(no subject)
When we last left our Hero and Heroine-
"Yes he does." Pastor Kale said, "And she's the one who summoned him."
Without further deliberation he pointed at Magdelena.
And now we return you to Ramen's insomnia acting up Our Regularly scheduled programme.
"That's ridiculous." Noble stepped between Magdelena and his father, "She's a baptized Christian just as I am. She would never conjure any spirits!"
"...My son."
Pastor Kale's face took on the image of sorrow, "...My poor misguided son. She used you."
Confusion welled inside him, "-What?"
"She used you, to beget that spawn." The Pastor pointed a finger at the wailing child in his mother's arms, "-Through which she saw a chance to summon her master's dark spawn from the under world!"
"Liar!" Magdelena pointed a finger at their spiritual leader, "I came to beg you to come back to your son and his family, only to find that you had adopted a new master in place of the one you claim to serve!"
"Harlot!" The pastor threw their table against the wall, "You turn my son against me with your darkness and now claim me to be in league with the very powers you now serve?"
"Only because it's true!"
"Listen to her!" The Pastor turned and a score of men appeared behind him, "She denies me! Your prophet! Your Leader" He raised his head high, "Can you doubt that the devil has put these words in her mouth?"
"False Prophet!" Magdelena screamed, "You have betrayed everything you stand for! Satan's servant! satan's whore!"
"Arrest her!"
The men had no doubts. The Pastor was their leader and Master. They moved forward, footsteps sure and steady as they raised chains to shackle the witch, "...In our place of worship she drew her satanic symbols on the wall! Blood was found! Human Blood!"
Noble found his voice, "Lies!" His eyes scanned the room, "I believe her."
He found Marcus, "Marcus."
"Avery, Williams, Harry-You know me." Noble's voice was pleading, "You know me. Would I be taken in by the devil? Would I be tricked?"
Avery's jaw worked as he let the chains hang, "....I know that since you've met her...you've been different. We all noticed it."
A fist clenched at Noble's side, "...What do you mean?"
"..S'like you're bewitched sometimes." Harry said, "Not your fault. Your father'll fix things. "
Pastor Kale made to reach a hand toward his son, "I will. My poor son. My poor poor son-"
Noble smacked the hand away, "Don't presume to patronize me! My wife is innocent!"
"The devil hath power," Pastor Kale murmured, "To assume a pleasing shape."
"...Look who's talking."
Instinct brought Avery's arm up and down on Magdelena's face.
-------
Something broke inside Noble.
All the Hatred. All the rage and evil he'd kept pent up. His father's chastising remarks. The injustices of the world. It burst forth in a torrential flood.
-------
"-Noble-"
Noble Kale was gone.
Pastor Kale watched, the picture of a concerned father as the men worked to restrain his eldest son, "....This is for the best my boy. you'll see. The best."
It took all eight of them to pin him down.
By that time he was bruised and battered. Avery was a gooey mess beneath him as the men hauled him to his feet, "Let's go."
"....My love-"
Magdelena could only watch.
"...My dearest love."
And weep as the Pastor took her arm and led her away.
--------
"You are confronted with the works that she has left like stains upon our church. You hear sworn testimony, and yet you deny your wife is a witch."
Genuine regret filled Pastor Kale's face.
".....I do not want to do this."
His son's face was a mass of swelling bruises, it's visage obscured. He didn't say a word when being led around the church. Seeing what had transpired there.
"....Repent my son. Repent and be welcomed back into the Lord's good Graces."
Noble Kale raised his neck. They had bound him. Left him fettered to the wall like a prisoner in the dark ages. The chain around his neck hurt the most. Blood ran down the back of his shirt and stuck against his buttocks. His hands had been bound painfully behind him. He twisted them, heedless of the open sores growing like blights on his skin.
"....God isn't here."
Mustering up spit he spat at his father, hitting the priest's lapel, "I spit on your Lord's good Graces. He's not here. This isn't his will."
"He is everywhere. Surely you see him my son. He walks with me."
"I see only what I'm going to do to you after you unbind me."
Pastor Kale felt a twinge of fear, "And what might that be?"
".....My Revenge."
------------
"....Maggie?"
Maggie is tied to a stake in the town square. Women throw rotten vegetables. I thought we were past all this.
Dante is the only one who dares to step close.
"....Maggie? It's me. Dante."
Magdelena managed a smile, "Come to let me go?"
