The Thousand-Armed Taker of Children

Synopsis A farmhouse in one of the free kingdoms. One candle, one thin blanket, and two children who should be asleep. Their mother sits on the edge of the bed. "Lie down, Hana. Toma, your foot is in your sister's face. Down!" "Be good and I'll tell you a bedtime story" "Mama, tell the one about the Taker!" "That one gives you nightmares." "Please?" "Fine. But you eat every turnip tomorrow. That's the price. Now listen, and don't interrupt, and don't kick! "You know how the world works. The Registry counts everyone, most folk never get past nine, like your grandfather, God rest him. But! Reach ten and you become a classed! Reach twenty-five you're someone big an important! Set for life! Reach fifty! Well? Now you're a Hero or some other legend!. (Toma And past fifty? Does it go on forever?) Nobody around here knows.. Except? Maybe? The Taker! "Because out there in the Forbidden Woods, past the hedge you are never to cross, lives a witch. Not a nice witch, like Lady Ibara, who comes to our feasts and gives to the poor. A wicked one. The worst of them all. The Thousand-Armed Taker of Children! (Hana. Thousand arms?.. Doesn't sound scary? Sounds more like she be tripping all over herself...) "Yes! She has a thousand arms, Hana! Glowing ones, like strings, and she reaches out of the dark with them and snatches up bad children! Children who won't eat their turnips! Children who sass their mothers! Children who sneak out after dark! "And what does she do with them? Well. Ever hear of the dolls in those woods that walk by themselves? Little ones, about your size, with painted faces? Those aren't dolls! Those are the bad children, and she's made them her puppets! Every last one. The priests say so, and the priests wouldn't lie! (Hana. Maybe she's just a witch?) Just a witch! Witches are heretics! every one, except Lady Ibara who repented to the Pope! And the Taker's the worst of em! I won't hear another word! "So you be good, both of you. Eat your turnips. Say your prayers. Stay on this side of the hedge. Because if you're bad, if you're very, very bad, one night you'll hear a creaking at the window, soft as strings, and then, snatch, off you go! And I'll find a new doll on the shelf in the morning... Now? See what did I tell you? You're both shaking. HA! It's only a story. Sweeties. Now sleep. Kiss. " She blows out the candle. On the shelf above the bed, the little doll the children found by the road last spring does not move. Probably?... Author's note I have a disability affecting reading and spelling. I use windows voice to text. A.I. proofreader then text to voice to check my work. The art's obviously my own... It's a slow process so don't expect fast updates? And of course if you have a problem with AI don't yell at me or read my story. I can barely read or write. I just have a bunch of stories in my head I want to tell. ;{ — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: The Thousand-Armed Taker of Children — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