It was a cold summer morning, even though it was the first day of High Summer, the longest day of the year. A harsh and cold northern wind blew through the pale birch trees and brushes, it filled Aldric’s lungs with the fresh bitter feeling of dawn. He was crouching with his shortbow behind some bushes next to a clearing as he was stalking their prey, a young deer, it could not be more than a year old. It is so cute. Aldric thought to himself, while watching the small animal eat its breakfast, immediately feeling guilty for what they were about to do. But we have to! We don’t have any other choice. 

The summer had been colder than usual, which would lead to a shortage of crops, when the harvest came in next season. The village of Palewood had come together and decided that everyone who would be able to help, should help with the hunting this year and they would have to start earlier.

Aldric chanced a glance at his father sitting across the clearing from him, barely visible through the bushes and trees. He felt like his father was looking in his direction too, but it was difficult to tell. He readied his bow, nocked an arrow and took a deep breath. How can I do this? I’m not a hunter, I am a farmer like my father. I don’t even know how to aim this thing. He thought back to what the hunters had told them. 

He stretched out his arm and held it there, while he pulled back the nocked arrow. So far so good. Now aim. Look down the shaft of the arrow. Point it toward your target. And let go. Just before he could let the arrow fly, someone else’s arrow shot across the clearing and missed the deer. The shock made Aldric let go of the string and his arrow flew past the deer as well. 

The deer spooked, ran in between the trees and disappeared. 

“Damn the forgotten ones, that was so close.” Aldric’s father swore as he stepped out from behind a tree. “Yours was too, my son. But Tymora’s luck was not on our side today.”

“Dad, do you think it is a good idea to speak out loud, while we are supposed to be hunting?” Aldric asked while he crawled through the bushes. 

“Oh damned ones, you are right, my boy! Oh well, nothing for it now. There isn’t much point in us wandering around the forest anymore.” He replied, sounding a bit too relieved, while repeatedly looking over his shoulder. “Come on, let’s get back to the village, before some ettercap or some other foul creature hears us.” 

“Are you sure? The whole village is counting on us to provide some veal.” Aldric asked, surprised by his father's lazy reply. He had never thought of his father as a lazy man.

“They won’t miss what we couldn’t get.” Aldric’s father replied with a bit of venom in his voice. Like he wanted to get going as fast as possible. “Besides, Claire is home alone, I’m hungry and we have the Summer Solstice Festival to get ready for. Come on, let’s get out of this damned forest.”

Aldric shrugged and followed him, not really wanting to argue the point of responsibility with his father. Beside the forest is weirdly eerie. It’s so quiet, it’s creepy. 

They quickly found the trail and walked towards the village without a word spoken between them. On their way, Aldric noticed that they were not the only ones to give up early. They caught up to a group of their neighbors chatting at the edge of the forest. Apparently, none of them have heard or seen any wildlife. But not all groups were back yet, hopefully they would have more luck.

Aldric was just about to tell them about the deer they almost got. But his father laid a hand on his shoulder and shook his head and then told the group, they had not seen anything all morning. Again Aldric was surprised by his father’s behavior, he had never seen him like this. He had always thought of his father as an honest man.

As they came into the open fields between the Palewood forest and the village of Palewood, Aldric felt something terrible had happened, before the eerie scream reached him. It came from the forest, he had never heard anything like that before. Aldric instinctually started running back toward the forest, still feeling something terrible in the air. What could it have been? A wolf, Ettercap or something worse? 

He was close to the clearing his father and he had seen the young deer. In the middle of the clearing lay the most beautiful creature Aldric had ever seen. It was a unicorn, completely pearl white, only for its shiny golden horn, its neck open and blood pouring out, while a hulking midnight black dire wolf was bent over the beautiful stallion. It’s still alive! The wolf reached its paw around the unicorn’s golden horn and broke it off, which made the unicorn let out a gurgling scream. Aldric had the same terrible feeling again.

The wolf stood up on its hind legs holding the golden horn. What is going on? A werewolf? 

“I have to thank you, Gallion Goldenhorn, your horn is the last piece that we needed.” a deep growling voice sounded from the wolf. “Other than the Feytouched Child, of course. But we will have them in due time for the ritual.” 

Is it talking to the unicorn? Aldric thought as he stepped closer. He felt something like a sorrowful rainfall before the storm came. It came first as a pledge, then a strong desire to get out of the rain. Like he should run for cover as fast as possible. Aldric noticed the unicorn’s one eye was staring at him. It looked up at the werewolf and screamed again. Out of the ground shot several thick roots, wrapping around the giant wolf’s legs at first and then its arms. The wolf was now entangled in roots binding it to the ground. The wolf let out a deep howl, it vibrated in Aldric’s chest, his heart beating faster. Aldric immediately felt like a storm was pushing him to run, with a panic feeling for him to survive. As quickly as the feeling of panic reacted him, he started to run as fast as he could. 

