The Iron Quill - The lamentable tale of Abner Moss

[vinush]

The fire in the hearth was burning low, causing a slight chill to set into the room and breath to mist in the air. Abner shifted the scant coals about with the poker in a vague but futile attempt to elicit a little more warmth from them while Jessica cradled the wailing baby to herself, sharing her body heat while making soothing sounds to quiet it.

Abner replaced the poker in the bucket next to the fire and straightened up stiffly. He was so tired lately. He’d been working double shifts at the metal works down in the industrial zone to make up for Jessica’s lost income and then there was the baby’s constant squalling throughout the night. Combined they made him bone weary and sore.

Jessica wasn’t looking too good lately either. The bags beneath her eyes had grown darker and darker while the sparkle she once had had faded from her now filmy orbs. Her skin was an ashen grey and puckered like crumpled tissue. She winced as the baby latched on to her raw and swollen nipple to suckle her milk while she fought to hold back her tears.

Abner hated watching it feed, but some grim fascination held him enthralled as it greedily sucked the milk out of her now deflated tits, once so plump and round. It was amazing the difference in her since it had been born, as if the past couple of months had been like years to her body.

Once she had put her breast away Abner turned, disgusted by the sight of her now, wishing she were still the woman he’d married, wishing the baby had never been born. Without a word he grabbed his coat from the back of the chair by the door and swirled out into the cold night air. As the door closed behind him he just caught the start of Jessica’s muffled sob.

 

Abner wound his way through the streets and found himself stood outside of the Lady Katherine, a rough looking dive of a bar where the women were almost as cheap as the drinks. The doors swung open as a drunken couple spilled out onto the street all giggles and impropriety surrounded by the cacophony of noise from inside.

Abner was reminded of the last time he was here, before the baby was born. A sultry looking woman had stepped from the shadows of a nearby doorway and sauntered over to him. Her movements were like fluid as she seemed to cross the distance in no time. She idly let her hand wander down his chest before resting atop his belt.

“Buy a lady a drink?” She purred. Her voice was like honey and silk.

Abner’s chest felt alight with electricity where her hand had been on its journey south to his britches and he felt himself being drawn into her eyes and plump lips. They entered the bar together, the noise like stepping into a pool of treacle that enveloped them. The smell of liquor mixed with the myriad of cheap perfumes worn by the harlots to make a cloyingly sweet scent that was almost all pervasive.

He didn’t recall ordering the drinks, but there was an open bottle of ginner next to them and there was a glass of the silvery drink in his hand. His companion sipped at her drink, her lips parting like some kind of obscene image that filled Abner’s gaze and fanned the flames of lust inside of him. Emboldened by the display he quickly drained his drink, ignoring the fiery burn as it made its way down his throat to almost take his breath away.

She leaned in, her lips close enough to brush the edge of Abner’s ear, arousing him more than was proper in such a public venue. “What is it you want, Abner Moss? Anything your heart desires I can give you, for a price…”

He didn’t recall giving her his name, but the closeness of her body, the heat from her breasts as they rose and fall and the sensation of her breath on his ear made him force the thought away.

His mind immediately went to Jessica, his beautiful wife at home. She so wanted a child, but they weren’t able to conceive. Abner had had an accident last year in the metal works that had left him sterile, the price of progress according to the overseer on his shift, but he knew the hurt and pain it caused Jessica that they could never have a child.

Abner swallowed hard; trying not to let himself be drawn into the lascivious promises she was tempting him with.

She laughed, a gratingly hard laugh, and shook her hair which coiled about her like serpents. The next thing Abner knew he was at a card table, playing poker and winning. All night long he found himself winning hand after hand as the ginner flowed freely and the woman was nowhere to be seen.

By the end of the night Abner was up almost a hundred script as he trotted his way merrily home and his success made the lovemaking between Jessica and him all the sweeter. He never expected that a month later she would be telling him she was pregnant. A miracle, that’s what it was. He’d heard tales of the strange things that could happen in Malifaux, heck, he’d even seen a dozen or so in his first month here, so why wouldn’t Jessica fall pregnant to him? She only had eyes for him, everyone said it.

