Marlis- Chapter 1

Prologue 

Bright sunlight shone through the spring-green foliage of the dark forest, and flickered on the forest ground, wich was covered with thick moss and dead leaves.

It was never quiet in this wondrous yet deadly place. From everywhere all around, invisible in the green gloom, came the strange cries of the forest dwellers. The melodious song of the dazzlingly colorful forest birds, the hum and buzz of millions of insects, the squeaking and quacking of Fromps and wild Lemkins, the ear-piercing screech of a hunting Razorflit and, somewhere in far distance, the long-drawn plaintive call of a Banderbear...

On the edge of the sunlit small clearing in the otherwise impenetrable undergrowth, some leaves were suddenly shaking. A large Tilder buck entered the area, careful moving, ears constantly moving not to miss a sound. The dancing sun spots mixed with his black and white dots on red-brown fur and nearly let him blend with the green sun-spottet background. His big brown eyes did not close for a second, so that they could not miss the slightest movement. The tip of his snout twitched as a filigree forest mosquito settled on it. As the Tilder was sure no predator was watching him, he stretched his narrow head with the three gorgeous twisted horns after the tender young leaves on a very near small bell bush and plucked it with his highly mobile proboscis, but always remained vigilant. A noise made him start up with a snort. The buck froze for one second, then he stamped with a hind leg to the ground and leaped in the undergrowth.

Seconds later, a girl broke through the bushes and ran across the clearing. She was fine-boned built, almost fragile, perhaps sixteen or seventeen years old. Her hip-long orange-red hair was matted from broken twigs and Iron Pine needles. She wore a dress made of a kind of paper that had been completely torn from her flight. Blood ran down her grazed shin. She had been fallen over a root protruding from the forest floor, and also her bare feet were scratched and beaten bloody by sharp stones. The girl had hardly reached the thicket on the other side of the clearing, as the first Whitecollar Woodwolf broke through the green, and then there were seven of them, howling and barking, with slavering jaws and heavy iron-studded leather collars. They had picked up the scent of the girl by chance and were out of their mind now. The red-haired girl ran, moss-green eyes opened wide in panic. She risked a quick look back over her shoulder and wished that same moment she had not done it. She could almost feel the clutches of a wolf snapped together with a metallic click just inches away from her leg. The hot and sticky slobber of the beast splashed on her calf. The girl cried out, but she was already overrun by the first three wolves and the next moment she was surrounded. Panicked, she looked around. No gap. No broken branch to defend himself. She was trapped. Seven pairs of yellow eyes were staring at her, seven drooling mouths filled with sharp yellowed fangs. Somewhere behind her, a whip cracked. The leader of the wolf pack suddenly jumped at her with a loud growl. The girl crouched and protectively held her arms in front of her face. She could smell the stinking breath of the wolf. Now it was all over. The whip cracked again, this time very close. "Off, Ripper! What have I taught you? You can not just eat anything until I see what it is at all! ", someone yelled with a deep voice. The wolf yelped and the shadow over the girl disappeared. "What have you found, my beauties...? Will it bring money?, "she heard the deep voice now quite close to her and slowly opened the eyes. Instead to see in the grimace of the wolf, she looked now in the crude face of the slaver and it was no real bettering of her situation. The Flathead Goblin grinned, revealing two rows of crooked yellow teeth. "Oh yes, it does." He was a considerably taller than the girl and wore knee-length trousers made of Tilder leather to an open waistcoat made of well-worn wolf fur and was tattooed everywhere. "A little Termagant Trog, all alone and far away from home ... good girl, Ripper. We have to be careful with her. " He patted the wolff's head and grabbed the arm of the completely frightened girl roughly. She struggled against to be dragged away by all her might, but it was like a tiny bird will fly against a hurricane. "So come on then".