This is another one of my favorite stories. It came out all at once with such vivid pictures in my head that I was very tempted to turn it into an entire novel - or at least a novelette, just for the sake of the characters. But I refrained.
For now. XP
The Prompt
This was the sixth day of Inktober. The prompt was golden.
The Story
I crushed the stone between my fingertips, watching it crumble down in glittering dust. “You fooled me. That’s a first.”
I turned to watch the girl’s reaction to my words. Her shoulders were bowed, her head hanging low. I couldn’t see her face behind the wild brown waves of her hair.
“Silence will not save you.” I stepped over to the chair she was chained to, lifting her face with a finger under her chin. She flicked her green eyes up to mine, lips pressed into a firm line. She thinks she can outlast me.
Keeping our gazes locked, I rubbed the fingers of my free hand over her lap, dusting her tunic with the remains of her “gold”.
Silence still. Not even a flicker of regret in her eyes.
I sighed and dropped my finger away from her chin, turning my back to her. “Your tricks and illusions will not save you or your friends. I ask you one more time: where is the gold?”
The swish of her shifting was the only sound in the room as I let my words hang. While I waited, I poured two glasses of crimson wine. In one I let fall a drop from the vial of poison I kept on me at all times. Not enough to be lethal, no. But certainly enough to agonize.
The wine glowed scarlet against the crystal glasses as I picked them up and turned back to my guest. She watched my movements openly for a moment, then sighed almost inaudibly and hung her head again.
I pressed my fingerprint across the back of her chair, and her shackles opened. She rubbed her wrists, still refusing to look at me.
“M’lady.” I offered a glass of wine.
She looked at it, then at me, eyebrows pressed together.
Ah. So she will speak.
“How do I know it’s not poisoned?”
“It is not.”
Now came the test. If the gold was with her as I suspected, under her control even though it be hidden from me, she would see the truth.
She accepted the glass warily. I clinked mine against hers and raised it in the air. “To the betterment of society.”
Her eyes darted between mine, wide with concern. I raised my eyebrows at her expression and tipped my wine towards my mouth.
The glass was knocked from my hand before I opened my lips to accept its refreshment. It flew across the room, shattering into a thousand glittering shards as blood-red wine splattered on my tapestries.
Of course she had to go for the tapestries.
“Now, now, my dear, that was impolite.” I dabbed at a spot of wine on my lapel, ignoring the way it steamed. “Whatever did you do that for?”
“You gave me the wrong glass. Yours was the one with poison.”
I cocked my head at her. “I know.”
For a moment she looked confused, but realization dawned quickly. She’d been fooled back, and she knew it.
I took the forgotten wine from her hand and downed it in a gulp. “I know you too well, Charis. You would even drink poison to protect your secret, but you would not let another do so.” I winked at her, enjoying her fear. “Do not try and trick the one who taught you trickery. Now, where is the gold? I know you have it with you. Give it to me and I will reward you with your freedom and the lives of your friends. Refuse, and I will have you taken down to them to watch them all suffer, one by one, cut by cut, burn by burn, until they yield their spirits to their God’s keeping after years of torment.”
Charis’ eyes were wide and trapped, but she still didn’t speak. I smirked inside. You used to be smarter. But I had cornered her, and she knew it.
“Love is an asset, my dear.” I turned and set the wineglass next to the pitcher of wine on the table, wiping my hands on the cloth that hung off the edge. “But it is also a weakness. If you didn’t love your friends, didn’t love your God, didn’t love me, you would be invincible. But as such, you have provided me with weapons far greater than any poison.”
I glanced back and could see the hurt and betrayal on her face. Good. Sometimes words stung more than a blow.
“Who was it that taught you that love could save anyone?” I arched an eyebrow and turned back to her, clasping my hands behind my back, watching her face.
“You did,” she whispered. Her skin had drained of all color.
“And who is it that needs saving?”
“You do.”
“Exactly. Do you see how twisted that teaching was? I needed saving then, Charis, just as you need saving now. But love is not how we bring about others’ salvation.” I relaxed and crossed over to her. She was trembling, poor thing, reminding me of the little girl who first stumbled into my house during a blizzard. I reached for her hand and rubbed the back with my thumb, knowing how much it comforted her. How much it lowered her guard. She let me, hand limp, eyes fastened on mine and dripping with fear.
“No,” I murmured. “The world is full of idiots. The best way to save them is to control them. Let them think they have their lives under control, when in reality we are orchestrating their very memories. The world will have peace. We will prosper. Life will continue on without pain or fear or wars or death. We will be happy.”
Charis was silent, but I could see her thoughts swirling behind her eyes. Finally, slowly, she pulled her hand from mine and shook her head. I fought a frown. “You’re wrong,” she whispered.
The frown conquered my features as she got up from her chair and turned her back to me, crossing her arms across her middle. “Wrong? How can I be?”
A deep breath shuddered across her shoulders. When she faced me again, her eyes were brimming with tears. “Because you say ‘we’. Because you think this will bring you happiness, and that happiness is what you want. You think that pain and fear and wars and death are all things that you can eliminate by elevating yourself as close to God as you can get, by putting yourself on His throne and orchestrating everyone in the world through that golden stone.” She shook her head, and one tear overflowed and traced a path down her cheek. “No. No, you’re wrong. There is no ‘we’ here. There is you, and you alone. Alone, Jamik. Forever. No friends, no family, no love. You used to be afraid of that. Now you think it will save you when, in reality, it will destroy you and the whole world with you.”
Her words stung, but I shoved them away. “You cling to outdated ideas.”
“Ideas that have kept the world running as it should for millenia.” She stepped closer to me, and her voice was choked. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you. But… maybe that’s not my job.”
The realization of what she meant jolted me out of my own mind. Fool! I snatched at her wrist, but my hand went through air. She gave me a smile so sad it hurt, and touched my shoulder. “I miss you,” she whispered.
And faded.
I cursed beneath my breath. Fooled again. Charis wasn’t here and never had been. Her friends probably weren’t in my dungeon. I had wasted precious hours on an illusion.
I glanced at the golden rock that had been left behind, sitting on the chair where I had once had her in my power, glinting a little in the light.
Fool’s gold. Just like her.
Ah. I love villain POVs. XP
What do you think of the characters in here? What kind of relationship do you think they have - or had? Why is the gold so important? Should I have turned this into a novel or novelette?
Until next time,
Take courage, pursue God, and smile while you still have teeth!! ^_^