Thread ""THE WEE ONES" by Darryl Hughes. This isn't Tinkerbell--THESE FAIRIES BITE!!! Now on Kindle Vella" in forum "Meet, Greet, Show and Sell*"

Posted at 10:08PM, Aug. 27, 2022

To the people of Enniskregg township it is an ancient warning long remembered that spoke of forbidden places, nightmarish things, and the unspeakable horrors that would befall anyone who did not pay it heed. It goes as follows:

"Hear me now. There are parts of the wood that are haunted by the souls of murdered children.

Keep you to the path. And the wood. But mind you, do not stray into the dark wood. For the dark wood belongs to them. And they do not abide trespassers.

But if by chance you lose your way, and find yourself in the dark wood. Never stray passed the shadowbinders. Or go you near the henge. For they are there, to keep them there.

And to keep them far from us."

To some it is folklore. To others myth. And others still would call it legend. But to the people of Enniskregg, it is less a warning and something more akin to a commandment etched in stone. A "thou shalt not". And to pay it heed meant a long, happy, carefree life.

As long as you lived by the commandment. The "thou shalt not".

As long as you didn't venture into the dark wood.

When an archaeological research team on an expedition to find an ancient druid ceremonial site are found brutally murdered in the wood beyond Enniskregg, their savage deaths are initially blamed on animal attacks. But these animals left behind human-like fingerprints. Fingerprints the size and shape of those resembling the fingerprints of small children. Leading the investigation into the murder of the archaeologists, Dublin Murder Squad detectives Siobhan Ryan and Seamus O'Connell will follow the blood stained evidence into the dark recesses of ancient Irish myth, folklore, and legend that will lead them into a hell–THAT DOES NOT ABIDE TRESPASSERS!!!

THE WEE ONES

Dee

Posted at 10:09AM, Sep. 14, 2022

A new episode of "The Wee Ones" has been posted. You can read it here:

THE WEE ONES

EXCERPT:

There in front of them was a dense undergrowth of tall grasses and shrubbery on three sides of what looked like a gaping mouth shaped opening made up of a tangled mass of fallen trees and branches that stretched for god knows how long and deep into a frightful silent scream. Kellen and his team gazed in stunned silence into the deep, dark-dense chasm within the enormous maw like entrance of the deadfall. The circular arch was made of an absolute chaos of wind whipped fallen trees that looked both haunting and sinister. A thick growth of vines constricted the trees limbs and trunks like long thin leaf covered serpents grown to ridiculous lengths. Some hanging loosely from the high limbs like spun strands of silk anchored by the sharp curves of the thorns that covered the limbs, before feathering out in all directions like the deceptively innocent and inviting threads of some enormous spider's web.

Come into my parlor.

Equally as disturbing as the trees and vines that formed the deadfalls gaping arch were the ornaments that hung from them. Clearly constructed from the very same vines and twigs they hung from, the ornaments were woven into large circular shapes. Kellen couldn't tell if it was the intricacies of the designs, and the specific way that the vines and twigs were woven together to form the circles, but at points the vegetation hung down into the center of the structures. Giving each of the ornaments what seemed to Kellen, McCready, and the interns almost human like facial features.

Hanging from each ornament were strands woven from the same thin twigs and vines that the ornaments themselves were made of. McCready thought they must be an attempt to make the ornaments look more decorative. More ritualistic. But Blakeley mentioned, with a bit of off put wonder in her voice, that the strands looked almost like braids of human hair. And only after Blakeley said it out loud did Kellen himself begin to see it too. Each ornament had it's own specific number of braidings, it's own specific style, and placement of the braidings. Making each ornament seem less generic in their design and giving each one it’s very own, for lack of a better word, it's very own personality. As if each of the ornaments were meant to represent individuals.

As if they were meant to represent…people.