Paper Cities, an Anthology of Urban Fantasy by Ekaterina Sedia

Author:Ekaterina Sedia [Sedia, Ekaterina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies, Anthologies, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fantasy, Epic, Paranormal & Urban, Anthologies & Literature Collections, Contemporary Fiction, Genre Fiction, Anthologies & Short Stories
Amazon: B002RWJ6UY
Publisher: Senses Five Press
Published: 2009-10-04T16:00:00+00:00

Alex And The Toyceivers

Paul Meloy

Alex went through the cottage to the kitchen and packed a few things in a bag for the day. As he was checking a cabinet for something to put in a sandwich, a shadow passed by the window and he heard a scraping sound from above, on the roof. Some shingles rattled on the path outside, and he thought he could hear a clicking sound retreating down the lane. Standing up quickly, he peered out of the window. Rain blew across the village in fine sheets, causing the view to flutter and drain of colour; it was like looking through a billowing net curtain.

Alex gasped. There at the end of his garden, standing on the tallest pair of stilts he had ever seen, was a small figure. The rain blew and made it impossible to make out any features, but Alex got a distinctly bad feeling from seeing it standing there with rainwater running off it and down its slender stilts in rivulets.

Suddenly, it lunged forward and swung its right leg out and over the garden wall. The stilt swept through the air like the hand of an enormous clock and came down with a wet thud in the ground beneath the windowsill. Alex stepped away from the window, feeling threatened and scared.

Somehow, the creature at the top managed to swivel its hips and sling the other stilt over the fence. Its arms windmilled, and it threw its body forward, bringing the two stilts together outside the window. Alex could see them clearly, and they looked old and splintered and stained.

There was more scraping from the roof and then to Alex’s shock, a large chunk of guttering crashed to the ground.

“Hey!” He shouted, and from up there he heard a dreadful rasping chuckle.

Alex felt suddenly disorientated; he had been preparing for a good day out a moment ago and now he was under attack. Alex rummaged in the toolbox beneath the sink and found a small-handled axe. He threw on his jacket, hauled on a pair of boots and opened the back door.

He had to squint against the rain and narrowly avoided getting his head knocked off by a downfall of roof tiles, which exploded on the step by his feet. He circled the rickety stilts and looked up. The stilts were embedded in the ground and reached into the sky. The creature had jumped from them and was now standing on the roof, tugging and pulling at the tiles like a vandal, giggling that horrid cracked laugh. Bits of shingle spattered down like hail.

Infuriated by this incursion, Alex approached the stilts and swung his axe. The creature saw him, shrieked and hurled a roofing slate. Alex ducked and whipped the axe round in an arc. It crunched into the stilt and sent splinters flying.

The creature shrieked again and leapt from the roof. It caught hold of the stilts in both hands and glared down at Alex, who wrenched the axe free and made to swing again.

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