Two for Tuesday #4

Another Tuesday comes around, and that means we have two more paragraphs from two more “Quests, Curses, & Vengeance” stories!

Starting off, we have the first two paragraphs from “Digging up the Past,” by Gerald Costlow:

Martin stood on the field of battle and watched an army of dead soldiers stumble toward him.  He wanted to laugh.  It was just so ridiculous, knowing that this ragtag collection of corpses with broken and battered weapons could have brought an entire army to a halt.

His horse reacted to the first sniff of death that arrived on the evening breeze by stomping the ground.  He held tight to the reins and whispered soothing words while studying the castle on the other side of the clearing.  He should be seeing enemy heads looking over the parapets, but the place looked as dead as its defenders.  This castle was the final retreat of the defeated usurper and the zombie army was its only remaining defense.

Secondly, we have the intro to “The Dance of Five Hells” by Philip Overby:

Cairo’s itch came from one of two things: his nasty ex-girlfriend Tamara or that mummy. Being that his last clinic test came back clean, Cairo guessed the mummy's curse was in full swing again. And it burned like hell.

“Ma? Yeah, the mummy curse is flaring up again.” Cairo sat in a tub full of oatmeal, holding onto his phone to converse with his nagging mother. “What? Yeah, I talked to Pop already. His curse is under wraps.” Her voice made the speakers of his phone crackle. “Yeah, I just got back from the clinic. It’s not the clap.” The voice got higher and shriller. “Geez, I know I’m breaking your heart. Look, can you just give me the number of that guy that does the thing? You know, the guy!”

For more of these great stories, and 30 others, check out Quests, Curses, & Vengeance.