"...My father's lost his mind Maggie. I have no idea where this is coming from or what's going on. Sarah and I don't believe this. Not for a minute. We're standing by you Magdelena. This is unjust. There are others who stand with us."
"...A fat lot of good that does me."
"Maggie-" Dante breathes deep, "They took Noble."
"...Where?"
"To the cellar. My father intends to "exorcise the demon the witch put in him."
Magdelena closed her eyes tight. My love. They'd be together soon "...He won't talk."
Dante looked ready to cry, "Too damn stubborn. The both of you."
"...Dante." Magdelena closed her eyes again, "Find my son. Find my son and tell him I love him. His father and mother loved him more then anything. Whatever happens."
"....I-I-I will." he was so like his brother in that! Akwardly cute "Don't loose hope Maggie. God will provide a miracle here."
"...God isn't here today."
A tear ran down Magdelena's cheek as Dante fled when the congregation came out with Torches.
But I am
----------------
Pastor Kale is pleased. He kept his secret and rids himself of his son's whore.
The witch is straight as a post when he greets her, "Good morrow my lady."
She said nothing.
The Pastor smirked, shaking his head, "Silence does not become you. Have you nothing to say?"
Silence again. The pastor smiled, "Say only that you repent. Say you repent of your crimes. You cannot help being born weak. You are but female and of a weaker race. This shall be taken into consideration. The prince of darkness is most beguiling."
"Yes."
The witch raised her head and smiled at him "What did he give you I wonder?"
The pastor flushed "Enough! I will not be mocked to my face! I will not!"
"Plenty of people to do it behind your back."
The pastor's anger reared inside him, "You do not repent of turning my son against god? Of poisoning our town and it's people? Of birthing the anti-christ here?"
"I cannot repent of crimes I did not commit." She held her head high and smiled at him, "...Sorry."
"Then you must Die!"
Avery held the fire. The woman looked so calm-and his head still reeled from the beating that Noble had given him. Something is wrong about this. he looked for Dante, looking for a voice of reason-
"The torch!"
-------------
Somewhere below he hears the people cheering.
Shifting in his chains, all Noble can do is look up Please god..
Perhaps I haven't been the best of men. But My wife is innocent. Spare her soul Save my son. If they can take someone, let them take me. Please. Please. You can't be this cruel. This...This...heartless
-----------
THE FIRE.
It doesn't hurt. It should.
She saves her pain and emotion for her voice. It had to be clear. Clear and strong.
Mambo's have great power. Not all power has to come from da evil in this world child. There's good forces too. And gray ones.
Gray?
Aye. Gray. Gray as dust. Those come and go at will. They can be tricky. But if ye fix userself strong and have a sense of who you are they'll obey you
She was her husband and her son.
She was their love. She was Taoti. Born from the dead. She read the future in the cards. She was her mother's bravery. She was her homeland. She lived.
The thought is enough to send her looking to the heavens, "Père Merveilleux ! Regardez vers le bas sur moi dans la pitié. Je suis blessé et bas. J'ai fait le rien mais suis la volonté thy. Je suis innocent et jugé injustement. Interviennent père merveilleux de o 'en mon nom. Ne laissez aucun innocent être nui, mais laissez toute la sensation coupable votre colère car vous avez fait votre engagement avec votre fils!"
Someone in the crowd frowned, "....Crying to heaven won't save you now!" The man patted his belly, "You think god'll give a shit about a witch?"
She smiled a wicked smile as the fire seared her hair, "....Zanj! Zanji! Zanji!"
--------
The earth BROKE.
It scattered clods and rocks into the air as things crawled from the ground. Scaly and reptilian, their eyes were blind with the light and their hair had plastered against their heads. They wielded whips and rode strange steel horses that glinted in the sun and rumbled like jungle cats.
The first one lowered her hand.
And the furies attacked.
---------
Vengeance in it's true form doesn't come as a flaming skull. It comes with satisfaction. Vengeance is a form of justice. a form of punishment for misdeeds.
They had once been women. Women eons ago.
Now they were monsters who lit fires and turned the town into a wasteland while Magdelena Kale laughed as the flames consumed her.
--------
Stumble.
Something moved on the stares.
Noble's misery deepened. They were coming for him now. Surely his wife was all ready dead. His mind went to their son-and the thought that Nicholas would grow up without a father and mother filled him with shame My Son.
