Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The Hunter in Black - The Fairy



     The dark green canopy above seemed to press down as the Hunter pressed further on into the deep forest. The aroma of dank earth churned by his companion’s speeding hooves rose to meet him. Stout limbs on thick trees thousands of years old reached out to slow their progress. But he pressed on, his sure-footed companion never faltering for a moment despite the rocks and roots that littered the forest floor.
     His quarry had continued its path to the east. It must know it was being hunted now, if ever any doubt had existed. But did it know who was pursuing it? Unlikely, the Hunter thought. And that was his advantage.
     The forest grew even thicker as the Hunter pressed on, until even his agile companion had to slow to a walk. The trees seemed to close in around them. Light from the setting sun barely penetrated the thick layer of limbs and leaves above them.
     Then suddenly, without warning or explanation, the Hunter’s quarry disappeared from his sight.
     The Destroyer of worlds had been miles away, but the Hunter had been watching him clearly, his farsight giving him a clear image of his quarry. And then suddenly it was gone, as though someone had thrown a black sheet over the Hunter’s deep-seeing eyes.
     The Hunter peered around nearby trees to no avail. He tried backtracking, and still his quarry failed to appear on the distant horizon. His companion stopped entirely as the two contemplated the situation.
     “Indeed.” The Hunter exclaimed to the forest. “The Destroyer’s power is imminent, yet it cannot disappear from our sight. There must be something else involved here. Perhaps we should just press on; we know where he was when we lost sight of him.”
     The Hunter was listening to his companion’s wisdom in his mind when something caught his attention. Off to his left the Hunter saw a dull green glow, dancing among the trees. The Hunter and his companion watched as the light flickered up and down, hid behind one tree then danced before another. In some deep part of his mind, the Hunter knew the light was some kind of living creature, and that its dance of light was calling to him.
     “No,” the Hunter replied to a silent question, “I do not think it is coincidence either. But I sense no danger here.”
     His riding companion, Stalia, gently reminded him mentally that he hadn’t sensed any danger in the small village just a few days earlier either.
     “Perhaps,” he replied flatly, trying to keep any emotion from his voice even though he knew full well she could read his mind anyway, “but my instincts tell me we should pursue this avenue. If it turns out to be an ill turn, we’ll continue on our way.”
     Stalia’s silent reply did little to turn the Hunter from his intended course. At last, she began slowly trotting through the dense trees toward the dancing wisp of light.
     Their trail led them through what seemed to be the darkest part of the forest. Though the sun should have still been in the sky, not a single ray of its light penetrated the thick leaves of great oaks and stout maples that grew just a few feet apart. The wisp of light seemed to mock them as it danced just a few feet away, leading them deeper and deeper into the unknown.
     Ahead, a sickly green glow suddenly appeared, illuminating the foliage in a haunting light. The dancing wisp suddenly shot toward the light, bending around the trees and out of sight. The Hunter and his companion continued cautiously forward.
     Around a huge oak nearly as wide as the Hunter was tall, an old shack emerged bathed in the ill green light. The glow seemed not to come from the house itself, but from near and over it, as though the light source itself was looking into the dwelling. A small yard spread out in front of the house, bright green grass growing in contrast to the dull, haunting color of everything else surrounding the old home. Moss hung from the rooftop, tendrils reaching down at the sides and all four corners in a desperate yet futile attempt to reach the ground. A babbling brook ran through the yard near where the forest stopped and the grass began.
     The Hunter’s companion stepped carefully over the tiny river, as if its water was somehow detrimental. Both of them knew that was rather unnecessary, no poison of this world could harm either of them, at least none that they knew of.
     The Hunter sat in his riding position atop his mount. Seconds passed on into minutes. The Hunter responded to an unasked question.
     “It would be rude to just walk in uninvited.”
     Another silence passed, but the Hunter heard his beloved’s response clearly. As if in answer to his statement, a voice emerged from within the decrepit old hut.
     “Well, are you going to make an old woman wait forever?”
     Though cracked and worn, the strange voice held a strong conviction. The Hunter smiled briefly as he dismounted. After gazing longingly into his beloved’s eyes, the Hunter approached the decaying door of the old moss house.
