A story told by the fire on the night of Ysbrydnos. It was just a story, told for the entertainment of all gathered.
In the night I walked alone, through the tall grasses of our home, hunting a great wolf said to be the size of an ox, who had plagued our village for months. I had tracked the beast to its den and could smell the blood of a fresh kill, though a thick fog had set upon me. An eerie silence deafened me. There was not a breath of wind. All was still. That is when I heard the unmistakable echo of horse hooves.
Thinking the Forgoil were upon us, I ran to raise alarm, only the sound grew louder until it was almost upon me. I fled, but could not outpace it. There was great shrieking and shouting, and the baleful barking of dreadful cŵn Annwn as two dozen phantom shades took shape in the fog, like smoke from a dying fire. Leading this Wild Hunt, I saw Rhi Helvarch himself, with my own eyes! He wore a great shadowed helm crowned with antlers, and his eyes blazed from it with pure light.
These were no Forgoil, but great warriors and hunters wielding sword and shield, hunting some prey or ushering some force beyond my sight. They did not heed my call, nor did they waver in their charge. And at their heels I saw spectral cŵn Annwn, with clipped blood-red ears and eyes that glowed like embers.
They overtook me, and though I was trampled not by horse or hound, I was knocked to the ground by the force of their charge. But they did not halt in their pursuit. They hunted ever on, chasing down their unseen prey until I could hear them no longer.
A short time later, I fell in battle, with a grave wound that nearly ended me. As I hovered between worlds, my dreams were strange and twisted. But it was not my time, and I awoke with a clearer vision.
Perhaps the duvodaid believe the howling of these hounds foretells of death to anyone who hears it, and that to see this Wild Hunt is an ill omen. Indeed, it is said that to hear or see the cŵn Annwn is a portent of death, but we fear them not. The Huntsman escorts the souls of the victorious dead to their place beyond this world, where they delight in eternal youth and ever abundance.
This we honor tonight, both for our own souls, and the souls of those we have lost.
