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Tag gothic horror
July 17, 2019 July 16, 2019 jamesbarton3	1 Comment
This Week's Prompt: 92. Man's body dies—but corpse retains life. Stalks about—tries to conceal odour of decay—detained somewhere—hideous climax.
The Resulting Story:
We have discussed the restoration of corpses before, but for this one I would like to examine in detail a particular case—one that we discussed towards the beginning of our work here at the Undead Author Society. To limit our discussions, I will focus on living corpses of the vampiric kind, from Slavic and Balkan areas. In particular, this calls to my mind the story of a man and his vampiric brother, both in the attempts to hide the bodies nature and its attempts apparently to maintain its life.
The story goes that a woman died, leaving her husband and son behind. The husband remarried, but the woman was—as often is the case in these stories—a wicked woman who loathed the son. She demanded he be driven out and out of love for his wife, the father agreed. So the son went out into the world with twelve dinars.
As he entered a new town, he found a body, that people cursed and spat on. When he asked why, he learned the man died with many debts. A compassionate soul, he spent his little money paying the debts and arranging a proper burial. Leaving town, he passed the cemetery where the man was buried. The man, now a vampire, approached him in disguise, and offers to help him along his travels.
At the next town, they learn of two tragedies! One, the Turkish pasha's daughter has passed. Two, every guard who holds wake over her body is found dead the next day. The vampire-brother gives the young man a holy scripture and tells him to focus on it every night, or he will die. On the third night, he reveals what you dear reader already suspect—the woman was a vampire! He tells the young man to lie in her coffin when she rises—and when she returns and cannot move him, the curse is broken and she is freed. The pasha, delighted, gives the young man his daughter's hand in marriage(the other daughter, presumably).
Then the young man heads home, without his vampire assistant or wife. Along the way, he stops at a coffeehouse and is convinced by the two men there to begin playing cards. He loses everything rapidly, and is forced to become a cowherd. However, the vampire and wife head out to find him—and the vampire sees and understands all their tricks. He wins everything back from his fellow vampires, and restores the young man.
Returning home, the vampire asks to divide everything he's earned between them. This is done easily, as most things are split with a saber. But when the matter of the young man's wife comes up, it becomes a bit more difficult. For the young man. The vampire splits her in two anyway, and kills the serpent that emerges. Given his dialogue, listing the good deeds, it seems probably that the wife was restored before the vampire returned to the land of the dead on his fortieth day.
A similar story comes from Ukraine—here a rich man gives a poor man a loan on the advice of an icon of St. Michael. The rich man's herds and land are blessed, but he is unhappy until he recieves the loan back. When he learns the poor man has died in debt, he gouges out the icon of St. Michael's eyes and beats it—until it is bought by a young man passing by. The young man in time travels with his rich uncle merchants, and comes to a czardom where the princess has fallen ill. No manner of healing can help her, and every man sent to pray over her in the church is devoured down to his bones.
The Icon of St. Michael however advises the simple young man, telling him to lay pears in baskets around himself to keep the vampire princess at bay. When she attacked, he tossed the pears on the floor—and had enough baskets to keep her at bay until the cock crowed. Each time he threw the pears she pursued, until in the end it was her doom. This happens the next night as well, but with nuts. On the third night, like his companion in the Balkans, the young man enters into the coffin—although he is covered in holy water and incense. This time, however, he does leave after she promises to be her consort.
The two are found the next morning praying, and the princess is baptized again to drive out the unclean vampire holding her body. In this case, we have an incident of a woman possessed—and in a coffin—but not dead yet. But the stories are otherwise so close that one can't help but wonder about them.
The most common of these dead rises in the forty day period between death and arrival at the afterlife. In this case, the creature somewhat fails our materialist prompt which specifies only the body remains. The body and soul are seized by the power of the devil, and compelled to stay together—in some sources this is explicitly a lower or more base soul. The animated body then pursues its own kin, either as an animal or as a human, drinking their blood. Such a creature has a loathsome fate, for the rituals that remove the devils own power over the soul/body and annihilate it entirely. Such a terrible fate befalls only a select few: Those who die a violent death suddenly; those who's burial rites are preformed improperly; those who die due to curses by parents or themselves; those who die unbaptized; stillborn children born on Christian holy days; those who participate in sorcery; those who eat the flesh of a sheep that was killed by a goat; those excommunicated; and those who's body is, during burial, past over by a cat. Unlike the uncorrupt dead—sometimes called vrykolakoi, a term elsewhere reserved for vampires proper—these creatures are extremely predatory. The lack of decay in a corpse is thus sometimes a mixed blessing—generally one has to look at the health around such a body. If people begin to suffer and grow exhausted, its a vampire. If nothing happens, a revenant. If oils are produced, perhaps the dead has become a holy saint.
This physical tie, between corpse and soul, relates partly to the description and understanding of Death in some rural parts of Greece. Here, the angel of death descends and slits the throat of the deceased—taking their soul to judgment. The blood is splattered on the family and their clothes—which must be set aside and not worn for several days after. The body achieves its final point of judgment upon fully decaying. However, before that time, the devil can seize the body. And just as the flow of blood out released the soul, the return of blood forces it back into the body. Drawing it into an intolerable state. Removing this creature requires pouring boiling oil into its grave and reading an exorcism over it. Others suggest the more famous staking or even hamstringing the creature in it's grave to prevent its return.
A story out of Montegro reports that a pair of lovers were seperated against their will—the woman forced to marry her foreign betrothed. The man died of despair and returned as a vampire nightly. While most vampires are corpse like, this couple had a child that was identical to the deceased man—and his distance meant resolving the manner was nearly impossible.
Another story tells of a group of four siblings—three brothers and a sister. The story goes that the four siblings set out into the world, as their parents could no longer support them. After nine years apart, they came home. On their way home, the three brothers spend their earnings from nine years ransoming animals from torturers. The sister, however, comes across a curious trade: A hedgehog buying iron teeth from a mouse. She buys herself a set, and after testing it on an oak tree, buys a whetstone from another mouse. With sharpened teeth, she finally arrives home.
Once home, the siblings celebrate—the brothers, with their animals, assume their sister has simply made a small fortune. The celebrations are cut short however, as their father dies just a bit later. The brothers decide to invest in the land, setting three horses to work with a plow. However, the first day they set to work, they find one of the horses almost entirely devoured. After nights of watching, the elder sees a pale creature coming at night to feed—and determines its his sister! Not long after, proof comes when the youngest brother stays behind without the sister's knowledge. Spying, he sees her devour their mother, all the way up to her head. She sets out in pursuit of the other brothers, not finding the youngest.
A strange omen follows her chase—a kettle of boiling water became blood, and as she grew closer and closer to the brothers, the bubbles rose faster and faster. As she gave chase, however, she was purused by the youngest's dog, and chased against a tree. The brothers, seeing her coming after them, did not stop the dog from tearing her to shreds.
A more esoteric form of Vampire, from the Slavic regions, is not the body of a dead man but rather his shadow. This version was attributed to Muslims in the region, as well as Romani, and also was supposedly able to breath fire from its mouth. Other vampires of the region rise from the dead as strange things of water or jello, that scatter when bitten by a wolf or banished by a magician.
Serbian vampires sometimes hold weddings in mills—they find wandering and lonely travelers and give them a bottle made of a horses head. This brandy, of course, makes the victim instantly sick—especially if they are struck with it. Such behavior is more innocuous then other vampires, that appear like roaring winds and mists on the ground. Serbian vampires are also longer lived, lasting sometimes for three months, instead of the Greek forty days.
In both Balkan and some Slavic areas, vampires cause a variety of nuisances—they break tiles, lurk in attics, tire out horses, and so forth. While in some regions they are absolutely predatory, the more common fear is their attacks on small domestic animals such as sheep. These vampires of all types strangle and murder with glee.
Of all of these, vampires play a number of predatory roles. The number of women that emerge as vampires—particularly daughters in either far away places or returning from their travels—is interesting. The fact that vampires are, in a way, both foreign and familiar in these stories perhaps links to their liminal nature as dead and living things. The corpse here is a similar sort, given it's detention. While perhaps Lovecraft meant something more like a revenant, those corpses are less troublesome and not nearly as retained. We'll see what our body gets up to, after the angel of death visits and makes its lethal cut.
Du Boulay, Juliet. "A Study of Cyclic Symbolism in Marriage and Death", Man, New Series, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Jun., 1982), pp. 219-238, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Durham, M. Edith. "121. Of Magic, Witches and Vampires in the Balkans".Man, Vol. 23 (Dec., 1923), pp. 189-192.Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Marshall, Bonnie C. Tales from the Heart of the Balkans. Libraries Unlimited Inc, Englewood Colorado, 2001.
Perkowsky, Jan. Vampires of the Slavs Slavica Publishing Inc. 1976
Settling Down, Setting Free
June 12, 2019 June 11, 2019 jamesbarton3	4 Comments
This Week's Prompt: 89. Lone lagoons and swamps of Louisiana—death daemon—ancient house and gardens—moss-grown trees—festoons of Spanish moss.
The Prior Research:Swamp Men and French Werewolves
There was an old rotting property at the end of Leeman Lane, that had it not been for one particularly pick lawyer, would have been demolished years ago. The house belonged to my great uncle's family—a family I had only vaguely visited once or twice. Hated it, honestly. There was a nice backyard, and a cool patio I think, and a chest of old toys. But well, it was on the edge of the swamp.
