Nicholas Barkley and the Dark Woods

The air smelled of summer and dusk and rang with a cricket-and-cicada chorus. The wind whistled lightly around, picking up the soft crunch-crunch of small paws in last year’s loam. Nicholas held his sword before him as he passed out of the light and into the yawning darkness of the Dark Woods. He had heard there were dragons in here and the brave warrior was determined to find the beasts.