What Pegman Saw : Beyond the Pale

 

Indri was already running, sandals slapping flagstones. ‘I know where they’ll come out!’

His legs were longer than Pina’s and he’d soon rounded the corner of the alley, dodged a pomegranate seller, vaulted the legs of Zaru the beggar, careening into the opposite wall before stumbling on. Complaints rang around her.

‘That boy!’

‘Pina, tell your brother -‘

She yelled her apologies, tucked her head down and ran after him. ‘Indri! Where are we going?’

But soon the city gate was looming overhead and she knew – outside the wall.

‘The Pale?’ she yelled. ‘You think they’ll come out at the Pale?’

Outside the protection of the city walls, where traitors were executed, where outcasts cried and screamed for home.

Indri had stopped under the golden halo of the gate.

She came panting to his side. ‘What …?’

He pointed towards the baked earth of the Pale as it cracked open.

 

Written for What Pegman Saw, the writing prompt that uses Google Stretview. See here to share, read and comment. Today, we visit Mdina in Malta.

So, what do you think is coming out of the earth? I have my own ideas, but I’d like to hear yours.

Notes

The Pale – a term borrowed from County Down, Ireland when governed by the English.

Beyond the pale – There were many ‘Pales’ (a term that signified home ground, being within paling, meaning fencing) and to be beyond it means going outside the confines of what is acceptable.

 

 

 

25 thoughts on “What Pegman Saw : Beyond the Pale”

  2. You’ve written this with a great deal of energy and verve. The race through the alleys, dodging the obstacles, is gripping. I love the description ‘golden halo of the gate.’
    I don’t have a clue as to what might be coming out of the earth at the Pale, though!

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    1. Glad you liked some of the descriptions Penny and you thought the pace worked well. As for what’s coming up … Put it this way, I imagined catacombs mirroring the twists of the alleyways, ossuaries chattering with bones … Thanks for reading

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  3. Horses. First, the silver mare with waterfall mane, her hooves sounding on the stone road. Right after came the gelding with the freckled rump. Then the bay, the chestnut, the spotted pony, and even that dark colt we called Midnight. All of them, their newly sprouted wings lifting from their backs, spreading out.
    Horses. Winged horses.

    They gathered speed, running down the hill, spreading wide across the road and into the meadow, the span of their wings, opening, undulating. The first one rose from the ground, and then the next, until a kettle of them stirred the skies over our town.

    It was worth it. All that time, sneaking into the stables with the gypsy potion. If the adults weren’t going to protect our city from Mandron, we would.

    “I told you it’d work,” Indri shouted.
    —
    I hope you don’t mind–I had to know what happened. You are a sorceress of words, Lynn!

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    3. I love that! What a spellbinding continuation of the story. Would love to know what happens next. I absolutely see Indri and Pina saving the day … eventually. Thanks for leaving such a lovely, imaginative comment

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  4. You are definitely a sorceress of words – I have to agree with Karen (And what a follow-up she supplied). I could so see these two running through the streets like Aladdin to find… why not winged horses? Or the Dragon lair à la How to Train your Dragon…

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  5. Fabulous sense of movement and excitement in this scene, Lynn! As to what it is, hmm… It’s interesting that the kids know about it but nobody else seems to, and that it’s something they’re eager rather than scared to see. So that rules out the creepy Bukken creatures from the Tad Williams series I’m currently reading, which do burrow up from the ground but then viciously attack everyone in range. My next thought was that the kids had just heard that some famous prisoners had escaped the Tower, and had burrowed out (possibly using magic). But now I like Karen’s idea, or something like it — that the kids were involved in helping or nursing some friendly magical creatures, and this is when and where they are emerging from their underground womb.

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    1. Sadly, I had in mind something darker and the kids running towards it because they feel they are the only ones who can deal with the problem – probably through magic powers or knowledge. But I do love Karen’s idea. They sound gorgeous don’t they?

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    1. Ooh, I like the idea of woebegone fairies! You’re thinking along the lines I was thinking. I imagined catacombs mirroring the streets, an ossuary or two along the way.

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      1. Yea, I was definitely thinking of things or beings that are usually ‘not seen’, perhaps cos they’re buried or live subterranean.

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