I guess I remember Uncle Todd dying. No, I probably just remember a funeral sort of. I was like eight, and the house at the end of Leeman Lane vanishing beneath a bulldozer wouldn't have made my family news. We weren't close.
But then, a lawyer calls me up. Says I'm the next of kin—not of Uncle Todd, but my second cousin (or is it cousin once removed?) Jerry. Jerry died with the house in his name, passed it on, and well no one wanted it.
I didn't want it.
It was cheap and far away from the folks and who knows, putting something back together might be healthy. Left over student loan money would be able to get me started, rebuilding it anyway. I closed the car door at the end of the road, the creaking and condemned buidling looming over me. Home sweet home.
My first visit of the old house was dire. There was water dripping from a whole in the roof down to the basement, where it made a mosquito infested pit., most of the furniture was already gone. The porch was covered in mold, it'd have to all be replaced. The wallpaper had all been pealed back. There was no way I was sleeping there for at least a months of work.
The motel was cheap and didn't look that bad, all things considered.
"A whole month?" the old woman behind the counter said with a raised eyebrow. "What, you shooting a documentary or something?"
"People do that often out here?" I asked, handing over the card for her to scan. Reception wasn't great out here, things took a bit.
"Course they do! Nature stuff in the swamp, people looking for moss men, that sort of thing. Not your lane though?" she said, handing it back. "Well, you might see something out by the old Leeman house. Room 2b, ice machine's down the hall."
I lugged my pair of suitcases up and got to studying. I had…a vauge idea of what I was doing, but not really? Not in practice. I mean, demolishing the whole thing and starting from scratch seemed expensive and a bit…pointless, really. Wasteful, I guess?
So that meant figuring out how to replace waterlogged, moldy walls. How to saftely take down walls, how to tell their load bearing. What sort of tools to get, which were rip offs, which were for professionals, what you could get by with;what materials, what kinds of plasters, where to buy them, that sort of thing.
Looking it over, there was no way this was a one man job.
"Hey Frank." It took a couple calls to get through. "You still need a job? Still got that old truck?"
Frank's a big guy, a nice guy. He's done some construction work, but even he was surprised at the size of the damage.
"Man, this whole wall's gotta go. Like, are these…there are mushrooms growing out of this." He said, reaching out and flicking the sprouting shrooms. I nodded, and tapped it with an axe.
"The whole thing? Edges seem pretty good." I said, drumming the wet but not moldy corner. Frank leaned over to look and frowned.
"They might be fine, we'll see when we get the rest out of the way. Their might be mold inside." He said, heading over to the back. "And—okay, yeah, you were right. House first, backyard second. I can't tell if that's a pool or a lake."
"Tree looks nice though."
"Yeah, I guess. Spanish moss kinda looks like a curtain." He said, shrugging as he walked around to the front.
The rest of the tour goes as better—there's a lot of work to be done, but its not impossible. Just intense and expensive. I wave my hand at that, money's not a real issue at the moment.
"Really?" Frank says looking around the stairs—some would need to be replaced, but the structure was mostly fine. "I mean, I know–"
We both stood stock still. Rustling, and another splash. Frank held up a hand, and slowly walked over to the hole in floor, peering over. He frowned and shrugged, gesturing for me to come over. There was something floating in the water—holding a cellphone light over the hole, a small bit of wood came into view. For a moment I sighed with relief. Maybe it was just a bit of the roof that fell. But the light caught on something with color—a bit of red and blue. I leanded over a bit, careful not to fall in.
"It's carved." I said slowly. "Some sort of…doll?"
"Maybe something left on the roof?" Frank said, looking up. "Though…seems strange for the wind to catch."
"Yeah…maybe a rat or something?"
"Do rats play with dolls?" Frank said, frowning more.
"Well, no, but…maybe a crow dropped it? It looks kinda shiny, nest material?" I said, standing up and looking around.
"Yeah, maybe. We should take a look, just in case." Frank said. "This place gives me the creeps, and I'd rather not get a heart attack from a stray cat jumping at me from its home."
The basement wasn't…exactly safe to get into. The stairs creaked, and I felt one breaking as I went down with Frank. It was a big basement—shelves still against the wall, with cans that might still have some good food in them. No furniture, but some piled up lumber and a rusting heater.
The walls had some holes. And there were, of course, insects buzzing around the small still water pool. Mosquitoes loved it. I wish I had worn gloves, they bit my arms like crazy.
"No rat holes…not that I can see." Frank said, shining his phone light around on bare concrecte and wood.
"Might have gotten out?" I said, peaking behind the lumber.
"Sure, sure. Oddly tidy down here." He said, shining his cellphone light about.
"Well, must not have had much use for–" I stopped and grabbed Frank's shoulder. A shadow covered the water. My eyes rose to the floor above. No one. In the silence I listened for another breath. The roofed creaked, as the shadow grew—and then shifted back again.
"Thank god you live in a hotel." Frank said as he breathed again.
"The hell was that?" I said, slowly walking over to the pool. Picking up the wood carving, I looked up—and the hole in the roof a bit bigger than before.
"I don't know, but let's not find out. Could be…I don't know a bear or something." Frank said, gesturing to leave.
"Are there swamp bears?" I asked. Frank didn't answer as we left.
I looked back as we got in Frank's car—there were some broken branches around the roof.
At the hotel, I did try and you know, find an answer. It couldn't have been a person. I mean, I don't think so. The branches were broken, and I think we would have heard someone taking that high of a fall. I don't think someone could have crawled up the walls, and there wasn't a ladder or rope.
There was a black bear. It could have been an extra-ordinarily friendly one, who thought the house was his. Or I guess, I don't know. An escaped zoo animal—no that would have made the news. Sighing, I considered that it could have been…an exceptionally big bird or crow. Whatever it was, me and Frank had agreed: we'd see this through.
"I mean, yeah, if we had the cash we'd hire some folks but honestly I think you're right to try it on your own for now." Frank said nodding. "Raw materials will eat up a lot of it, but you'd be amazed what the internet can teach you these days."
We'd keep an eye out for…whatever that thing was. That, Frank admitted, was not something we should handle with a Youtube tutorial. Thinking on it, I couldn't help but laugh a bit.
"What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing. The hotel lady, she mentioned—people shoot big foot documentaries out here. Maybe this is where he's been hiding." I said laughing.
"Your family's the bigfoot protection program. Of course, you look just like him." Frank said, chuckling a bit as we pulled up to the hotel.
We didn't see it again when fixing the walls—God that was costly and exhausting. We patched that hole up, as soon as we were sure that the wall wasn't going to break and send the whole thing falling down. Clearing out the moss was unpleasant work, and it took a week to get all of it off. Another week to replace most of the rotten wood, patching the few holes.
It was about three weeks in, when we went outside, that things were strange again. Frank had finished asking me about what sort of crazy stuff I had gotten into during my brief college experience. I made some shit up about getting drunk at parties and smoking weed, heading out back to avoid further questions.
That's when I saw the new hole. It was smashed in, and there was bits of black fur stuck on the edges. Inside, a rusted metal lock box—and digging. Something had either dug up…or been trying to bury this box. Picking up the fur, I felt a chill down my spine. It felt…lacquered. Greasy, like it was stuck in a shower drain oil was poured down. I flicked it off and took the box in.
"Hey, Frank…you got a screwdriver or hammer or something." I said, holding it up.
The box wasn't actually that hard to force open—the lock was easy enough to knock open with a screwdrive and hammer. I didn't ask where Frank learned that trick—probably googled it, honestly. Anyway, inside was a small set of diagrams that I took out and folded open on our little workbench—we hadn't quite gotten the new furniture in yet.
I started sorting through the stuff, placing the contents of the box out. There was a floorplan of the house, with X's drawn on some of the wall spaces.
"Buried treasure?" I asked, handing it to Frank as I unloaded the rest.
"No…no, I think…Lemme check something." Frank looked around the room for a bit and passed off, tapping part of the wall and then moving to the next room. There were some scraps of paper and painted leaves, and then…photos.
Old photos, of the backyard. Flicking through the nights recorded in the little windows, there was a growing pattern. It was in the corner of shots, on the edge of the light. A black furred limb—sometimes an arm, sometimes a paw, sometimes something bent and strange. Little eyes, red eyes, stared out from some of them. They were perfect pinpricks, they followed as I turned the picture under a light.
"Frank…You need to see this." I said, laying them out on the table.
"Gimme a sec, just one more room to check!" Frank shouted.
There was a dull rumble from the living room, and as I turned it sharpened into a cracking sound. The wood bent upward, the old hole opening up again. And then it cracked apart, black claws flickering out of sight. I ran up to the hole, and stared down at a pair of fierce red eyes.
The next thing I knew, Frank was talking to someone on the phone about how "and he just like, he just passed out. I don't know I think he had a stroke? Is there an age limit on strokes?"
"Frank?" I said, getting up slowly. Frank looked at me.
"And um. He…he got up. Yeah, yeah okay. Hey man, what's your name?" Frank said, still on the phone.
"Daniel Jordan." I said, sitting up a bit.
"Hey, take it easy. Alright, Dan, what day is it?"
"Tuesday.." I said rubbing my head. "Why, what's going on?"
"You took a bit of a fall. Now, where are we?" Frank asked seriously.
"The house at the end of Leeman street…the old mossy one Uncle Todd owned." I said slowly, starting to stand.
