King: Prologue
It's been over a year since I posted here. Dayum. But here I am, back with a new original work that I'll be publishing both here and on FictionPress. This is completely original, novel-length and I know I'm gonna have a lot of fun writing it! Set somewhere in Bavaria sometime in the first millennium.
First chapter will be posted soon. Comments are love.
Prologue
Black
For a while Kaiden couldn't work out what was wrong with the man. Then he leant closer and saw. The man had no face.
A mixture of fright and intrigue pulled at Kaiden. He craned his neck to get a better look. Every pair of eyes in the room was fixed on the figure that drifted through the parting crowd. Some took steps back in shock, mouths open. Others, the curious ones, edged closer to better get a better view of the stranger who walked among them.
Kaiden shuffled forward a step, but a hand caught his shoulder and wrenched him back. He heard his mother's hiss: “You stay away. Understand?”
It wasn't as if the man was completely deformed. From the back he was almost normal: shaggy brown hair, curved shoulders, a black cloak that dragged on the ground. But where his face should have been there was nothing. No pointed nose. No indents for eyes. Just smooth, unblemished skin. As if someone had wiped it clean and smoothed out the bumps.
And yet he walked like he could see exactly where he was going.
Kaiden watched him drag himself down the centre of the room. His steps were slow, lumbering. Even if a path weren't forming around him, Kaiden got the feeling that bad things would happen to the person that got in his way. What those things were, Kaiden didn't want to think about.
The last people moved out of the way and Kaiden saw where the path led. Chief Hanzer sat in his fur-lined throne, looking up at the man with no face. And the man stared down.
Silence claimed the room. Even the winds that had been battering the outside of the building for the duration of the meeting seemed to have died into nothingness. Slowly Chief Hanzer said, “Who are you?”
Kaiden felt a shiver trickle down his spine. Up until that moment, he had been wary of and even a little curious about the man. Now dread filled him. He didn't want to know the answer to the question, somehow knew that bad things would happen if he found out. At once wanted to be as far away from the man as possible. His mother's hand became a vice stopping him from running away instead of the protection it should have been.
The man with no face leant forward so that the place his lips would be was level with the chief's ear. Hanzer's shoulders tensed, his hands gripping the arms of his throne. Though he knew it was impossible, Kaiden thought he could hear words. As if the man were… whispering.
By the time the man was finished, Chief Hanzer's face was white. The look in his eyes was nothing like Kaiden had ever seen before. A ghost had found its way into him and lodged in his skull. His body was frozen and his eyes were locked on the man as if he might die if he looked away.
The room waited. Why wasn't anyone doing anything, Kaiden thought. Even Hilbert, the chief's bodyguard, stood a few paces away. A sickening feeling lay in Kaiden's stomach. Something bad was going to happen. He knew it.
And then it happened.
The man with no face pulled a knife from his cloak and plunged it into Hanzer's chest. The chief jolted. Nearby, a woman screamed.
It was as if a lever had been pulled.
The room leapt into chaos. A pair of men rushed forward and wrenched the man back, leaving his knife lodged between the chief's ribs. People crowded around the chief, helping to lower him to the ground, offering their furs to place below his head. Kaiden wanted to run over and help, but he knew there was nothing he could do that ten people were not doing already.
More men had joined those restraining the faceless man, though Kaiden couldn't see why. The man wasn't fighting back, even struggling. He looked like a straw doll in the arms of his tribesmen, the kind Kaiden played with in his room and made with his mother. He wished that the men would pull him apart just like one of those dolls, fold him up and throw him in the fire so he wouldn't have to look at him ever again. Just get rid of him.
But there was no need, as it looked like the man's skin was already peeling. In a matter of seconds, his head had turned from pale white to blotchy. Bits were falling off him, landing on the floor, leaving red flesh underneath. Kaiden could only think about how a piece of fruit rots over days if left in the sun. The man was actually decaying in front of him.
Something slammed into Kaiden's shoulder and sent him stumbling forward. His mother grabbed him and wrenched him back. The crowd was surging around him, pulling in all directions. And still he tried to get one more glimpse of the faceless man.
If he could be called that anymore. What had once been the man was now no more than a skeleton, a moulding core. Pieces of flesh still ran down the smooth skull and the robes hung loosely over nothingness. Kaiden thought that it would stop there, but the bone was getting thinner too. A hole appeared in the side of his head and widened. The men tried to get a tighter hold - an impossible task when the material they were holding was falling away between their fingers.
The woman screamed again, though this time it was more a cry of sorrow than horror. Lila knelt over her husband. Her hands gripped his while he trembled and coughed. A few drops of blood flew spurted from his mouth and landed on his chin.
