“Come,” Natasha said to Hugo and Poppy, “let me show you around the castle.”
Outside, the red had bled form the sky leaving behind fluffy, white clouds and a crisp, blue sky. She thought about her great-uncle's words: You must fall in love, Cassandra, you must. This made her think of Tristan. I was in love, she thought. But he was taken from me. Is it possible to fall in love twice in one lifetime? Can one person really be that lucky?
She decided to go for a walk.
CHAPTER 41
Graff stumbled out of the woods and into Weedley village. Dawn was colouring the sky. I made it, he thought. I made it through the night.
He looked upon the village, or what was left of it. Most of the trees its people used as homes were smouldering husks and dead bodies were scattered everywhere. It's what they deserved, Graff thought. Those tree folk are a useless race. Fat and stupid. No good to anyone.
A few clusters of trees still stood. He thought about going inside one of the homes and helping himself to food. That’s a good idea. As he rounded one of the smouldering husks he saw a person standing in the clearing. A girl. Graff stepped back behind the tree and then peered around its trunk. He saw that she wasn't one of the tree folk. Too tall. She was wearing just a nightdress. Graff's eyes took in the sight of her breasts beneath it.
He reached down and pulled out a knife he had concealed in his boot. Is she worth it? he asked himself. I'm so tired. He had decided to pass up the opportunity, when he got a better look at the girl's face. It can't be. He ran to another tree so that he could get a better look at her. I should've guessed by those sweet little titties. It's the wizard bearer. He guessed that the battle on the road must have ended in favour of Wyke and that Cassandra must have fled, like him, into the woods. This time, missy, I'm going to have my wicked way with you.
The wizard bearer disappeared through a door in one of the remaining clusters of trees. Graff crept over and slipped through the door after her. He found himself in a kitchen. Cassandra was nowhere to be seen, though. Then he spied her nightdress discarded on the floor. His manhood began to grow in his trousers at the thought of her naked. You're going to get it, missy. With his dagger held out in front of him he walked through a doorway at the far end of the kitchen and into the depths of the house. He found the wizard bearer sitting on a bed in one of the bedchambers, naked. Light was spilling into the room from a small window behind her giving her an angel-like glow. She didn't look at all surprised to see him. Still holding the knife out, he entered the room. She looks so perfect, he thought. Her breasts were small and pert, her skin golden. He was taken in by her dark hair, which fell over her shoulders in spirals, and her warm and inviting brown eyes. As he stepped closer she held a finger up to her blood-red lips and parted her legs. He had never felt so aroused. His hand was shaking and the knife felt loose in his grip. She began to suck her finger as if it were something delicious. Her face looked like she was savouring every moment. She then put her other hand between her legs and began to rub there with one extended finger. Taking her hand away from her mouth, she reached for Graff’s knife and then threw it into the corner of the room. He hardly heard the clatter it made. She then began to untie the string around his trousers. When they became loose around his hips he let them fell to the floor. He felt the cold air on his erect manhood, then warmth as she took it into her mouth. I knew she wanted me, he thought. Girls always do. They respect me. Then she pulled him onto the bed. He opened his furs and ripped the buttons from his shirt so that he could feel her small breasts pressing against his naked skin. She took his manhood in her hand and guided it into her. He thrust, feeling like a king taking his servant girl. I'll spill my seed and make a wizard, he thought. I'll rule all of Elt. And it all begins with this sweet fuck. He regarded her blood-red lips. They look good to eat. He put his mouth on hers and met her tongue.
Then it all went horribly wrong.
If he could have screamed, he would have, but her mouth was like a leach, holding him there. Something inside her mouth was pulling hard on his tongue. And something was yanking on his manhood, too. Her hole is sucking it. It wasn't a pleasurable feeling, though. He wanted to be off her, but she had him by his tongue and by his cock. His discomfort then turned to full-blown pain; it was like his tongue and his manhood were being ripped from his body. He shut his eyes. When he opened them again it was not the wizard bearer he saw but a horrible, skeletal face that glowed a ghostly blue. A Soul Eater, he thought. Shit, shit, shit. His manhood separated from his body. It's swallowed it. Its pussy has swallowed it. His tongue went next, leaving a flood of blood in his mouth. It's sucking me into her. Then his ribs exploded, tearing the thin skin on his chest. His innards poured into the Soul Eater like a river bursting its banks. Yet, somehow, he was still thinking, still feeling. It was as if It wanted him to experience ever painful moment of his death. He had no mouth with which to scream, nor a stomach to be sick from. He was nothing. But he felt the pain. Unbearable, torturous pain.
