Camilla’s POV
The doors swung open, and I stood before her, flanked by two of her zombie underlings. Even though I took this to be her personal bedroom, the stench of death and decay was unmistakable and unavoidable. The thought of who I might see on the other side of that door bothered me more than the two shambling corpses who had escorted me here. She was a Necromancer, it was assumed she'd have undead servants. They don't need to breath, don't need to eat, and don't complain if they are ordered to work for days on end without a rest. Perfect little slaves. Just like me...
The sight wasn't anything like what I was prepared for. I had been expecting an adult, but this girl before me was only twenty if she was a day. Her blonde hair, streaked here and there with lines of red, flowed loose around her shoulders. Dark black eyes looked into mine, groping my inner thoughts with just her gaze. My mind started to fog, and I surrendered to her allure.
"Funny," S
I AM NOT SURE that you can hear me. I am not sure if you are still near to me, somewhere in the dark. I am not even sure that you are still alive. Last night, I heard you sobbing. The night before, I heard you scream when they came for you. Perhaps it was your screams, later on, that were punctuated by my own. Perhaps you cannot hear me, perhaps you will not comprehend the words that I am using. Perhaps you are not there at all. Still, I will continue to shout out my confession, to you and to the One God, as long as my voice persists. Would that I could write, but there is no vellum, no ink, no light. My arms are chained to the prison wall, spread above me. It is futile, futile. But, perhaps, if you can hear me, perhaps, if you can comprehend, my memory will live on for another year, another day, another hour. My time grows shorter now. I can hear the drums beating, the drunken peasants cheering. Even in this dungeon there is the sickening smell of burning flesh. They have alrea
Sally Arnott was walking home from her workplace Ringwald's Grocery, a small independent grocery. Her shift just ended thirty minutes ago. It was past midnight by the time she was walking to her home which was just five minutes away from Ringwald's. The attractive and blonde thirty-three year old was clad in her beanie, red sweater, jacket and jeans to withstand the autumn coldness of Michigan climate. Her bagpack contained her Ringwald's uniform and some basic necessities like snacks and a thermos. Despite past midnight, the empty country roads were still well lit."I can't wait for payday this Friday. Ringwald's is the best place to work in. Just five minutes away from my apartment, the customers are always nice, the boss is a wonderful man and the pay is good. With the money, I can eat a lot of snacks and binge-watch on Netflix this coming Halloween night." Sally thought as she trekked on the lonely country road to her apartment building.All o
The Priestess’s POVAs a dutiful daughter and the youngest of five sisters, I have six times witnessed the wretched state of a woman in marriage. It is a life wasted in the pretence that children will make him kind, patience will make him sober and forgiveness will make him faithful. So, with this knowledge, I spent my youth in our farming village pleading that my parents might permit me to join the convent. They had no time for my begging and declined my request without consideration. My match, it seemed, had been made in my early childhood. I was to be a wife.Aside from the nuns, I knew only of one woman who was free of the shackles of marriage. She went by many names, none of them flattering, and lived in the dense forest, just beyond the river that turned the wheel of our mill. They said she had made a deal with a demon, and lived as a sorceress or a fortune-teller or an oracle. They said that men that lay with her never begot sons even when they returned to
The room was cold, bare, windowless, uncompromising: perfect for interrogation. An unshaded bulb hung from the ceiling, struggling and failing to cast away the bleak shadows in the corners, and the furnishings consisted of a simple metal table and a simple metal chair, both bolted to the floor. The heavy iron door behind the chair had locked with a unnerving sound of finality as it closed shut, leaving the air in the room stale and fetid, and the single inhabitant of the room alone with her thoughts.She was a woman in her early thirties, with long, shoulder-length chestnut hair and matching eyes that stared forward, as if genuinely interested in the random cracks in the brick wall opposite her. She sat in the chair, her wrists bound by leather straps to the arms of it, her ankles bound in identical fashion to the front legs of it. She swallowed, long past panic, more accepting that her current predicament wasn't some terrible nightmare, that it was painfully real.A s
Hannah was dead. Jack could tell because he'd heard the wicked witch chanting right before his older sister had sank first to her knees, then to all fours and finally slumped over. Blood oozed from her eyes, nose, mouth and ears pooling beneath her face. She wasn't moving, not even a little. She had to be dead.Jack hoped. He didn't want to think about her suffering.Jack hadn't been able to move either once the witch started her chant only he'd been sitting when it started so he hadn't fallen like Hannah. He was pretty sure he wasn't bleeding but he couldn't tell, not for sure.What he knew was that he was going to kill the witch. He'd rip out her evil heart and watch the eerie light fade from her eyes. She'd claimed earlier to be over two hundred years old. Jack vowed she wasn't getting any older than tonight.As soon as he could move."Don't strain yourself." The witch crooned over her shoulder. "There is nothing you can do." She was prancing th
"Camilla, bring the rope, and the satchel of chalks and oils!""Yes, Father," said Camilla. The maiden, raven-dark hair haloing creamy skin, leapt from the wagon's seat. She ran to the back, threw back its protective oilskin, and rummaged through bags and baskets. A gust blew a wisp that had escaped her braid into her face. She shook it from her gray eyes even while she shivered.Meanwhile, her father Theophobus stiffly climbed down and tethered their horse to a stunted tree. He looked backward, ignoring his long whiskers blowing under the wind's grasp, over the overgrown track they had followed across the moor. Nothing moved but the wind thrashing the scrub and the first clouds darkening the sky.Then he turned forward and looked at the knoll, at whose foot their wagon stayed, and above a storm newly brewing. From around the wagon came Camilla, who when she reached Theophobus, stopped. Wide-eyes she stared at the knoll and the lum
Camilla's Memories"Good lords, ladies, and worthy friends, I crave your heed!"The hall was small, though with enough room to hold escore-odd guests who strolled while sipping wine goblets. Burghers robed and turbaned strode beside nobles and knights clad in silk jupons. On their arms hung perfumed noblewomen of faces both dark and fair, though hair dark despite the jewels sparkling therein. Painted silks of blue and rose clung to their curves but did not hide where they plunged between breasts and clung low on hips, revealing taut, pouting bellies.On a stand at the hall's head, shared with musicians who had paused play, Theophobus spread arms welcomingly: "It is my great honor to return to Yaralet after many years abroad, and again in your excellent company I look forward to providing you such enchantments for your pleasure as I once did, and advising in matters sorcerous."For your diversion tonight," he added: "I provide a small challenge." He waved,
Camilla stepped unseen among the courtiers. Under fluted columns and arching, sky-painted ceilings, full threescore revelers and more danced and laughed within the Palace of Yaralet. Zithers, flutes, and drum played a rolling, hypnotic tune while dancing girls, nude but for scarves clung to round hips and bangles on wrist and breast, who writhed and whirled bone lessly. Slaves oiled and shaven bore silver platters full of sweetmeats, or ewers of thick ruby wine among the guests: silken-draped ministers and barons, chiseled knights with hard arms in sleeveless tunics, and noble ladies in gossamer gowns that hinted wickedness half-concealed.Camilla studied the panorama, of bodies strutting amid the candles and blazes, figures flitting among the shadows, pairs twisting on each other, and those seeking solace among the hall's nooks or benighted spaces, where the portico opened unto the palace gardens. She watched their stirrings away from the light, from the broad banquet tables