Read Ritual of the Stones (Ballad of Frindoth) for Free Online

Janna standing in
the doorway to the bedroom. She had spoken whilst chewing one of her
fingernails. He was pleased she did not appear to be affected by the incident
last night.
    At
fourteen years old, she had not yet succumbed to the teenage rebellious
behaviour that so many children (most notably Jensen) went through. This
morning she was wearing a simple beige dress and her brown hair was pulled back
into a tiny ponytail. Being pretty did not concern her and she made no attempt
to make the most of herself. Not that she was an unattractive girl, and in
truth her lackadaisical approach to her appearance only highlighted her natural
beauty.
    “Tell
her I’ll be down shortly.”
    * *
*
    It
was only eight short steps up to the wooden platform, but by the time Mayor
Pinkleton waded through the crowd and made his way onto the stage, he was red-faced
and breathless. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and mopped his brow.
His flowing grey beard fell past his neckline and a blue flat cap gave him the
appearance of a fisherman. He wore a frilly white shirt that barely contained
his enormous belly. One of the buttons popped open to reveal some wispy chest
hair. He raised a hand to silence the ever growing crowd and then bent over to
catch his breath. This elicited a few snickers in the crowd which he didn’t
notice.
    At
sixty-one years of age, Mayor Pinkleton was already a year past the official legal
age to own such a title. However, due to his dedication to the role and the
fact that there were no serious contenders when he offered to retire last year,
he remained in office.
    In a
village like Longcombe, his duties were not exactly arduous. Although the
village had a population of three hundred twenty-four people, everyone had
their defined roles and responsibilities and tended to stick to them. Mayor
Pinkleton found there was no real need to tamper with the order of things and
let the village run itself. He certainly had no contact with King Jacquard
other than the occasional emissary checking on the state of the town.
    Presiding
over the Ritual was his first real role of importance. That is not to say that
he didn’t host these regular meetings; Mayor Pinkleton loved the sound of his
own voice and would often be found hosting a meeting on whether or not the
village should extend its boundaries by an extra half a foot or not or whether
it should erect a higher perimeter wall (the current one already exceeded eight
feet and was more than sufficient). The people always voted the same, Longcombe
was not a town and there was no need to pretend to be independent. The majority
of Frindoth did not know that it even existed so it certainly didn’t need to
control who came in and out of the village.
    In
truth, Longcombe was not far off a town, but just lacked the population. Mayor
Pinkleton set himself the primary objective of trying to attract more people to
the village. He had erected two gatehouses at either end of the village and saw
to it these were guarded at all times. His aim here was to give the village an
impression of importance. Nevertheless, despite his tendency to take his role
too seriously and fixate on the most mundane issues, Mayor Pinkleton was much
loved throughout the village.
    The mayor
raised his hand a second time and the crowd gradually grew silent. As far as
Rhact could tell, the whole of the village was in attendance to see the witch.
Mothers jiggled their babies on their arms trying to hush them, whilst several
villagers brought boxes to stand on for a better view. Although it was morning,
the temperature was already rising and the smell of sweat hung in the air,
mixing with the sense of nervousness that people were feeling.
    Mayor
Pinkleton would not be happy that so many people were standing on the village
green. Surrounding the green were the commercial buildings that were the
backbone of the community: Henry Cauldrop’s blacksmith shop and Cordon
Fertuop’s mill were the two largest buildings and