He wanted to tell him so many things. About his intelligent and beautiful mother who read fortunes in cards. About his father who had done his damndest to be a good man. He wanted to see his boy ride a horse and kiss a girl and hold children of his own in his arms.
Most of all, he wanted his son to know that his parents were innocent. They had done nothing wrong. Whoever had would be punished. He'd come back and find them and make them pay dearly for all the pain that they'd caused.
Noble heard something shuffle outside the door.
His father!
Pastor Kale was dragging along a goat-a kid. Heedless of his son chained to the wall, he held the animal over the drawn circle and began to speak. Languages. Old Languages. Then with a deft hand, the old man snapped the creature's neck.
Him! It was him! Noble moved toward him. His father. His own father. The man who'd beaten him throughout his childhood. The man who'd practically murdered their mother. This man had murdered his wife and perhaps his child!
Revenge! Anger boiled up inside of him. He jerked toward the man who he called sire, enraged and disgusted and horrified all at once-
Before the devil appeared.
----
You. the Devil pointed a finger at Pastor Kale, Are in big trouble. I said be creative. Not to turn it into the fucking crucible.
"....That witch! That witch! she summoned-"
"Those are furies. Satan said bluntly, Greecian Furies. And they're pissed. Bunch of folks are. They're starting to wonder why I'm wasting my time with you. Names are being named. I've got rules to follow too asshole."
The devil leaned out of the circle and grabbed the pastor by the collar, "I ought to drag you back to hell and have you explain this."
"This can all be fixed! Summon up one of your army!"
"Why would I want to do that?"
"You have my soul." The Pastor's voice was desperate now, "You have my wife's soul. You can have my younger son's soul as well."
"....You're selling your kids like a guy sells produce at a market. I'm not complaining, but you really shouldn't bargain with things that aren't yours." Something screamed outside and the Pastor wiped sweat off his brow. The Devil grinned, "Nother' one for me! The furies haven't lost their touch. I should've thought that after chasing all those heroes they'd have issues, but boy the girls've still got it haven't they?"
"Help! Us!" The Pastor Kowtowed, "PLEASE!"
The devil paused, "...So your soul. Your wife's soul. Annnnd your son's soul. Okay. Find me a host. You feel like volunteering? You made the mess. Seems only right you clean it up."
The devil's form Shifted into a woman wearing something red, "...c'mon darling. One kiss."
Pastor Kale shrank away, "I'm afraid."
-----------------
Noble found his voice.
Lifting his head he studied the father and the spirit before him, "....Bas--tard."
He'd forgotten how to speak in his fury.
"Monster! Coward! You-Father how-You evil bastard! I'll kill you!"
A bout of fury gripped him again and he rattled his chains, "I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
Pastor Kale backed up against the wall and smiled anxiously, "...What about him?"
---------------
"Oooooooh." The devil switched back and forth between a woman and a beast, "I like that. I like that lots. Yeah. Yeah. He's angry enough. I got just the guy for him. And he's iconable too. makes a statement."
The devil stepped out of the circle, "...You hate your dad huh?"
The devil nodded solumnly, "Me too. We've got lots in common."
"Let me out of here!" He glared at the devil, "Let me at him. I want him dead. I want him to suffer. He took everything from me! Everything! I want him punished! I want to kill him!"
"...You really want that?"
"More then anything."
The devil smiled.
--------------
A fury lifted her lips from Avery's neck as she frowned. something was coming. Something dark. Something not right-
She had no time to ponder her thoughts any further as her sisters sprang into action-raising their whips. A flaming skeleton was roaring at them to face him.
Time for a fight.
---------
Noble Kale was dead.
He was dead and buried in some corner of his mind, flabbergasted at how it had come to this.
There was only the Rider.
That was what it called itself. The Rider. The ghost rider.
What's a Rider without a horse?
Across town, Noble's horse Gabriel reared. It snorted for a moment before it's flesh dissolved and it caught on fire.
In Gabriel's defense, it had it easier then the Rider. It only knew that it had to obey.
Leaping the fence, the horse ran for the town square leaving twin trails of fire in it's wake.
--------
The Rider was old but through.
Been a while since he used this trick. I really ought to use it more often. The devil said with a smirk, works like a fucking charm.
To Pastor Kale, who had watched his own son burn in the fires of hell, the devil grinned, "Ain't it great?"
The man was pale, "...God have mercy.."
"He ain't involved padre." The devil frowned, "...Know what this needs? This needs popcorn. And uh-he's going to need something too."
