They never call it sacrifice to enter Y’bhag’s cave.
“It’s marriage, honoring your family.” mother priestess said.
My real mother cried when she dressed me in the gown of silk and satin.
This year Y’bhag requested ten virgins.
I am the last to enter the stinking pit they call his palace.
Musicians lead me in my last Bandara as curtains of his cobwebs grace my cheeks.
My heart races as it’s never done before.
I hear the clicking from his pincers.
Coming closer. Closer.
Then all is dark.
In joy I know the harvest is secured for yet another year.
© Roger Bultot
To the image reminds me of cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, and this brought me into a Lovecraft world of hideous monsters, and the ritual sacrifices of girls.
Rochelle selects the picture, and writes the story. Every Wednesday we pretend it’s Friday. We are the Friday Fictioneers.
—
January 3, 2017
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Oh, this is creepy. I like the twist in the emotions.
Maybe if you really believe you think it’s worth it being eaten.
That was truly, utterly chilling. Well done.
Chilling as reality… doesn’t really take a monster to make it bad.
As chilling and nasty as the entire concept of child sacrifice.
Indeed… one of the worst thing there is…
True.
Try not sacrificing virgins, I say. The harvest will still be plentiful
I think so too… I think it would be hard to see a correlation… but maybe a hungry monster will feed on priests in lack of virgins.
The whole “virgin” thing makes me wonder if the monster just wants to eat them or if it’s “fate worse than death” time?
I think he would devour any flesh he could get… but this way the priests are spared.
A dark story, Björn. I was delighted when I saw the photo that prompted this piece. The fact that it reminded you of cobwebs that turned into this dark tale is one of the things I like to see most from a prompt. Probably because it’s how my mind works too. I rarely can take a prompt as it is, I like to twist it to make it into something different.
I think looking beyond what’s really in the picture is the best… sometimes I even try to imagine what to be right outside the frame.
10 virgins – bit greedy, a high price to pay. Terrifying folklore.
Yes… and probably for naught.. the weather will be as it will anyway.
I don’t know why, but this made me laugh. Probably because it’s further confirmation that you’re messed up in the head. 🙂
Ha… maybe yes… or I have just read too many dark stories
“curtains of his cobwebs grace my cheeks”
What a cool way to word that.
Can you feel spiderweb in your face… like the veil of a corpse bride.
What a dark but beautiful story!
Thank you
That was an awful story…in many cultures this is still done. And they call is marriage. It is interesting to know, the most often reason women go to the hospital is from domestic abuse….and this is the reason for many deaths….they call it marriage, and they celebrate.
Indeed, a marriage can be a sacrifice too… I can almost think about dowry and arranged marriages too.
excellent, gave me goosebumps!
Good 🙂
While reading your story gave me shivers, hearing you read it amplified it by 1000! Well done and awful, awful, awful… (in a well-written way!)
Ha… yes sometimes a reading adds a dimension… I will try to do that more…
It was a really nice touch!
Happy or sad there is usually a story to be had. But with this prompt I never expected ‘ten virgins’
The monster is hungry obviously…
I can hear that clicking. What a last sound to hear. I like the twist at the end – out of such sacrifice there comes joy. I admire her selflessness.
I think that seeing yourself as martyr for some greater good can be comforting…
Not to me it wouldn’t. I must be too self-centred.
A disquieting tale indeed. This week’s picture has led us in so many directions and yours I greatly like. Gott nytt år
It seems that cobwebs is one of many that we have seen…
Ooh! The pinchers! You and I saw some of the same things in this photo, but I didn’t see the pinchers. 🙂 Spooky, but I liked it!
I do remember Shelob from Lord of the Rings… and the clicking sound of pinchers in the darkness is one of them I remember.
That was dark and chilly. Great take, I liked it!
Ha… darkness is cold.
A strange marraige indeed! Scary!!!
A marriage of sorts.
A chilling tale. I hope they wise up in the future.
I think they did after Y’bhag’ choked on the last virgin…
The story is creepy and sad but the descriptions are great, Bjorn Good writing as always. 🙂 — Suzanne
Thank you… I find it creepy too.
I guess that might be what made it tolerable, the thought your sacrifice is saving someone or something that needs saving.
I think it does (even if it’s not true)
Self-delusion is a useful survival mechanism sometimes.
Dear Björn,
It’s been said already, but I’ll say it again. Your stellar reading of this piece serves to intensify the chill. Her willingness to sacrifice herself for the harvest took my breath away. Well done!
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thank you… it warms my heart that I can chill with my voice. It might be that Scandinavian noir accent creeping in.
Could be, but you also have a good voice for reading and use the right expression.
As others have said, lovely creepy atmosphere and love the webs stroking her cheek a tender and eerie image. I would love to know why it is that Ancient Evils always require young girls as sacrifice, not, say older men … 🙂
I think it’s because the decisions is already made by the older men…
Very true, Bjorn
Eeeek! The clicking of his pincers made me shudder!