"Alright." Frank went back to the phone. "He…he seems fine. Uh, I'll bring him in."
"Bring me where?" I sad, standing—good my legs hurt. "Frank, we're not going to a hospital."
"Thanks again." Frank hung up on his cellphone. "Dude, you were out for like twenty minutes. You need to see a doctor."
"I'm not going to a hospital for a concussion—that's gonna eat up what I've got left, man." I said, shaking my head. "We can get to a minute clinic or something. There's gotta be something like that around here right?"
Frank frowned and started to say something before I held a hand up to cut him off.
"Dropping out didn't void my student loans, and the last thing I need ontop of working those off and rebuilding this house is a hospital's worth of lawyers chasing me for using their emergency room, alright?"
I grabbed some of the loose stuff in the box, and head for the truck.
Frank was uneasy the whole ride, but I kept myself busy reading through the journal. He didn't believe me about the red eyes, not until I showed him the pictures and the guy at the minute clinic confirmed I was fine. I mean, of course I was fine. It cost a hundred bucks I kinda had, but I was fine. He got real quiet then.
"Its messed up man, like. This is stuff we call a priest over." Frank said, shaking his head. "You know, this is ghost stuff or something. Call the local news."
"I don't think so." I said, thumbing through the book.
"I mean. Maybe that's what the map was about?" Frank said, as we turned a corner. "The X's, they were marking spots were there was mold before. And there was mold around the hole you found…"
"Yeah, it doesn't like the house, that's clear. But Todd and Jerry lived here, so it wasn't here forever. Or they figured out how to deal with it." I said, thumbing a bit farther along. "God knows I don't need a free loading room mate who knocks me out when I look at him."
"Very funny," Frank said with a grimace.
And then I found it. It was over a few pages, but there it was. Answers.
The house hadn't been doing well—business at Jerry's shop was declining, and travelers were down. Story of the century, small family business failing as everyone moves to the big city. Except, I guess, Jerry had a screw loose or something. He'd found out there was something living in the swamp—it had some Spanish or French name, I don't know—something that was big and scary. And he figured, it might be handy to bind this terrible spirit of the swamp to the family. That way, he could rot out and devalue local property to buy up, maybe have it steal stuff or find things lost in the swamp. It was all a bit panicked excitement, really.
"So your telling me 'run off half sure of yourself, and try a dumbass thing' isn't just you?" Frank said, as I read along. "It's like, genetic?"
"When have I–"
"You're currently trying to rebuild a swamp house to get away from your family, and the fact that there's a monster in the house didn't get you to run immediately." Frank said, waving. "But please, carry on."
"Right, first of all, harsh. But yeah, so…he tried to cobble together some sort of spell to catch the thing. As you do."
"As you do."
"And well…it kinda worked?" I said, frowning. "I mean. It caught the thing."
"Well, it caught a wild animal, it didn't like. Control it." I said, sighing. "So its a wild animal, stuck in the house, trying to get out."
"Why didn't he just…let it out?" Frank asked, as we pulled up to the motel.
"You luck a dog up in a cage, and it starts biting at you and shaking the cage—you let it out and it might run away. Or it might go for your throat." I said, shrugging. "But…I think Jerry got it wrong."
"…You think it's smarter then that."
"It dug up the book, and dropped the doll thing." I said, nodding. Frank put it in park. "We should head back tomorrow and…"
"Please do not tell me your going back down there, and gonna muddle with stuff we don't know about and hope it goes okay."
"…and yeah, muddle with stuff we don't understand to free a thing we can't really see and hope it just leaves." I said, sighing. "Like you said, this is specialist work, but we don't have the budget."
We went over the plan the next day. There were two rings we needed to get rid of—one was in the basement, beneath the lumber pile. Jerry apparently thought that would stop that thing, and was convinced it'd eventually calm down. The other one was out by the pond thing—where he caught it.
"You take the basement." I siad, point to the diagram. "Just. Just go to town on the circle. I'll go to the pool—I'm not gonna be able to move the lumber very well. If the thing shows up, don't look at it. Jerry says it's eyes are messed up, and you know, I think he was right about that."
"The one by the pool?"
"I'll handle that. It's some stones, I can just…knock them over." I said, shrugging.
Frank insisted on bringing a gun. I told him not to bother, that it'd be dangerous. But whatever, his deal not mine.
I started walking out the back door. The grass was fresh. We hadn't worked out the backyard yet, not even close to the pool. The moss was still hanging like a curtain, from the branches around the pond. The wind rustled as I got closer.
I'd noticed the stones, but really I'd thought they were just some kids dicking around. Circles in stones, wrapped around and around. Like a labyrinth not. Jerry worked really hard on it—I wonder if that's really why he didn't break it. There were little wooden dolls around it, facing towards the center where a crude bit of drift wood was.
Something was in the air—it felt like I was walking silk, sticking to my hairs and pulling them on end as I got closer. I felt little legs crawling down my arms, like spider legs with baby fingers. Soft, but unwelcome.
I picked up the first of the stones, and tossed them—and the web vibrated, the air twisted around. It rippled as it fell into the pond. I felt the snares, pulling at me slightly with each stone I through around. It hurt, I don't know why it hurt to tear it apart, but it hurt. My chest ached, my limbs felt tired, my eyes burned.
When I was done, I slumped against a tree. Moss hung down to my shoulders, and I saw a glimpse of it. It was tall, dark, and had bright red eyes. It looked like something—like a crocodile, I guess, or like a person with a thrown out back. Stood up right, and I closed my eyes and sighed. It left whistling on the wind, and I haven't seen it since.
This story was one I knew from the start had an obvious metaphor, like last time. Repairing an old house seemed like an obvious direction to take it. And the idea of repairing your life, metaphorically repersented by repairing a house—with a monster and a dark past mixed together to create an external version of internal struggles seemed also basic. The writing isn't quite as tight as I would like, and the ending is a bit rushed I think—I ran out of time again, and space frankly. This is already a very long piece, and I didn't want to push my luck to far.
I tried again to stay grounded for this one, as next time we will be dealing with another fantastic and strange monster. Come and see these!
Sun and Snake on the Isle
April 10, 2019 April 9, 2019 jamesbarton3	Leave a comment
This Week's Prompt: 85. "For has not Nature, too, her grotesques—the rent rock, the distorting lights of evening on lonely roads, the unveiled structure of man in the embryo, or the skeleton?" Pater—Renaissance (da Vinci).
The Prior Research: She's a Viper
Chasing Austin's invitation to his new studio-home—several miles away from a small island town several hours away by boat from his well our old home—ended up costing me an third of my rent for the month. Perhaps it isn't surprising, then, that I was in something of a bitter mood. Austin had been insistent I come out to see him. I had convinced myself that it was only to save on postage that I was visiting, but it had been almost a year without seeing him or sharing a coffee.
The boat ride was calming at least—the sea has that effect on me. It is too vast for concerns and anxieties to stand in it's presence. Austin and I had tried with both our arts to capture that vastness, but it defies capture. It is too big for words and pigments, except in the hands of a master. Still, it was a nice image to wake to in the morning, enjoying coffee on the misty deck.
There was only one other companion out to greet the morning sun. He was an old man, Patrick Seoriseson, who would strum a guitar at the dawn and hum some song I'd never heard of. We didn't talk much—not that he was bad company, but he was…well. Strange. He looked in his sixties, but his hair was bright blond, and his face and eyes looked young. Like someone grafted a twenty year old's head, fresh before college, onto the body of their own aging grandfather. He had a beard, but it was blond too—not scraggly hay blond, folded and woven silk blond.
As unnerving as he was, another presence on that chill morning, as the island rose from the fog, was a welcome one. We had, turning back to see the homeland, made it just in time. Behind our ship, dark clouds had formed. A storm was roiling, and I was suddenly glad to have no pressing business for several weeks.
It was getting dark when I finally set foot on the land—my sea legs taken three steps to return to their land-bound cousins. I bought a large bottle of water, and set my phones secondary charger—the house was a good five miles from town, a nice hour or so walk to gain my composure. Austin had been very clear about getting to his house as soon as I could—apparently whatever he had couldn't wait. And while small coastal towns are welcoming to some, to me they are always a tad unearthly. They all feel drenched with age by the sea.
The road to Austin's house was a somewhat paved, at least the first half. As the sun began to set into twilight, I was walking on more rocks and dirt. The shore had splits and crags, streams of salt water rolling inland. Eventually, I saw his house come into view—two luminous lights, shimmer on the horizon.
I thought it was his house, anyway. I didn't check my phone, and well. I nearly walked into the tide and rocks.
And saw the lights in four different directions.
Whatever was going on in the atmosphere, my GPS hadn't failed. And that I could follow, cold from the wind, back to the path. And at last, I found his house. A collection of lights from the house—square, instead of the lying spheres I'd seen on the way. It was a nice looking house. As I got closer, I saw the paint was peeling. There was something acrid in the air. As I walked up to the house, I saw someone shuffling inside—their back was bent pretty far but when I squinted they were walking fine.
I rang the door bell, but there was just a fizzle. Austin probably forgot to fix it. So instead, I gripped the knocker—an lion headed one, old iron—and rapped on the door. There was a bustle, papers unseen falling to the floor as Austin came to the door.
He was a bit thinner, still catching his breath as he held out his hand.
