A young girl, perhaps no more than fifteen years old, slowly walked the trail in her bare feet, a woven reed basket half full of wild flowers dangling from her left arm as her right hand trailed casually over the foliage. Her eyes were staring vacantly at the ground ahead of her, her head slightly cocked, as though lost in deep thought.

Hey, gypsy girl!" She whirled, her long red skirt spinning around her, as her eyes instantly focused on the source of the voice.

She let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "Yes, what is it, Swith?

The younger child quickly closed the gap between them and then paused a moment to catch her breath. "The villagers, they want to see you right away," she panted, pointing behind her in the direction from which she came; back to the village.

The gypsy sighed. It was always something, wasn't it? The villagers were constantly upset with her for some trifling reason or another; real or imagined. Last week they blamed her for some of their pigs getting sick and no one would feed her for a few days. At this point, she was getting very good at foraging in the forest.

Okay, I'll be right there," she replied. The little girl turned and began skipping back to the village, whistling happily to herself now that her task was done. The gypsy followed at a more sedate pace, her shoulders drooping slightly at the prospect of another public humiliation.

***

...Do you deny that you frequently wander the woods, unescorted, and are familiar with the ways of the creatures that lurk therein?" The man questioning her stood on a raised dias at the front of the room, separated from the onlooking of the villagers by an ornately carved, wooden railing. Currently, he was leaning his left hand upon the rail, his right hand raised to point at the gypsy girl in front of him. "Answer me when I speak to you!" he commanded.

No sir, I do not deny it," she answered to the worn floor boards, her head hanging.

When you were abandoned on the steps of the courthouse nearly fifteen years ago, the charitable nature of our fair town was left with no choice but to raise you among our own children. Now, after all of our kindness, you galivant around through hill and dale, flaunting our rules with which you were raised. Never have you shown any respect or caring for the other people of this village. Now that strange things have begun to happen in the woods, we have made a rule that villagers may not stray beyond the fringes of the forest, and yet you continue to venture deep into the woods. Why? Answer me, Gypsy!" He pointed his accusing finger at her.

I...I don't know. I don't mean to, but when I start walking, I guess I don't even realize where I am until I'm well beyond the border of the forest. But nothing bad has ever happened while I've been there!" she quickly tried to dismiss the danger.

Gypsy," the man sat down in the chair behind him that he had abandoned during his monologue. His face suddenly looked tired and old, his glasses slipping down the bridge of his narrow nose. "I am afraid that we can no longer tolerate your reckless disregard for the rules that we have created for your own safety. From now on, you will have to fend for yourself, because you are hereby banished from this town. No one will be allowed to feed you, give you shelter, or even acknowledge you in the street. I do hope, for your own sake, that you are as comfortable in the woods as you claim. Go now, and do not return," he ordered, motioning to two of the male villagers to escort her out of the room.

Gypsy, seeing the men coming at her and perhaps sensing her own doom, suddenly straightened, a look of determination glinting in her eyes. She shook the men off when they tried to grab her arms. "Fine, I will do as you say," she said, her voice ringing loud and strong in the room, "but I will never understand why it is a crime for someone to wander of their own free will into the woods, especially when they are fully knowledgeable of the dangers and capable of defending themselves. I know the secrets of the forest, and I can survive. I haven't been wandering in there and coming back out unscathed by pure chance," she spat. "I just hope that you are not representative of what the people throughout the world are like. You can rest assured that I will never again return to this backwards home of ignorance!" And with that, she turned on her heel and swiftly marched out of the courthouse, her two escorts trailing behind her. She stopped briefly to collect her basket and shawl from where she had left them on a crate next to the door.

Throwing her shawl around her shoulders, she sprinted out of the village, wiping the tears from her eyes as she finally reached the looming branches of the mouth of the forest.

******

Screaming with terror, she ran faster and faster until...

SHE TRIPPED OVER A ROCK!

Ouch.' she thought. 'That hurts.

Looking up, she saw a dark and mysterious cave in front of her. Gypsy walked inside the cave, forgetting that it was dark, and she had no clue what was inside. She heard a bark really close to her head. Like, right behind her left ear.

She stood up in fright, forgetting that the roof of the cave was two inches above her if she bent over, and proceeded to hit her head. She fainted, and when she came to, there was to something licking her face. She opened her eyes and saw a stray dog.

Aww... you're kind of cute," she said.

Gypsy scooped up the dog, which was a chocolate brown color, and went outside the cave. She tried to find her way back to the stream, but she had no luck. It was nearing dusk so she made camp in the cave and fell asleep, with the little dog beside her.

***

The next morning Gypsy woke up with pangs of hunger. She realized that she had not eaten since breakfast the day before, and that wasn't much. The dog was still near her, and seemed to have no intention of leaving, so Gypsy named her Scamp.

******

There in front of her and Scamp was a gentle slope down from the treeline to the edge of the town. This town was much larger than her home village; there were probably close to 500 people living here! That alone would have been enough to make Gypsy nervous, but as she watched, a terrifying sight met her eyes.

The forest curved around the town in a C-shape leaving the west side open to fields where Gypsy could see corn and wheat growing. Gypsy had come out on the southwestern edge of the forest, but directly across the fields on the northwestern side she could see dark shadows moving. These figures milled around under the eaves of the trees, but gradually began slinking down the hill and forming a line between the village and its western fields.

