The City Beneath the Hidden Stars by Sonya Kudei

Author:Sonya Kudei
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy fiction, folklore, mythology & folktales, legends & myths, witches and demons, Croatian folklore, humorous fantasy
Publisher: BHC Press
Published: 2022-07-27T00:00:00+00:00

She found herself in the middle of a crowded square. There were people in shabby, rustic clothes all around her. They were all chattering excitedly in small groups. Clearly, something was going on.

Despite the oddness of it all, there was something familiar about the place. A sturdy white tower rose over many patchy rooftops on one side, while a stone church with a multicolored shingle roof stood on the other. Stella recognized them as Lotrščak Tower and St. Mark’s Church, realizing she was in Upper Town.

This, however, was not the Upper Town she knew and occasionally visited on weekend afternoons. This was an unpaved, extremely low-tech version of it.

The strangest thing of all was the presence of an alien-looking tower positioned about halfway between Lotrščak and St. Mark’s. Unlike the white Lotrščak Tower, this tower was made of some crude charcoal-black stone, and its only ornaments were iron spikes. It was much taller than any of the surrounding buildings, and its sides tapered from a wide square base to a surreally narrow top which ended in a row of menacing iron battlements that looked like the curled fingers of a giant skeletal fist. Meanwhile, at the street level, two beefy, oddly hunched guards wearing full iron armor stood on each side of a forbidding iron gate, bearing grime-encrusted spears. It was this tower that seemed to be the main focus of the townspeople’s attention.

Suddenly from somewhere in the distance, an agitated peasant’s voice shouted, “She’s coming! The witch of Bear Town is coming!”

The murmur of the crowd became even more restless.

“Make way for the queen!” yelled an uncouth voice.

The ragtag assembly parted, and soon Stella saw why. A cavalcade of grim armored soldiers on horseback was making an imposing entrance. At the head of the party, riding a black warhorse the size of a tank, was the Black Queen. Her black riding dress was part leather, part chain mail. Her black hair was down, and her face was an expressionless mask. She held her head high and barely looked at the masses. But the raven on her shoulder watched intently.

“Heaven help us!” wailed an old peasant woman who looked like a Dolac Market cottage cheese seller. This was followed by a general outpouring of despair made by many voices. Heads were shaken. Prayers were uttered. Rosaries were clutched.

Stella slipped away from the crowd unnoticed. She didn’t know if this was because the people were too preoccupied with the sight of the Black Queen, who was now imperiously entering the black tower, or whether it was because they couldn’t see her. Either way, she didn’t care. All she cared about was getting out of this medieval nightmare and finding her way back to the school. Even Professor Radovan’s class was better than this.

She ran aimlessly in the only direction that made sense—away from the Black Queen—and soon found herself in another vaguely familiar place. It looked like a small open church with vaulted ceilings and a floor made of cobbled stones.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.