Episode 4: Part 1

Colorful leaves drifted down from the treetops that lined the quad of Somerset Valley University. The day was clear and crisp and the noon sun hung high overhead giving just enough warmth to remain comfortable against the early October chill. As she took a break to eat lunch in between her classes, Noelle Moreau sat out on the lawn and tossed the leftover scraps of her meal to the squirrels and birds. She had always loved animals since she was young and she enjoyed watching them up close too. Growing up, her older brother Jaxon had loved to tease her and tried to scare her with bugs and other creepy crawlies. Still, she had always refused to squash them or hurt them. That was probably why she wanted to become a veterinarian and she couldn't help but laugh at the sight right now.

A gray squirrel along with two sparrows were sitting close to her eating the breadcrumbs right out of her hands. In all respects, they seemed to be completely unafraid of her. She wondered that if she started singing a song, it was possible one of her classmates could almost mistake her for some kind of Disney princess.

While she fed the animals, Noelle also took an idle moment to admire the buildings of the campus. Like the buildings surrounding campus town, the school halls had a bit of a quaint colonial style architecture to them. As it was a smaller school, she liked the warm homey New England style feel of it, especially on a day like today. Moments later, her attention shifted as the animals scattered and she saw a familiar face coming to join her. To her surprise, she saw Connor amble over with a friendly smile and take a seat nearby on the grass.

"Hey Noelle! I was just passing through and thought I'd say hello," he said while setting his bookbag down.

She gave a friendly smile in return and stretched her legs, "Are you headed back to the dorm for lunch?"

"I'm afraid so," he sighed with a nod, "I've got a lot of classes this afternoon and then I've got to help Kristen straighten up her store. For once, the insurance people were pretty fast about helping her make repairs after that spriggan attack several weeks ago."

Noelle nodded quietly and touched her ring, "Seems too unreal... all that stuff, you know? The stranger part is that this is all probably going to become more normal for us."

"Tell me about it," he snorted in amusement as he rose to his feet and helped her up too. "Well, I've gotta run. I'll see you around?"

"Why don't I come by the shop later and help clean up?" she offered, "All of us can. I mean, we're all a team now and Kristen is our friend too, right?"

Connor couldn't help but smile, "That's really sweet of you Noelle. I think she'd like that. Okay, see you then!"


Back in the Underworld, the Fomorian Warlord Balor stalked through the dark tunnels until he came upon a large yawning cavern that the monsters often used as a training field. It was there that he spied a dark female warrior upon a fearsome skeletal horse. The dark fey rider galloped her ghastly mount around the field several times before turning toward several posts that had been set up in the middle of the cavern. She called out a sharp command and the head of her skeletal horse began to blaze, giving off an eerie light.

The rider reached to her side and pulled a whip-like weapon made of bones that resembled a freakishly long human vertebrae. As the horsewoman charged through the obstacles in the middle of the training field, she lashed her weapon out and smashed several pumpkins sitting atop the low posts, causing them to explode into bits of pulp on impact. When she finished her cavalry charge exercise, she cantered her horse before Balor and dismounted. She gave a respectful little bow and shockingly, removed her head from her neck and placed it under her left arm.

"My Lord Balor, I was not aware you were watching. Please forgive me for the late greeting," said the disembodied head.

The warlord smiled and waved his hand gently, "There's no need Sarissa. Your horsemanship and skill with the lash was very impressive."

"Thank you my lord," the monstrous female rider replied, "I have been training, in hopes that you may let me serve. The feast of Samhain is coming and I wish to be able to ride out and slay mortals in your name."

Balor gave an impressed nod as he gently patted the nose of the skeletal horse, "That may be a dangerous request. This is the time of year when the Autumn Court grows strong and their lord, the Erlking goes hunting for evil spirits that roam the earth. He and his band of Wild Huntsmen would not show you any mercy if they find you."

Sarissa frowned and stood taller, "I do not fear the Erlking, Lord Balor. I know I can likely outride many of his best horsemen too. If those Hibernian Knights are plaguing you, I wish for a chance to destroy them."

She gestured to the ruins of the pumpkins, "I wish to do the same to their skulls and I'll bring you the fragments as tribute."

Balor considered it for a long moment before turning away from the headless horsewoman and departing the field, "Then so be it Sarissa. You shall have your chance, so do not squander it."


Later that day, Noelle led the others to the antique shop in town where they found Connor wiping down all the glass display cases while Kristen busily finished rearranging items. The bleary eyed Druid gave a small wave followed by a yawn as the three students entered the shop to admire the new layout.

"Well, I'll hand it to the repairmen... it looks much more impressive than before," Laura idly commented while Quinton gently nudged her with his elbow.

Noelle ignored them and headed over to greet their mentor, "Hey Kristen, the place looks great... but are you okay? You look a little pooped."

The Druid flopped down on a cushioned rocking chair and rubbed her eyes, "Yeah, sorry everyone. I'm just feeling a little out of it today. I've been busy reopening the shop, and then I was up late last night making preparations for Samhain in a few weeks."

