I feel like this prompt may have been chosen to encourage to write in a certain direction. So obviously my thoughts turn to this, and finding out what poor Adrian has ended up with in the hospital in my little romance tale.
Splintered The papers had been set on a table ready for review, and the wheelchair was beside it. Otherwise the room was empty. Faint noise drifted in from the outside as the curtain closing it off was open, and there was a summery quality to the light and the air. For once, it felt almost welcoming in there. Outside, two women were sweeping the floor, cleaning up the ethereal but sticky dust that was all that was left of much of the room's prior furnishing, and the third woman, now confirmed to be blind, was sat on the floor against the wall. Her knees were drawn up to her chest and her arms hugged them tight; her head rested on the top of them. She was carefully avoided by the other people in there, who were well aware of what happened to things -- and people -- when they weren't useful any more. Labdaris, strode in from outside the cave altogether. The crystals embedded in his flesh and joints that had made it possible for him to walk were still glowing but were much reduced, and he could already feel the aches and pains growing. He estimated he had another ten minutes or so before he would be returned to the wheelchair, the headaches and the imprisonment within the flesh cage of his own body. Then he would study the papers that the Recorder had made, understand the spell as seen from the outside as well as the inside, and consider that in light of this new knowledge he had. "There will be a new dawn," he said. The women kept sweeping, but their heads turned to listen. "A yellow sun will rise over France. The legacy of le Roi Soleil will be delivered at last, and the family of Derby will see their fortune elevated unto the heavens." He smiled, and for all his face was a visage of beauty the smile was a terrible rictus. "And my wrath shall be delivered, and my revenge will reverberate until the English empire is shattered and splintered and the King kneels before me begging for mercy." His words echoed in the still air of the chamber like prophecy. Then a spasm shook him as the Power held in the crystals drained yet further away and he turned towards the small chamber and his hated wheelchair.
The mages collapsed into piles of ash, the white flame winking out and the filigree gate shattering into shrapnel that embedded itself in the circle of standing stones. Yellow light started at the base of each stone, slowly coiling upwards as though igniting the stone from within. When the light reached the tip of each stone it lingered like ball lightning until all the stones were illuminated, and then each stone poured sickly golden light into the blue sky of the spell that isolated the Enclaves.
Labdaris took a step towards the curtain separating the rooms and then stopped. Yellow light fell through the doorway from the outside bringing the heat and scents of a summer afternoon with it, and he turned, highly-trained senses reaching out to feel how the Power was being twisted and manipulated. He recognised the touch of the King in Yellow instantly, and almost without thought threw a rope of Power out to the blind woman sitting against the wall. The Power wrapped around her like a hungry boa constrictor, and she crumpled, crushed inwards as easily as scrunching up a paper bag, and the gemstones buried in Labdaris's broken body surged with fresh energy. He went swiftly back outside. The sky overhead turned from blue to gold as he looked at it, and he felt the King in Yellow's presence pass over him like a great weight. The air seemed to press down on him and then shift slowly, like water, until he thought he would be crushed. Then it lifted again, slowly, agonisingly, and the sky was too bright to look at. He reached out a hand to brace himself against the rock and it was hot to the touch. He rested his hand there anyway, curious as to whether it was heating or cooling, and too late he saw a yellow glow coalesce around his flesh. He jerked his hand away but the glow came with it, pulling off the rock as reluctantly as lichen. He shook his hand instinctively, even as his brain was telling him this was futile. He reached for the Power, intending to flush the taint from himself, but even as he grasped it the yellow glow reached the first embedded gemstone. Pain disappeared and his whole arm seemed to relax. He hesitated, the Power in his grasp, wondering if this was a gift or a curse, and even as he decided he could live without an arm it was too late and the yellow glow vanished, absorbed inside him. He looked around: the sky above was back to black and the Perfect Day spell was broken. The Enclave seemed tawdry now, somehow, an effort that had been good enough before but was clearly lacking. He stretched, hearing bones click and feeling muscles lengthen, and the ever-present weight of the crystals that sustained him vanished in the stretch. "Perhaps," murmured Labdaris, "I don't need Derby to enact my revenge after all."
3 comments:
I feel like this prompt may have been chosen to encourage to write in a certain direction. So obviously my thoughts turn to this, and finding out what poor Adrian has ended up with in the hospital in my little romance tale.
