Oriana

Forest Statue

22nd Carving

She was carved from a bright limestone, her arms reaching forth and frill fanned outward as if in celebration. The web between her frill was made of an amber-colored glass, and it caught the sunlight and sent it glittering across the slab of sandstone she was set upon.

She was a very lovely statue, set within a misty glade upon a pillar. Slowly, time had begun to take over the clearing--there were pale blue flowers and minty clovers in the grass, moss slowly creeping up the pedestal where she waited; even a stray piece of ivy that had curled about the drake's shoulders. The overgrowth did not take away from her grandeur though.

Only when the clearing was completely gone did she wake. She opened her weary eyes, the stone flaking apart softly as life began to flow throughout her body. She moved her tired arms and set them upon the pillar, gently watching as pieces of overgrowth fell off around her. The forest was quiet around her, and she stared upward as if to peel away the leaves so that some light might filter down. But a gaze does not push away the branches. All was still dark, cloaked in the woodland's shadow.

Then the silence was broken. A dreadful hiss slid quietly from the trees; a terrible, angry sound shattered the peace in that abrupt moment.

Oriana lifted her head and pricked her ears.

Danger lashed out.