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It was a time that was forgotten by the world, though it was a time that few could scarce forget, though many tried. The Crusades were on the border of the Violet Oak Forest while the Driders and the Drow were having their own wars over the land and witches had to go into hiding as a new hunt for them began. Often the screeches of wild Driders could be heard in the night as the battle never seemed to stop night or day. Just on the outskirts of these ongoing wars in the Violet Oak Forest was the small village of Drusilla. It was more of an outpost for Knights making their way towards the Crusades rather than the actual village that the nun Lidwina was stationed at than an actual village, but they managed to survive and thrive, nonetheless.

The recently harvested crops have not been plentiful for the village to properly share with the Knights nor enough to provide for the raging winter that is coming, yet we they obligated to give whatever they had for the traveling Knights. As the wars drag on and more Knights pass through the number of livestock dwindles with each passing day as well as the spirits of the people. The livestock have gotten terribly malnourished and from the looks of things the children are not that far behind. The Knights claim to fight this war to protect them from Driders and save them from witches in the name of God, but Lidwina had seen the self-proclaimed Knights that have journeyed here and knew better. The village was heavily guarded by the sane and royal Driders that there was no worry or fear of the feral Driders and the few witches that lived in the area were more of apothecaries than witches, though Lidwina would never want to enrage one otherwise. The village of Drusilla would have better chances of living with the threats of the feral Driders rather than the live on the hopes that the Knights would protect them from their self-proclaimed evils.

The new Knights came marching in with the rising sun and Lidwina could not help but grimace in her prayers as she knew from their faces that they would be a most unpleasant bunch. Even the beautiful colors of the stained-glass windows of their beloved chapel were not enough to cheer her spirits upon seeing the Knights. It seemed as though more and more kept coming recently, though none of them seemed to be able to handle any of the feral Driders. Beside her dear sister of the faith and best friend Bethea silently groaned, her lilac eyes rolling. “Fucking hell.” She hissed a whisper and let her rosary dangle from her hand, “there’s even more of them now than last time!”

“Hush Bethea.” Lidwina swatted her as the Mother Superior’s ever watching eyes narrowed in their direction. The morning prayers was often a time that Bethea would steal a few more minutes of sleep before Mother Superior would wake and scold her after catching her snoring. “You’ll get us in trouble again.”

“Like I care.” She snorted but ducked her head down and pretended to resume her prayers. “I have a feeling this is my father’s doing.” Bethea fidgeted with her rosary in her hand to make it look as though she were praying, though the beads moved too quickly between her fingers. “All because more cows and a few sheep have gone missing.”

It was true, more cows and sheep were reported missing yesterday and there would no doubt be a few missing today. Ten dairy cows, two cows that swollen with pregnancy and due and day now, and only a single bull was all Farmer Brislin had left in the fields. Poor farmer Brislin has been staying up most nights to guard what little he had left of his herd and had his two boys standing watch all day while his daughter had to milk most of the cows. Their friends and sister Rheda would go over and try to help her from time to time, however it was difficult for her to be out during the day due to her high sensitivity to the light. Most of the sheep have managed to stay within their own flock at night, but last week farmer Tucker noticed a gap in his numbers. Other farmers had noted that their chickens and goats were missing as well. When all this began, Bethea’s father, Lord Colquett thought the village splurged in the feastings with the Knights, however, after farmer Brislin found massive spider webs and several of his crates crushed he started blaming the Driders. Since then, there’s talk of the royal Driders forgetting their promise to protect them, which was a foolish thought, then again that oath was nearly fourscore ago and with the Drider wars at hand, it must be difficult to protect their small village let alone their vast territory.

With the Drow suddenly barging through the Violet Oak Forest making claims that it was their territory, most of the royal Driders have been vacant from the premise, which is probably what has allowed a few feral Driders roam through their village at night. Not that Lord Colquett would acknowledge what the royal Driders have done for their village until now. Bethea, his own daughter, could attest to the travesties the man would proclaim, all to make himself look better amongst the men of the village. Professing in the middle of the square for all to hear how the Driders forgot their oath to never touch the village after the witch Drusilla gave up her life in exchange to save their village; How it was all a trap to get the girl into their hackles; and how the witch Drusilla cursed the village to suffer the same fate she had when no one bothered to try to save her. If only the fool had realized how many of feral Driders the royal Driders had scared off until now. Lidwina would know, one had saved her when she had first come to this village.

