Chapter Text
Danse Macabre
Figures weave and spin in dance through a high arched room covered in mirrors to the music of a single fiddle and pipe. A tree, half gold, half black, towers over them dripping wax from ancient candles which sit on its twisted branches, burning with shadows.
Yesteryear's leaves carpet the floor swirling around the dancers in whirling eddies. The lady of the house, is a tall, thin woman with sharp blue eyes like pins and light, loose hair bound with a crown of feathers. She sits above it all on a burnished throne fingers twitching as if impatient to be about some business. The Lady nods to a maiden, who wears a dress of moonlight and clouds; the maiden curtsies before joining the dance. A gentleman in a ragged coat leads her to join the dance.
Light sparkles in the mirrors, and the dancers merge together. A man with skin covered in curling flames spins cheek to cheek with something robed in mist and shadow. The music rises, faster and faster. A lithe woman, covered in downy iridescent plumage twirls backwards and forwards.
The wind whispers through the chamber. Darkness falls over the tree. The candles burn high, filling the hall with shadows. The mirrors ripple and through one steps a figure dressed in monkish robes. His head is bare, his hands are folded behind his back.
The lady of the house rises and bows, 'Welcome. Join us.'
'I dance only once dance.'
The Lady claps her hands, the music changes.