Posts Tagged ‘dark bargain’

West Pentire headland, in sepia tones, with thrift in the foreground and waves crashing against the rocks

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Cast of Wonders 641: Bells Long Silent

Cast of Wonders 641: Bells Long Silent is a Cast of Wonders original.

violence (including gun-violence) in a historical setting, and the death of a relative

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:58 — 48.0MB)

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Bells Long Silent

by J. A. Prentice

All this happened long ago and even then, things were coming to an end. The great days of smuggling were behind us and the Revenue was tightening its noose. All tongues spoke of their new man, Captain Bray, who had hacked off a smuggler’s head with a single swing of his sword.

I lived with my mother and uncle in a white house with small glass windows that bent the light. I had of my father no memories and no inheritance save my features, which my mother said were the very model of his. Mother told me he was a fisherman, but often I suspected she lied, and he had been a smuggler. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 596: The Thief of Memory

First published in Reactor in August 2022. 

Episode image by BENMANSOUR ZAKARIA from Pixabay

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The Thief of Memory

by Sunyi Dean

Miquon set off across the endless desert to catch the Thief of Memory. On her belt she carried a knife made of ice, to freeze the Thief when she caught him. Across her back she carried a hollow staff, to siphon his stolen memories.

Hot sand burnt her bare feet as she tracked his steps over shifting dunes. Her people wore shoes for the desert heat, special ones picked out with embroidery and beads, but Miquon could no longer remember what the beads looked like or the significance of the colours, nor did she know anymore where her people might be found.

There were holes in her mind, gaps from the Thief. Until she caught him, that could not be fixed. And she knew that—how? She wasn’t sure. Fragments remained, bright constellations of truth gleaming in the emptiness of her savaged memories. Meanwhile, she went barefoot and cursed the sun. (Continue Reading…)

Cast of Wonders 578: Cold Blessing

Cold Blessing was originally published by PULP Literature (Issue 32, Autumn 2021)

Harm to children

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:03 — 42.3MB)

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Cold Blessing

by Kelsey Hutton

The wind had gnawed his skin raw by the time they reached the nun’s door, the damp air sunk deep into his bones.

A warm orange glow leaked out of the small cottage into the night. While his daughter bounced about in front of him, immune to winter’s bite, he spread his hand out on the door. There, briefly. Not warmth, but a respite from the cold.

Then he shook himself straight and crushed the ice out of his moustache. He wasn’t here for respite. He was here so he would never need respite again.

He pulled Maisy in front so she could dart through the door as soon as the nun opened it. “Ready, girl?” he said. “Be good now, hear?” (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 202: Henkie’s Fiddle

Originally published in Potter’s Field 4

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Henkie’s Fiddle

by Vonnie Winslow Crist

Stirred by a bone-chilling wind, the lone tree in the unsanctified section of the cemetery rattled its bare branches. Duffy had the eerie feeling that Witchman’s Oak sensed what was to happen today. He chewed on the hard skin left by a burst blister on his right thumb and studied the tree.

By order of the Edgewater town council and with the mayor’s approval, Duffy was to remove Witchman’s Oak before Christmas despite local lore proclaiming the tree haunted. Personally, he thought it was a terrible mistake to cut down the oak if for no other reason than the shade it provided in the summer. Rousted by another cold gust, the huge iron bell hanging from a rusted hook embedded in the tree’s trunk clanked its agreement.

(Continue Reading…)