Stars on the Horizon (horror)
Stars on the Horizon – Short Story, Fantasy, Horror
It was night in the desert dunes of Azafuria, the temperature bordering on the winter chills left by the passage of the snow angels of the north. The apprentice sorceress was returning from the small oasis two kilometers away from the hut of her master and mistress, the old witch of the north. In response to her whims, Kallissa had been forced to fetch water to bathe the old woman's strangely young hair. She insisted that herbal baths in these parts were necessary to avoid the land mermaids. The girl said it was an exaggeration and just an excuse to test new hair potions, but with no other option and obedient as she was, she resigned herself to going, but the old woman warned her, especially about the stars on the horizon.
The cold wind was strong enough to threaten to knock the bucket over her head, so she hugged it to her chest. Her cloying scent of the old woman's herbs from last night lingered, spreading behind her, raising whispers and hisses in the corners of her eyes. "It must be the wind," she thought. As the clouds covered the moon, the strong wind made her lose her balance, falling backward into a shower of water and sand. The sand and wind quickly absorbed the water and its stench, while the darkness of the night lost its mercy on her. Feline eyes, thirsty with hunger, revealed themselves behind the dunes. She tried to get up and clean herself without taking her gaze, still clouded by those strange stars on the horizon. As the numbers multiplied, the whispers became growls, growing closer. Her goosebumps no longer feared only the cold, and then she understood. The nearest safe haven was downwind, back to the oasis.
"Run. Run, Kallissa, that damned old woman knew what she was me getting into." Her mind ruminated, not daring to look back. Still carrying the empty bucket, she ran, unable to think beyond that. Curses and curses at the sound of fins tearing through the sand, causing small storms. How many were there? Four? Eight? Dozens? Hundreds? The stars on the horizon only grew larger, their whispers and hisses becoming war cries and pleas for help from everyone she'd ever loved: her father, her brother, her dead best friend, even that damned old woman. Wait, is it? But if not… Kallissa had no time to think. They were getting closer and closer. In a second, she looked to the left where the old woman's voice was coming from, hoping for help. On impulse, as if in a leap, carrion teeth tore the wind toward her face. The feline eyes, the twisted face pretending to be what the voice imitated so perfectly: a huge, hideous creature. Kallissa threw the bucket at her. She didn't even see what she'd done and continued running toward the oasis. Luckily, the wind that had knocked her down was now pushing her forward. Right behind her, the mermaid who had tried to attack her was suddenly ripped in half by her land sisters. Her scent, having transferred from the bucket to the creature, disoriented their senses, causing a mess of blood and vociferous screams for flesh.
The moon returned with stronger winds. The now-dissipated scent of their shattered sister made the other enraged mermaids run even faster after the human who had deceived them. Realizing her time was running out with the oasis lagoon still a few meters away, Kallissa jumped as high as she could into the water, her legs nearly ripped off by the hundreds of creatures gulping down inches of wind behind her. She almost sighed in relief underwater when she remembered she couldn't breathe like that. Poking her head out, now shivering from the night's chill, she noticed the mermaids were silent, scanning the wind for any sign of a dumb prey that might decide to wander the night in their desert. Seeing nothing, with the water covering any sign that she wasn't a fish, they dispersed, some to the depths of the earth and others like stars on the horizon. As much as she hated her, the girl would learn never again to dismiss the old woman's requests as mere vanity; witches don't lie.