I think that sound is one you don’t want to hear in darkness
This is chilling. You built the tension well. My heart was in my mouth!
Good… I love telling terrifying stories.
Björn, I loved your reading of this creepy tale! It really added to the atmosphere. Fantastically chilling story.
Thank you so much… we need some chill in this warm winter.
It’s not so warm where I am today. There’s a gale blowing… But I can handle a bit of chill from the cosiness of my living room.
My goodness Bjorn! ALL the emotions.
and all at once 🙂
Grim. I wouldn’t want to be born into that culture.
Neither would I… terrible.
If only the spider would catch insects instead.
Some spiders might have outgrown insects… we might need bigger bugs for bigger spiders
poor villagers. they’re entrapped in the web of their own making.
I think it might be so… or there is a real monster behind those webs.
Love your take on it, Bjorn! 🙂 Lovecraft-ish, indeed. Had me swiping my cheek just in case…
Ha.. I actually used a Lovecraft name generator to create a name for the monster.
Creepy! I almost hate that she viewed her sacrifice as a way to save the harvest. But I guess it makes it palatable.
Maybe it’a her way of coping…. dying for a purpose is better than if it’s without any meaning.
If only they’d been a little more promiscuous!
Indeed … but maybe promiscuous girls are stoned to death in this society … you can only lose in that way.
A tragic story, brilliantly narrated. Thanks for including the reading.
Thank you for listening to my reading.
Ooo I love this! I love stories like these – dark and like tales of old! It is so beautifully told.
Thank you.. alas a story like this can fit in many time… it would be better that it didn’t happen.
I loved hearing you read it, Bjorn. I’d love to figure out how to do that myself–and perhaps will–if I ever grow beyond my laziness and procrastination stage.
I downloaded a software called Audicity… then I have a decent microphone, but I think a headset for a mobile phone might work well too… Would love to hear you.
I enjoy your darkness, Bjorn blotting over the words in your stories. You and I both went for darkness says something about me, methinks, apart from my recurring themes. 🙄
Darkness comes often from my stories… I think I’m a happier person than I write.
We often are. Not who we write. But we must feel deeply about our stories. Then they move our readers in ways we couldn’t imagine. 🙂
I see you and I both saw spidery webs! A great take on the prompt Björn! 😊
Indeed.. spiderweb seems to be one of the images people saw… 🙂
Oh, as if it wasn’t creepy enough…then the mention of his pincers!!!! Well done. *shivering*
Anthropoids and pincers come in pairs.
That was my first sound cloud. Creepy gets my vote. BTW,,, I had volume as high as possible. Recording seemed faint. Thanks Bjorn.
Thank you.. yes I think I know the reason… an error in my recording. Next one will be better.
I’m sure it will be. The story would be really good around a campfire.
“Clicking of his pincers”, sounds like a charming creature. Scary stuff.
Oh yes… that’s the guy of many dreams… the one where you wake up screaming.
There are so many correlations I can draw to real life from this story. The way women are always being sacrificed, used and abused, underpaid etc. And then also other women helping this along it the high priestess. The creature representing forced marriage partners, abusive partners, tyrannic governments convincing citizens of the need for sacrifice or collateral damage or higher taxes. And we go along with it.
Caught in their web. Nicely written and recited too!
I wonder if Harvey Weinstein has pincers… I truly love your comment full of insight… indeed we still sacrifice women in many ways.
As Fatima said, there are several layers to this story and amazing how so much was said in so few words – kudos.
Thank you… I do love how it can be read through the layers.
Dark and dramatic. So well written Björn.
Thank you.. i tried my best to set a scene…
And you did fab!
Creeeeeeepy:) And extremely well-written.
Thank you… a story should settle under the skin I think
The touch of cobwebs, the stench and the darkness, all create a terrifying picture. I hope her joy at knowing the harvest was safe was fulfilled. A great read.
The argument of greater good might give some comfort… even lies work
This is the stuff of nightmares. Well done
I think it is… maybe if comes from one of mine.
Frightening!
I hope it was… the alternative is even more frightening.
That was grim. I hope she has a cleaver or a knife stashed in her gown.
Or a little flamethrower.
Creepy, sinister and so tragic all for a superstition. Nicely told Bjorn
Yikes! Well written and a gruesome ending, which I’m glad that you just hinted at.
Holy monkies…. This, was, amazing, odd, I don’t typically see myself as the characters in stories, I usually feel like an onlooker, or a peeping tom, depending on the scene, but this time as i read I pictured myself being main cast XD. nicely done
That sounds like a very chilling experience… must be those pincers.
You create a dark atmosphere most successfully.. especially the phrase
‘The clicking of his pincers’. I am uneasy about about Virgin Victims, even in fiction….
What would you call this?
https://yogiwriting.wordpress.com/2018/02/22/polyandry-the-taboo-of-multiple-husbands/