Crow Of Thorns

by Richard Mosses

  “I got your call.” Rachael stands up. “Or maybe it was hers. My colleagues heard my phone constantly ringing in the staff room. There was some weird message. At first, just you begging for help, then a woman starts calling me a traitor. It was a hard decision to come here. After what you said about your wife getting weird calls, I didn't know what to think. I'm surprised you're not in a pool of your own blood. Are you really suicidal?”

  Am I? I stay out in all conditions. I don't eat. I get sick and run away from the hospital. I give myself severe frostbite. I cut off my own thumb. After I lose my job. “You'd think I'd do a better job.”

  “Who was the woman?”

  “You can't see her?”

  Rachael turns around. “Who?”

  I sit up, and then stand. My thumb is a mess. I go to a spot midway between the two women. “This is Midori. She is a powerful spirit. An ally.”

  “Oh, I'm just an ally am I?” Midori says.

  “What are you doing here?” I say.

  “Like Corbie?” Rachael says. “I can hear her. Is there something in the brambles?”

  “I heard your scream,” says Midori. “I wouldn't want my ally coming to harm, now would I?”

  Rachael can see and hear Midori? Is this really happening? I don't want to lose Rachael. I've already told Midori how things were between us. “Thank you for looking out for me,” I say.

  “Why is this friend of yours calling me a traitor?”

  Honestly has never been the best policy. I've been as honest as I can all my life. Look where it got me. If I have a hope of anything with Rachael though I need to tell her.

  “You're a traitor because we have an alliance,” Midori says. “You're trying to come between us and form your own alliance. I can't let that happen.”

  “What the hell is she talking about?”

  “I told her that I was seeing you, trying to have a proper relationship,” I say. “That I needed to keep myself grounded in the Living World. As she says, we had agreed to an alliance.”

  “Exactly what kind of alliance?” Rachael says.

  “He's my husband,” Midori says.

  “What?” I say.

  “You got married?” Rachael says.

  “First I heard about it. Since when am I your husband?”

  “We agreed an alliance and we consummated it,” Midori says. “That makes you my husband.”

  “That wasn't the nature of our agreement,” I say.

  “You consummated it?” Rachael says. “You had sex with this woman? When did this happen?”

  “It was like having an erotic dream,” I say. “It wasn't real.”

  “I had babies,” Midori smiles. “It was real enough.”

  “I'm out of here,” Rachael says.

  “Don't go, please. I'm trying to make this work.”

  “This is too fucking much to ask, Nik. Mutilation, killing yourself, I could maybe get used to that. Spirit wives. No fucking chance.”

  “Rachael, please. We can find a way to make this work. I need you. But I need Midori's help too.”

  “No. This is too fucked up,” Rachael says. “Don't call me.”

  “Rachael.”

  She leaves, feet ringing on the steps.

  “I'll see you around, lover.” Midori laughs and fades from view.

  I can't stand anymore. I'm on my knees looking up into the clear blue sky. The moon is already visible.

  I have no job, no partner, no income, no house, and no friends. Blood is seeping through the bandage on my thumb.

  Then I see it. I missed it before. A pyramid of food cans, just in front of the tunnel.

  I don't know how they got here or when. Must have been while I was getting fired.

  I get some painkillers from my bag, but I need more water, my throat is dry and I can swallow. I climb the rusted steps and walk through the Tent City. Someone calls my name. I turn and they wave. Perhaps we're a community after all?

  I lift my injured hand without thinking and wave back. I feel the blood rush into my thumb when I lower it, it throbs with each pulse.

  This was how it started, in pain and mutilation, and this is how it goes; I'm a wounded man now, a shaman.

  We hope you enjoyed reading Crow Of Thorns. If you have a moment, please leave us a review - even if it's a short one. We want to hear from you.

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  Best regards,

  Richard Mosses and the Creativia Team

  About the Author

  Richard grew up with the threat of mutually assured destruction, and public information films haunted by the robed Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water. His earliest reading included folk tales about plucky country folk fooling the Devil, alongside the heroes and creatures of Greek and Norse myth. In time he discovered the works of Stephen King, Clive Barker, and H.P. Lovecraft.

  In his early teens Richard started storytelling, including scripting a zombie movie one summer in which the local kids all had parts. Much of his effort went into running roleplaying games, and eventually he started writing short stories too.

  Going to university in Glasgow, he studied Laser Physics; a misguided attempt to enter the world of special effects. Richard joined a number of clubs and societies, running the Science Fiction and Roleplaying clubs, and eventually moving up to be President of Clubs and Societies, showing his natural gift for organising and planning. After his undergraduate degree completed, he chose to continue studying for a PhD, growing and characterising crystals; creating materials that had never previously existed. Continuing to write and roleplay, Richard joined the local branch of live action group The Camarilla in its early days, in time become the local storyteller. From there he helped grow the society throughout Scotland, and took on the role of Regional Storyteller.

  After completing his PhD, he moved to Dublin, working for Guinness, the Ulster Bank and a software company where he wrote scripts for training environments teaching the user Word, Project and other Microsoft product. While in Ireland Richard started a new national Camarilla group, eventually passing this on and moving up to work on storytelling at an International level, working with countries across Europe, and the USA.

  Returning to Scotland, Richard began working in a series of small technology SMEs, which led to redundancy every couple of years, but he went up through the ranks and became Managing Director of a medical device company, launching new products in the UK and abroad. Unfortunately, the economic crash also took the company with it. Leading to a return to the academic sector where Richard worked on behalf of all of Scotland’s Physics departments, encouraging business to take an interest in the varied research output.

  During this time, Richard joined the Glasgow SF Writers Circle, having left The Camarilla and pursuing writing with a commercial aim, which matched the ethos of the GSFWC. With the support of the Circle he has completed a number of novels and had several short stories published in a range of magazines and anthologies.

  Currently, Richard is working at the University of Glasgow, multi-million managing research projects and continues to write. He is married, with two cats.