Part 30 (1/2)
Brigitte was playing with her dollhouse when she heard something behind her. She turned slowly, a question already forming on her lips, a question which was lost due to the moue of surprise she gave when she saw who was standing there, tall, red-furred, with a mean smile on his face.
”Why, h.e.l.lo, Azzie! How are you?”
”I am very well, Brigitte,” Azzie said. ”And you look well. And I can hear the sound of a pen scratching in an upstairs room, so I suppose Thomas Scrivener is living up to his name and recording something about the events that have befallen him recently.”
”Indeed he is,” Brigitte said. ”But he tells me he doesn't know the ending.”
”It may surprise him,” Azzie said. ”Indeed, methinks it may surprise all of us. Heh, heh, heh.”
”What a sinister chuckle you have,Azzie,” Brigitte said. ”Why have you come?”
”I've brought you a present, child,” Azzie said.
”Ooo! Let me see!”
”Here it is.” Azzie brought out a box made of difficult-to-acquire cardboard and, opening it, showed within the little guillotine.
”How nice!” Brigitte said. ”It looks like the perfect thing for cutting off the heads of my dollies.”
”And so it is,” Azzie said. ”But you really shouldn't do that, because you love your dolls and ”would be sad to see them without heads.”
”That's true,” Brigitte said, and she began to snivel in antic.i.p.ation of her bereavement.
”But how can I play with my new guillotine if I do not cut off the heads of my dolls?” She looked around.
”Maybe one of the new puppies - ”
”No, Brigitte,” Azzie said. ”I am evil, but I am not cruel to animals. There's a special h.e.l.l reserved for those who are. You see, my dear, these toys must be used with care, and played with in due gravity.”
”It's no fun if I can't cut off anyone's head,” Brigitte said.
So far his plan, which was of that brand of evil termed nasty, was proceeding perfectly.
”Stop sniveling,” Azzie said. ”I am going to bring you something special.”
”What is it?”
”Something whose head can be cut off!”
”Oh, Uncle Azzie!” She ran to him and embraced him. ”When will I get this something?”
”Soon, my dear, very soon. Be a good girl and play now. Uncle Azzie will return presently with your new gift.”
COMPLINE.
The Nameless Horror
Chapter 1.
Prince Charming and Princess Scarlet set up house-keeping in a modest castle Cinderella had recommended, in a region of great natural beauty on the Rhine. Briar roses grew round about it.
Charming converted his s.h.i.+eld into a planter for sweet herbs. Good spirits danced around their hearth.
s.e.xy spirits inhabited their bedroom.
”Charming! Would you come here a moment?” Scarlet called.
He looked up from the garden, where he was working away among the organically grown vegetables.
”Where are you, love?”
”In the bedroom.”
”I'm on my way.”
High in the room's northwestern corner, as he held her, kissed her, and caressed her, an eye opened and regarded them. As they fell upon the big feather bed, watched over by indulgent spirits of the Good who celebrated their part in the glorious Millennium, the eye regarded them for a moment. As he unlaced her blouse and drew it up over her head, the eye winked out.
Chapter 2.
Back in his mansion in Augsburg, Azzie turned off his all-seeing eye, one of the last items he'd picked up from Supply.
Suddenly there was a sound from outside. Looking out of the window, he saw a Nameless Horror picking its way up the path. It was vaguely man-shaped, it had one talon in a sling, and it wore an eye patch.
”Hail, Azzie,” the Nameless Horror said.
”Hail yourself, Nameless Horror,” Azzie said. ”You have about five seconds to tell me why you have invaded my awesome solitude before I boot your Shapeless a.s.s out of here.”
The apparition's eye sockets glowed. Its mouth curled into an approximation of a smile.
”Ah, milord Azzie, you talk exactly as I thought you would! I've been so longing to meet you!”