The Medusa Tree

"Fractal Medusa," original fractal art by the author, Deeann D. Mathews

“Enslaving a coven of witches might be too much.”

Young Prince Amleth, the last man standing and moving of the royal family, had no time to cry over the decision of his grandfather to ignore the advice of his grandmother.

The new royal garden was now full of beautiful statuary, with a strong, alluring scent blowing over the garden from the great tree in the center.

Amleth's grandfather had made his new slaves plant that garden, and give up the blooms with which they made their perfumes. He, his sons, and his brothers deflowered these women in other ways as well.

The tree they had planted had soon bloomed, during the first royal party of the spring.

Amleth clamped his nose shut, and attached a mirror to his helmet so he could walk backward to the tree in the center of the garden, holding a great saw in his hands.

He sawed down the Medusa Tree and then burned the entire garden, not knowing what other evil might be waiting to bloom out.

The stone figures that had once been his family cracked in the heat and crumbled into the ash, as would the proud kingdom they had built.