[It’s hard to say how long the bodies have been there at this point, or what they even looked like, their faces long deteriorated from rot. But in the disgust and dread wrought by that uncertainty, they fulfill their purpose: they act as signposts, as warnings, as he had told himself — beware, turn away.
Abandon hope ye who enter here.
The meaning, beyond that, is clear. The lord of this castle wants visitors no longer, and he will not tolerate their presence brought upon him, and send them out in violent rejection for their trespass. That, he is certain of; that, he must see through to its end, else he might suffer another instance of betrayal, one that he might not survive for a second time. His heart may never forgive him for it.
He reminds himself of this as he watches a form meander about the perimeter of the castle, having long leapt up into the covered darkness of a tree, crouched silently with a narrowed gaze. An abandoned picnic basket remains seated at the base of the trunk below, forgotten in his haste to learn who this stranger is — it isn’t a woman he recognizes, but that is not surprising. There are few he would know beyond the faces of his friends, long departed, and often those from the villages just beyond the thick barrier of forests know to leave the distant castle, its silhouette biting into the horizon, well enough alone.
Frowning, he watches. He assesses. He assumes that it would simple enough to scare her away, but maybe she’ll garner enough sense on her own, and seek her refuge elsewhere.]
no subject
Abandon hope ye who enter here.
The meaning, beyond that, is clear. The lord of this castle wants visitors no longer, and he will not tolerate their presence brought upon him, and send them out in violent rejection for their trespass. That, he is certain of; that, he must see through to its end, else he might suffer another instance of betrayal, one that he might not survive for a second time. His heart may never forgive him for it.
He reminds himself of this as he watches a form meander about the perimeter of the castle, having long leapt up into the covered darkness of a tree, crouched silently with a narrowed gaze. An abandoned picnic basket remains seated at the base of the trunk below, forgotten in his haste to learn who this stranger is — it isn’t a woman he recognizes, but that is not surprising. There are few he would know beyond the faces of his friends, long departed, and often those from the villages just beyond the thick barrier of forests know to leave the distant castle, its silhouette biting into the horizon, well enough alone.
Frowning, he watches. He assesses. He assumes that it would simple enough to scare her away, but maybe she’ll garner enough sense on her own, and seek her refuge elsewhere.]