Curiously Blogger won't allow me to post as myself at the moment: it insists on pretending that I'm using my work account despite me logging in as me and even when I remove all traces of the work account. I guess it's just another Blogger problem.... On unrelated notes, I'm back in Malta again and trying to catch up on posting.
A sign of things to come "Ow," said Lord Derby. "Ouch, in fact. That... tingled. Quite a lot. In places I wasn't expecting. Would those places be were the taint was concentrated?" "If it only tingled," said Memnith, who sounded quite a lot more relieved that his explanation of what would happen would justify, "then there was no taint. The descriptions we have from victims of the taint are that it is excruciatingly painful, like having holes gouged in you by hot knives. There's a fair amount of scholarly discussion about whether serrated knives would be a better description." "Thank-you for being so forthcoming before you began," said Lord Derby. There was a slight faintness to his voice, as though he was thinking about what he had avoided. "As for concentrations, no, the spell is just more intensely felt in more sensitive areas," said Memnith. "There are other spells that use the same principle," said Elizabeth, "but they're usually for more therapeutic purposes." "This is therapeutic after a fashion," said Memnith. "Sometimes you have to pick the remains of people treated with this spell up using spoons," said Elizabeth. "I don't think that's particularly therapeutic." "Hah yes," said Memnith. "Do you remember Verifax? Spoon him into a bucket and sieve him." "See? That's not therapy, that's cookery." "Thank-you," said Lord Derby, forcing a smile onto his face. "That's not at all reassuring. Am I safe now though?" "From the King in Yellow? As much of any us, I suppose. But you definitely don't have the taint now, if you ever did. Without seeing you manifest the Cloak we can't really be sure." Memnith shrugged. "I saw it," said Tomasz. "I do not imagine things."
"Good," said Memnith. "I like people who see what's there. Now, what's happened to Dignity? Oh, and the King wants you back in one piece, so it would be best if you've not left her any great distance away, if that's possible." "And what have you learned about Carcosa? You've been in the Temple of the King, so if you could draw what you saw and we can get people in to write down what happened in there, ideally in detail," said Elizabeth. "And what do you want to do about her?" Memnith gestured idly at Grace. "Is she relevant to this?" "And how do these men here fit into this all?" Elizabeth nodded toward Tomasz and Szymon. "And what should we do with the people that this woman killed?" "And what happened to Samual? He was helping you, wasn't he?" Grace screamed, an odd, whistling sound because the spell trapping her constricted her chest as well, making it difficult for her to draw in enough breath to scream properly. "The soldiers wake! The soldiers walk!" "What does she mean?" said Elizabeth, looking at Lord Derby. Lord Derby sighed and rubbed his head. "Is this a sign of things to come?" he asked. "Twenty questions a minute and no pause for answers for any of them?" "It makes a change for us to be asking the questions though, old friend," said Memnith. "But really, what does this woman mean?" "The Temple!" screamed Grace. Blood vessels were breaking under the skin on her face, causing little red capillary streaks to appear and the whites of her eyes to redden. "The soldiers will march!" "Tomasz," said Lord Derby turning to the man. "You and Samual told me something about the Temple looking like it was a fortification." "Yes," said Tomasz. "I think she means that there are soldiers in the Temple who have woken up. Which is probably bad."
3 comments:
Curiously Blogger won't allow me to post as myself at the moment: it insists on pretending that I'm using my work account despite me logging in as me and even when I remove all traces of the work account. I guess it's just another Blogger problem.... On unrelated notes, I'm back in Malta again and trying to catch up on posting.
A sign of things to come
"Ow," said Lord Derby. "Ouch, in fact. That... tingled. Quite a lot. In places I wasn't expecting. Would those places be were the taint was concentrated?"
"If it only tingled," said Memnith, who sounded quite a lot more relieved that his explanation of what would happen would justify, "then there was no taint. The descriptions we have from victims of the taint are that it is excruciatingly painful, like having holes gouged in you by hot knives. There's a fair amount of scholarly discussion about whether serrated knives would be a better description."
"Thank-you for being so forthcoming before you began," said Lord Derby. There was a slight faintness to his voice, as though he was thinking about what he had avoided.
"As for concentrations, no, the spell is just more intensely felt in more sensitive areas," said Memnith.
"There are other spells that use the same principle," said Elizabeth, "but they're usually for more therapeutic purposes."
"This is therapeutic after a fashion," said Memnith.
"Sometimes you have to pick the remains of people treated with this spell up using spoons," said Elizabeth. "I don't think that's particularly therapeutic."
"Hah yes," said Memnith. "Do you remember Verifax? Spoon him into a bucket and sieve him."
"See? That's not therapy, that's cookery."
"Thank-you," said Lord Derby, forcing a smile onto his face. "That's not at all reassuring. Am I safe now though?"
"From the King in Yellow? As much of any us, I suppose. But you definitely don't have the taint now, if you ever did. Without seeing you manifest the Cloak we can't really be sure." Memnith shrugged.
"I saw it," said Tomasz. "I do not imagine things."
"Good," said Memnith. "I like people who see what's there. Now, what's happened to Dignity? Oh, and the King wants you back in one piece, so it would be best if you've not left her any great distance away, if that's possible."
"And what have you learned about Carcosa? You've been in the Temple of the King, so if you could draw what you saw and we can get people in to write down what happened in there, ideally in detail," said Elizabeth.
"And what do you want to do about her?" Memnith gestured idly at Grace. "Is she relevant to this?"
"And how do these men here fit into this all?" Elizabeth nodded toward Tomasz and Szymon.
"And what should we do with the people that this woman killed?"
"And what happened to Samual? He was helping you, wasn't he?"
Grace screamed, an odd, whistling sound because the spell trapping her constricted her chest as well, making it difficult for her to draw in enough breath to scream properly.
"The soldiers wake! The soldiers walk!"
"What does she mean?" said Elizabeth, looking at Lord Derby.
Lord Derby sighed and rubbed his head. "Is this a sign of things to come?" he asked. "Twenty questions a minute and no pause for answers for any of them?"
"It makes a change for us to be asking the questions though, old friend," said Memnith. "But really, what does this woman mean?"
"The Temple!" screamed Grace. Blood vessels were breaking under the skin on her face, causing little red capillary streaks to appear and the whites of her eyes to redden. "The soldiers will march!"
"Tomasz," said Lord Derby turning to the man. "You and Samual told me something about the Temple looking like it was a fortification."
"Yes," said Tomasz. "I think she means that there are soldiers in the Temple who have woken up. Which is probably bad."
Unknown Greg - yeah, I'd noticed that. I hope it figures itself out soon... but I'm not expecting it to.
Welcome back home, by the way!
'Which is probably bad' seems like a bit of an understatement. But we shall see, I suppose.
Impressed, by the way, by how you managed to make use of the prompt in an unexpected manner.
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