So foreign to my mind

To be kind

And find out it wasn't always true

Would I be in that dream if I was you?

Such a long time to be so blue

The stars turn red before I go

But I would know

Is this cloth upon my shoulders new?

Who put it there?

Did I?

Or is it there at all?

No shout will shake

No crown will cry.

"Tonto, where's Red?"

The Ranger had bolted upright in a cold sweat, woken by a nightmare of black jaws. The cold night poured into the old hunter's shack. The fire had gone out.

His Indian friend stood in the doorway, normally stoic eyes wide with alarm.

"Taken, Kemosabe. She went out into the night. I followed but the monster found the girl first."

The Ranger was on his feet in a flash, buckling on his gun belt.

"No time to waste, Tonto," he said. The brave stood aside to follow as he made for the horses. Silver's eyes were wide; she always knew when there was danger, but stood bravely until it was time to run.

The Ranger and his friend mounted up and bolted off into the forest.

"This way, Kemosabe!" Tonto shouted, leading the way into the trees.

The full moon is a double-edged blade, the Ranger mused. The forest is clear before us, but...

"Here, Kemosabe!"

They stopped in a clearing, clover glistening in the moonlight and lavender bell flowers with their heads down to sleep. Lying in the middle of the glade was a familiar red cloak. The Ranger bent to pick it up. Grasping it firmly in his gloved hand, for a moment he couldn't take his eyes off it.

"It does have her," he whispered. He tucked the hood into his side belt. "Are there tracks?" he said urgently.

Tonto was already leading his horse along the edge of the glade. "Here, Kemosabe. It ran north."

The moment he spoke, a howl echoed through the night, low and distant. The Ranger didn't waste another moment, shouting his horse into a run.

"Hyah!"

The forest blurred by as Silver ran more swift than the wind. In his mind the Ranger saw shadows of red and black, images of fates that he would not let happen. The trees seemed to constrict as he rode deeper, the shadows growing darker.

Suddenly, the forest stopped at a rock pass. The Ranger reined Silver in. Here the trees seemed to claw up the cliff, roots grasping at the mouth of the pass.

He heeled Silver on, riding only as carefully as need be over the roots and into the dark. Tonto appeared from the trees after only a moment, and they went on together, the pass just wide enough for both riders.

After a short stretch, Tonto called quietly. "Wait, Kemosabe."

The Ranger reined in, turning to his friend. "There's no time, Tonto."

"Listen," Tonto said, his eyes upon the air.

The Ranger felt a chill when he realized what his companion meant. It was too quiet... yet from the howl they had to be close.

They continued on, painfully slowly, but every sense told them they too had to keep quiet.

When they rounded a bend, the Ranger pointed. "There," he whispered.

Ahead was another glade in what looked like a circular canyon, moonlight falling on a figure lying in the grass. Red looked unharmed, her white blouse and red skirts untattered, dark brown hair a mess around her. The Ranger felt a spark of hope when he saw she was breathing.

"No, Kemosabe. There." Tanto's voice was grave.

The Ranger followed his raised finger up to a sharp cropping of rock that jutted out from the cliff. There the full moon hovered above a dark figure, the crouched and menacing silhouette of the beast.

The Ranger's brow hardened as, slowly and smoothly, he drew a silver bullet from his belt and loaded it into his revolver. As he did, a low growl came from the shadow, a warning to go no further. The Ranger felt the corner of his mouth raise just slightly.

With a flash of steel and pull of a hammer, the Lone Ranger fired, a deadly shot for the beast above.

Yet as surely as the birds fled the trees, he saw the shadow dash aside, as if black smoke in a sudden breeze. They heard a growling, an awful snarling, descending somewhere out of sight.

"It comes, Kemosabe."

When the dark shape fell into the pass and began bounding toward the riders, the Ranger tried to load another silver bullet, but was too late. He dove off the horse as the creature lept, a giant mass of black fur and gleaming fangs. As he flew aside, a claw slashed and tore away his gun belt, and it fell back into the shadows of the pass. Scrambling on the ground, he looked to where the belt had been. The beast snarled as it turned back in rage, glowering at the Ranger. The pistol had only one silver bullet.

