"This is the place."

The rough cloth tied about Ruka's eyes was cut free with a short flick of
Garawynne's dagger. Ruka blinked once as his eyes adjusted to the light. He
was in a small grove in what looked to be the northern Serenwilde if the trees
were any indication. There were only two paths out of the grove to the north
and to the southeast though Ruka had no idea which one he had just come from.
The stillness of the forest was so profound as to almost be described as loud.
No birds were in sight within the branches of the trees, no squirrels chattered,
no insects hummed in his ear.

"This is the place where you will undergo your quest. Here, drink this."
Garawynne handed Ruka a flask of something that smelled vaguely of salty brine.
He drank a few mouthfuls as he listed to what she was saying.

"You will be left alone here for as long as it takes. If you are victorious
you will be welcomed as a full blooded warrior. If you do not prove victorious
then the warrior's path is not for you. The White Hart will only accept those
warriors who prove their worth," Garawynne continued. "You have food and water
enough for several days but if you are successful you will need but very little
of it."

"I understand and I am ready Garawynne," Ruka said resolutely. For a brief
moment his eyes unfocused and colours danced and flashed before his eyes. He
swooned and dropped to his knees as the potion he had sipped began to take
effect.

"Morphite and anerod. It will help you in your quest. Farewell Ruka."
Garawynne straightened and looked southwards into the distance. With a swift
fluid motion she leapt up onto her stag and the strong animal quickly sprinted
off into the woods leaving Ruka alone.

Ruka sluggishly turned his head to mark their passing but before he could take
note of the direction they left he fell to his face in the dirt. A warm breeze
cast up a few dried leaves into his hair and across his face but Ruka was
already gone.

* * *

He seemed to awake in a forest glade though it seemed all wrong. The trees
were white as snow as were their leaves, the grasses at their roots and the
birds in their branches. For several long minutes Ruka stared up at the trees
in puzzled awe. Slowly he lifted his hand towards the trees and he saw that
the light seemed to bend around his hand making his surroundings ripple and
distort. With a contented smile he fell backwards into the dew-moistened soil.

"What are you doing here?"

The voice came sharply in an octave far higher than a humans and even above
that of a trill. Ruka blinked several times and looked around. A very tiny
pixie suddenly zoomed up in the air before his face and looked at him
inquisitively. Ruka smiled dreamily.

"You better have a good reason for being here," the pixie harped at him.

"I do! I am here to see the White Hart," Ruka replied.

The pixies eyes lit up and its mouth turned up in a wry smile. It tapped its
chin with its fingers thoughtfully and paced through the air slowly. Ruka
began to feel more alert and began to look around at the glade with a bit more
focus.

"You think the White Hart is here?" The pixie smirked.

"Of course. I know he is. I would not be here if he could not be found in
this place." Ruka allowed a smirk of his own, feeling quite clever to not be
taken in by the pixie's doubts.
"Well then, have a look around. Maybe he's under that rock over there! Or
perhaps those are his antler's in the trees there!" The pixie laughed brightly
and fluttered a few meters away. Ruka took a few steps forward and started
counting the different things he saw. A few white rocks, lots of white trees,
white grass and soil underfoot and a white stream flowing eastwards through the
glade. No animals aside from the birds though, certainly no White Hart.

Ruka cast a glance at the pixie who had contented itself on a nearby rock
pulling at some moss.

"Ruka, this way. Come closer." A strange soothing voice seemed to echo through
the glade causing Ruka to jump.

"White Hart?" He asked cautiously.

"Yes Ruka, this way. Come to the stream."

Ruka walked tentatively towards the stream and looked into the waters. The
glowing white water was strangely translucent in a strange fashion. It almost
looked like it flowed in a certain pattern of interlocking lines that formed
large diamond shapes. Ruka began to feel uneasy and reached for his knife.

"Yes, you will make an excellent sacrifice for... the White Hart." The voice
seemed to come from directly behind him now, low and menacing.

Ruka whirled around and came eye to eye with the head of a great serpent. Its
mouth hung open wide showing two fangs almost as long as Ruka was tall. A
blood red forked tongue flicked in and out of its mouth quicker than lightning.
Ruka stepped back and collided with the stream which apparently had risen up in
a solidified wall behind him. With a dawning horror he realised the truth. The
stream was nothing more than the diamond scales of the great serpents skin, the
entire stream was in fact the serpent. He could see where it still looked like
water coming down from the west, then coiling up out of its banks and winding
around his body to come to the ghastly head.

The pixie laughed somewhere in the distance.

"You are not White Hart, deceiver!" Ruka exclaimed as he tried to appear
authoritative before the great serpents blood red eyes.

"Am I not? Do I not have the antlers of the White Hart?" The snake hissed.

Ruka looked up carefully at the top of the snake's head. His jaw dropped open
slightly as he saw large strong antlers with hundreds of points sprouting a
meter back from the serpent's eyes. Before he could react, the serpent dashed
forward and wrapped his body around Ruka in a vice grip. He gasped as the life
breath was crushed from his lungs and out of the corner of his eye he saw the
pixie alight on the snake's antlers. He looked up at it pleadingly but to no
avail, the pixie merely giggled inanely.

