Hercules by Bernard Evslin

Author:Bernard Evslin [Evslin, Bernard]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-1-4532-6447-8
Publisher: Open Road
Published: 2012-10-03T21:02:00+00:00

THE SPEAR-BIRDS OF THE MARSH

OF ALL THE THINGS with wings in the world of long ago, the Spear-birds of the Marsh were the most dangerous. There were those who said that dragons—which also have wings—were worse, but these people were mistaken, because dragons always hunted alone, while the Spear-birds did their killing in flocks.

They were very big birds, larger than eagles, with stiltlike legs and an enormous wingspread. Their long sharp iron beaks could break rock or pierce the strongest shield. They were always hungry and ate everything that moved. But their favorite food was a nice juicy human being.

To get rid of these deadly creatures was Hercules’ next task. What made it even harder was that the Spear-birds lived in a marsh that sucked like quicksand. Its mud swallowed everything that touched it; not even a crocodile could live there. In fact, the only creatures that could dwell in the marsh were water snakes and the Spear-birds themselves, who fed on the water snakes. Their stilt legs held them safely above the sucking mud, and their powerful wings could lift them clear when they wanted to fly away.

When Hercules came near the marsh he knew he was approaching a place of death. The edge of the swamp was littered with bones: shoulder bones and leg bones, spools of spine, rib cages, and skulls. So many kinds of skulls. Cow skulls, sheep skulls, and many human skulls with their terrible smiles. Skeleton hands held rusty shields.

Hercules studied everything very carefully. The Spear-birds were feeding. He watched them drive their long beaks deep into the mud and come out with long wriggling water snakes, which they killed by snapping them in the air like whips. He watched a bird toss the limp body in the air, catch it as it came down, and swallow it whole. He tossed a stick into the marsh to test the sucking power of the mud, and the mud swallowed the stick just as the bird had swallowed the snake.

“I can’t go in there after them,” he thought. “I’ll have to make them come to me. But how shall I fight them? What weapons shall I use? The best way would be to make them rise in a flock and shoot my poison arrows into their midst. Yes, that’s how I could kill the most of them with least danger to myself. But I would be endangering others. I would be threatening the whole countryside, for the dead birds would fall back into the marsh and their bodies, poisoned by my arrows, would poison the marsh. This huge marsh feeds a whole river system by underground streams, and the rivers would be poisoned. Cattle drinking out of these rivers would sicken and die, and people, too. No, I will not use my poison arrows, even though it would be convenient. I must think of another way. But what? If I fling a lance among them, I might hit one or two, but that’s all. And to use sword or knife I’d have to bring them close enough for them to use their terrible beaks on me.

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