He shivered now in wonder, awe, and with an overwhelming sense of smallness, insignificance, and wretchedness, yet he knew that to this Person, he was immensely dear. Yet there was sorrow too, a sense of grief so great that it might well rend the world asunder, yet it was willingly borne, for it was the very price of Love. Here were power, wisdom, strength, joy, humor, beauty, wonder, and so many things for which he had no name: deeper and broader and wider than the universe itself. He looked up into eyes so deep he might well drown therein and rejoice at his fate. “Will your heart fail you even now, child?” came a voice gentle and warm as a summer evening. He shuddered and wondered why it was he lingered in this place or why he had come at all. The Stone still lay before him however, glistening black in the twilight with fresh blood. Gone was the crumbling ruin and its grisly collection, there was no axe wielding monster tensed for the kill the clouds were high and thin, a veil over the first bold stars, and away in the west a golden band, fringed in pink and scarlet, bade the sun farewell. At last, he raised his head and glanced about, blinking once more in utter astonishment. He waited for what seemed an eon, but still nothing happened. The boy blinked, wondering what had happened. The boy heard the ogre’s grunt as it swung, he tensed for the blow, and then all was silence. The monster laughed mirthlessly and hefted the axe. The ogre quit laughing and sneered at the boy, “still here are we? Then let’s get on with it, shall we?” Taking a deep breath, the boy knelt before the grisly rock and laid his neck upon the altar.
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The thing laughed again, worse this time if that were possible, and motioned towards the door, which then creaked slightly ajar, continued he in a voice full of scorn, “run if you will, little coward! Braver, stronger, and wiser folk than you have done just that!” Its laughter bit like a lash as the boy took a step towards his salvation, but he shuddered and forced himself to move towards the Stone, still wet with the blood of the last victim. He looked uneasily back at the door but knew there could be no escape. Darkly it laughed, “lay down your head boy and rest a moment, then I’ll gnaw your bones and add your skull to my collection! Is this not why you came?” Its mockery faded into chiding laughter that sent a chill of horror up the lad’s spine. It clutched a fell axe in arms as big around as a horse’s leg and howled at him in a voice whose merest whisper would send a seasoned Knight slinking away in terror. Its yellow, piggy eyes glowed slightly with hunger and vile intent while a cruel sneer marred its face, revealing too many pointed, greenish teeth. The door slammed shut behind him, otherwise he would have fled that very moment, but he was trapped in this ring of death with a creature whose head was level with the crumbling wall, which stood as tall as a man and then half again as high. The macabre accouterments alone were enough to send the boy running, but the creature occupying the bulk of the space was even worse. The broken wall formed a ring, enclosing a floor of rough-hewn rock with a gory stone in the center the only feature upon the fractured and uneven wall a hundred skulls grinned wryly from their perch. His heart gave such a lurch that he thought it might very well give out in terror, for what waited within was far worse than anything that had unsettled him without. He took a deep, steadying breath, caught hold of the thudding door, and stepped into the fortress. He took an involuntary step back, ready to flee at the slightest provocation, and there were many in this dreadful place, but he had not come all this way to back down. The stone beneath his feet was black as a moonless night with no star for comfort or guide, and so was the bulk of the ruined fortress that hulked before him.
The door creaked ominously on its single hinge in the driving wind while the disapproving clouds glowered uncomfortably overhead, low enough that one might almost reach up and touch their leaden gray fleece.
Other Books by this Author, website, etc.Īuthor’s Note: These are independent stories, though names and themes may be similar, there is no relation between them.
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