Fic: Revenge
Mar. 23rd, 2012 11:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meridian_roseTitle: Revenge
Fandom: Original
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 408
Prompt: For the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
writerverse prompt 'ghost story'
Summary: A woman with money, a man without, a murder, and the consequences
Warnings: character deaths
Notes: Possibly a variant on one of the folk tales first mentioned in 'Ghosts and Dragons'. I tried to get the 'style' of the story right, concrit welcome. Currently un-beta'd and a bit rough around the edges.
Once there was a wicked man who married a young woman so he could gain access to her fortune. He had no fortune left of his own, having squandered it in taverns and whorehouses and in card games.
He pretended to love the woman and she married him, and he began to spend her money. He purchased horses and rode them half to death, raced them, and killed them if they did not win. He threw lavish parties with food and drink better suited to a king's banquet. He bedded women, paying them with coin and jewels.
His wife confronted him and said he must not do these things or she would have their marriage dissolved. Angered, the man drowned her in the river that ran outside their house, and put word about that it had been a terrible accident. Many believed him, but a few of the older servants suspected the truth. They dared not speak out however, for he was a cruel man with some powerful friends purchased with his wife's monies.
With his wife gone, the man went to greater extremes in his purchases. Yet the servants were on edge. Many spoke of seeing their dead mistress walking the corridors, dripping water along the floor. Others said they heard terrible moans at night, wailing for revenge. The cook said she saw the mistress's face in every pan of water.
The man dismissed the talk as superstition. He hadn't heard or seen anything suspicious. He promised a whipping to the next person who dared speak of his wife.
That night a voice called to him as he slept, "I see her."
The man leapt out of bed and picked up his riding crop. He would punish whoever dared disturb him with such nonsense. He ran into the corridor.
"Here, here, look," came the voice from around the corner. Again he followed them. This went on until he came outside. A cloaked figure stood by the river, pointing at the water.
"Look, look," the figure said.
The man ran over, the crop raised. The figure turned and he fell back in horror. Beneath the cloak was his wife, her face bloated and mottled with death.
"Look closer," she said.
Next morning the groomsman found the master lying on the river bank, his face submerged in the water. Some said he'd wandered outside, drunk, and fallen.
Others said it was his wife come back to take her revenge.
Fandom: Original
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 408
Prompt: For the
writerverse prompt 'ghost story'Summary: A woman with money, a man without, a murder, and the consequences
Warnings: character deaths
Notes: Possibly a variant on one of the folk tales first mentioned in 'Ghosts and Dragons'. I tried to get the 'style' of the story right, concrit welcome. Currently un-beta'd and a bit rough around the edges.
Once there was a wicked man who married a young woman so he could gain access to her fortune. He had no fortune left of his own, having squandered it in taverns and whorehouses and in card games.
He pretended to love the woman and she married him, and he began to spend her money. He purchased horses and rode them half to death, raced them, and killed them if they did not win. He threw lavish parties with food and drink better suited to a king's banquet. He bedded women, paying them with coin and jewels.
His wife confronted him and said he must not do these things or she would have their marriage dissolved. Angered, the man drowned her in the river that ran outside their house, and put word about that it had been a terrible accident. Many believed him, but a few of the older servants suspected the truth. They dared not speak out however, for he was a cruel man with some powerful friends purchased with his wife's monies.
With his wife gone, the man went to greater extremes in his purchases. Yet the servants were on edge. Many spoke of seeing their dead mistress walking the corridors, dripping water along the floor. Others said they heard terrible moans at night, wailing for revenge. The cook said she saw the mistress's face in every pan of water.
The man dismissed the talk as superstition. He hadn't heard or seen anything suspicious. He promised a whipping to the next person who dared speak of his wife.
That night a voice called to him as he slept, "I see her."
The man leapt out of bed and picked up his riding crop. He would punish whoever dared disturb him with such nonsense. He ran into the corridor.
"Here, here, look," came the voice from around the corner. Again he followed them. This went on until he came outside. A cloaked figure stood by the river, pointing at the water.
"Look, look," the figure said.
The man ran over, the crop raised. The figure turned and he fell back in horror. Beneath the cloak was his wife, her face bloated and mottled with death.
"Look closer," she said.
Next morning the groomsman found the master lying on the river bank, his face submerged in the water. Some said he'd wandered outside, drunk, and fallen.
Others said it was his wife come back to take her revenge.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-23 06:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-23 06:47 pm (UTC)'the aforesaid moat story of Fair Rycroft' was the tale hinted at, but it's a river in this version. I'm certain there's lots of tales very similar in nature across the various lands, just as you can see the similarities and regional differences in our world's folk tales and it's definitely something I want to continue to address. So yay, I'm glad it seems like the sort of thing they'd discuss :D
no subject
Date: 2012-03-26 11:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-26 12:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-30 07:39 pm (UTC)It's a great ghost story, bb! :D
no subject
Date: 2012-03-30 07:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 06:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 09:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-08 12:53 am (UTC)Or was it a ghost at all, but just his tormented conscience?
Loved it!
no subject
Date: 2012-04-08 07:27 am (UTC)