fiction - ljidol week 24 - canard
Jul. 17th, 2017 05:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hwango1,587 words
Once upon a time, in the accursed, miserable town of Dunwich, there lived a pair of ducks named Zadock and Lavinia. Since they were ducks, and since they had only recently moved to the area, they were not yet aware that Dunwich was an accursed, miserable town.
In due time, Zadock and Lavinia decided to start a family, and they built a nice, sturdy nest not far from a relatively lovely little pond that you'd hardly suspect of being tainted by the touch of long dead gods if you weren't familiar with the area. Soon their nest was filled with eggs, and for several weeks Lavinia kept them warm and hummed songs to them and waited eagerly for the day she could show her ducklings the world. Zadock tried to get to know their neighbors, but they turned out for the most part to be strange, antisocial creatures.
Then, one warm and sunny spring morning, the eggs finally began to hatch. In a matter of minutes Zadock and Lavinia found themselves blessed with a multitude of adorable little ducklings, and they were filled with joy. The moment passed all too soon, however, when they realized that the ducklings numbered only six. Their seventh egg had not hatched.
Zadock said nothing, and simply held Lavinia close.
"I do not like to think of giving up on the poor thing," said Lavinia, stepping away from Zadock and settling back onto the last egg. "I shall sit on it for another day."
"As you wish," said Zadock. "I shall take the other children to the pond and teach them to swim. If all goes well, you will join us soon." All did not go well.
Lavinia dutifully sat upon the egg all day, but it did not so much as twitch. As night fell, she tried not to think about the decision she would face in the morning - to give up, or to spend another day apart from the six other children who needed her. She drifted off to a restless sleep, plagued by dark thoughts and darker dreams.
At midnight, the egg hatched.
It hatched with such force that Lavinia found herself hurled from the nest, and she squawked in alarm. Zadock and the ducklings awoke frightened and disoriented, spilling out of the nest and running to her side.
"What has happened?" Zadock cried.
"The egg!" Lavinia replied, and the entire family turned to look back into the nest.
Even in the dim, pale moonlight, one thing was obvious - the duckling was hideous. Huge and mishapen, it loomed so tall that it seemed impossible that only moments ago it could have fit inside so small an egg.
The other ducklings peeped in terror, and Zadock instinctively stepped between his family and the monster. But then the ugly duckling whimpered a sound of unutterable loneliness, and Zadock and Lavinia cautiously stepped back into the nest. The duckling stared at them in obvious confusion and distress. Lavinia and Zadock shared a look, and nodded to each other. They turned back to face the duckling.
"Hello, son," said Zadock.
"Welcome to the world," said Lavinia.
In the days to come, the duckling grew at an alarming rate. He ate as much as his six siblings combined, but Lavinia and Zadock did not need to struggle to provide for him, as he soon took to hunting small fish and frogs on his own. The other ducks of the area, once so standoffish and aloof, now could not be silenced. They called him a freak. They called him monstrous and unclean. On more than one occasion, it was suggested that Zadock and Lavinia should have drowned the thing in the pond when he first hatched, and that it was not yet too late for them to do so.
Lavinia and Zadock waved off their concerns, and scoffed at the suggestion of drowning their son as a joke in poor taste. Yes, they admitted, the duckling was hideous beyong imagining. True, they conceded, he did seem to have more than the usual number of eyes and limbs, and some of those limbs were unconventional for a duck, but perhaps they were only temporary.
"Like a tadpole's tail before it grows into a frog," Zadock said in one such argument. The other ducks weren't sure if he actually believed that this was possible, or just thought that they were idiots.
Things became even more awkward when the duckling began to talk, both because he learned to do so at an abnormally young age, and because of the things that he said.
"I hear the stars at night," the duckling said at one point. "Do the stars sing to you, mother?"
"That's probably just the hum of high-tension power lines," said Lavinia.
"I don't think so," said the duckling. "They sing to me that there are other things like me. Things out in the deepest darkness, waiting. But they are nearly done waiting. Soon they will come, and they will remake the world to suit their whims."
"Well," said Lavinia as she struggled to come up with a response to this. "It will be nice for you to have someone to play with, won't it?"
"Yes, mother."
They were difficult times to be sure, but the real trouble did not start until the incident with the fox.
