“Prince Alfred,” a wood nymph politely greeted, and curtsied.
“Yes?” he asked, a little stupefied by the appearance of the forest maiden.

Nymphs were shy creatures, and rarely came out, unless their forest was in danger.

“There is something you must know,” she said, her leafy hair blowing into her face. She brushed it away with a pale jade hand, and continued. “On the night of the late full moon, there was a disturbance in our forest.”

Alfred felt a lump lodge itself in his throat. Just what he needed.

“I suspect a lycan of some sort; I hope you do get to the bottom of this,” she said, emphasizing the last part with a twinkle of her emerald eyes and a slight glare. “Though it might be something other than that…” her eyes glazed over with a reminiscing look.

Alfred waited patiently for her answer. Rushing a wood nymph was not a good idea…

“Actually, now that I’ve thought about it, the trees say that it was more like…”

She listened for another moment.

“More like a … rabid Alphyn, it seems.”