It was in the middle of the night when she had first arrived, she was determined to get to the village of Drusilla before dawn and had hardly slept the day before in her urgency to arrive. There was an opening in teaching the children and she jumped at the chance when it was offered to her to get out of the capital. Her lantern had gone out, but she could see the lights of the village just up ahead and though she could make it on her own; that was until she heard the skuttling of multiple legs, a terrible shrill shriek, and the clashing of claws and weapons. She had only caught a glimpse of a Drider adorned in a suit of armor protecting her from a much larger feral Drider. Had it not been for that knight Drider she would have given up the ghost and regretted not having the chance to teach the children she hadn’t met yet. Lidwina thanked the Father above as well as the Drider prince who decreed that the village of Drusilla was not to be harmed by any Driders, sane or feral. She was a firm believer in the faith of the church as well as the promises of the Driders. She had always wished she could have seen another one, or at least her savior for that evening, but despite her late-night strolls she never saw one again.

Still staring out the window Lidwina couldn’t help but pray that it was some other sort of creature than a Drider stealing and the livestock. If things persisted the way they were, the Lord Colquett was bound to do something foolish, especially with new muscle coming through the town. Bells tolled overhead to signal their prayer time was over and that they needed to tend to their chores. Bethea stretched her arms over her head and groaned as her bones and joints popped, “Finally!”

Lidwina tried to hide her smile as she ducked her head and looped her arm through Bethea’s and hurried down the aisles before Mother Superior could shuffle over and harass them with questions. Out they ran from the chapel doors to the gardens to tend to their plants and to their own secret hideaway. Behind the stuffy chapel was their small potted herb garden full of their basil, thyme, rosemary, and oregano and a ground flower bed full of lilies and dandelions. The gardens were far enough from the chapel to speak freely but were still too close to the gorge that led to the darkest parts of the Violet Oaks to keep them close to the chapel. Out in their little hideaway Bethea ripped her veil and coif from her head and allowed her luxurious blonde mane of hair flow behind her, her lilac eyes brimmed with happiness as she picked her desired flowers while Lidwina tended to the herbs.

“Ah, that’s much better.” Bethea sighed blissfully and ran her fingers through her hair. “I was getting stuffy wearing that.” She glanced over her shoulder at Lidwina. “You should take your veil off sometimes, Liddy, it’s good for your hair to breath.”

“No,” Lidwina shook her head politely, “I think I’ll keep mine on.”

 Lidwina had always envied Bethea’s hair and eye color, not for vanity of any matter, but of the fact she not only had red hair, but also green eyes; both were considered telltale signs of being a witch. Witch hunts were just as ablaze as the terrible Crusades and Lidwina found herself wearing her coif tighter to her skull and dusting flour over her brows to hide any hint of her red hair. Lidwina snorted as she set her basket on a flat rock as she picked her herbs, “If you hate it so much, why be a nun?”

“And risk marrying the town’s butcher?” Her nose scrunched up in disgust and her tongue stuck out at the foul taste it left in her mouth. “No, I think not. Though a life in the nunnery is not one I want, I’ll gladly take it over being married to the town’s biggest bigot.”

Lidwina learned that Bethea had joined the women of the church to get out of a marriage, though she hadn’t known it was to one of the two foulest and hateful bigots of the village. The blacksmith appreciated the wars, Crusades and drow war alike as his business was booming, but he always spoke before thinking, which only proved how much of a fool he was. The butcher, on the other hand, was outrightly furious about the wars as the livestock only continued to disappear and his business struggled. Neither appreciated the protection the royal Driders provided to their small village, and both loved to talk about the damage they would do if they ever spotted a Drider; though Lidwina was sure they would both run away screaming like choir boys.

“Yes, I dare say you’ve probably avoided a fate worse than death by joining the convent.” Lidwina nodded her head with a smile. “I am especially grateful, for if you weren’t here, I wouldn’t have a friend of my own.” Which was partially true, though she got along with the sisters at the convent, they looked down at her for her red hair and enjoyed gossiping about her when they could. As they did not put in the effort to hush their gossips, Lidwina did not put forth the effort to hide her distaste for them either. If it weren’t’ for Bethea and the few children she was able to teach she would have left a month ago.

“See? Despite my crassness you and Rheda still love me.” Bethea waggled her brows at her before throwing a lily at her.

Aye she did love having a friend and sister in Christ as she had no family to call her own and none that would claim her. Though Bethea was the prickly rose amongst the lily of the valley within the folds of the church, Lidwina loved her for her bravery, independence, and confidence; though it would do her good to calm her temper more often. An undignified squawk left Lidwina’s mouth before the two women burst into a childish giggle fit that was so loud that they could not hear the beast climbing up from the gorge. . .

