Thu-thump, Thu-thump
The incessant drumming of the horse’s hooves on the long, narrow path over the silent hills was the only sound that accompanied Will on his ride to the woods. The moon was bright that night, waxing and half-illuminated. As the lone rider crested one of the many hills, he stopped for a quick drink of water.
As he slid quietly out of the saddle, he took a moment to stretch. 4 hours of nonstop riding was simply too many. Will took a glance around him, at the rolling green plains, and at the road ahead. He could faintly see the outline of a large mass of something in the distance.
“There’s our goal, Digger.” Said will to his horse. Unfortunately, due to the nature of horses, Digger seldom responded. “Well, we might as well be off again.”
Taking one last swig of water from his waterskin, Will swung himself back into the saddle, and the two once again began their ride towards the woods ahead.
Thu-thump, Thu-thump
The looming trees blocked more of the starry sky as they approached, and there was a sense of quiet foreboding, as if people were not meant to move between these trees at night. “Watch for the fork in the road, and we make it to the city before midnight,” Will spoke quietly, half to himself, and half to his horse. “I’m sure those rumors about what goes on in here aren’t anything more than common village gossip.” Still, he loosened his daggers in their sheaths, and made sure his longbow was strung tight before continuing.
Thu-thump, Thu-thump
Digger made his way along the dirt, stone-strewn path slowly, clearly fazed by the menacing aura that seemed to be emanating from everywhere. Will, uttering some words of reassurance, for both himself and Digger, steered his horse with his knees, and his hands held his bow, with an arrow nocked, but not yet drawn.
A flock of birds rose from one of the many trees nearby. The sound was sudden, and Will quickly turned, half-drawing the bow out of instinct, before loosing a sigh and relaxing the tension. Digger, having felt his rider’s quick movement and stopped, began his slow gait once again. Will, normally content to travel by only the light of the moon, fished around in his bag for his lantern and his flint. Making sure the lantern was filled with oil, he hung the unlit container from the side of his saddle. As Will drew his dagger to strike against the flint for sparks, he heard a distant crunch ahead of him.
Sitting bolt upright, Will peered down the path, but the trees allowed almost no light to pass through. With a sense of urgency, Will began to slide his dagger and flint together, to create enough sparks to light the oil. As he fumbled with the two objects in the dark, there came another crunch, closer than the last.
Will muttered a quiet curse, moving the dagger and flint even faster than before. Again, crunch. Crunch. Crunch. The noises were getting louder and faster. Finally, Will managed to ignite the lantern, illuminating the forest around him. As the light grew, he dropped the flint and dagger, and shoved the lantern forward to see the source of the sound.
There was nothing there.
Will, confused and more than a little frightened, swung down from his saddle, clipping the lantern to his belt, and nocking an arrow to his bow. He walked forward a few steps, and knelt on the dirty floor. No prints, no broken leaves, no snapped branches.
Will silently contemplated this for a brief moment, before grabbing his dagger and flint from the road, without taking his eyes off the path. He quickly clambered back into the saddle, and urged Digger to a full gallop.
Dugga-dum, dugga-dum, dugga-dum.
The meager circle of light around the horse and rider wasn’t enough to comfort Will, as the two plunged loudly through the forest ahead, not noticing the path disappearing beneath them, until they reached a river blocking the way forward..
Will reined in Digger, looking quickly from side to side, and frowning worriedly. He pulled out his map, and saw what he had feared. He had missed the fork in the road, and was now lost in the woods. He considered if he should ride back and look for it, but it was somehow getting even darker, and the small flame in his lantern was dwindling quickly. Convincing himself that his mind was playing tricks on him earlier, he finally settled on making camp for the night. Tying Digger’s reins to a nearby tree, he set himself to work on making a camp.
He began by gathering firewood, thanking all the deities that he could think of for the abundance of fallen branches, – some the size of full logs – sticks, and leaves to use as kindling. Will gathered a large pile of firewood and kindling, leaving it by Digger. Then, making a ring of stones about 30 feet from the horse, he gathered a clump of kindling in the center of the circle.. Grabbing his dagger from its sheath with one hand, he reached into his bag for his flint. His hope for a large, blazing fire quickly turned to dread as he procured from his bag an ordinary stone. Frantically dropping the stone, he dug through his bag to hopefully find the small, black stone. Holding the open end of the bag towards the dying flame of the lantern, he could not spot the flint anywhere in the sack. In a final desperate move, Will unhooked the lantern from his belt, and attempted to coax the flame out of the small light box, and into the pile of kindling. It seemed almost impossible, but the small pile of kindling began to glow red and smoke. Will’s hope returned in a flood of emotions, and he sat back on his heels to take a moment to breathe. Unfortunately, it was not to last, as a sudden gust of wind blew, disturbing the barely smoking pile of dried leaves, and completely blowing out any light that was being emitted. Will’s relief turned to disbelief, and he just sat there, in total darkness, paralyzed by what he had just seen.
As he sat, he once again heard the noise from earlier.
Crunch.
He quickly stood up, grabbing his bow, nocking and drawing an arrow in the direction of the sound, which seemed to have come from across the river. He held the bow close to his face, waiting breathlessly for the sound to give away the position of whatever was stalking him.
Digger flared his nostrils and pulled against the tied reins keeping him in place. The horse’s hooves made too much noise for Will to concentrate, so he quickly moved to untie Digger. As Will loosened the knot, the telltale crunch sounded behind him. Quickly aiming his bow in the direction of the sound once more, Digger gave another strong tug against the knot, freeing the reins from the branch. Before Will could turn and stop him, Digger was galloping away, leaving Will completely stranded in the woods alone.
Crunch. Crunch.
Not alone. Will once again faced the direction of the noise, which now came from the direction of his attempted fire pit. Not caring that he couldn’t see, Will loosed three arrows in rapid succession, and readied a fourth.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Whirling around, he faced the sound that was now coming from behind him, closer than before. He fired four more arrows, hoping that at least one found its mark.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch-crunch-crunch.
The sound was moving even faster, seemingly coming from all directions at once. Will blindly fired arrows until only one remained.
Silence.
Will lowered the tension in his bow, exhaling a breath he didn’t know he was holding, hoping against hope that whatever was hunting him was dead, or left to find easier prey. He waited five minutes. Ten. Silence. Letting his arms drop to his side, his final arrow clattering to the ground beside him, Will sank to the forest floor. He sat there, letting his emotions overwhelm him. He began to quietly cry to himself, surprised he was still alive.
As he sat there, oblivious to the world around him, he didn’t hear another, softer sound.
Crunch.
Crunch.
The sound was moving closer, but Will was still oblivious. He sat there quietly.
The sound was about five feet from him when he looked up. He saw a pair of red dots, seemingly floating in the air in front of him. Happy to see any sort of light, he reached for the glowing orbs. And in that dark, surrounded by the trees, and the ever imposing darkness…
It struck.
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