"Presenting His Majesty, King Fayre Ashalyn Heart of Estela, and Queen Melia Ionia Heart," Sir Whittaker bellowed.
The courtiers of The Hall of a Thousand Souls, bowed in one synchronized motion as Queen Melia in the arm of her King. Ellius' father wore a gray and gold doublet. His ink hair streaked with salt and pepper was tied back in a long que accenting his strong jaw. He ruled the Empire of Glass with dominance like a lion over his pride, a power to be reckoned with.
Ellius paused and waited beside the White Rabbit for her announcement, whose entire existence revolves around the concept of time because, you know, rabbits are notorious for their impeccable time management skills. And let's not forget Sir Whittaker, the fashion-forward rabbit in his red-and-black checkered waistcoat, because nothing screams sophistication like a rabbit in plaid.
The timing was perfection to please the King of Hearts.
There was drama brewing in the shadows! Mary-Anne, the epitome of enthusiasm, just could not contain her excitement for this thrilling announcement. Oh wait, no, scratch that, she's actually bored out of her mind, and who can blame her when she's stuck waiting for an eternity just to descend from wherever she's lurking in the shadows.
She sidled over to her.
"Bored to hell?" she asked, hiding a smile behind her painted nails.
"Yes." Mary-Anne scowled. "He won't release me until all are descended. And he promised if I fidget he'll make me wait five more hours." She grunted, rolling her shoulders. "I've got an itch on my back on my back and I can't reach it!" she moaned. Ellius' impeccably manicured nails, provided both relief for Mary-Anne's itch and entertainment for us readers.
"Aaah," she sighed. "Thank you, Your Highness. Oops! Whittaker is going to announce you."
And finally, the moment we've all been waiting for: the grand entrance of Her Royal Highness.
He checked his large diamond-tipped pocket watch before raising a trumpet to his lips. "Presenting Her Royal Highness, Ellius Rose Heart of Estela!"
The howl of the trumpet made her ears ring and could wake the dead.. For a grizzled, old rabbit, his lungs still pack a wallop! Ellius set her jaw and stepped forth into the Hall's luminous light. She heard the gasps and murmurs of the court in her ears.
"What a beauty!"
"She is a lovely creature, indeed!"
"Ha! How handsome she is! Look at that topaz in her neck! It's as big as a walnut shell!"
More scandalous. "Where the hells did she get that dress?"
"Like a peach, ripe for the plucking."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one woman choke back emotion. The guests spread like an opening fan as she reached the final step. She smiled. This is my court.
"Come, ladies and gentlemen, let the first dance begin." Ellius spread her hands. "Come, musicians, play!'
Instantly, courtiers linked arms and hurried down the stairs. Mary-Anne shot Ellius a grateful smile while Sir Whittaker looked on the verge of exploding.
The Court musicians struck up a beautiful, twirling waltz. Couples formed up and were spun away by the music.
"My Princess, may I have this dance?" came a jowly voice. She turned to the extended hand of Mardoc. He was dressed in a hideous bright orange dotted with caramel. He wore a cravat of molasses and his ginger hair looked like he'd been pulled through a blackberry bush backward.
He looked like a squashed pumpkin pastie.
The words "NO" were on her lips when Ellius felt the drilling gaze of someone. From behind several gossiping ladies and their painted fans, green eyes met Ellius.
Father.
He sat on a pair of thrones dominating the Hall with her delicate mother.
This time her father had won. Again.
Ellius saw her father's hand clench around her mother's arm. Tightening. Where no bruises would show.
What have I done to deserve your maliciousness? Ellius wanted to cry at him. What have I done to deserve your heartless cruelty?
She clamped on her lip to stop herself from screaming took Mardoc's hand, and allowed herself to be twirled away. So begins a Danse Macabre.
Teeth clenched, she stepped through onlooking courtiers to the dance floor. She turned, dropping to curtsy, just as Madame Orlinda had taught her. He bowed graciously and now everyone could see who was paying interest in her.
What does Father want of me?
Her body automatically twirled to the music due to Cornelia's horrible, horrible lessons, and she allowed Mardoc to lead.
The Viennese Waltz was one of the most romantic waltzes of all time, except it felt she was dancing with the devil himself. His wicked eyes were locked lower than her face. His nose twitched even like a pig and his voice was fatty and, oinking.
