The Silence Between Knocks

(Note: Title provided by AI - all writing is mine)

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KNOCK

A deep and heavy sound. It filled the foyer and echoed into the darkness behind me.

It was said they always came before the ninth bell, and it was a few minutes to.

It was said they waited with infinite patience. Waited for the one they wanted.

It was said they would wait the full night, if needed.

I stopped, mid-step on my journey to lock up for the night and stared at the door. The brown wood had never looked so black, so empty. Were the knocker opposite aware of the hollowness within, they most definitely would have run fast and far.

They were not aware.

KNOCK

The second rapping struck as a war hammer, pounding against the stout wood. The wall shook, the frame shook, the mouldings shook. Dust drifted from cracks undisturbed for decades.

The door did not shake. It stood as an interminable barrier to he or she or they beyond.

"What?" I called out, my voice feeble against the thumping.

Silence answered for so long I thought my mind retreated.

Was there the shuffle of slippered feet? Did I hear sharp whispers between aged crones? Were those the calls of the island nymphs luring me to my doom?

KNOCK

"They knock three times," I said the words firmly, my voice one of conviction. Come, they may, but none would take me from the position I had toiled for.

The dagger at my hip was a solid weapon. I'd battled robbers and bandits with it. I'd faced men armed with swords and spears and sent them to the grave. I'd used it to end my mother's life when she begged for release from pain.

Come, they may, but I would return punishment upon them such that they could not understand.

For she must be preserved. She must live.

KNOCK

"Four knocks! What foul beasts assail my doorway?"

"Dude," her voice was water from the font of Hymnelia shattered through the freezing crystals of the lost grotto. "I gotta pee so bad."

I let her in.