While the chief lay dying, before his mother could drag him from the room, Kaiden peered at the spot where the faceless man had been. Nothing was left. One of the men raised the now-empty rag of cloak and threw it to the ground in anger. The faceless man was gone.
First chapter will be posted soon. Comments are love.
Prologue
Black
For a while Kaiden couldn't work out what was wrong with the man. Then he leant closer and saw. The man had no face.
A mixture of fright and intrigue pulled at Kaiden. He craned his neck to get a better look. Every pair of eyes in the room was fixed on the figure that drifted through the parting crowd. Some took steps back in shock, mouths open. Others, the curious ones, edged closer to better get a better view of the stranger who walked among them.
Kaiden shuffled forward a step, but a hand caught his shoulder and wrenched him back. He heard his mother's hiss: “You stay away. Understand?”
It wasn't as if the man was completely deformed. From the back he was almost normal: shaggy brown hair, curved shoulders, a black cloak that dragged on the ground. But where his face should have been there was nothing. No pointed nose. No indents for eyes. Just smooth, unblemished skin. As if someone had wiped it clean and smoothed out the bumps.
And yet he walked like he could see exactly where he was going.
Kaiden watched him drag himself down the centre of the room. His steps were slow, lumbering. Even if a path weren't forming around him, Kaiden got the feeling that bad things would happen to the person that got in his way. What those things were, Kaiden didn't want to think about.
The last people moved out of the way and Kaiden saw where the path led. Chief Hanzer sat in his fur-lined throne, looking up at the man with no face. And the man stared down.
Silence claimed the room. Even the winds that had been battering the outside of the building for the duration of the meeting seemed to have died into nothingness. Slowly Chief Hanzer said, “Who are you?”
Kaiden felt a shiver trickle down his spine. Up until that moment, he had been wary of and even a little curious about the man. Now dread filled him. He didn't want to know the answer to the question, somehow knew that bad things would happen if he found out. At once wanted to be as far away from the man as possible. His mother's hand became a vice stopping him from running away instead of the protection it should have been.
The man with no face leant forward so that the place his lips would be was level with the chief's ear. Hanzer's shoulders tensed, his hands gripping the arms of his throne. Though he knew it was impossible, Kaiden thought he could hear words. As if the man were… whispering.
By the time the man was finished, Chief Hanzer's face was white. The look in his eyes was nothing like Kaiden had ever seen before. A ghost had found its way into him and lodged in his skull. His body was frozen and his eyes were locked on the man as if he might die if he looked away.
The room waited. Why wasn't anyone doing anything, Kaiden thought. Even Hilbert, the chief's bodyguard, stood a few paces away. A sickening feeling lay in Kaiden's stomach. Something bad was going to happen. He knew it.
And then it happened.
The man with no face pulled a knife from his cloak and plunged it into Hanzer's chest. The chief jolted. Nearby, a woman screamed.
It was as if a lever had been pulled.
The room leapt into chaos. A pair of men rushed forward and wrenched the man back, leaving his knife lodged between the chief's ribs. People crowded around the chief, helping to lower him to the ground, offering their furs to place below his head. Kaiden wanted to run over and help, but he knew there was nothing he could do that ten people were not doing already.
More men had joined those restraining the faceless man, though Kaiden couldn't see why. The man wasn't fighting back, even struggling. He looked like a straw doll in the arms of his tribesmen, the kind Kaiden played with in his room and made with his mother. He wished that the men would pull him apart just like one of those dolls, fold him up and throw him in the fire so he wouldn't have to look at him ever again. Just get rid of him.
But there was no need, as it looked like the man's skin was already peeling. In a matter of seconds, his head had turned from pale white to blotchy. Bits were falling off him, landing on the floor, leaving red flesh underneath. Kaiden could only think about how a piece of fruit rots over days if left in the sun. The man was actually decaying in front of him.
Something slammed into Kaiden's shoulder and sent him stumbling forward. His mother grabbed him and wrenched him back. The crowd was surging around him, pulling in all directions. And still he tried to get one more glimpse of the faceless man.
If he could be called that anymore. What had once been the man was now no more than a skeleton, a moulding core. Pieces of flesh still ran down the smooth skull and the robes hung loosely over nothingness. Kaiden thought that it would stop there, but the bone was getting thinner too. A hole appeared in the side of his head and widened. The men tried to get a tighter hold - an impossible task when the material they were holding was falling away between their fingers.
The woman screamed again, though this time it was more a cry of sorrow than horror. Lila knelt over her husband. Her hands gripped his while he trembled and coughed. A few drops of blood flew spurted from his mouth and landed on his chin.
While the chief lay dying, before his mother could drag him from the room, Kaiden peered at the spot where the faceless man had been. Nothing was left. One of the men raised the now-empty rag of cloak and threw it to the ground in anger. The faceless man was gone.