Ghosteria Volume 1: The Stories by Tanith Lee
Author:Tanith Lee [Lee, Tanith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781907737619
Publisher: Immanion Press
Published: 2014-09-19T21:00:00+00:00
A Night on the Hill
At the end of the yellow afternoon, Hone walked out of the waste and saw the village lying before him on the slope under the hill. The hill he had seen for some miles, he had made it his landmark. It looked softer and greener than the rocks of the desert he had been travelling for three days, and this was so. It was a verdant hill, covered by woods, and underneath the village basked on the bank of a little river, painted houses and vineyards, and goats in the meadow.
Hone was a big man, tall, brawny and fat, and though there was no hair on his head and he had no eyebrows or lashes, a beard sprouted from his face and hung to his belly, full of things he never bothered to comb away. He wore a banditâs case of leather and brass; in his belt were three knives of varying and exaggerated size. Now Hone grinned, and his six remaining front teeth put the watchers on the village street in mind of a happy hungry jackal.
âHey you!â shouted Hone. âFetch your headman!â
And when response was not immediate, he strode up to the nearest villager and belted him senseless with his brass-knuckled fist. The others of course ran to do Honeâs bidding.
Hone looked round. He was thinking over to himself all the good things that were obviously on offer here. He had found villages like this in the past, and he always enjoyed a long and prosperous stay. Some even had treasures in gold and jewels tucked away, in their temple perhaps, (Hone was neither religious nor superstitious.)
Back came the mobile villagers with their headman, who had a small ruby in one ear.
âYouâll give me that,â stated Hone, pointing.
The headman, already sweating and swallowing, inquired why he should.
Hone, instead of knocking him over, encircled the headmanâs shoulders with one meaty arm. In a friendly tone, he set about enlightening him. âYou see, dearie, if you and yours donât do exactly as I say, my mates, who are a few days behind me on the road here, will make a nasty mess of you all when they arrive. Thatâs if I donât make a nasty mess first. And Hone tweaked the headmanâs nose playfully, causing it to bleed. âGot a daughter?â he added.
âTwo,â choked the headman. He appended carefully, âSir.â
Hone asked their ages, plumpness, and at the reply his grin broadened.
The surviving villager said, âThis gentleman and his mates have obviously come here because of the hill.â
Hone reckoned he was quick, and life had never lessoned him otherwise. Now he turned, and in the westering rays of the sun, squinted at the wooded slopes above the village. He noticed that none of the goats grazed there, though the grass was lush, and that no part of the hill had been cleared to make a field or vineyard. There were no tracks. The houses stopped in a row at the hillâs foot. But for now he only said, âWhatâs for dinner?â And urged them to lead him somewhere for a feast.
Download
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.
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire(7186)
Circe by Madeline Miller(6804)
Burn for You (Slow Burn Book 1) by J.T. Geissinger(6394)
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas(5946)
A Lesson in Thorns (Thornchapel Book 1) by Sierra Simone(4570)
The Bird and the Sword by Amy Harmon(4377)
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant(3849)
Stolen (Alpha's Control Book 1) by Addison Cain(3733)
The Queen and the Cure (The Bird and the Sword Chronicles Book 2) by Amy Harmon(3390)
Mythology by Edith Hamilton(3258)
Pernicious Red (When The Wicked Play Book 1) by Natalie Bennett(3142)
Run Little Wolf (The Forest Pack Series Book 1) by G. Bailey(3044)
The Queen and the Cure by Amy Harmon(2665)
Lost Boy by Christina Henry(2403)
(Maiden Lane #5) Lord of Darkness by Elizabeth Hoyt(2397)
Mythos by Stephen Fry(2355)
The Fairy Queen (The Dark Queens Book 6) by Jovee Winters(2333)
Persephone by Kitty Thomas(2182)
(Night Walker) by Lisa Kessler(1778)