William Jones
Stories
10
Chapters
3,868
Words
2.6 M
Comments
0
Reading
8 d, 21 h
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The simulacrum of thorns shifted, leaves and vines moving in a horrible way until it took the seeming of Duchess Midnight, posture and voice included. She stared at Alwyn. "You have grown too bold, little lord. Did you think your arrogance and recent success would shield you from my ire? I opened negotiations with the Captain from the Smoke and even left an obvious mark for you to see when you also sought an agreement. A mark you ignored when you created your agreement scant hours later. Did you think I…-
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Duchess Midnight, The Graceful Lady of Silent Daggers, was roused from her brooding by a messenger. He seemed resigned to his fate as he morosely marched into the room, bowing, kneeling, and finally prostrating before her. She gestured, and barbed thorns restrained him in that position, crushing and cutting into his skin. She breathed in deeply. The combination of pain and despair was one of her favorite scents. "State your message and hope it is enough to warrant your interruption." The common gate…
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"So you can see that everything is going to depend on location. My great-grand'ther used to say, "The three most important things for a successful bridge are location, location, and location." He's been gone these last three centuries, but his words still come back to me. When I was a young brigand roaming from bridge to bridge, I used to think the old guy wasn't that smart. Ninety years later, when I gave up the folly of youth, I was amazed to find out how much the old boy had learned." "Firstly, you…
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"Your pardon, My Lord of Summer, but are all the roadways through the Fae Lands so quaint and distinctive." Alwyn, Lord of Summer, looked to his right, where the human Courier kept pace with him as they escorted Prince Leporidon's carriage to the Court of King Oberon. "Please, I think it would be quicker and easier on all of us if I dispense with my disguise. I'm sure you now recognize me as your friend Bob." There were gasps from the two mortals as the Fae Lord stood, revealed as someone they had talked…
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The ride had started easily, Mudhead loping across the fields and orchards, bringing them rapidly to the Fae Maple tree that rose in the sky and held the portal to the lands of the Summer Lord. Mudhead hit the ramp that spiraled around the trunk at sixty miles an hour and didn't slow as Ben leaned into the turns and Suzette held onto his belt, her patient between them, still unconscious. A hound was lazily chasing unicorns, never putting out more energy than needed to send them running across the fields.…
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"What do you mean it won't work? Do you have any idea how hard I worked to get this thing?" Baron William, his Baroness, and the esteemed Professors of the College of Practical Alchemy and Experimental Magics were clustered around a twenty-foot-wide slab of stone that occupied the center of the ACME building foyer. Nearby, two stone masons worked to convert the hole where the old doors had been into a set of twenty-one-foot-tall castle doors. Voluminous rapped his knuckles on the stone and laughed,…
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There were many stairs between the Red Chapel and the exit from the crypts, and Ozzy was familiar with each and every one of them by the time he was done pushing the unfinished altar stone to the top. He couldn't have done it without everyone else in the crew. Ben and Rolly kept the stone balanced on the edge and upright so he could apply his strength to roll it up the stairs. They held it steady on the landings every twenty steps while he caught his breath and then helped him pivot the stone to move up…
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The sound of a pipe organ swelled, accompanied by the strange sound of a hundred ghouls forcing their deformed throats to provide a chorus of chanting to go along with the deep rumblings of the organ. Huge lamps dangled from the ceiling on chains, their red glow growing each second as the music swelled. The ghouls seated in rotting pews or sprawled on the floor stood up and began moving toward the group of humans that had rudely interrupted the proceedings. The choir in the loft above kept up their chant…
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Suzette wanted to scream but kept the thing talking. "I'll bargain for what's left of him." Rolly and Squirmie began to sneak their way around the perimeter. "A bargain. My, my. I suppose we can sit and discuss a payment for this fine, Fae Lord. Is he a relative? Or do you just want to collect a bounty for him? I have an idea! Let's keep talking until your friends make a rescue attempt, and I slit his throat and retreat to my caves." Rolly and Squirmie quit sneaking as Suzette sighed, and Ozzy said…
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After killing another dozen Carrion Eaters, the crypts became silent. Billy and Layla leaned against the walls, white-faced and gasping for breath. Layla looked at the workers, who weren't even breathing hard. "How the hell do you people do this?" All eyes turned to Squirmie. While the Baron and Baroness pondered this revelation, Ozzy pulled out two bottles of wine and handed one to each of them. "Chug some of this down." They recognized Suzette's sparkling apple wine from the late-night butchering…
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