting one, it was certainly much warmer inside than out.

"Wait here, your highness." She said reverently.

"Um, actually I'm n-" was all he could get out before she dashed off deeper into the house. He did as he was told and waited patiently. At some point another servant, a tall, grim looking man peeked around a corner to see who had come in. Erik waved awkwardly and the man vanished once again. He dusted the snow off of his coat and watched it fall to the floor where it melted into the creaky old wood of floorboards.

Finally, the young woman returned, now with an older man at her side. He was dressed in sharp woolen clothes. His face was severe, his hair gray but combed handsomly, and his long white mustache reaching across his face and to his sideburns. He walked with an ornately carved wooden cane, at the top some sort of ornate grip encompassing a symbol that Erik did not recognize.

"This is Prince Erik Kingsley of Portion, m'lord. Prince Erik, this is Lord Wulfgang von Closen, loyal vassal of his lordship Finnegan Smallwood of Naan. He is the acting master of this estate." As the young woman delivered the introductions with a smile, Lord Wulfgang did no such thing, watching Erik suspiciously.

"I wasn't aware Portion had a prince at this time." He said gruffly his eyes still trained on Erik who scratched his head nervously.

"Ah... actually my father is-"

"No matter, it isn't important. Thank you Clara." He said to the servant who gave a curtsy. "You may go." She departed giving Erik a little smile and a wave as she left. Erik's eyes drifted from the lord in front of him to her as she left down the corridor. Lord Wulfgang didn't seem to notice.

"Well. Come warm yourself then." He said turning and beginning to step across the room to where Erik had previously seen the tall servant peek out from. Erik stood awkwardly for a moment before obliging, following close behind this strange lord of this part of the woods. They entered into a modest parlor, where a fire had already been going. Erik was happy for the warmth, as he made quick strides to the mantle and shivered, soaking in the radiating heat. Lord Wulfgang moved to a cabinet in the corner and pulled out some bottle and two small glasses filling each of them with a brown liquid. He moved and handed one to Erik before he sat down in a chair near the fireplace, watching Erik as the priest took a whif of the liquid, which smelled strongly of alcohol.

"It'll warm you up." Wulfgang said brusquely, but turned away to set his cane gently by his seat. Erik took a sip and winced at the taste, which he immediately spit back into the glass, setting it on the mantle. Wulfgang simply watched him as an awkward silence came over them.

"The forest is snowy tonight." He said grimly.

"Yeah, pretty cold. It was really warm when I left the city, I didn't realize it got cold this far east. I've only been over here once but it didn't well. I went to Alebad and it was plenty warm there - "

"It's June, son." Lord Wulfgang interrupted. Erik blinked. "It shouldn't be this cold in June. This forest is known for all sorts of strange things." The old petty lord stood up and walked to the window, watching the snowfall lighten. "But it's never snowed in June. And now this one's the second one in as many weeks." He turned and gave Erik a severe look. "Did you see anything out there?"

Erik gulped, remembering the icy blue eyes of the man in the woods. He nodded once, and told his story.

Von Closen

The room was dark except for soft glimmers of moonlight reflected up off the snowy blanket that covered the yard outside Schloss von Closen and for the lantern on the desk, emanating a soft orange radiance clashing with the eerie moonlight from the window. Caught in the crossfire of the warring lights was the elegant four-poster bed of the Schloss's upper guest room, where Erik Kingsley had made his new home, and upon which now lay face down into a pillow, grimacing.

With a groan he lifted himself up and glanced out the window nearby, towards the line of trees that marked the edge of the von Closen property. In the dark thickets of the deep Naan Forest, Erik could make out several pairs of glowing eyes watching wickedly from the treeline. The had been there for days, skeletons with piercing blue gazes risen from the ground, souls long lost and forgotten in the forest depths. Something had awoken them from their end, something, Erik had been hypothesizing for some time, was probably really scary.

"Ah... Aw dang." He muttered to himself frowning as he drew the curtains closed and leaving him alone with the glow of the lantern. Laying back down he held his arm over his eyes and sighed. Despite the window being blocked from view Erik couldn't help but feel their stares through the thick fabric, shuddering with a chill of fear and of the winter cold.

A gentle knock warmed him though and the soft sweet voice that came from the other side.

"My prince," Clara called out. "More news for you, your Highness."

"Oh uh.. come in uh, Clara." Erik said sitting up and straightening his tunic. The young woman came in as asked, her face turning upwards into a bright blossoming smile when she saw Erik. the little stack of letters she held he could tell bore similar seals to the others that lay in a pile of disarray on the desk by the lantern.

"Just um... Set them there. With the others." He said with a grimace, stealing his own glance at the rapidly growing mountain.

"You're definitely quite the important person Your Highness!" She said cheerily as she crossed to the desk and set the letters on top of the big pile of unopened post. "I suppose that makes sense!"

"Uh... Yeah." He replied with a bit of a grimace. "Again, I'm not really a prince so."

"Well, Your Highness, you're the son of a prince, which makes you a prince, no?"

"Uh no? I mean yes I am the son of a prince, but I don't think that's how it works. Actually, I'm not really sure how it works."

Clara just chuckled. "So humble and modest my prince is too!" She turned and took her place once more by the door. "Oh, and Lord Erwin needed to speak to you. I believe Lord Wulfgang is with him. It seemed important, so I won't take up any more of your precious time, your Highnesss." Ending with a curtsy, and one more "My Prince." She stepped out, shutting the door behind her. Erik heard a wistful sigh from beyond as the footsteps faded into the hallway.

That struck Erik as odd, as she had seemed quite cheerful to see him. I wonder what she's sad about. He thought considering the little sigh for only a moment before other thoughts pressed in. He was to meet with the household lords again and his concern for his friend was immediately sunken by dread. Lord Erwin was his age, and they got along quite well. But Erik did not get to see much of the young petty lord of Closen, on account of the illness that left him bedridden and only well enough to conduct meetings on rare occasions. The affairs of the house were then left to his uncle Wulfgang whose stern presence was all too familiar to Erik, the perpetual scowl he wore reminded him of a dozen others like him, all ready to make Erik do work.

Knowing however, that he couldn't put such a thing off from the family that had taken him in and protected him from the monsters outse, and that Lord Erwin needed to have his meetings while he was able to, Erik recluctantly stood up and grabbed his lantern, shuffling out the door towards the stairs. He had been to Lord Erwin's study before, so he knew where to go and made his way down the stairs and into the back hallways of Schloss von Closen.