Warm;
wet wind;
smells of reeds and muck;
"...strong, wild perfume..." (p. 94);
an orange moon;
the screeching of a nimravus;
a large mammal, grunting and splashing;
whispering grass;
a blazing, electrically lit, castle;
red or yellow fire gleaming from smaller buildings;
moving torches.
This is the Oligocene epoch with a small settlement of time travelers. A descriptive passage is welcome after several pages of non-stop action. Usually, the time brigands are free to kill each other but, when Trebuen unknowingly kills Duke Hugo's grandson, a revolution becomes necessary. There is a short pause between bouts of action.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
One of the things I remember about "The Nest" was how the time travelers from the future who visited Norman Sicily made the fatal mistake of underestimating the intelligence of "primitives." That allowed a much younger Hugo to knock them off and grab their time machine.
Moral of the story: being "primitive" or less advanced does NOT necessarily mean being stupid.
Ad astra! Sean
I'm reminded of a New Guinea village "big man", in an area just being contacted by the Australians running the place at the time -- via aircraft.
He took one look, and offered to give them many pigs if they'd fly him over a neighboring village so he could drop rocks on it.
A Neolithic man, who'd never seen metal before, much less an aircraft, takes one look and invents strategic bombing.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
A very smart "Big Man"! But not in the kind of ways our "noble savage" idealists would like! (Sardonic snort)
Ad astra! Sean
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