THE MOON-BEAST OF KELDENWOOD

The Chronicle of Mara Blackthorn, Former Roadwarden

An account of courage, dark enchantments, forgotten places, and the mercy of an unlikely hero.

I. THE SHADOW UPON KELDENWOOD

In the autumn of a troubled year, when the leaves lay thick upon the northern roads and mist gathered beneath the ancient trees, there came to the village of Keldenwood a wanderer named Mara Blackthorn.

Once a Roadwarden, she now travelled where fortune and honest employment led her, bearing a sword at her side and a simple conviction in her heart: that a person ought to do as little harm as possible in a world already burdened with suffering.

Keldenwood was a place beneath a shadow.

Travellers had vanished from its roads. Strange tracks, like those of a monstrous stag, appeared in the forest. Men whispered of enormous antlers glimpsed through the trees and of a terrible creature that walked beneath the moon.

At the Fox and Lantern Inn, Mara learned of a merchant named Edric Venn, whose caravan guard, Tomas Reed, had disappeared upon the northern road. Twenty silver pennies were offered for his safe return.

There too she met Bram Hask, a woodcutter bearing dreadful wounds inflicted by the mysterious beast.

For a silver penny, Bram agreed to guide her into the forest.

Thus began a quest that would lead Mara far beyond the recovery of one missing man.

II. THE PRISONERS OF THE HUNTING LODGE

At first light, Mara and Bram followed the trail of the creature through the ancient woodland.

There were monstrous hoofprints, strange impressions of human boots, and broken branches high above the ground. Following these signs, Mara eventually discovered an old hunting lodge hidden deep among the trees.

Within its shuttered walls she found Tomas Reed, bound and imprisoned.

Approaching unseen, Mara contrived his escape through a narrow window. Yet the rescued guardsman spoke of another captive, a woman named Elin Marr, who remained within.

Mara might have chosen violence. Instead, she chose courage of a different kind.

With Bram's bow covering the entrance and Tomas beside her, she confronted the lodge's armed keepers, Garrick and Kit.

The confrontation nearly became a bloody affair. But Mara recognised that the men were frightened servants rather than eager murderers.

By offering them a chance to put matters right, she secured Elin's freedom without taking a life.

The prisoners were sent to safety, and the two guards agreed to lead Mara to their employer.

Their master was Lord Merek Vale.

III. THE CURSE OF THE IRON CROWN

At Vale Manor, Mara encountered Ysra Pell, the loyal steward of a household gripped by fear.

From her, Mara learned a dreadful truth.

Lord Merek himself was the Moon-Beast.

Six weeks earlier, he had descended into a forgotten chamber beneath the standing stones of Bracken Vale. There, tempted by promises of strength and power to protect his lands, he had placed a circlet of black iron upon his brow.

By night he became a monstrous creature, possessed of terrible strength and only fragments of his human reason.

Yet Merek was neither wholly wicked nor beyond remorse. He feared the destruction he had wrought and longed to be freed.

Mara gave him her word that she would attempt to save him before resorting to killing him.

While the household prepared a fortified crypt in which Merek could be confined at nightfall, Mara searched the ancient family records.

There she discovered the secret of the curse.

The circlet could be removed if its wearer freely renounced its power. Yet its removal alone would not end the enchantment. It must be carried back to the standing stones, heated in flame, and struck apart whilst the wrongs committed beneath its influence were spoken aloud.

Merek willingly surrendered his false gift.

With Ysra's assistance, Mara lifted the iron from his brow.

For the first time in many weeks, Lord Vale heard silence within his mind.

But the ancient power had not yet been destroyed.

IV. THE BREAKING OF THE MOON-BEAST

As evening approached, Merek voluntarily entered the fortified crypt, lest the curse reclaim him.

Mara and Garrick rode to the standing stones bearing the black iron circlet, a hammer and the means to kindle a fierce fire.

There, beneath the gathering shadows, they heated the iron until it glowed red.

Mara named the suffering inflicted upon innocent travellers, the wounds of Bram Hask, the imprisonment of Tomas and Elin, and the fear brought upon the people of Keldenwood.

Garrick confessed his own part in those wrongs.

Then the hammer fell.

Once.

Twice.

And upon the third great blow, the circlet shattered.

A terrible voice cried out from the dying enchantment. For a moment, the shadow of an enormous antlered creature rose between the standing stones.

Then it dissolved into darkness.

