by Peter Nicolai Arbo
The Wild Hunt is a feature of the Sluagh, unstoppable and relentless. The hunters may consist of fae, or the dead, hounds and creatures of nightmare.
Seeing the Wild Hunt was thought to presage catastrophe, or at best the death of one who witnessed it. People encountering the Hunt might also be abducted and forced to join the hunters.
Sholto called the Wild Hunt in Mistral's Kiss when his connection to the Sluagh was questioned after the restoration of the dead gardens by Meredith. He lost control of the hunt and had to run for his life.
In Swallowing Darkness, Meredith called the Hunt after the death of her grandmother and used it as an instrument of justice. She and Sholto led the Hunt to the Seelie mound and their accused her cousin, Cair, ofHettie's murder; oath breakers and kin slayers being particular targets of the hunt.
Another type of Hunt is a Faerie Radhe.
When Meredith touched a part of the Hunt it turned into "a great white horse, with eyes that glowed with red fire, and steam puffing from its nostrils with every breath. Its great hooves struck green sparks from the floor."
For Sholto a horse formed that "was as if the great white steed had mingled with a nightflyer, so that there were more legs than any horse would have, though one graceful head rose from strong shoulders. Its eyes were the empty black of the nightflyers".
When Galen touched the Wild Hunt a horse formed for him that was as white as Merediths horse, it had flashing eyes that glowed golden and golden sparks came from its hooves.
Rhys's hand brought a white horse that was at one moment white and solid and very real, the next skeletal.