Annalyse had officially been missing for twelve days. She never arrived in the Glasgowain kingdom, and there was no sign of her palomino, Minnie. The Gahole forest had been thoroughly searched by knights of both kingdoms four days ago and there was no proof that anyone had entered the forest in the last two months.
"Father, the Glasgowians have kidnapped her!" Cary insisted as she paced the length of her father's throne room. His advisors shook their heads and mumbled to themselves about the dangers and costs of war, but Cary's voice outweighed theirs.
"Cary my dear we don't know that…" The king said, his face was wrinkled and his eyes were filled with worry. "Would you please stop pacing? You'll see, we're going to find her and everything will be fine…"
But everything was not fine as the king had hoped. The two kingdoms searched for another year for the lost princess before they gave up hopes of ever seeing her again. As the second year of Annalyse's disappearance drew near, the king became ill with a mysterious fever. Three months later he died from his illness, and two weeks later, with no other successor, Cary became queen. Not long after that Queen Cary declared war on the Glasgow kingdom for suspected kidnapping of Princess Annalyse and the poisoning of King Charles, her father.
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Annalyse had been lost now for eight hundred and fifty-two days, just over two and a half years. Her little girl would soon be a year and a half old. She had named the child Marisol, after her favorite flower, the Marisol flowers that grew in the gardens of the royal palace in Glasgow. The flowers were dark red on the outer edges of the petals, turning pink almost white as it reached the center, which was jade green. Marisol had been born with auburn hair, and her eyes were as jade and clear as the center of the Marisol flowers that she loved. Annalyse adored the girl, and she would tell Marisol stories of her home, her family, and of her father Jack.
Jack was the reason she continued to search for a way out of the forest. She knew she wasn't in the Gahole woods, but she didn't know how long she had to go before she found them again. The first night she had been in the Gahole woods everything had been fine. Minnie was happily grazing outside and Annalyse had just dozed off. It wasn't long before everything changed. The night owls stopped hooting and the creek next to her tent fell silent. Only Minnie's grazing stayed constant. So Annalyse got up and out of her tent to make sure everything was alright. She discovered that everything had changed. The trees around her were now pine and the creek was a still pond.
After a week and a half Annalyse began searching for a way out. There wasn't much wildlife to hunt and the only fruits she recognized were the strawberries that grew in abundance around the pond. After two months Annalyse noticed something that intrigued her. A light shining brightly in the distance that beckoned to her. She didn't know what it was or what it meant, but she hoped it meant help. She was, after all, pregnant and alone. Annalyse had no desire to deliver her baby on her own.
Having packed up her campsite Annalyse led Minnie through the thick underbrush of the forest around her. After traveling for several hours, Annalyse spotted a rucksack hanging from a low branch on a tree. Intrigued by the thought that there may be someone else here, she called out as she approached the bag.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" She called,her hand on the bag. "I don't know where I am, or how I came to be here…" Annalyse took the bag down and looked around, she received no answer to her calls except for the soft whispering of the wind. Opening the bag Annalyse discovered herbs, vitamins, and dried meats. Annalyse's nurse had told her to be careful about what she ate, to drink plenty of water and to take special vitamins when she began to feel ill.
The discovery of the items she needed made Annalyse uncomfortable. Even if there was no answer, she knew someone was out there, someone was watching her. This idea scared her greatly. Annalyse was tempted to put the bag down and walk away, but the safety of her baby was what mattered most so she placed the rucksack along with her other bags on Minnie's back.
She and Minnie travelled another four and a half hours before they found a stream and stopped for a drink of cool fresh water. The provided supplies lasted Annalyse a month and a half, with partial rationing, on the day she ran out she discovered another pack, filled with cooked meats, dried fruits, and herbs this time.
Annalyse came to expect these packs as the last pack ran out, and the days passed. When the time came for Annalyse to deliver her baby she found three packs along with a fresh tent, pillows, and a wooden log, hollowed out and padded. Annalyse was in labor for five and a half hours. She knew her mother had been in labor for fifteen hours and so she knew that hers was an easy one. When she had delivered her daughter she felt very tired and was glad of the extra supplies and fresh tent.
Annalyse stayed where she was for four months before she began again on her journey toward the light in the distance. She didn't know what the light was, but as it didn't move she assumed it wasn't a star. She also knew that if it wasn't a natural light, someone had to either tend the flames or change the bulb to keep the light shining brightly when it would go out.
It was now the eight hundred and fifty second day and Annalyse had Marisol on Minnie's back as they travelled. This month's rucksack had included a new dress for Marisol and a rough wooden owl filled with a foul smelling salve. Annalyse was still trying to discover what this salve was for when Marisol cried out suddenly. Annalyse rushed to Minnie and discovered that Marisol had a rash on her leg. The mysterious being leaving the rucksacks obviously knew what would happen to them, Annalyse thought as she rubbed the salve on her girl's leg. Marisol stopped crying almost instantly, shortly after Annalyse finished the girl was napping again.
Annalyse was frightened by how dependant they were upon this mysterious being who took care of them. She did not know if the being was malevolent or even if it was corporeal. Having been taken from the Gahole forest a little over two years ago though, Annalyse had begun to remember a tale that Cary had told her. The story was that long ago a man of ill fortune had lost his only daughter, four short months after losing his wife, to a monstrous bear in the Gahole woods. The man was so distraught that he hunted down all of the ground dwelling wildlife in the forest, leaving only the birds. By this act the man had forsaken his humanity and mortality and was consequently cursed to an eternity of suffering as a daemon.
As Annalyse remembered this tale she also remembered the rumor that went with it, that the daemon watches over those woods, protecting women as they travel. Annalyse hadn't thought of this possibility at first because it had seemed absurd to her. Now however it dawned on her that, perhaps, there really was a daemon of Gahole and he was responsible for the women who had gone missing over the years. After all, her mysterious caretaker knew what she would need before she needed it. No mortal could know that. As Annalyse, Minnie, and Marisol continued the journey towards the mysterious light, Annalyse wondered if they would ever make it back to her homeland.