The Icebound Clocktower and Other Noise Inspired Stories

The Girl by the Campfire

my Noisli, Bells Breath, Evil Charms

 It had been a dark night along the riverside, except for the bright yellow glow of a lone campfire, but it was almost at it's end. Birds had just started to join the drone of crickets and frogs, and the black sky was slowly starting to pale, giving the place a foggy, washed-out look.

A young girl is laying in the small circle of light, staring sleeplessly at the flames as she tries to tune out the lingering growls of the forest's nocturnal predators, or the shadows whispering to each other as they flit around in the damp, cloudy air. There's a dull ringing in her ears as she finally gathers her nerve enough to sit up, slinging her little red backpack over her shoulders and picking up one of the lanterns she'd manage to pluck from the trees. She hears something--or a few somethings--scramble back behind her as she moves, and can't help but shiver. She knows she shouldn't be afraid of them anymore, the one she fought off the night before proved that, but the noise...

It didn't help that something came and started eating it the night before, and there was nothing but flattened red grass left where it had been, either.

She leans down and opens the small glass door of the lantern, and the flame shrinks and jumps inside. It's left a small pile of ash and crumbling wood behind, even though she hadn't given it any sort of fuel all night... she thinks maybe she should next time. The sudden dimming of her light source made her feel a bit more vulnerable, even with the ever-brightening sky. She moves quicker, pushing her small raft back into the water. The water ripples as several of it's creatures bolt away, some of them looking oddly... human? She makes another mental note to figure out what exactly resides in the water later. Right now, she has a job to do.

She's going to get her friend back.