Bauble - Short, Short Story [library]

[Kernschatten]

http://www.warhammer-empire.com/library/tales/Bauble.php


I spent a long time trying to turn this idea into a lengthy piece of fiction. I finally decied that it worked best as a short, short piece.

Bauble

A trinket. A knick-knack. A curiousity. The little statue looked like a caricature of a grinning horse seated on its haunches, nothing more than that. Could it really have driven a man to butcher his entire family? Lukas seemed to think so. I picked it up and found it cool to the touch. Turning it over in my hand I asked, “Where did it come from?”

“From the Mounds,” said Lukas. The Mounds were a series of low, regular hills that stretched out into the Solland Waste like waves upon the ocean. Local legends said that the Mounds were the mass graves of some ancient battle from long before the Blessed Sigmar had united the tribes.

“Relics and artifacts are all the rage at the Imperial Court this season,” continued Lukas. “A man could make himself wealthy selling such trinkets.”

“I don’t feel any taint of corruption. Could it really have driven him insane?” I asked.

“Before he died, he kept screaming over and over that his family was mocking him and the statue knew it.”

“Mocking him?” I set the statue down, turning towards Lukas. And then I sensed it. From the corner of my eye the statue seemed to rear up and loom over me, all teeth and claws. The stench of some dark, ancient evil was so strong that it felt like a kick to the stomach that doubled me over and left me retching.

“Ah, you felt it,” said Lukas.

It took a while for me to heave my insides dry. When I was done, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and looked towards the statue. Looking directly at it, I felt nothing of the evil within it. But I knew that as soon as I turned away it would pounce again. I reached out for my hammer. “Sigmar, give me the strength to destroy this abomination.”

“Do you think you can?” asked Lukas. “Do you have the strength?”

“Do I have the strength?” I tightened my grip on the haft of my weapon and turned towards Lukas. This time, I felt the evil sidle up alongside me to whisper in my ear. And I knew what I had to do. “Do I have the strength?” Raising my hammer high, I reached out towards Lukas. “Are you mocking me?”

[rufus sparkfire]

Cool.

I put it in the library.

[Fafnir]

Neat. :-D

[Kernschatten]

Cool.

I put it in the library.

Unfortunately after re-reading the story 30 times before posting I just realized that the word "my" was missing from this sentence: When I was done, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and looked towards the statue.

[HoS]

Threadomancy, I know but I just wanted to say:

That is one creepy story! In a good way of course.

[baldbeachbum]

Yeah kinda creapy ;)  The flow was very nice and easy to read. 

[RGB]

Not bad but Kern - too short. It's an anecdote. And that last line, well, it's appropriate but STILL feels like the closing badum-pow of a comedy vignette.

I don't at all like saying it you know, but it lacks something.

[Kernschatten]

Not bad but Kern - too short. It's an anecdote. And that last line, well, it's appropriate but STILL feels like the closing badum-pow of a comedy vignette.

I don't at all like saying it you know, but it lacks something.

They say that for every word that a writer shows someone else there are a thousand words that they are too embarrassed too let anyone see. The story ran out of steam at around 3,000 words and read like Indiana Jones meets Rod Serling. I went back and trimmed out every unnecessary word and wound up with something short and quirky.  :-D  Think of it more as a writing exercise in order to set a mood.

[Marcus Leitdorf]

Hey Kern,

I think it is a great little story. It sounds very much like the little sidebars that GW puts in the BRB and army books. It also would not be out of place in the RPG books from the Black Library.

I am seriously contemplating entering into the writing competition that Black Library is running on the invasion theme. I was thinking about tailoring the fluff piece I wrote about the Wizard's Keep some time back.

Writing is hard work. Writing well can be excruciating sometimes. Keep up the good work.

Marcus

[Lachieo]

Short and sweet, love it. :-D