The devil pointed, "...Rider won't stop unless you placate him sonny jim."
The red demon waved cheerfully, "Be right back!"
-----
"We are only doing as we are bid!" The fury cried, "Why do you do this?"
Because I'm doing the exact same thing
Inside, Noble Kale laughed.
------
The furies were vanquished.
They were spread across leagues. Their bones dust and ashes in the wind already blowing. Satisfied, the Rider turned and moved back toward civilization.
To the Master.
The Master's will was absolute, the human host now begging him for control was insignifigant. He would not waste his time in this realm with pitiful human requests. The horse wickered under his control as he crossed the square casually, surveying what remained of the town.
"Good spirit!"
Pastor Kale appeared, "...Good spirit. Leave my son be. Leave this town."
YOU THINK TO SWAY ME?
Pastor Kale recoiled from the ghost. My son his last. his first.
All his life he had only worked for them. He had done everything for power so that they would have everything. And now his boy had that thing inside of him, using his hands, his voice...
YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE MADE DEALS WITHOUT THINKING OF THE CONSEQUENCES The rider laughed, I WILL RIDE THROUGH THIS EARTH AND HEAP THE BONES OF THE GUILTY AT THE THRONE OF MY MASTER. THERE IS NOTHING. NOTHING YOU CAN DO.
To emphasize this, the Rider pulled back on the reins. Gabriel reared, neighing in fury, fire spitting from it's nostrils.
"...Then let me offer you this sacrifice. This town's token of my submission." The pastor moved away for a moment, "....our submission, o great spirit. Take it and leave us be."
In his hands he held a squalling Nicholas.
--------
The bond between Fathers and sons is stronger then men know.
Nicholas reached out a pudgy hand, "-Papa!"
Mama wasn't there anymore. She didn't understand his noises. Papa'd make them back but- This needed different noises.
The nice man and his wife came and took him-and then Grandfather came and grandfather hurt the nice man's wife and the babies and the nice man ran and Papa-
Papa was a skeleton.
Nicholas was very perplexed by this.
He wailed louder, "PAPA! PAPA!"
In some well of pain and misery, Noble Kale heard his son's voice.
"Take him." The pastor said, "He is nothing. An ill gotten bastard. A sneak. A monster in waiting. Take him. An offering of the flesh."
The boy screamed.
"An offering of the flesh. His flesh for ours."
------------
THE MASTER WILL BE PLEASED.
what? You can't! That's my son!
YOU HAVE NO SONS. ONLY ME. YOU DO NOT EXIST. THERE IS ONLY WHO I AM.
NO! MY SON!
With a scream, the Rider died, leaving an exhausted horse and a tired man still bearing wounds across his body.
"Nicholas-"
He fell off Gabriel and crawled across the plaza. His father didn't matter anymore. None of this did. All that Mattered was getting to his boy. His child. all he had left of the woman he loved.
"-paa-paa-"
The child's cry was pitiful. Abandoned by his grandfather, the baby wailed at the universe only to have his father's arms wrap around his shoulders.
"papa." he sniffed "papa."
"Papa's here."
The boy's hands grasped at him sniveling.
"...Nicholas. Nicholas look at me." Noble grabbed his son's shoulder, "...Your father loves you."
It wanted to come back.
Gabriel whinnyed in terror as Noble Kale backed away, "...I love you. More then anything. Please believe that son. You're all that's best in me."
"-Pa-pa?"
--------
His father fell.
His foot hit a shotgun from behind. New and fancy. He preferred his old musket. This one-
This one had been loaded. Hadn't done Williamson much good.
"...Turn away son!" fire ignited along Noble Kale's hands, "...Please. Don't look."
The boy rolled over onto his back and screamed at the change in scenery. Thunder echoed through the town, but there was no sky wet.
Sniveling, the boy sat up again. Stupid legs. Stupid world. How dare it not meet his needs now.
"Papa?"
Papa was on the ground. Stumbling, the tiny boy moved over toward him, heedless of the other bodies in his path. "Papa! wake up!" They had to find Mama. Everyone was laying down."
the boy pushed at his father's shoulder-
He knew it was wrong. Very wrong. Not right. Not right-not right-PAPA!
his papa's face. A face he knew. Was gone it was red and wet. Everything was red and wet. All that was left was white bones.
A grinning skull.
The boy backed up and hit another body, his hands sticky.