"Cold, are you, Your Highness?"
"No."
"Then you shouldn't have worn that dress. Maybe nothing would be best at the least."
Flames scorched the inside of her cheeks.
"Fo you always talk to women like this?" she demanded. "It's barely appropriate."
A smile twisted on his lips. "Only to my wife."
Ellius felt sick. Oh, how I wish this wretched dance to end!
This was why her father had proclaimed a ball. Mardoc had asked for her hand in marriage, and her father had accepted. She gritted her teeth and her hand had become ice in his. She was not his. Not yet.
"Watch your tongue. I will cut it off."
"Fiesty. I like the ones with spirit."
"I'm not yours yet, so don't you dare speak to me like that," she hissed, sticking her finger up his nose.
He leaned into her ear. His breath smelt of truffles and mud. "Is that indeed so?"
No one knew! It was her father's secret and his.
The music slowed and drew to a close. The couples applauded and the musicians rested their aching fingers. Mardoc straightened up and disappeared with a flap of coattails. The last thing she could see.
Augh! Horrid man! Ellius hurried off the floor before another dance was introduced. She could not wipe the feeling of his hands off her waist and hips. The Hall was an ocean of colours, red damask, pale milky cream, pearl white, and patterned fabric, all spinning to the lilting music of the musicians. All the men wore doublets of gray and black.
Ellius smiled as she slid between the guests and around the huge marble pillars to the banquet. Her skirts rustled against a Lady of the Queen, sipping at cup of sweet, milky coffee. "He has recovered and his asking for you." Joelle passed the word in her ear.
Her eyes scanned over the feast table. Sticky raspberry tarts, the seeds glistening in the red blood. Lemon tarts with the smoothest, silkiest puckering lemon filling, garnished with curls of candied lemon skin. Caramelized apple pies. To the south were addictive salads of fiery chilli that would blow your brains to the roof, layered with crunchy chicken strips and a light garlic sauce. Four trays were bursting to overflowing. Steamed asparagus drenched din a healthy amount of a peppery chicken gravy. Roasted vegetables dusted in powders of paprika, garlic, and pepper to release from your nose gunshot sneezes— darn it! No chocolate truffles!
She chose a pumpkin pastie, biting into a flakey crust of pastry, sweet butternut, golden sugar, hints of ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
"Ellius Rose!" a thunderous voice shattered the uneasy calm.
The music screeched to a halt as the King of Hearts rose from his throne, his presence commanding the attention of all who dared to gaze upon him. Ellius' heart pounded in her chest as she turned to face him, her every instinct urging her to flee.
The words were sweet to the ears of his courtiers, whereas Ellius shuddered at it. She licked the buttery crumbs from her fingers and with a despairing look at her mother, climbed the steps to the dais.
His gaze pierced through her like icy daggers, sending a shiver down her spine. She tried to ignore the sickening feeling of dread that gnawed at her insides as she approached him.
"Darling," the King purred, his voice dripping with honeyed words that sent a chill down Ellius' spine. She fought to suppress a shudder as he gestured for her to stand beside him, the mere thought of being in such close proximity to him filling her with revulsion. Her father repulsed her— and radiated a fear that made her body flinch, waiting for his hand to strike her. "This day is for you, my dear," the King continued, his tone sickeningly sweet as he spoke. Ellius' stomach churned.
But the nightmare was far from over. Ellius wondered if he had fallen down the rabbit hole.
"For you are to own your court. Tell me, have you names for your court."
Ellius' mind raced as she struggled to search for scattered names in her brain of the court. She felt a sense of dread creeping over her like a dark fog, her every instinct screaming at her to flee. Sweat trickled down her brow. "No." She swallowed the lump in her throat.
In the corner of her vision, she could see the cruel glint in his eyes. Stupid girl!
He snapped his fingers and his chamberlain appeared from behind the thrones with a long scroll of paper. Fayre nodded and thrust it to her. "Call out your court. Now."
With trembling hands, she unrolled the scroll of names that was thrust into her grasp. It unfurled, bouncing down the stairs through the sea of colours. She knew that her choices would have far-reaching consequences, each name a pawn in the deadly game of courtly politics.
