Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

UNTITLED 2004 Moore

The townsfolk called the tavern Death's Door because of the ancient, dead tree where the dead men hung. The smell of decay and drunkenness was enough to keep the law away thus making the place perfect for dark deals. A figure came up the beaten road. It was dressed in all black, from the hooded, weather worn cloak to the road worn dusty boots. All but its eyes were covered by a scarf with a slit in the mouth so it could be heard. It was a being of great power that was neither dead, alive or undead by mortal means.

As It approached the bar, the crows and other vultures, who rarely leave their meals, took to the sky in fright. "Away! Flee! Fly! It that is evil comes! It that is evil comes!" they shrieked to the wind. It stopped under the dead tree and stood under a carcass of one of the men. The flesh was mostly eatten away but the figure knew it was the one It wanted. It waved its gloved hand and the corpse exhaled. The stench would have taken out any man.

"I have brought you back from the pits. Tell me," the figure said in a low baritone, "is the assassin you spoke of in there?"

"Yes," the corpse sighed. The figure waved his hand again and the corpse went still. The figure entered the tavern.

It was a typical tavern with bar wenches in their skimpy wears and the gruff, drunken men arm wrestling, boasting, laughing, harrassing the bar wenches, and exchanging some not so legal substances. The keeper was a forty year old man who was more muscle than fat. As the figure moved closer to the bar his beard bristled and his mind was screaming "Run!!!" But nonetheless he moved forward with his best attitude. "What'll it be?"

"Wine. With three dried herbs."

The keeper never heard of such a thing and asked what herbs were to be used.

"Mistletoe, Sumak, and Wolf's Bane," the figure said as it spotted the man it was looking for. As the barkeeper went to the back room, It extended some of its power to the man. The man's eyes closed partially and went dead. The drink that he had was halfway to his mouth frozen in place.