Adventure, at last! I winged into the night, searching.
But the Bigfoot, I was too late, he was not there.
Doomed. I am doomed to a dull life.
Brigitte’s Journey - A Tarot Tale
The Fool. The gargoyle hangs on the cathedral wall and spouts water at passersby, unaware of what it may become.
The Magician. An alchemist admires the gargoyle. Controlling the forces of the five elements, he combines them with the powers of the above and below to create for himself a familiar.
The High Priestess. But much remains hidden, even to the wise alchemist. Unseen forces shape his magic and what is to come.
The Empress. Life. The gargoyle stretches her wings, and magic flows through her veins. She is magic, and so she makes magic. Her master uses her power to do much good.
The Emperor. The gargoyle is bound to obey her master. As his helping familiar, she has great power, but little freedom. There are rules.
The Hierophant. Her master is a good man. He teaches her about magic and the world. But the unseen forces come into play. The gargoyle has self-awareness, and this makes her difficult. She wants more. So, the alchemist teaches her the importance of a purpose, and that her purpose is to have a spirit that is for the good.
The Lovers. The gargoyle’s beloved master dies, and no one knows to claim her. She must choose – to declare herself to her master’s heirs, or to stay secret and free?
The Chariot. Understanding the only way she can be truly good is if she has the will to freely choose to be good, the gargoyle chooses liberty.
Strength. She finds no opportunities to do good in the city of men. So, the gargoyle conquers her fears and leaves the familiar city to live in the forest.
The Hermit. The gargoyle studies a new kind of magic, the magic of the forest spirits. But she is apart from them, and alone.
Wheel of Fortune. After many years, a fey creature appears and gives her an opportunity to do good. But he has tricked the gargoyle. Her actions lead to great evil, and two children are put in danger.
Justice. The gargoyle rights her wrong and gives the children the means to free themselves. They do.
Hanged Man. The gargoyle realizes that in her years in the forest, she has learned much but accomplished nothing to her life’s purpose. She makes a sacrifice...
Death. ...And returns to the home of the alchemist, presenting herself to his eldest son. He learns to command her. Her life of freedom is over, and she is bound as a familiar once again.
Temperance. But the children of the alchemist are good. Though she no longer has free will, she is doing good. She has achieved a kind of balance, and she is patient.
The Devil. The last in the line of alchemists is murdered by a necromancer. He commands the gargoyle for his own dark purposes. She sees no escape from his cruelty.
The Tower. On the command of the necromancer, the gargoyle commits a great evil. Her purpose is shattered. She has become a creature of darkness. All is chaos. The gargoyle despairs.
The Star. An enchantress arrives and promises to free the gargoyle. The gargoyle feels the stirrings of hope.
The Moon. The enchantress ends the necromancer’s life. The gargoyle is freed. As if awakening from a nightmare, the gargoyle joins the enchantress as her familiar. The next step in her evolution has begun.
The Sun. The gargoyle works to the good again, her purpose restored. She gains a measure of independence and friendship. The gargoyle’s spirit blossoms.
Judgement. To save an innocent, the gargoyle is called again to sacrifice.
The World. The gargoyle becomes what she was meant to be. Her journey is complete, and a new cycle may begin.
Drunk Occultist Warns Demon on the Loose
(Philadelphia, PA) Thirteen skulls stolen from the Church of Saint Germain were recovered by police Thursday night.
Local police received an anonymous call about a trespasser in an abandoned house – popularly believed to be haunted – on Whiskey Road. The sheriff’s department arrived to find Alastair Smythe in the home surrounded by thirteen skulls and “visibly incapacitated.”
Officers said Smythe had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and stank of tequila. He alleged the tequila was part of a “magic circle” he’d poured around himself and the skulls. Smythe urged the officers and public to drink too, so they would be protected.
Smythe explained he’d been attacked in the middle of a ritual by a red-headed witch and a gargoyle, causing the lion-shaped demon king which he’d summoned to escape. He claimed the witch and the gargoyle were currently in pursuit of the demon king, and insisted anyone caught outside the tequila circle was in mortal danger.