The serpent hissed in pleasure and inched its mouth closer to Ruka. The two
great fangs lifted up above his shoulders and then slowly came down, the tips
just resting on Ruka's flesh. As Ruka began to scream, the fangs came down and
pierced his body deeply. He felt the fangs tear through his lungs, his heart
and his stomach before punching through his skin. In agony, he began to black
out.

"That won't do at all, no no!" The pixie laughed and swooped down to Ruka's ear
and struck him on the temple with a single tiny fist. In an instant the world
began to twist and swirl and Ruka was lost to oblivion.

* * *

Garawynne broke off a crust of bread and took a bite. The shadows were
lengthening as she sat pondering. Her stag sat motionless at her side as she
ate. She smiled as Farath sat down next to her on the ground with a flask of
wine.
"How much did he drink before you left him?" Farath asked. Garawynne chuckled
softly.

"At least five swallows. He'll have a difficult time with the anerod relapse I
think," she said contentedly.

"Indeed, those damn pixies." Farath muttered under his breath.

Garawynne smiled as her eyes shone with amusement.

* * *

Ruka awoke in darkness. The ground beneath him was hard and cold. His fingers
curled around something moist and as his eyes opened he saw that he held a
broken stalagmite in his hand. He jerked upright suddenly and clapped his
hands on his chest to feel for wounds. To his relief his body was whole and
without a trace of a wound. Strangely though, he traced the torn edges of his
clothes. Tears that looked to have been made my puncture marks from spears...
or fangs. He shuddered and got to his feet.

And immediately fell to the floor again. The ceiling was lower than he thought
and he cursed to himself as he rubbed his head to soothe the pain.

"Pixie! Where am I? Where are you?" He shouted.

His questions were answered by low rumble in the rock floor.

Getting to all fours Ruka began crawling. In the darkness it was impossible to
know which way he was going but that didn't seem to matter to him since he
didn't know where he was trying to get to anyway. After several minutes the
rock beneath him began to feel warm under his fingers. As he crawled on he
realised that he was descending and the lower he descended the hotter his
environment became. The air was getting decidedly humid and soon it was all he
could do to keep pressing on as the rocks scorched his skin. What kept him
moving was a small red light coming from further on in what he now knew as a
small tunnel.

With a final thrust he pulled his body out of the narrow tunnel and tumbled to
a heap onto the floor of a much larger cave. As he righted himself he saw he
was adrift on a large rock floating in a sea of fire. The liquid fire cast a
deep red and orange glow across the rocks of the vast cave making a hypnotic
ebb and flow of colour surge along the rock walls. The heat withered the edges
of his clothes and the threads of his tunic caught ablaze. Quickly he patted
himself down until the flames had abated and with a heavy sigh he looked around
in desperation.

It suddenly dawned on Ruka that a woman was standing on a small rock floating
towards him on the sea of fire. She was elfen if his eyes could still be
trusted, with high cheekbones and bright eyes. As she came closer his eyes
widened and he blushed almost a crimson to rival the colour of the sea of fire.
It was apparent now that the woman was naked though she clearly did not mind.
Her eyes were almost closed and she smiled serenely. Once he recovered his
composure he looked up at her again and blinked. She was not floating upon any
stone at all but rather walked across the molten flow with bare feet. She
smiled and reached a hand out to him as she drew nearer.

"Come Ruka, it is not safe here and you are tired and wounded. I will take
care of you if you but come with me." Her voice was like sparkling water,
soothing and clear.

Ruka reached out to take her hand.

The world cracked and the air behind the elfen woman shattered into thousands
of iridescent pieces. From the fissure in space an immense dark figure emerged
and spread its horrid wings wide. Ruka cried out in terror as the huge form of
the bird swooped down on the elfen woman and seized her in its ugly talons. It
cawed and the cave shuddered violently. Ruka's ears began to bleed at the sound
but he kept his eyes riveted on the foul bird that he recognized as a giant
crow.
Up went the crow with the woman crying and howling in pain in its talons. With
a wicked shriek the crow dove down to the sea of fire and submerged the elfen
woman in the flames. A small column of fire erupted and splashed around the
crow's legs. Ruka choked on his sobs as he screamed out at the hated bird.
The crow turned its head to look into Ruka's eyes as it flapped its wings and
began to ascend. The elfen woman's body came up out of the fire and Ruka
turned and vomited into the sea. Her body was charred and blackened, her face
marred and melted beyond recognition. With another ear-shattering shriek the
crow released her corpse and let it sink into the fire.