Choose wisely. You may regret the choice for your court when they stab you in the back. Courtiers are always seeking high favours for those to rise their position. "Lord Morgenstein. Tula Moppet. Cecily Parsley. Appley Dapply. Tom Thumb." Orlinda's lessons, for once in her useless, twitty bird-brain proved a use.
But amidst the sea of faces that watched her every move, Ellius couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope flicker within her at the crestfallen looks the courtiers gave. Was the Princess's choices random at the drop of a hat? The names I chose will aid me when the wind shifts their status, Ellius thought. She had picked out of the twelve prominent families of the Empire, four of the mightiest duchies For in that moment, she realized that she was not alone. She had allies in this treacherous world, allies who would stand by her side through thick and thin. As she handed back the scroll to her father, she saw the pride shining in her mother's eyes, a silent testament to her strength and resilience in the face of adversity.
But even as the cheers of the courtiers echoed through the hall, Ellius couldn't shake the feeling that her troubles were far from over.
Fayre chewed his lips. He could taste the tang of blood on his teeth. Several of the elders nodded at Ellius' choice of court, pleased. She had not been underestimating, not choosing stupid, silly vying courtiers and their gossipy, useless girls.
"You cannot rule alone, " the King's voice cut through the silent praise. "Like me, you must rule your court with a strong husband. It is my greatest pleasure as your father to gift you a present."
Mardoc approached the dias through the sea of bodies, a sweet smile on his scrunched-up snout.
Ellius knew that she was merely a pawn in a game far greater than herself—a game where the stakes were higher than life itself.
"I give you, your husband. I am pleased to announce the marriage of my Chief Advisor, Mardoc Pigmy to—"
Her breath caught in the grip of something otherworldly, spun through the darkness, a glimmering cascade of silver ribbons streaked with chocolate-brown. A dagger?
One by one, chandeliers overhead were extinguished, their candles snuffed out as if by the unseen silver hand. Fayre's decree froze on his tongue.
A peal of laughter split the darkness.
A chorus of eerie laughter pierced the darkness, high-pitched and strange, like the twisted melody of a child's nightmare.
"Hee hee hee hee hee! Hee hee hee hee hee! Hee hee hee hee hee!"
The laughter echoed, joined by another voice, Strangely high-pitched, and then another, until the dark hall was filled with a cacophony of madness.
"Ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Over and over again. Two voices mixing at the same time. Yes, strange but true.
A third voice joined the harmony.
"Hoo, hoo, hoo!"
A clattering, tumbling brew of madness, helpless, egghead of voices as one.
"Hee hee hee haa haa haa hoo hoo ha!"
Something fell from the ceiling with a sickening crack! on the quartz floor, sending a ripple of horror through the gathered courtiers. Ellius strained to see through the gloom, her eyes darting from shadow to shadow.
Voices rose in horror.
"What was that?"
"What is it? What is it?"
It was almost impossible to see. Almost.
Something— whatever it was, jerked. Shifted. And bounded to a stand. Their twinkling lights shone down in a single beam onto the thing. A creature. Nothing Ellius had ever seen in her life. Well, the second most curious thing she'd seen. And then, as if summoned by the darkness itself, a figure emerged from the shadows, bathed in a shaft of starlight that pierced the gloom like a beacon. Stars floated through the glass like it was mist! It was a creature unlike any Ellius had ever seen, its form contorted and twisted in unnatural angles.
The strange creature held its head cocked on an awkward spot as if broken. Then, it straightened it with a cracking of bones and took five tumble-turns forward. Each movement, it seemed to defy the laws of nature, rolling head over heels as if it had no spine or bones.
"What is this?" the King demanded, reaching for his sword.
Four guards materialized behind the thrones, unsheathing their swords, demonstrating the power they had in those blades.
The creature merely bowed with mock reverence, a hand pressed against its beating heart. Though it looked respectful, Ellius could see he was mocking.
"Who are you?"
"Who am I? Time will tell." The guards advanced. "What I am and what I offer you. My pardon, my King," it spoke, its voice smooth as dripping butterscotch, muffled behind a mask. "I am but a humble Joker, a jester of entertainment and performances."
"Eaze your blades." King Fayre stayed his guards with a wave of his hand.
The Joker chuckled, a tinkling melody that sent shivers down Ellius' spine. "You need no fear, men. What you should fear—" And then, with a flick of his wrist, he transformed the swords of the guards into clouds of confectionery, a shower of sweets raining down upon the court. Wrapped chocolates. Rolls of hard caramel. Hard sugar humbugs.
