A growl rumbles from his throat. When he speaks, it sounds like a mixture of tar and gravel running over a riverbed.
“In a just world, you’d be executed. Publicly, for all to see. No mercy. I’d do it myself."
The great king chuckles into his woolen cloak,
“But instead, I think I’ll just give you to the people.”
“And what order will you give them?”
The slithering suit-clad creature grips his briefcase, red sweat breaking out over his pasty brow.
“None. I’ll only tell them what you always told yourself:
‘Do as thou wilt.’”
The grey-bearded man to the right hand side of the throne snaps his fingers, and three headless men grab the prisoner, ignoring his frantic scrabbling and biting, and drag him out of the vaulted room. His howls and shrieks rebound for a time, then cease.
GO TO HELL, AND TELL THE DEVIL - I’M COMING FOR HIM NEXT!
Dark in the brain, cloudy skies ahead of eyes,
Hands are shaking, fingers numb and red with knuckle blood,
I cannot get out. Drums in the deep. Drums in my head.
The Wind-Wheel turns, and turns, the creaking and the cracks,
I soldier my shield, the lance I grip; my horse I spur with hands of steel
Ride on, ride fast and faster, the giant whirls and mocks with four hands,
And skewer him upon the spear! Like lightning blast through murky night,
The lance of fire rips and shoots its roots into the Noddish beast,
Cracking it in two and three, disintegrated into dust! And none remains!