Upon their return to the chapel, grimaces painted both their face as they watched a Holy Knight exit the chapel with the priest. He was tall and broad shouldered, and much to Lidwina’s chagrin, and easy on the eyes with his golden blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Though he had a pretty face, his armor was far too pretty to show him as a knight who knows the tides of war. Just by looking at him Lidwina could tell he was only recently knighted and christened for this Crusade, but something seemed strange about him. He carried too much confidence in his steps to be a humbled Holy Knight fighting a religious war. Not wanting to call too much attention to themselves, both Lidwina and Bethea tried to walk by unnoticed, but a chill ran down her spine as Lidwina felt those blue eyes on her.

 “Ah,” The priest’s smile was strained as he approached them, “here are some of the good Sisters now.” They bowed their heads in acknowledgement, though Lidwina had to pull Bethea by the elbow to keep her from abandoning her there. “Sister Lidwina, Sister Bethea, this is Sir Harold, the leader of a band of Knights to continue the Holy War!”

“Good day, Father Isaac.” Lidwina spoke politely while Bethea kept her eyes to the ground. “It is a fine day in the gardens, perhaps you could show Sir Harold here around the village.”

“There won’t be any need of that, Sister.” The knight’s voice was smooth like honey and far too charming for his own good. Those blue eyes stared into hers as if looking for some sort of secret. “My fellow Knights and I shall only be here for the night and will leave first thing in the morning after we’ve had a good feast.”

Lidwina pursed her lips as she cast a worried glance to the nervous priest behind the knight, though Bethea was not one to hold her tongue even at the best of times. “That’s not very likely.”

“Come again, Sister?” The knight’s face twitched, and the priest merely hid his face in his hand with a groan.

“Bethea.” Lidwina hissed through a strained smile. “We should go.”

“There’ll not likely be a feast tonight.” Bethea said more determinedly with a scowl on her face.

“And why, pray tell not?” The Knight stood as tall as he could to intimidate Bethea, but she was not easily intimidated. “Are we not as good as our fellow Knights before us who have had feasts?”

“Since I’ve not seen none of them return, I can’t say how good or bad the Knights before you were.” Bethea shrugged without so much as a care of the disrespect she showed to the knight. “However, as we’ve been struggling to have any rations ourselves, I don’t see why you should deserve more than the people of this village!”

“That is enough,” The priest hissed as he finally stepped forward to silence her, “Sister Bethea.”

“What does the Sister here mean by rations?” Sir Harold turned to Father Isaac with a raised brow. “Does this village suffer from an affliction of the sin of gluttony?”

Bethea rolled her eyes and cursed under her breath and Lidwina shoved her elbow in her side to keep her from speaking further and causing problems. The last thing they needed was to have the Knights try to find a way out of participating in the wars and having a reason to linger in their village longer. Not only would it cause more problems for them, but it would also mean they would have more demanding mouths to feed.

“Not an affliction of sin.” Father Isaac cleared his throat and cast a warning glance their way. “However, we have had an affliction of Driders in the area as there is a war going on between them and the Drow.”

“Ah, yes, I am quite aware of this predicament.” Sir Harold nodded his head. “We actually have a few Drow in my party who have joined us on our ways here to join their own cause in reclaiming their land. Perhaps we may be of assistance to your village.”

“Perhaps so.” Father Isaac’s smile looked too relieved for Lidwina’s comfort. Although they’ve had a shortage of food and the feral Driders are possibly the cause of it, it did not bode well with her that they were easily volunteering to handle the issue at hand. “I shall gather the men and we shall discuss what the best course of action should be.”

“But of course, Father.” Sir Harold saluted with a smile. “My party and I shall be at the ready.”

“If you’ll gather your party to the town square,” Father Isaac nodded his head, “I’ll have the men of the village ready.” They saluted one another before Sir Harold walked off to gather his party and Father Isaac turned on Bethea. “What was the meaning of that?” He hissed like a viper and glowered down at her. “Were you trying to embarrass this village?”

“If I wanted to embarrass this village, I would have married the butcher and carried his offspring.” Bethea snapped with a vengeance in her tone. “I see no reason as to why we should give up what little we have left to undeserving and fresh Knights who –”

“You will hold your tongue!” Both Lidwinda and Bethea jumped when Father Isaac raised his voice. “You are more outspoken than any woman should be, Sister Bethea. An evening without dinner and a night devoted to prayer confined to your room should do you good! I will tell Mother Superior of your actions and that you will not be given any rations this evening.”

