4-085, "Pretty Gold Money . . ."

A frown grew on the second guard’s face.  He glowered, shaking his spear at the creature.  “Wait here!  You said there was gold money.  This ain’t gold.”

“Gold!  Yes gold!”  The creature chirped, bobbing up and down.  “Pretty gold money… later.”  It then lowered its voice to a menacing hiss,  “When done with Master’s will.  When done with my job.”

“Give it to us now!”  The second guard demanded.  “Now… or we’ll stick ya!”

The creature raised its arms and angrily hissed, “I’ll give you!  I’ll give you…” Its voice was cut off as the creature pitched back, nearly falling to the pavement.

The guards shrunk back against the wall, throwing their hands up over their faces.  The creature gaggled and coughed and then started to whimper as though being beaten by some invisible hand.

Finally, it cried out, “No more!  No more!  Little child will be good!  Good little child!  Please!  Please!”  It fell to the street as though being released.

Painfully standing, rubbing its side, the creature faced the guards and whined, “Gold, yes gold money.  Will make you rich.”  It then threatened, “Master is tired of playing…  First must talk to foolish man, must talk!”

The guards argued over what to do, fearful of the demon and its master, but equally fearful of the prison’s commandant.  Finally, the second said,  “You stay here and I’l see the head man.”  The first started to complain, but was cut off by the sharp retort.  “Shat’ap fool!  Yu’l be alright.  Just keep your spear pointed at it.”

Without waiting for a response, the second guard turned and hurried through the prison door.

His returning seemed to take ages.  All the while, the little stinky creature continued to slowly rock from side to side, humming some tune just under its breath.  The wary guard stared at it and then down at the coins in his hand.  As the time passed, he looked more at the coins than at the creature.  He moved his fingers, making the coins slide from one side of his hand to the other, and then back again.  What wealth!  What wealth!  More money than he had seen at one time in his entire life.  He began to dream of the good times he could have with such wealth - the women, wine, and power the money could bring.  Hurried footsteps jarred him back to reality.

The commandant of the prison burst from the door.  “All right, what’s the… Whew!  What is that god-awful stink?”  He looked at the black shape rocking to and fro in the torchlight, and let out his breath.  “Have the souls of the slain risen to offend us?”

Laughing erupted from under the creature’s hood.  “Yes! In a way, yes.”  It smacked its lips then grumped, “Not hungry now.”

The commandant was taken aback, falling over the second guard, nearly toppling the both of them.  Quickly regaining his balance, and attempting to do the same with his dignity, he demanded, “What do you want?!  Tell me now, or be off!”

Enjoy other posts: 

Prologue,

Destiny's Road 1-001, 1-002, 1-003, 1-004, 1-005, 1-006, 1-007, 1-008, 1-009,

1-010, 1-011, 1-012, 1-013, 1-014, 1-015, 1-016, 1-017, 1-018, 1-019, 1-020,

1-021, 1-022, 1-023, 1-024 & 1-025

Of Councils Great and Small 2-026, 2-027, 2-028, 2-029, 2-030, 2-031,

2-032, 2-033, 2-034, 2-035, 2-036, 2-037, 2-038, 2-039, 2-040, 2-041, 2-042,
2-043, 2-044, 2-045, 2-046, 2-047, 2-048, 2-049 & 2-050

Legend's Heroes 3-051, 3-052, 3-053, 3-054, 3-055, 3-056, 3-057, 3-058,
3-059, 3-060, 3-061, 3-062, 3-063, 3-064, 3-065, 3-066, 3-067, 3-068, 3-069,
3-070, 3-071, 3-072, 3-073, 3-074 & 3-075

Forges of Hell 4-076, 4-077, 4-078, 4-079, 4-080, 4-081, 4-082, 4-083, 4-084,
4-085, 4-086, 4-087, 4-088, 4-089, 4-090, 4-091, 4-092, 4-093, 4-094, 4-095,
4-096, 4-097, 4-098, 4-099 & 4-100

Or find your own book at:

Amazon.com; Smashwords.com;

Diesel-Ebooks.com, BN.com; ebookstore.sony.com