Horror Bites - Bag of Heads

A new fortnightly challenge is being hosted by Laura Jamez over on her site, Office Mango called Horror Bites. She wants something dark and/or scary, and although I and not sure my piece does either of those things, it is what the prompt photo gave me - a little dark humour maybe? Enjoy. 

Peter shoved the sack at the thin man behind the counter.

“Here, as ordered.”

The man observed him with an arched eyebrow, the point of his nose flaring in distain. He snatched the top of the sack and opened it, his head turning slightly at the odour of decaying flesh.

“How many?”

“Five.”

The arched eyebrow was presented again.

“Take them out and count them if you don’t believe me.”

The man recoiled at the suggestion, making Peter smile. Then he grabbed a quill, dabbed at some ink, and scribbled on a scrap of parchment, shoving it under the string as he retied the sack.

“You don’t want to verify the names then?” Peter held up a rolled parchment.

“The King will do that himself, he knows these men better than I.” The man eyed Peter. “And we know where you live should there be any discrepancies.”

Peter sighed. He turned away from the counter and adjusted his clothing. Then, taking a deep breath, he pulled out his broad sword and swung it round at shoulder height, slicing through the man’s neck. Then he whipped his other hand round to grab the head by the hair as the body crumpled.

Blood saturated the counter top as it pumped out of the neck. The eyelids fluttered. “No point flirting with death now mate, it’s over.” Peter said to the twitching head.

He shoved the head into the sack. “You should have checked the list of names then you’d have known who you were joining.” 

253 Words