Writing Prompts (Week 1) - Roland the Ravenous

Roland’s white horse clip-clopped on the forest path. A dying sun shone through leaves as dusk enveloped the trees. The smell of pine and earth surrounded him.

He heard rustling in a bush. He reined in the horse to a dead stop and craned his ear towards the sound. Probably just some small forest creature scurrying around.

Roland gently tapped his heel against the horse’s side and they trotted onward. With his right hand, he grasped the leather pouch strapped firmly to his belly. Inside were coded instructions for the armies of the west to advance on the King’s enemies. Delivering these would earn Roland a rich reward. Failing to do so, would be his end.

Out of the corner of Roland’s vision, a man sprang from the bushes.

The horse kicked up its front legs.

Roland steadied the beast and drew his sword.

With one swift motion, the man’s decapitated head hit the forest floor.

Roland jumped off the horse to calm it. He heard the air behind him shift slightly. He swiveled around.

He thrust his sword into another man’s belly.

Two more men advanced from behind the fallen bodies.

He dispatched them both and as he withdrew his blade from the corpse of the second man, he saw another figure appear from behind a tree. This man was draped in a black cloak. His yellow teeth shone through the darkness. The man raised a small crossbow, Roland ducked, but the man aimed at the tops of the trees.

A rope trap fell and swallowed up Roland.

The man approached and reloaded his miniature crossbow.

The dart hit Roland’s neck and his vision instantly narrowed.

---

Roland awakened. His wrists and feet strapped to a table. He thrashed at the restraints.

“Don’t tire yourself too much, brave knight,” a man’s voice rang through the dim room.

Roland gritted his teeth. “Show yourself!”

The man stood over Roland, his face illuminated by a torch. Roland peered at the hideous face, disfigured by time and some strange disease. The man held up the scroll from Roland’s pouch.

“You will give me the solution to this coded message.”

“I will give you nothing.”

“So be it.” The man disappeared from his vision.

Roland heard the groaning sound of machinery. He felt the restraints around his arms and legs tighten and begin to pull.

“I will tear you from limb to limb if you don’t divulge the code.”

“What in God’s name is this?"

“I was commissioned to create this device and I did so with great pleasure. It increases the tension on your limbs, till they separate from your body.”

The machine began to roar louder. The restraints pulled tighter.

“You will give me the passphrase to solve the message. Then, and only then, will I set you free.”

“I would rather die!” Roland cried.

“Then, die.”

The machinery whined louder.

Roland screamed in pain.

Just as he thought his arms would tear from their sockets, the machine stopped.

The disgusting face again hovered above Roland’s.

“You will tell me in time.”

The man poured water from a bowl into Roland’s mouth. Roland spit water back at him.

“Fine. Die of thirst as well.”

The light in the room went out.

---

Roland awakened to the sound of the machine. It began to tug at his limbs.

Over the coming days, the hideous man would torture him and demand the code.

Every inch of Roland’s body now screamed in pain.

“You are as stubborn as a donkey. And now as weak as a mouse. Tell me the solution, or I will not stop this machine again till it’s work is complete.”

Roland tilted his head towards the repulsive visage of his captor. He wriggled his wrists. The restraints had loosened and the man hadn’t bothered to tighten them again.

“I don’t want to die. Not yet. Come close and I will tell you the code.”

The man’s face appeared. Roland could smell the noxious odor emitting from his mouth.

“Closer,” Roland whispered.

The man grinned. He tilted his ear toward Roland’s mouth.

With the small amount of strength he had left, Roland jerked his head upward.

He clamped his teeth around the man’s ear and bit down hard.

The man screamed and stumbled backward.

Roland let the taste of flesh and blood linger for a second and spit out the ear.

He jerked his hands through the loose restraints. He untied the ones that bound his legs.

He forced his body from the table and limped over to the man who had collapsed on the floor.

Roland noticed a knife nearby and grabbed it.

The man was trying to stop the bleeding from his ear with both hands.

“You really think I would tell you?” He held the knife pointed at the man.

The disfigured man looked up at him with a scowl.

“You think you can escape here? This is a dungeon. Guards will come and kill you.”

Roland let the knife fall to the ground. He kicked it aside.

“That may be. But before they arrive, you will be the one to die.”

Roland felt renewed strength and stood up straight with shoulders back.

“You know what they call me in my land?”

“I don’t care. Finish this!”

“They call me Roland the Ravenous. I had a taste of your flesh, now I want more.”

Roland jumped on the man and bit into the skin of his disfigured face.

---

---

This is my entry to @themarkymark's Writing Prompts week 1 contest with the theme tension.

I couldn't pass up this prompt because I think tension is a key driver in storytelling. Increasing tension should keep the reader, well, reading.

Hopefully you enjoyed my literal and figurative uses of tension in this story. I had a blast writing and editing it!

Pixabay Image Source edited by me.