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Well, finally found time to finish another. I'm not sure if I like it as much as the first one, but I had to use Wild John in something, just to get the bastard out of my head.

Anyway, not as much gore or death in this one.

The lights were out last night on the mountain- they always are when the nights are warm and dark like this. Theres a story behind them. Course, I doubt youll have heard it told. Not properly, anyway. Not like I tell it.
Now, a long time ago in these parts, a hundred-fifty years if it was a day, there lived an old squatter and his wife in a filthy little shack in yonder hills. Now they were the wretchedest people you ever did meet, doubt theyd done an honest days work in their lives between them. People used to spit and lock their doors when those two came into town, which was fortunately pretty much never.
Somehow, though, that wretched pair had gotten themselves a half-decent boy for a son. His name was Tom. Now Tom, as I said, was a good lad at heart, but he wasnt much for learnin- in fact, Id reckon him a bit of a dullard. Still, though, he was a damn sight friendlier than his parents were, believe me. Hed even come down to the village school from time to time, to sport with the other youngns and to try to get his head around those funny little squiggles we call letters. Never could make him stay for very long, though- he was skittish as hell, and those no-good parents of his were always working him to the bone.
Now, when he was about fifteen, Tom took a fancy to a girl in the town named Becca. Now Becca was the fairest gal to ever grace these parts, if it werent for Green Lizzie Keene, Paul Mac Dougals bride, or maybe that devil-girl Black Maria (but, of course, its best not to speak of her).
And so, Tom, when he was able, took to courting Becca. Of course, after a few months of her man vanishing off into the hills at the drop of a hat, Becca got to be powerful curious about where he was going. So, of course, one day she followed him up the mountains to his house.
Course, Tom hadnt told his parents he was courting- he knew theyd be powerful angry with him if they thought there was the slightest chance theyd be losing him and the work he did. And when Becca showed up, they got damn near addled. So Tom and Becca ran off into the woods, and Toms parents took after them with knives and chased them clear around the mountain. Now, they were younger and fitter than their pursuers, but when Tom and Becca took a rest in a clearing, they found themselves face-to-face with the miserable squatter and his wife. But, much to their surprise, the two didnt seem to even see Tom and Becca there, and ran off along their merry way.
Meanwhile, the young lovers were trying to figure out what happened, and when they got up to look around, they saw that they werent alone in the little clearing, for one by one, the damnedest collection of little men you ever saw was popping out from behind the trees. They were wearing red and green, and there was none of them wasnt carrying a bow, or a rifle, or a set of nine-pins like a quiver of arrows on their back or didnt have some blemish about their face- one ear larger than the other or somesuch. And the damnedest thing about them was that not one of them was any higher than your chin. As youve doubtless guessed by now, that lot was the Sporting Men- the very same ones that Paul Mac Dougal bested the lot of, but thats another story- and they were looking for trouble as they were wont to do. But Tom, as I said, wasnt much for learning, and he had no clue in hell who they were, and he was a mite scared. The poor lad was absolutely blanched when their chief showed up, though- a horrible fellow named Wild John. They say he has the arms of a bear, the eyes of an eagle, the nose of a bloodhound, the legs of a mountain goat, and the ears of a bat, and that he has a pair of antlers growing from his head, and that where the rest of that horde are powerful tiny, hes the size of two strong men.
Now the Sporting Men had saved those two so as to work their own mischief on them, but when Wild John layed his eyes on Becca, he fell fast in love and decided that she was to be his bride. But he was crafty, that Wild John, and not one to let on his true intentions. So he had the two set up camp with him, and rest awhile, and he got Tom to settle down by telling him that they had saved them from his parents so they werent likely to hurt him, but they couldnt be so sly with Becca on account of shed heard tell of them. But she saw how trusting John was, and figured that they were better than his parents, so she went along with them.
Now, you must understand that this was the night of the new moon, and that once the sun had gone down it was pitch black under the pines. So Wild John said it would be safe for the two to leave now, and that hed have his Lambshanks who was the fleetest of foot of the Sporting Men if it wasnt for him, guide them somewhere safe, and he gave the three of them lanterns and had them run off. But after theyd left, he took a pair of lanterns of his own and set out after them.
Wild John was quick enough to overtake them, and he sneaked around in front of Becca and held the lanterns so as to make her think he was the two she was following, and led her off through the pines to his lodge in the mountains. And all the while, Lambshanks was leading that poor Tom in circles around the mountain on one hell of a snipe-hunt.
Now once Becca ad set foot in Wild Johns lodge, she began to feel mighty peculiar, like time was all runny and such. And Wild John showed up behind her, and pounced on her and tied her up, for if she would only spend the night in his lodge shed be his.
But Becca was able to cut the rope that tied her on one of Wild Johns hunting knives, and grabbed it as she fled. And she ran for the door and fled down the mountain to tell her family what had transpired. And Wild John didnt chase after her, because the Sporting Men have a peculiar sense of whats fair and what isnt, but whats one is one, and the other is the other, and they wont meddle with it.
But when Becca went down to the town, she found twenty years had passed, and her parents were old and gray. And neither hide nor hair had been seen of Tom in all the time shed been gone. So she left the Knife she took from Wild John in the courthouse, its there to this day if you want to see it, and she took off into the mountains to find her lost love.
Now Tom had spent the last twenty years searching for her, and hed sort of dwindled away until nothing was left but that ghostly elf-lantern of his. And in time Becca did the same. Their ghostsre out there still, haunting the mountains, looking for each other, and you can see them, when the night is still and warm and dark.

By the way- Re: that coat- you'll be getting that story in a little bit. Thanksgiving, and the accompanying time off, is coming up.