EPILOGUE
Amber Tilly was sitting cross-legged on the floor. In front of her Mama Maud rocked gently in her chair, like a ship on calm blue seas. Her milky eyes reflected the light from the dawn sky outside.
“My friend Melissa, she saw you,” Amber said. “You were in the inn below the brothel where I worked.” Mama Maud said nothing. The chair beneath her continued to rock back and forth. “I think you helped me win the game of kneebones. I think you helped me so that Jasper Courcelle would lose and go back home to Low Drewton. Is that true?”
Mama Maud remained silent for a moment longer, and then said: “He had to see Low Drewton fall and return to The Warrens the next day to warn you of the coming attack.”
As I suspected. “So that I could escape and make it here, to High Hunsley, to warn of the attack on Kingstown. That's why, isn't it?”
The creek of Mama Maud's rocking chair continued. “No. You needed to be saved, Amber Tilly, because of what grows in your womb.”
***
Eaglen was standing by the hooded man's side. The wizard was nervous. The hooded man was prone to mood swings that often resulted in people dying. Eaglen knew this all too well. On this day, the hooded man had every reason to be angry. The hooded man hadn't said a word since Eaglen arrived, he only stared into his crystal ball, occasional grunting. It had taken the wizard thirteen hours of constant walking through knee-deep snow to reach Wyke. Fabian has a lot to answer for. And now the wizard feared for his life. He had failed the hooded man, but so had the others. The woman is coming, though. She'll calm him.
The hooded man was standing at an altar at the far end of a rectangular hall. It was dark and damp despite it being dawn outside. The hooded man did not like the sunlight, Eaglen knew. A few candles flickered here and there. The wizard longed for a fire in the hearth, but the hooded man would not hear of it.
Eaglen was relieved when the doors at the other end of the room opened.
“She's here,” said a guard.
The hooded man grunted.
Eaglen cleared his throat. “Bring her in.”
The guard nodded and disappeared, returning moments later to introduce the woman: “Emily Grouse,” he proclaimed.
She walked towards the altar, blonde hair flowing behind her, adding colour to the gloom. A split in her white dress exposed her left leg to her waist. He shifted his stance, embarrassed as he saw her reading his illicit thoughts.
“This is not a failure,” she said as she reached the altar. She held out her hand and the hooded man kissed it. “Volk, my dear son, this is only the beginning.”
THE END
ALSO BY A.C. HUTCHINSON:
NOVELS:
The Ghost and the Railway
SHORT STORIES:
Be Careful What You Wish For
Hotel Z
Twitter:
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AUTHOR’S NOTE & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The book you hold in your hands started life in 2012. Soon after finishing the first draft, I began writing The Ghost and the Railway. I didn't go back to the manuscript until late 2015. My intention was to give it a good edit, but I ended up rewriting the entire novel. Even after declaring it finished I kept going back to it and tweaking it here and there. I’ve never worked harder on a story.
I’d like to draw your attention to the names of the towns and villages in this book. All of them, apart from Kingstown and Wyke, are taken from the names of villages and places in the Yorkshire Wolds in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, close to the city of Hull where I was born and raised. The names Kingstown and Wyke have local significance too, though. A short history lesson: The city of Hull is also known as Kingston upon Hull, because it was granted a royal charter in 1293 by King Edward I, making it a king’s town (Kingstown). Its original name, however, was Wyke upon Hull. Don’t let anyone tell you that fiction is not educational!
Before you go, I'd like to say thank you to a few people: My long-suffering wife Lindsay for not divorcing me; my dad, Colin, for always volunteering to read my work (he had the first read of this one); my father-in-law Clive Johnson (my harshest critic) for giving it a read in its final stages; Paul Monkman for his help over the past few years; Robert Wooler for designing me a stunning website; all those who bought, read and shouted about my last novel The Ghost and the Railway; and, if you're reading this, you for buying this one and actually finishing it. THANK YOU!
Until next time, happy reading.
A.C. Hutchinson
November 2017
Battle for Elt: The Taking of the Wizard Bearer Page 32