"Jeffery, come in, come in. Gods I thought you'd abandoned us." He said, stepping out the way after a brief shake.
"It is a bit out of the way." I said, looking around. The walls were nice—the wood floor was oddly smooth. "And there's…some sort of rave outside…I think. Have you had problems with lights?"
"Lights? Oh, come now Jeffery. A will-o-wisp never hurt anyone who had their wits about them." Austin said, laughing. I didn't laugh as he lead me to his study up the stairs. The house creaked as it settled, and the steps spiraled at a bit of an incline.
"You have a cat out here, Austin? Seems more like dog country." I said, looking down at the steps. "This groove to drain water or something?"
There was a foot long indent along the stairs, running down the middle. Perfectly even at a glance.
"Oh, no, no, old owners lived here a long time. I think they might have evenly spread it–"
There was a crash, first of thunder then of a dropped pans from the kitchen. Austin's face went pale for a second.
"Its quite alright, I'm sure!" Austin shouted after me. I had already rounded into the source, the kitchen—door half open. I threw the door open and–
And she nearly put me through the wall. I felt claws on my shoulder and saw dozens of enraged and startled serpent eyes. As she held me on the floor, I heard the warning rattle from an unseen scaly tail. My eyes were distracted by her fangs bared at me.
"Its alright, it's alright!" I heard Austin shout. "Dear, please, your both high strung! Storms do that."
"Austin, I think you forgot somethings!" I shouted, eyes fixed in hers. Her face was hidden by a veil of snake skin.
"Did he now?" The woman said—with all twenty snake mouths that made up her head, her face unraveling and rem-emerging from the masses. It was when she moved that I realized my legs were trapped—feeling slowly returning to my feat, little bites marring my pants.
"Well, dear, how would you explain it." Austin said defensively.
"…You better think of a quick way to explain it Austin." I said, slowly pushing my self up into a chair.
Austin's explanation was full of poetry and phantasms and whimsy. I will abbreviate it here, as I was not in a whimsical mood. He had acquired the house from a man in town, at first to rent but then bought outright. The house was the man's great aunt, and something about it's perpetual disrepair had spoken to Ausitn. Fallen age of man, decay of empires, Adam's sin, artists of his type always seem to love decaying bodies.
Never seem to ask why the place is full of dead things, and maybe that dwelling on such things is dangerous.
Of course, Austin, the fop he is, found the notion of a haunted place alluring. He loved the idea of will-o-wisp, of changelings, of entertaining morbid faerie guests. I've never found a reason to want such things—stories rarely make them pleasant. Had I been Austin, the strange rustling outside, the flash of scales in the bed room, the sight of dozens of serpentine eyes down the hall? Those were signs to flee.
But fly he did. Into her arms. Well, not at first. There was some back and forth. She hadn't had someone react quite like Austin did. Asking her name—Tengra Dudana They became friends the way most people did. Shared food.
Of course, she asked questions. Why was he here, what was he doing. The two became fast friends, once they started talking. She enjoyed his artistry, he enjoyed her singing and laughter—he insisted that a hundred serpents singing was a choir I'd have to here.
Austin had a knack for friends. His art improved also—her rippling serpents inspiring thoughts of the sea more perfectly realized then before. Austin elided if they had ever left the boundaries of friendship—but he grew sheepish enough for me to decide.
Thunder continued to boom outside as Austin talked. Thunder and storms put her on edge—she was suspicous of everything on dark nights like this.
"It was not a typical romance." She said, encoiling her body around the chair. "But a pleasant one."
I nodded, nervously sipping the tea.
"Well, I—I imagine." I said slowly.
"Yes, well, I had…hoped to show you the gallery first." Austin said. Tengra rolled her eyes.
"He thinks pictures are a good start. They are wonderful paintings, but…they are not good preparation." Tengra said, unwinding herself and sinking to the floor, then reforming as a singular woman—a rather tall one, her skin only rippling slightly as coils found their place.
"I would not oppose seeing them." I said, placing my tea down. My nerves were slowly waking up from their stunned silence.
The paintings were…good. Yes, good. The paintings were acceptable, they captured some of the motion of their subject mater that, without first hand experience, would have seemed unbelievable. Tengra seemed fond of many forms, but there was something in the shape of the cliffs and moors that carried her image as well. By day, I'd have to see the originals nature had carved—whether she had woven Tengra into the hills, or whether that was some inspiration of Austins I cannot say.
There was one picture, however, that I paused at.
"Austin, who is this?" I said. I pointed behind the cross of interwoven snakes, to a man on the hill. There was something about his shape I recognized—his golden wave beard and hair.
"Oh, some vagrant I think." Austin said, shaking his head. "Well, a rather well off one maybe. He's been around once I think."
"Did you talk to him much?" I asked. Austin frowned, and I noticed Tengra seemed to be paying more attention.
"I…don't think I did. It's strange I hadn't considered him much, but I think I talked a decent amount with him. He's some sort of musician I think? He's from across the sea though, I didn't think it much important." Austin then paused again. "No…no, not across. He said the strangest thing. He's from the 'other side' of the sea."
Austin raised a finger upward, imitating the memory.
Tengra hissed a bit.
"He is a strange man. You should have pointed him out to me, he might have been squawking."
"You mean gawking?"
"That as well." Tengra said.
The next morning, me and Austin had arranged to have coffee on the porch—Tengra was sunbathing somewhere, warming her scales.
"So…so what do you think?" Austin asked, sipping his coffee slowly. I put down mine, steam still rising from it.
"The house needs work. The fence is rusty, I'd start there." I said, flatly. Austin blinked.
"I meant about–"
"I know, I know. Uh. Well." I said rubbing my head. "Your in love with a swarm of snakes. I…Look, I don't have the tools to process this at the moment. Like, I'm assuming she's not holding you hostage right? Not hypnotizing you with her eyes, like that Disney movie?"
"…the Jungle Book?"
"Yeah that one." I said, scratching the back of my neck. Austin burst out laughing.
"No, no, she's just a wonderful person."
"Made of snakes."
"Well. I, I guess there are worse things?" I said, sipping my coffee. "She's not French or a fascist, so a plus all around there."
"She can sing in Gaelic." Austin piped up.
"Talented. Creepy, I'm not going to lie, but talented." I said with a laugh. The storm hadn't cleared yet, but in the distance I saw the sun rising—the ship back wouldn't have a problem. I'd need to make my exit politely, this needed some thought.
It was while I was mulling this over and talking a bit on art with Austin that something caught my eye—like those will-o-wisps, a flash of light. But this was bright, metalic light. Turning my head, I saw a car rolling up the road. There was a boom of thunder, a flash of lighting in front of the sun as out walked the man with the golden beard.
"Hey is that…" I said nudging Austin—and then I saw it flash, briefly. A long backward curved blade, that he was examining beneath his coat. "Austin, we…we should get inside."
Austin took a moment to register—maybe sleep still lingering on him, but he saw where I pointed. Across the way, Patrick waved. He was smiling, perfect white teeth catching the sunlight.
"Oh, yeah, its…that guy. Come on, Jeffery, lets get some more coffee. Ask him what's happening."
"Austin he has a–"
"Hello there, fine sailor and artist too." Patrick said. He'd…moved fast while we where talking.
"Oh, well…Hello." Austin said. Patrick laughed. His laugh was surprisingly deep—his slightly higher pitch giving way to a low rumbling laugh. "Can…Can I help you?"
"Serendipity says so, yes. I'm looking for something old among the cliffs—older then will-o-wisp and banshee and them." He said, gesturing behind him to the road way. "Something with fangs and scales, an old something."
"Well, there aren't snakes on islands." I said, standing up a bit.
"Adder, smooth snake, grass snake, corn snake, and viper all round the King of England's crown." He said, as if that explained anything. "Only emeralds really snake free, my friend. Only emerald, and that's at least part from me. Now, have you seen it?"
"No." Austin said, getting up. "I haven't seen–"
The man held his hand to Austin's face, tilting his head. He hissed behind his teeth.
"Nevermind that, never mind me." The man said, turning now to the hills, hand reaching in his jacket. There he held that knife. "You stay here, I've got business. I think I can enjoy myself from here."
I reached out to grab his arm—Austin reached for his back. The next moment I was against the wall—his fore arm was under my neck, while Austin had been tossed onto the roadway. His knife was drawn, blade facing away—it was was curved somewhat, with a straight edge on the inside, away from me.
"Friends, this seems unbecoming of men of art and wonder. Lying in the underbrush like savage hunters to catch the noble deer—very unbecoming." He said, pushing back against my neck. I gripped his wrist—I couldn't breath, and I felt the wall behind me cracking. My entire back was bruising—and then he dropped me on the floor. I slumped over, breathing heavy, eyes closed from sudden exhaustion. When I opened them, he was walking after a scrambling Austin—who, god bless him, was shouting a warning for Tengra.
I pulled myself up—my legs and back were not fond of the predicament. His hat flew off as the wind picked up, the storms weeping overhead. It was strange. I thought the man's coat had looked pitch black before—now it seemed to be roiling gold and white and red. He had so many eyes. Why did his coat have so many eyes?
I threw the door open and stumbled inside, sitting behind the door frame. I heard thunder rolling, and hissing outside. I didn't look, so this I cannot report on directly. The sun had risen only a finger when I was able to rise again— and see an empty roadway, no sign of Austin, Tengra, or the man. I hobbled out, calling Austin's name along that cliffside road.
