The Messenger, part 3
I am now running away from Wegrand, sweat starting to leave my forehead and threatening to invade my eyes. I take the towel from the belt to wipe it off, reminding myself that the real heat is yet to come. It was still two to three hours before the worse came, though, and i had plans to be in the reach of the capital by then. I take a sip from the water and increase my pace slightly.
My thoughts again, are not on pleasant things. I am thinking about the burden on my left side, placed there to balance the water I carry to the right, but just heavier enough to feel my body compensating with each step. It wasn’t causing me fatigue, but it felt weird… like the pouch was somehow heating my left hip.
But I smile at my stupidity. Whatever I am carrying, it cannot be hotter than the great ball that heats the whole planet and it just happens to be at the same side. I shrug off the feelings, and I try to think about the barmaid at the Gentle Giant. Maybe I could finally make a pass on her, and after all, I will be the hero, the ‘one who ran hundred miles for his country’, ‘the one who saved the kingdom’.
It is pleasant to have thoughts like that. I could probably choose any girl in the capital, maybe even have a go on one of the princesses? Still, the barmaid, eyes the color of the Synex, her lush raven-black hair falling gently on her white shoulders, her heavy breasts…
There was a familiar crunch following my last step. Dread started climbing in my neck, my legs feeling heavier. I looked down and behind.
Roaches. The bigger kind, the ones we almost succumbed to. They managed to get this far inland. This was bad, this was very bad. I look forward, and slight relief washes over me as I see no more of them. I know that now I have parts of one stuck to my foot, but I will try to return to my beautiful barmaid…
Covered in roaches, nibbling at her, their clicking sounds entirely covered by her screams. I run few strides with closed eyes, trying to shake of the horror. And the nausea, that all of the sudden I feel creeping in my throat. And my left hip is definitely radiating heat.
I tell myself this is all in my head, this is the fear talking. ‘Fear is is a natural process, always irrational. Overcoming fear means overcoming irrationality. Overcoming irrationality means being closer to the always rational universe.’
Or at least that’s the litany the Anavasi priests teach us. I’ve looked at the insect army, I have felt fear, dread, horror, despair. All of it irrational. But they were numerous, they filled the fields beyond the walls, endlessly buzzing, clicking, scuttling, secreting resins and webs, eating off the wildlife, the plant life, and sometimes feasting on themselves, laying giant eggs, bursting into million versions of themselves…
Mathematics are rational. They are many, and ever expanding, and most of them covered in chitin. We are few, we are soft, and on top of that, they are repellent to us, by nature.
Oh, and we are food, for most of them.
We didn’t know what the spiders were up to, but General Janek figured that it was important, or otherwise they wouldn’t waste time on it. So he made a decision to send a troop of forty man, twenty archers and twenty swordsmen, in an effort to put at least a bit of a dent in their advance and to buy us more time.
The plan was for us to attack at night. The veshter guessed that it didn’t matter for the spiders, as they saw as bad at night as in day, but the insectomancers seemed still human, and being human meant they needed sleep too, and that worked to our advantage.
The other advantage was Luna above our heads, not yet full, but full enough to engulf her sister in her light before spreading it further on the plains of high grass we needed to cross. With little luck, we could get in firing distance long before the enemy notices us.
I was among the swordsmen chosen for this mission. The night was so quiet, that we were afraid that the quiet itself will alert the enemy that something is amiss. But it went soothly, and in a bit over one hour, we were able to get close enough to hear the flow of the river more distinctly. I was the scout, so I inched even closer to the enemy, until I could see them clearly in the looking glass. The insectomancers were nowhere to be seen. Most likely they really had to sleep, and were lying somewhere in the grass. Satisfied with that thought, I focused next on the spiders. Luna was only strong enough to show me their contours, and somehow, that made them even more hideous, as suddenly I remembered that as a little child a shadow of a much smaller spider behind a candle almost literally scared the shit out of me.
This was no shadow, the fucking thing nearly at shoulder height. I took some moments to shake of my childhood fears and prepare myself for my next role. I needed to signal the archers about the position and distance of the spiders, and then run back as fast as legs carried me, for the archers were to set the field in front of me in flame.
I started the chem torch, one hand still holding the looking glass to my eyes. The spiders were meticulously working on their web, seemingly uninterested at the new light source that appeared in their vicinity. Encouraged, I waved carefully the message to the troops behind me, then threw the chem torch as far as I could towards the enemy, turned around, and started sprinting back as fast as I could.
