Here's the link to the poem, Listen to the Madness, that inspired the characterization dialogue exercise titled, Burning Damnation, which inspired tonight's flash fiction piece. Enjoy!
Eternal Fire
By Nomar Knight
“It’s no use to try and wriggle free, you will burn, witch!”
The townsmen watched as Katrina struggled with her bindings. Lord Mortimer took charge of providing justice.
“You’ve all gone mad.” She scanned her executioners with a defiant gleam in her eyes. “I am but a simple midwife.”
Lord Mortimer sneered, “You poisoned our Lord’s wife. She gave birth to an abomination.” He signaled two men carrying lit torches and continued, “He had to kill it and for that, you must pay!”
The men lit the wood.
“No! Don’t light those twigs!” Outrage poured from her voice.
Lord Mortimer considered himself a firm, and righteous man. With smoke rising before them he said, “The flames of hell will consume you.”
He pretended to walk away, but quickly turned and faced Katrina for effect. “Did you not see the look on my Lord’s face when he saw the beast? Did you not hear his whimpers when he was forced to stab the thing through the heart?”
Katrina coughed and scoffed, “He played with the devil and lost.”
“No, you evil witch! You alone are responsible for the tragic event.”
Lord Mortimer wished he could inflict more pain upon the evil wench.
“Please, untie me.” Katrina’s voice broke as her lips quivered from desperation.
Lord Mortimer grinned, “You can cough and gag all night, but your pleas fall on deaf ears.”
“Please!” Tears streamed down red cheeks. “Mercy!”
Laughing, Lord Mortimer turned to the bloodthirsty crowd. “The smell of witch defiles the air. Compatriots, cover your mouths, lest she poison us all.”
They all laughed and jeered.
While the flames consumed her legs, Katrina growled through clinched teeth. “I swear before the Dark Lord, evil will fall upon all who misjudged me.” In a childlike tone, she added, “I gave her a potion to save the child, but alas, the innocent paid for the sins of the father.”
“So you admit to sorcery?”
With immeasurable agony on her face she replied amid cries, “Doctoring is not witchcraft.”
“What satisfaction to hear the evil witch scream!” With his chest out he proclaimed, “The flames of justice are beyond your powers.”
Panting and screaming, Katrina said, "I...curse...all...your...firstborn...”
The crowd gasped!
She continued, “Deformed...faces...full...of...thorns.”
The flames grew larger, covering Katrina.
“Die Witch!”
Refusing to succumb to the flames she said, “Families...will...starve.”
Feeling smug, Lord Mortimer smiled, “Your words have no power here.”
Whispered from the cackling flames, “Starve...for...eternity.”
Lord Mortimer yelled, triumphantly, “Rot in hell!”
To this day, it is rumored that the ancestors of those who misjudged Katrina can hear her whispers, just before the curse reignites the eternal flame that brings deformities to their firstborn, and the destruction of their crops.
© Copyright Nomar Knight 2015. All rights reserved.
A Knight Chills Flash Fiction Presentation.
