On the beach
On the beach
Dave Freer
The Gods were on fire and the naked Earth trembled, waiting for them to come and ravage her. The Earth wasn't having a good day and neither was I, here on the borderline. That's what the beach is, really. A borderline. Between earth and sea, between the constant and ever-moving. That's why the sea was still and the earth moved for me.
A little man in panama hat tried to sell me a cornet of watermelon-flavored shaved ice again. I ignored him. He wasn't real. Like the seagull that went ping.
And on the dark horizon, a black sail. As if life wasn't complicated enough. It wasn't going to be a shipload of heroes back from Arkady in time to save the day. No, it'd be more trouble, no doubt. The beach shivered in the sun. It could have been a heat-shimmer I suppose, but I doubted it.
The ship grew closer as the Gods blazing, mocking dance continued.
I leaned on my broadsword, the weight of my armour, the heat of the sun and the loss of blood playing tricks with my mind again.
"Pomegranate-flavour shaved-ice? Cheap? For you only one dollar," said the little illusion hopefully, looking up at me from the white-hot sand.
I took it from him. Gave him a ten. If the ship came to carry me away before the Gods got to me, I wouldn't need it. It looked wet and cold, but the pinkness of it reminded me that the pomegranate seeds had once been sacred to Sebek, Goddess of war, and that they'd bound Penelope to the underworld. I looked at the black ship. It was closer now. "I'll have the watermelon."
He exchanged them and I Iicked some of the cool liquid.
I turned to face the blazing Gods of life.
"I'm not done with you," I said grimly, and began to trudge back across the soft, hot, wavering sands. It was a long way.
***
"Is he going to live?" asked the medic, keeping pressure on the soldier's wound, as the heart monitor pinged.
The doctor in the panama hat shrugged, tiredly. He'd finally found a vein for the drip. "Maybe. I think we've turned the tide."
Dave Freer
The Gods were on fire and the naked Earth trembled, waiting for them to come and ravage her. The Earth wasn't having a good day and neither was I, here on the borderline. That's what the beach is, really. A borderline. Between earth and sea, between the constant and ever-moving. That's why the sea was still and the earth moved for me.
A little man in panama hat tried to sell me a cornet of watermelon-flavored shaved ice again. I ignored him. He wasn't real. Like the seagull that went ping.
And on the dark horizon, a black sail. As if life wasn't complicated enough. It wasn't going to be a shipload of heroes back from Arkady in time to save the day. No, it'd be more trouble, no doubt. The beach shivered in the sun. It could have been a heat-shimmer I suppose, but I doubted it.
The ship grew closer as the Gods blazing, mocking dance continued.
I leaned on my broadsword, the weight of my armour, the heat of the sun and the loss of blood playing tricks with my mind again.
"Pomegranate-flavour shaved-ice? Cheap? For you only one dollar," said the little illusion hopefully, looking up at me from the white-hot sand.
I took it from him. Gave him a ten. If the ship came to carry me away before the Gods got to me, I wouldn't need it. It looked wet and cold, but the pinkness of it reminded me that the pomegranate seeds had once been sacred to Sebek, Goddess of war, and that they'd bound Penelope to the underworld. I looked at the black ship. It was closer now. "I'll have the watermelon."
He exchanged them and I Iicked some of the cool liquid.
I turned to face the blazing Gods of life.
"I'm not done with you," I said grimly, and began to trudge back across the soft, hot, wavering sands. It was a long way.
***
"Is he going to live?" asked the medic, keeping pressure on the soldier's wound, as the heart monitor pinged.
The doctor in the panama hat shrugged, tiredly. He'd finally found a vein for the drip. "Maybe. I think we've turned the tide."