The Burned Wood

Day Two of #drawnintoanewworld,

Day two, of Drawn into New Worlds, is A Forest that Remembers. I have a new satyr mini and I needed a place for her to live. Angeline Trevena had the perfect prompt for the satyr and this is wht I came up with.

The Burned Woods stood at the midpoint between two old republics, now gone. A road connected the two capitals, in good times trade was robust and wagons travelling the road were frequent. Tensions grew between the two republics and skirmishes broke out in the woods between them.

Itina is the guardian of the Burned Wood. Not many travel what is left of the road that traverses the forest. Woodsmen, gatherers, and hunters stay to the fringes and few overnight amongst the trees. The threat to the Burned Wood, and the surrounding settlements, is the undead that come from the hill-size burial mound in its center.

The mound was built as a grave monument after a large massed battle. The battle would be what gave the woods its name. The two armies had been skirmishing since the spring and hostilities and forces grew and summer. The conflict came to a head in mid-August.

It had been a dry summer, rain was scare and temperatures were higher than average. The armies had both brought catapults forward to the meadow, where the thousands on each side would clash. After the ceremonial meeting of the generals, the catapults were released. Both sides flung flaming shot at each other. The kindling-dry woods erupted in flames.

The woods were very tight around the meadow and the fire spread quickly, on the ground and in the canopy. The two sides were quickly encircled by the conflagration. Sparks blew into the meadow from the tops of the oldest trees. The armies stopped their charge and began to panic. Some men tried to find a gap in the fire, an escape. No one made it through.

Almost seeming to spite the men for bringing their war to the forest, the winds rose and began to swirl around the meadow. Whether due to the heat of the fire or a divine spirit, the wind drove the fire to even greater intensity. Soon everyone was consumed. The wind and flames eventually died down; leaving a large swath of forest charred to ash and thousands of burned bodies.

No one returned to either armies’ camp. Scouts were sent out to see what had occurred. They returned to their camp, ashen.

People from all the surrounding villages and even some residents of the capitals were conscripted to bury the dead. It was quickly decided that burying the dead in individual graves wasn’t feasible; due to both the number of the dead and the bones being scattered about.

All the people worked together to pile the bones and weapons together building an eighty-foot mound that was covered in charred soil and burned logs. For several years, the mound blended into the burned forest that surrounded it. Green slowly returned. Saplings and shrubs following the grasses. The mound stayed black. Nothing has grown on it and little has grown around it. A few hardy dandelions are encroaching on the tomb, slowly getting a little closer every year.

Warding against the Black Mound takes up most of Itina’s time. She tends the groves and berry patches, cares for sick animals, and guards against humans harming the forest. Skeletons and sometimes stronger things emerge from the mound. Unearthing themselves, in large numbers, when the planets come closest to the horizon. Other times they emerge randomly or when the wards become weak.

Itina’s magic is strong; enough to banish the odd skeleton or three but not strong enough to place permanent protection wards. She does her best and hopes to find a way to permanently dispel the evil that holds power over the Black Mound.