VotecountSiquo [1] - SirBayer
SirBayer [4] - Siquo, Halmie, spitfire684, HFS
Halmie [1] - JaaSwb
HFS [1] - quinnr
EDIT: just altered the end so it would flow better.
"Yes, hardly human," Pandarsenic continues. "Can you call any man human who would happily slay a child? No, young friend, though they may have been men when they converged on Bayer that day, their solemn silence as they regarded his flailing death condemned them."
"... A child?" asks Aureliusz Vektor. He almost wants to smile at the ludicrous impossibility of it, pushing away all other feelings in favor of cold laughter--for when he was a younger man, who walked with Anna in those nightmare chills of Poland, hand in aching hand, he had
"On that day," says Dakarian, "they chose a child among them and said with little regret:
"'You, dear heart, shall die.'"hand in aching hand and the chill wind blistering their reddened faces
as though in dream cold to the bone and roaring
as though in dream he heard a voice say i'm... hungry and he was glad to have that voice to light the night by
"You are... speaking lies," says Vektor.
"There is no lie more cutting than the truth, is there?" asks Pandarsenic. "They gathered around him and saw some deep evil in his rounded childish eyes. They did not ask who he was--they did not need to. He was Bayer the Child, and his guise said simply this:
"'I am young and uncared for, and when you kill me I will be helpless before you.'
"And so it was, for he had not yet learned to speak dishonesty with a snakish smile."
"You forget, Pandarsenic, that he was not so quiet as you say. He looked up at those dirty tired men who surrounded him, and asked of each this unanswered query:
"'Are you my daddy? Mommy said you'd never come back, but I knew you would. We'll sail on a boat some day when I'm a Sea Captain.' He repeated this phrase to each man, who merely shook his head and looked away. They stood in that solitary hanging balance which each man must face, peering towards a future their hearts knew was wrong but their heads thought right."they peered through that foggy window to a country white as eiderdown, their joints aching their stomachs clenched. it was a land of cold. Anna said
"They were silent for what seemed like hour upon hour, cowards all, who stared upon a child they thought a villain and could not kill him."Anna said
there is no more cabbage or wheat or pork
and he said
there is no more wood
and he said
"Pandarsenic took offense at this and snuck softly around that circle, whispering into every ear terrible stories of what madness he would visit upon them, should they not move forward. To some he threatened the pain of a great fire; to others dreams lost forever; and to others still, he merely smiled and said:
"'I hear it's very cold outside, and this cathedral has a great many windows.'"and he said softly this
give me the shovel and your wedding ring
"It was very cold outside," says Pandarsenic, "and they wasted piles of coin on flimsy sheets of colored glass."he opened the door into a wall of cold and ice their rings clenched in his palm (he could not let go of them yet precious and valueless) and he dug his hands red and chapped and blistered bleeding in the barren winter and dug and closed the door
he dug and closed the door and shambled through the slicing snow his trousers soaked with ice and he shivering and them shivering
Aureliusz Vektor throws more logs on the fire. He is cold and admires the wood's fine scent, its sparks swarming at every disturbance. It is lively and takes his mind off things, and so he absorbs himself in its bright burning flare. He is a man in love with flames.
"Isn't it warm enough, old man?" asks Dakarian. "It hasn't snowed for three days now."
"It is never warm enough," he says. it was not ever
He will not ask them to continue. The most he can do is listen. He does not want to listen. He would like to close his eyes and sit bent before the roasting fire, to hold his shaking hands over the flames. If he burnt them, he cared not. In that pain he would at last be warm.
"My homeland would be pleasant for you, then," says Pandarsenic. "It is lovely in the spring."
"Let us not speak of the seasons, Pandarsenic, but continue our tale. If we stall here, we shall keep our host awake all night."
"Ah yes," says Pandarsenic. "I am most certain you wanted to hear what happened next. Those men who had been strong in their defiance of their own wills quickly crumbled, their true feelings soon showing through."
