 "Fruition
to the Core"
(Excerpt)
by David M. Fitzpatrick
Elwin visited the one-eyed Mountain
Witch, bringing every coin he had saved for years. “Forty-two silver,” the
ancient hag rasped when he produced the coins. “Tell me of your desire.”
“I desire my true love,” Elwin said.
“Melina and I have been together since we were children. Every day I
looked into her eyes and told her how we would one day marry. I told her
how, one day, she would bear me many fine sons. I told her of the home we
would build in the hills, and the land we would farm, and how we would
grow old together there. Always I promised her happiness. Forever would I
provide for her.”
“How did she respond to these promises?”
the witch asked, stroking her hairy chin.
“She never had to—our hearts have always
been one,” Elwin said. “But now her father keeps us apart. He’s destroying
us; I must have him out of our way. Blinded, maimed, banished, killed—it
matters not.”
The witch considered this with her yellow
eye for a brief eternity. “Give me a lock of your hair,” she said, “then
sleep in my woodshed tonight, so that my spell may incubate..."
* *
* * * * * *
*
As I said, it's tough to excerpt a
796-word flash-fiction piece. Elwin heads back to see Melina and confront
her father, and let the Mountain Witch's spell do its thing. But there's
always a caveat when working with the ways of magic...
To read the whole story, order
Twisted
Tongues #9.
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It's difficult to
excerpt a 796-word flash-fiction story, but here's a teaser. This was
accepted for Twisted Tongues, a UK magazine that is a POD through
Lulu.com, along with another flash-fiction piece I wrote,
