18. Signs

This week, an ominous tale….

*  *  *  *  *

The signs had been read years before.

The astrologers and the soothsayers, the readers of runes and the oracles in the mountains, all reported the same thing.

18.

The king had sat in his throne room musing on the meaning of this sign. Over time, he began to believe that the dreaded event would occur in the eighteenth year of his reign. As the year approached, he summoned his advisers again. They re-read the signs, and each of them, came back with the same message.

18.

18.

18.

The king spent nights brooding on this. He knew he was a feared man, and that his throne could be usurped at any time.

It was then he realised his young and popular nephew, loved by all the people for showing the fair-mindedness of his father and the kindness of his mother, was about to reach manhood – the age of 18.

And so, on the 18th day of the 18th year of the king’s reign, the king had his nephew executed in the city square.

As the boy lay dying, a strange cloud obscured the sun.

The people, who had suffered so long under the king, felt anger brimming in their hearts. The execution of the boy was too much for them, and one by one, they raised their weapons, and rushed the castle.

Thus the king ignored his own warning. For it had all been written by fate – the number 18 was to be his downfall.

An exercise in micro-fiction – stories which run from zero to fifty

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© 2014 M. C. Dulac

Speaking of spooky stuff, “Four Ghost Stories” is still only 99 cents on Amazon. What does Tony, the London financier, find at the bottom of the garden, when he moves to the English countryside? To read more about Tony’s discovery and other scary stories, click here!