"Those men who had been strong in their defiance of you quickly crumbled, the intrinsic frailty of mortal men soon betraying them. They gathered around Bayer and he was compliant, laughing even as they flung his young body over his shoulder and carried him up the cathedral stairs."
"They walked and walked until they found the high bell tower, open to the evening air and freezing in the chill," says Pandarsenic. "They peered through that foggy air upon a country white as eiderdown, their joints aching and their stomachs clenched. It was a land of cold."
"Someone mentioned the bells and--"
"They were hungry in the extreme," said Pandarsenic. "They were soon to freeze to death, and no matter who 'won' they would all die. They had no cabbage, wheat, or pork. They had no firewood. They stood in that open and freezing air, eyes stinging and streaming, their hands shaking in the violent cold, and their secret thoughts were all villainous.
"They thought 'if only I could leave, and never come back. I'd tell them I'd come back soon with wood and food. I'd head out into the snow, and if I ever returned I'd be greeted by a mausoleum.'
"They wanted to take the easy way out--I'm sure you can sympathize, Aureliusz Vektor?--they wanted to survive with no consequences and see no more men die. Had they been surrounded by their own families, they would have felt the same. A cold and starving man is desperate. He sees his wife's wan face and hears the mewling of his sick child, and wants nothing more than to escape. Whatever goodness or honesty he possessed is tarnished and can never be clean."
"They hanged--"
"They lifted Bayer to the mouth of the smallest bronze bell, the Little Maria, and wrapped the cord around his narrow neck. They turned their faces away and did not watch, cowards all, what their fear and malice had wrought--they were men like any other, as you have been told. They heard his gasping fumbling breaths and the bell clanged harsh across the countryside."
"They took his body and--"he opened the door the rings sold he a poor man with near-nothing left but their smiling faces and
"They stood, eyes averted, and when the knell ceased its tireless ring, they turned as one to see an innocent pauper hanging in the dead air."
You are SirBayer the Child. You have lost your mommy somewhere. You have lost your daddy somewhere. Your mommy said your daddy is "a lying unprincipled bastard." Your mommy said she would come back.
Your mommy said she would come back five days ago. Your mommy is gone. You have been waiting in the cathedral like she said and she has not come back.
Your daddy said he would never come back five years ago. Your daddy is gone. You have been waiting and hoping he was lying and he has not come back.
The men and women walking in and out whisper that you are an unwanted child. It isn't true. Your mommy said she would come back.
She has not come back. The days are cold and she has not come back.
This day is very cold. It is snowing. It is snowing like the world is covered in white flowers. It is snowing like years of crying. This day is very cold and the men outside were very cold. There are two knights and some other men inside now. You don't know how many men there are. One of the knights steps in the middle of the room. You wonder for a moment if he is your daddy. He cannot be your daddy. Your daddy said he would never come back.
"Everyone!" says Sir Dakarian of Pane. "Two among your number are evil men who would murder you as you rest. You must find them and kill them before you are all dead.
"More than your lives hangs in the balance. For the sake of all that is good and holy, I ask for your aid."
You are not sure you understand. You have to be here for your mommy if she when she ever comes back. You have to be here for your daddy if he when he ever comes back.
You are an innocent (town). You win when the villains are dead. Good luck.
SirBayer the Child, Innocent, has been lynched. You have 24 hours to send in your night actions. Day 3 will begin at 12:00 PM Thursday board time.
Apologies to the Oxford English Dictionary and William Faulkner (again), as well as Laura Ingalls Wilder. Apologies to Victor Hugo, as usual. Additional apologies for the incoherent narrative, but I felt it worked, so I went with it. I'll also apologize to Motoi Sakuraba for stealing the name of one of his songs.
Note also that the next update is going to be... interesting. The story continues with some craziness quite soon =)
Author
Topic: Ex Cathedra [BMIX]: Sunrise (Read 98064 times)