Contest Entries

Pied Piper's Red Sun River

Entry for WattpadFairyTales's Fairytales Beyond the Veil.

Prompt chosen: What if the Pied Piper's music led to a nightmarish realm?

Word count: 2717

Warning: descriptions of gore

I'm counting out coins when Basti, my best friend, bursts into Pa's shop. The bell above the door clatters so hard that I think it might fall off. I hurry to finish getting the money counted out and get it written in Pa's account book.

"Viktor! Viktor, guess what?" Basti hoists himself onto the counter and crouches on it and sticks his face in mine. I pull back and almost fall off my stool.

"Careful of the book!" I cry when my friend nearly kicks it off the counter.

"Sorry." He shifts to sit cross-legged and stares at me eagerly. "Are you going to guess?"

I think for a minute, making Basti wait. "Has Old Mika finally died?" I ask, talking about the old lady that has been alive since the day of creation. Vicar Ludwig says that's not true, but none of us believe him.

"No!" Basti is squirming with impatience now. Then, as if he's decided that I'll never guess, he blurts out, "a piper has come!"

"A... piper?" I'm not convinced that this is worth Basti's almost knocking off the bell, and I tell him so.

"Oh. Sorry. But it is worth it if your Pa gets angry, because after he'll be happy again!"

"What do you mean?" Usually Basti makes more sense than this, but he is littler than me. He's only seven and I am nine, but he's a really good partner for tug of war so I always make sure he wants to be on my team.

"He said he could play music and make ALL the rats leave the town." Basti stares at me, waiting for my reaction. I sit and gape at him.

"He said what?"

"Yeah, I know, I made the same face when I heard him say it. And Vicar Ludwig told him it was a sin to dabble in the unholy arts, whatever that means. But then the piper said that it's God that sends the music and that he's been sent to help the town and—"

"Where is he?" I interrupt.

Basti shrugs. "Probably still in the water square. He was there earlier—hey, Viktor, wait for me!"

I run to the water square and there, standing on the lip of the well that gives the square its name, is a man in the different colors or clothes with a bag slung over his shoulder and a set of panpipes. He's ignoring Vicar Ludwig, who's telling him that he needs to get down and shouting something in Latin.

Then he starts to talk and everyone in the square, easily half the town, goes quiet.

"People of Hamelin! I am a ratcatcher and have come to show you the power of music over the filthy creatures. Today I will call all the rats infesting your town for only a small price. I only ask for enough coin to feed me for a month yet."

I hear people grumbling around me.

"Is that a lot of money?" Basti asks.

"Yes, it is," I say, puffing up my chest in pride that I already know a lot about money and can do math and can write but most of the other boys can't.

"Do you promise that they won't come back?" Mayor asks. He has a hard-to-remember name so all us kids just call him Mayor.

"Of course they won't. Are you questioning my proficiency?" The piper seems offended now.

"What's his name?" I whisper to Basti.

"Dunno. He never said."

"Of course not," Mayor tells the piper.