The Pearl Fox

Death Lights

The three moons were waxing crescents, nicknamed "diamond horns" by the people. Stars around the triple moons were blurred. The village of Eastville 42 beside the woods, miles from the city of Opalton, was always quiet. There were two night patrol officers outside in the streets, and they were Stav and Marik on duty. The sounds of the night, of which they were well accustomed to, went very silent. A sudden silence was an alarm to these two young men who knew from experience that a sudden silence meant that a storm was coming. There was just a cloudless night. Then dogs barked and howled from the dwellings, and a low rumble from a distance could now be heard.

"Is that thunder?" Stev asked his colleague, who was as baffled as he was.

"No, not in a cloudless sky. It sounds like a stampede." Charging wild cattle wasn't uncommon in Diaphry. "We have to get inside!"

They reached a small dusty hut made of stone, which was a granary. It was full of obstacles, sacks of grain, as well as piles of fire wood, old tables, pots, pitchers, barrels and planks leaning against the walls. This was a storehouse, and It prevented them from entering fully inside. Stev and Marik could only just get into the doorway. Stev sat down on some sack, while Marik remained standing at an uncomfortable position as he wasn't able to hide. He ended up standing against the wall just outside. 

The sounds became louder, and the rumbling became hooves charging over the ground as it approached the village. There were shouts, wails, howling, barking, horns blowing. 

"That doesn't sound like a stampede!" Marik said in panic, and he lowered himself to the floor, and tried to sit closer to the doorway, up against Stev, who was feeling guilty that his friend was exposed. He tried moving the obstacles around him to make some space, but he only managed to caused things inside the dark hut to crash and bang. 

Marik saw with horror, a formation appear along the main street, that resembled a nightmare. There were horses with red fiery eyes, and their riders were in luminous tunics, with grotesque masks shaped like skulls and some wore helmets with horns. At the front of this scary cavalry, a female in dark clothes, and she wore an antlered skull of a deer on her head. It was still dark, but Marik noticed the red bright eyes peering from her mask. She shrieked and her voice sounded inhuman and gave both him and Stev chills. Hounds with red eyes were running around the demon horses. The woman with the antlered skull turned and looked towards the granary, and her gaze found the two men lurking just inside. The riders scattered around the village, killing everything and anyone that was unfortunate to be out. 

The following morning, the hunters had long gone, and villagers found a massacre in their streets. Dead cats, dogs, sheep, pigs, llamas, three people, including Stev and Marik. They had been butchered, with sharp weapons, and their limbs cut into pieces. The other body had belonged to a recluse that lived alone in the woods, who visited sometimes for food and ale. When police arrived, the frightened and distressed citizens told them about the Wild Hunt appearing in their village during the night.  

A few miles away, a woman with red hair walked through the damp long grass. Her long gown was now ragged and stained. There was dirt in her hair and she stank of blood. Charsine, whose memory of being part of last night's Wild Hunt, was fading away. Now she needed to press on with the urge of going to work. After the hunting was finished, she rode towards Luniapolis and the horse flew almost across the plains and valleys. The horse was gone by twilight, then she had to make the rest of her journey on foot. She covered just six miles walking, and the dawn brought mist, and wild animals avoided her. When she returned to the Aksrosphere by mid-afternoon, everyone noticed her. At first, she was mistaken for a beggar woman. Guards almost escorted her out, when a receptionist pointed out that she'd signed her name in a book at the door with Charine's own signature. Charsine was emotionless and didn't speak. The guards released her and she walked with a stagger into the parliament's wizards chamber, which was not totally full of sitting members. People stared at her, as she went to a front bench and sat on the edge, not where she often sat. Charsine always selected the bench from the back row to get quicker access to the stairs, leading up to the library and laboratory. Now she didn't sit there, and it wasn't her usual seat. She wasn't her usual self. Charsine dribbled, from the mouth and from all of her orifices. That unpleasant smell she was giving off increased. 

"You're in no fit state to be here, Charsine!" called out one of the wizards. A guard was summoned, and he escorted Charsine from the chamber. Just outside, Charsine collapsed on the floor. Moments later, when she was placed on a stretcher and lifted to the medic room of the Akrosphere, physicians examined her over and pronounced her dead. Her cause of death remained uncertain because she was seen walking and clearly alive. Yet, according to her body tissue and blood, she had been dead for weeks.