King Gabriel had fallen at the hands of Mortu the Malignant, and his kingdom lay in ruins.
The king may have merely been the most recent of Mortu’s victims, but to young Princess Penelope, he was the most tragic. Gabriel ruled Evangenea as he ruled his household: honorably, compassionately, faithfully. He was fair but firm, a respected man of impeccable integrity who was beloved by Queen Olivia, the princess and everyone else who knew him.
None of that mattered to the insidious shapeshifter who’d infiltrated Gabriel’s court and initiated his vile plan to slay the venerated king. By the time Gabriel had learned of Mortu’s invasion, the interloper had already struck a mortal blow – the war nearly over before the king ever knew he was under siege.
“I will deplete every ounce of strength and all my resources to expel you from my kingdom,” Gabriel proclaimed when Mortu had been discovered. “And I don’t intend to lose.”
“Your intentions are irrelevant,” Mortu replied, his pointed teeth shining behind his grinning lips. “You’ve already lost. You’re simply too foolish to recognize it.”
Gabriel’s battalion launched a relentless counterattack aimed at identifying and eradicating the fiercest conspirators from within the king’s court. He recruited Evangenea’s finest sorcerers and potion masters to unleash their deadliest enchantments on Mortu’s forces.
Initial reports declared that Mortu’s destructive influence had been greatly diminished, his grip on the kingdom weakened. Optimism spread throughout Evangenea even as the war weighed heavily on the king, his energy waning and his health deteriorating by the day.
Yet, he battled on.
“Will we be victorious?” Penelope cautiously asked her father as they explored the Forest of Forever for the first time since learning of Mortu’s invasion.
“Mortu is a formidable foe,” he replied with a wink that lifted Penelope’s confidence, “but this isn’t my time.”
The forest had long been a refuge for the princess. The fruit from its shrubs was the sweetest in Evangenea, the water from its brooks the purest, and the sounds that echoed beneath its infinite canopy always stilled Penelope’s mind and calmed her heart.
Excursions with her father were the princess’s most cherished memories – endless hours spent wandering together between the ancient trees searching for flowers dripping with vivid colors and mossy footpaths leading to unexpected discoveries, all while being serenaded by a dulcet choir of unseen birds.
Gabriel first introduced the princess to the enchanted forest when she was very young, lifting her tiny body onto his broad shoulders and carrying her into the trees. She sat in silent awe of all the beauty she beheld atop her perch, her head swiveling as her father pointed to the furry rodents skittering under the broad ferns and the way the sunlight tickled the surface of the creek.
And yet, as wondrous as the forest was, the king warned Penelope that day of the wily creatures and fearsome beasts that also roamed amongst its timber. “But you mustn’t let fear prevent you from enjoying the beauty in our midst. Darkness and goodness exist alongside one another, but take heart: Goodness will prevail.”
He paused, allowing his words to take root. “In the meantime,” he continued, “it’s my responsibility to protect you from anything that seeks to harm you.”
All these years later, with Gabriel weakened from his battle with Mortu, Penelope wondered who was supposed to protect her father from that which sought to harm him.
Gabriel stopped, tilted his head toward the sky and closed his eyes. “I’ve missed this,” he said, savoring the sunlight that filtered through the leaves and warmed his gaunt face.
“Me too,” she said, mimicking his movements.
“Penny?” She turned to find her father staring at her, his eyes watery but urgent. “Do you remember what I told you about darkness and goodness?”
She nodded slowly. “Goodness will prevail.”
“Good,” he said, wiping his eyes and wrapping a now-feeble arm around her shoulders. “That’s my girl.”
That night, Penelope dreamt she and her father were again exploring the Forest of Forever, only this time, he labored behind her. She stopped, giving the king time to catch his breath as she looked up into the branches in search of the warm sunlight, but all she saw was the silhouette of the leaves against a rapidly darkening sky.
She turned to grasp her father’s hand but he was gone. A rush of icy wind swirled around Penelope, whipping her hair into her eyes. The crisp sound of leaves rustling in the wind erupted around her but, in the deepening dark, she saw nothing beyond the tip of her nose.
She spun, searching. “Father?”
“Silly girl.” She’d never spoken to Mortu the Malignant, but she was certain it was his voice cutting through the wind. “Goodness cannot prevail over darkness. Death will claim your father and, one day very soon –” a shadowy blur lunged at Penelope, a hulking beast far deadlier than any her father had ever warned her about – “it will claim you too!”
She awoke just before the shape-shifter’s fangs and claws sank into her flesh, the black night of the forest replaced by the dim morning light trickling through her bedroom window. Sitting upright in her bed, chilled by her sweat-soaked pajamas, Penelope knew she would never again walk the Forest of Forever with her father.
The battle turned quickly after that, as Mortu’s legion swallowed up the momentum initially gained by Gabriel’s forces. The shapeshifter had long been planting seeds of rebellion within the kingdom, and just when the king believed he’d gained the advantage, those seeds reaped death and destruction throughout Evangenea. The sorcerers and potion masters were out of ideas. The end was near.
Olivia wept over her husband’s bed as the war reached its cruel conclusion. “My king,” she whispered, her head on his shoulder, “however will we endure?”
He smiled tenderly. “You will not only endure, my queen; you will thrive.” Gabriel’s gaze drifted toward Penelope, who stood in the corner amidst the shadows. His intense eyes locked with hers. “My death will not be yours; Mortu will not triumph over you as he has me. Goodness will prevail.”
