The next morning dawned fresh and clear, the sunlight sparkling through the forests. Raelyn sat up in her bed and smiled down at her pet, her Kira, sleeping soundly on her down-filled pallet at the foot of the massive bed Raelyn called her own.
Stepping silently from the bed, she padded to her private laboratory and performed her morning absolutions. She emerged clean and dry, thanks to a spell she used to dry her long hair. She dressed with care- black velvet pants that clung to her legs and hips before flaring out over riding boots. A hunter's shirt in crisp white, held in place with a black velvet vest-like bodice. Her hair she swept into a braid, tied with a black leather tie to keep it out of her way. Today she would deal with the intruders, would make them sorry they'd crossed the borders into her forests.
She smiled wickedly. This would be rather fun indeed.
By midmorning, Kira sat, mounted on a rather large elk, easy in the saddle of the creature now, though she was still nervous about its jumping. She'd been given clothing to wear after Raelyn told her of the intruders.
"But Mistress, they're here to kill me!"
"I will protect you," Raelyn had said with a cross glare. "Do you doubt that, Kira-mine?"
"No, Mistress," Kira had whispered, sinking to her knees. "I don't doubt you."
"Good, now dress and let us be off."
The clothing felt odd to Kira after two days of being nude. Unnatural and confining, though there wasn't much to her outfit. Woolen leggings kept her legs warm in the early spring chill and left little to the imagination, her body outlined by the cleaving green wool. A tunic that reached to her mid-thigh kept her warm enough, its long sleeves flaring slightly at the wrists. A bow had been provided, one of master craftsmanship, elks traced over its arches, a sheath of arrows given in accompaniment, far better then the ones she'd carried before.
The elk she rode, decked in a simple green saddle and bridle, was a deep red hue with large curving antlers. Raelyn had said its name was Ceorin. Kira patted its neck affectionately as she followed Raelyn.
The Mistress of the forests was not seated upon an elk but on one of her own wolves. The creature, large to began with, had doubled in size at her command, becoming about three meters from nose to tail, more then large enough to ride on. There was no saddle, no bridle, the creature followed unspoken orders from Raelyn, that much Kira could see.
The elk, Ceorin, seemed to have no qualms about following the wolf, nor did he spook as the rest of the pack joined them, forming a circle around the two women.
"We're close now, Kira," Raelyn said suddenly, pulling Kira from her musings. The wolves tightened their protective circle around the two women. Raelyn went on. "Do not speak unless I give you leave to. Even here, meeting these men, you are my slave, my Kira, not their Kirynthia. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Mistress Raelyn," Kira said, comforted by the words.
"Good," Raelyn said, changing to a side-saddle like position on the wolf she rode, her back ramrod straight. "Let us greet these fools that would tread upon my land without my welcome."
A fine mist spread out from Raelyn, crawling through the forest, carried by a massing of the silvery moths that followed Raelyn wherever she went. They carried the mist around the small band of men, running trendles of it between their horses.
The men cursed colorfully, using anger to mask the fear they felt over the sudden rising mist. The moths were creepy as well, night creatures fluttering about in full daylight, the sun at its zenith in the sky still.
Kira started at the mist herself but was calmed again by Raelyn. "Do not be afraid, my pet. This is my doing- I do love making a grand entrance. Now watch and learn."
The wolves seemed to chuckle as she motioned half of the pack out to surround the mounted party of men, driving them to the clearing where Raelyn and Kira now sat atop their steeds.
Howls and wolven growls ripped through the forest followed by the high pitched squeals of frightened horses, the yells of angry men. The howls rippled, one atop the other, making it impossible to tell where one began and another left off, giving the image of a pack far larger then the one Raelyn kept.
She smirked wickedly for a moment before a howl alerted her to their arrival at the other end of the clearing. Composing herself, Raelyn easily slipped behind the mask she wore as the Mistress of the Forest to outsiders- cold, calm and collected. She nodded to Kira and the pair rode forward, though Kira stayed behind Raelyn to her left side.
The men's curing halted suddenly as the wolves calls did, their attention turning to the women emerging from the mists before them. A few crossed themselves, eyes wide, though none made move to attack.
"What are you doing here in my forest, sons of man?"
The leader of the group nudged his mount to the front of the group, its eyes rolling wildly at the sight of the giant wolf though it made no move to run. "I am the hunter Broderick and we are seeking a murderer that fled into your forest."
"I care not for the matters of men outside my realm," Raelyn said coldly. "Be gone from my land, now, or face dire consequences."
