Tales of the Blood Moon

Not Worth the Cost

Even from thisdistance, through the trees and the darkness, I can see the cabin ismissing an entire wall. Pushing aside a low-hanging branch, I stepinto the clearing the cabin occupies. The cold, autumn air stings mylungs and fallen leaves crunch beneath my boots as I approach thecabin. The ringtone on my phone goes off, but I ignore it and keepwalking. Peering inside, I see the inside of the cabin is littlemore than rubble. The interior walls are almost completely destroyedand the furniture is in splinters. A bottle of champagne lies brokenon the floor, along with two wine glasses. To my horror, a pair ofvery familiar, red-rimmed eyeglasses juts from between two fallenbricks. Looking to my right, a large path has been cut through thewoods. Littered with snapped branches and small trees plowed down byenormous force, the thing that made the path was extremely big -and hungry. I should know, since I'm the one who unleashed it.

My so-called"colleagues" made my life at the university a living hell. Gossipers and backstabbers, the lot of them. Holly was the only goodone among them. Her long, brown hair (laced with occasional strandsof gray) framed a pixie face on which perched a set of red-rimmedeyeglasses. I felt there could be something special between us, butI suspect she was pressured by the others to avoid me. I suppose I'mjust not "cool" enough to be seen with. In some ways, highschool never ends. When I finally decided I could tolerate them nolonger, I used my knowledge as an anthropology professor to exact myrevenge. Ancient Creek Indian legends spoke of a creature called"Rends-The-Night" and I devoted all my spare time learningeverything I could about it.

Rends-The-Nightwas, at one time, a typical black bear. Through some combination ofmedicine and necromancy, that bear was reborn as a giant, killingmachine. Larger than it was in life, Rends-The-Night is almost eightfeet high at the shoulder. The creature's appetite is voracious andlegend has it the Creek had to magically bind the thing in asubterranean prison, since there was no way to appease its hunger. Through my research, I discovered that Rends-The-Night is indeed morethan a legend and, in time, I found where it was trapped.

Deep in the woodsthere is a pond at the bottom of a hill. The pond in question is notone of those pristine, idyllic, clear-blue pools, but afoul-smelling, dark-green, petri dish of the vilest sort. Even itsbanks are lined with poisonous plants. Braving the filthy water, Idescended until I found (through feeling about, as visibility wasvirtually nonexistent), a tunnel on one side of the pond. Thesurprisingly large tunnel led out and up to a cavern within the hill. Crawling out of the water, I fumbled with my waterproof flashlightuntil a bright beam of light cut through the darkness.

The cavern wasroughly fifteen feet high at its tallest, fifteen feet at its widestand twelve feet deep. A large, furred, black form lay curled nearthe far wall. I was amazed, both at Rends-The-Night being more thana legend as well as by his sheer size. A series of stones withsymbols etched upon them stretched from one wall of the cavern to theother between myself and the slumbering creature. My researchindicated that all I needed to do was remove one of the stones andRends-The-Night would waken and be at my command. I left the cavernthat day and finalized my plans.

I rented a nearbycabin and invited my "friends" to join me. Holly was scheduledto be out of town, attending a conference this weekend. I didn'tbother going to the cabin myself, instead making my way to thecavern. As I prepared to remove the stone, I noticed something I'doverlooked before. In my excitement to have found Rends-The-Night, Imistook for loose rocks the objects just on the other side of thecarved stones. The objects were not rocks, but human bones. Indeed,they were almost complete human skeletons. Clearly Rends-The-Nighthadn't eaten those particular people and I had to wonder what hadtranspired to make that their final resting place.

I shrugged off mycuriosity and removed one of the stones. To my horror,Rends-The-Night did not slowly rise from his slumber, but sprangsuddenly to all fours and lumbered toward me. I was about to fleeback into the water when he stopped and lowered his head. I didn'tdare touch him, only mumbled my command for him to go to the cabinand devour those inside. Rends-The-Night made no sound, but simplyplodded into the water and out of view. How long I sat in stunnedsilence before finally leaving the cavern, I cannot say.

