The Husks of Night

Chapter 2

Somebody threw a bucket of water on Sofian and he gasped into consciousness. He was shaking, but he forced himself to get onto his feet. Water dripped from his nose and curly black hair as he walked forward, eyeing the ceramic guards before he entered the palace.

Beyond the gates was a massive square lit by torchlight. All about the courtyard were other strange creatures made of ceramics, bamboo, gourds, carved wood, and paper. They mulled about outside in the night air, navigating around the dead trees that rose up here and there throughout the courtyard in statuesque elegance.

It occurred to Sofian once he entered, all quivering and exhausted, that he had no idea where he was going. He tried to head back and ask the pottery guards, but almost as soon as he took a step toward the gate, it swung shut on him. Sofian gripped the strap of his satchel and resigned himself to exploring the courtyard until he found his way in.

Though obscured by the long-dead vines, there was a well that beckoned to Sofian's parched tongue from across the way. His feet carried him there before he even made the decision to move. When he got to the rim of the well, he nearly fell over the side from his enthusiasm, only just managing to stay himself by placing his hands on the stones. In the darkness, he peered down into the depths of the well, hoping that he might see a sliver of the moon reflected in the water like an apple slice. When he looked down, however, he saw not an apple slice, but a pumpkin.

Sofian squinted his eyes and suddenly the pumpkin moved – it did not float, seeing as though there was no water at the pit of this well after all – and Sofian was surprised to see that something underneath it was looking back up at him.

"My good sir," a small creature with a human-like face called up to Sofian, "are you wearing skin over your bones?"

The creature with the pumpkin on its head blinked at him with wide eyes, his hands pressed against the sides of the well. Sofian's mouth hung open in bewilderment and for a moment, nothing came out of it except a low croaking sound as he tried to speak.

"I should hope so," Sofian coughed out at last.

The little creature made a low fretful hum as he peered around the sides of the well and then back up at Sofian. It occurred to Sofian that he needed to find the Queen soon in order to make his wish and that he didn't have the time to spend bent over an empty well.

He straightened up and saw that there was no bucket to be found, but Sofian noticed there was a rope. He looked back over the side down at the little creature with a pumpkin on its head.

"Would you like to come out of there?" he questioned. There was no clear reason for the creature to be down there and he didn't seem particularly comforted by his surroundings, but still, the Hollow Realm was proving to be well beyond Sofian's life experience and he didn't think he should assume.

The little pumpkin creature gaped up at Sofian, but then whimpered nervously again, casting his gaze down at his shoes.

"Only the Bone Guards are supposed to release me, and... well, you see, I don't believe you are a Bone Guard," he replied.

"Why are you down there at all?"

"It is my punishment!" the pumpkin creature wailed, "I stole a jar of the Queen's precious Firefly Honey and she had me thrown down here until I learn my lesson..."

Sofian gulped. If the Queen abandoned someone in a well simply for taking a jar of honey, then he didn't want to imagine what kind of a person he was going to face.