The Atomic Sea: Part Four: The Twilight City by Conner Jack

Author:Conner, Jack [Conner, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Epic Fantasy and Science Fiction Books
Published: 2015-03-22T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

The convoy entered the government district. Stately buildings stood mounted on pyramidal foundations, and each grand door blazed with a red lacquer that nicely offset the twilight blue of the rest of the façade, façades which basked in the twilight, almost seeming to glow, revealing various subtle shades of blue that the eye drank in like spiced wine; Avery saw why they called it the Twilight City. With the downing of the sun, the gaslights sprang to life and illuminated the walls of the buildings, which seemed to ripple so cunningly were the various hues blended together. Moths beat against the lamps in droves. This being the Atomic Swamp, many had too many legs, too many antennae.

Dog statues, ten feet high and fashioned of gleaming onyx, lined the streets at regular intervals, two or three standing before each building as if to guard it—or perhaps they had some other significance. General Carum explained that in the government district death was supposed to hover over everything, thus the locals reared Lagu’s effigy throughout the area.

In the jaws of each one, impaled on the long sharp teeth, dangled a naked human corpse, male or female, almost as if Lagu had just snatched a meal off the street and fastidiously unclothed it before chewing. Candles and flowers had been laid on the ground beneath the corpses, as had jars that seemed to collect drops of blood. Flies buzzed about the smeared jars, though surely the various bloods had long-since coagulated. The candles lit the undersides of the corpses, making them seem to dance with eerie life, and they also illuminated signs that hung from the dogs’ jaws. As they were written in Lai hieroglyphics, Avery couldn’t read them.

“That one says ‘Traitor’,” General Carum translated. “That one says ‘Saboteur’. That one says ‘Dung-spitter’, which means one who tells lies. They have many colorful names and titles here. This is the Lane of Honey-Scented Tulips, for example. That building, it’s the finance building, is the Hall of Echoes. I guess they mean the clinking of coins.”

Avery’s gaze remained fixed on the corpses. One after the other ... after the other ... after the other ...

“They were part of the resistance, I take it,” he said.

“Oh, yes,” General Carum said. “They’ve been quite the nuisance. Bombings, assassinations, treachery. It’s made worse by the fact that our small numbers force us to rely on Lai underlings for every need, and so many agents of the resistance are able to worm their way in.”

“But why ... why put them in the dogs’ mouths?”

“Sacrifices to Lagu. We revived the custom to make a point, to show what happens when Octung is defied. Also—” mischief played across her face “—to show how we embrace their culture.”

Avery indicated the jars of blood. “What are those for?”

“The families of the dead collect the blood, let it dry and make a powder out of it, then combine it with a certain toxin gathered from the local frogs, also made into a powder, and smoke it.

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