Monday, July 9, 2012

Caesar the Troll Part 21

As Caesar lay there in despair, imagining all the glorious days he had lived before the people came, thinking of his precious hairbrush that was covered over, and his carvings now annihilated, he wanted to cry, but had no tears left. And then as he lay with his head on the floor he saw her. She was still smiling as tears rolled down her face. She approached the humming and crackling wires, trying to reach through. So the king pushed he hand away, and tore a few of the wires. He reached his own hand out, and the minute she grasped it her tears were stopped. And the king was glad.

Caesar languished in his cage for days. He was given neither food nor water, and continued to wither in size and strength. The people had bound his head with an iron band to hold together the wounds in his skull, but soon the band itself became greatly painful. For a while they had wrapped his wounds in bandages, but just before they had fully healed they had stripped them off, which actually served only to make the wounds more susceptible to infection.
Each day the little girl came to him, and in whispered voices they would sing that song that he still had not forgotten.
For three days the king lay in his electrified grave, with two guards posted around him, lest he should try to escape. It was foolish to imagine that any of these obstacle could have stopped the king of the rocks, but the people imagined it so, for he was still inside their cage.
Caesar lay in his cage, listening to all the sounds and watching the roads. He watched as huge tubes and slabs of the smooth grey rock the people made were carted over the bridge of which he had laid the cornerstone. They moved large guns, and trucks of people with the shiny guns. Great beasts with the flaming noses and bright eyes crawled over his bridge and around his cage. Giant carrion birds with unflapping wings and terrible infinite cries flew over and around, dropping their flaming eggs onto the rocks. And on the third day they set up sirens all around the camp, and tripled the guard around the king.
Then came the crackling explosions. Huge black clouds growing on the eastern sky, obscuring the rising of the sun. As Caesar watched he saw hundreds of the smaller beasts with four spinning legs which could hold a dozen men in their stomachs fly by over his bridge. Bright lights and incredible noises echoed from across the river. Screaming and wailing drifted by. And then that one voice that could send the king from his throne into the mouth of the beasts crying in the wasteland that had once been the capital of all men. "Caesar!"
At the sound of his name the king stood to his two feet, and all the guards around him turned.
A beast more mighty than any before, covered with eyes and belching out smoke from several mouths, with awful light and brilliant darkness spreading terror, rolled toward the bridge that Caesar had built. And running towards it were all the people. But the king cared not for all of them. But only for one.

4 comments:

  1. I sense an epic climax around the corner... :D

    Something I wanted to mention - your limited use of dialog is wonderful. The narration style has a very distinct feel that's just perfect for the story. I also really like how Caesar describes common objects, not knowing what they truly are, and the reader puts together the pieces.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am surprised at myself with the dialogue. That is normally my strong suit. But Caesar is so auto-biographical that he comes very easily. Caesar is what I have wanted to be and pretended to be for a very long time.
      I tried hard to get back into Caesar's way of seeing things. It's been a long time since I wrote in his mind :)

      Delete
  2. Is there significance to the 3 days in the electrified grave ? Why is it significant to Caesar that he laid the cornerstone for the bridge ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As I drafted I was consciously aware of Caesar as a Christ figure, and late in the writing I let it grow more latent and obvious. Those sort of overt references are also slated for being toned down for the final version. They grow more in later posts.

      Delete