Winter Blackthorne

Dru trudged down the dirt road, her leather jerkin pinching her sides. She’d been hoping to finally have a restful few days, but then she’d been called out to deal with a monster stealing young people from a village near the Dread Forest. All this hero business was getting old. It was all, go fight a dragon, Dru, and, save a hamlet from pirates, Dru . And everybody clapped and cheered, then expected her to do it all over again. She was tired . It didn’t help that everywhere she went, people called her a ‘lady hero’ and then asked if a man was available.   She kicked a pebble lying innocently in the road with her steel toed boots. “Maybe I’ll just let the hydra eat you next time, see if you like that,” she mumbled to herself. The fields around her fell away, and the road curved gently as it met the Dread Forest. As scary as the name was, it looked like any other forest, and a pretty one at that. Pine trees coated the forest floor in needles and ancient redwoods towered overhead. Dru...