The skulls were stolen from a church crypt display sometime between 6 PM on Sunday and 10 AM on Monday. Reverend Lester Shepherd said, “We are relieved to have the mortal remains returned and to see the resolution of this shocking crime. The people who these skulls belonged to now may rest again in peace.”
Smythe is being charged with breaking and entering and corpse theft.
The lion, the witch, and the gargoyle remain at large.
Backstory
These short stories were all originally published in my reader newsletter as an experiment. Could I write two pieces of flash fiction a month and get my regular writing done?
Yes, I could, though it wasn’t easy, and I soon gave up on trying to keep all my short stories at flash length, under 1,000 words. Later, I decided I’d publish twelve of these stories as a (better edited) collection. A subscriber suggested I add a novella to the mix, and The Chaotic Detective was born.
Some of these shorts have stories behind them. Others were mad scrambles of, Oh, hell, I’ve got another story due.
The Battle of Winnemucca was inspired by a trip through the Nevada town. I stayed in a hotel on the main drag across from the cemetery. There was indeed a chicken drive-through across the street, and the cemetery smelled like fried chicken.
Riga and the Gatekeeper was inspired by another trip – this time to Pennsylvania. The cemetery in that story is a mash-up of the old colonial cemeteries I saw in that state.
Drunk Occultist Warns Demon on the Loose was one of those stories ripped from the headlines. In July, thieves stole 21 skulls from a crypt in an English church. The number has occult overtones, and the story was generally weird and spooky, and seemed like something Brigitte and Riga might get involved in. But not in England. Riga generally sticks to the US.
If you’re a frequent reader of the Riga Hayworth novels, you may have noticed that Tarot crops up quite frequently. There are two reasons for this. First, Tarot really is a good training tool when it comes to esoteric knowledge and mystical symbolism. Second, I have a serious Tarot deck habit. I’ve told myself, “This is absolutely the last deck I’m buying,” at least a dozen times.
The twenty-two cards in the Major Arcana are believed by many to represent the soul’s journey to enlightenment. The soul starts out at zero, the Fool, innocent and free but ignorant. Over time, it’s schooled in the ways of the world. These are necessary lessons to survive, but as a consequence, the ego grows, losing a spiritual connection. But all is not lost, because as (if) the journey continues, the soul can achieve enlightenment. This is called The Fool’s Journey.
In Brigitte’s Journey – a Tarot Tale, I overlaid The Fool’s Journey on Brigitte’s story. I wouldn’t say Brigitte has reached enlightenment by the end of it, but she’s in a much better place.
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About the Author
Kirsten Weiss has never met a dessert she didn’t like, and her guilty pleasures are watching Ghost Whisperer re-runs and drinking red wine. The latter gives her heartburn, but she drinks it anyway.
Now based in San Mateo, CA,
she writes genre-blending cozy mystery, supernatural and steampunk suspense, mixing her experiences and imagination to create vivid worlds of fun and enchantment.
If you like funny cozy mysteries, check out her Pie Town, Paranormal Museum and Wits’ End books. If you’re looking for some magic with your mystery, give the Witches of Doyle, Riga Hayworth and Rocky Bridges books a try. And if you enjoy steampunk mysteries, the Sensibility Grey series might be for you.
Kirsten sends out original short stories of mystery and magic to her mailing list. If you’d like to get them delivered straight to your inbox, make sure to sign up for her newsletter at kirstenweiss.com
Feel free to follow her on Twitter or Bookbub, get in touch on Facebook, post a picture of this book to Instagram and tag her @kirstenweissauthor, or send her an email. She’ll answer you personally…which may be a good or a bad thing, depending on your perspective.
Copyright
Copyright ©2018 Kirsten Weiss. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites and their content.
Visit the author website: KirstenWeiss.com
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites and their content.
Interior photos by Kirsten Weiss, 2018.
Cover art by RebecaCovers.
misterio press / ebook edition November, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1-944767-37-2
The Gargoyle Chronicles: A Riga Hayworth Mystery (Riga Hayworth Paranormal Mystery Book 8) Page 12