Excert from "Rozelle"
Description and history of the village of Marigold

He wandered around the remains of the village for the better part of the day. The stones for the streets and a few crumbling walls were all that remained. The cross from atop the steeple of the church had fallen to the ground and lay broken. The old well was crumbling, and the rope for the long rotted bucket had long since turned to dust and blown away. Even the fountain in the village square, where they'd gathered to play music and feast and sell wares, was falling apart. The massive stone vase in its center was showing signs of weathering, and some of the stone flowers had crumbled with their lifeless gray leaves. The wall around it was caved in on most sides, though it had crumbled onto the square on one side, laying in pieces like pebbles small enough to throw.

Birds flew through the ruins, and some even nested in it. Their voices were a welcome sound in the place, for they made it seem less sad. At first, Duncan had thought that that village held all the humans in existence. He'd feared that the death of the villagers would be the extinction of a race. Then he had seen the doorway to this world. It was nothing more than a cave in some small mountains, but when you walked through its dark depths, you would find yourself in another world. It may have been another time as well, Duncan thought. According to the way things would have been in their time, they were quite behind the rest of the earth. But he would never know, for the elders of his race didn't want their world "polluted" by them. They soon collapsed the cave, cutting the villagers off from the rest of their world. Mordigan, their new king, had never in his reign acquired enough power to reopen the door. And no one ever returned from the freezing trek over the mountains.

All in all, the people acted less like prisoners than Duncan had expected. And for a time, they were going to start a second village. Mordigan's sanity didn't last long enough for such plans. Duncan remembered how he had wanted to reason with the king, to tell him to be careful with the arcane wisdom he was acquiring, but he knew he wouldn't have listened. He was consumed by the magic, the mysticism, the promises in ancient tongues. Mordigan had also never taken a wife, for they said no woman could love the kind king. He was indeed a good man, but in no way a handsome one. And he had never taken a child to raise

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Novel excerpts: Magical fantasy?
We want to hear your view. Write now!