The King's Thief

I've written several interludes, both as a tool for expanding the world of The King's Thief and also as a way of flexing other writing muscles. I teach children English, among other things, and in those lessons I teach about different writing styles, so I thought, why not experiment with those writing styles myself?


Eyewitness account of the origin of The Scourge: Julf Nendier

“The Scourge? That’s just what we called it. Pretty soon, everyone’s calling it the same; seems to have caught on. I guess it’s put this little village on the map, but not for a good thing; I go into the city now, people spit at me when they hear I come from Kelsic.

See that tower over there? Well, sort of; the upper storeys were torn down, nigh on twenty years ago. Used to be the home of a sorcerer, name of Hendrick; he was working on the tides, trying to find a way to make, I don’t know, living creatures out of the water. He used to be pretty open about it, would answer any questions, and he was the smartest man around here. Any problems we had, we’d go to him before we bothered the Sheriff. Usually it was just good advice, but sometimes he’d work a little magic. He was pretty good to us.

So anyway, he says he’s finally done it, right? Leads us all down to the shore, wants everyone to see his work, so we’re pretty interested. I mean, he’s been there years, and we all owe him for things he’s done. It’s coming on for sundown when he finally gets going. He’s got a lump of somethin’ in front of him, about as big as your hand. Black stone, all smooth. Things get pretty strange almost straight away! He puts his hand up in the air and mutters something, and suddenly a fish flies out of the water, and smack! Into his hand. He uses the fish, kinda like you’d use a stick to draw a line in the sand, but he seems to know what he’s scrawling there. I can’t read, else I’d be able to tell you what it said.

Anyway, he stamps his foot, and lights come up all ‘round him! Then, the darnedest thing; he stabs the fish and throws it back, like he didn’t need it! The very next wave that came up, it washes right over the stuff he’s written, and over the stone and everything. When the wave’s gone, there’s still a load of water around the stone, and it started to grow!

I’d never have believed it if’n I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Soon it’s about the size of a child, and it’s shaped like one too; Hendrick walks up to it and says something to it, but it just looks up at him. He’s gettin’ pretty angry, he keeps pointin’ up the beach some, and the thing, it just looks at him. Then… well, it’s hard to describe. Seems like the water ate the stone; suddenly it just collapsed, and there were loads of these black worm things flopping about, trying to get back in the water. Well, by now, I look round and it’s just me and Hendrick near them; everyone else has turned tail! Hendrick, he picks up one up and looks at it, and suddenly he’s screaming, waving his arms; it’s eaten his hand! He falls down and, well, that’s it; they’re on him, like fleas on a dog. Nothing left but a bloody smear, I tell ya.

Well, I don’t mind sayin’, I ran then. I’d seen enough. But then the next day, the fishermen didn’t come back; then the searchers didn’t come back. I guess you know the rest. Now, unless you’ll be fillin’ my mug again, I’m needed out in the fields. G’day, stranger.”

(Observer’s notes: The subject appeared perfectly willing to tell his tale; other investigations in this area have revealed that the phenomenon known locally as The Scourge consumes plant and animal material, even metal, at an incredible rate; captured specimens have shown that once fed, the creatures double in size, then separate into two, leading to incredible population growth. The ‘black stone’ mentioned by the subject appears to be onyx; dissecting one of the creatures reveals fine onyx powder disseminated throughout. While the subject was unclear on the nature of the spell Hendrick performed, it is evident that it went wrong in some way, with potentially dire consequences. They seem to have been dormant for a period of time, but sightings have been confirmed as far away as the mouth of the river Ther.
Recommendations: quarantine all ocean-going boats for the time being, pending research into destroying the creatures, or their confinement.)