Jackie Dolamore (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} fabulousfrock) wrote,@ 2008-03-11 22:42:00 |
|
Teaser Tuesday for Magic Under Glass
The germ of a dangerous idea began to form in my mind.
I reached for a book on Hollin’s father’s shelf: Mastery of Man: the Perils of Sorcery and the Summoning of Demons, Illustrated with 32 Color Plates, by the Reverend Abram Crane. The Queen of the Longest Night came up in the second chapter.
“The great fairies, as one shall find past the warded Gate, are ruled by the King of the Longest Day, otherwise known as the Day King or Sun King. The underworld has an equivalent fairy ruler, The Queen of the Longest Night; however, she holds much more power in her realm than the Day King does in his own, as all the demons of the underworld follow the rule of the fairies. All sinners fall under the cruel sway of this treacherous creature.”
An illustration showed a woman with flowing hair whose scowling face reminded me of the ukuki, the trickster spirits of Tiansher. She carried a sword aloft, and rode in a chariot formed of skulls and bones, pulled along by emaciated black horse-creatures with bat wings and ram horns. Dying men seemed to be pleading for mercy just before she ran them down with her chariot.
However, could I trust the Reverend Abram Crane? Indeed, he did not find anything magic very pleasant, it seemed, as I continued thumbing through the pages. Unicorns were good for hunting, mermaids were “immodest” and “cruel”, winged people were “hideous thieves”, and page upon page was devoted to the dangers, evils, and trickery of fairies.
I thought of the fairy woman, pleading to me in her musical accent, kicking her slippered feet, before Smollings and Melsing dragged her away. Who from the race of men could call another people evil?
“The necromancer lights candles…he whispers a plea into the dim room…the ghosts stir in their graves, while the demons blink eagerly from the shadows… She is coming, they whisper. The Queen may appear to those who call her, and that is why righteous men and women dare not even speak her name.”
I read on, nervous but fluttering with excitement. The Reverend Abram Crane gave instructions for summoning the Queen of the Longest Night, although his sneering tone left no question that he disapproved. He went on for page after page about the damnation that fell upon those who summoned her.
I had no fear of damnation, only of the spirits who had claimed Annalie’s life.
The germ of a dangerous idea began to form in my mind.
I reached for a book on Hollin’s father’s shelf: Mastery of Man: the Perils of Sorcery and the Summoning of Demons, Illustrated with 32 Color Plates, by the Reverend Abram Crane. The Queen of the Longest Night came up in the second chapter.
“The great fairies, as one shall find past the warded Gate, are ruled by the King of the Longest Day, otherwise known as the Day King or Sun King. The underworld has an equivalent fairy ruler, The Queen of the Longest Night; however, she holds much more power in her realm than the Day King does in his own, as all the demons of the underworld follow the rule of the fairies. All sinners fall under the cruel sway of this treacherous creature.”
An illustration showed a woman with flowing hair whose scowling face reminded me of the ukuki, the trickster spirits of Tiansher. She carried a sword aloft, and rode in a chariot formed of skulls and bones, pulled along by emaciated black horse-creatures with bat wings and ram horns. Dying men seemed to be pleading for mercy just before she ran them down with her chariot.
However, could I trust the Reverend Abram Crane? Indeed, he did not find anything magic very pleasant, it seemed, as I continued thumbing through the pages. Unicorns were good for hunting, mermaids were “immodest” and “cruel”, winged people were “hideous thieves”, and page upon page was devoted to the dangers, evils, and trickery of fairies.
I thought of the fairy woman, pleading to me in her musical accent, kicking her slippered feet, before Smollings and Melsing dragged her away. Who from the race of men could call another people evil?
“The necromancer lights candles…he whispers a plea into the dim room…the ghosts stir in their graves, while the demons blink eagerly from the shadows… She is coming, they whisper. The Queen may appear to those who call her, and that is why righteous men and women dare not even speak her name.”
I read on, nervous but fluttering with excitement. The Reverend Abram Crane gave instructions for summoning the Queen of the Longest Night, although his sneering tone left no question that he disapproved. He went on for page after page about the damnation that fell upon those who summoned her.
I had no fear of damnation, only of the spirits who had claimed Annalie’s life.
