It was so dark that even Kael felt as good as blind. He reached out with his arms in every direction, feeling for something that would give him a clue as to where he was. Stumbling with outsretched arms he wandered the darkness searching for something, anything; beneath his feet he heard the crunch of twigs, no not twigs, bones. 

He sniffed the air and found the he was right, there were bones everywhere. He couldn't tell what creatures they had once belonged to but he could smell that they came from many different kinds of beasts. He spun around wildly searching the gloom for the beaat that had left the bones behind, jumping at the sound of his own movements.

'There's nothing here, perhaps there never was, even if there's a beast it probably long gone. Be calm'

He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes and when he opened them the dark wasn't all he could see any more. Eight red glowing irises stared at him from the canvas of black. It could have been right before him or a mile away but he couldn't say. He would have convinced himself that it couldn't see, that it was as blind as he was but then it moved. The eyes seemed to fly with no body to hold them, but he didn't need to see its body to know what it was, he recognised the soundless fluid way it moved. A blade limbed spider! In a sudden burst of valour he grabbed is own bladed spider limb and charged the spider. Growling he hacked at it with all his might but each time he brought the blade down it bounced off a limb he could not see. Again, again until finally the bladed flew out of his hand, sensing weakness the spider moved in. Desperate he reached inside himself for the tendrils but he found nothing, he was out of despair. 

He didn't see the spider strike but he felt it. One of its legs speared through his thigh and forced him to his knees the second one went through his stomach. Weakly he gurgled on blood and bile. It would kill him. 

The final blow never came and when Kael opened his eyes again it was to a starry night sky.

'A nightmare'

Kael sat up glanced around, he saw the sleeping bodies of his compainions gathered around a dying fire. In the distance either Bloke or Kip sat alone, keeping watch. 

He should have felt better, safer but the ice was still in his heart, shadows of the fear he had felt in the dream remained. 

'Why did the dream scare me so much?'

Looking back the fight with the spider could have gone very differently. It could have taken off his head and not his ear with that first strike or perhaps impaled him when it leapt from the ceiling, even charged when he his leap went wrong but he wasn't afraid, not really. He was more fearful of the storm of birds or the snake man who cut him down. So why was it the spider he dreamt of? 

'Maybe the tendrils didn't dissapear because I was out of despair and the place wasn't too dark for my night vision maybe I simply wasn't a deviant in the dream I was just me. Is that what scares me?'

He turned his gaze to what was left of the fire and let it hold his attention. It looked dazzling, more brilliant than it had before, it, the sun, even the afternoon sky, they seemed to shine more, sparkle like jewels. The stars too, he realised looking up. They hadn't always looked like this, he was sure of that, it had to be his night vision, it had changed the way he viewed light. Most things looked the same, the colours were deeper and everything was sharper but luminescent things had taken on a strange new beauty to him. Oh they had always shone but not like this, it was hard  for him to remember what they looked like before.

Coming out of the tunnels and into the light had been something else. The sun was out in its full glory and the sky was a flawless ocean of blue above him. Bloke and Kip cried when they saw it, Barnel fell to the ground laughing and for the first time everyone knew why. Gerald and Kael glanced at each other and shared a smile, before bursting into laughter themselves.

They had taken a labourious trek through spider territory after making public proclamations that they were out to hunt spiders and would return with more swords and that those who wished to escape with them should make themselves known when they returned. Hopefully the Voth would think they died in the spider tunnels and that would be the end of that. In any case they had travelled as fast the ordinary people could go, perhaps they would have made better time with more rest but all of them just wanted to get as far away as they in the least possible time. 

Kael got up and sat himself by the watcher, it was Bloke. For a while they both just sat there, listening to the sounds of the night.

"The fire will go out soon." Kael warned

"The sun is rising" Bloke answered, pointing.

Kael looked and saw that Bloke was right, behind the thick underbrush was a red glow. The first signs of dawn, it would be breath taking with his new vision. 