Queen Melia's laugh broke through the shocked silence, a bell of delight. Clapping her hands, she unwrapped a hard candy and popped it into her mouth. Peppermint humbugs. Chewy with black-and-white striped centres.
"You are too kind, my Queen. Your husband seemed to have my head removed from my shoulders."
Melia's ladies each picked up the sweets around the soldiers' boots.
'How did you do that?" she asked. "Magic?"
"I'll show you all my secrets, my Queen." smiled the Joker.
"Watch your mouth," growled the King.
"He means no harm, Fayre." Melia squeezed his sleeve. "Where do you come from?"
The Joker straightened to his full height. "My brothers and I have served under three kings and travelled the seas from the Garden of Eden to The End of the World."
Silence hung between the Joker and his enraptured audience. Ellius forgot how to breathe. That was an impossible feat: Sailing around the world would take two centuries of a man's lifetime!
"If even half of what you speak is true, Joker, you are the perfect man for my court," Fayre's eyes glittered with riches and cruelty.
The Joker swept another mocking bow. "My King, my services are rendered to those only who can my fee," he interrupted.
"Perform for my court and me tonight and I will pay you."
"Gold? Gold I can steal. Nowhere is impossible for me. Unfortunately, I cannot."
Ellius sucked in her lips, her palms becoming damp. This man was daring to push her father's patience, demanding a fee to perform. He will remove his head for his defiance. She knew that this was no ordinary performer, indeed, no mere entertainer seeking coin for his tricks. There was a darkness in his eyes, a hunger that could not be sated by gold alone.
"What is your price?" King Fayre waved a hand at his chamberlain. "I will give you half my kingdom."
"No gold. Not your treasury, my King," the Joker said. "I name my prices for specific things." And then he turned his gaze upon her.
Ellius' father paused, interested. "Not even all my gold in my treasury?"
Numbly, the chamberlain produced the treasury book for him to sign.
"No. What I want, I would ask of one object from your daughter."
"Me?" Ellius burst out laughing, the sound of bells from her gut, folding her hands over her chest to stop her gut bursting. "How— can I pay your wage?" She choked out each word between gasps of laughter.
"The Princess of Hearts is engaged to me." Mardoc's fat bulk shielded Ellius, his face flushing scarlet.
The Joker stooped past Mardoc's flushed face to her, his eyes fixed on Ellius through the slits in his painted mask. "You, love, can pay me something precious. I want the promise of your heart," he breathed, "and in return — a performance that would never be forgotten."
A promise that sent a shiver down her spine.
Ellius was spellbound by his offer. "You want my hand in marriage?"
He laughed... it sounded like a bubbling stream over pepples. "Love?" It sounded like a snort of laughter. "I'm not looking for love. I want the promise of your heart."
"Promise what? Ellius' heart eased.
"Simply the promise of it. My choice to do with it as I please."
She stared at him, unblinking. "What, you want me to stab myself in the heart with a dagger and deliver it to you?" Her voice was incredulous.
"Better for me," said her father smoothly.
"Not at all, love! You'd then miss my performance of a lifetime! No, simply give me the seal of your heart."
The seal was a promise. Enabling the heart to break or fall in love. To whom the seal was promised, they owned the heart.
"Done," said the King.
Melia was pale, her fingers tensing on her husband's arm. "What do you intend to use it for?" she asked the Joker.
"To what I do and to whom I give her heart to, is of my choice."
"All I ask is to not give her a loveless marriage to leave her heart in pieces."
A cackle. "I promise nothing of the sort."
Ellius looked into her mother's heart. I want nothing to do with Mardoc. Give the Joker what he wants.
"I give you my daughter, the Princess of Heart's heart." Fingers cooled. Her mother's voice was clear and serene.
"Love?" the Joker cocked his head at Ellius. "Do I have your word?"
"I vow you have the seal of my heart." She vowed, surrendering her heart's seal to the Joker's outstretched hand. At those words, pain filled her chest, Ellius squeezed her skirts, buckling at the lancing pain as her heart's seal separated from the fissures of glass. A sparkling blue orb, almost the colour of the blue moon flowed from her body and she held it in her hands. It was the size of a goose egg. Hard like a white diamond in a splendid aurora of whites and blues. I am free from a loveless, grotesque marriage you, Mardoc.
