Edward stepped from the claw boat into Dunster Castle's cavernous underbelly, fire burning in his empty sockets. Maggots writhed beneath his peeling skin from bones in the pale light of Percival's ghostly greeting. Is she here? Said Edward. The ghost nodded #nine times

#vss365

How long? Said Edward, his eyes flickering with sadness. Hundreds of pages, said Percival. Edward's rotting fingers felt the sharp edges of letters carved into the tomb: 'Lady Dunster'. Help me open it? He pleaded. I wish I had the skill, but I am but a phantom

#microprompt 1371

They found Thomas in the Great Hall, sitting alone upon the old throne chair. A king without a crown. Edward's rotting figure stood before him a while before he registered. He tumbled off his seat at the sight. What ho, he cried. What evil has thou become? A #quisling?

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You've been too long in the dark, said Edward, tugging on the drapes, sending a stripe of searing heat across the floor

Thomas pulled them shut. Thou sun doth shine brighteth, #transferrith more heat than thou hearteth can take

How so? Said Ed

Dragons burneth thy Sun

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Thomas! Bright, powerful, beautiful Thomas! Why so dark, so full of #ennui? Grinned Edward's peeling skull

If thou couldst but seeth they owneth faceth, thou wouldst know. Dunster rotteth in her tomb beneath these stone walls, and you! Foul undead! How cometh to this?

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For my part, says Edward, sitting in ghoulish repose on the now empty Dunster throne, I was murdered. His empty sockets burned with fire. By a boy. No #church burial. My vacant lifeless body was flung into a hedge, where it hung, rotting for hundreds of pages of story...

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How cometh thou here, #skint of life, whispered Thomas in the gloom

I was quite dead, said Edward. Half my innards eaten. Hawthorn grown around and through me. Spider webs weaved over me. Then a crow came and made her nest between my ribs, in my chest. She gave me life

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Edward opened his tatty jacket, a bosom of hawthorn flower buzzed with #bees, and in between the boughs of his ribs, in the dark heart beneath, Thomas spied a crow on a rough nest. By gad! He cried. I do not know how long I have! Until her eggs hatch maybe, said Edward

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Percival, #silver as a moon, guides them down to the crypt, where the clawboat bobs against the side and Lady Dunster in her tomb resides. I need your help, said Edward, to open her grave. Open it? Are thou madst? Cried Thomas. I believe I can resurrect her, said Edward

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Percival is too phantom to be of use, but you are strong as an ox, said Edward. Come! Thomas added his might to Edward's, pushed & heaved against the stone slab. With a judder and a cloud of dust, it slid off, thumped to the ground. Most terrifyingly #queer, said Thomas

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When the dust settled, they saw Lady Dunster laid out in moth-eaten rags, her hair and nails grown long, eyes dark as pits, and skin dry as parchment. Thomas shrank back, wishing he had taken a #detour around her tomb. A dog of bone and cornflower eyes, slept at her feet

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In the clawboat, said Edward, you'll find a small box with a nesting jay. Thomas brought the box, the bird inside sat on a single #sapphire blue egg. Edward eased the mother and its neat cup beneath Lady Dunster's ribs. The three knights gathered round, silent with Hope

#vss365