Hides the Dark Tower by Richard Chizmar

Author:Richard Chizmar [Editors., Kelly A. Harmon & Vonnie Winslow Crist,]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Kelly Harmon
Published: 2015-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

Core Craving

N.O.A. Rawle

The castle foundations lay so deep in the earth that the buttresses appeared to grow out of the hill, allowing the battlements and towers to stretch heavenward. Adonis had been working on the reconstruction of the north-eastern tower since the early hours. Below him, the city, a sprawl of clay tiled roofs and church domes, slumbered in the heat. Chimeras levitating across the valley beyond turned the plain of Thessaly into a vast inland ocean. A pair of storks wheeled on an updraft.

Cutting and chipping the stones one by one, building slowly, patiently, he could feel time rolling itself backwards. In ancient times masons made human sacrifices in the substructure in the hopes the ediface would be blessed. Later, only the sweat and blood of master stonemasons was spilled to construct and maintain the fortress defenses against the city’s enemies. As chief restoration archaeologist and master stonemason, Adonis’s craftsmanship was a willing labor of love; his hands calloused and scarred from caressing the strata, interpreting the desire of its grain, scratched and bloodied from chiseling each block with precision.

An arid wind whipped the ashes from his break-time cigarette. He relit it and inhaled, his gaze tracing the path of the storks’ silhouettes against the sky. Another swooped in, circling as if disorientated. Adonis’s admiration swelled at their agility. More joined the dance, ascending until a frenzied mass flew up and away from the city. Searching for the cause of their disturbance he perceived clouds of smaller birds taking to the air, getting bearings before absconding en masse.

Alert now, he became aware of the monkeys jabbering and the wolves howling, trapped in their cages in the zoo on Prophet Elias Hill. There was a moment’s silence and then nausea overcame him as he stumbled on the ledge. The roar was deafening, unnerving. To his horror the city rippled as if floating on the mirage sea, flimsy apartment blocks wavered and shuddered like tide-swept seaweed. The parapet crumbled, pulling him downwards. The agonizing rumble of the earth rang in his ears long after the earthquake subsided.

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