"Samhain?" Quinton asked with a puzzled look, "Who is that?"

From the corner, Connor gave a gentle laugh as he finished cleaning and headed over to his friends, "Not who. What. Samhain is an old pagan holiday celebrated by the Gaelic people during harvest season. It's basically what modern day Halloween was based off of."

Kristen nodded in agreement as she continued to relax, "That's right. It was the time of year when the boundaries between the mortal world and the spirit world were weakest, so many of the old Celts feared the undead or other evil faeries of the night called the Unseelie. My fellow Druids and I were up late last night gathering lots of firewood for the coming event... specifically from old dead trees."

Laura scratched her head, "Why would you need to do that?"

Kristen gave a yawn and leaned back, "Well, it's customary to light large bonfires to ward off the evil spirits, kind of the same idea as jack-o-lanterns. With any luck, maybe the Wild Hunt will come through and help wipe out any other Fomorians lurking around."

Now it was Noelle's turn to look confused, "Wild Hunt? That doesn't sound good. I've never heard of it."

"Most people haven't," Kristen explained as she snapped her fingers and lit the nearby fireplace with a small effort of magic. "Every year around this time, the Autumn Court grows in strength and its ruler, the Erlking, likes to go out with a band of his best hunters to go riding across the land and wipe out evil spirits for fun."

"Oh? Well, that sounds great! He sounds like he's on our side so maybe we should talk to him," Connor suggested hopefully but the Druid shook her head.

"No. That would be unwise. The Erlking chases rogue monsters, but he and his hunters are not the nicest people either. They're as dangerous and vicious as the prey they hunt. If you get in his way, he'd probably kill you too. That's why it's called the Wild Hunt."

Noelle pondered the issue for a moment before she spoke again with a hesitant tremor in her voice, "Do you... think he'd be willing to listen to the Autumn Knight then?"

Kristen merely shook her head and closed her eyes to take a nap, "Like I said, it's best you just steer clear of all that. Go do some other thing on Halloween... like go to a holiday party or something."

The knights exchanged a discouraged look before Quinton shrugged, "Hey, that actually reminds me of something. I do know there's going to be a big Halloween masquerade dance and festival at the student Union. It's coming up really soon, so maybe that should be fun, right?"

"Yes! Great idea. A Halloween party sounds awesome!" Noelle exclaimed.

Connor grinned playfully and scratched his chin, "Hmm, tons of candy, alcohol, and girls in sexy Halloween costumes? Count me in too."

As Noelle slapped him in the arm and gave him a reproving frown, Laura rolled her eyes, "I suppose that means we all have to go looking for some ridiculous looking costumes then?"

"Oh come on Laura. Don't be such a sourpuss," Noelle smiled as she grabbed the Winter Knight's wrist and led her out of the shop, "We could be creative and make our own."

The two boys exchanged a look and shrugged before they caught sight of their mentor already dozing off by the fireplace. Giving small smiles of amusement, they followed the girls out and decided to let Kristen catch up on some much needed sleep.


Later that week, the knights convened again at O'Doyle's pub to hang out after some midterm exams one night. As the four sat at a booth talking and bantering about, they were joined by Eliza and some of her other musician friends. Eventually the topic of conversation turned toward the upcoming Halloween festivities on campus. While the get-together continued, Noelle glanced at her phone and noticed that it was getting a little late. She still had to take one more exam the next morning so she wanted to cut out early to try and get some sleep for it.

"Hey, sorry everyone. I've got one more test tomorrow so I think I'm going to call it an early night," she said apologetically while squeezing past Laura and Quinton.

"Wait, hold up Noelle! Are you sure you're going to go back to the dorm by yourself?" asked Eliza in sudden concern.

The Autumn Knight raised a curious eyebrow, "Yeah... What's the big deal? It's not that far of a walk from town."

Eliza looked to the others with a slightly worried expression, "Sure, I know that. But you haven't heard about what happened to one of the poor upperclassmen just recently have you? Mike Delong?"

Everyone else at the table exchanged blank looks until Eliza spoke again, "Just a few nights ago, he claimed he was here late drinking with his buddies and then decided to walk back to campus. He took a little stroll down a wooded path leading back to school when he saw something terrible. In the moonlight, he said he saw a girl riding a skeletal horse through the trees, but that wasn't the worst part. He said the rider didn't have her head attached to her neck either. She carried it under her arm and laughed with terrifying shrieks as she went. Mike said he was so scared, he hid under a muddy log until she went by, then ran home as fast as he could."

Connor's face grew very grim as Eliza finished her tale, but Laura scoffed, "Come on Eliza. You really expect us to believe that happened? That's just like the old colonial story of the headless horseman. Mike was probably just sloshed and dreamt the whole thing up in his drunken stupor."

Quinton took a long swig of his soda before he nodded in agreement, "Laura has a point... plus the Legend of Sleepy Hollow was set in New York. I've never heard of any headless horsemen rampaging around here in Massachusetts."

Connor grimaced slightly and turned to his other friend, "Noelle, if you want, I'll walk you home... just in case."

