August 2024 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO MOSAIX AND THE JUDGE!

[Bren G]

Heed the Fine Print

The slave watched the pyramid’s capstone finally lowered in place. His people cried triumphantly, holding the falcon-headed one’s pledge upon their sun-chaffed lips. Horus, resplendent in otherworldly hues and fabrics, fulfilled his promise, parting the waters with his staff. Freedom!

No! The vast, arid desert on the opposite shore bode certain death!

The Egyptians grinned with murderous intent.

Moses quickly gathered his people and departed before they defied their master. They would need a miracle.

 

[Far Stranger]

CONSECRATION OF SISTER BERTKEN (1426-1514), ANCHORITE OF THE BUURKERK, UTRECHT

With brick and trowel I worked away, walled our living saint into her holy cell. Bishop sang his psalm and left quick. He never saw the tip of a blue wool belt poke out an inch from the ground, nor my good mortar seal it in place.

What, would you have denied her?!

She died in there some fifty years later. While it lived, her cat came by to kiss at the blue threads daily.

 

[Luiglin]

Ooh, fashion!​

Then.

“And you left it here?”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Tried lost property?”

“Yes, Mom.”

“And…”

“Not there.”

They looked at the mountainous fresh sand dune, remodelled by the storm overnight.

“Well, looks like you’ve lost it.”

“Aw, it’s my fave.”

“It’s gone. Unless you want to sift through that. You should look after your stuff better.”

“Yes, Mom.”

Now.

“Sign says it’s the Tarkhan dress, world’s oldest, 3482 to 3102BC.”

“BC?”

“By the looks... before cool.”

 

[AnRoinnUltra]

How the necktie arrived in the Kingdom of Phononglia


‘I’, declared Princess Hamonityclomps, ‘am disgusted by the sight of my people's bare necks. The scraggly flesh of a human neck is detestable.’

‘We could insist royal subjects wear cravats?’, suggested her Bongerlon.

‘And look like dandies!’

‘Dicky bows?’

‘Absolutely not!’

‘Turtle Neck Shirts?’

‘Obscene!’

‘Neckties?’

‘Perfect. Make everyone wear a necktie.’

‘As you wish -but now that everyone will have covered necks, might we also do something about their bare arses?’, suggested the Bongerlon.

 

[The Judge]

​

Elizabethan Bequest, Edwardian Beneficiary​

​

​

Her last family heirloom. Gloves, once worn by John Dee, alchemist, occultist.​

​

She wasn’t the only impoverished aristocrat, but men could sell themselves to American heiresses. She could only sell the gloves.​

​

She traced their gold embroidery, mystic symbols invariably interpreted as “Wear not at your peril!” Her translation differed: “Wear in extremis!”​

​

In extremis... ​

​

She slipped the gloves on.​

​

They seized pen and paper, started writing.​

​

Transmutation. How to turn base metal into gold... ​

 

[Ursa major]

​

The Good Olde Days​

Once, she loved to embroider; she never would again.​

​

It did not help that he deserved to be punished -- treason is treason, and he’d failed to kill the tyrant -- but no one deserved such an end.​

​

“Is it ready?” a guard asked.​

​

“Yes.”​

​

As the guard took the gold-embroidered coat made from her father’s bruised and bloodied skin, she prayed that she would never see it worn.​

​

Her prayer was soon answered.​

​

​

 

[Ursa major]

​

This Challenge is now closed.

The poll is now open at the link below:

POLL -- August 2024 75-Word Challenge -- READ FIRST POST!​

​