Hawthorn & Ash #57

Welcome to this week’s installment of many micro stories, ranging in length from 100 words to 500 words.

With each story we hope to deliver a little whimsy into the lives of our readers.

LADY IN RED

Tendrils of steam rose from a long-handled iron pot, swirling into evanescent rainbows.

          Maribel’s eyes glittered with satisfaction. She lowered her wand.
          The vapors faded, coalescing into the image of an elderly woman, a woman cloaked in furs and silk, wearing many jewels and upon her brow a crown.

          “It’s her,” Alvaro murmured.

          Maribel nodded, “the Queen.”

          “The wicked Queen,” he affirmed.

          “Wicked only in that she has lived too long to suit our prince, I think.”

Alvaro ignored her, “you must add honey now.”

          “Must I?”

          “You must,” he insisted, “it’s a recipe.”

          Maribel laughed, “It’s a potion. I choose what to include in it.”

“But . . .” Alvaro objected.

“Silence!” She placed her wine glass on the polished table, stepping away from the bubbling pot, “Honey is a kindness. Are you feeling kind, dear boy?”

          Alvaro frowned, “you mock me?”

          Maribel shrugged and her hair rippled like wind-ruffled water.  “Tromp, tromp, tromp!  No life is a march, Alvaro, not even yours.”

          “This poisoning is not a soldier’s work,” he shivered, “but the Queen must die tonight.”

          “We have time.”

          “But our orders?”

          “She will die, perhaps in pain, for all Queens sin. I have not yet decided about the honey.” Maribel rose, gliding like a leopard in red silk. Her silver earrings teased, their curves gleaming, inviting. 

“Men are turtles.  You hide in your shells of accomplishment.”

          “That’s ridiculous”

          She shrugged, “Turtles! Small, green and soft!”

          “Men dare!” Red spots flamed on Alvaro’s cheeks, “men lead!”

          Maribel glanced over her shoulder.  “Show me.”

Robert Walton is a retired middle school teacher, rock climber and mountaineer with ascents in Yosemite and Pinnacles National Park. Walton is an experienced writer. His novel Dawn Drums won the 2014 New Mexico Book Awards Tony Hillerman Prize for best fiction. His “Sockdologizer” won the Saturday Writers 2020 Everything Children contest. Most recently, “Joaquin’s Gold”, a YA collection of his Joaquin Murrieta tales, was published on Amazon.

http://chaosgatebook.wordpress.com/

If you enjoyed this drabble you can find it and more in the Hawthorn & Ash 2023 anthology.

AVAILABLE HERE!