This line is blank.
For now.
The Rats
who arrive first
They come in tattered ribbons, grinning, chanting warnings in a language everyone understands and nobody heeds. When you see them, he is a street away.
The Ledger
Doctor Corvus writes a name before he ever speaks. Give him yours. He will tell you how it ends.
The ink is only on this page. Close it and the entry fades; nothing is kept, nothing is sent.
London, at the sign of the Raven
A True Bill of the Dead & the Departed
as tallied by Doctor Corvus, by candle, this week & every week
- Aged
- Frighted
- Griping in the Guts
- Rising of the Lights
- Planet-struck
- Suddenly
- Bought at the Top
- Sold at the Bottom
- Waited for a Bounce
- Laughed at the Rats
- Trusted a Stranger's Purse
- Did Not Hear the Bell
Lord have mercy upon us.
The Bellman's Round
He walks ahead of the Doctor in a tricorn hood, ringing a bronze bell with a crack down its lip. Every house hears it. Few open the door.
Ring it. He will cry the rest.
Dramatis Personae
in order of appearance
The Bellman
who announces
Hunched, hooded, never late. His cry opens every proclamation worth hearing. He does not take questions.
Doctor Corvus
who writes
Beaked, robed, a cane of dried herbs under one arm. Half physician, half barker for the end of days. He speaks only in omens, and only after the ink is dry.