I think you might be hoping for too much to meet the founders of this city -- unless they turn out to be Chupacapras of course. Which is an interesting idea :)
Founders We all promptly checked the nearest building -- for Jimmy and me it was the one on the left, while Ben took one on the right. We all quickly established that the buildings were coated in gold-leaf -- not even gold plate -- which could be scraped off it you pressed hard enough with a thumbnail and dragged it down the gold. "Shave the buildings?" asked Ben, though there was a lot of doubt in his voice. His hands started doing the pocket dance, hunting for a cigar, a sure sign that he was starting to think about things. "Seems like too much effort, really." "There'll be more gold in here," I said, with a little more confidence than I really had. "Peeling the gold off the stone would be the last thing you'd do, and it doesn't look like anyone's started doing that yet. So... let's keep looking." We walked along the street. The road itself was paved with a yellow, crumbly stone that had grass poking through in places; it looked like it had probably needed constant maintenance while the city’s founders had lived here, and now that there were only looters, burglars -- and us, of course -- it was disintegrating and nature was taking over. There were doorways and windows, but the windows were boarded over with wooden planks that were nailed in place with shiny nails, and the doors were solid slabs of stone. There was surely a trick to opening them but it wasn't obvious and we decided after the first one that we'd see what else was in the city before we spent a long time trying to figure it out. The city was largely silent. Now and then a bird would fly overhead, a soft whirr of feathers accompanied by a passing shadow, but there was no insect life that I could see or hear, no slither of snakes or rustle of grass as rabbits or voles sneaked about. At first it seemed unusual, but as we walked deeper into the city and the buildings crowded together and the streets grew narrower and more twisty I started to wonder why only plants seemed to want to grow here. "That's interesting," said Ben, pointing into the shadows. I peered, trying to work out what he was talking about, and Jimmy just walked over to look more closely. "A shop," he said. "Or, something like it." The window wasn't boarded up, the first we'd seen, and it was fist-sized panes of thick, warped glass held in wooden struts so it wasn't even easy to look through. But, indistinctly and wavily, there appeared to be objects laid out inside on tables, and when we looked to the doorway we found that it was only half-obscured by a stone slab; the upper half was open and the slab that should have been there had been pushed back. "And it's open for business!" said Ben, sounding cheerful. "Jimmy's agile, he can go inside." "Jimmy wants some light first," said Jimmy, sounding quite forceful for him. I hid a smile; Ben can remember what he considers disloyalty for years. "We're going to need light to get back too," I said. "We should probably have looked for that first, you know." "Well now you say so," said Ben, sounding just a touch annoyed. "Maybe they sell torches here though." He grinned at Jimmy, who glared right back.
2 comments:
I think you might be hoping for too much to meet the founders of this city -- unless they turn out to be Chupacapras of course. Which is an interesting idea :)
Founders
We all promptly checked the nearest building -- for Jimmy and me it was the one on the left, while Ben took one on the right. We all quickly established that the buildings were coated in gold-leaf -- not even gold plate -- which could be scraped off it you pressed hard enough with a thumbnail and dragged it down the gold.
"Shave the buildings?" asked Ben, though there was a lot of doubt in his voice. His hands started doing the pocket dance, hunting for a cigar, a sure sign that he was starting to think about things. "Seems like too much effort, really."
"There'll be more gold in here," I said, with a little more confidence than I really had. "Peeling the gold off the stone would be the last thing you'd do, and it doesn't look like anyone's started doing that yet. So... let's keep looking."
We walked along the street. The road itself was paved with a yellow, crumbly stone that had grass poking through in places; it looked like it had probably needed constant maintenance while the city’s founders had lived here, and now that there were only looters, burglars -- and us, of course -- it was disintegrating and nature was taking over. There were doorways and windows, but the windows were boarded over with wooden planks that were nailed in place with shiny nails, and the doors were solid slabs of stone. There was surely a trick to opening them but it wasn't obvious and we decided after the first one that we'd see what else was in the city before we spent a long time trying to figure it out.
The city was largely silent. Now and then a bird would fly overhead, a soft whirr of feathers accompanied by a passing shadow, but there was no insect life that I could see or hear, no slither of snakes or rustle of grass as rabbits or voles sneaked about. At first it seemed unusual, but as we walked deeper into the city and the buildings crowded together and the streets grew narrower and more twisty I started to wonder why only plants seemed to want to grow here.
"That's interesting," said Ben, pointing into the shadows. I peered, trying to work out what he was talking about, and Jimmy just walked over to look more closely.
"A shop," he said. "Or, something like it."
The window wasn't boarded up, the first we'd seen, and it was fist-sized panes of thick, warped glass held in wooden struts so it wasn't even easy to look through. But, indistinctly and wavily, there appeared to be objects laid out inside on tables, and when we looked to the doorway we found that it was only half-obscured by a stone slab; the upper half was open and the slab that should have been there had been pushed back.
"And it's open for business!" said Ben, sounding cheerful. "Jimmy's agile, he can go inside."
"Jimmy wants some light first," said Jimmy, sounding quite forceful for him. I hid a smile; Ben can remember what he considers disloyalty for years.
"We're going to need light to get back too," I said. "We should probably have looked for that first, you know."
"Well now you say so," said Ben, sounding just a touch annoyed. "Maybe they sell torches here though." He grinned at Jimmy, who glared right back.
Greg - hah, that would be quite something.
Enjoyed the description of the city. And the shop is an interesting find. I wonder if they'll find anything valuable - or useful - inside?
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