Splintered
The papers had been set on a table ready for review, and the wheelchair was beside it. Otherwise the room was empty. Faint noise drifted in from the outside as the curtain closing it off was open, and there was a summery quality to the light and the air. For once, it felt almost welcoming in there.
Outside, two women were sweeping the floor, cleaning up the ethereal but sticky dust that was all that was left of much of the room's prior furnishing, and the third woman, now confirmed to be blind, was sat on the floor against the wall. Her knees were drawn up to her chest and her arms hugged them tight; her head rested on the top of them. She was carefully avoided by the other people in there, who were well aware of what happened to things -- and people -- when they weren't useful any more.
Labdaris, strode in from outside the cave altogether. The crystals embedded in his flesh and joints that had made it possible for him to walk were still glowing but were much reduced, and he could already feel the aches and pains growing. He estimated he had another ten minutes or so before he would be returned to the wheelchair, the headaches and the imprisonment within the flesh cage of his own body. Then he would study the papers that the Recorder had made, understand the spell as seen from the outside as well as the inside, and consider that in light of this new knowledge he had.
"There will be a new dawn," he said. The women kept sweeping, but their heads turned to listen. "A yellow sun will rise over France. The legacy of le Roi Soleil will be delivered at last, and the family of Derby will see their fortune elevated unto the heavens." He smiled, and for all his face was a visage of beauty the smile was a terrible rictus. "And my wrath shall be delivered, and my revenge will reverberate until the English empire is shattered and splintered and the King kneels before me begging for mercy."
His words echoed in the still air of the chamber like prophecy. Then a spasm shook him as the Power held in the crystals drained yet further away and he turned towards the small chamber and his hated wheelchair.
The mages collapsed into piles of ash, the white flame winking out and the filigree gate shattering into shrapnel that embedded itself in the circle of standing stones. Yellow light started at the base of each stone, slowly coiling upwards as though igniting the stone from within. When the light reached the tip of each stone it lingered like ball lightning until all the stones were illuminated, and then each stone poured sickly golden light into the blue sky of the spell that isolated the Enclaves.
Labdaris took a step towards the curtain separating the rooms and then stopped. Yellow light fell through the doorway from the outside bringing the heat and scents of a summer afternoon with it, and he turned, highly-trained senses reaching out to feel how the Power was being twisted and manipulated. He recognised the touch of the King in Yellow instantly, and almost without thought threw a rope of Power out to the blind woman sitting against the wall. The Power wrapped around her like a hungry boa constrictor, and she crumpled, crushed inwards as easily as scrunching up a paper bag, and the gemstones buried in Labdaris's broken body surged with fresh energy. He went swiftly back outside.
The sky overhead turned from blue to gold as he looked at it, and he felt the King in Yellow's presence pass over him like a great weight. The air seemed to press down on him and then shift slowly, like water, until he thought he would be crushed. Then it lifted again, slowly, agonisingly, and the sky was too bright to look at.
He reached out a hand to brace himself against the rock and it was hot to the touch. He rested his hand there anyway, curious as to whether it was heating or cooling, and too late he saw a yellow glow coalesce around his flesh. He jerked his hand away but the glow came with it, pulling off the rock as reluctantly as lichen. He shook his hand instinctively, even as his brain was telling him this was futile. He reached for the Power, intending to flush the taint from himself, but even as he grasped it the yellow glow reached the first embedded gemstone.
Pain disappeared and his whole arm seemed to relax. He hesitated, the Power in his grasp, wondering if this was a gift or a curse, and even as he decided he could live without an arm it was too late and the yellow glow vanished, absorbed inside him.
He looked around: the sky above was back to black and the Perfect Day spell was broken. The Enclave seemed tawdry now, somehow, an effort that had been good enough before but was clearly lacking. He stretched, hearing bones click and feeling muscles lengthen, and the ever-present weight of the crystals that sustained him vanished in the stretch.
"Perhaps," murmured Labdaris, "I don't need Derby to enact my revenge after all."
Greg - hah, I was quite certain that you'd refused my, uh, gentle nudge to continue the Derby tale. I'm glad you didn't :)
I'm glad you came back to this scene. Though that ending leaves me concerned for what comes next.
Though I'm pretty sure most of your endings leave me feeling that way in this tale...
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