Day 104 Writing Short Stories

Justice

He ran across the city, moving from roof to roof in one fluid motion. The usual fog that hung around every corner, painting the city into a dream, made the tiles slippery. But there was friction if he didn’t stop, and he didn’t.

He had the whole city after him. The distant howl of the ghouls told him they had found the body and smelled him, and as a kid like him, he wasn’t taking any chances that there would be understanding, not here, not in Necropolis, where justice was for those who paid the most.

The tile under his feet slipped off, shooting his leg to the right. He pushed all his weight onto his left leg and steadied his flight. He jumped high and landed on another roof. He dared to glance behind him and saw the wave of ghouls in blue roll over the roofs he had been on.

Kraken shit, he thought. You couldn’t outrun the ghouls. You might use powers against them, but he was that one poor sod in the city of necromancers, witches, and other specials with no specialty.

He had been at the embalming factory to get his own after unjust firing, but then his foreman had been there, dead. He should never have stopped to see if he could help the bastard. This was what you got trying to do the right thing in Necropolis. He hurled himself to another roof, landing on his side, knowing that if he got out of this alive, his whole torso would be black and blue.

He pushed to his feet, but it was no use. Alone, a ghoul rose to meet his gaze. Its dead eyes peered into him, and it was the kindest he had seen in his life. Not even his mother had thought of him. Those eyes made him think maybe the rumors were true, maybe there was a new law settling in the city—the law of Cruxh.

“Good evening, Mr…” the ghoul let him add the name. But he could see the ghoul already knew it. There was no usual lisp of the ghouls. The creature wore its uniform like a second skin.

“Mr…” He wondered if he should lie.

“There’s no Mr, but there is me, Leod.”

“Leod Payne from the Bell End, I presume,” the ghoul said.

“That would be the one.” He wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or terrified of the ghoul knowing his name. “And you must be Cruxh.” He tried his luck.

“At your service, Mr. Payne.”

He looked into the ghoul’s eyes and licked his lips. He glanced behind him and saw the wave of other ghouls in blue hanging at the other roof like a delegation of crows.

“Now, I think there is something we need to sort out,” Cruxh said.

“Yes, I think we do.” Leod straightened his back. He was the first one to do so, surrounded by ghouls. The usual response was to crumble, but here and now, he thought maybe he finally had some cooperation from the powers beyond the natural world. That maybe this was not bad luck.

“You have a mighty jump,” the ghoul added.

“I have been practicing.”

“Exercise does wonders for the soul.”

Leod groaned.

The ghoul corrected its posture. “Do you happen to know anything about why someone might break into an embalming factory and stumble across a body, and flee?”

“Guilt by birth?”

“Oh, that old story. Any ideas why there might be a body?”

“Some people are utter bastards.”

“Yes, I see. And any ideas who else might think in the same vein?”

“Many, but I would go to the Barrett boys and see who is in debt to them.”

“And do you happen to know the Barrett boys?”

Leod swallowed.

“I see. If I might suggest, you get new acquaintances and a job. I might put a word in for a good lad with great legs and some sense of decency, if they happened to apply to the force.”

Leod stood there, stunned. He had never thought of becoming an officer. He hated them. Everyone in the city did. They were just bullies with a badge, but then there was the change again and the law of Cruxh. It might not be all that bad.

“Thank you,” he tried.

The ghoul nodded. “Good evening, Mr. Payne. I’m late for my appointment with the Barrett boys.”

And that was it. He was alone on the roof, more confused about the universe and how it worked than he had been when he first opened his eyes this morning.

—

Ooh, I was cheeky. I wrote a side story for my Glorious Mishap series. Cruxh is one of my favorite characters, and he has a bigger role in the one I’m currently writing. Anyway, what I got today was a conversational action-quest story written in limited third person. There is no quest to speak of, as I took liberties once again.

Thank you for reading! Have a cooperative day from the universe and the forces behind it, and see you tomorrow ❤