The Dryad – Chapter One

As Delphianne lay there listening to the silvery notes from her harp mingle with the gently blowing breeze, her thoughts turned to the world around her. A world she had never seen beyond her grove that was hers to protect. She knew that she lived near a place called Yew. She had heard travelers and hunters say so many times. She had heard other things as well. The world that they were on was called Sosaria. There were many "towns" in the lands; Britain, Skara Brae and others she had heard tell of. The lands were populated with all manner of interesting peoples as well. She had seen in her days humans, orcs, trolls, ettins, dwarves and her favorites, the faeries and the elves.

Elves seemed to pass here quite frequently. Delphi had to assume that they lived nearby. She had never spoken to an elf, or anyone else for that matter. Whenever anyone would approach her glade she would hide from sight. She was sworn to serve the goddess Dana. Were she to be discovered could mean disaster for the tree she was sworn to protect. She was to give her life if necessary to the protection of her glade. Should her tree lose it's life for any reason she, as the spirit of the giant Yew itself, would flicker and die along with it.

She plucked once more at the harp in her arms. Her pointed ears filtered away the song of her instrument so that she could hear the sounds of the woods. She could pick up the faintest rustle from a mile away. Now she could pick up the sounds of stomping feet, accompanied by grunts and yelling. Orcs! The breeze was now carrying there stench her way. She sat herself upright and strained to listen.

"...it all Gutheg. We been marchin' fer miles and ain't found nothin'.", a rough orc voice snarled. "Why do we need one o'tha big ones anyway?"

A deeper gruffer voice answered." Ya idiot! We need a big ram...then we take the hummies abbey for our own... Lookie there! That one is big... yes... that one will work good."

Delphi knew they were coming her way. She jumped up and hid behind her tree quickly. Her heart was pounding in her chest. It was her tree they wanted. She calmed herself and focused. She had done this before. Peering around the tree she saw the first of the orcs enter her glade. It wielded a huge axe that glinted in the noonday sun. Composing herself again she focused her thoughts and directed them at that first orc. Slowly her fingers played across the strings of her harp. She pictured her enemy in her mind, lifting his axe as if to strike the tree and then suddenly turning on his own.

"Gutheg... what?", was the last slightly intelligible words Delphi heard. Axe clanged against shield and the battle began. As she continued to play her harp orc turned on orc. The sounds of battle were brutal. Screams and cries of pain filled the air. The clashing of steel was deafening, and still Delphianne played on. A tear ran down her cheek. She did not enjoy the methods she was forced to use to defend her home. She simply had no alternative.

At last the sounds of battle began to fade... the fight was moving away. She continued to pluck at her harp as she dared a peek around her tree at the battleground. The hewed bodies of orcs lay strewn around her glade. Here and there were parts of bodies... heads... arms with there hands still clutching there huge weapons. There were no live orcs to be seen and the last few that did live were now almost out of range of her music.

A sigh escaped her lips as she lay down her harp. She moved out a bit away from her tree. Bowing her head she closed her eyes and focused on the bodies strewn about her. She began to hum. The sound was barely audible. She raised her hands high over her head. In that instant the ground began to tremble. The trees around her responded to her call. There roots pushed up through the ground as if reaching for the sky. Slowly they wrapped themselves around the bodies of the fallen orcs. When all were in place and every weapon and body part was securely gripped the roots retreated into the ground, pulling the felled creatures with them. The ground gave one last heave and then all was quiet. On the surface, no one would ever know of the battle that happened here.