A hefty, old merchant pushed his cart down a dark alley. The stones were wet and slippery from the day’s rain. The torchlight from the street gleamed off the stonework, providing little, if any, light.
It had been a long day of very little sales. Not very many people could afford to buy things these days, and those who could were discouraged by the rain.
He put his cart down and leaned against the wall of the old tavern to rest. Something moved out of the corner of his eye. It looked like fabric of some kind, maybe part of a cloak.
The merchant looked around but saw nothing in the darkness. He chalked it up to fatigue and closed his eyes for a moment, sliding to the ground with a thud.
Then, stone rubble fell with loud smacks to the pavement beside him. His eyes shot open and looked toward the roof of the building around him.
“Damned birds,” he mumbled as he got out his flask of whiskey. There was but a drop left.
He stood up rather clumsily and straightened his breeches which were, surprisingly, too big. The merchant picked up his cart and began to roll toward the street again.
Behind him, he heard a flap of fabric which couldn’t have been feathers.
“Who’s there?” he slurred through his drunken haze and nearly fell over as he turned around.
The alley remained damp and deserted.
Footsteps echoed behind him. He whipped around.
He went to get his cart and leave but found the wheel broken.
“Damned kids! Who did it?” he yelled out, spinning his hefty weight around clumsily to see who was to blame.
In the darkness of the alley in front of him he heard a slight chuckle.
He felt hot breath on the back of his neck then a faint whisper.
He spun around again but still saw no one. Then, he heard the fabric toward the back of the alley.
He walked over as if the alley was constantly shifting directions.
The distinct sound of something small whizzed through the air.
“Ack!” he cried as a pain seared through his neck.
The merchant lifted his hand to feel what had stung him and found three little needles.
He began to feel weak as he pulled them out. His vision grew blurry. His limbs grew heavy. He stumbled to support himself on the wall, but fell to the ground.
As his vision grew dark and his body went numb, he saw a cloaked figure bend down over him and the smirk of a woman’s face under the hood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello, everyone! I hoped you enjoyed this little story. It started out as a short story for my blog, madtales, but soon blossomed into an exciting idea for a book series that I am currently working on. I am very proud of my stories so far and my work on Book 1. I hope I’ll be able to keep you updated on my effort to get published and keep the short stories coming!