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But soon after he started running, Aldric could hear a low growling behind him and heavy footsteps. The werewolf was after him, and was clearly faster than him. Aldric chanced a look at the wolf, while he made a turn after a thick birch tree. The wolf had dark green eyes, had completely black fur and very big teeth. Oh for everything that is holy, they are big!

The wolf was quickly gaining on him, so Aldric started to find ways to shake it, by making as many difficult turns and running between the thinner and closer trees. 

“Yes, good boy! The best part of murder has always been the hunt!” the wolf laughed behind him, too close according to Aldric. “Run! Little one, Run!”

Aldric realised he was close to the edge of the forest, but it was still a long way to the village. And then what do I do? Watch as it kills everyone in the village? No, I have to do something!

The thoughts were racing through his mind, but everything seemed lost and the werewolf was right on his heels. 

A sharp whistle sounded, it was so high and painful that Aldric fell to the ground grabbing his ears. The same had happened to the werewolf, Aldric felt the giant creature fall to the ground right behind him. As quick as it happened, it was over. Aldric looked around him in a panic, trying to spot the werewolf. But it was gone. Not even a sound. The eerie silence of the forest again filling the area. 

“What is going on here?” Aldric cried in disbelief, his breath and heart racing away. He was not far from the trail leading out of the forest. He went as fast as he could, constantly looking over his shoulders, checking for the giant beast. Still in disbelief, he found the trail and hurried out of the forest.

When Aldric left the forest, he spotted his neighbors and his father, as he got closer, he noticed they were looking at him confused. 

His father stepped towards him and asked in a low voice, “Aldric my son, what happened?”

“What do you mean, dad?” Aldric asked, a bit confused by the situation. “Didn’t you hear the scream?”

The group of people were standing in the almost exact same spot as when Aldric ran into the forest. 

“What scream? I didn’t hear any scream. Are you feeling alright? You are sweating.” His father said, very worried. “You stopped, turned to look at the forest, and then ran as fast as a stallion in heat into the forest, only to walk out a few moments later?” What! That can not be true.

“You didn’t hear the scream? But it was so loud.” Aldric looked at all the people staring at him. “Maybe it was nothing.” 

“I… I thought I had forgotten something in that clearing.” Aldric lied, he was not sure what to tell his father or the other for that matter. Was it all some kind of dream? The Unicorn and the Werewolf? No, it was real. I know it.

“Boy, you can’t run off like that, you scared your old man here.” his father laughed a bit falsely.

“I’m sorry dad, I didn’t mean to.” Aldric tried to comfort his father.

“It’s okay. Come on, let's get home. So, we can have a bit of lunch with Claire before going out to the fields in the afternoon.” His father suggested. 

“And we can go to the Summer Solstice Festival tonight?” Aldric asked in his sweetest voice. He was still shaking from the whole experience, not knowing what to think. 

“Of course, it is the first day of High Summer after all.” His father replied, good humoured.

A bit later, they arrived at the farmhouse. Aldric’s younger sister came running out to them, her wavy blond hair flowing behind her. “Daddy! Aldric! You’re home early! Did you catch anything?” 

Aldric always seemed to see his mother, when he looked at his baby sister. They looked so alike, the only difference was that she had their father’s brown eyes. Where Aldric had the deep blue almost purple eyes of their mother, but other than that he was the splitting image of their father. Dark brown almost black hair, slender and lower than average height. 

Their father used to say, one of their mother’s ancestors was from the Feywild, so both Aldric and his sister were of fey blood. Not that Aldric felt any fey magic about himself, or his sister. The only magical thing about him was his eyes. Maybe the fey magic skipped us? Or it was so long ago that the magic is just not there anymore.

“Are you two hungry? I made lunch for all of us.” Claire’s sweet voice chimed. 

“Yes!” the two males echoed.

After they have eaten and finished the afternoon work. Aldric sat in the fields and enjoyed the warmer afternoon sun, although it was barely warmer than an average high spring day. He was thinking about this morning and what he had seen. Feytouched child? What is a Feytouched? And who did the werewolf mean by we? And was it even real? 

Aldric had been thinking about it all day, but he hadn’t told anybody yet. After what his father had said, when they were in the forest, it seemed too crazy to be true. A midnight black werewolf and a pearl white unicorn. A Unicorn, no one would believe that. Wait? Maybe I was in the Feywild? How would I even know? I should ask Lilian and Stefan, they both know more about this sort of thing than I do.

Lilian and Stefan were Aldric’s good friends, both of them lived in the village. Lilian was studying medicine and herbalism together with her grandmother, who was the whole area’s healer, even knew a few spells. Stefan’s father was a forester and huntsman, so Stefan often spent days in the forest together with his father. 

“Aldric? Are you ready to go? We are leaving soon.” his father’s voice broke his solitude. 

“Yes, dad.” Aldric replied, getting up from the ground. “Let’s get going!”

He dusted off his pants, ran his fingers through his hair, and went back to the farmhouse, with even more questions than he had had earlier.