A figure in tanned leathers suddenly appeared between him and the monster; Tanto had flown from his saddle, holding a wicked tomahawk to face down the thing.

In a moment of reprieve, the Ranger turned his eyes back to the clearing. Red had stirred awake, her head rising to look their way. The horses, he saw, had circled around to the far side of the canyon. He turned back to see Tonto circling and dancing around the creature, making war sounds as he kept its attention.

Lying at his feet, the Ranger saw the red hood. He swept it up, getting to his feet as he raised the pistol again.

"Tonto!" he shouted.

The brave came up from a roll and darted toward the Ranger, leaving the monster seething as it prowled, watching them from the edge of the shadows.

"Stay on Red," he said as he began to circle to the left, his pistol trained on the mouth of the pass. He waved the red hood out in front of him, but the creature's growling only faded, it's eyes sinking back into the dark.

"Is there any other way into the canyon?" he said, not taking his eyes away.

"Monster could come down from any side of canyon," Tonto said.

"I'm sorry, John," Red said. "This is my fault."

"Take it easy, Red," the Ranger said. "We're not going to let it hurt you. Tonto, get the horses. Don't go until I say, it could still be in the pass."

Just as he said it, Red let out a scream, trembling hands covering her mouth, and pointed up to the far side of the cliff. There again it crouched beneath the full moon, jaws open in what could have been a wicked smile. They stood for a moment frozen, as it raised up on its hind legs and let out a howl to the sky.

"Go," the Ranger said. "Go now!"

In the corner of his eye he saw Tonto lift Red up onto Silver. As they rode for the pass, he heard Red's voice.

"No... no!"

The creature's eyes followed the escaping riders, but the Ranger waved the red hood high above his head, shouting, and they returned.

"Just you and me now, friend."

The creature growled and lunged down the side of the cliff. The Ranger fired at the black shadow, but the bullet missed and struck the stone behind it with a shower of dust and rock. He dodged away as the thing tore past, barely avoiding its claws. It turned on him far too quickly and he could only raise his arms as the hand swiped at him, cutting into his sleeves and skin and knocking him across the ground. Tumbling, his head hit something hard and everything went black.

*****

He stirred, hoping it had only been a few moments. There was a pain in his head, but his senses were oddly clear despite it, as if on the edge of a dream. The dirt and deteriorating twigs beneath his face were a rich and welcome smell. Yet he knew there was still a shadow nearby.

He pushed himself up, his hand finding the rock that had struck his head, and looked around the glade. The creature was contentedly stalking the edge, watching him. He stood up, his arms feeling limp.

"You want a fight?" he said. "Alright then." He stooped to pick up his empty revolver. Aiming it at the creature, he pulled the trigger and made a firing sound with his mouth. The thing seemed to be smiling again. It knew he was dead.

"Kemosabe!"

A jolt appeared in the Ranger's chest and he whirled around. Tonto stood at the mouth of the pass, holding the gun belt. The brave tossed something up and a small gleaming shape sailed through the night, reflecting the moonlight.

The Ranger caught the silver bullet in his free hand and loaded it as the beast charged. The muzzle flashed as the shot rang out... and the creature fell.

It collapsed and tumbled over the ground, stopping still a few feet away. The Ranger raised the pistol back and let out his breath.

Both he and Tonto came to stand over it. Its wolfen features were clearer now that it was still.

"Third time's charm, Kemosabe," Tonto said.

The Ranger let out a laugh toward the sky, a hearty hand on his friend's shoulder. "Well done, Tonto. Well done."

A light gasp came from the pass and they turned to see Red leading the horses. She dropped the reins and joined them, hands covering her mouth.

"Well... there it is," she said.

"Oh," the Ranger said, picking something up from the grass. He handed Red her hood. "You dropped this."

She smiled as she took it and put it on, shivering lightly.

"We better get back," the Lone Ranger said. "The old hunter will be awake soon."

"I guess we'll have quite a story for him," said Red.

The sky was beginning to brighten when they saw the old hunter's shack.

A long note echoed from the man in red

There he stood upon the steps

Watching as the angels fled

For they had been called again

To the earth

Where a sealed stone had come to know

The hands of a cold-hearted throne

Who would seal it without remorse

And let it be the thing that takes the warmth

Of the fires

The place where he would not go

To meet his fate

Until the angels called him home

Do you recall

What befell

Before the fall?

