Forest Kingdom Trilogy 1 - Blue Moon Rising

What was his name?'
    'Eduard, of the Forest Kingdom.'
    The Night Witch stared at him blankly, and then all the fire seemed to go out of her eyes. She turned slowly away, and moved over and sank into a battered old rocking chair by the fireplace.
    Yes,' she said finally, almost to herself. 'I remember Eduard.'
    She sat quietly in the rocking chair, staring at nothing, and Rupert took the opportunity to get to his feet and take a quick look around him. The cottage was filled with a dull, unfocused light that seemed to come from everywhere at once, though there was no lamp to be seen. The walls leaned away from the floor at different angles, and bats squealed up in the high rafters. A cat's shadow swayed across a wall without a cat to cast it, and something dark and shapeless with glowing eyes peered out from the empty, smoke-blackened fireplace.
    Rupert studied the Night Witch curiously. Somehow she didn't seem quite so impressive when she wasn't actually threatening him. Rocking quietly in her chair, with her cat in her lap, she looked like anybody's grandmother, a shrunken grey-haired old lady with a back bent by the years. She was painfully thin, and suffering had etched deep lines into her face. This wasn't the Night Witch of legend, the raven-haired tempter of men, the terrible creature of the dark. She was just a tired old woman, lost in memories of better times. She looked up, and caught Rupert's eyes on her.
    'Aye, look at me,' she said quietly. 'I was beautiful, once. So beautiful men travelled hundreds of miles just to pay me compliments. Kings, emperors, heroes -I could have had my pick of any of them. But I didn't want them. It was enough that I was . . . beautiful.'
    'How many young girls died to keep you beautiful?' said Rupert harshly.
    'I lost count,'said the Witch. 'It didn't seem important, then. I was young and glorious and men loved me; nothing else mattered. What's your name, boy?'
    'Rupert.'
    'You should have seen me then, Rupert. I was so lovely. So very lovely.'
    She smiled gently and rocked her chair, eyes fixed on yesterday.
    'I was young and powerful and I bent the darkness to my will. I raised a palace of ice and diamond in a single night, and Lords and Ladies from a dozen Courts came to pay homage to me. They never noticed if a few peasant girls went missing from the villages. They wouldn't have cared if they had.
    'And then Eduard came to kill me. Somehow he'd found out the truth, and he came to rid the Forest Land of my evil.' She chuckled quietly. 'Many the nights he spent in my cold halls, of his own free will. He
    was tall and brave and handsome and he never once bowed to me. I showed him wonders and terrors and I couldn't break him. We used to dance in my ballroom, just the two of us, in a great echoing hall of glistening ice, each chandelier fashioned from a single stalactite. Slowly, I came to love him, and he loved me. I was young and foolish, and I thought our love would last for ever.
    'It lasted a month.
    'I needed fresh blood, and Eduard couldn't allow that. He loved me, but he was King, and he had a responsibility to his people. He couldn't kill me, but I couldn't change what I was. So I waited till he slept, and then I left my palace, and the Forest Land, and came here to live in the darkness, where there's no one to see that I'm not beautiful any more.
    'I could have killed him and kept my secret safe. I could have stayed young and lovely and powerful. But I loved him. My Eduard. The only man I ever loved. I suppose he's dead now.'
    'More than thirty years ago,' said Rupert.
    'So many years,' whispered the Witch. Her shoulders slumped, and her crooked, twisted hands writhed together. She took a deep breath and let it go shakily, then looked up at Rupert and smiled tiredly. 'So, you're Eduard's kin. You have some of his looks, boy. What do you want from me?'
    'I'm looking for a dragon,' said Rupert, in a tone he hoped suggested that, if at all possible, he'd really rather not find one.
    'A dragon ?' The Witch stared at him blankly a moment, and then a broad grin spread slowly across her wrinkled face. 'A dragon! Damn me, but I like your style, boy. No one's had the guts to hunt a dragon in years. No wonder you weren't scared to come calling on me!' She studied him admiringly while Rupert did his best to look modest. 'Well, dearie, this is your lucky day. You're looking for a dragon, and it just so happens I have a map that will lead you right to one. A real bargain, I can let