The Lady of the Woods

He sat up, suddenly alert. He was sure he'd heard something.
Looking around, he saw nothing but shadows, caused no doubt by the pale moonlight filtering through the branches of the trees. But he'd heard something, he was certain of it; albeit little more than a whisper. He attributed it to the rustling of the dead leaves coating the frozen earth, and went back to his book.
But the leaves lay stiff and immobile, as they had all night. There had been no breeze to make them whisper.
The rough bark of the tree dug into his back, and he struggled momentarily to reposition himself. As he did, the book fell from his grasp and tumbled to the ground. He made a small noise of annoyance, and reached out to pick it up.
"Come…"
His hand froze, inches from the book. His eyes were wide. Standing up, the book forgotten for now, he called out.
"Hello?"
No response. He was really getting creeped out now. He grabbed the book and stuffed it unceremoniously into his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. There were plenty of other places to study that didn't have strange voices. This one was too…haunted. Yes. That was the word for it. Haunted. He started walking, eager to get away from the woods.
"Are you…my beloved?" The weak voice echoed through the trees. It was definitely a voice, he could tell that now. And it sounded louder than the first time it had called out. As if it was getting closer.
He broke into a run, legs pumping with fear. He felt a trickle of adrenaline seep into his veins, and he silently berated himself for coming out to the woods this late. The locals told stories about the woods, about how on cold, silent nights, people had heard voices crying out from within. He'd listened to the stories and laughed.
It didn't seem all that funny now.
And it certainly didn't help that the book that he had just been reading had been a horror story.
He ran for a while, and his panic slowly melted away. He was being silly, he told himself. Hearing things. There had been no voice, and there never had been. He slowed to walking speed, leaning against a tree to get his breath back. He smiled, imagining the dramatic little show he'd put on a few minutes before. Speaking to thin air! Pathetic.
"Why do you run?"
The blood instantly drained from his face as he heard the thin voice.
"You have come…as you said you would." A woman rose up from the ground directly in front of him, floating up directly out of the earth. She hung, suspended in midair, shimmering with iridescent white light. She wore flowing robes, and around her neck lay a gorgeous necklace, the strikingly blue sapphire at its center sparkling.
He pressed himself against the tree, frantically shaking his head. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out, paralyzed as he was. His stomach seemed to have evaporated, and a sheen of sweat coated his forehead.
"I waited for you after you left. After you left to fight in the war. I have waited for you ever since…"
His legs felt like two blocks of lead, and speech seemed to have deserted him. He tried to scream, but all that came out was a pathetic squeak.
"I have wandered these lands for years, searching, in the hope that my lost husband would come back to me. It seems as though my prayers have been answered."
She smiled, and for a moment, he saw her as she had once been; tall and proud, and very, very beautiful.
"Now I reclaim you," she whispered, and the last thing he saw was a pearly white hand reaching out towards him.