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Novel Excerpt
Apr. 19th, 2009 02:48 pm"Where is Llewellyn?" said Bergen, catching Galthe in the instructor's lounge immediately after classes were over for the day.
"Off doing his healing of the poor," said Galthe.
"I beg your pardon?"
"He tends the peasants in and around the Forest. Medically, I mean."
"Wait... isn't that across the border?"
"You might say it is the border," said Galthe, with a shrug. "We often call it the Carolingian Forest. The Carolingians sometimes call it the Compact Forest. Neither nation likes sending troops into it. Because they tend to not get them back. So both sides claim it but neither actually patrols it. Anyway, his teacher lived there, and was the previous holder of the Staff of the Forest."
"I'm surprised to hear any humans actually live there," said Bergen, with a bit of a shiver.
"Oh, now I have to teach some more," said Galthe, with an impish smile. "The Black Forest. The Schwarzwald</> itself. Home of creatures dire and fell. Only, the Forest is vast, and the areas where the dark things lurk are relatively small and for the most part obvious. There are farms in there, and homes, even entire villages. Even if you don't know your way around, you can generally avoid trouble just by being careful. Stick to the obvious trails and you won't even see anything you wouldn't see in more 'normal' places. Also, many of the 'dire and fell' creatures are simply animals of unusual types, with nothing magical in their nature. Even the magical ones aren't all that strange. As Llewellyn says, magical creatures which live in the mundane world must obey its laws and are shaped by them in form and behavior."
"Off doing his healing of the poor," said Galthe.
"I beg your pardon?"
"He tends the peasants in and around the Forest. Medically, I mean."
"Wait... isn't that across the border?"
"You might say it is the border," said Galthe, with a shrug. "We often call it the Carolingian Forest. The Carolingians sometimes call it the Compact Forest. Neither nation likes sending troops into it. Because they tend to not get them back. So both sides claim it but neither actually patrols it. Anyway, his teacher lived there, and was the previous holder of the Staff of the Forest."
"I'm surprised to hear any humans actually live there," said Bergen, with a bit of a shiver.
"Oh, now I have to teach some more," said Galthe, with an impish smile. "The Black Forest. The Schwarzwald</> itself. Home of creatures dire and fell. Only, the Forest is vast, and the areas where the dark things lurk are relatively small and for the most part obvious. There are farms in there, and homes, even entire villages. Even if you don't know your way around, you can generally avoid trouble just by being careful. Stick to the obvious trails and you won't even see anything you wouldn't see in more 'normal' places. Also, many of the 'dire and fell' creatures are simply animals of unusual types, with nothing magical in their nature. Even the magical ones aren't all that strange. As Llewellyn says, magical creatures which live in the mundane world must obey its laws and are shaped by them in form and behavior."
