Chapter 1

A sliver of moon hung in the sky. It was the only light that illuminated the path on which a single rider was visible. The darkness wrapped around him almost caressing him and concealing his features from view. His horse moved at a leisurely pace despite the danger that lurked in the nearby woods.

Most people on the frontier avoided this forest even by day, preferring to take a two-day journey to the south in order to go around it. So it would have been quite shocking even with the sun high overhead to see a lone rider approaching this dark and foreboding place. Yet it seemed this rider was directing his steed unerringly toward the mouth of the waiting trees and monsters that lived within.

The figure clothed in the night itself stopped just before entering the home of nightmares. It wasn't fear that stopped him so abruptly. A sound that no mortal could have heard came from somewhere in the maze of gnarled trees. It sounded like a scream. The rider continued forward being swallowed by a darkness that allowed no light to penetrate its depths.

After several minutes, the figure in black came to a scene of destruction. Wagons were turned on their sides to provide cover or perhaps to gain access to the occupants within. The ground was littered with supplies and spent cartridges from rifles and various other weapons. The scent of blood was heavy in the air but the bodies were nowhere to be seen.

"Hunter wait," a weak voice called from near a tree on the edge of the chaos. It was a woman in her thirties and she had clearly been very beautiful before the attack that had destroyed the small convoy. The charred remains of a saldinare lay some five feet from her. No doubt, it had been scorched by the plasma gun that lay empty across the woman's lap.

The saldinare were some of the more sadistic monsters created by the Nobles. They consumed their victims whole. It would take weeks for them to die within the monster's stomach. All the time they were being slowly digested. It was torturous agony for the victims.

"He sent them for my daughter." Her voice was a whisper. "We managed to deceive him though." You could almost hear the smile in her voice. "Please, tell her what happened." Something fell from her hand and landed on the ground next to her. "Thank you," the woman said not waiting for an answer before succumbing to her injuries.

"You're not seriously considering this?" a horse voice said. It sounded like it had come from his left hand.

The hunter dismounted and retrieved the small trinket from where it had fallen. The forest had grown quite paying respect to the brave woman who had just given everything to protect her child.

When the hunter was again in place on his steed, he started forward. "You don't even know where or who the girl is for that matter. We would be better off throwing the ring down or giving it to some passing troupe."

The hunter said nothing in reply to the obvious statements made by his left hand. He continued to ride through the thickening forest toward a destination that even he did not know.