Then he began to scream.
"Yes he does." Pastor Kale said, "And she's the one who summoned him."
Without further deliberation he pointed at Magdelena.
And now we return you to Ramen's insomnia acting up Our Regularly scheduled programme.
"That's ridiculous." Noble stepped between Magdelena and his father, "She's a baptized Christian just as I am. She would never conjure any spirits!"
"...My son."
Pastor Kale's face took on the image of sorrow, "...My poor misguided son. She used you."
Confusion welled inside him, "-What?"
"She used you, to beget that spawn." The Pastor pointed a finger at the wailing child in his mother's arms, "-Through which she saw a chance to summon her master's dark spawn from the under world!"
"Liar!" Magdelena pointed a finger at their spiritual leader, "I came to beg you to come back to your son and his family, only to find that you had adopted a new master in place of the one you claim to serve!"
"Harlot!" The pastor threw their table against the wall, "You turn my son against me with your darkness and now claim me to be in league with the very powers you now serve?"
"Only because it's true!"
"Listen to her!" The Pastor turned and a score of men appeared behind him, "She denies me! Your prophet! Your Leader" He raised his head high, "Can you doubt that the devil has put these words in her mouth?"
"False Prophet!" Magdelena screamed, "You have betrayed everything you stand for! Satan's servant! satan's whore!"
"Arrest her!"
The men had no doubts. The Pastor was their leader and Master. They moved forward, footsteps sure and steady as they raised chains to shackle the witch, "...In our place of worship she drew her satanic symbols on the wall! Blood was found! Human Blood!"
Noble found his voice, "Lies!" His eyes scanned the room, "I believe her."
He found Marcus, "Marcus."
"Avery, Williams, Harry-You know me." Noble's voice was pleading, "You know me. Would I be taken in by the devil? Would I be tricked?"
Avery's jaw worked as he let the chains hang, "....I know that since you've met her...you've been different. We all noticed it."
A fist clenched at Noble's side, "...What do you mean?"
"..S'like you're bewitched sometimes." Harry said, "Not your fault. Your father'll fix things. "
Pastor Kale made to reach a hand toward his son, "I will. My poor son. My poor poor son-"
Noble smacked the hand away, "Don't presume to patronize me! My wife is innocent!"
"The devil hath power," Pastor Kale murmured, "To assume a pleasing shape."
"...Look who's talking."
Instinct brought Avery's arm up and down on Magdelena's face.
-------
Something broke inside Noble.
All the Hatred. All the rage and evil he'd kept pent up. His father's chastising remarks. The injustices of the world. It burst forth in a torrential flood.
-------
"-Noble-"
Noble Kale was gone.
Pastor Kale watched, the picture of a concerned father as the men worked to restrain his eldest son, "....This is for the best my boy. you'll see. The best."
It took all eight of them to pin him down.
By that time he was bruised and battered. Avery was a gooey mess beneath him as the men hauled him to his feet, "Let's go."
"....My love-"
Magdelena could only watch.
"...My dearest love."
And weep as the Pastor took her arm and led her away.
--------
"You are confronted with the works that she has left like stains upon our church. You hear sworn testimony, and yet you deny your wife is a witch."
Genuine regret filled Pastor Kale's face.
".....I do not want to do this."
His son's face was a mass of swelling bruises, it's visage obscured. He didn't say a word when being led around the church. Seeing what had transpired there.
"....Repent my son. Repent and be welcomed back into the Lord's good Graces."
Noble Kale raised his neck. They had bound him. Left him fettered to the wall like a prisoner in the dark ages. The chain around his neck hurt the most. Blood ran down the back of his shirt and stuck against his buttocks. His hands had been bound painfully behind him. He twisted them, heedless of the open sores growing like blights on his skin.
"....God isn't here."
Mustering up spit he spat at his father, hitting the priest's lapel, "I spit on your Lord's good Graces. He's not here. This isn't his will."
"He is everywhere. Surely you see him my son. He walks with me."
"I see only what I'm going to do to you after you unbind me."
Pastor Kale felt a twinge of fear, "And what might that be?"
".....My Revenge."
------------
"....Maggie?"
Maggie is tied to a stake in the town square. Women throw rotten vegetables. I thought we were past all this.
Dante is the only one who dares to step close.
"....Maggie? It's me. Dante."
Magdelena managed a smile, "Come to let me go?"