The king released one last, slow breath and, as all of Evangenea mourned Gabriel’s death, darkness overtook the land and the trees began to wither. The Forest of Forever, once a vibrant wonderland teeming with mystery and endless possibility, became known as the Nevermoors, a desolate wasteland of rotten stumps and decaying vegetation.
Phantoms were rumored to roam the Nevermoors, eager to feast on anyone who dared set foot on the accursed ground, while the creatures who once called the forest home were said to be hunting the fearful people of Evangenea.
Penelope gazed out her bedroom window and wept. Despite her father’s promise, Mortu had triumphed. Goodness had been defeated.
+++
“Penny?” A gentle knock shook Penny from her drawing. “Sweetie?” Penny looked up as the knob turned, the door slowly opened and her mom appeared alongside her uncle Rob. “Someone’s here to see you.”
“Hey, kiddo,” he said with a smile. “Thanks, Olivia,” he added as Penny’s mom silently ducked out of the doorway.
Penny rolled her eyes and turned back to her artwork, a collection of papers spread out in front of her and a bin of markers, crayons and colored pencils at her side as she laid on the floor.
“Wow,” Rob said when he saw Penny’s work. “An artist just like your dad, huh?”
Penny had grown tired of hearing “how much like your dad” she was. It’s all anyone seemed to be able to say to her in his final days and at the funeral.
“I guess,” she finally answered.
Rob chuckled and lowered himself onto the ground. “What’s that?” he asked, nodding at the picture she was working on.
“The Nevermoors,” she said, using a pencil to deepen the shadows on one of the illustration’s many tree stumps.
“Looks pretty bleak.”
“Yep.”
Rob looked to his right, paused, and picked another piece of paper up off the floor.
“That’s Mortu. The Malignant. He’s a shapeshifter.”
Deep, slashing lines covered the middle of the page with two wild, glowing slits staring out above a cavernous mouthful of jagged teeth. Angular, lithe arms extended from both sides of the chaotic shading, a cluster of long, thorny claws splayed at the end of each limb.
“Mortu, huh?” he said thoughtfully before setting the sheet back on the ground. “Wouldn’t want to mess with that dude.”
She paused. “He killed the king.”
“The king?” Penny pointed toward a sketch taped to the wall beside her bed. Rob followed her finger and inhaled sharply. “Penny, that….” He stood, walked toward the portrait of his older brother and sat on the bed, leaning closer. “That looks just like him, Penny. It’s beautiful.”
Penny set her pencil down, grabbed the picture Rob left on the floor and glared at Mortu. “Cancer sucks,” she said.
Rob turned toward Penny, fresh tears in his eyes. “Yep, Mortu sucks. I’m so sorry you had to learn that this early in life.”
Penny stood and walked toward the bed, her own eyes now awash in tears as she sat and rested her head on her uncle’s shoulder.
He pulled her into a brief hug. “I miss him too. But I know your dad loved Jesus, so he’s having the time of his life in heaven right now. And, many, many – many – years from now, we’ll see him again.”
Penny lifted her head, eying him skeptically. “You really believe that?”
He smiled. “I do. I have to. It’s the only way any of this makes sense.”
As Penny put her head back on Rob’s shoulder, he noticed another drawing on the wall by her desk. “What’s that?”
“The Forest of Forever.”
“Looks like the woods behind your house,” he said after a pause, “where you and your dad used to hike.”
“It was,” she replied quietly.
“When was the last time you went back there?” he asked gently.
Silence filled the room before Penny inhaled slightly.
“It’s not safe anymore,” she finally said.
“The woods?”
She nodded. “Goodness lost.”
Rob gave his niece another tender squeeze. “It feels that way right now, but goodness wins in the end. Your dad never stopped believing that, and he wouldn’t want you to either.”
“But we’re all going to die one day,” she said flatly, “just like he did.”
Rob sighed heavily. “I know. But your dad taught me that there’s so much more to life than what happens between the day we’re born and the day we die.” Rob gently pulled the sketch of his brother off the wall and placed it in Penny’s lap. “Goodness didn’t die when he did. It’s inside of you, just like it was inside of him. It’s within and around all of us. Always.”
Penny wiped her nose and sniffled, her eyes fixed on the drawing. “I can’t see it anymore,” she whispered.
He nodded. “I’ve had a hard time seeing it lately too, so how ‘bout we look for it together?” She lifted her head and looked at Rob uncertainly. “I brought my boots,” he said hopefully.
Ten minutes later, Princess Penelope stood on the edge of the Nevermoors with Duke Robert, her breath short and her heart quick. As she tried to muster the strength to move forward, she closed her eyes and pictured the pale sunlight filtering down through the leaves above as she sat atop King Gabriel’s strong shoulders. She thought of his kindness, his laughter, how he always knew when she needed a hug. She recalled his courage when he learned of Mortu’s invasion and his perseverance during the grueling war that followed.
Then she remembered how he always managed to find the beauty, even in the battle, and how he believed in goodness until the very end.
She opened her eyes, inhaled deeply and stepped forward, and the first new sapling broke through the soil in the Forest of Forever.
Submitted during round 2 of NYC Midnight’s 2022 Short Story Challenge.
Prompts:
Genre – Fantasy
Theme – Reforestation
Character – Shapeshifter
Photo by Donald Giannatti on Unsplash
