His mistress is glorious tonight. See the dancers sway, bodies paying homage to her greatness and her vision. The crowds can only watch from afar as she passes by.

  He closes his eyes, and savours the promise in the air.

- - - - - -

  "Can you not feel it?" she had said, breathing in deeply, exhaling a hissing sigh. "It is all around us. The time is come." Then, almost like an afterthought, "This must all be beyond you. Poor little boy."

  'No!' he had thought. 'I know what you mean. I can taste it!' Sure as the dreams you breathed into me, sure as the day I pledged myself to you, sure as-

  The hand that was idling petting his head, suddenly seized his jaw and pulled him towards her. He gasped, her nails sharp and curved resting lightly on his throat. There was no mistaking the strength in that seemingly delicate hold. She brought him in close, close enough to make him squirm, foreheads barely touching. Then, she forced him to look deep into her eyes, and for one fleeting moment he glimpsed the knowledge brewing in their dark, shifting depths, burning and terrifying in its intensity.

  Run, little boy, and never look back.

  She let go. He whimpered and tumbled to the floor. Sweet Hyne. He was trembling uncontrollably, in fear and in awe. So that was the power of a sorceress. No man should be allowed to see it, and live.

  "Tonight." She stood up and walked past him, ignoring his soft moans. "Tonight, it begins."

- - - - - -

  The hour draws near, the bells begin to sound. The clocktower comes to life.

  He shudders. So it begins.

 

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