“…to wound the autumnal city. They took a chance with their herald, and failed.”
The voice was familiar, but I could not place it. I dragged my feet, trying to linger, maybe catch another few words. The man gripping my elbow shoved me past the half-shut door deeper into the dark hall. I swore, and glared at my handler when he laughed.
It would have been useful to know who betrayed me.
War makes for unusual alliances. When Lugh and the Green Man approached me for this mission, it was the first time we had ever spoken without provoking a storm. It meant a crossing of the traditional boundaries, but Winter had been waiting long months balanced on the cusp of her ascendancy, and the agents of Spring and Summer thought she might make truce for long enough to oust Autumn.
Armed with Lugh’s fiery arrows and the Green Man’s bow, I traveled widdershins towards Autumn. I abandoned my furs before I even crossed the border. By the time I reached the city I was riding in shirtsleeves, turning my head to catch every stray cool breeze. Winter’s army was camped outside the walls, her soldiers shuddering with unspent fury. They let me pass through: Winter’s agent fortified by Spring and Summer.
Autumn caught me outside the city, just as he had caught the Harbinger. They took my weapons from me, the bow and arrows of the seasons of light, and dragged me up onto the ramparts.
“Cousin.” Autumn’s agent greeted me. He was toying with one of Lugh’s arrows.
They had cut out the Harbinger’s tongue, she who was to be inviolable. They had shackled her to the wall. She returned my gaze, unblinking. Somehow, we both knew, I would have to kill her and take her place.
This post is in response to the new Master Class prompt by Eric Storch over at Sinistral Scribblings:
Every Tuesday, you are given the opening sentence to a published novel. You then have 300 words or less to write what YOU think comes next.
Here’s the opening line I have chosen to kick off the Master Class:
“…to wound the autumnal city.” from DHALGREN by Samuel R Delany
I had planned for this to be self-contained in 300 words, but that didn’t happen. And Eric just said to write what comes next, not to complete the story. So, yeah, this is what comes next. Maybe I will finish it up at some point…
Christine Hanolsy 
Ooh. Lovely.
I so wanted to do the first Master Class, but the silly book got in the way. I shall give it a go one of these weeks.
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Wow, LOVE. The twist you’ve put on all these mythical ideas and figures is great. (Also, right up my alley as reading material goes.) Hope you’ll come back to it; this sounds like part of something epic.
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Thanks, Annabelle! I’d love to write more, but as I’ve been thinking of it, I think it will require some actual research. I threw out a couple of names (Lugh, Green Man) that are actual mythological figures about whom I know next to nothing. 🙂 So if I were to expand this into something bigger, I think I’d want to either replace the references with something original, or do a bunch of research on mythology surrounding the changing seasons. Hmm…
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I would love to see this story finished through. It feels like legend, an old tale that used to be told by the campfire to explain the season’s grip upon the world.
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That is very much how I felt about it, too!
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Ah! You had better write some more! I love your approach to the prompt and if this were a book excerpt, I’d buy the book.
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Wow, thanks! I will admit to being intrigued about the kernel of world-building I seem to have done here. Not sure if I can expand on it much, but it is a fun little conceit, I think. 🙂
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I think that is the best thing about those short writing prompts: they leave things open to continuation in another post. And I would definitely come back to read a continuation of this story.
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I will have to finish it up, then! 🙂 I was really hoping to keep the whole story to the 300 words, but I couldn’t quite do it. I think another 200 or so would do it…
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