And now for something a little different. This is a small bit of what I’ve written in this vein, but I’m not sure if I’ll post any more here. Who knows what’s going to come of that declaration, but I thought this little bit could be classed enough as whump that someone would be interested. This is an absolute experiment, a complete rough draft, so know that. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
themes | historic setting, desert setting; descriptions of injuries, descriptions of starvation and dehydration,
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Dawn rose with the scent of hot dust. The air still and shimmering, the heat turning up its nose at the early hour. The sun had obliterated the long blue shadows of the mountains before kettles were placed on stoves for morning tea. It was customary in that part of the world, even at such a lonely outpost. A reliable thing, bolstered by spices, overwhelming to the tastebuds of the newly initiated, the unprepared.
Much of Seh Sharwala was overwhelming to the uninitiated. In fact, it was damned unfriendly, especially so to outsiders. It was as if the roads, the mountains, the Throne of Solomon itself conspired to throw anyone and everything back to where they’d come.
Snow-capped mountains thrust skyward, sharp and grey. At their bases, desert bloomed and sprawled out to the horizon in all directions. Winds whipped. Snow piled up on the passes. Sun beat down. Casual viewers and would-be conquerers need not apply.
And yet, the village remained. In much the same fashion as it had for millenia. It had not yet capitulated to the earth around it; had not desiccated, crumbled, and vanished into the perpetual swath of burnt amber. Their predecessors had, it seemed, struck a deal of mutual respect with the landscape around them. A kind of surrender, an understanding to leave one another be, that had lasted from before Alexander and would outlive the foreigners creeping north, their armies, whatever and whoever came after them.
it would certainly outlive the shade stumbling in the distance.
