"The Music Master and the Priestly Inquisition" - new story completed

 I have just made what I hope will be the final adjustments to my latest dark fantasy story, "The Music Master and the Priestly Inquisition".

It comes to 8,400 words and is narrated by one of my recurring characters, Nadrain the Storyteller.

From the story's prologue:

From the Chronicles of Nadrain the Storyteller

As a storyteller I often hear strange, sometimes pitiful tales. Many people know I pay well for such as I constantly need fresh material for my audiences, especially the king of Oriaska, for whom I have the privilege of being his official storyteller.

Many of these tales are true (or mostly true) and frequently relate the awful fates that befell their tellers, who almost invariably have fallen on hard times and for whom what coins I can offer in payment for the history of their woes are direly needed.  

But the Music Master of the southern city of Arana, despite his impoverishment, wanted neither gold nor silver, only the exposure of those who brought about his fate – and for that my words would be payment enough.

If only I dared tell his tale.

But the dire consequences that might befall me for doing so, I am only recording his tragic story on a scroll of vellum to be sealed away in the privacy of my library. Only those whose discretion I trust will ever read it while I live. Of these there are remarkably few. For the priesthood is strong, and even though those who rule it with blood-drenched fists in Arana are far from the city within which I live they have brothers across the Azure Sea who might be called upon to act on their behalf.