To his surprise, Noelle shook her head and waved the story off politely, "That's okay Connor. I think I can manage just fine tonight."

"Are you sure? I mean..."

"I'll be fine," she insisted giving a pointed look, "Listen, if anything weird happens, I've got my phone and all your numbers. Plus, you know I'm pretty capable of protecting myself, right?"

She was subtly referring to her ring and the powers of the Autumn Knight so he sighed and gave a reluctant nod, "Well... okay. Just be careful."

Noelle put on her orange cap and gave a cheerful smile to everyone, "Relax. I'll see all of you tomorrow. We'll have lunch together after my midterm exam, sound good?"

As the Autumn Knight left the pub and stepped out into the brisk night air, she shivered and took a breath. She had left the warmth and light of the pub and now had a short walk down the wooded parkways back towards campus.

Another chilly gust of wind nipped at Noelle's cheeks as she made her way down the dark wooded lane. The sounds of dead leaves crunching underfoot echoed in the night while the Autumn Knight made her way from the glow of one street lamp to the next. That was when she heard the clomping sounds of hooves, almost like a horse. She froze and looked around, hearing the sounds grow closer.

In the dim light of the street lamp, she turned toward a nearby tree line and her heart froze as a dark rider upon a ghostly horse emerged. As the rider approached slowly, Noelle could see the rider was female, except her head was being carried by her free hand, with her stringy black hair trailing in the chilly air. Upon the rider's face was a ghoulish smile and her eyes were alight with malicious glee.

"Ah, some fresh game for the hunt!" the monster said in a raspy voice.

The Autumn Knight glanced about, desperately searching for some avenue of escape. As the evil fey rider closed, the fight or flight reaction kicked in and Noelle decided she had to fight. Moments before the rider bore down upon her, Noelle raised her ring and summoned her armor in a brilliant cloud of orange light and autumn leaves.

Sarissa reared up her horse in surprise and backed off as Noelle pulled her falcata sword and took a swing.

The dark horsewoman grinned as she reattached her head and cracked her skeletal whip, "Oh my… a Knight! This just got a whole lot more interesting!"

Noelle growled and slashed her weapon over the ground, which kicked up a cloud of leaves to momentarily blind the monster. Sarissa snarled and whipped aside several leaves only to see the knight charging forward to attack.

The Autumn Knight darted in and slashed with her curved blade, but the blow was deflected aside by the tail end of the monster's whip. In that moment, Noelle fell back on defense when she realized that the evil faerie rider still had the advantage of height and leverage while mounted. Sarissa gave a ghastly shriek and lashed out with her weapon and succeeded in snaring the forte of the knight's blade.

As the two combatants struggled in a momentary tug of war, Noelle cried out in surprise as the rider wheeled her mount around and the skeletal horse knocked the knight over with its hindquarters. Giving a fearsome whinny, the monstrous horse stamped its hooves down to try and trample the downed knight, but Noelle rolled clear and quickly recovered to her feet.

That momentary distraction cost Noelle as the dark rider spurred her horse forward and struck with her whip in a vicious passing attack. Noelle reeled sideways and spun to the ground from the force of the impact. Her vision went bright for a moment as her shoulder exploded in pain where she had been struck. As she staggered to her knees, Noelle was lashed again and knocked to the dirt before her armor dispelled and left her vulnerable. Had she not been protected by her armor, those strikes could have very well killed her outright.

The smug rider cantered her horse over and loomed above the stunned knight before giving a hideous smile. "You have a pretty face little girl. I think I may use your head as a replacement for this old one."

Before the rider could do any harm, she froze as she heard the sounds of hunting horns and galloping hooves echo through the parks. She gritted her teeth and turned away from Noelle with a growl. "Don't think I'm sparing your life. You're still as good as dead right now."

Noelle blinked in surprise as the dark horsewoman spurred her horse and disappeared back into the blackness of the woods to escape. The Autumn Knight gave a sigh of relief and tried to rise to her knees. She reached out to retrieve her fallen cell phone when she stopped and saw more mysterious horsemen emerge from the dark tree line on the opposite end of the wooded path. Unlike the rider who had attacked her, these horsemen appeared to be Elven. Some wore shirts of chainmail armor while others wore hide, but all of them bore bright orange cloaks trailing behind them. The riders had a wild, almost barbaric look to them and they regarded her with suspicion as they closed in around her forming a tight ring.

Despite her best efforts to get clear, Noelle found herself trapped as several of the riders' horses snapped at her while a few other warriors leveled hunting spears.

"Enough! I wish to speak with the Tuathan," came a powerful voice from the rear. Several of the huntsmen backed off and raised their spears in respect as a more regal looking Elven warrior approached on horseback. He sat upon a powerful black charger, wearing fine chainmail armor and a decorative orange tabard. Noelle glanced upwards to see the warrior also wore a fearsome great helm adorned with antler horns.

Noelle swallowed hard and tried to speak, but it came out in a small trembling voice, "Who… who are you?"

The regal horseman looked down upon her and began to remove his helmet, "I am the Lord of Autumn and Master of the Wild Hunt… I am the Erlking."