Prologue

The full moon lit the grassy glade hidden deep in Straggler's Cove. There was no road or trail to this peaceful forest glen or even a map to follow. Only those chosen know the way and venture into the rocky arms of Pale Horse Mountain. The legends spread by the mountain people were frightening and difficult to believe, but the truth was even worse. There were outsiders who picked that area for their hunting or fishing trips only to return with stories of monsters, witches, and howling demons. Some, it is said, never returned at all.

In the center of the cove is an open circle of flowers and grass with a huge rock spire that stands about eight feet high. At the bottom a spring of crystal clear water bubbles out of an opening near a bowl carved into the rock ages earlier by persons long forgotten. Upon reaching the ground the water disappears once again into the earth. The moonlight gave sparkle to the cold water and the pool seems to glow with white fire. Arranged equidistant around the rock at the cardinal points of a compass were bowling ball size stones carved from white marble. Only one full moon each year would cover the pool and touch the eastern stone with the shadow of the stone spire.

Tonight the basin would be shrouded in the shadow of the spire and the Witches Window would open. The Moon pool of Pale Horse Mountain would show what the spirits of nature desired. Sometimes the future, sometimes the past, and sometimes the present, but it was always useful information to the initiates who attend the ceremony in the cove after partaking in the Orgy of the Moon, a ritual where each initiate is inseminated by the same specially chosen male.

A procession of hooded figures emerged from the forest surrounding the grassy dell. Leading the group was an old woman in a white robe that shimmered in the bright moonlit night. Behind her were fourteen women in two columns wearing robes of bright red satin and at the end of the procession were six girls of eighteen years shrouded in black who would be presented for initiation into the order. The Spirit Master would choose one of these girls to become the new Priestess of Straggler's Cove. The white robe would be passed to the chosen girl, and she would lead the coven until age or accident made her unable to perform her duties.

When the old woman in white reached the stone spire she stepped on a raised platform of rock beside the pool with her back to the rock. The red robed women spread about three feet apart into a circle around the stone monolith. The girls entered the circle and joined hands arranging themselves into a small black circle within the larger red ring. The old woman raised her arms into the crisp night air and began to sing a soft melodious tune. The words and rhythm had a hypnotic effect on the women and girls. The women in the red robes loosened their belts and let satin shrouds drop to the ground around their feet. Their nude bodies were firm and seemingly untouched by age. Beauty was a gift from the spirits to the members of the Moon Cult and their muscles were toned and their breasts were full and firm none too big or small for their individual bodies. They all looked to be in the blossom of youth, but many were middle aged and older.

The women chanted the invocation song and swayed to the rhythm of the tune from the old woman. They sidestepped and danced in a clockwise rotation starting a dance that resembled a school of fish swimming in perfect unison. Their exposed bodies were working together like a machine, chanting, swaying, and dancing in time with music until they were deeply aroused, focused, and entranced. The effect of the music was erotic and sexual.

The old woman lowered her hands and ceased singing; she looked down at the girls in black and watched them disrobe. Their bodies were noticeably younger than the others, yet strongly enticing and nubile. They began to rock and sway as the women chanted. The circle of girls marched counter-clockwise their young bodies glistening in the silvery moonlight. The swinging, rocking, and swaying of the naked female forms grew more intense as the rhythm quickened. The ritual dance slowly brought the girls into an induced catatonic state and they seemed oblivious to their surroundings until the old woman screeched a blood-chilling scream. Everyone stopped as she collapsed and the ghost like form of a large bear hovered over the unmoving body for a few seconds and then fled to the woods with a deathly roar.

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