"Jeffery, Jeffery is that you?" a shout came from a large stone on the edge. I ran to it, and found him there—slumped against the back, holding a long snake skin to his face, sobbing.
"Austin, God in Heaven, your alive." I said.
"Oh, not in heaven, and how alive? She is gone, Jeffery, she is gone!" He said, batting away my outstretched hand.
"Gone? As in gone or gone?" I asked, looking around. "And that man…is he gone with her? We need to leave Austin."
"Gone, both gone! Oh the fire, the eyes, it was like Apollo wrestling Python! Oh it was dreadful–"
I decided that was enough and pulled Austin up. This time, he didn't resist. He just kept up his mourning, about how she had vanished, how that strange man had seemed so much larger, how helpless he felt when he'd been thrown against the stone—thrown, yet lived! The man has no taste for practical miracles—how could he face the dawn without her, how could he paint without her and so on.
"Well, you have some of her scales." I said, sighing as I lowered him on the porch. "So that's something."
It was apparently only a small consolation. Austin swore, swore as he lay there, holding to the skin tight, that he would find her somewhere—somewhere, in earth an heaven, or whatever was on the other side of heaven. I nodded politely—and reminded myself to never again agree to any of Austin's wild adventures.
If there ever was a story that warranted more writing and expansion, it was probably this one. The central mystery needs more time, and the final confrontation with the Apolloian hunter needs more build up. I'll file it away for next year.
Next week, however, we return fully to our horror roots. It's time to go inside a book, into an old house.
January 15, 2019 January 15, 2019 jamesbarton3	2 Comments
This Week's Prompt: 79. Horrible secret in crypt of ancient castle–discovered by dweller.
The Prior Research: A Dreadful Day For A Wedding
The marriage was the biggest spectacle Delilah had ever seen. Her wandering fiance Samson had brought in far away wine, musicians from eastern lands where dreams made up the desert sands, fire breathers and jugglers from the circus, food and fowl from northern mist clad counties. Her mother was so proud to see her in a wedding white. Her husband had been strangely silent in his suit, smiling without ever showing any teeth. Delilah drank another glass.
It was probably nerves about the wedding night. She had them too—her mother had tried to explain to her what could happen on wedding nights. Of course she'd already known—she had married friends who, when a bit tipsy or tired or angry, confided about the bedroom. And their husbands were far less fine then hers.
The night carried on for a time, and at last the guests began to leave. Delilah hugged her mother close—her mother wept on her shoulder. She was so proud. Delilah never heard her weep that her daughter was gone from her forever. Never heard the silent curses as the house, small as it was, grew all the quieter.
Delilah and her husband walked home, across the old white stone roads the Romans laid. They came up a hill to his house—a house she'd seen often as a child, though always in an abandoned state. She had assumed for years that no-one lived there. But three months ago, it was as wondrous as the prince's palace—its walls clean and shining green, with roofs of bright purple and gold. Servants were mulling about, its gardens full of blossoming flowers. When she asked a friend who lived nearby, she was told that the great house had a new heir. It's base was set like a wide disc, with a tower rising from the center.
And that Samson now took her by the arm and up to the gate. He smiled dat her, his proper smile now. Teeth glittering white in the moonlight, reaching from his lips to his green eyes. They walked threw the evening mist and dew to the great oak door. Its leonine knokcer gently thudded as a footman opened the door—into the candlelit hall, with its great fountain at the center. Suits of restored ancestral armor, with there ceremonial armor and jeweled swords, stood guard at the stair case. And above, on the ceiling, was painted a whole host of angels.
"Well, that was certainly an affair." He said as we walked up the steps.
"Was it? I thought it rather lovely." Delilah said smiling and carefully minding my steps.
"Even with the stories?"
"Well, Anne couldn't let me get married without making sure everyone knew what I was like at three years." Delilah said, giggling a little. "I'm sure yours would have done the same."
"Well then I count myself lucky they had business away." He said, laughing. Delilah felt a pang of guilt—she knew little of Samson's family, but they rarely saw him and seemed to care little of him. She hoped that such distance wasn't normal among such wealthy personages—Lord in Heaven, she wouldn't be so distant with her own children.
Up the stairs they went—Samson's servants opening the doors ahead. Pale ivory doors parted like moonlight deeper and deeper in. At last, behind a well wrought door of silver, was the bed chamber. Four lion heads held up the top of the bed, grinning faces of gold looking down. Delilah had often heard of wedding nights.
The next day, the two parted. Samson entrusted Delilah with a set of keys—golden, each with a glittering gem at the top. Every door in the house had a key, Samson said, marked with the inlaid gem. It was all hers to see and take in.
"I don't want you getting bored or complacent—so entertain yourself with each room, and you will find delights that never end." Samson said, as he put on his coat and hat. "But please, do not go into the room marked with two gems—cat's eye and the other one.."
He held out the key, who's stones looked like eyes of glass and was carved with a lion and a wolf. He shook it almost in front of Delilah's face.
"Not this one. It goes to my own chambers, the only place of privacy in my entire house—when I am there, do not bother me but be patient on my return. Do not worry too much when or how I come there either—it is a place of mine. The rest, however, are ours." And with that, and a kiss on the cheek, he left.
Delilah considered the keys. She set about through the rooms—each with it's gemstone. In the red coral room, there were wondrous arms and armors—the heads of great beasts from the hunts, armor shimmering with decorations, hilts with eagle wings of bronze. The heads of great beasts were stuffed along it's walls, from bears to deer to great wild cattle. He was a brave warrior and hunter, her husband. Or, Delilah thought, perhaps his family was. There were fine silks as well, and chests overflowing with treasures. Plunder and spoils it seemed.
The room with the diamond was more her suiting however. Here were portraits lining the wall—eyes all fixed on the center. There a column of women stood, carved of marble. Delilah gripped her shoulders as she paced the incompete pillar—for there were still portions unworked around the edge. The statues were painted ever so slightly. A small blush, the tiny glimmer of jeweled eyes, a faint bruise on the skin, a thin scratch. The artistry was in the dress though. Delilah found it unnerving to see the clothes…she could not tell without touching whether they were exquisite stone carvings or the women's own dress. There were desks, with many mirrors arrayed around them. If she pulled the curtains close behind her, the eyes of the portraits and statues didn't glimmer back at her as she examined the jewelry. Another place to explore, she decided when she had more time.
The next room had a great pearl on it's top—and within she found many treasures indeed! She found works of poetry and a number of paintings—these of luschious landscapes and forests, instead of persons, full of animals in the hunt or watching with curiosity at the painter. Several were still finished, including one of her—or she assumed of her. The seat was there, and she settled into the pose she imagined Samson would remember her in. She wondered if she would be carved into the pillar as well—and now frowned. Where those past wives of his, or the women of his family. They had seemed all rather young.
She considered but moved along to the emerald door. Here she found shelves upon shelves of scrolls and books—how well read Samson seemed! She barely knew her letters, her family never had the money for education. But she could learn to love these treasures as well. There were some held open to illustrations of holy men or of teachings she remembered from priests in town or tales her parents told. Btu not many so clear.
Beside it was the room with a yellow gem. The lock took some working this time—and inside Delilah understood why. Like the emerald room, this was a room full of shelves—but on each was a crown, carefully wrought of gold. A small image was above it, recounting no doubt the lineage of Samson's family. And at the center was a display—a great golden mace, with gems along it. Behind it was a flowing robe and cape of heavy wool, gold woven with the cloth. There were gems along as buttons—shining diamonds and amethysts. Purple and gold, a royal coat in deed. But hidden away—Delilah was under no illusion that her husband might be heir one day to some royal family. Not anymore anyway.
Still, perhaps one day there would be an inheritance to the crown. They were strange crowns, admittedly—most had ivory spikes rising from their heads, and all of them were rather old fashioned. They looked like the crowns on fallen statues in the woods, not kingly images the tax collectors carried or that were stamped on the occasional gold coin she had seen.
Some older place then, or some far away land. Still. A noble king and scholar, a warrior and perhaps a poet.
And then there was the door with it's two gems—a red stone and a yellow one that glimmered like a cat's eye. The red stone was in the right hand of a man, the yellow in the left—his own eyes stared back out with glimmering opals. It was an enticing door, with his pearlescent smile and glimmering eyes. But Delilah ignored it, and pushed on to the room with the sapphire—embedded in a skull, yes, but still it had been granted to her.
And in that room she found copious bones, gilded and held in metal boxes. Each had pictures atop it, and Delilah recognized the lives of a hundred saints in this gallery. Saints from as far as mist covered marshes of Wales to the distant east where their own saints left rainbows in their wake. Holy tools from a hundred places the world over. Some were petrified eyes, some where finger bones, some were nails. And at the center, enshrined with images of four beasts at each corner, was a carefully suspended spearhead. It was stained blood red on one side, the other was washed clean and stainless. A curious relic. Not one she was familiar with. She would ask about it in time.
And so Delilah continued along the spiraling house of Samson. He did return, tired but lively, a few days hence. She heard the sound of footsteps in the halls, and managed to catch him closing his study door. She pestered him with questions—about his auspicious lance, which he explained as a relic of a very distant ancestor, that had been blessed by holy blood. He agreed to teach her some letters.
"And until then I can of course read you the stories and romances, and some of the poems." Samson said nodding. "Or have a servant do so when I am away."
