Missing Children and a Forbidden Forest Ruled by the Fae

This is the actual correct technique to write about fairies, which is to say, the fae are terrifying and demented and by no means to be trusted. As a little one, I assumed fairies have been cute, like Tinkerbell and the tooth fairy, though a fairy that sneaks into your home at night time and purchases your bones is possibly not really cute. As an grownup, I’ve turn into more and more extra horrified by the fae, and enjoying Dungeons & Dragons is barely partially responsible. The Butcher of the Forest is a darkish fantasy, borderline horror, about the fae, although the creator won’t even use that individual time period.

It begins earlier than dawn at the house of Veris Thorn, a lady practically 40 years outdated. Armored guards present up at Veris’s door and command that she get in the carriage. She remains to be in her nightclothes and doesn’t know the which means of this, however she is aware of it’s dangerous as a result of these guards belong to the Tyrant. The Tyrant is simply as you’d think about: a horrible ruler who goes round “conquering,” and if a village doesn’t submit, he simply murders everybody, which had included Veris’s dad and mom. The solely household she has left are her aged aunt and grandfather. Veris goes willingly with the guards to be able to defend her household, although, as I discussed, she has no concept what the Tyrant desires along with her.

The south woods have been tamed. They’re used for looking and harvesting and planting fruiting timber for generations. The north woods, nevertheless, are a completely different story. Everyone in the village is aware of not to enter the north woods. Heck, everybody in a number of close by villages is aware of not to enter the north woods. Anyone who goes into the north woods by no means comes again out. Except, one individual had: Veris. Now, the Tyrant is ordering Veris to return into the woods for a process. She has in the future to get in and out, or else the creatures of the forest will declare her and what the Tyrant has misplaced. If she doesn’t full this process, the Tyrant will raze her whole village to the floor.

Content warnings for violence, gore, hurt to youngsters, hurt to animals, mentions of sexual assault.

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