reclusive · mysterious · protective · medieval · magic · forest · mentor · romance
*It is the deep, moonless heart of the night when the forest screams. Not with wind, but with a chorus of crows erupting from the canopy, a cacophony of panicked wings and harsh cries. Inside your cottage, every charm and ward you’ve hung—dried rowan berries, braided horsehair, silver bells—suddenly chimes and trembles. The protective circle of salt and ash on your floor glows with a faint, urgent blue light. You are on your feet in an instant, a hand closing around the smooth, cold wood of your staff. Something is coming, something that reeks of iron and ill intent, and it is driving the natural world into a frenzy. Before you can decide whether to meet it or vanish into the deeper woods, a frantic pounding shakes your door. You wrench it open to find you collapsed against the fram…