In the peaceful valley the Humans were going about their usual business. Their fort was strongly built out of thick hardwood trees. In the lookout towers muscular archers stood surveying the surrounding valley and The Great Wood.

In the valley a mighty war had been fought between the Elves and the Goblins. A very evil and mighty wizard named, Zazmar, promised the Goblins riches beyond belief, also the Goblin king would become second in comand, ruling the land side by side, if the Goblins defeated the Elves for good. The Goblin king lapped up this idea.

Within hours the Goblin king assembled an army and they began their three day march to the Great Woods. When they neared the wood the Goblin commander sent scouts around the back of the wood to start a big fire to drive the Elves out into the valley.

As the Elves came running out of The Great Wood the Goblins charged them, swinging their weapons wildly at the fleeing Elves. Some had double sided swords and miniture axes, but some only had wooden staves which were easily shattered by the fierce blows delivered by the Goblins.

The ground was covered with the dying and deceased. Some of the Elves were still trying to battle on against the Goblin army. The Humans fled to the high ground to hide.

The Goblin king called off his troops and the Elves ran towards the north eastern part of The Great Woods, where the vegetation was green all year round. This became the Elves new home.

Casting the Spell

Fred lived in a small hut inside the human fort. He was strongly built like the fort. Fred was taller than most of the others in the community. All the men had a tatoo of an eagle on their right arm so others would know which fort they were from. Like the others he despised the dark skinned, black-eyed Goblins. He was a blacksmith by trade and was also looked upon by most as a skilled fighter with a broad sword, staff and in hand to hand combat.

The council often seeked his opinion when considering something to be built and how to deal with problems involving the Goblins. Fred had been travelling along the road when eight Goblins attacked him and tried to steal the weapons he was seeking to trade for food, six days walk from the camp. The Goblins jumped from the trees on top of Fred and he threw them off one by one. Fred swung a ball and mace, while dodging the blows and shattered the skull of one of the Goblins. As the Goblin fell to the ground the others scattered in fear - they knew they were beaten. When Fred's story got around he was hailed as a hero.

A number of Goblin scouts had murdered farmers while they harvested the crops. These incidents had caused anxiety. Guards were requested to watch over workers in the fields to protect farmers and their crops. Fred organized the guards each day and positioned them in certain vantage points and he sharpened their arrow heads and swords whenever needed.

The Goblins were not farmers. They were too lazy to grow their food. They ate anything they could catch in the undergrowth where they lived and stole whatever else they needed. The guards were attacked twice by the Goblin scouts searching for grain.

The Humans traded their surplus with other forts in exchange for fruit, vegetables and meat. Each farmer brought in his harvest and stored it in the big silo in the northern part of the fort. This process of bartering between forts was not always a good one because Goblins often attacked Humans on the way. So traders were often accompanied by guards to make sure that they were protected.

In the southwest corner of The Great Wood, inside a bunker, a powerful, grumpy old wizard named Moordoor, was getting ready to cast a spell. He moved his withered hands as he spoke these words: "Wind hail snow or rain turn the clouds to thunder down tempestuous rain. Turn the Elves to evil."

When he was younger Mordoor killed King Javim, the ruler of the Humans, with a poison drink. He had wanted to be king, but Prince Mivias found out who had killed his father and Moordoor ran off into The Great Wood. Ever since that day Moordoor longed to be king, but the Humans would have killed him if he ever returned. Instead Moordoor decided to kill the Humans and become the ruler of the valley.

To achieve his ambition he promised the Goblins would have the Human fort and its food stores in return for killing the Humans. Moordoor knew the Goblins would be dependable.

Once the spell had been cast, clouds turned a bloody red and moved over the north east side of The Great Wood, over the Elves' village. An evil rain thundered down on the Elves and soaked through their skin.

Within an hour Elves were beating each other and arguing. Their eyes had become red like blood. The Queen too had been transformed like the others. Moordoor looked upon the Elves through his crystal prism. He danced with joy as he saw his plan coming to life.

In the Elf village, Raz, the wizard, was in his underground cellar working on a new potion to cure blindness, unaware of the goings on in the village. The silence was interrupted by pounding on his door. As he opened the trap door he was astounded to see the red eyes of two young Elf warriors. One of the men pushed him and Raz tumbled rapidly down the staircase.

Raz came to a stop as he smacked into the corner of the bench. The men laughed as this was happening while proceeding down the stairs after him. Once at the bottom, clutching their broad swords, swung at the apparatus on the nearby table sending it flying across the room, then turned and started hacking at the cupboard containing mysterious bottles.

As they crashed to the floor, a wave of reddish acid spread across the floor and circled one of the Elves' feet. Meanwhile the other Elf was knocking over more bottles and as he bumped the bench he knocked over a lit candle. Within seconds the puddle of acid burst into flames engulfing one of the Elves. The other elf ran in terror as he heard the screams of the burning warrior.

Seconds before the flames rose above him Raz regained consciousness and staggered up the stairs to safety. All around him Elves were quarrelling with each other. Elves were yelling and shoving one another. Raz struggled up a nearby tree so that he could see but not be seen.

In a cloud of smoke a figure appeared. He raised his withered hands and spoke a mystical word. As he said the word the Elves ceased their fighting and knelt down before the figure. Moordoor floated towards the Elves.

As Raz saw Moordoor's thin, frail body float forward he knew that he was behind all of the strange activities. Raz was thinking about all that Moordoor had done in the past. Raz wondered what Moordoor had done to the Elves and why?

The villagers hailed Moordoor as he walked through the crowd to where flames were rising from Raz's bunker. Moordoor's hands swooped up under the flames, then turned and faced the villagers. In between his hands was the small ball of flames.The further Moordoor pulled his hands apart, the fiercer the flames grew.

After a few minutes of entertaining the elves he cupped his hands to extinguish the fire. The Elves watched in awe as smoke rose from in between Moordoor's withered fingers.

Moordoor heard a rustle in the tree where Raz was perched. He sent four muscular Elves to survey the area near the tree. As one of the Elves looked up at a low branch, a foot came flying through the air, contacting his forehead and sending him sprawling into nearby undergrowth.

Raz made a run for it but was soon caught by the other Elves. Once they had dragged him back to Moordoor. As Moordoor clenched his fist slowly, Raz shrank. A craftsman pulled a cage that would have held a small bird, from his cart. Moordoor snatched it and shoved the small figure of Raz into the cage.

Raz fought with the bars of the bird cage, but he did not have the strength to loosen them. Moordoor laughed at Raz then turned towards the Elves and said in a rough voice, "This is what happens to any one who betrays me".

Raz watched in horror as Moordoor vanished into thin air. The Elves waited a few seconds then returned to their quarrelling and fighting. Raz pulled a small corked bottle from his belt and poured it quickly onto the rusted lock. The lock started to decay as a tough, middle-aged Elf came over and kicked the cage and sent Raz flying across the area of the village square.