Read Online Twilight of the Wolves by Edward J. Rathke - Free Book Online
Authors: Edward J. Rathke
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seeing flashes of Raj and Rej, hearing fragments of conversation, burning, every atom disassembling within him, dispersing into blood smeared across the cold stone beneath him, wetting the skins covering him. His hollow voice broke against the shadows and capsized, remaining stuck within the pestilent bile of his lungs.
Alexander handed the captain a bag of gold and walked aboard, leaving Luca behind. He watched it disappear and Elrik stood beside him.
These savages did something right anyway, Elrik said.
It’s beautiful. It’s why I came. I was searching for paradise and I found it here amongst these demons and brown, almost human natives. Look, there, an Angel. Do you know how many I’ve seen? Seven. Seven Angels in this moon turn. We have nothing like this back home.
We have real food.
Alexander laughed, And here they only have food fit for gods! The wine and beer are too sweet, everything’s too sweet, too full, but these people are every bit as mythic as the stories told. It’s like descending into a madness where all that is rational disappears and you’re left with only these irreal creatures from storybooks come to life. We’ve found our own past and it was across the ocean, like they all said it was. We’ve travelled through spacetime to reach here and they’re simply sitting onmountains of resources without even realising it. Even one of those trees would fuel a home for a year and I’m sure those southern mountains are full of coal and gold and silver and everything else. Coal sits beneath their very feet and they call it dirt. There is a mountain of coal and an ocean of water and they do nothing to reach it. All of this water. Can you imagine it? There’s enough water to sustain this immense and monstrous forest. This is how we save the world. This is the factory where we’ll rebuild Roca. We entered paradise and the natives don’t even see it. All of this food. No one will ever starve again. We can feed all of Roca, everything. Gods and demons and Angels and ignorant beasts controlling all of it. When we come back, we’ll found a new world.
What about the war?
Alexander laughed, a short bark, You don’t pay attention to anything but your prick, El. You’re barely better than a savage.
Elrik smiled, It’s been fun here, but it’ll be good to be home.
When I look to the sky here I see the future. I see forty years ahead when I’ll stand here and hold it all within my hands. They don’t understand anything here. It’s like Sir Frederic says. Do you realise why we came here? Why the Crown invested in this?
The land of myths and legends, yes? Like everyone said.
Frederic’s low and slow words came to them, You’re a fool, Elrik. You’ve listened to nothing I have said all these many months.
Laughing, Elrik leaned over the rail and watched the wake of the ship, All this talk of politics and so on is lost on me. Far as I can tell from listening to you, we brought them money and they gave us everything.
That’s precisely what I’ve been saying, but you don’t even understand that.
Nope, Elrik stood and turned to Frederic, Ric, he slapped his arm and held it, you’re a smart man, but you bore the shit out of me.
Alexander laughed, The disaster’s real, El. These aren’t expeditions for the curious anymore.
A melon from the forest, they call them Dragonmelons. One could feed a fullgrown man for a day. One piece of fruit for each man and they grow everywhere. Young Elrik, it’s not only curiosities we take back.
Yeah, yeah, Elrik feigned a yawn, All the same, I miss the bitters of home. It’s not wine if it’s not biting back, right? He slapped Frederic’s arm again.
Alexander smiled, I’ve memorised every step of this place. I’ve drawn it all in my head this moonturn. If Luca were to disappear tomorrow, I could recreate it. I feel as if my whole life led to this, to watching Luca go. It’s as if I stepped into the dream at the very center of my reality and let it go.
Alexander handed the captain a bag of gold and walked aboard, leaving Luca behind. He watched it disappear and Elrik stood beside him.
These savages did something right anyway, Elrik said.
It’s beautiful. It’s why I came. I was searching for paradise and I found it here amongst these demons and brown, almost human natives. Look, there, an Angel. Do you know how many I’ve seen? Seven. Seven Angels in this moon turn. We have nothing like this back home.
We have real food.
Alexander laughed, And here they only have food fit for gods! The wine and beer are too sweet, everything’s too sweet, too full, but these people are every bit as mythic as the stories told. It’s like descending into a madness where all that is rational disappears and you’re left with only these irreal creatures from storybooks come to life. We’ve found our own past and it was across the ocean, like they all said it was. We’ve travelled through spacetime to reach here and they’re simply sitting onmountains of resources without even realising it. Even one of those trees would fuel a home for a year and I’m sure those southern mountains are full of coal and gold and silver and everything else. Coal sits beneath their very feet and they call it dirt. There is a mountain of coal and an ocean of water and they do nothing to reach it. All of this water. Can you imagine it? There’s enough water to sustain this immense and monstrous forest. This is how we save the world. This is the factory where we’ll rebuild Roca. We entered paradise and the natives don’t even see it. All of this food. No one will ever starve again. We can feed all of Roca, everything. Gods and demons and Angels and ignorant beasts controlling all of it. When we come back, we’ll found a new world.
What about the war?
Alexander laughed, a short bark, You don’t pay attention to anything but your prick, El. You’re barely better than a savage.
Elrik smiled, It’s been fun here, but it’ll be good to be home.
When I look to the sky here I see the future. I see forty years ahead when I’ll stand here and hold it all within my hands. They don’t understand anything here. It’s like Sir Frederic says. Do you realise why we came here? Why the Crown invested in this?
The land of myths and legends, yes? Like everyone said.
Frederic’s low and slow words came to them, You’re a fool, Elrik. You’ve listened to nothing I have said all these many months.
Laughing, Elrik leaned over the rail and watched the wake of the ship, All this talk of politics and so on is lost on me. Far as I can tell from listening to you, we brought them money and they gave us everything.
That’s precisely what I’ve been saying, but you don’t even understand that.
Nope, Elrik stood and turned to Frederic, Ric, he slapped his arm and held it, you’re a smart man, but you bore the shit out of me.
Alexander laughed, The disaster’s real, El. These aren’t expeditions for the curious anymore.
A melon from the forest, they call them Dragonmelons. One could feed a fullgrown man for a day. One piece of fruit for each man and they grow everywhere. Young Elrik, it’s not only curiosities we take back.
Yeah, yeah, Elrik feigned a yawn, All the same, I miss the bitters of home. It’s not wine if it’s not biting back, right? He slapped Frederic’s arm again.
Alexander smiled, I’ve memorised every step of this place. I’ve drawn it all in my head this moonturn. If Luca were to disappear tomorrow, I could recreate it. I feel as if my whole life led to this, to watching Luca go. It’s as if I stepped into the dream at the very center of my reality and let it go.
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