The sounds of the alarm bells resonated with everyone. It was such a routine, a routine that had kept everyone in the town safe for the past handful of years. In fact they hadn’t had a death from an attack on the village in at least six years. 

But as the bells rang and rang, and nothing happened people started get nervous. This wasn’t right, wasn’t normal. And soon there was a feeling of unease through the watchers. This was heightened by Autry’s gallop into the town on the back of the phantom steed. Most in the village thought Autry was nothing more than an old herbalist, the “ghost” horse made things considerably worse. 

It happened fast, so fast that it was hard to tell exactly what happened. The unease that was sweeping through the villagers, the regular militia and the extra villagers that had gathered, grew to a panic. The source was unknown but soon the people, normally calm and sensible as any people in the land, were milling like terrified cattle. 

A young man, not yet 20, spooked by something he did not understand or know, raced along the wall with his pitchfork. He didn’t look where he was going and didn’t see Thovren. 

The haft of the pitchfork caught the lad across the back of the head, knocking him unconscious and sending him tumbling off the village wall. 

Fortunately it was on the moor side, the ground below was spongy and soft. It would bruise him, but not break bones like a fall onto the hard packed earth of the road would. Unfortunately no one saw him fall and he was soon half-sunk in the spongy earth of the moor. He might as well have been dead, he was that still. 

There was no time to even notice the boys absence, terror swamped the village. Autry, noticed, felt the fear and recognized it for what it was. But there was not enough time to do anything about it. 

********* 

Silence, pure and unfettered silence filled the village. No animal moved, no bird called, no wind rustled. All was completely silent. 

The village was empty. Devoid of all people, as if they had simple up and vanished. The village however was perfect, exactly as it was when the alarms sounded. Right down to the cook fires that were still burning. 

There was no sign of battle, struggle, even simple foot prints. There was no sign of a raid or missing property, other than that which was on people. Just an empty village and perfect silence.

The animals, for they were still there, were perfectly still and quiet. They did not move, they did not make any of the usual noises, and in fact unless one looked very closely they did not even appear to be breathing; as if they were afraid to break the silence. 

While it was hard to tell just how much time had passed exactly it was plain that there was only about an hour left until dark. An hour left until the creatures of the moor wandered unfettered. And with the village empty, the gate open, there was nothing to stop them from entering the village and feasting on the livestock such as the chickens, goats, and cows. 

*****

Brisa awoke from her enforced sleep and scrambled out of the barrel. She wondered what happened to Autry’s other apprentice, Atrus. She had seen him briefly but the sleep had claimed her faster than she had a chance to see what he would do. 

Grumbling Brisa scrambled out of the cellar to find Autry. I was known when the danger was past everyone was to gather in the village square for a roll call. That was where Autry intended to head. Trotting through Autry’s house she stopped. 

There was something odd. Something she couldn’t place. Then she realized what it was. Silence.

Autry’s house was close enough to the woods that birds were always singing, trees rustling, and Autry's goats and chickens were always making noise. There was none of that now. 

Brisa didn’t know what was wrong, but somehow the silence seemed completely overwhelming and dangerous. 

She stopped in her tracks, shaking a little. 

“Autry” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Despite how quietly she spoke her voice carried in the empty stillness of the house.

****

For the others, the few that had been hidden so well they were overlooked, the silence was the first thing they noticed too, before they even moved, indeed before they even opened their eyes. Anyone who lived here knew the sounds of the woods, the sounds of the moor, the sounds of the village. All was quiet, and that was very very wrong.