The Long Night by Wolfman!
The fire had seemed so large and warm when he first made it at dusk.
It had cut the chill form the wind from his bones and cooked the rabbit
for his dinner.
He had been traveling through the Great Forest all day. Finally following
a game path he had found a small clearing to camp in as it had started
to get dark.
There would be no moon tonight if the sky didn't clear, although it
was a full moon tonight.
He had taken a rabbit when he interred the clearing, jumping it from
around the small boulder in the middle of the clearing. The day had been
damp and dreary from the light rain that had been coming down all day.
His luck prevailed though, a small dead fall at the edge of the clearing
had yielded enough dead wood for a cooking fire and to keep a small fire
going into the night.It should suffice his needs for the night, everything
else close was rain soaked and unburnable.
He was a young man in his mid
20s, shoulder length brown hair, clear blue eyes. His body was muscular
from hard work and long days in the wilderness.Dressed in leathers and
carrying a bow and short sword at his side he thought he was prepared for
anything.
He had never traveled this region before, the last village he had stopped
in the day before spoke of foul beast that roamed the forest and of missing
travelers who entered this part of the Forests never to be seen or heard
of again. The young man had laughed when told this, he had heard stories
of this sort in most villages he had passed through. Always there was an
explanation, travelers loosing their way, shadows in the night caused by
the moon and clouds. He didn't put much stock in the tales told by farmers
and merchants.
As it grew darker and his
fire began to burn down he thought of the tales he had heard.Foul denizens
of the night, neither man or beast but a part of both! Prowling the night
under the full moon , feasting on the unwary traveler. As it grew darker
his fire burned down there came a howling in the distance.
Hmm...wolf or coyote he thought , though no wolves had been seen this
far into the settled lands in years.
As he pondered this another howl came, this time much closer. An answer
to the first?
the fire didn't seem to give of as much heat as it did earlier. He
laughed to himself...his imagination was working on him. Shouldn't pay
any attention to old wives tales from villagers, he thought.
He glanced up at the clouds
and noticed they seemed to be trying to open up, maybe he would have some
moon light yet tonight. As he stood and stretched his weary limbs he thought
he heard a rustling in the brush. He had traveled an old game path to get
here but handout seen sign of any game except for the rabbit. Now that
he thought of it seemed strange he had seen no deer or heard no birds at
all.
It was raining lightly all day but he knew birds still called during
the rain, going about their daily business unless it rained to hard. And
he had seen no deer or other Forests creatures since leaving the village.
That in itself was something out of the ordinary, spending the whole
day in the Forests and seeing no animals.
The rustling in the brush came again in the brush behind him, he turned
to look and saw nothing.
Probably just a small animal looking for scraps from his meal he thought.
A howling came again, as if of a canine finding a scent trail! He released
it came from the way he had come from. The hairs on the back of his neck
raised of their own accord. Was he being trailed by a hound he wondered?
Or were the tales the villagers told more true then he had thought.
Suddenly the fire seemed very small, he tossed more dead wood on it and
it flared up from the wood he fed it. Like a hungry beast it ate at his
meager supply of wood, never seeming to give of enough light to drive away
the shadows at the edge of the small clearing. He thought of taking a flaming
branch and going in search of more dead wood in the tree line but the rustling
came again as he heard howling from all directions. Was he being hunted?
He gassed into
the darkness,wathing for movement or eyes shinning in the light of the
fire.
The hair on his neck prickled and his skin crawled....he was being
watched!
Slowly scanning the darkness he picked out three pairs of unblinking
amber eyes starring back at him.
More howls in the distance and some much,much closer. A Pack...he was
being stalked by a pack of animals ...but of what kind! Amber eyes was
the eye of the wolf but these were twice as big as any he had ever seen
or heard of! The eyes were to far of the ground unless it was a wolf the
size of a pony. And the howl wasn't right either, it had a strange quality
to it...almost human.
As he fed the fire
and gazed into the darkness more eyes appeared....town three more sets
of unblinking amber eyes stared back at him.