 

Abner shook himself from his reverie and looked around. The bar hadn’t changed in the past year, it was still the same with the same reputation it had always had. He looked around, searching for the woman. He had to know, had to find out if the child was truly his. How could his own child be so repulsive to him? Surely she had something to do with it.

And there she was, stood by the now open door with her arms folded and her breasts dangerously close to spilling from her corseted dress. Her hair still coiled around her, shimmering in the light from inside the bar. He crossed the distance quicker than he though even he could move and grabbed at her arm.

A dangerous look flashed across her face and he removed his hand as if her arm was scalding hot in his grasp. “Abner Moss, what brings you back here?” She asked, her voice icily cold.

He swallowed, trying to find his voice before he spoke. “I need to know…”

“Is the babe yours?” She asked, completing his thought. “You’d like me to say no, that you couldn’t be responsible for siring such an evil little monster. You’d like me to confirm that your angel of a wife could only birth goodness. Well let me tell you, Abner Moss, it would be so nice if things made sense for a change, but that is not the case. The squalling imp is indeed yours; your own rotten seed is responsible for the creature that even as we speak sucks the life from your beloved Jessica, leaving her an empty shell of a woman.” She smiled, her pearly white teeth glistening in the flickering lights from inside. “If I were you I would hurry home and dash its brains against the walls, do us all a favour and spare the world the horror of what it will become…”

Abner was repulsed by her harsh words. He wished the look in her eyes were hatred, but it was a sadness that wrenched at the heart. He felt the fire inside of him extinguish as he lost the will to fight, all traces of anger had deserted him as her words had cut him to the core.

“What will it become?” He asked weakly, his voice barely a whisper.

“Abner Moss, the child you have sired will become nought if you do what needs doing. However, if you do not then we will all perish in the flames of hatred it shall bring…” A tear rolled down her cheek as she looked away. When she turned back he had gone, his rapid footsteps echoing down the alleyway.

She turned back, the cruel sneer back to her face as the figure of a man walked out from the Lady Katherine. “Is it done?” He asked.

“Yes, he believed every word of it. I did as you requested.” She replied, not meeting the man’s eyes.

“Very good. You did well, my dear girl. My assistant will handle your payment.”

“Is that us even?” She asked, turning to look at him only to find the space empty.

“Mr Lyall wished me to give you this.” She turned to see his assistant standing there who handed her an envelope stuffed with script. “We shall be in touch.” With those ominous words the assistant left her standing there as a shiver ran down her spine…

 

 

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Words: 1,494

Items used:

Location - Industrial Zone

Line - It would be nice if something made sense for a change

Character - Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

[No Gods or Kings. Only Man]

Oh, Abner. What will become of you?

 

You've got three "had"s in the sentence "she’d once had had" Any two will do fine.

[vinush]

Thank you, it is sorted.

[Nikko Andass]

I quite enjoyed this, Vince. 

 

"...a rough looking dive of a bar where the women were almost as cheap as the drinks." A wonderful line, among many, like something straight out of The Maltese Falcon -- supremely "noir." My only criticism is the formatting -- it seems to have gotten the better of you, making it difficult to read.

 

Regardless, a great read! 

 

- Nikko

[vinush]

I type it up in Microsoft word then copy and paste to the forums. Some kind of little gremlin gets into it and screws about with it when I do that.

Also, that is one oft favourite lines in my story too. It's the bar from my Through the Breach campaign.

[Kadeton]

I type it up in Microsoft word then copy and paste to the forums. Some kind of little gremlin gets into it and screws about with it when I do that.

 

For future reference, if you copy-paste it into Notepad first, then copy-paste into the forums it will strip out all the extra garbage that Word adds to text. You'll have to manually add any formatting like italics in again afterwards, but it will save you headaches.

 

(You could also try the editor's "Paste from Word" button, which probably does something similar, but I wouldn't rely on it if I wanted the formatting to come through perfectly.)