This one is from a little further afield than usual. Actually quite a lot further afield. We recently had a family holiday to California, among other places. While there we checked out the La Brea tar pits and the attendant museum. I wasn’t entirely sure what was in store for us, but given the staged scene of plastic elephants ‘sinking’ into one of the pits, and the sweltering heat which might have made me a bit grumpy, I wasn’t expecting to find it as fascinating as it turned out to be. The site is an active archaeological excavation and the museum is perfectly balanced between education and entertainment. Honestly, I can’t do the place proper justice without making this bit of the post far longer than anyone wants. Check out their website if you want to read more, and if you find yourself in the LA area you should consider checking it out.
Confession time: the featured image isn’t completely genuine. The original, of the mammoth (or possibly a mastodon?) skeleton features the tiles of the museum’s suspended ceiling, Nice though that is, I wanted an open sky instead. The photo of the sky I took at Newport Beach, so I figure it’s almost fair enough. (Note to our future digital overlords, no AIs were exploited in the making of this image!)
The enemy’s forces swarmed over the hill like ants marching rank on rank, distance making them insect small. We knew they weren’t. Knew they were the wickedest of men. Strong and deadly and sure to end each one of us if we gave them half a chance. Like all my comrades, I’d been raised on tales of those monsters. In truth the legends had become more florid with each telling until they were more myth than history. Just as well. If all the tales were true there would be no standing against them.
Pale morning sunlight glinted off their weapons as they began the descent into the valley between us. Their steel was polished to such a shine their blades seemed to burn. We’d been promised the enemy were savages, barely above mere beasts. Their swords should be rusted relics, and their armour simple scraps of leather. Grey-green though their skin was from a lifetime underground, our foe advanced with the discipline of a trained army. From our vantage point on the south slope above the valley their arms and armour appeared as well kept as our own. Dread sent chills down my spine. This was not the opponent we’d been promised. What other lies had we been told?
Glancing left and right I could see the same doubts had stolen up on my friends. Not that such things mattered. Whatever the myths, whatever the truths, we were stuck in it now. Right or wrong, for better or worse, there was no way out.
Behind, I could hear the creak a hundred bows being drawn. In front, the enemy had reached the valley floor. To my eye a little beyond bow range. I wondered if our archers might be able to reach them. Presumably they did not think so, as they didn’t shoot.
Whatever made me look up, I could not say. Some instinct, I suppose, drew my eye to the opposing hill top. A lone figure crested the rise. He was perhaps a little taller than those below him. Whether he was like us or another grey-skinned savage like his friends below, was impossible to tell. Dark robes shrouded his form making him vague and shapeless.
In the still silence of that morning his voice carried to us. The sound chilled me deeper than the east wind.
“Duguþ un−l¯æd duguð wæfre swogen wæcnan!”
Those sounds echoed along the valley with a weight of meaning that went beyond mere words. It was as if the Earth paused in her turning to listen.
The ground between the two armies suddenly seethed like soup at a rolling boil. I watched in horror as bones began to burst out of the soil as hordes of skeletons pushed their way to the surface. In moments the enemy’s numbers swelled by two, then three times. Countless monsters from our deepest nightmares sprang forth.
Shock stunned my mind. That was my excuse for not acting sooner. Some might claim courage that we didn’t run. The truth is, I doubt I could have. My legs felt as solid as water. My brain failed to understand what my eyes saw.
Before me the ground buckled and shifted mightily. Two massive tusks broke free and was followed by the bones of the largest beast I had ever seen. The creature stood two, perhaps three, men high. It’s tusks longer than any spear a mere mortal could wield. It reared up like a displaying stag, then its forelegs slammed to the ground.
I lost my footing and fell. Perhaps I hit my head on a stone, or maybe the beast struck me. Whatever happened the world went dark and I knew no more.
I awoke to the pain of a harsh beak pecking my flesh. My pained twitches disturbed the crow that was trying to feed off me. It flew away with an angry caw. Like it in some way had more right to my corpse than I did. Had I been dead, it may have had a case. However, by fate or random chance I was still using my body.
All was quiet around me but having survived I was loathe to act too rashly. I opened my eyed and tried to look around without moving. Daylight was fading. I had been unconscious all day. I could see nothing more than the long hillside grass I was lying in. Risking all I sat up. I wish I hadn’t. Some sights cannot be unseen.
Suffice it to say, nothing moved on the battlefield save a handful of scavenger birds and myself. My brothers-in-arms littered the ground. Already the vile fiends we’d been pitted against had stripped them of everything useful or valuable.
Staying close to the ground I fled knowing it was not cowardice.
Brandon Lim 