Novella: Bloodmire Part 1 of 7

A knight enters a mysterious uncharted forest in search of his betrothed, ignoring all warnings about those who entered and never returned

NOTE: The following novella was originally serialised on Medium. However, to celebrate the release of my fantasy novel Ravenseed, with which this shares some connective tissue, I’m republishing it here, with a slightly different ending. This new ending will appear in part 7, exclusive to Substack. I prefer this new ending, and now consider it the official version, but the original will remain accessible on Medium, for posterity.

Photo by Henry Hustava on Unsplash

Part One: A Knight’s Quest

A comely young woman of but eighteen, Agnes caught Sir William’s eye in the court of the King. Daughter of the late Earl of Worcester, she became the King’s ward when plague struck her family, leaving her as the surviving member. Although high-born, the King agreed to Sir William’s request when he asked for permission to marry her. As a knight of the realm with lands and title, the match with Sir William of Brent was considered a pleasing arrangement by all at court.

Agnes had at first been shy, perhaps overwhelmed by Sir William’s affections and overtures of romance. She seemed uncertain when he bestowed about her neck an ornate golden locket, embossed with a rendering of a rose. Yet within a few days, as they walked and talked together, it seemed clear to Sir William that she considered herself blessed to be betrothed to him. Her smiles and chaste kisses confirmed her obedience and submission in this matter were not undertaken with reluctance. Sir William was pleased. Agnes would make a fine wife, and would doubtless bear fine offspring.

Which made her subsequent disappearance in the Bloodmire Forest all the more shocking.

News of her predicament reached the royal court after Agnes’s maid Elsie returned from the nearby village of Hamwell in a near-hysterical state. Agnes had been walking through the meadows at the edges of the Bloodmire Forest when the Beast had emerged from the trees and seized her in its claws, dragging her back into the woodland.

Multiple farmhands witnessed the incident, as they tilled the fields that bordered the meadow. Fear gripped Hamwell. It seemed the legends were true. A great evil did lie at the heart of the Bloodmire Forest, and it had taken Agnes.

The moment Sir William heard the news, he took up his sword and rode with all speed to Hamwell astride his trusty black stallion, Storm. With him came his squire, Tom, on his brown mare, Holly, bearing additional armour and weaponry. The journey from the King’s castle to Hamwell took much of the day, though William rode mostly in silence. His mind raced with many questions: What was this Beast that had seized Agnes? Would she still be alive? If so, where had she been taken?