Ancient Goddess' Forest Shrine

By Olga Kryuchkova

The events take place during the early Middle Ages in the kingdom of Arelan, in the Pontaine Castle. On the lands of Baron de Pontaine, there has long been a legend that in the forest located next to his castle there is an ancient Shrine of the Forest Goddess. But over time, the cult of the Forest Goddess was forgotten. However, Baron de Pontaine did not even suspect that his daughter Jeanne and her descendants would be closely connected with the Forest Shrine and its inhabitants.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Olga Kryuchkova
• Release date: Sep 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215468098

Olga Kryuchkova

Olga Kryuchkova began her creative career in 2006. During this time, the author had more than 100 publications and reprints (historical novels, historical adventures, esotericism, art therapy, fantasy). A number of novels were co-written with Elena Kryuchkova.

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Olga Kryuchkova

Ancient Goddess' Forest Shrine

Cover Design: Cover generated by AI (Stable Diffusion, NightCafe)

The novella takes place in the kingdom of Arelan, similar to medieval France.

1215 A.D. Kingdom of Arelan

The majestic castle of Pontaine, built of gray mountain stones, towered on the border of two fiefs (lands of royal vassals) Valonne and Esculan. For several centuries now, its gate tower has been crowned with the coat of arms of the de Pontaine family in the form of a Griffon. The Griffon is a mythical animal with the body of a lion, the legs and wings of an eagle, and a long tail with a curl at the end.

The last owner of the castle, Baron Sebastian de Pontaine de Vaison, was proud of his family nest and there were reasons for this. The first reason is the inaccessibility of the castle, because the barons of the neighboring kingdom were not averse to plundering the border lands, especially Esculan. The second reason was that the baron was known as a loyal vassal of the ruler of the Kingdom of Arelan, served him faithfully and guarded the territories entrusted to him. For his faithful service, Raoul II, the king, more than once distinguished his faithful vassal and favored him in every possible way. And the third, perhaps the most important reason for the baron’s pride is the majestic beauty of the Pontaine Castle.

Pontaine Castle, like a swallow's nest clinging to a high rock, involuntarily aroused respect and envy among the neighboring barons. For the watchtowers of the castle dominated the lands of Valonne all the way to Bezonnes, the royal residence of Raoul II. From the heights of the watchtowers, the northwestern lands of the county of Artois could be seen, and the lands of Esculan could also be seen.

The father of the present Comte of La Dumois-Artois, whose possessions were located in the neighboring lands of the county of Artois, had in the past attacked the lands of Pontaine and attempted to seize the castle, which had such an advantageous strategic position, but he failed. Attempts to take possession of the lands and castle of Pontaine a hundred years ago were made by the Comte de Beville, but in vain. Many years have passed since then, and no one else dared to encroach on the family nest of Baron Sebastian de Pontaine de Vaison.

***

An orphan named Rose was born and raised in a village that belonged to Baron Sebastian de Pontaine de Vaison. When the girl was seven years old, the village and surrounding lands of Baron de Pontaine were swept by a plague epidemic. Many died that summer. The baron and his family locked themselves in the castle and did not let anyone in from outside. So the de Pontaine family survived the epidemic, none of the noble family died. The baron's servants who were in the castle also did not suffer from the terrible disease. After all, in the castle there were wells with clean water and storage facilities made of mountain stone, which were filled with a year’s supply of food. Meat supplies were well preserved thanks to blocks of ice mined in the surrounding mountains in winter.

The peasants were dying, no one was burying their corpses. The corpses lay in the houses. During the epidemic, peasants died in entire families. The Rose family also died. The girl suffered from the plague and miraculously survived. There were few such survivors in the village in which Rose lived. Then the surviving peasants gathered together, moved the corpses to one of the houses and set it on fire.

Hard times have come. There was no one to harvest. The baron's family tried to help the surviving peasants, but still the peasants did not eat to their fill. The hunger began.

At the end of summer, Rose went to the nearest forest to pick mushrooms and berries. She wandered into the thicket of the forest, hoping to find the Ancient Pagan Goddess of the Forest. She wanted to become