The Sorceress and the Woodsman

Ch. 1 The Sorceress

The shutters were closed tightly, light only seeped through a small crack casting a strip of light onto a quilted bed in a dark room. A foot dangled out of the quilted sheet, and over the end of the wooden framed bed lazily. Demetri lay in a state between awake, and asleep. She could feel that the sun was up, but her dream had been so good she felt if she rose from bed she would lose the memory of it. It was such a pleasant dream, simple and peaceful. She had found herself in a field of tall grass, the sun was bright but warm and soft. There was a gentle breeze that swayed the sea of grass making it sound like waves beating against land. She walked through this enchanting land till she found herself at a castle built of grey stone. She knocked on the large wooden doors, but before they could open she woke.

There was a large hacking noise coming from outside Demetri's window. It echoed loudly in her small room. Groaning and cursing the noise, Demetri rose from her comfortable slumber and crossed to the window. Throwing open the shutters, she leaned out to see a man with a large axe chopping wood. His hair was brown with auburn, and his stubble chin was as dark as bark. He was not as tall as most Woodsmen, but he held himself with such a height you would not notice. His eyes were cast down, unaware of Demetri hanging out her window.

"Bill!" Demetri called to the Woodsmen. His eyes, which were sea green, looked up, and he smiled familiarly back.

"Well good morning to you." He said setting his axe down on the chopping stump and leaning on it.

"I was sleeping. You woke me."

"I am aware." Bill chuckled and plucked his axe off the stump. He grabbed another piece of wood and hacked at it."

"You knew, and you woke me?" Demetri asked exasperated, and annoyed.

"Yes," Bill said while throwing the chopped wood into a pile. "I wanted to see your beautiful face." Demetri groaned again and rubbed at her eyes. Bill hacked at another piece of wood.

"Can you do that somewhere else? Why are you on my land anyway?" Demetri snapped at him. Bill was not her favorite person in The Woods, really Demetri did not have a favorite. She had no friends, and the only family she had was her caretaker who had raised her and her Uncle who only appeared once a year on her birthday.

"Marla asked me to chop wood for her, because you couldn't." Bill said smiling again. Demetri was not pleased with this answer and grinded her teeth.

"I can chop wood just fine thank you." Demetri stated coldly. At that Marla came around the back of the small hut, seeing Demetri's head at the window she called out.

"Nice for you to finally wake. Get up, get dressed I need your hunt before noon or there will be no supper." Marla said walking by with a basket of beans. "And you," she called out to Bill, "If that wood isn't chopped and done in thirty minutes, I shall take that axe to you, stop flirting and get to work." Marla marched off with her basket to the front of the house leaving Demetri and Bill to scoff in denial to her accusations. Bill laughed though and winked at Demetri, who in turn gave him a look of disgust and slammed her shutters closed.

Demetri lit candles with a whisper of a blow and proceeded to dress in her deer hide trousers and laurel leaf long coat that she wore when she hunted. As she changed she thought of ways to get back at Bill. He was much older than her, having eight more years to her sixteen, so he was a bit cleverer. But he lived alone, and she knew where. She could easily wake early, go to his hut, and bang pots together to wake him and see how he liked it. Demetri brushed through her dark brown hair and plaited it down her back. Bill's smirking face was plastered into her mind and a heat boiled in her stomach as she blew out the candles with a quick intake of her breath. She opened her shutters again and then went out into the kitchen.