Blogtober 2021 Story Project
Lucius took advantage of the dark corridors to find the end of the splinter in his thumb and pull it out far enough to feel the tip against the pad of his finger. The group leading him stopped before a large set of double doors and waited.
The doors opened, and they led Lucius inside. Kamali was tied to the four posts of a small bed with no mattress. She looked at Lucius, and he saw no trace of fear in her expression, which strengthened his own resolve.
The guard removed their hoods, revealing their faces to him for the first time. Their skin was pale and bloodless, their eyes red and sallow, sunken into their sockets. The wounds on their necks were all visible, some of them still matted with clotted blood. Lucius had faced many enemies during his life, but he never imagined himself a prisoner of an army of the dead.
A bell chimed and echoed through the chamber, and the men knelt in unison. The bell chimed a second time, and they raised their hands and fell prostrate against the stone floor. A chant rose among them in a language he had never heard anywhere in the reach of the Empire.
As their master entered, the chant increased in volume, and they raised up and bowed down in fealty to the dark figure. He was tall and thin, and when he lowered his hood, Lucius saw his face, pale but handsome, his teeth pointed and sharp.
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