Le chasseur noir

In a moonless night deep within the rugged Rocky Mountains, a solitary trapper returns to the gorge he has claimed as his own. He discovers his carefully set traps mysteriously vanished, the silence of the river only broken by the faint murmur of flowing water and the whisper of unseen forces. As he settles among the reeds, a strange, flickering glow appears on the opposite ridge, revealing two torch‑bearing figures dressed in rugged hunting garb, their faces hard and uncanny in the firelight.

The trapper watches, hidden beneath a sheer granite arch, as the torches retreat and then climb a steep slope, joined by four more cloaked silhouettes carrying a shrouded bundle. Their silent procession hints at a purpose far beyond ordinary poaching, stirring a deep unease in the lone hunter. The night hangs heavy with anticipation, and the mountains seem poised to reveal secrets long buried beneath rock and river.