You're tempting me to write a parallel, convergent tale of troubled dreams in the city that intersect with reality... but then this will stop being a novella and become a trilogy :-p
Troubled dreams I yawned and rubbed my eyes, which were sore and felt heavy. Looking up, I saw that Jimmy was lying on the far side of fire with his eyes closed and his chest rising and falling regularly: probably asleep, and that Ben was sat watching me with eyes that seemed to glint in the flicker and spark of the firelight. "Good news?" he asked. "You've been glaring at that page like you think it's going to try and bite you." His voice was quiet, probably to avoid disturbing Jimmy. "Someone lived here," I said. "Then they were chased out by something else that lived or lives in the centre. Which is where the gold still is, or at least, was when this book was written. Which definitely wasn't too recently." "The chupacapra?" Ben's not slow on the uptake, except maybe when it comes to identifying women who are just going to be trouble. "Maybe," I said. "There's no names for things, and no description so far, just an idea that they are horrible and scared the residents so much that there's no talk of hunting them down and killing them." "Weird," said Ben. "Usually when something tries stealing from you you band together and kill it or chase it off. It's that big then?" "Or there's that many of them," I said. "But they could have moved on or died since as well; we're pretty certain someone here is getting gold out, and enough of it to use a boat to do it." Ben nodded. "You read it all?" I sighed and ran my thumb down the side of the page: there were probably sixty at least to go. "No, and I'm going to get some sleep now. This will keep till tomorrow, and I don't think it's going to give me a map of where the gold is and how to avoid the monsters. Plus I don’t want troubled dreams until we’re out of this city." "We have guns now," said Ben thoughtfully. "Everywhere around here is stone and wood, it's pretty primitive looking to me. These monsters might not be the challenge for us that they were for the people who lived here." "I hope you're right," I said, using the book for a pillow and lying down. "Though that won’t do anything for the dreams. You can take first watch; wake me when you're done."
Interesting observation about the guns from Ben. I'm curious to see how true that proves to be. Or if there are, in fact, simply too many of them. Whatever 'them' are. Is? Whatever.
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You're tempting me to write a parallel, convergent tale of troubled dreams in the city that intersect with reality... but then this will stop being a novella and become a trilogy :-p
Troubled dreams
I yawned and rubbed my eyes, which were sore and felt heavy. Looking up, I saw that Jimmy was lying on the far side of fire with his eyes closed and his chest rising and falling regularly: probably asleep, and that Ben was sat watching me with eyes that seemed to glint in the flicker and spark of the firelight.
"Good news?" he asked. "You've been glaring at that page like you think it's going to try and bite you." His voice was quiet, probably to avoid disturbing Jimmy.
"Someone lived here," I said. "Then they were chased out by something else that lived or lives in the centre. Which is where the gold still is, or at least, was when this book was written. Which definitely wasn't too recently."
"The chupacapra?" Ben's not slow on the uptake, except maybe when it comes to identifying women who are just going to be trouble.
"Maybe," I said. "There's no names for things, and no description so far, just an idea that they are horrible and scared the residents so much that there's no talk of hunting them down and killing them."
"Weird," said Ben. "Usually when something tries stealing from you you band together and kill it or chase it off. It's that big then?"
"Or there's that many of them," I said. "But they could have moved on or died since as well; we're pretty certain someone here is getting gold out, and enough of it to use a boat to do it."
Ben nodded. "You read it all?"
I sighed and ran my thumb down the side of the page: there were probably sixty at least to go. "No, and I'm going to get some sleep now. This will keep till tomorrow, and I don't think it's going to give me a map of where the gold is and how to avoid the monsters. Plus I don’t want troubled dreams until we’re out of this city."
"We have guns now," said Ben thoughtfully. "Everywhere around here is stone and wood, it's pretty primitive looking to me. These monsters might not be the challenge for us that they were for the people who lived here."
"I hope you're right," I said, using the book for a pillow and lying down. "Though that won’t do anything for the dreams. You can take first watch; wake me when you're done."
Greg - good lord. Bullet narrowly dodged :P
Interesting observation about the guns from Ben. I'm curious to see how true that proves to be. Or if there are, in fact, simply too many of them. Whatever 'them' are. Is? Whatever.
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