      The door swung in easily enough. The inside of the mossy dwelling appeared much as the outside. Dirt and grime covered everything within the small house. A one room shack, it seemed, with little in the way of furnishings. The Hunter had to stoop to avoid touching the ceiling. Not so for the sole occupant.
      An old woman sat in an ancient chair, eyeing him with great suspicion. Her look demanded to know what he was doing in her house, though he was sure she was the one who’d proclaimed his tardiness. Her clothes were as old as her wrinkled face, and as green as the forest that surrounded her home. But not as green as the color of her skin.
     The old woman had the color of jade, with none of the sheen one might find on a precious jewel. The green in her eyes matched the lighter color of the rags draping her body. The Hunter thought for a mere flash of a second he caught the look in those eyes changing, but it was gone before he could determine what, if anything, it meant.
     “And what does one of your kind think he’s doing trespassing in my part of the forest?”
     The Hunter raised a curious eyebrow at the old woman. Her voice was old, faded, crackling, yet it held a kind of understated power or authority. He sensed a growing power within her as well.
     “By my kind, do you mean…”
     “You know exactly what I mean, trespasser.” The old woman interrupted. “You who do not belong here and never did. You who brought ruin upon us all. But it didn’t turn out quite like you expected, did it my pretty? Our power was quite a bit more formidable than you imagined, ey?”
     The old woman kept the Hunter locked in his place with her stare. He had answers for her, explanations that should have soothed over any of the misunderstandings this woman obviously held about him and his mission. But she was not ready to hear them.
     “I am a power in my own right,” the old woman exclaimed, “do not doubt that for a minute, shishar! Outside these trees I may have little value, but within these walls I have the right, make no mistake. And if I don’t like your answers, you’ll not be leaving these trees, I should think.”
     Not since his arrival in this world had the Hunter been challenged thus. And certainly not by anyone who seemed as close to death as this poor old human. But his instincts, which he’d come to trust over the many long years, told him she spoke the truth. After weighing his words carefully, the Hunter answered.
     “I would never insult you by pretending to be anything else than what I am.”
     “Ha,” the old woman interrupted in a spat, “your presence is insulting, to me and everyone else. You do not belong here. So what is your business, ey? Are you a poor lost soul now, cut off from your friends?” The old woman seemed delighted at the prospect.
     “No, my allies are as close as they need to be. I do not mean to trespass. I am here to collect someone who also does not belong here. As soon as I have done that, I shall be on my way.”
     The Hunter paused to let the old woman measure the truth of his words. She studied him for a long moment. At last, the moss-woman softened her look, slightly.
     “Then you’d best be quick, my boy. You aren’t the only one chasing this quarry of yours. And your competition is ahead of you, I think.”
     This took the Hunter completely by surprise. What was she talking about? No one else had been dispatched to retrieve the Destroyer, of this he was sure.
     “To whom do you refer? I assure you no one else pursues my quarry.”
     The old woman burst out in a laugh, a chilling cackle that shook the Hunter deep inside where nothing should have been able to reach him. The Hunter took a step back, marveling at the power of this feeble-seeming old woman.
     “Ever the downfall of your kind, Hunter, and all those who call themselves powerful. Because you have ability, because you have skill, or authority, or knowledge that nothing can be as you deign otherwise. Foolish my boy, very foolish.”
     The old woman’s sudden geniality vanished as suddenly as it appeared.
     “I wish you godspeed on your quest, my boy. Truly I do. For if you fail I foresee a grave future ahead, one in which the past rises from the ashes of history to finish the job it started. So hurry now, and let nothing else delay you. Or it may be the ruin of us all.”
     The old moss-woman waved her hand in a flourish, and suddenly the Hunter was standing just outside the mossy hut. The ill-green light seemed to fade around him, until even his sharp eyes could barely see the old house in front of him.
     On a whim, the Hunter tried to open the door again, but found it shut tight. He turned to his companion, climbing on to her back in a pensive mood she did not miss. He mentally explained all the old woman had told him. Stalia turned, made her way carefully over the brook, and together the pair again made their way east in the direction they had last seen the Destroyer.
     “Who could she have meant?” The Hunter asked aloud. “If anyone else had been sent we’d have known, we would have felt their presence here. Who would…?”
      The Hunter trailed off as Stalia mentally offered a plausible explanation. The Hunter’s expression suddenly bore a heavy trepidation.
     “Oh no.”

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