Maygen wasn’t ready to go home yet. Oh, all the eggs mother put in her basket were sold. Except the broken one – she must think of a way of concealing that. If she walked home the long way, she would have time to think of some plausible excuse. She might find wild strawberries to appease her mother, but knew full well that she would eat all she found.
It was a beautiful day. Blue butterflies flitted across the heather and a skylark was trilling high in the sky as she climbed the hill leaving the village behind. As she approached the top of the hill, she heard voices. Something was happening at the shire moot stone. There had been no talk of a meet in the village; no treaties broken; no threats reported.
However, a group of people were listening to an old raggedy-man leaning heavily on his staff, one hand touching the old standing stone. Her brother had told her it had been placed there by gods before any people lived here. As she got closer, she saw why he needed the stone, his eyes were not right, not blind exactly, but they pointed different ways giving the impression that he was always looking behind him.
“Take care this night,” his voice shook. “Before the moon rises get your bairns, and livestock, hidden away. Once the moon is up a beast will devour it, and the dead will walk the land.”
Maygen snorted. She didn’t expect anyone to hear, but the old man did.
“Come here, girl,” he called to her. Folk moved aside to let her though, it was too late to run. Taking a deep breath, she walked up to the man.
“You think this is funny?” he asked her. “You think you know everything?”
He took his hand from the stone, reached out and grabbed her wrist. His grip was like iron, she couldn’t pull away. He smelled bad. It wasn’t his raggedy clothes, it was his teeth, they were black and rotten.
“If you don’t believe me, stay outside this night and see. The dead will walk and the beast will carry out their revenge. They come to settle old scores, Do you have any, girl?”
Maygen shook her head vigorously.
“Leave her be, old man,” a young man spoke. “She’s just a cub. What scores would the dead have with her?”
She was free. He dropped her hand to turn to the speaker and Maygen scurried away. From the edge of the crowd she looked back, trying to remember if she had wronged anyone who had since died. She shuddered, took a deep breath and then ran all the way home.
She waited until all was quiet except for the snoring, then she slipped out of bed, picked her way silently past the still-glowing fire and left their roundhouse by crawling through the dog hole. At the last moment, she signalled Aldin, the youngest, to come with her. He nuzzled her, his tail wagging. Father said his name meant protector, perhaps he could earn the name tonight.
Well, the moon was rising. It looked perfectly normal to her, though any full moon was a bit special. You could see a lot more patterns on it which some saw as a face. They looked like blotches to her, as though it was coming down with something infectious.
A wolf howled on the other side of the wood and Maygen froze. What could it mean? Had it sensed something bad coming?
“Don’t be silly, Maygen,” she told herself. Wolves often howl at the moon, well known fact.
Entwining her fingers in Aldin’s fur, they stepped off the track onto a narrow path going under the trees. They would go into the wood, only a little way, just to show she wasn’t scared.
It was way darker in here and she nearly turned back. But once her eyes adjusted, she could see well enough with the moon lighting her way. She was waiting for a vixen to scream. That was the worst sound to hear in the night. It came straight out of hell. Mother told her they were just mating. She hoped that didn’t happen to humans.
Something else was strange, though, it appeared to be getting darker. Perhaps cloud had covered the moon. But when they came to a clearing, her heart nearly stopped. There was the moon, right enough, but only half the moon was showing. Perhaps this wood was enchanted. Had weeks past as she walked this night?
Aldin must have sensed her distress as he began to growl. She looked round wildly to see if anything was there, but it was now too dark to be sure. Then the wolf howled again, much closer, and that was enough for Maygen.
She fled back along the path, Aldin hot on her heels. But in her haste, she must have left the path as she found herself blundering about, crashing into bushes, brambles catching in her hair and on her jerkin. After she tripped and nearly fell her length, she stood still, hanging onto a sapling for support, whimpering quietly. Aldin nuzzled her hand, bringing her back to sanity.
“Home, Aldin,” she told him, clinging tightly to his scruff.
He was not afraid, the night-time woods held nothing he couldn’t handle. Within a few paces he had found the path, and even in near darkness, he confidently led her back.
As they emerged from the wood, she scanned the sky. The half moon she saw earlier was gone. In its place was a different full moon, deep red and menacing. The old man had been right, some beast had eaten up the moon and the dead were coming for revenge!
She began to run. The homestead looked so far away, surely the wood had moved. In her heart she knew it was too late. She had ignored the warning and the dead were here!
A white shape came swooping down, eyes flashing red, reflecting this moon. It was coming straight for her, so fast. She barely had time to duck huge talons as Aldin leaped to snap it from the sky. Its wailing screech of anger ripped into the silence as it swerved and Aldin’s jaws closed empty. This time she did fall. The back of her head must have hit the ground because she awoke with Aldin curled up beside her, dawn light painting the eastern sky. They were only yards from the compound.
But the dreadful old raggedy-man had been right. A monster did eat the moon and the dead came with it. Only Aldin had saved her. Never again would she dismiss such a warning.