This week’s prompt for the 100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups was the phrase …together the flames…
She stands silently, head bowed as they light the kindling beneath her, her dark locks shielding her face.
The hem of her robe stains brown before curling and disintegrating in the gathering inferno as together the flames and the wind collaborate, inching her inexorably towards her death.
He turns away, he who’d denounced her for witchcraft, when her only crime was rejecting the smouldering fires within his heart.
A roar from the crowd; a white column of doves unfurls from the flames, coils gently around her, and – she’s gone.
He falls to the ground screaming, as the flames of hell lick at his soul.
That sent shivers up and down my spine. I was there with them both. Great writing.
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Thanks Sally!
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Loved the extra sinister touch when the man was consumed by flames
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Thanks for reading Sheila. 🙂
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Brilliant Sandra, I love the column of doves and him meeting his maker!
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Thanks Gilly, glad you liked it.
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Oh, I’m hoping the flames of hell were just in his head and he’ll have the rest of his lifetime to think about what he’s done. Let insanity eat him. Great story, Sandra.
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Yes, I intended that it should be a slow, lingering mourning for him. Thanks for commenting.
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Beautiful writing. I love the way flames link all the parts.
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Thanks Miriam.
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Vivid description and details … I could feel the flames.
A great visual throughout. Very nice ….
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Thanks for commenting.
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Stunning! As I was reading I hoped there would be a knight on a white charger! Brilliant!
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Doves make so much less mess than white chargers… 🙂 Thanks for dropping by.
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Wasn’t expecting that! Doves and Hell and justice. In an ideal world, this is what should happen. Only in the novels though …
ps think last line reads better like this:
And he screamed as Hellfire rent the ground to claim his soul.
only IMO though 😉
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That would be too speedy a demise for this character, I intended him to suffer slowly. Thanks for commenting.
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Oooh great idea, the witch trials never occurred to me but it’s a great subject for this. Brilliant use of the prompt, which I barely noticed… I love that the flames took down the accuser in the end.
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Yes, I’m a great fan of retribution! 🙂 Thanks for commenting, Rachel
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How very dark and even tragic in the end. Excellent work!
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Thank you!
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Sorry so late…!
Such vivid emotion, especially from the man. The use of all that fire imagery – I love the bit about the smouldering fires within his heart – is very well done. Nice transference at the end, too!
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Thanks, sorry to be so late responding.
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