August Writing, Day 4: Tales of Verkath: A Meeting (Part 1)
Tales of Verkath, my ongoing horror/dark fantasy short story collection, continues today. This is a rough draft. (It's also a backdated entry - this story fragment was written on August 4th, and posted on August 6)
-Three-
A Meeting
Malaika was walking through the forest on her way back from guard duty when she first saw him. There was nothing unusual about their meeting; there were only so many passages to the surfaces in a given area, and both men and women used them. That they had both come to this one at the same time was mere coincidence. What was unusual was that this man had climbed up onto the fence that divided field from forest, and was sitting on the top of it, gazing off into the sky.
She approached him, coming from one side. "What are you doing?" she hissed through her teeth.
"I'm observing the planets," answered the Verkathian man.
"Here, at the border of human territory? Aren't you afraid someone will see you?"
"Everyone's asleep. Trust me, I made sure of that. This is the house I've been summoned to watch over so that my summoners can raid the barn."
"Oh." Typical men's work.
"How about you?" continued the man, turning to Malaika. "You must be coming back from guard duty."
"Yes."
"Catch anything?"
"Not this time."
"How many times have you been on guard duty?"
"This was my seventh outing."
"Oh. It's my fifteenth time up here."
Malaika was impressed. "Someone up here must be very pleased with your services, then."
"Yes, there is. It doesn't hurt that I'm a Martian, either."
"Ah."
Just as Verkathian women were daughters of Laidy Mazhaith of the Moon and served her will, so Verkathian men were sons of one of the gods of the five planets, and served their god's will. This meant that women guarded the rituals of male black magicians, while men did the bidding of witches.
-Three-
A Meeting
Malaika was walking through the forest on her way back from guard duty when she first saw him. There was nothing unusual about their meeting; there were only so many passages to the surfaces in a given area, and both men and women used them. That they had both come to this one at the same time was mere coincidence. What was unusual was that this man had climbed up onto the fence that divided field from forest, and was sitting on the top of it, gazing off into the sky.
She approached him, coming from one side. "What are you doing?" she hissed through her teeth.
"I'm observing the planets," answered the Verkathian man.
"Here, at the border of human territory? Aren't you afraid someone will see you?"
"Everyone's asleep. Trust me, I made sure of that. This is the house I've been summoned to watch over so that my summoners can raid the barn."
"Oh." Typical men's work.
"How about you?" continued the man, turning to Malaika. "You must be coming back from guard duty."
"Yes."
"Catch anything?"
"Not this time."
"How many times have you been on guard duty?"
"This was my seventh outing."
"Oh. It's my fifteenth time up here."
Malaika was impressed. "Someone up here must be very pleased with your services, then."
"Yes, there is. It doesn't hurt that I'm a Martian, either."
"Ah."
Just as Verkathian women were daughters of Laidy Mazhaith of the Moon and served her will, so Verkathian men were sons of one of the gods of the five planets, and served their god's will. This meant that women guarded the rituals of male black magicians, while men did the bidding of witches.