Manor house

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Tales of Nightshade: Curse of Job (Part Three)

Posted by LediaR on February 28, 2013
Posted in: Creative Writing, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Horror, Ledia Runnels, Magic, Magic Book, Novella Excerpt, Witch Hunter. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Full Moon

(Photo found at this site: http://www.stargazing.net/david/moon/moonrise20050917.html)

Druzelle stood in the garden outside the Earl of Campbell’s manor house.  With a swish of her hand, she became the image of Sarah, the Earl’s housekeeper.  Quietly, she made her way into the dwelling.

As Druzelle passed through a hallway, she happened by a rather dusty cupboard.  “Tsk, Tsk what an untidy maidservant you are, Sarah, dear,” she remarked while running a genteel finger through the grime.

Dusting her hands together, Druzelle found herself heading down still another passageway.  Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks as a chill swept up her spine.  Just inside one of the rooms sat the traitorous witch, Yulricka.

Druzelle quickly stepped from view.  “What is she doing here with one who hangs witches?”  Druzelle stood perfectly still, not wanting to continue past the room.  Yulricka was a malcontent in the witch community and possessed a strong telepathic power, though that is about all the witchcraft she did posses; Druzelle feared the other might have the cognizance to see through her disguise.

With quick side steps, Druzelle turned to head down an adjacent passageway.  Then she spied something on the floor.  Reaching down, Druzelle drew up a miniature silver locket.  Crushing the fragile necklace against her chest, she whispered.  “Surely this is the same one that Luena always wears.”

Quickly, Druzelle ducked down the other passage that led to the larder.  There, she surmised would surely be servants from which she could hear the manor tattle and perhaps find out something concerning Luena.

Druzelle stood outside the manor house once again.  “Ignorant peasants!” she howled.  “All they can talk about is how high the bread has risen and if snow will come early to the fields.  Not a one of them has any good gossiping skills.  They are, undoubtedly, the most boring bunch of old crones I have ever seen.  Humph!”  In a flash, the rotund witch vacated the premises.

Druzelle laid the tiny necklace in Brunda’s outstretched hand.  Casting another temporal displacement spell, the two watched the vision of Yulricka jerking the locket from Luena’s neck and tossing it to the floor.  The scene faded as the little girl and her assailant moved away from the necklace.

Brunda’s eyes narrowed to slits.  “I’ll see that witch become jackal tidbits!”

Eagerly, Druzelle put in. “At least now we know who was responsible for Luena’s capture.”

“Yes we do,” Brunda continued to speak in low, sinister intonations. “When I get my hands on that…” Without finishing her words, Brunda strode across to her work table, where sat her sleeping crystal ball.  “I have been trying to find Luena within its depths all day.  It must be Yulricka’s doing that no image of the child can be found.”

Druzelle began to wring her hands ruefully.  “What shall we do now?  How do we avert Yulricka’s magic?”

“I’m not afraid of that traitorous bag o’bones!”  Brunda thundered.  “Once the moon’s golden fingers touch Luena, she will be able to tell us where she is.  We must not underestimate the child’s power, Druzelle!”  Then Brunda chuckled to herself.  “Yes, Yulricka will wish that she had never tangled with us.”

(Continued…  https://creativemusingsoflediar.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/tales-of-nightshade-curse-of-job-part-four/)

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Tales of Nightshade: Nightshade (Part Five)

Posted by LediaR on February 21, 2013
Posted in: Creative Writing, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Horror, Ledia Runnels, Magic, Magic Book, Novella Excerpt, Witch. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Hot Tea(Photo found at http://tinyurl.com/c8yr99p)

As her cottage came into view, Brunda slowed her pace and circled over the house. Then she headed toward the far edge of her land. Hovering near the wild herb field, she stepped onto the ground and walked until she crossed the imaginary line where she judged her property to end. She turned and gazed across a small river that skirted the opposite side of her land. Earlier that day, the river had been almost a mile from this place. Now it lay at Brunda’s feet.

A whoop of joy rang from her lips. Her space-bending spell had truly worked! Now the herb fields, her house and the woods that surrounded them would be hidden from all except the creatures that soared into the air, for only from on high could the land herein be seen as it truly was.

But Brunda did not have long to rejoice in her success. A sudden clamor rose from the western horizon. The shrewd old woman turned to scan the area. The sky was lit as if by a glowing sunset, yet the time was just past midnight. The pungent smell of burning torches preceded a multitude of maddened town’s folk as they swarm over the ridge.

“It’s the witch; just where the Earl said we should find her!” The scream of a crazed citizen rang in Brunda’s ears.

She watched the incensed mob toward her and Mandrake. Shaken, but undaunted, Brunda reached up to stroke her cat. “Well now, isn’t it characteristic of the old goat to use that weapon from his arsenal. Guess the Earl thought he’d make sure this old woman departed alive or dead.”

“Well, if it’s a show they want, then a show they most surely will receive!” she cackled. This time Brunda’s laugh held no glee. It a horrible thing to hear.

She leaped onto her broom and flew high into the air. Poised some fifty feet above the ‘citizens’, Brunda sent a surge of fireworks into their midst. Amid their screams of terror, she pointed her broom toward the western horizon and flew over the crowd and away into the night. She didn’t stop until the manor house of the Earl of Campbell loomed below her. Circling near the garden, she leaned down to untie the last bundle of herbs that clung to her broom. The pouch had the word SARAH etched upon it.

“It would take the simplest of spells to lure the Earl’s trusted serving woman,” she whispered angrily as her hand twitched against the string.

The moon hung on the horizon when Brunda flew over where the incensed mob had been. The only signs of their passing were a few smoldering torches lying about the opened fields.

“Good enough,” she muttered triumphantly and flew directly home.

Later as Brunda sat reading a book of magic, Mandrake drew her attention to a massive crystal ball that sat upon the table. She scanned the orb’s smoky heart and found the image of the Earl of Campbell smiling down upon the writ that would make Brunda’s fertile valley his.

“He is foolishly unaware of the latest turn of events, eh Mandrake?”  Brunda chuckled.

A smirk crossed the Duke’s face as he laid the parchment aside and reached to take up a cup of hot tea Sarah had prepared for him. He held the porcelain cup to his lips, savoring the warm vapors before taking a deep drink.

“Too bad I didn’t leave that pouch for Sarah.” Brunda mused. “I’m sure she would have gladly sweeten the Earl’s tea with the fine, poisonous herbs it possessed.” The old sorceress waved her hand across the sphere. It stood like an empty black pearl. “But there’s always next time, eh Mandrake?” She chuckled and went back to her book.

(Continued… https://creativemusingsoflediar.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/tales-of-nightshade-daughter-of-the-silvery-moon-part-one/)

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