Is the divide something that came up after the escapade, or did Max just ask you for help with his homework? :)
The divide Both Pestilence and Scuffles heard Death’s admonition to Check the corners and Scuffles looked confused, exactly as Pestilence expected he would. Pest laid a companionable hand on Scuff’s shoulder. “That wasn’t directly to us precisely,” he said. “But the Boss wouldn’t have included us if we weren’t supposed to be checking things as well. He’s a bit mean with his words sometimes -- got no bedside manner, that sort of thing – but he’s really, really bad at small talk. So when he tells you something, he means it.” Scuffles looked behind them, away from the sucking gray emptiness of the raw firmament that divided worlds, slowly scanning across the drowned landscape. A few trees were still standing, though mostly stripped of branches now, and the buildings were falling into dilapidation as the water rotted through supports and beams, sending tiles and glass to the bottom of the reservoir. Fish swam in schools like colourful clouds, and seaweed grew up walls and waved from chimneys. Boulders were scattered across the village, lying in gardens and open spaces, some small enough to sit small children safely on, and others large enough to turn into climbing walls for adults. “Why are there fish here?” he asked. “Reservoirs are for drinking water, right?” “Rijbka,” said Pestilence. “The big fishie swam through recently, remember, and he brings… well, he likes to use the word entourage but the rest of us would call them groupies. Or groupers. I can’t remember actually. They’ll find their way back out eventually.” “Oh right,” said Scuffles. “Then the only odd thing is all these boulders. Who would throw boulders into a reservoir?” Pestilence looked around as well now, his gaze taking in the stones and the spirits of the bound dead wandering around. “Isn’t that a good point?” he said quietly, almost to himself. “Who would throw boulders in? And what are the odds that they wouldn’t hit a single building?” “Well,” said Scuffles, trying to be helpful, “schoolkids can get very ambitious when they’re throwing things into lakes, and rivers and roads. All kinds of little fights break out, and you get Pride and Envy lurking in the shadows from time to time.” “Bro,” said Pestilence. He considered for a moment. “Sis? Son sounds too dad-like. What does War call you?” “Shi-“ “OK, not that. He’s a bit… blunt. What would Fam call you?” “He’s called me teapot a couple of times.” “Belladonna,” said Pestilence, in a way that made Scuff certain that he was somehow swearing. “Fine, you’ll have to be li’l dude for now until I can ask Fam what the right words – I mean, the on-fleek words are. Anyway, li’l dude, let’s go take a closer look at one of those rocks. A big one. Because I’m having a thought and I don’t like it.” They drifted across on a current, gentle and subtle and unnoticed by the wandering dead. “This wasn’t thrown,” said Pestilence. “Look, there’s no impact marks, no grooves where it rolled or skidded or bounced, no mud thrown away from it.” “It looks like it was pulled up,” said Scuff. “The mud down the sides, the way it piles up at the base. It’s like someone was depipping a lemon.” “Yes,” said Pestilence, and his voice sounded harsh and rattly, and Scuff had a sudden vision of the inside of a leper colony before treatment had been discovered. Flies buzzed and there was an oppressive heat and a stench of rotting, gangrenous flesh. “Yes, I think we’ve found stones that have been lifted.”
Greg - pretty sure I was dividing something. Hell if I can remember what it was.
Stones that have been lifted. Good lord, you've got me hooked into this fully and completely. It is a difficult choice to stop reading and get some sleep.
2 comments:
Is the divide something that came up after the escapade, or did Max just ask you for help with his homework? :)
The divide
Both Pestilence and Scuffles heard Death’s admonition to Check the corners and Scuffles looked confused, exactly as Pestilence expected he would. Pest laid a companionable hand on Scuff’s shoulder. “That wasn’t directly to us precisely,” he said. “But the Boss wouldn’t have included us if we weren’t supposed to be checking things as well. He’s a bit mean with his words sometimes -- got no bedside manner, that sort of thing – but he’s really, really bad at small talk. So when he tells you something, he means it.”
Scuffles looked behind them, away from the sucking gray emptiness of the raw firmament that divided worlds, slowly scanning across the drowned landscape. A few trees were still standing, though mostly stripped of branches now, and the buildings were falling into dilapidation as the water rotted through supports and beams, sending tiles and glass to the bottom of the reservoir. Fish swam in schools like colourful clouds, and seaweed grew up walls and waved from chimneys. Boulders were scattered across the village, lying in gardens and open spaces, some small enough to sit small children safely on, and others large enough to turn into climbing walls for adults.
“Why are there fish here?” he asked. “Reservoirs are for drinking water, right?”
“Rijbka,” said Pestilence. “The big fishie swam through recently, remember, and he brings… well, he likes to use the word entourage but the rest of us would call them groupies. Or groupers. I can’t remember actually. They’ll find their way back out eventually.”
“Oh right,” said Scuffles. “Then the only odd thing is all these boulders. Who would throw boulders into a reservoir?”
Pestilence looked around as well now, his gaze taking in the stones and the spirits of the bound dead wandering around. “Isn’t that a good point?” he said quietly, almost to himself. “Who would throw boulders in? And what are the odds that they wouldn’t hit a single building?”
“Well,” said Scuffles, trying to be helpful, “schoolkids can get very ambitious when they’re throwing things into lakes, and rivers and roads. All kinds of little fights break out, and you get Pride and Envy lurking in the shadows from time to time.”
“Bro,” said Pestilence. He considered for a moment. “Sis? Son sounds too dad-like. What does War call you?”
“Shi-“
“OK, not that. He’s a bit… blunt. What would Fam call you?”
“He’s called me teapot a couple of times.”
“Belladonna,” said Pestilence, in a way that made Scuff certain that he was somehow swearing. “Fine, you’ll have to be li’l dude for now until I can ask Fam what the right words – I mean, the on-fleek words are. Anyway, li’l dude, let’s go take a closer look at one of those rocks. A big one. Because I’m having a thought and I don’t like it.”
They drifted across on a current, gentle and subtle and unnoticed by the wandering dead. “This wasn’t thrown,” said Pestilence. “Look, there’s no impact marks, no grooves where it rolled or skidded or bounced, no mud thrown away from it.”
“It looks like it was pulled up,” said Scuff. “The mud down the sides, the way it piles up at the base. It’s like someone was depipping a lemon.”
“Yes,” said Pestilence, and his voice sounded harsh and rattly, and Scuff had a sudden vision of the inside of a leper colony before treatment had been discovered. Flies buzzed and there was an oppressive heat and a stench of rotting, gangrenous flesh. “Yes, I think we’ve found stones that have been lifted.”
Greg - pretty sure I was dividing something. Hell if I can remember what it was.
Stones that have been lifted. Good lord, you've got me hooked into this fully and completely. It is a difficult choice to stop reading and get some sleep.
Until tomorrow, then.
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