Gwen, Eira and The Fur Coat

The Story of the Fur Coat.

The wild hunt does not often kill, their job is to take to the souls lost in battle and either lead them on the path to eternal rest or recruit them to be a part of the hunt, of course you do not need to be dead to join the hunt, but many of its members are. The leader of the wild hunt, Gwen was not dead and yet many feared him, he was cold and distant though not unkind, he could be compassionate and save a child close to death with no benefit to him, but his wrath was that out of nightmares. There are many whispers that he had slain a fearsome beast on mere whim to acquire his skull mantle, but the skull was not the only piece of his outfit that had sparked many stories, the robes he wore have many tales told of them as well, and I am one of the ones to know the true story.

It was a cold night and the wind whistled through the branches, making them creak eerily, though I suppose that I am one to call something eerie, considering the looks I often get, anyway we had made camp for the night outside a small village and were settling into bed when a man rushed into our camp, breathing hard, he wore a fur cloak with a fluffy white collar. One of Gwen’s men brought him over and told us that he was demanding to speak with Gwen,

“Let us hear what he has to say,” Gwen said and sat down by the fire. The man told us of his daughter who had fallen gravely ill,

“She is the most beautiful thing you will ever see.” He told us. I doubt it, we have seen many beautiful things in our travels. Why would this be special? “And there's magic in her, she is a gift to the whole village, please save her.” I was a bit surprised when Gwen agreed to come look, I wasn’t sure there was anything he could do, but I agreed that there was no harm in trying. Gwen took me and two of his men and followed the man down to his village, when we got to his house he said that there was only room enough inside for Gwen. Suspicious, I told him, we may be walking into a trap. Maybe, he agreed, but we have handled many dangers and I believe that we will have no trouble if things get bad. We entered the house and the man took us up to the room where his daughter was. I felt tingly and gazed around checking for traps. His daughter lay in the bed surrounded by blankets, Gwen and I gazed down at the girl and then with a terrible bang the door slammed shut behind us, Gwen leaped up and scrambled toward the door, or at least he tried to, before he could make it half way he froze,

“Gwen” I said, “what’s wrong, why aren’t you moving?”

“I cannot!” He replied. The girl sat up in bed and I could see her face, pale, her eyes a bright lavender and her ears pointed.

“Your daughter is fey*!” Gwen shouted.

“Oops, forgot to mention that” the man said walking towards us.

“Whatever your plot is, it will fail, many have tried to defeat me and none have succeeded.”

“You see my coat.” The man said, his grin was full of malice. Gwen’s eyes widened,

“You have slain one of the wolves of the silver wood.”  Gwen gasped, “it is forbidden and nearly impossible!”

“Well it was fine, but you know what will make me famous?” The man said, his awful grin stretched across his face, “destroying the lord of the wild hunt, I wonder what your hiding under that mask of yours.” He reached forward and yanked me from Gwen’s face. I don’t know what he was expecting, most people think that Gwen is horribly scarred or is secretly a demon or something, but Gwen looks pretty normal. The man dropped me and I hit the ground with a crack. Gwen's eyes widened and he shouted my name. The man turned back to Gwen and pulled a long wicked looking knife from his coat, he stepped forward and pressed the edge to Gwen's throat, blood trickled from the cut and Gwen let out a small gasp. Anger boiled in me bright and red hot. I could not allow this man to end Gwen. I do not often have a body, but occasionally when the conditions are right, especially in winter when the sky is dark but for a shining moon, I can manifest one. My pale ghostly bones and flesh gleamed as I stood, the small bells strung over my horns rattled. I stretched my pale ghostly spine and my leg bones snapped into place.  The man did move his knife from Gwen's throat but began to turn his head, before he could move, before anyone could stop what was about to happen, I reared up and lunged toward the bed, I brought my horn down, straight into the fairy girls chest, for a moment she looked surprised her mouth open in a perfect oh. Then blood poured out of her mouth and the gaping hole in her chest. Gwen unfroze and lunged forward slamming his paw into the man's chest, the man fell backward, his grin gone.

“You were a fool, to try and defeat me, and you were a monster and murderer to slay the best whose coat you wear, now die!” Gwen shouted, leaning down and snapping his teeth around the man’s neck, the sound of bones crunching filled the air and the man’s body flopped to the floor, unmoving. I floated over to Gwen

“What will you do with the coat?” I asked.

“I shall take it and wear it, but not as proof of my accomplishments, as a memory of the beast that was slain unjustly.” He said gazing down at the body. “Its spirit will live on in me.” He reached down and picked up the coat.

“Lets go.” I said, “before something else tries to kill us.” We walked out of the house and met up with Gwen’s men outside. We didn't go back to that village for a very very long time.

*fairy, the fair folk, whatever you what to call them