Lidwinda had never seen the priest so angry before, she was sure that a vein would pop from his bald skull, however, she was sure that Bethea looked even more terrifying than the priest. Lidwina had to hold Bethea back as the priest walked away to keep her from strangling him. A screech of outrage sounded from Bethea’s clenched teeth as she gave up her fight and deflated into Lidwina’s shoulder. “I should have just married.” She huffed and rubbed her face irritable. “At least then I could have killed my husband and been free that way. Had I known the convent would be worse than living with my father I would have never left.”

“Hush now.” Lidwina squeezed her in a hug and rubbed her back. “Don’t say such things, I would be completely beside myself if I didn’t have you.”

“I just don’t see how you do it, Liddy.” Bethea shook her head in disbelief. “You’ve got the literal patience of a saint to put up with the lot of them. I would have rather been condemned that listen to them!”

“And yet you are still with me, friend.” Lidwina tried to give her and encouraging smile, though she highly doubted it did much. Unless one was ready to truly devote themselves to the Church and the challenges and obstacles that came along with it, it was not one that many could just finicky join as Bethea had, though her case and circumstance was much different than many others. “Come now, my friend, let’s steal away to the kitchens and grab a small loaf of bread before Father tells Mother Superior of your evening fast.”

A wicked smile played about Bethea’s face at the naughty idea Lidwina would suggest, but the smile quickly fell. “As much as I love your daring idea,” she huffed and glared off in the direction of the square, “I shall fast like I am supposed to since I am the sinner within the church, however, I must know what the men will discuss and what they shall decide.”

“You can’t be serious.” Lidwina gasped in shock and looked over her shoulder to make sure no one else heard them. “We’ll be punished more severely if they catch us!”

“I already get a meal every other night.” Bethea shrugged with a sigh. “One more night without a meal shan’t kill me. Come on, Liddy, we need to know what stupid decision the men shall make and how we should go about intercepting it!”

For better or for worse Lidwina’s tongue failed to argue with Bethea as she dragged her off to the square. All one had to do to call everyone to the square was to blow the horn and everyone would come running. Luckily, they weren’t the only women, though they were the only ones of the cloister present, as they skirted their way around the edge of the town. Lidwina’s fingers tightly gripped the handle of her basket and though she too was curious to know of the ultimatum of the decision to come. Though Lidwina was content to stay on the outskirts of the growing crowd, Bethea was determined to get closer and pulled her along with her. A knot formed in the pit of her stomach and Lidwina knew that this would not end well. Already on the platform stood Sir Harold and his party of Holy Knights and band of misfits that made up the Dark Knights. From where she stood, she could see two Drow, one male and female, and two orcs standing taller than the Knights and looking just as displeased to be there as Lidwina was.

The Lord of the village of Drusilla was a squat balding man with a large belly that only could disprove any argument about Driders stealing food and livestock from the village. Lord Colquett, Bethea’s father, a crass man who was more selfish with food than a dragon with its hoard, was not one that could easily be linked back to Bethea in his looks nor his mind. Weak and greedy, he was a man who sought out deals for his own benefit regardless of how moral or immoral the actions to those benefits are to those around him. He was a young nephew of the original ruler of the village of Drusilla ruled and was the one to overthrow his father after his sister went to the Drider’s Castle. It was Lord Colquett who had no problem spouting out some of the false rumors and nonsense about the Driders along with the other bigots in the town.

 As Lord Colquett waddled up onto the platform, he shrunk in size as he stood beside Sir Harold. “Hello, fellow countrymen.” Lord Colquett spoke in a gurgled tone that sounded as though he had his midafternoon drink early. “As we have more Knights passing through our humble hamlet, they have thus volunteered to help us with our Drider problem.”

“What?” Bethea growled quietly and balled her hands into fists. “It has already been decided?”

“Bethea,” Lidwina reached for her hand to try to silence her, but she was quickly shaken off as Bethea’s temper rose.

“What drider problem?” One of the Brislin boys spoke up. “We’ve not had any problems with driders!”

It eased Lidwina’s mind that not everyone seemed to be as against the driders as she thought, though the foreboding feeling still did not leave her. Especially as the blacksmith and the butcher stood close to the front snickering. “Ah, shut the lad up!”

