A Wild Story Appeared..

This is a story all about how some lives got flipped turned upside down.. it's chapter one of the tale literally no-one asked for, creatively named "Police, Thieves and Merchants".. let's have a read..

Police, Thieves and Merchants

Chapter 1: Crying Wine Merchants

It was dark during the day. Eleven travellers turned up to stare, some quickly glanced away. The shining light up above had faded fast to be replaced with a darkened circle upon a fiery outline.

It had been this way for two minutes. The travellers stood scattered across the path wandering aloud as to how this could occur. A few argued it was the work of their god, as is the norm when facing the unknown. Of course they believed everything was the work of their god anyway so it wasn't a very enlightening opinion for them. Additionally, those who put their faith in the more scientific organizations were arguing their viewpoints.

One argued that the sun had died and that they would all freeze to death. He had taken to shouting manically, throwing his arms up and gesturing wildly to make it known that his point is the correct one. Another followed the theory that their world is a round spherical object called a planet, constantly spinning and flying in and out of light and dark. He argued that the planet had taken a diversion and was leaving the light early today, possibly to never follow it's original path and return. He had a more sombre tone, wistful for the day-time he had lost forever. Of the rest, they agreed that the sun had been eaten by a giant monster and someone needed to defeat the monster and cut it back out again. They thought this was far more interesting than the scientific or religious opinions and were discussing how such a hero would get up there to kill it.

Cax sniffed at the air, allowing the scent of the pine trees swaying in the breeze at the side of the path to blow through his nostrils.

“What fools” he thought, as he gazed at the trees surrounding the path on either side. The travel-stained, barely purple robe he had received upon being admitted into the group swirled around his ankles as he cocked his head against the breeze. He attempted to listen out for any signs that they were being tracked before the loud, bitter conversation hauled him back into it's embrace.

“Look” someone stated in a mournful tone, “look, look... look. Clearly this is not what you want to hear but we have left the light, the sun is gone and is never coming back. No gods will be returning it to us.”

“The work of the gods almighty can't be understood by mortal men Briax, we'll be lucky if we get a hint of their plan.”

“Now, now Pollux don't be morbid, there are always signs if we know how to read them.”

“I wonder how we didn't hear the monster before now.”

“Stop screaming Lax! Also, there is no monster.”

“What swallowed the sun then?”.

“Nothing, there will be signs from the gods.”

“Oh sure Cax but you say everything is signs from them. What sign is the monster?”

“I reckon I could kill it.”

“There is nothing to kill because there is no monster, the signs are all around us – oh do shut up Lax!”

“How would you kill it Throx?”

“Now look here... look... look.. this conversation is meaningless, we need to start getting used to the era of the night!”

“Night people? That is interesting... But no the monster must be huge!”

“There are signs all over the landscape..”

“I see a sign that the sun is dead.”

“I'll need a big knife, but when I have that, it's just a matter of timing and preci..”

“Wait! Briax, did you hear that rustle?”

“I didn't hear a rustle Paxter but there was a distinctive hustle, as in let's go- let's hustle!”

“Shut up! It was absolutely a rustle.”

“Sounded like a tussle to me.”

“Where did it come from?”

“The ruffle came from the back of the carts.”

“Now your being stupid, it is definite rustling.”

“No a hustle, it's getting further away.”

“Which means that whatever is rustling is getting further away.”

“Or more probably the tussle is..”

“Sounds like a big kerfuffle.”

“Right! I'm seeing what's making that rustle,” Paxter exclaimed as he broke away from the group.

“Nothing if you ask me, but I could check on the bustle.”

Paxter spun round. “Bustle?! What planet are you on, how does that rustle sound even remotely like a bustle?!”

Xa cleared his throat.

“Well what you mistake for a rustle is actually clearly people bustling against one another to get away.”

“That's the hustle!”

“No Briax, not a hustle that's more co-ordinated, this is definite bustling sound.”

“Xa, your fucking stupid, it's clearly a tussle otherwise whatever it was would have bustled, hustled, rustled away by now!”

“Oh Throx, sweet Throx.. all you care about is fights and there is no fight here.. just a kerfuffle.. someone fucked up.”

“I'm joining the tussle..”

“Don't you have your big monster to fight first Throx?”

The argument continued on for several minutes. Meanwhile the thieves rustling in the back of the wine merchant's cart bustled to get as much of the precious stock as they could. There was a tussle and a couple of scuffles, plus one thief managed to have a kerfuffle and tripped over. There was certainly no hustle though as the thieves ran in a disorganised mess splitting up as they raced away from the emptied cart.

As the sun reappeared behind the shadow there were tears in the merchants' eyes, partly from relief and partly from distress over their missing cargo. All except Cax, who considered himself stubbornly correct in both his previous assertions.

Wow.. impressive.. you made it through. That's it for chapter 1. Check back on the CWM blog for more randomness.. coming soon..