Inferno

Master Class is back!!  I actually missed the first one.  I'll admit that.  But I had enough time to squeak in a response this week.  We were given "Never name the well from which you will not drink." from Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon.  We had to use it as the first or last line.  I chose to use the line to start off the next piece of a short story that was actually started from a Master Class prompt last fall.  Hopefully I can get it finished sometime soon so I can aim to get it published somewhere.  As always, concrit is most welcome.  Here it is:

Never name the well from which you will not drink, he thought to himself as he came to.  The last thing he remembered was breaking through the hole to see what was beyond the cracks.  All he got was a glimpse of flame and hands.  He hated flames.  Too many of the scars he had were from flames.

Now he had a real dilemma.  They wanted him to give the spirit up.  Give it to them.  He’d told himself he’d never betray his word again.  He’d done that too many times.  He couldn’t do it again.

But, if he didn’t give up the spirit, they would keep him.  Forever.

His one chance at having his life back was slipping away.  He finally understood what the priestess meant.  Did the others give up the spirits they carried or did they refuse and were stuck somewhere in this hell?

The only upside to the situation was that he got away from the desert emptiness.  Not that this was much better.  At least it was different, though.

Focus! he snapped at himself.  He needed to figure out how to get out of this.  There had to be another way out.  He just needed to figure out what it was.  He strained at the chains around his arms and legs again.  They tightened again.  It was almost to the point he was losing circulation.

He slumped, dangling like a broken puppet in a demented version of Dante’s Inferno.  It was futile.  The chains wouldn’t give.  The ideas were gone.  He was no different than the others.  He’d be stuck here just like the others.

“Hey,” a soft whisper came from the flickering shadows.



I forgot!  Make sure you head over and check out other takes on this prompt!  Just click on the icon below.