The Woman in White

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 5724

In different circumstances Fred would have been happy to have been free of the dwarves, but in this evil place he knew that to be alone was to be in even greater peril. Also the dwarves had all of the party's supplies. It was now all but dark, though, and he knew that he had no hope of finding them if he stumbled blindly through the wood. All he could do was to wait for dawn, and try to remain vigilant through the night. To doze off might easily be fatal. He sat down with his back to a tree.

Afterwards he was never sure whether, in spite of the danger he was in, he had dozed off. At any rate, some hours into the night he became aware of a soft, still voice calling to him. "Lord Frederigo, follow me." Looking up, he saw a tall, pale young woman in a long white dress. Only her eyes and her long black hair provided any contrast. Disconcertingly, she glowed slightly in the dark. "Who are you?" he asked. "And what are you?" "Do you remember the graves you found back in the glade? [4851] One of them was mine. I am - or perhaps I should say 'was' - Lady Alice de Vere. Now, as a ghost, I try to prevent other travellers from meeting the same fate as my own party. I would not come to you whilst you were with the dwarves, though; I have no love for dwarves. Follow me, and I will lead you out of the this accursed forest. While I am with you, nothing evil will come near."

Fred felt in his heart that he could trust this woman - this ghost - even though from her remark about dwarves it appeared that she retained her lifetime prejudices. In any case, what realistic choice did he have but to go with her? As they walked - or rather, as he walked and she seemed to drift across the ground - he asked her: "Just why is the forest an evil place?" She frowned. "I do not know the full story. The evil was old even when I succumbed to it. Some extremely wicked deed must have occurred here once, and it casts a very long shadow."

The forest stretched a very long way from north to south, but it was far narrower from east to west, and Fred had been near its eastern edge. Within half an hour, the ground became to rise and the trees to thin, and before long they were on an open hill-side. "I must leave you now," said Lady Alice, "but before I go, I was charged with delivering a message to you:

  1. "The Queen of Clubs is still in the game, but she has lost a trick to the Knave of Diamonds." And with that she drifted back towards the forest.

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JH

11/14/1999 12:15:42 PM

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