Isolde the Crow

The Legend of the Crow

Hundreds of years ago, before the great calamity, there was a young girl who lived in the quiet of Mistwood Forest. This forest was not like any ordinary forest, it was enchanted with the powers of thought and feeling, becoming sentient. The forest provided shelter and protection from the outside world for one small price: it craved the sound of her voice. You see, this girl had such a beautifully haunting voice that it captivated the birds, animals, plants, and faerie folk alike. She could enchant anyone and anything with the sound of her song. The forest became so fond of her that it would bring her nourishment, tend to her wounds, and raise her as if she were it’s own.

One day, an outsider wandered into the Mistwood – he was confused and easily became lost among the dense trees and flowing mists. The girl, never having seen another human before, greeted the man with curiosity. The man in return became captivated by the young girl’s voice and lost all memory of his life before the forest and the girl. He made a life for himself in the forest, foraging and hunting to provide for her. They grew together, cultivating love and soon became a family.

As the years went the man wondered further through the forest for each hunt as he became comfortable within its embrace. Until one fateful evening when he went beyond its reach and his memories returned. He’d had a family waiting for him outside the forest. A life that he’d abandoned. He returned to his now-wife in the forest, furious over his time lost within. He questioned his wife on what spell she’d put on him to make him forget his life before and blamed her for being trapped. As his anger escalated he used his hunting dagger to kill his wife, the lady of the forest, and watched as the life left her hazel eyes.

After feeling the death of its beloved child, the forest began to rage. Harsh winds swirled within, the air became hot and damp, and limbs and vines crept inward toward the man who now stood at its center. As it grew in close the man looked down at what he had done and wept. The forest encapsulated his body, taking a blood price for the life he had taken, and buried him beneath its soil to trap his soul for eternity.

The vines then took the lady into its cool embrace and began to change and transform her. Using the life and soul from the man who betrayed her to make her whole and new. When she opened her eyes they were no longer hazel, but a shimmering lilac spattered with stars. Her skin became dark as ashes and her hair silver as starlight. She was no longer a human lady of the Mistwood forest, but the Faerie Queen of the Bloodwood Forest. She gained the power to move about its expanse as high-fae or crow by her choosing. Her voice now beyond enchanting, becoming deadly enough to split the souls from mortal men.

She is known as Isolde the Crow…