Soon, forty torches lit up in front of me, dancing to the rhythm of my own head bobbing. Then they flew in the air, swishing across the night sky, and falling somewhere far behind me, as new ones took their place and repeated their moves, and then another barrage followed, and then another...
My thoughts again, are not on pleasant things. I am thinking about the burden on my left side, placed there to balance the water I carry to the right, but just heavier enough to feel my body compensating with each step. It wasn’t causing me fatigue, but it felt weird… like the pouch was somehow heating my left hip.
But I smile at my stupidity. Whatever I am carrying, it cannot be hotter than the great ball that heats the whole planet and it just happens to be at the same side. I shrug off the feelings, and I try to think about the barmaid at the Gentle Giant. Maybe I could finally make a pass on her, and after all, I will be the hero, the ‘one who ran hundred miles for his country’, ‘the one who saved the kingdom’.
It is pleasant to have thoughts like that. I could probably choose any girl in the capital, maybe even have a go on one of the princesses? Still, the barmaid, eyes the color of the Synex, her lush raven-black hair falling gently on her white shoulders, her heavy breasts…
There was a familiar crunch following my last step. Dread started climbing in my neck, my legs feeling heavier. I looked down and behind.
Roaches. The bigger kind, the ones we almost succumbed to. They managed to get this far inland. This was bad, this was very bad. I look forward, and slight relief washes over me as I see no more of them. I know that now I have parts of one stuck to my foot, but I will try to return to my beautiful barmaid…
Covered in roaches, nibbling at her, their clicking sounds entirely covered by her screams. I run few strides with closed eyes, trying to shake of the horror. And the nausea, that all of the sudden I feel creeping in my throat. And my left hip is definitely radiating heat.
I tell myself this is all in my head, this is the fear talking. ‘Fear is is a natural process, always irrational. Overcoming fear means overcoming irrationality. Overcoming irrationality means being closer to the always rational universe.’
Or at least that’s the litany the Anavasi priests teach us. I’ve looked at the insect army, I have felt fear, dread, horror, despair. All of it irrational. But they were numerous, they filled the fields beyond the walls, endlessly buzzing, clicking, scuttling, secreting resins and webs, eating off the wildlife, the plant life, and sometimes feasting on themselves, laying giant eggs, bursting into million versions of themselves…
Mathematics are rational. They are many, and ever expanding, and most of them covered in chitin. We are few, we are soft, and on top of that, they are repellent to us, by nature.
Oh, and we are food, for most of them.
We didn’t know what the spiders were up to, but General Janek figured that it was important, or otherwise they wouldn’t waste time on it. So he made a decision to send a troop of forty man, twenty archers and twenty swordsmen, in an effort to put at least a bit of a dent in their advance and to buy us more time.
The plan was for us to attack at night. The veshter guessed that it didn’t matter for the spiders, as they saw as bad at night as in day, but the insectomancers seemed still human, and being human meant they needed sleep too, and that worked to our advantage.
The other advantage was Luna above our heads, not yet full, but full enough to engulf her sister in her light before spreading it further on the plains of high grass we needed to cross. With little luck, we could get in firing distance long before the enemy notices us.
I was among the swordsmen chosen for this mission. The night was so quiet, that we were afraid that the quiet itself will alert the enemy that something is amiss. But it went soothly, and in a bit over one hour, we were able to get close enough to hear the flow of the river more distinctly. I was the scout, so I inched even closer to the enemy, until I could see them clearly in the looking glass. The insectomancers were nowhere to be seen. Most likely they really had to sleep, and were lying somewhere in the grass. Satisfied with that thought, I focused next on the spiders. Luna was only strong enough to show me their contours, and somehow, that made them even more hideous, as suddenly I remembered that as a little child a shadow of a much smaller spider behind a candle almost literally scared the shit out of me.
This was no shadow, the fucking thing nearly at shoulder height. I took some moments to shake of my childhood fears and prepare myself for my next role. I needed to signal the archers about the position and distance of the spiders, and then run back as fast as legs carried me, for the archers were to set the field in front of me in flame.
I started the chem torch, one hand still holding the looking glass to my eyes. The spiders were meticulously working on their web, seemingly uninterested at the new light source that appeared in their vicinity. Encouraged, I waved carefully the message to the troops behind me, then threw the chem torch as far as I could towards the enemy, turned around, and started sprinting back as fast as I could.
Soon, forty torches lit up in front of me, dancing to the rhythm of my own head bobbing. Then they flew in the air, swishing across the night sky, and falling somewhere far behind me, as new ones took their place and repeated their moves, and then another barrage followed, and then another...
| < Part 2 |
Comments
Post a Comment