A low grunting and snuffling came from the darkness as if of some kind
of speech. The eyes took on a more sinister look as they seemed to come
closer to the fire light. What sort of creature never blinks and stalks
a man in the night? Wishing he had paid more attention to the villagers
he drew his short sword and backed towards the small boulder he had built
his fire against. If need be he could climb to the top for a more defensible
position. Although only chest high it would let him strike down at what
ever it was stalking him if it attacked! He kicked the rest of his meager
supply of wood onto the fire....wishing once again he had laid in a bigger
supply for the night. More eyes appeared in the darkness...now there was
at least a dozen pairs of eyes watching every move he made. Large widest,
unblinking amber eyes watched him with an unspoken hunger. The grunting
snuffling sounds came more often and from all sides now. It was as if they
were talking, but what sort of animal spoke in any speech he wondered?
The young man waited by the boulder as time passed, the howling had stopped
long ago but at least two dozen pairs of eyes watched him! He wondered
what the creatures were waiting on or what their purpose in watching him
was? For the hundredth time he wished the clouds would part and the moon
would come out. The he might be able to make out what sort of beast stalked
him.
As he watched
he saw the eyes gaze skyward. He quickly glanced up to see what had drawn
their attention. As if to answer his wish the clouds were beginning to
part, he released then the wind had picked up and was moaning through the
tree tops sounding like a lost soul in pain...or was it?
He looked to the moon as it broke free from the clouds....Finally some
light to see by. His fire was almost burnt out and dawn was a long way
off yet.
He looked back to the eyes and noticed a difference to them, they seemed
more silted and even more evil if that was possible. He also released they
were getting closer!
Climbing atop the boulder he waited...watching as the moon broke completely
free of the clouds and cast its pale light into the clearing. He watched
as large man sized shadows shuffled into the clearings edge. His skin craweled,his
hair prickled his scalp and his knees grew rubbery when the shuffled into
the pale moon light. Demons...Beasts from hell they must be! Bodies like
a stooped and deformed mans, short fingers with long claws on rounded deformed
hands. Standing on two legs with the knees bent the wrong way. Long thick
filthy hair covered the whole body...even the faces. And the faces were
the worst!
High foreheads over wolfish amber eyes, snouts that grew from human
looking faces with black glistening noses and gleaming white teeth.
The teeth were long
and sharp looking...well made for tearing and biting.
The claws long and sharp looking, but the worst was the eyes! An evil
hunger and intelligence seemed to dwell there. Two dozen pairs stared at
him like a beast to be torn asunder and devoured. To be clawed and torn
apart by those ripping teeth. To be disemboweled and eaten alive. His bones
cracked and the marrow sucked from them . The young man looked frantically
around for a way out, there was none! He was surrounded and had nowhere
to run. Well so be it, he was a warrior and warrior very seldom died an
easy death. He hefted his short sword in his sweating palm and wondered
how many he could take with him into death.
As he raised his arms to
the moonlit sky and screamed his challenge a faint memory crossed his mind,
Legends of were creatures that could only be killed by silver weapons.
Foul creatures from hell itself, their victims doomed to walk the earth
as the damned spirits one hears moaning in the night.
As he looked down at the creatures in new fear, his scream of challenge
dieting on his lips, he released the hunger he saw in their eyes was for
his soul and not his flesh.
As he released this they leaped...not one or two but all as if of one
mind. Arising his sword he screamed his battle cry again, but soon it turned
to a scream of terror,of incomprehensible pain.
Teeth tearing, claws ripping they bore him down off the boulder that
ran red with his blood now.
His screams soon stopped but the sound of flesh tearing and bones breaking
went on into the night.
Grunts and snuffling speech seemed to come from the gore covered beast.
If it was translated
into English the grunt would of been laughter and the snuffling speech
would of seemed to say: When he went through the village we tried to tell
him not to come this way.....hahahaha.
But then again he does taste so much better then rabbit!
-
Home Page!
If you have comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected]
This page created with Netscape Navigator 4.7
http://www.netscape.com/
