The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

The Shackled Lords   
by Kathleen McCluskey

The chamber was hushed with the steady flicker of candlelight. Its glow clung to a figure of a woman in flowing stone robes. Her head bowed. Her beauty caught somewhere between mourning and serenity. Behind her loomed the carvings of tormented figures, twisted in an eternal struggle. Their eyes wide in silent agony.

The villagers called it the Shrine Of Mercy. Travelers lit candles there, said prayers then left quickly for it is said that the place is older than memory. But Thomas lingered. Curious.

The woman’s face transfixed him. Marble could not be so soft, no sculptor’s hand so precise. She looked alive, although at any moment her eyes may rise. He stepped closer, ignoring the figures behind her. One was gaunt, ribs sticking out. Another leered, its belly distended. The two others writhed like lovers, frozen in silent moans.

War. Famine. Greed and Pleasure, the four Lords Of Ruin. Villagers claimed they were bound forever by the goddess whose name had been lost. Here she stood, in her sacred sanctuary. Candle in hand, silent and demure.

“Do you pity them?” He asked the stone woman, his voice echoing. “Or do you gloat?” He chuckled and touched her shoulder.

The candle flame bent toward him as if in response. He reached for it, his intentions clear. A childish thought crossed his mind, if he snuffed out the candle, he could, perhaps, release them.

The marble hand was as fast as lightning.

Her fingers curled around his wrist with the grip of a warrior, iron hard and unyielding. His cry broke the silence, then faded into the echo like so many before him. Her head rose, her eyes glowing gold in the candlelight.

“I am the chains that hold them,” she said, her voice like a blade being unsheathed. The chamber trembled, dust fell from the ceiling. “And every fool that seeks their freedom only feeds and strengthens their prison.”

Thomas tried to struggle against her grip but it was stronger than time. The robe of marble began to split and crack, revealing armor underneath. Lacquered black with carved ruins that glowed like embers, it reflected the flame. Her hair spilled loose, no longer frozen, flowing like molten obsidian. She was no mournful saint, she was a goddess forged in war.

He pleaded and tried to pull away. He offered loyalty, riches, devotion, and worship. But the goddess only tightened her grip. “I have money, I have riches…let me live and it’s yours.”

“Greed is chained, you shall join his ranks.” She pulled him closer, her free hand seizing his throat. Her eternal flame lifted above her.

The candle floated and flared white hot as Thomas’ screams echoed. Stone began to spread from her touch, crawling over his skin. He kicked. He clawed. But the stone hardened, locking each joint and freezing terror into place. His eyes bulged, his mouth stretched wide and then he was silent.

The wall behind her groaned. Stone split and shifted, making space. A new faded figure appeared behind the Lords. Another prisoner bound in eternal agony.

The goddess released a long breath. Her armor sealed once more into flowing marble robes.  Her beautiful, dark hair dulled back into stone curls. She lowered her gaze, pulling her flame close and resumed her tranquil pose as though nothing had stirred.

The candle steadied, burning softly in her palm. The chamber fell silent again.

 Somewhere far above, the villagers whispered their prayers, oblivious of the sacrifice below. Unaware that the goddess they adored was no gentle guardian but a battle hardened jailer, feeding her prison one soul at a time.

The stone carvings behind her writhed one last time before falling silent. Her prison held fast. She was back in her marble tomb waiting for the next traveler to attempt a release of the Lords Of Ruin.

Fiction © Copyright Kathleen McCluskey
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com 

More from Kathleen McCluskey:

The Long Fall: Book 1: The Inception of Horror

Lucifer always cunning and intelligent challenges father to a battle of wits. Being the angel of light he casts a judgemental eye upon mankind. He begins a war with his fellow archangels and God. Michael, along with his siblings defend their home and mankind from their deranged brother. Broad swords and hand to hand combat drench heaven in blood. The four apocalyptic steeds are released, each having their own destructive power. Betrayal and lust are at biblical levels. Understand the very creation of evil and the consequenses that transpire in the first of THE LONG FALL series.

Available on Amazon!