The curse of the Moon-Beast was broken.

Returning to Vale Manor, Mara found Lord Merek still human. She released him from the crypt, and the grateful lord welcomed her to his table.

He offered fifty silver pennies in gratitude and later engaged her service to find those still lost in Keldenwood.

The curse was ended, but its consequences remained.

V. THE LOST BENEATH THE EARTH

Word soon came that Jory Fen, the hunter who had vanished whilst following the beast, had been found injured beneath the collapsed roof of an abandoned drying shed.

Mara led a party to his rescue.

From Jory's hidden journal, she discovered the location of an old hollow deep in the forest, beneath which lay forgotten shafts and underground workings.

There Mara assembled a company of capable companions: Garrick, Kit, Harl and Perren.

They descended into the abandoned workings and discovered three desperate prisoners of the darkness.

Martha Bell, her young son Will, and the elderly merchant Aldren Pike had been trapped behind a dangerous timber partition.

Rather than risk bringing the roof down upon them, Mara searched for another entrance. Through an old drainage passage she discovered a forgotten door, which Garrick and Kit opened by removing its rusted hinges.

The three were brought safely into daylight.

Yet another man, Owen Thatch, remained lost.

Following his trail deeper underground, Mara found him beyond a swift subterranean stream. In attempting to bring him across, both were swept from their footing.

Only the stout safety rope and the assistance of her companions saved them.

Though battered and shaken, Mara succeeded in bringing Owen to safety.

Four more souls had been returned from the darkness.

VI. THE STONEMASON AND HIS DAUGHTER

The explorations were not yet finished.

In another passage, Mara discovered a hidden shelter occupied by Corren Venn, a stonemason, and his young daughter Sella.

They had taken refuge beneath the earth to escape the terror of the Moon-Beast.

Corren had heard a man calling from beyond a fallen wall and had been attempting to clear the stones.

Mara investigated, discovering that the blocked passage overlooked the same subterranean stream from which Owen had already been rescued.

Satisfied that no one remained trapped beyond the rocks, she escorted father and daughter safely back to the surface.

Thus six people were brought from the old workings in a single day's expedition, and the number of the missing dwindled.

VII. HUGH LARK AND THE FAITHFUL MULE

Yet one name remained upon the steward's ledger.

Hugh Lark, a drover from Dunmere, had disappeared upon the northern road nine days earlier.

Mara and her companions followed the old livestock trails into the northern hills. Though their first search led them astray, they eventually discovered smoke rising from a ruined shepherd's shelter.

There they found Hugh, alive but injured.

Driven into the hills by the Moon-Beast, he had survived upon spring water and what little food he could gather.

His chief remaining concern, however, was for his lost mule, Thistle.

Following the distant answering brays of that stubborn beast, the company found him grazing contentedly beside an old watering pond.

Man and mule were reunited, much to Hugh's delight and Garrick's amusement, particularly when Thistle attempted to eat the latter's cloak.

And so the final confirmed missing traveller was brought home.

VIII. THE ROAD YET UNTRAVELLED

Now Mara Blackthorn rests once more within the walls of Vale Manor.

Lord Merek lives, freed from the curse that nearly destroyed him. The wounded recover under the care of the physician Oswin. Families separated by fear and darkness have been reunited.

Garrick, once an adversary, has become a loyal and cheerful companion. Kit, Harl and Perren have proven themselves steadfast in danger, and the lord of the manor has placed his resources at Mara's disposal.

Every traveller confirmed missing has been accounted for, though two uncertain reports remain upon Ysra's ledger.

And far beneath Keldenwood, beyond the rushing waters of the underground stream, there remains one opening that no one has yet explored.

Whether it conceals some forgotten secret, another passage to daylight, or merely the silent remains of an older age, none can say.

For the present, the road has grown quieter, the villagers sleep more peacefully, and the forests no longer echo with the hunting cries of the Moon-Beast.

Yet such peace is seldom purchased without sacrifice.

Mara came to Keldenwood seeking honest work and a modest reward. Instead she found a cursed lord, frightened servants, prisoners beneath the earth, and companions whose loyalty was earned not through conquest, but through fairness and courage.

And among all the deeds that might be told of Mara Blackthorn, perhaps the greatest was this:

She entered a land haunted by a monster, and found a way to save the man within it.

Here ends the chronicle of the adventure thus far. The tale of Mara Blackthorn is not yet finished.