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..