He opened his gloved hand, waiting for me to drop her heart's seal into. She gave him my seal. The Joker closed his fingers over the orb. "I will keep it safe, my Princess. And in my return, I will repay my promise."
And the transformation began at once.
A crackle. A snap of flesh. And a spark appeared in the pitch blackness.
He had snapped his fingers, and from his fingertips, came a whisp of a flame. He blew at it and a billow of fire spat out from his fingers high into the air, consuming the diamond chandeliers. The gold chains rattled as the blast of heat melted their fixtures like wax, and a rainshower of hard diamonds fell like death descending on the Hall. Courtiers screamed and stampeded in the dark for the doors before becoming filled with spears of diamonds.
The Joker calmly remained still and he opened the flat of his palms. The diamonds froze in midair. Simply frozen. As if Time had stopped the clock!
And as the diamonds were frozen, the windows shattered, each one dissolving into balls of splinters and shards, swooping and swirling like birds in flight, covering the Hall in a veil of glass and diamond. Bodies stood, stunned. The full moon rose and shone through the palace window frames in a single shaft, hitting each hovering gem, and splitting into dotted spotlights all around the Hall.
"It's showtime!" he crowed. He raised his two fingertips again and the flame exploded into a shower of confetti raining down over the courtiers' heads and the thrones. As the colored pieces of paper curled around Ellius, she saw that the colours of the Joker were changing. He was spinning under the rain of colours, faster and faster. A transcendent blur of reds, grays, gold, and raven black. Magical. Like magic, his body split like a mirror and there stood three Jokers.
His brothers, Ellius breathed.
He was as clear as the day under the spotlights. A short black jacket with crimson lapels. Hoops of thin gold were linked over his dove gray suit with ballooning black-and-red pants with matching heeled boots. On his stringy rose-red hair was a three-pointed jester's hat. He was the ringleader, she realized. His porcelain face was a mask.
Made to fit his face, pure white with two eye holes, ringed in black, and a space to see his broad grinning lips.
His brother wore a motley coat divided into diamonds of red and bright yellow, tight breeches, and a cap'n'bells over his head. His stark-white face was painted with bloody red diamonds underneath his eyes. His lips were dashed red.
The third was in a red and gold pinstriped suit with a high collar. His face was entirely hidden behind a silver mask carved with a sickle moon smile and two slits as eyes. Under the left was engraved a small black diamond. The right held a red dripping heart, cracked down the center.
All of them were triplets. The same hair. Same eyes.
All three were grinning like idiots at Mardoc.
"As our most illustrious to-be groom has lost his heart to our most beautiful Princess, we should enlighten his foul mood!" cried the lead Joker.
Mardoc was on the verge of strangling the ringmaster of the Jokers. His fingers tightened to iron.
Ellius' shoulders were beginning to lose it, shaking with mirth. She clamped her hands over her mouth to stop her giggles from bursting out.
Spinning a silver-tipped baton between white-gloved fingers, the Joker bowed low to the enraptured court. "Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages! Please welcome our ballad to the Lord Pigmy!"
The second Joker backflipped, springing hands over heels, to spring high up into the air, softly landing on top of the grand staircase. He took a small silver pipe from his pocket, folded his legs, and began to play a haunting, gay melody.
Ellius recognized the tune immediately. It was timeless, as old as the hills, jaunty and cheerful.
Dancing from one foot to another, the ringmaster began singing, his voice sweet. At the sound of his voice, the lights transformed into a pale snowy pink.
"Tom, he was a piper's son,
He learnt to play when he was young,
And all the tune that he could play
Was 'Over the hills and far away';
Over the hills and a great way off,
The wind shall blow my top-knot off.
"Tom with his pipe made such a noise,
That he pleased both the girls and boys,
And they all stopped to hear him play,
'Over the hills and far away'.
"Tom with his pipe did play with such skill
That those who heard him could never keep still;
As soon as he played they began for to dance,
Even pigs on their hind legs would after him prance.
"As Dolly was milking her cow one day,
Tom took his pipe and began for to play;
So Doll and the cow danced 'The Cheshire Round',
Till the pail was broken and the milk ran on the ground."