At first Gypsy couldn't tell what manner of creatures the wraiths were, but as they drew closer to her she was able to distinguish some features. Though there was some variation, all of the creatures were surprisingly tall - some nearly eight feet and none less than six and a half - they were bare-chested, muscular males, but they seemed to be wearing huge masks with evil faces leering crazily. These masks only exposed their unnaturally large eyes - nearly the size of Gypsy's fist - which glowed fluorescent green in the sun's last slanting rays. They had thick, flowing manes like lions that seemed to grow not only from their heads but all the way down their necks and backs as well. While the beasts seemed to be human from the waist up, Gypsy was horrified when she realized that they all seemed to be walking upright on the hind legs of wolves!

Overcome with fear, Gypsy fought to keep her wits about her. Slowly she sank to the ground, thankful of the tall grass, and crawled over behind the trunk of a large tree with Scamp slinking along behind her. An adept climber, she stuck Scamp in her basket and quickly scaled the tree until she had reached the safety of the lower branches about twenty feet off the ground. From there, she peeked around the trunk and watched the scene unfold below her.

She finally identified the horrible creatures as the dreaded morgrymms - awful beasts from legends that were rumored to live in the heart of the woods. Gypsy had never believed in the morgrymms and had simply dismissed them as old wives tales meant to keep children from wandering into the forest. They each carried a long wooden stick with a cloth wrapped around the end. Gypsy soon realized that these were unlit torches. They meant to burn the village! Paralyzed with fear, she watched as one by one they lit their torches, and then dashed forward at an alarming speed - most to the village but a few out to the fields - and began lighting buildings on fire. Villagers ran out of their houses screaming in fear, only to be pounced upon by the fearsome beasts. Some of the people were able to sprint away from the burning buildings towards the eastern rim of the forest, and Gypsy saw several of them disappear into the falling darkness. A few morgrymms followed, presumably to hunt out the survivors.

The carnage continued into the night, and Gypsy grew stiff, tired and sickened as she sat in the tree with Scamp by her side. Eventually, the town was burned to smoldering ashes and the morgrymms silently dispersed back into the forest just as the grey light of morning peaked over the eastern tops of the forest. Gypsy remained in the tree, fearing the return of the legendary monsters, until the sun was bright overhead. Her stomach was tying itself in knots with hunger, and her throat was parched and dry. She could no longer deny herself food and water, but she had to climb down in order to forage.

The morgrymms had mostly left in the direction from which they had come - the northwest - so Gypsy stuck to the south side of the forest. She let Scamp down and began filling her basket with mushrooms, nuts, berries and a few roots when she came to a stream. Her water pouch was empty, so she began to fill it when Scamp suddenly began to bark excitedly. Gypsy hushed the little dog, but was ignored. Ears pricking, Scamp took off like a little brown arrow into the forest to the east. Gypsy groaned in exasperation, put the cap back on her water pouch, and began chasing the dog as quietly as possible.

Scamp! Where are you, you little brat?" Gypsy hissed. She could hear the dog baying a little ways off, but eventually the noise became less frequent before stopping all together. Unnerved, Gypsy picked her way silently through the undergrowth, fearing at any moment that a morgrymm would leap at her from any number of hiding places.

After nearly half an hour of this torturous wandering, she stumbled into a clearing full of daisies and wildflowers. The warm sun shone down from a clear blue sky, and a light wind blew through the trees. Gypsy stared in surprise at the beautiful scene, wondering how something so peaceful could exist so near a disaster scene. A little ways away from her, she suddenly sighted Scamp! The little dog was laying curled up in the grass near the other side of the copse, sleeping in the sun.

Scamp!" she sighed in relief and ran towards the little dog, whose head perked up at the sound of her voice.

Who's there?" a strange voice called from the trees behind Scamp.

Gypsy froze midstep. Could morgrymms speak? The voice had definitely been feminine, but surely there were female morgrymms.

Just as these thoughts ran through Gypsy's head, the mysterious speaker peered out from behind some bushes. It was a young girl! She looked to be about Gypsy's age, or perhaps slightly younger. When she saw Gypsy, her pinched face relaxed and she stepped out of the forest. The girl was surprisingly tall for her age - at least five feet seven inches. Her long brown hair hung lank about her thin face, and her pale skin was streaked with soot. Her most striking feature, though, was her hauntingly beautiful violet eyes. They pinned Gypsy in place with a single glance. The girl started when Scamp jumped up and started to lick her hand.

Is this your dog?" she asked, picking Scamp up and holding her under her arm.

Gypsy walked forward to take the small dog from the girl. "Yes, this is Scamp. I'm Gypsy. I don't mean to seem rude, but are you from the village that the morgrymms burned?

The girl's eyes welled up with unshed tears as she nodded. "I'm Sam." She quickly brushed away her tears with her sleeve and then turned back to face the woods. "Yma, it's okay, you can come out now!" she called.

Another girl, younger and smaller than either Sam or Gypsy, cautiously emerged from the bushes.

I'm afraid we may be all that's left from our home," Sam whispered, trying not to let her lip tremble, but she couldn't hide the sadness and pain in her expressive purple eyes.

I'm a wanderer myself," Gypsy said. "Do you know anything about surviving in the forest?" The girls shook their heads in the negative. "Then how about you join me for a while? I can at least try to help you get to the next village.

Thank you, it's such a relief to hear you say that!" Sam said, eyes glistening.

They eventually left the clearing, and as the shades of dusk crept into the forest, Gypsy helped them climb a tall tree with thick branches where they could sleep for the night. They tore long strips of cloth from the hems of their dresses and tied themselves to the tree trunk to prevent themselves from falling off in their sleep. In this manner they passed one long, uncomfortable night.

******