"...My father's lost his mind Maggie. I have no idea where this is coming from or what's going on. Sarah and I don't believe this. Not for a minute. We're standing by you Magdelena. This is unjust. There are others who stand with us."
"...A fat lot of good that does me."
"Maggie-" Dante breathes deep, "They took Noble."
"...Where?"
"To the cellar. My father intends to "exorcise the demon the witch put in him."
Magdelena closed her eyes tight. My love. They'd be together soon "...He won't talk."
Dante looked ready to cry, "Too damn stubborn. The both of you."
"...Dante." Magdelena closed her eyes again, "Find my son. Find my son and tell him I love him. His father and mother loved him more then anything. Whatever happens."
"....I-I-I will." he was so like his brother in that! Akwardly cute "Don't loose hope Maggie. God will provide a miracle here."
"...God isn't here today."
A tear ran down Magdelena's cheek as Dante fled when the congregation came out with Torches.
But I am
----------------
Pastor Kale is pleased. He kept his secret and rids himself of his son's whore.
The witch is straight as a post when he greets her, "Good morrow my lady."
She said nothing.
The Pastor smirked, shaking his head, "Silence does not become you. Have you nothing to say?"
Silence again. The pastor smiled, "Say only that you repent. Say you repent of your crimes. You cannot help being born weak. You are but female and of a weaker race. This shall be taken into consideration. The prince of darkness is most beguiling."
"Yes."
The witch raised her head and smiled at him "What did he give you I wonder?"
The pastor flushed "Enough! I will not be mocked to my face! I will not!"
"Plenty of people to do it behind your back."
The pastor's anger reared inside him, "You do not repent of turning my son against god? Of poisoning our town and it's people? Of birthing the anti-christ here?"
"I cannot repent of crimes I did not commit." She held her head high and smiled at him, "...Sorry."
"Then you must Die!"
Avery held the fire. The woman looked so calm-and his head still reeled from the beating that Noble had given him. Something is wrong about this. he looked for Dante, looking for a voice of reason-
"The torch!"
-------------
Somewhere below he hears the people cheering.
Shifting in his chains, all Noble can do is look up Please god..
Perhaps I haven't been the best of men. But My wife is innocent. Spare her soul Save my son. If they can take someone, let them take me. Please. Please. You can't be this cruel. This...This...heartless
-----------
THE FIRE.
It doesn't hurt. It should.
She saves her pain and emotion for her voice. It had to be clear. Clear and strong.
Mambo's have great power. Not all power has to come from da evil in this world child. There's good forces too. And gray ones.
Gray?
Aye. Gray. Gray as dust. Those come and go at will. They can be tricky. But if ye fix userself strong and have a sense of who you are they'll obey you
She was her husband and her son.
She was their love. She was Taoti. Born from the dead. She read the future in the cards. She was her mother's bravery. She was her homeland. She lived.
The thought is enough to send her looking to the heavens, "Père Merveilleux ! Regardez vers le bas sur moi dans la pitié. Je suis blessé et bas. J'ai fait le rien mais suis la volonté thy. Je suis innocent et jugé injustement. Interviennent père merveilleux de o 'en mon nom. Ne laissez aucun innocent être nui, mais laissez toute la sensation coupable votre colère car vous avez fait votre engagement avec votre fils!"
Someone in the crowd frowned, "....Crying to heaven won't save you now!" The man patted his belly, "You think god'll give a shit about a witch?"
She smiled a wicked smile as the fire seared her hair, "....Zanj! Zanji! Zanji!"
--------
The earth BROKE.
It scattered clods and rocks into the air as things crawled from the ground. Scaly and reptilian, their eyes were blind with the light and their hair had plastered against their heads. They wielded whips and rode strange steel horses that glinted in the sun and rumbled like jungle cats.
The first one lowered her hand.
And the furies attacked.
---------
Vengeance in it's true form doesn't come as a flaming skull. It comes with satisfaction. Vengeance is a form of justice. a form of punishment for misdeeds.
They had once been women. Women eons ago.
Now they were monsters who lit fires and turned the town into a wasteland while Magdelena Kale laughed as the flames consumed her.
--------
Stumble.
Something moved on the stares.
Noble's misery deepened. They were coming for him now. Surely his wife was all ready dead. His mind went to their son-and the thought that Nicholas would grow up without a father and mother filled him with shame My Son.