Ellius could suddenly see a rolling land with snowy pink hills. Candy, lollipops, clouds of blue floss. A winding pathway led to the pink hills. Twisted gnarls of black thorns and roses lined his pathway. Piglets were trotting here and there, grubbing into candy everywhere.
Wait. It can't be! Mardoc stood amid the pigs. His face was the colour of overcooked beets. "This is an insult!" he spluttered.
"Only to the meat," called the faraway voice of the Joker. Then he knelt before Mardoc, his hat extended to him, and Mardoc snatched away the hat. Then the hat and Mardoc disappeared in a shower of pink flowers.
"Wee wee wee wee!" oinked a voice from the depth of the hat. Laughing, the Joker tossed the hat up into the air, turning the velvet top over the crimson brim to land upside down, and out popped a wee pink piglet.
The Court erupted in laughter as Mardoc shrilled, falling to land on his pink rump. The snow melted underneath his trotters and in the blink of an eye, everything else transformed. The diamonds swept up to their fixings in golden chandeliers, tinkling. Glass shards tumble together, piece by piece before they became crystal windows that settled back. And the Hall of a Thousand Souls is returned to its former glory.
Everything in place. Not a treasure missing. Except Mardoc.
The Joker had turned Mardoc into what he was truly in his heart: A pig-baby.
Uncontrollable, delirious, approaching the brink of mad insanity laughter. The Court was hooting, clutching their shaking sides in an effort to stop losing their bowels as Mardoc oinked and flew around and around in shrills of terror. He wore no trousers. Just a flapping waistcoat and ripped jacket for his obese pig body.
"If you've turned into a pig, my dear," said the Joker seriously, "I have nothing more to do with you! Off to the pigsty!"
With a flick of his fingers, he whipped the fat pig-baby off its trotters and out the doors. All that was left was the Joker and a shower of candy around his boots. The two Jokers were gone. From the bend of the mirror they had appeared, to their ringmaster they had returned.
Smatterings of applause.
"Brava! Brava!"
"Encore!"
The Joker bowed. "One show a night, ladies and gentlemen!" Again, he tossed his hat into the air where it swallowed him up, head to foot. There was nothing left. Nobody. No Joker. No hat. All that remained were scatterings of candy on the quartz floor.
The applause was thundering. Ellius wiped tears of joy from her eyes. "That was beautiful!" she laughed.
No one thought about the pig-baby. All were praises to the new court Joker. Or was it Jokers?
Queen Melia was enchanted. Ellius had never seen in her life, the glint of delight in her mother's eyes and smile.
"Marvelous!"
"Magical!
"Extraordinary!"
"Splendid!" The King's face up a crescent moon, smiling with wickedness.
But not even her father could not spoil this night, for the Joker had truly kept his promise: "A performance that you will never forget."
**************
The one flaw to that enchanting night was four hours later when the opulent ballroom of Estela Palace gleamed in the soft, flickering light of a thousand candles, the courtiers were toasting the Princess of Estela for her Joker. They laughed under the watchful gaze of the moonlit night. Yet, amidst the splendour and merriment, a foreboding shadow lurked, waiting to cast its dark veil over the festivities.
Four hours into the revelry, as the courtiers raised their goblets to toast the Princess of Estela and Joker, a shatter of glass broke the tranquillity of the night. A deafening crash! echoed through the ballroom as something unseen, collided with the ornate window, shattering it into a thousand fractured pieces.
Amid the chaos, Ellius caught sight of a flurry of white feathers, a ghostly apparition amidst the glittering shards. A creature, twisted and tormented, thrashed wildly through the air, its wings beating frantically as it sought refuge, dodging the swatting fans of the ladies. It was in hysterics.
"Blood on black! Blood on black!" it screeched as it flew, "as black as the King's heart!"
In a trice, silver was released from a bowstring and a silver arrow tipped with a heart, stabbed through the dove's wings. It thudded into a wall and fell. Ellius could hear it screeching as the King lowered the bow, pushing through his courtiers. He crushed its skull underneath his boot, an enraged snarl on his face.
As the lifeless body of the creature lay on the ground, Ellius felt a chill run down her spine. The ladies around her gasped in horror, their delicate fans trembling in their hands.
The unearthly words spoken by the dying dove, the prophecy of blood on black.