Christina turned her horse to face the mysterious stranger. The things he spoke of… Just a few hours ago, she would have dismissed them as nonsense, a drunk or deranged man’s blabbering. But now, the army of the dead had swept through the town, the corpses were piled up on the sides of the streets. It didn’t seem like such crazy talk anymore. 

She leaned towards Fenton to get a closer look at him. His face or name wasn’t familiar to her, but then again, he didn’t claim to be a local. What little could be seen from his skin showed some serious and no doubt painful wounds, but their origin was not clear. His gaze was urgent, but Christina couldn’t tell for sure whether he was telling the truth.

“Jack,” she addressed him with hesitation. “I think I know what he speaks of.” Was she really going to talk about this in broad daylight, in front of the Sheriff and half the town? Apparently so. “There is a story that’s told around the campfires when the darkness falls. More of a legend, really. A tale to scare the kids.” Christina sighed. “There are multiple versions, but most of them speak of three sisters that came into the town decades ago. The oldest of them fell in love with a local merchant, a wealthy and powerful man. Some say that he had his way with her and then tossed her aside, some that he rejected her straight away. He fell ill and died shortly after that. The locals got suspicious, the sisters got arrested, accused of being witches, and condemned to death. With their last dying breath, they cast a curse on the town and its citizens.”

“The next night, the merchant rose from his grave and returned to the town. He killed those who spoke against the sisters the loudest and dragged the Sheriff away. The tracks led to the caves to the west, but those brave enough to enter were never seen or heard from again.” She shook her head. “Yesterday I would have told you it’s just a stupid story, but now… One thing I know for sure is that there are caves a few miles west of the town. And people who venture there usually don’t come back. I never believed in curses or witches. The caves are extensive and it’s easy to get lost there.” 

But it wasn’t just that, was it? She went there once with her brother, a stupid dare. The cave entrance was in a narrow gorge where shadows played even at noon. The dark hole opened like a gaping maw of some gargantuan beast scared her even from a distance. And the wailing… The wind, of course, just the wind running through the canyon. Christina shivered from the memory, goosebumps sprang over her arms. She begged Jared not to go in there, a little girl whimpering resonating through the gorge. He reluctantly agreed to leave, laughing at her for still being a child, but even he looked a bit relieved when they returned home.

“I could,...” she hesitated, “show you the way if you want to go and check it out,” she said, turning also to the Sheriff and the masked man from the Saloon.

[@RedXIII][@DragonofTheWest][@Nobodyman123]