Further north, where the lake's shore began its eastward curve away from the crumbling buildings well before reaching the great stone courtyard at the city's northern tip, fleeting traces of activity began to emerge: the agonized squeal of an ancient rusty hinge, a glimpse of a shadowy form scurrying from one gaping doorway to another, the slopping sound of a slimy meal echoing from some hidden recess.
It was toward this scattered activity that the creature from the edge of the lake now shuffled, slowly working its way around jagged gorges ripped into the earth at sporadic intervals across the narrow, weed-infested paths which laced their way like spiderwebs through the rubble along the putrid lake's muddy shore. It clutched its oozing cargo close to its chest, glancing nervously about in all directions.
Several hundred yards ahead, a colossal slab of smooth green stone jutted out from a patch of overgrowth, leaning ominously over the path. Stretched out atop this stone, with his eyes fixed on the trail below, was the same ragged figure which had raced this way from the broad northern courtyard the previous evening. His eyes narrowed as the waddling figure came into view, and he dug into his rags, withdrawing a long, sharpened piece of bone. After a morning spent waiting in silence, he would finally eat.
No comments:
Post a Comment