A demonstration of Mersians/ychani/zmayi marches in battle formation, armed with knives, tridents, harpoons and guns. Formidable, indeed. Quiet and unexcited, unlike human demonstrators, they carry two banners:
the white star on blue of Yovan Matavuly, the human founder of the Dennitzan colony;
the red ax on gold of Gwyth, the ychan hero who dared the storms and sea beasts of the Black Ocean.
Merseians walk digitigrade. They pass:
private homes and condominiums unprotected by forcefields and vacated during the emergency;
militia squads patrolling to prevent looting;
older, higher, close-packed buildings on narrow uphill streets;
red tile roofs;
stucco walls;
tenements;
offices;
midget factories;
restaurants;
taverns;
amusements;
a bulbous-domed parish church;
a few big stores;
scores of tiny eccentric shops;
detouring groundcars.
A fighter craft passes low. Merseian marchers, unlike their human equivalents, are able to convey information accurately. The word is that the streets are quiet because direct action by Dennitzan citizens has rounded up Terrans and other Imperials into certain buildings in response to the arrest of the Gospodar. The Zamok/Castle/executive centre has denounced the action as illegal and deployed police but has not yet responded with force.
In several novels, including A Knight..., Anderson conveys the sense of "troubled times" extremely effectively.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And one thing I remembered about this "troubled time" on Dennitza was Kossara's father expressing puzzlement about why the political crisis was taking so long to be resolved one way or another. Of course that was because Aycharaych's agents in the Zamok trying to time matters just right for goading Dennitza into rebellion against the Empire.
Sean
Post a Comment