Once upon a time, in a land far away, when magic still filled the air and monsters still roamed the land, there lived a singularly happy young princess. Her name was Kimberly, both plucky and beautiful, she was all of twenty years old.
One day, on a fine early summer afternoon the princess, took a walk to the village to do some shopping. Her daddy, King John the Brave, was off on one of his many misadventures, somewhere, and was due back in a day or two and Kimberly wanted to welcome him home with some sort of small gift.
Half way toward the village, the princess paused alongside the road to rest. She was both tired and thirsty thanks to the warm noon day's sun. The peaceful road, at this point, ran adjacent to the dark and mysterious West Woods, making it maybe not such a good spot to stop and rest. No matter the danger, the princess, fearless as always stopped anyways.
Peering into the stillness of the forest as she sat on the ground resting, the princess suddenly found herself spellbound. All the leaves on the trees seemed to be waving at her, despite there being nary a breeze. Leaning forward, she squinted at the trees. Now they seemed to be calling out to her, whispering her name maybe. She stood up, moving across the road, wanting to be closer to the woods so she could better hear the mysterious whispering.
This particular part of the woods was rumored to be especially enchanted, thus there ran a formidable stone wall along the length of the woods in this area. The wall was there to keep curious villagers out, or maybe to keep unsavory creatures in. Regardless, the princess was now more than a little curious, especially as she spied a medium sized brown dog digging excitedly along the base of the wall not ten feet from where she now stood.
"Hey little puppy what are you doing," the princess called out. "You can't go in there. It isn't safe."
The dog ignored her and continued to dig into the mushy earth under the wall at a rapid pace. Standing this close, the hypnotic chorus from the singing trees was growing louder. So loud, in fact, it was now becoming a repetitive whisper, "Come Kimberly, come play in the woods with us," the trees seemed to be whispering.
Just then the little dog disappeared under the wall. Princess Kimberly moved closer to where the dog was digging. There was now a small trough, clearly visible, under wall where the dog had just been digging.
The princess bent over, looking at the trough thoughtfully. She smiled, fully under the spell of the whispering forest now, as she realized with just a little more work the trough could be expanded enough for a human, a not so very large and nimble princess that is, to use.
Looking around, she spotted a piece of wood, most likely from a broken horse cart, leaning up against the wall just a few feet away. Using the piece of wood as a shovel, the princess worked frantically to enlarge the trough. The forest, with the leaves all rustling on the trees, and the trees all swaying in the non-existence breeze, was now, more than ever, beckoning her to enter.
She tossed the piece of wood aside. The trench was now large enough where a determined and athletic girl like herself, the princess was five foot four and weighed roughly 115 pounds, should just be able to work her way under the stone wall.
Kimberly hesitated, looking around. The road leading to the village was deserted. She, like all young girls in and around the kingdom, grew up hearing about the legendary West Woods and how very dangerous, and magical, they were --especially for pretty young virgins.
She knew she should not even be thinking about this, yet this very thought was what made it so appealing. Without giving it any further consideration, the princess dropped to the ground and quickly squirmed under the wall.
After jumping to her feet, Kimberly found herself in a small meadow. Weaving its way across the small meadow, not more than a few feet wide, was a simple dirt path leading into the dark forest.
Kimberly, curious as to where following this path might lead her, struck out on her adventure. In not less than fifteen minutes, after following the twisting, turning path deeper into the woods she was hopelessly lost.
She thought of trying to back track but while following the dirt trail she came across no less than three different forks in the path. Based on nothing more than a whim, she backtracked until she found one of the forks and followed it.
Spying an old tree stump astride yet another fork in the path, the princess plopped down on it needing a short break. Yeah, she was lost and scared. The notorious wicked West Woods was no place to be lost. Why did she have to be so damn curious and want to go exploring here in the woods in the first place.
Her rest on the tree stump was short lived when, off to her left, she heard a commotion in the nearby forest. It sounded like someone or maybe something, was crashing through the woods... and heading directly toward her.
She hopped to her feet, hurrying down the path not even realizing she left her small knapsack of supplies behind. She barely got on her way before she heard the unmistakable sound of grunting behind her. Whatever was previously blundering its way through the woods was now on the path-- and following behind her.
Turning around, her heart rate trebled. Behind her, and closing fast, was a small pack of goblins. There was four of them, chasing her, and they were, in a word, hideous looking.
Turning around turned out to be a grave mistake for with her attention diverted Kimberly lost track of what lay in her path straight ahead-- a large protruding rock.
Her right foot struck the rock, causing the princess to stumble and then fall. The lead goblin crashed full force into her just as she regained her feet.
They tumbled together to the ground with the hideous creature clinging tight to her. These goblins, they were all young and not yet full grown--otherwise Kimberly would have been in real trouble-- were actually on their first hunt and lacked skills as evidenced by the easy way the terrified princess managed to push the goblin off of her.
Jumping to her feet, she considered fleeing again but she was terribly winded by now and her right ankle throbbed mightily. She must have twisted it when her foot struck the rock. Running would only make her more tired and easier for the pack of goblins to subdue her when they caught her---which they would, sooner or later.
No, she would make her stand here, especially after she spied a large wooden branch laying just off to the right of the path within easy reach.
Turning, she seized the branch. It was nice and thick and would serve as a passable weapon.
The first goblin, regaining his feet, moved in closer to her as the other three goblins pulled up short.
"Oye, Borch," one of the three snorted, "she threw you off like nothins."
"Shuts up," Borch snapped back at his companion, "I gets the bitch. You see."
"Aye, we be waitin..." another of the pack sang out.
"Stay back," the princess yelled as she waved the stick at the menacing lead goblin whose name was apparently Borch.
An ugly name for an ugly critter, the princess thought as the goblin circled her warily.
"Go ons, attack alreadys," the other three sang out in unison.
"Shuts up," Borch again snapped.
"You be scared of a little girl eh," said one of the three. "Hmm, maybes you need our helps," another cackled.
"Not evens... stay back. I got the bitch..."
Suddenly, Borch charged straight at the princess. He made no attempt to be elusive in the least allowing the princess to easily smack him full on in the face with the stout wooden branch.