"Ah, only some? Why only some of the poems?" Delilah asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Because a man has the right to bury his shames, and many of those poems record my shames." He said. She laughed at that.
"Oh my, did my husband leave his heart on the page? How awful."
"To write one's passions is not shameful—but perhaps to articulate them as a youth would leaves something to be desired." He said, joining her in laughter.
Well, she reckoned she could find a servant who would tell her of those youthful poems.
After a time, Delilah tired of the house. With Samson's permit, she sent a carriage back to town—to learn what had become of her friends in her absence, and how affairs were ordered. Only Anne was willing to visit her, although Delilah never learned why. She delighted in showing the rooms to Anne, and enjoying tea.
The subject of the married life and the house came up again and again during their conversations over tea. Delilah even gave Anne a wonderful broach from one of the rooms, to mend the many struggles between them. Anne's curiosity was mostly sated, until she asked about the two-jeweled door. To Delilah's surprise, Anne's face fell at the explanation of the door. She shook her head, and placed the cup down on the table.
"Oh, poor Delilah. Poor girl, what will your mother say when she learns what you've married?" Anne said, shaking her head.
"A scholar and a prince? What's to be ashamed of that?" Delilah said, folding her arms.
"Do you believe it? No, truly, you and your mother have been tricked by a sorcerer. Go into the two faced door—there I wager he keeps his arts and secret magic to raise the building and enthrall you. You must go in at once, when he is far away. You'll find proof no doubt, that all this is but a game for him."
Delilah considered it, even as they moved on to other topics of gossip—the affairs and arguments of old flames, rumors of scandal, and more. When she eventually returned home, she found a note from her husband—he had left for business for several days, as his erstwhile family needed him. She was free to herself again.
She paced from each of the rooms, taking in all their delights. But still the twin gems haunted her. Day and night she stared at the door. Its grin taunted her with secrets—surely it was only a matter of time before she would learn its contents from her husband. Surely it was only a matter of waiting—surely, that room held nothing more viscous then rumors.
She crept quietly—she was unsure the servants would be forgiving. The door opened easily, the lock clicked silently as she stepped into a darkened room, candle in her shaking hand.
The room was bare stone. A window marked with claws let the sunlight into the forbidden room. And with its help, Delilah saw a dreadful site—her husband's empty skin was on the wall. Below, bloodstained table. Beside an iron cauldron lined with grease. A drop of blood fell on Delilah's face. She did not look up at the hundred empty eyes. She did not look up. She closed the door, silent as a cat.
But the lock would not click shut. To Delilah's horror, the lock would not shut. She strained with the key—if her husband came home, and found it open, Lord only knows what he would do. She tried and tried and tried to click the lock shut. The smiling door mocked her efforts until at last she forced the key free.
At once, Delilah called for a servant to fetch her a carriage—she wanted to see her mother, she said. She managed anyway. Her face was as pale as a corpse, her eyes full of terror. The servant, perhaps wise to what had happened, shook his head—there was but one carriage befitting a lady. And her husband had taken that to his relations.
Before she could ask for more, Delilah heard a clatter from the halls. She turned to the noise—poor girl, she turned to see her husband. His eyes glittered like gems. And now she saw how his skin seemed ill fit. It hung loose around his neck. He had put it on in a rush. His wrist seemed wrinkled, as it bent a saber.
"Ah, Delilah dearest—did you enjoy your day?" He asked, smiling like the moon. Delilah opened her mouth to speak. The words caught in her throat as Samson reached into his coat—and produced a single shard of worn gold.
"Delilah, dearest, I made one request. I found this, stuck in my study door—the tooth of my keys." He said, shaking his head. "I made but one request."
Before Delilah could speak, there was a flash of steel. Her body fell to the ground, as Samson held her head by her hair.
"And she was so lovely—I'll have to hang this one well." He said. With a wave of her sword, the blood was stopped and the floor was cleaned. "Her mother…is she passed already?"
The footmen, taking Delilah's body in his arms, nodded.
"Well, that is for the best I suppose. Had she any friends? I would rather not leave so soon." Samson asked, tilting his head.
"The lady was visited by one Anne from town, sir. She seemed wiser." The footman replied.
"That settles it—Send for her soon. I would hope to have a wife last longer." Samson said, shaking his head. "A few months is hard to savor. Light the iron as well—My hunt went well, and now I want to eat away my sorrow."
And so Anne and Samson lived happily ever after.
This week's story is a bit long, but was fun to write. I don't have much insightful commentary–I'm pretty sure sticking close to the origin was a good decision here, and didn't find much to improve on the original format. I hope it was enjoyable! Next week, more lively foundations!
A Dreadful Day For A Wedding
January 8, 2019 January 16, 2019 jamesbarton3	2 Comments
The Resulting Story:Samson and Delilah
This week's topic brings us to a common Gothic horror theme—the buried and forgotten secret. Especially in an ancient castle, who's revelation undoes their very identity. Whether ghosts and bodies buried in the deep, or more recent atrocities, the dangers of things forgotten and buried is great. We discussed—in one of our most popular articles—the burial of persons beneath foundations. This sort of secret will take us to many other places. Mostly France though.
There are a few stories that relate to crypts bearing terrible secrets. One worth considering is the story of Lancelot and Dolorous Guard. Here a secret is discovered on a literal crypt—the tomb that Lancelot must be interred in after he dies. The majority of the revelation was joyous, however, as it revealed the knight's heritage and true name. And that this castle was his. All well and good.
Lovecraft has his own story about the discovery of ancestry—the Rats in the Walls, where in our narrator learns of his heritage. His version, of course, is much more horrific. Without spoiling that story, I'll leave a link here. The origins of the Gothic Genre include underground churches and revelations of idenity in the Castle Ortanto—again, the revelation there is less of a horrible secret than the justification of the protagonist.
More pressing stories include those of monsters locked within castles. Here we go to France again, but later in time—the Age of Charlemagne. Here, we find Rinaldo who quests to forget his heart break over a lady love. He finds a land, where he sees a castle in a great pit. An old woman tells him a beast in the castle is kept from terrorizing the countryside, by regular sacrifices of flesh. Rinaldo agrees to venture forth and slay the beast—and attempts to do so. However, he fails at first. It is only when his love returns, and assists—over his loud protests—that the reptilian creature dies (it may be a dragon, but the description in Bulfinch does not specify. All the better I suppose.)
In Scotland, there is a similar story around Glamis Castle. There a secret chamber was used, according to tales dating back to 1840, a deformed and possibly vampiric child. Some accounts call the child a "human toad", others as simply a strange shadow. The creature's nature may never be known—at least one guest, the Earl of Crawford, suspected that the family invented the stories as they went along.
There is a creature that resembles this in Lovecraft as well—Byatis, a creature of Campbell's creation that lives in the Severn Valley sealed in a stone vault beneath a great tower. The toad is a terrible creature, and knows many truths of the world that are worth keeping secret of course. The Edgar Allen Poe story, the Fall of the House of Usher, relates to a dragon as the obstacle of owning a shield and castle as well.
A more common revelation however, is not a monster locked away but a monster about. The folktales of Bluebeard in particular. The story of Bluebeard is a common one through out the world. A young woman marries a powerful and rich noble. He must leave for business shortly after their wedding, and forbids she enter one room. When she ignores him, she finds the many bodies of his prior wives. Bluebeard then either kills her, or she escapes and her family avenges herself on him.
I mean he looks just lovely. Okay the eyes look maybe a bit crazy.
Variants of this story can be found the world over. In India, there is a version that features a tiger instead of a man or giant. The tiger fools the local brahmin, and marries his daughter. He abuses her at the home, threatening to reveal his true shape and devour her if she does not prepare meals based on what he hunts. And of course, being a tiger he hunts men and women in his woods. After a time, and a child is born—also a tiger—she sends a letter to her mother via crow, telling of this injustice. Her three brothers set out, and after some mishaps, rescue their sister and murder her child—and later her husband, when he tries to steal her back.
Among the people of Northern Canada, there is a similar story of a cannibal husband. Here the husband does more than demand food—he insists on feeding his wives salmon and nothing else to make them too fat to move. His latest wife, Mianna, outsmarts him however by eating ice and eventually making a dummy of ice to distract him. In time, she and her brothers kill Ímarasugssuaq, ending his rain of terror.
Here old Bluebeard looks a bit creepy but less crazy.
In England, the story of Mr. Fox has a similar ogre of a man—who's wife to be catches him kidnapping her replacement at the end and lopping off her hand! She sees this the day before their wedding breakfast, and is horrified at each step of the way. At breakfast, she reveals the grizzly reminder of the other bride, and her brothers slaughter Mr. Fox.
And there are so many forms of this story to go through! I've linked a collection of these folk tales here, for further investigation. The origins of the French version are debated—there is for instance, a common assumption that they relate to the serial killer Gilles de Rais. Gilles de Rais famously served with Joan of Arc in the Hundred Years War. Afterwards, he went a bit…strange. A rampant child murderer and accused occultist, Gilles lost much of his fortune perusing contact with a demon called Barron and alchemy. He eventually, after kidnapping a cleric, attracted the attention of the local Bishop. After his crimes came to light, he was executed.
Gilles De Rais needs more urban fantasy about his terrible alchemical experiments.