“If you silence him, I’ll speak on all our behalf!” Bethea shouted beside her, and dread instantly filled Lidwina. “How dare you say that we have a Drider problem when it was your very sister that went to the Driders for help and protection!”

“Bethea.” Lidwina grabbed her arm to pull her back and away from the crowd as Father Isaac’s eyes flew to them. Cold anguish filled them and Lidwina winced as she knew that the punishment for this would be rather severe for yet another one of her outbursts. The knot in her gut tightened and she looked around and locked eyes with Sir Harold. Those blue eyes stared at her curiously, still looking for something that she wasn’t sure of.

“No, the Driders have protected this village from all the vile creatures that rise up from the Violet Oaks!” Bethea’s passion only grew as her temper reddened her face. “If you blame this problem on the Driders then you will doom us all!”

Laughter burst from all the nonbelievers and those who hated the Driders and the scowl etched into Bethea’s face could not be deeper or more solemn as she knew her words were wasted on them. It was only a few decades back, or so the village elders told her, when the village was first established, they were attacked daily and nightly by Driders, Centipedes, Scorpions and all the others who were cursed by their goddess Lollth to become the night creatures that they were. The ones that attacked them were the feral ones, the ones that lost any form of humanity they had and gave into their carnivorous instincts in their new form. It was only thanks to the royal and sane driders of the Drider castle Druilla Elysium that offered their protection that the raids from the feral once eventually stopped. There had not been a raid or even an attack from a feral one of the Violet Oaks since, the only instance they could connect to the Driders was the surplus number of livestock that has gone missing since the Drow have come to claim their land. However, not a single human has been harmed, nor has a single child has gone missing due to a feral Drider or night creatures.

“As I was saying.” Lord Colquett cleared his throat as the laughter died down and gestured to the knight beside him. “Sir Harold here and his party shall assist Brislin and his boys in setting a trap to rid us of our Drider problem once and for all!”

With that as his introduction Sir Harold got up to speak and say what their plan was, however, Lidwina could hardly hear under the intense glare of Father Isaac. Oh, yes, the punishment for this would be quite severe. Lidwina grabbed Bethea’s hand and tried to pull her back into the crowd away from the prying eyes, but the male Drow would not take his eyes off Bethea. “Bethea.” Lidwina finally found her voice and reached for her friend’s hand. “You need to leave, now.”

“But –!” Bethea’s mouth screwed up in a pout, her hand ready to twist it free from Lidwina’s grasp.  

“Bethea.” Lidwina gave her warning look and tilted her head in the glowering direction of Father Isaac. “You are already in enough trouble as it is, yes you can fast for a single night, but you are most unpleasant to be around when you’ve not eaten in days.” Bethea’s cheeks flared a quick shade of pink before she stared at her feet dejectedly. “At least go back to the convent to avoid a more severe punishment and I shall tell you what their course of action will be.” Lidwina pursed her lips as she peered into her friend’s face. “I will stay here and tell you and Rheda of things when I return.”

She heaved a sigh, but for once Bethea conceded and did as Lidwina asked. Whether it was because she too knew she was not pleasant to be around when she had not eaten or days or she did not want to suffer a more severe punishment Lidwina was not sure, but she was glad that she had heeded her warning for once. As she turned her attention back to Sir Harold, she tried to avoid the gaze of those blue eyes and noticed that Father Isaac looked far too pleased to see Bethea gone, and it made it rather difficult to focus on what Sir Harold said. “The task at hand it requires bravery, though it is a simple one.” Sir Harold held his arms out as he spoke. “We shall keep a cow attached to a pole in the middle of the field to lure out the Drider, or Driders should there be more, and shall kill it on sight.”

Cheers erupted all around her from the nonbelievers and Lidwina shook her head in horror. Luring them out to see their numbers was one thing but trying to take on a Drider, especially multiple, in combat was not as simple of a task as Sir Harold made it out to be. Driders were already dangerous and powerful as the sane retained their memory of magic, they were even more dangerous when they were feral though because they did not stop fighting until they got their prey.  Even the Drow and Orcs who stood on the platform with him grimaced at the plan. Lidwina’s heart thundered in her chest as the responsibility of intercepting and preventing their trap from succeeding relied on solely on her shoulders. If no one was going to listen to reason, it would be up to Lidwina, Bethea, and Rheda to come up with a plan.“Oh, thou which are swift and merciful,” She clutched her rosary around her neck. “Please give me the strength and courage to save this forsaken village.”

TO BE CONTINUED. . .

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