Do you ignore

The fires of hell

When they call?

Would you go

If you knew

What he would say

When you crossed

The fateful gate?

Collapsing snow

Makes a show

Of falling down

I would know

I always go

To that place to seek a crown

I look at you and you at me

Reminding of what not to be

Because that face that I have seen

Has something from an awful dream

It says what I would never say

And speaks in such an awful way

That if I could I would forget

The desperate way I made that bet

That deal that made my life this way

That led to my fair heart's betray

To blame the one I didn't know

Would let me fail on my own

And keep me locked within a dream

To always play the things that seem

To keep me in some better way

When all around me life turns gray

And blue as every silent ocean

That keeps from you its every motion

A warbling, wandering melody

A sea of glass to show me me

A serpent's shadow slips my mind,

Yet I see where it went;

Its scaly tail reminds me

Of what I lost,

Of what its swallow sent

To the ocean floor below.

But when I looked,

I thought it best that I not go;

Yet what else could I know

Than that which passed behind?

And that which did remind

My sorry soul

To stop the show?

Along the Way, the hunter finds

A sea beneath a starlit sky

Long forgotten are his binds

As he flees the scarlet eye

For his life he fears again

For the hunt his body aches

For nothing in the world can bend

His will before his anger breaks

A Milky shadow whispers by

Into the midnight clouds ahead

He sets an arrow for the sky

Praying for the shortly dead

Just before he lets it fly

A hand upon his shoulder quakes

"Hunter, should your query die

Count her with your foul mistakes"

The midnight shadow slips away

Into the night from which he came

The sky it seems to have a way

To use the hunter's wretched blame

Keeping arrow close at hand

He flies across the darkened still

The sea below should turn to sand

Before the hunter breaks his will

Thanks for reading. I put this in an AI song generator if you want to listen to it lol https://suno.com/song/ffcd5b8a-347f-40e7-8fe3-f03a53e2eeb2

Young wizard, boy of youthful spree

Would seek to harness what would be

For in his thoughts he saw a tree

A burning forest none could flee

Yet with coming terror plain

His smiling thoughts they did remain

For nothing in the clouds contained

Gloom enough to halt his brain

In solace dungeon he began

To enact his fateful plan

Heeding not the withered hand

Who said from this he should have ran

In a rusty cauldron, he

Poured a liquid from the tree

And within the cloud that billowed free

He saw the flame that soon would be

Within the fire he saw the wings

The Raven's caw, the sunlit springs

The shadowed figure held the thing

The key no darkened thought could sting

When he saw the figure's face

His whereabouts he tried to trace

And just before the sight erased

He saw the storm, the visage place

Near enough, the soldier's eyes

He'd seen once gracing noble skies

Who had no heed for woeful cries

What sorry tongues precede demise

So taking up his rusty spell

The wizard made for rock and dell

The valley where the soldier fell

When the world was fiery hell

He called him, cast him from the clay

Gave him rock and branch to play

A game that failed yesterday

To keep the fiery fate away

Not alone they would go on

To halt the servants of the dawn

As dragon quake and raven spawn

To keep the sky from being gone

Wars in my mind

Can no one see the state I'm in?

Though foe knows foe

And kind meets kind

Press the button

I pray

You may not know the day

Yet in such foolish triumph

I lay

And toward such lofty goals

My heart forgets to stray

So have I forsaken life

Though hope lingers

And stillness steals the knife

That pricks beneath my skin

And drives me toward a wife

Where is my heart?

And where is my desire?

It seems I smile so easily at their absence

Sorrow stirs

But also it has gotten hence

No longer do I feel

So fornicate with lust and never know the real

Love that comes when hearts can trust

Stray your hand to fix the daylight

And keep what helpless hopeless servants hands might

Try to keep for themselves

When hearts break

And starling strengths behind the shelves

Of the future's toil

Keep their loathsome wake from burning oil

Can I in apostasy see

What has bereft of me

In such foul'd measures no longer

Find the strength to carry on

Her voice has gone

And shall I break before dawn

Though it seems I may

Can I no longer fail to see the day

Of what has gone its way

And so shall none be here to stay

And here to stray

Yet I may

I may