Ruka heaved again and turned to face the crow. Too late, for the crow had
swooped down onto the rock where he lay helpless. Its talons rose up and
pierced his legs, pinning him to the rock. The sound of bone splintering
almost sent Ruka into a faint again but he managed to make a few half-hearted
slash at the crow's eyes. The crow whipped its head away from Ruka's knife and
brought its beak crashing down into Ruka's right arm, pinning it just as his
legs were pinned. Ruka howled and writhed in pain as he tried to free his body
from the cruel impalement. The crow cawed again and pulled its head back.
Sickeningly, the crow's beak remained in Ruka's arm and a new beak formed
instantly on the crow's head. Down again came the beak into his left arm and
once again, when the crow withdrew, the beak remained and another formed on its
head. Ruka struggled weakly against the spiked beaks in his arms to no avail.
Unconsciousness beckoned to him as the pain began to overwhelm his senses.
Ruka became aware of a tinkling laughter somewhere close by but his vision
failed him as his body went limp.

The crow cawed madly over and over again until Ruka's body was mostly still and
then it began to feed. With quick pecks, the crow began to tear into Ruka's
body, consuming his flesh. It pecked his ribs bare until the cage of his ribs
was exposed to the heat and his insides began to broil.

Just at that moment the pixie landed on Ruka's head.

"My my but you have gotten yourself into a mess again. Eat this!"

The pixie crammed a biscuit into Ruka's mouth and clamped his jaw shut around
it. As Ruka's teeth broke into the biscuit a warm fluid filled his mouth and
trickled down his throat. Ruka heard glass collapsing and breaking all around
him and then he lost himself to nothingness again.

* * *

Ruka awoke in a forest of giant redwoods and sat up. He stared blankly for a
moment and then the memories of what had just transpired came rushing to his
head and he wretched violently into the grass. He shook with loud croaking
sobs for a very long time and then finally fell onto his stomach and slept.

When he came to again it was night. The full moonlight shone down high above
him and illuminated the trees with a silver glow. An invigorating breeze
whispered softly through the leaves above his head and Ruka exhaled and inhaled
deeply. He stood and leaned against a nearby tree. A raven cawed and Ruka
vomited again suddenly.

"You there! You!" A female voice called out some distance behind Ruka. He
straightened up and wiped his mouth on his charred clothing. Quickly he
assessed his body and noted with little surprise that he was whole and healthy.

A human woman burst into view through the trees and collapsed at Ruka's feet.
She panted heavily and Ruka noted with a sickening turn of his stomach that her
hands were coated in bright red blood and streaks of blood traced all over her
body.

"I need your help. Please." She gasped and grabbed Ruka's leg. Ruka recoiled
and then bent down to look at her closer. Her chest was pierced through with a
fragment of a stag's antler. The base of it stuck out a full six inches from
her body and the tip of it just barely poked through her backside. Ruka's eyes
widened.

"How did this happen, what did you do?" He hurriedly asked as he sat her down
and began wiping up the blood. Her head rolled forwards and he struggled to
make out her words.

"Was hunting the stag for days. Found it not far from here. Killed it but..."
she coughed up blood and then continued.

"Killed it but it fought terribly. Stuck me through with its antlers. Help."

Ruka paused. He looked back to where the woman had come from and in the
distance he could indeed see the still form of a stag laying on the forest
floor. He blinked as he noted that this stag was far larger than any he had
ever seen before.

"What stag were you hunting?" He demanded of the woman. She just slumped
against a tree trunk and her eyes fluttered open and closed.

Ruka leapt to his feet and began running towards the fallen stag. The closer
he got the more sick he became. Even at a distance it was clear that this stag
was massive, its antlers boasting hundreds of points and its coat a pure white.
As he reached the body he fell to his knees. The animals insides had gushed out
from a tear in its flesh. A significant portion of its uppermost antlers was
destroyed and broken in shards all around him. The eyes had already lost their
fire. Ruka wept as he concluded that the White Hart was dead.

The woman's cry shook him out of his grief. With not a little fury he jumped
up and ran back to her. She was breathing very shallowly and the blood from
the wound in her chest had slowed.

"Why did you kill White Hart! Why!" He screamed at her. His fists were raised
and he almost struck her and then his nerve broke. He slumped forward and knelt
beside her. With a resigned sigh he gripped the antler piece and pulled it from
her chest. Quickly, he tore off a section of his tunic and pressed it to the
wound. He pulled her up and wiped the blood from her neck and face and she
regained consciousness.

"Thank you." She whispered and then her breathing ceased with a soft croak.

Ruka shed silent tears as he lay her body down on the bloodstained grasses.
With a low moan he stood and turned towards the fallen White Hart.

In the distance the white gleam of the stag's coat glistened. It stood upright
and was looking directly at him. Ruka could see no trace of blood and no broken
antlers. The stag was restored. It stared at him for a few minutes and Ruka
felt a deep peace settling over him. Suddenly, the stag bounded away out of
sight.

* * *

It was daylight in the northern Serenwilde. The silence was broken by the
trilling song of birds, the trample of hooves on the forest floor and the
swaying of tree branches. Ruka opened his eyes and struggled to shrug off the
effects of the potion. When his vision cleared and his stomach becalmed itself
he stretched out on his back and smiled, the vision of the White Hart still and
unmarred by waking in his mind.