The other possible inspiration is Conomor the Accursed. Conomor is a Welsh or Breton king, known for his wanton cruelty. His own story begins after murdering three prior wives—and moving to his fourth, Trephine. Trephine refuses at first, due to Conomor's reputation. However, the king threatens to invade her fathers lands and ransack them if she does not marry him. As Conomor is away on business, she uncovers the secret room containing relics of the dead wives. After praying for their souls, she learns that Conomor will kill her if he finds her pregnant—a story has warned him that his own son will kill him.
When he returns and makes the attempt, Trephine is saved by the three wives. They rescue her, and she gives birth to her child in secret—hiding him before Conomor finds and kills her.While St. Glidas does retore her to life—and her child becomes St. Tremorous—Conomor sometimes kills his son anyway. Other versions have St. Glidas and an array of thirty bishops march on the Accursed and anathemize him. Conomor then falls ill and his soul is swept up in a river of blood. In some variations he is so wicked, neither heaven nor purgatory nor hell will have him, and so he still wanders the earth.
There are more stories that resemble it. The story of Three Crowns, for instance, has a forbidden room and a set of keys given to the daughter of a king by an Ogress. However, in this case, the revelation is not wicked, and in fact is what gets the daughter returned to her family. The story of Agib in Arabian Nights also features a forbidden door in his travels—this time by comely women, not an ogrish brute. The door hides something strange as well. But unlike Bluebeard, it is a wonder that punishes a lack of self control—not a pile of bodies from the owner.
The message of Bluebeard stories is often debated. The most overt is a condemnation of female curiosity, in the vein of Pandora's Box. That woman who are asking to many question get killed. However, these stories are sometimes taken in a different light. Rather than warnings against curiosity, they are warnings of the danger of husbands. In this way, they might be similar to Beauty and the Beast stories but with a much darker ending. Certainly, the horror of the story—that a fortunate marriage, which a family is in someway dependent on, turns out to be to a monstrous—is not one that has faded with time.
And then there are the similar stories of monstrous and secretive husbands that are reversed. We can talk for instance about the woman who married a crab or a dragon or a toad or even a Dog—these stories feature a similar prohibition, usually related to seeing the host. In Greece for instance we have the story of Eros and Pysche.
Pysche is told that she will marry a horrible monster if left on a certain cliff. The winds carry here to a wondrous palace, where an invisible set of servants and invisible husband await She is told never to look at him—but comes to enjoy his visits, his singing, and his presence. In time she becomes pregnant. Her sisters eventually worry about not hearing from their own, and go to meet her. Having heard from Pysche the arrangement, they persuade her to look upon her husband at night with a wax candle—however, upon finding her husband to be the beautiful god Eros, Pysche lets wax drop on his skin waking him. Eros flys off in a rage. Aphrodite, his mother, then gives Pysche a set of tasks to complete before she can regain her husband.
Another instance of this sort of story the story of the Tibetan Woman who married a dog. A single mother with three daughters receives tsampa from a dog—the dog asks they not eat it. The four of them eat it after three years, however, and the dog returns the next day. He asks for one of the daughters as a wife in compensation—which the mother relents to. The first two daughters who marry him hate him and are sent back. The third and youngest however is polite. After having two puppies by the dog, she passes a palace and wishes she lived there. The dog goes to the palace to beg and is "killed"–after his skin is stripped, he reveals himself as the king of the palace and the two puppies become children. A happy ending to the tail.
From Italy there is the story of the Dark King—which fuses Eros and Bluebeard. A young girl wanders into a cave, and finds it full of luxuries. Invisible hands serve her food, bath her, and dress her—it is so relaxing and wonderful that she forgets the entrance of the cave has vanished. After three months she meets the Moor king of the place, who gives her keys to all the rooms save one. After another three months, she has seen all the wonders of the place, and asks to go see her relations. She is allowed, on the condition that she return.
Yeah, there's a weird trend in illustrations to make Bluebeard vaguely Middle Eastern? Like that's clearly his hair, but it's also totally meant to be a turban right?
Appeasing her relatives and friends with gold, she enjoys herself and comes back. Three months later, she leaves again—this time, however, she boasts of the wealth in the palace. Her friends are eager to see. They suggest, when she explains that her husband won't allow it, to kill her husband instead. They suggest sneaking in at night—and doing so, she finds him unsightly. When she goes to kill him, however, hot wax falls off her candle. He wakes and is saddened. As he dies, he offers her three hairs. When burned, he will save her from whatever danger she is in.
She, after an incident of cross dressing, mistaken identity, seduction by a queen, and imprisonment by a king, does burn the hairs. These bring about an army to save her from execution and even restore the Dark King to save her. The two are then married—and the Dark King becomes a beautiful prince, who's kingdom was enchanted until he was wed with consent.
Seriously, there's some gruesome images on the Wiki commons–I didn't feel like sharing them here.
…I'm personally going to assume he stayed dark skinned, because that makes the 'twist' ending more palatable.
From Turkey, there is the story of a Padishah, who marries his daughter off to a horse—as she is the only one that the horse allows to feed her. Unlike other stories, the husband immediately reveals himself as an amazing hero—when the daughter's sisters mock her for her lack of a husband in a tournament, he appears and triumphs. He only asks that she not reveal who he is. Like the Dark King, he gives her three wisps of hair to burn when she needs him—and on the third day, she reveals his secret.
Her husband is taken away—his hag mother plans to kill her daughter-in-law as well. The daughter finds their dwelling at the end of the earth, on a great mountain. The mother is tricked into accepting her without murder—but still tries, with impossible and confusing household tasks to kill her. With her husbands help, the daughter triumphs each time.
Eventually the two flee, and are pursued by his mother and aunt, both witches (although with her snake whip, the aunt resembles a Fury). With some guile and magic, they escape and return home to live happily ever after.
These we might consider similar—they suggest that what at first appears monstrous is not as frightening as it seems. Indeed, the difference between a Beast and Bluebeard is the presence of genuine danger—Bluebeard is here to kill you. The beast isn't.
We also can talk of the reverse, although it is less a horror story. That of men who take immortal wives, and defy their rules. Selkies and swan maidens are chief among these, but fairy brides are almost as troublesome.
The tabletop game, Bluebeard's Bride highlights how effecting such a story can still be. And I think in this case, the tale needs little modification—this is the rare form of horrific knowledge that is genuine in its monstrous form. A hidden child or lost ancestry is less easily disturbing. But discovering one shares a home with a serial killer? That still has power. That has visceral fear.
So, we've talked a lot about one of the most horrific forms of folklore—finding a monster in your old home. What will we make of it? Well, come back next week to see!
Buck, Rachel Harriette. Roman Legends: A Collection of Fables and Folklore of Rome. Estes and Lauriat, Boston 1877
Chopel, Norbu. Folktales of Tibet. Ltwa, 2006.
Kunos, Ignacz (Tr. Bain Nishbet). Turkish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales. A.H. Bullen, London 1901
January 2, 2019 jamesbarton3	1 Comment
This Week's Prompt: :78. Wandering thro' labyrinth of narrow slum streets—come on distant light—unheard-of rites of swarming beggars—like Court of Miracles in Notre Dame de Paris.
The Prior Research:The Court of Miracles
Dear Mariam
It is a happy lie to presume that the current state of affairs will continue, uninterrupted, forever. In Berlin, I was introduced to the notion among some brahmins of India, that the world was always cycling and shifting. Some suggested that every moment was distinct and novel, others that the world was a great wheel among a multitude of other wheels. I find such notions endearing. They suggest, ultimately, that this state of being we enjoy will in time come again and again.
I was in Paris last week—a city with wonders and bohemians alike. A city that has seen its changes and reversions, its miracles and blasphemies. Are there a people as resentful of good governance as the French? We will see—the future holds many secrets. It was a long night when I decided to retire home, coffee and wine having mixed in my head a bit strongly. I was aware, despite myself, I was critically aware of all my senses as I walked towards my home for the visit.
I was keenly aware of the stones that felt through my shoes, of the lights on the streets, I could read them all very well. Despite this, my mind was drunk as a sailor. All the senses in the world are nought if the mind is gone—and so I found myself now moving through back roads, convinced that I had found some short cut or another to home. Yes, your dear brother still has not learned to hold his liquor. And Paris, lacking as it is in pea soup, is still a city designed by madmen for rats more than for the intellectual and rational mind of an inebriated university student. Some Cretan must have felt quite clever building up it's walls and streets haphazardly and in rounds.
I reached that edge of the city, the halo of darkness that marks the seemly from the misbegotten. The penumbra of the city of lights I suppose, where even in my disreputable state I was aware danger was about. The bark of a stray dog alerted me, and I turned to see two men slumped on the side of the wall—talking and pointing off in my direction. The alley over had a mangey hound, low to the ground and bigger than me by a good amount. One of the men shouted something at the dog, who barked again at me. My heart in my neck, I turned and headed away, along the outer roads.
The light was scarcer here—the buildings in disrepair. Notre Dome still towered in the distance, but her bells resounded on empty streets. My own foot falls were most of my company, and the faint outline of my long shadow among street lights. The night was oppressive, and the haze of wine was wearing thin. I grew more aware of my danger, so far from where I was—in fact, I barely knew the names of these avenues. And yet, as my mind returned to its fullness, my senses receded away. My eye began to fail me, and I saw strange shapes shifting—I heard noises from nowhere, and caught whiffs of the party long past.