He wanted to tell him so many things. About his intelligent and beautiful mother who read fortunes in cards. About his father who had done his damndest to be a good man. He wanted to see his boy ride a horse and kiss a girl and hold children of his own in his arms.
Most of all, he wanted his son to know that his parents were innocent. They had done nothing wrong. Whoever had would be punished. He'd come back and find them and make them pay dearly for all the pain that they'd caused.
Noble heard something shuffle outside the door.
His father!
Pastor Kale was dragging along a goat-a kid. Heedless of his son chained to the wall, he held the animal over the drawn circle and began to speak. Languages. Old Languages. Then with a deft hand, the old man snapped the creature's neck.
Him! It was him! Noble moved toward him. His father. His own father. The man who'd beaten him throughout his childhood. The man who'd practically murdered their mother. This man had murdered his wife and perhaps his child!
Revenge! Anger boiled up inside of him. He jerked toward the man who he called sire, enraged and disgusted and horrified all at once-
Before the devil appeared.
----
You. the Devil pointed a finger at Pastor Kale, Are in big trouble. I said be creative. Not to turn it into the fucking crucible.
"....That witch! That witch! she summoned-"
"Those are furies. Satan said bluntly, Greecian Furies. And they're pissed. Bunch of folks are. They're starting to wonder why I'm wasting my time with you. Names are being named. I've got rules to follow too asshole."
The devil leaned out of the circle and grabbed the pastor by the collar, "I ought to drag you back to hell and have you explain this."
"This can all be fixed! Summon up one of your army!"
"Why would I want to do that?"
"You have my soul." The Pastor's voice was desperate now, "You have my wife's soul. You can have my younger son's soul as well."
"....You're selling your kids like a guy sells produce at a market. I'm not complaining, but you really shouldn't bargain with things that aren't yours." Something screamed outside and the Pastor wiped sweat off his brow. The Devil grinned, "Nother' one for me! The furies haven't lost their touch. I should've thought that after chasing all those heroes they'd have issues, but boy the girls've still got it haven't they?"
"Help! Us!" The Pastor Kowtowed, "PLEASE!"
The devil paused, "...So your soul. Your wife's soul. Annnnd your son's soul. Okay. Find me a host. You feel like volunteering? You made the mess. Seems only right you clean it up."
The devil's form Shifted into a woman wearing something red, "...c'mon darling. One kiss."
Pastor Kale shrank away, "I'm afraid."
-----------------
Noble found his voice.
Lifting his head he studied the father and the spirit before him, "....Bas--tard."
He'd forgotten how to speak in his fury.
"Monster! Coward! You-Father how-You evil bastard! I'll kill you!"
A bout of fury gripped him again and he rattled his chains, "I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
Pastor Kale backed up against the wall and smiled anxiously, "...What about him?"
---------------
"Oooooooh." The devil switched back and forth between a woman and a beast, "I like that. I like that lots. Yeah. Yeah. He's angry enough. I got just the guy for him. And he's iconable too. makes a statement."
The devil stepped out of the circle, "...You hate your dad huh?"
The devil nodded solumnly, "Me too. We've got lots in common."
"Let me out of here!" He glared at the devil, "Let me at him. I want him dead. I want him to suffer. He took everything from me! Everything! I want him punished! I want to kill him!"
"...You really want that?"
"More then anything."
The devil smiled.
--------------
A fury lifted her lips from Avery's neck as she frowned. something was coming. Something dark. Something not right-
She had no time to ponder her thoughts any further as her sisters sprang into action-raising their whips. A flaming skeleton was roaring at them to face him.
Time for a fight.
---------
Noble Kale was dead.
He was dead and buried in some corner of his mind, flabbergasted at how it had come to this.
There was only the Rider.
That was what it called itself. The Rider. The ghost rider.
What's a Rider without a horse?
Across town, Noble's horse Gabriel reared. It snorted for a moment before it's flesh dissolved and it caught on fire.
In Gabriel's defense, it had it easier then the Rider. It only knew that it had to obey.
Leaping the fence, the horse ran for the town square leaving twin trails of fire in it's wake.
--------
The Rider was old but through.
Been a while since he used this trick. I really ought to use it more often. The devil said with a smirk, works like a fucking charm.
To Pastor Kale, who had watched his own son burn in the fires of hell, the devil grinned, "Ain't it great?"
The man was pale, "...God have mercy.."
"He ain't involved padre." The devil frowned, "...Know what this needs? This needs popcorn. And uh-he's going to need something too."
