ordinance

prince of the Dead valley

Everything was exactly the same, - little tents, numerous white little tents covered the vast expanse of the once lush green valley, making the whole depth a great ghostly white.
Everywhere the eye could see, or better every thing the light touched was nothing but little tents propped up by long sticks. countable columns of smoke could be seen ascending from somewhere between them, and a deathly mist settled on the surface, embracing the tents and it only added to the lifeless ghostly look .

The place had the pungent odour of a place with more men than toilets and probably Even more men than water making it, - in a nutshell, reek greatly of urine. This was the the valley of Oak, or better known by the people as the valley of the Dead.

The valley of the Dead was unpopular among the people and was greatly put in collaboration with all the gruesome wars and deaths in the Hex kingdom peninsula making it the second most feared place after the rings of hell.

Today however, on this cloudy lifeless dawn no man was to be seen, no soldier from any of the countless tents was outside - a rather odd thing it was. No soldier was keeping guard as was the normal routine and by now it was mandatory for all of the soldiers to be up, but all remained still, with only strands of translucent smoke from the fires of the night before wafting lazily towards the dense clouds up above.

There, yes there in between the tents, exactly in the middle of the camp, stood a man, standing so still he seemed to be made of brick and mortar.
His robes were white but with multiple blood stains, he was obviously a fighter too, a fighter with no weapon.
His jaws were prominently chiseled and stood out from all the other facial features he had. And his eyes, his cold stormy eyes stared blankly into the cluster of tents. Then suddenly a heart stopping, blood curling, muscle tensing scream came from one of the tents and as suddenly as it had started, it ended. Then the scream came again, sharper and more agonizing, it lasted longer but also came to an untimely end yet the strange man had not moved, and all the strands of his black hair were still lying neatly upon his broad shoulders, unmoved, unaffected.

The chilling scream came again and this time after stopping, a female voice uttered clearly 'murderer!'
and another voice that was clearly of another person added
'liar, betrayer, cursed!' the words were said painfully in a monotone that hurt the soul.
This time the strange man moved his mouth as if to talk but then probably thought better of it and put his mouth back into its previous hard line.
And as if by magic, he vanished.

*************
"Open the door, hey!! Paul, open the door!!"
Jerome knocked.
His attention was then distracted when from the corner of his eye he saw something move, on turning he saw Ann coming down the little hill from the castle walking fast, or probably running in his direction and when she was about a yard away she shouted:
"Is he awake yet Jerome?"

"No, not yet. I've been knocking for God knows how long." Jerome uttered turning his head and continuing to knock on Paul's door.

"And he hasn't yet opened the door, has he?" Annie asked as she got closer regaining her pace to her steady walk.

Jerome looked at her intently
" no he opened the door, and went back to sleep, that's the reason I am knocking Annie."
He sarcastically answered and broke into laughter with Annie slapping his shoulder as punishment.

Just then the door creaked gently open to reveal a dead looking, red eyed, messy haired human that was probably Paul.

"Hello Jerome, Annie... good to see you"

Paul murmured under his breath as he turned back into the house leaving the door open for Jerome and Annie to come in

Jerome and Annie exchanged puzzled faces and Annie proceeded into the house pulling Jerome by the collar of his robe behind her.

"What is it Paul, you look..."
Annie started and paused searching for the right words to describe paul.

"Terrible. You look terrible"  Jerome jeered thunderously laughing

"Have you had anything for breakfast yet Paul?"
Annie asked ignoring Jerome's hearty laughter and giving him a look from the corner of her eyes that quickly muted his laugh.
"No, no...I just woke up Annie, I had a terrible night I haven't-"
Yes I can see, get prepared for the ceremony and I will fix up something for you"
Annie proceeded to Paul's little kitchen

"What ceremony?"
Paul asked perplexed

"What do you mean what ceremony!? The king's burial of course!"
Jerome stood up in shock striding towards Paul.

"You couldn't have forgotten about the burial today Paul."
Annie added also coming from the kitchen

"Mother of God, I...I...-"

"Don't worry, you clearly didn't get a good night sleep, come let me help get prepared"
Jerome said patting Paul's shoulder and pulling him to the inner room"

"You will feel better Paul, it's understandable, go get prepared" Annie added as they left.