I was halfway tothe cabin when I saw Rends-The-Night strolling toward me. Hisenormous bulk pushed through the foliage and he stopped just short ofme. I suppose he was waiting for me to tell him where to go next,but I had no further instructions. I continued walking toward thecabin, with Rends-The-Night still standing in the same spot, watchingme go.

Now, standing atthe cabin, all I can see are those red-rimmed glasses. I'm not surewhat happened. Did Holly's plans change? Was there really ever aconference, or was that merely a ruse so she could surprise me? Waseveryone in on it? Were they all trying to do something nice for me? The churning in my stomach combined with the throbbing in my skullis nearly enough to drop me to my knees. Everything starts spinningand I stagger backward in a desperate attempt to maintain my balance. Shouts from voices I do not recognize jar me halfway back to mysenses. A bullet streaking past my ear sends me the rest of the way.

A pair of men rushinto the clearing, both of them with pistols leveled in my direction. I turn to flee and I am almost thrown to the ground as I bounce offthe giant frame of Rends-The-Night. I hadn't noticed him standingbehind me. Another shot from behind hits Rends-The-Night in theshoulder, but he doesn't even flinch. I dash toward the woods andRends-The-Night follows.

The two men seemreluctant to follow us into the thick woods, so Rends-The-Night and Iare able to gain a substantial lead. Reaching the water, I don'tpause, but simply plunge in and swim to the cavern. Not being in thesame shape I was as a young man, I lay exhausted for a brief time onthe cavern floor. Now that I have a few moments to think, I realizethat had I not panicked, I could probably have sent Rends-The-Nightto deal with both men. To be honest, I'm starting to viewRends-The-Night less as a powerful weapon of vengeance and more of atragic mistake. When I finally feel I can breathe normally, I decideit might be time for me to take a longer look around the cavern,starting with the skeletons.

A couple of theskeletons have Native American jewelry loosely attached to the bones. Each has a dagger stuck through its rib cage. The final skeletonstill clutches a Confederacy-issue revolver and wears the tatteredremnants of a Confederate uniform. The skeleton has both an entryand exit wound in the partially buried skull. I walk through thecavern, carefully examining the carvings on the stones. The carvingsaren't simply magical symbols, they also tell a story.

The stones tellthe tale of how the Creek felt the need to create Rends-The-Night asa threat to deter would-be attackers, only unleashing him as a weaponof last resort. Knowing that some among them would choose to useRends-The-Night to solve any problem, no matter how minor, the Creekcreated a set of rules designed to discourage frivolous use of him. First, the prison that holds Rends-The-Night is designed so thatwhoever removes the stone to free him will be the only one who cancommand him. Second, once unleashed, Rends-The-Night will alwaysreturn to the one who commands him, regardless of distance. Third,the only way to return Rends-The-Night to his confines is to lead himback to the cavern and replace the stone. Finally, only thesacrifice of the one who removed (and subsequently replaced) thestone can empower the magic needed to bind Rends-The-Night and lullhim into sleep.

I sit for awhile,taking in everything that's happened. Rends-The-Night stares down atme, completely silent. Realizing there is only one way out of themess I've created, I tell Rends-The-Night to stay, and I enter thewater. I poke my head out of the water very slowly, fearful the twomen might be lurking about. When I see that I'm alone, I make my wayto the bank and do some gathering. Rends-The-Night surfaces, clearlyunwilling to leave my side unless set to a specific task. I walkback into the pond and swim back to the cavern. Rends-The-Nightfollows and I lead him to the back wall. I walk to the line ofstones, replace the stone I removed and begin eating the plants Ipicked from the water's edge. It's not long before I feel my facebegin to swell and my throat start to close. I turn toward the backwall to find Rends-The-Night curled and still. With tears in myrapidly-swelling eyes and red-rimmed glasses in my thoughts, I hopehe remains that way forever.