"You should get some sleep, I'll keep watch."

"I... I wouldn't be able to sleep."

Kael nodded and kept watching, waiting to see his first sunset since being free. 

"The sun will clear up all the mist" Kael said.

Bloke went pale at that, he knew what Kael meant. The first day had been safe mostly, as a group of five nothing dared to attack them. Their biggest problem was the vegetation, forcing your way through foliage was dangerous when the prick of a single thorn might have enough poison to kill you. Still using their swords they managed to clear pathways through the forest.

The first true sign of danger came at early sunset. The group was searching for a suitable clearing to spend night, when a light fogged rolled in. The waning light coupled with the dense vegetation meant visibility was already low enough that even a light fog spelt danger. It would be dangerous to walk through but camping within it would only make attackers bolder.  

So they walked on, pretending not to notice the way the way the fog twisted in strange shapes without the help of wind. Kael didn't notice when the first appeared but they were there when he looked.  Figures, translucent beings of humanoid shape composed of nothing but mist. They walked beside the group like an escort, an escort of ghosts. Even the talkative kip went silent, a creature creature of flesh and bone could be slain but a beast of the wind?

Their ethereal visitors never did anything to suggest they had noticed the party, but the way they kept pace with them left no room for doubt. As the sun sunk lower the fog men became livelier, more boisterous. They moonlight reflecting of them made them seem to glow and they begun to race around the group.

Kael thought he could hear music, that when he stared long enough at a single silhouette its features came to life, inhuman features but as beautiful as they were alien. He saw them take mounts, and sound great war horns, he saw them feast and dance, wed and bed, they cared for their young and slew the hosts of their enemies. Then as silently as they came they raced off, leaving the group alone again. Kael felt he had lived a thousand life times in those moments and when turned his head around it always seemed like he had caught a glimpse of one of them. Kip opened his mouth to speak but Gerald shot him a frosty glare that silenced him. 

'What was that?'

He did not know, he knew he didn't want to speak of it or put it into words for that matter. When it was ongoing he had felt afraid but when it was over all he felt was disappointment, no he felt like he had lost something dear to him.

'Will I see them again?... Probably not, it should be better this way.'

After a couple of hours passed Bloke woke the others, the sun had not risen  completely yet but it was bright enough to travel again. 

For a while all five of them sat there together doing nothing in particular. Kip complained noisily about being sore all over and Bloke responded with weak smiles, Barnel paid rapt attention to the one sided conversation but he made no sign of actually hearing or understanding what was being said. Gerald was alone, he seemed dreary and distant. He was sharpening his sword with a stone.

Kael tired of watching the trio and turned his gaze to the sun. They should have been moving already but no one seemed to want to break the atmosphere, they knew that once they got going there would be no stopping.

Finally the sun peeked over the trees and Gerald dropped the stone and rose to his feet.

With a tired sigh he turned to them and said "Let's get going"

At that the group was on the move again, walking towards the next unkown.

                              -{-_-}-

Kevesh Belmoth would hunt tonight, it was a strange hunt that few would recognise but it was a hunt nonetheless. It might prove bountiful or perhaps it would be lean, ke could not tell, these kinds of hunts were hard to judge. 

Ke made his way towards the hunting grounds on soundless feet. Ke doubted his prey would run or even know if it heard his coming but ke'd come like to going unnoticed, it was then that one saw the most. Ke closed his eyes and entered the cave wondering how long it would be before the herd people noticed he was not one of them. With kis eyes closed he was just a silhouette amongst them, he hunched to make height less conspicuous, folded his comparatively longer arms and kept moving at a steady shamble, they were too distracted by the noise of their companions to pay kim much attention, amused he kept track of how much time it took them to notice and react to him. It baffled kim how a race that was as noisy, oblivious and weak as theirs managed to survive. Yet they had done more than survive, they performed feats the Voth could not claim to have equalled and might not ever... not if Belmoth did nothing. 