So there I was, fumbling in a darkened street—certain it was empty, but hearing movement just out of my sight. The occasional meow of a cat or warning bark of a street dog kept my on edge as I started back—I would head towards places I knew, but find the streets and alleys turned me around again. In these valleys of darkness I felt condemned to wander until dawn—at last I saw a light, strange and ferocious in the distance.
My sister, you must think your poor brother a fool for approaching a strange light in the middle of the night, far from home and in places of danger. And you may be correct— but in my defense there is I think some human instinct to seeking out things to see, and that instinct over came my good sense. I do not regret it. If it was foolishness, then I have become one of God's own fools now.
The source of the dancing lights was apparently shortly after I started after it—a fire. Open, on an autumn night. That alone was not surprising, I reckoned. No, what was shocking about the flames were their size. It was a bonfire, surrounded by all sides so that the buildings hid it from authorities. It wasn't until later, when I recounted to my friend the shape of the place, that I learned I had been at the most infamous court in France—where bandits and beggars commingled. And I saw them, I did. Around the fire, speaking and dancing, planning and training in the method of their profession.
The moment my eyes fell upon the crowd, I made towards the edges. Do not fret, sister, I was not immediately spotted as a man of means who might be extorted. The benefit of the lifestyle of a student is that I am used to appearing impoverished. So I made my way, carefully and slowly, around the crowd.
For the land of miracles, little wonders failed to happen. I heard children laugh, yes, but also weep. Babes cried out, and comforted by mothers. Bellies rumbled hungry . Men shouted, cursed, talked of God and damnation. Some spoke of great cons on the local priests—how they might get more meals yet from this or that source. But slowly, I heard one by one the topic turn to 'the nightly business'.
It was as I was on the edge, that they appeared—the nocturnal crew. A group of three or four, with one shorter man at the head. At the center of the fire, a dull drum beat began that silenced the crowd. I turned and listened, as a figure began to speak, in a voice as low as thunder and rumbling like flame. He spoke at a length, and I cannot repeat it here. Not only for concern of my sister's sensibillities, but because the whole of the speaker's tongue was lost on me—at times, French, yes, but at times in Spainish and German or even languages in the East. The finery of his words were thus lost on me—as was the outbursts and shouts from his fellows. But the thrust, that I understood.
There is an old Jewish story I heard once, about four men who saw the face of God. One went mad, one died, one became a heretic, and one became holy. I found it an amusing understanding of the truth, but little more. Now I cannot say which I am. I sit writing this letter, having heard a man—and still, I am uncertain if he were a man, woman, or angel—recount the suffering of the world. I have seen his hand point towards me, however incidentally, and recited the crimes of the world.
He talked of starving children, of thieves and murders in palaces of bone, of the blood watered sugar canes, of the shots that rang out in town squares. He talked of lives that never could be, of villages and peoples trampled undnereath, of the four horsemen unleashed—how following conquest had come the ills of war, famine, and plague. And how now, now at the turning of the years, it would finally end.
I fled at once, away and no longer caring that I drew attention to myself. I found my way, stumbling, wheezing—yes, your dear brother has yet to learn proper exercise—to an officer of the law. To a street that, I realized, was well lit. To a place, a place where I could find my way home.
That was a week ago. Yet the fire, the fire still burns on my skin. It holds some space in my head, it murmurs in my ear. That Judgement Day may come at the hands of man and not God is a terrible thing. That it might seize me, at any moment—surely this has driven men mad.
A man cannot bear that great weight—I expect the cracks to form soon. It is coming soon, it is winding down the wheel of fate soon. When judgment comes, will it be our last? Paris, my sister, Paris is kindling. Perhaps it won't come soon—I pray I do not see it soon. For the righteous are against us, and I see no recourse or escape. The sea will not take me, and even in Berlin I know those words will haunt the streets.
I wonder now, when I have the patience and mind, if this tribulation has happened before? Has the wheel of fate turned past, or is the end of all ends coming for us? On that day, will my name be called? Will the dull thud of the razor resume, the old heart of Paris restored? Will they cheer when my head rolls free? Or worse, will I be swallowed up—nameless in the flood?
I'm not fond of this story. I think it came out unfinished, and that it was both too politically overt, and too vague in it's horror. It feels like perhaps the pay off to a larger build up or a story where the 'threat' is so clearly the hero, that it's hard to be scared with the main character. Aw well.
Next week! Secrets beneath the castle walls! What is waiting in the forbidden room?


text:
UFC fighter, Lando Vannata staying in shape while quarantined
by: Jared Chester
Posted: Mar 22, 2020 / 07:23 PM MDT / Updated: Mar 23, 2020 / 07:30 AM MDT
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Locally trained UFC fighter, Lando Vannata is coming off of a big win in February at UFC Fight Night 167 in Rio Rancho, but his lifestyle has changed since the current pandemic started.
Vannata trains at Jackson's Acoma, and when the outbreak happened, his gym had to close. Lando now is having to train in quarantine at his home gym inside of his garage.
"I am lucky enough that I just started building a garage gym after my last fight. So, I got the heavy bag in there and I got a few other tools and toys in there, and I just do whatever I feel like. Whether its calisthenics, lifting weights, bag work, walking on rails, you know whatever it is. I have kind of been enjoying it a little bit. It's kind of a nice little reprieve," said Lando Vannata.
It has been a weird couple of months for this professional fighter, as he went from victory in February to now a standstill, but Lando doesn't let it get to him. Vannata understands the severity of this COVID-19 outbreak and feels for the people that are being affected by this virus the hardest.
"I have a former teammate that lives in Italy and hearing from her how bad it is like that's what really sucks. For me, I am just an athlete and I got plenty of time in this sport. This is just a small hiccup in the road man, but for other people, it is a very big thing. So, I feel much worse for them than I do myself," said Vannata.
New Mexico United unveil 2020 home uniforms
Sports Desk: City golf courses see more people come out to play
More Local Sports Stories
by Van Tate / Jan 15, 2021
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – The Lobo women's basketball team scored well below their nation-leading 95.4 points per game in a 78-60 loss at UNLV Friday. The setback was the first for the team this season. The Lobos led by as much as 15 points in the game, they even took a 12 point lead into the half.
The Lobos got off to a bad start in the second half and was barely clinging to the lead when the fourth quarter started. That is the quarter where everything seemed to fall apart for the Lobos. UNLV outscored the Lobos 43-17 in the second half. That includes a 21 to 4 fourth quarter. "You know, we called a couple of time outs, tried to get organized," said Head Coach Mike Bradbury. "We actually got a basket out of one that I thought might spark us a little bit. Then we just, we couldn't guard them off the dribble and that's what got us."
Carlos Condit says a lot on the line in fight against Matt Brown
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) - His last outing brought a victory against Court McGee. Carlos Condit is hoping he can go back to back when he faces Matt Brown in the octagon at UFC Fight Island 7 on Saturday.
Condit and Brown are the co-main events to headliners Max Holloway and Calvin Kattar. After scoring his victory in October, Condit said he didn't want to wait too long before fighting again. UFC gave him his wish.
Angelo Leo has no intentions of losing in first title defense
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Angelo Leo has put in the work and is ready to make his first title defense. The WBO junior featherweight champion will finally get a chance to meet Stephen Fulton in Uncasville, Connecticut on Jan. 23.
COVID-19 has prevented the fighters from engaging in battle twice. The first time is when Fulton came down with an illness in August of 2020. Tramaine Williams filled in for Fulton and lost to Leo for the, then, vacant title. Leo was to meet Fulton for his first title defense in December of 2020 before he to was stricken with COVID-19.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Clear and Consistent use of the terms "Motion" and "Resolution"
Party Commentary
This is both a change to the Constitution and is a party directive which reverses the common Canadian understanding of the meanings of the words" resolution" and "motion".
In Canada a resolution is defined as "a main motion that needs to be expressed formally in writing, to attach a special level of importance, such as policy or constitutional amendments."
WHEREAS a motion is movement and a resolution is resolved;
WHEREAS motions are moved prior to being resolved;
WHEREAS a motion may be rejected and therefore never resolved;
WHEREAS a resolution is resolved on its adoption;
WHEREAS a motion on submission cannot be a resolution;
BE IT RESOLVED that wherever in the constitution, in the web site, and in the process and procedures of all our committees, reference is made to a resolution in a context clearly prior to its resolution, that the reference be changed to "motion";
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that wherever a reference is made to a "motion" in a context clearly following its adoption that the reference be changed to "resolution."
Ard van Leeuwen, Burt Folkins, Colin Old, Constantine Kritsonis, Cyrille Giraud, Danny Polifroni, Diana Nunes, Erich Jacoby-Hawkins, Frances Coates, Ian Soutar, Joe Foster, Johan Hamels, Kay Foster, Lorraine Rekmans, Marcus Madsen, Mario Leclerc, Mark MacKenzie, Norbert d'Costa, Saul Bottcher, Sharon Danley, Stacey Leadbetter
According to the CGA publication, "How to Conduct a Meeting," -- "Though the terms "motion" and "resolution" are frequently used as synonyms, the terms are separate and distinct. A motion is a proposition placed before a meeting for discussion and decision. If, as a result of that discussion, the proposal is carried by a vote of the members, it is considered a resolution of the meeting."
This is a confusion which exists throughout the deliberations of the Green party. It exists in the way we call our BGMs, in the way we present ideas for discussion, in the way we have organized and presented our web site, and in the way our executive operates. It is not being pedantic to request that this terminology be normalised.