The devil pointed, "...Rider won't stop unless you placate him sonny jim."
The red demon waved cheerfully, "Be right back!"
-----
"We are only doing as we are bid!" The fury cried, "Why do you do this?"
Because I'm doing the exact same thing
Inside, Noble Kale laughed.
------
The furies were vanquished.
They were spread across leagues. Their bones dust and ashes in the wind already blowing. Satisfied, the Rider turned and moved back toward civilization.
To the Master.
The Master's will was absolute, the human host now begging him for control was insignifigant. He would not waste his time in this realm with pitiful human requests. The horse wickered under his control as he crossed the square casually, surveying what remained of the town.
"Good spirit!"
Pastor Kale appeared, "...Good spirit. Leave my son be. Leave this town."
YOU THINK TO SWAY ME?
Pastor Kale recoiled from the ghost. My son his last. his first.
All his life he had only worked for them. He had done everything for power so that they would have everything. And now his boy had that thing inside of him, using his hands, his voice...
YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE MADE DEALS WITHOUT THINKING OF THE CONSEQUENCES The rider laughed, I WILL RIDE THROUGH THIS EARTH AND HEAP THE BONES OF THE GUILTY AT THE THRONE OF MY MASTER. THERE IS NOTHING. NOTHING YOU CAN DO.
To emphasize this, the Rider pulled back on the reins. Gabriel reared, neighing in fury, fire spitting from it's nostrils.
"...Then let me offer you this sacrifice. This town's token of my submission." The pastor moved away for a moment, "....our submission, o great spirit. Take it and leave us be."
In his hands he held a squalling Nicholas.
--------
The bond between Fathers and sons is stronger then men know.
Nicholas reached out a pudgy hand, "-Papa!"
Mama wasn't there anymore. She didn't understand his noises. Papa'd make them back but- This needed different noises.
The nice man and his wife came and took him-and then Grandfather came and grandfather hurt the nice man's wife and the babies and the nice man ran and Papa-
Papa was a skeleton.
Nicholas was very perplexed by this.
He wailed louder, "PAPA! PAPA!"
In some well of pain and misery, Noble Kale heard his son's voice.
"Take him." The pastor said, "He is nothing. An ill gotten bastard. A sneak. A monster in waiting. Take him. An offering of the flesh."
The boy screamed.
"An offering of the flesh. His flesh for ours."
------------
THE MASTER WILL BE PLEASED.
what? You can't! That's my son!
YOU HAVE NO SONS. ONLY ME. YOU DO NOT EXIST. THERE IS ONLY WHO I AM.
NO! MY SON!
With a scream, the Rider died, leaving an exhausted horse and a tired man still bearing wounds across his body.
"Nicholas-"
He fell off Gabriel and crawled across the plaza. His father didn't matter anymore. None of this did. All that Mattered was getting to his boy. His child. all he had left of the woman he loved.
"-paa-paa-"
The child's cry was pitiful. Abandoned by his grandfather, the baby wailed at the universe only to have his father's arms wrap around his shoulders.
"papa." he sniffed "papa."
"Papa's here."
The boy's hands grasped at him sniveling.
"...Nicholas. Nicholas look at me." Noble grabbed his son's shoulder, "...Your father loves you."
It wanted to come back.
Gabriel whinnyed in terror as Noble Kale backed away, "...I love you. More then anything. Please believe that son. You're all that's best in me."
"-Pa-pa?"
--------
His father fell.
His foot hit a shotgun from behind. New and fancy. He preferred his old musket. This one-
This one had been loaded. Hadn't done Williamson much good.
"...Turn away son!" fire ignited along Noble Kale's hands, "...Please. Don't look."
The boy rolled over onto his back and screamed at the change in scenery. Thunder echoed through the town, but there was no sky wet.
Sniveling, the boy sat up again. Stupid legs. Stupid world. How dare it not meet his needs now.
"Papa?"
Papa was on the ground. Stumbling, the tiny boy moved over toward him, heedless of the other bodies in his path. "Papa! wake up!" They had to find Mama. Everyone was laying down."
the boy pushed at his father's shoulder-
He knew it was wrong. Very wrong. Not right. Not right-not right-PAPA!
his papa's face. A face he knew. Was gone it was red and wet. Everything was red and wet. All that was left was white bones.
A grinning skull.
The boy backed up and hit another body, his hands sticky.
Then he began to scream.