They knew ke was there now, their pulses  quickened, their voices quieted to frantic whispers, their feets pitter-pattered on the cave floor as they performed what their kind passed as silent escapes and most enticing of all the scent of their fear filled the cave. Kevesh watched the humans flee, ke did not need to give chase or seek a trail. The trail would come to him, all that was left now was for kim to wait.

"Lord Kevesh! It is an honour to serve"

He never tarried, for all that he stank of fear he never shied away. Yet Kevesh was annoyed, that title was a human thing and it rankled him to be referred to by it. Baleanor swore it an error, a force of habit he called it yet he had never learned to forget it. It tasted to Kevesh like a chain only ke could not tell how.  

Ke ignored the seed of anger, with practised ease and set to questioning the man. Impressive as Baleanor's knowledge was the man himself was not and Kevesh was loathe to waste time exchanging pleasantries with the elikivoth. He turned to the child that Baleanor brought with him for translation and asked.

"Two males where released into the holding caves recently, you know of them yes? Tell me of them?" The little boy relayed. 

"The pair of deviants yes every human in the tunnels knows of them at this point. They made a big ruckus and then they went in the spider's lair and never came back out. Most people think they died in there but if I had to judge I'd say they are escaping."

Escaping. The Kevesh felt kis beat faster, one hunt would become two and challenge of both would be greater still. 

"Go to your Kelinesh. Tell kim the hunt is to gather at the end of my trail." Belmoth command the human translator.

By the time the other members of the hunt found him Belmoth had slain three of the oversized insects and found the exit the five escapees had used. As ke explained the scenario ke could feel the eagerness of kis fellow hunters rising they  too wanted this hunt. Humans for the most part were dull, disabled creatures but those amongst them who had their disabilities corrected were something else. Their natural weapons were strange, unpredictable and only more deadly by the cunning minds behind them. They were harder to track because of their intellect and natural disposition for deciet. Not to mention they were skilled combatants with great predictive skills and shied away from falling into exploitable patterns like lesser creatures. The older members knew the thrill of hunting the warriors amongst the herd men and the younger ones could feel their excitement, riling them up as well. Kevesh  knew ke wanted this more than anyone else though, for to him this was personal, ke had loosed the arrow before and he did not miss lightly . They were kis to hunt.

Yet the Kevesh also knew that the way of the hunter was to temper his desires, he had to be in control at all times. Most erred in thinking that this meant fore going impulsive and harmful desires but ke knew the truth it was the strength of the desire denied that brought growth whether the desire was healthy or not did not matter. So ke would temper himself here, ke would provide the killers of his blood a way out but ke would not stop the hunt. 

"Human warriors are a rarity, they make worthy hunts" he began.

Tongues were clicked in approval a few going so far as to flick their tongues a sign of great anticipation.

"On the next moon our young will rise from hatchlings to brethen, they will take the step from eggshell to providers an act that can only be cemented by a true hunt. That hunt has been provided, the Great Mother has granted us a hunt that will weed out the weak and teach the strong. What say you?"

There were rasps and hisses as the members passed the notion amongst themselves. The hunt recognised no permanent leader and only the approval of the majority could pass a notion. They wanted the hunt for themselves true but the timing of the escape would weigh on the zealots amongst them, if they took it to be the providence of the mother then his pitch would have their support. Others would follow simply because he was the one to raise the idea, he was Kevesh, ke had slain a world serpent of legends and so ke became legend, the Queen and true mother of their tribe took kis seed and kis alone and ke was exalted by ker grace.

When the decision came it was as he expected, the children would hunt the men and in doing so seal their entry into the eternal hunt. First two adult scouts would be sent to prevent the trail from going cold. They were avoid confrontation with the marks if possible and to kill only to save their own lives. Finally once the new moon ceremony was done, Belmoth would lead the initiates to end the hunt. 

Kevesh sat at the mouth of the exit even after all the others had left, ke could feel the song within kim, strong and wild. Ke would enjoy this.