The entire family was asleep, and the fox saw what seemed to be an easy meal. It crept up on the nest, silently pondering how best to conduct the slaughter. The fox decided to start with the adults, and then the children would be easy pickings. It opened its jaws and leaned in towards Zadock, when suddenly the ugly duckling opened his eyes. The fox froze in confusion, not having realized the misshapen lump was another duckling. The fox watched in horror as the ugly duckling unfolded taller than any duck could be, his silhouette in the moonlight suggesting too many limbs. His eyes began to glow a muddy, sickly orange, and then new points of light kindled to life, as if he had opened more eyes in places all along his neck and limbs where eyes should not be.
The fox's mind broke. It whimpered and pawed at its own face, trying to dislodge something that was not there. It turned to run but tripped over its own feet and fell, and then was unable to rise. The ugly duckling crept silently from the nest towards the fox.
None of the duckling's family awoke until the dawn, when they discovered the desiccated, bloodless corpse of the fox. The ugly duckling had grown several more inches.
"Well," said Zadock, but then couldn't seem to think of anything more to say.
"This is going to be very difficult to explain away, isn't it?" said Lavinia.
Zadock tried to figure out if there was some way that they could hide the body before it was discovered by the other ducks, but it was already too late. Word of the attack spread quickly, becoming even more ghoulish and horrific with each retelling. It did not matter that the ducks would have been the victims - it was the ugly duckling that was cast as the villain in the tale.
Finally, some of the local ducks confronted Zadock while he was alone.
"That creature is no son of yours," one of the local ducks said. And then it explained that the local opinion was that something else entirely had fathered the creature upon Lavinia.
Zadock, normally as mild and gentle a duck as you could ever meet, threw himself at the other duck in a rage, kicking and biting furiously. The other ducks pulled him off and held him back.
"I will thank you all not to spread such vile rumors about my wife. Or about my child." Zadock said. Then he shook off the ducks that were holding him and went on his way. But the damage was done - he had physically attacked another duck, and now the entire family was seen as a danger to everyone in the community. Fear and distrust festered among the locals.
"You should go," said the duckling to his parents. "Take my siblings and leave this place. It is not safe for you."
"Those small-minded ducks are all bluster. They wouldn't actually hurt us," said Zadock, but he didn't sound as if he really believed it himself.
"It is not only the other ducks you have to fear," said the ugly duckling. "The doors between worlds shudder. The time comes soon when all barriers shall break, and the the world shall be remade. When you find somewhere to settle down, send me a postcard."
Reluctantly, Lavinia and Zadock agreed to go. They both gave him an awkward hug, since he was not shaped well to receive hugs, and tearfully bid him farewell.
Winter came and went. The ugly duckling got a postcard from his parents, who were now living in Innsmouth. They said he should stop by for a visit sometime - they thought he might like it there.
Eventually, the stars aligned just right, and the things waiting outside our world broke through the walls that held them back. Three of them alighted on the surface of the pond, and the ugly duckling went out to meet them. He writhed and undulated in greeting, happy to at last be among those who were truly his own kind.
The terrors from outside space and time took one look at him, shuddered in horror and revulsion, and flew away.
Once upon a time, in the accursed, miserable town of Dunwich, there lived a pair of ducks named Zadock and Lavinia. Since they were ducks, and since they had only recently moved to the area, they were not yet aware that Dunwich was an accursed, miserable town.
In due time, Zadock and Lavinia decided to start a family, and they built a nice, sturdy nest not far from a relatively lovely little pond that you'd hardly suspect of being tainted by the touch of long dead gods if you weren't familiar with the area. Soon their nest was filled with eggs, and for several weeks Lavinia kept them warm and hummed songs to them and waited eagerly for the day she could show her ducklings the world. Zadock tried to get to know their neighbors, but they turned out for the most part to be strange, antisocial creatures.
Then, one warm and sunny spring morning, the eggs finally began to hatch. In a matter of minutes Zadock and Lavinia found themselves blessed with a multitude of adorable little ducklings, and they were filled with joy. The moment passed all too soon, however, when they realized that the ducklings numbered only six. Their seventh egg had not hatched.
Zadock said nothing, and simply held Lavinia close.
"I do not like to think of giving up on the poor thing," said Lavinia, stepping away from Zadock and settling back onto the last egg. "I shall sit on it for another day."
"As you wish," said Zadock. "I shall take the other children to the pond and teach them to swim. If all goes well, you will join us soon." All did not go well.
Lavinia dutifully sat upon the egg all day, but it did not so much as twitch. As night fell, she tried not to think about the decision she would face in the morning - to give up, or to spend another day apart from the six other children who needed her. She drifted off to a restless sleep, plagued by dark thoughts and darker dreams.
At midnight, the egg hatched.
It hatched with such force that Lavinia found herself hurled from the nest, and she squawked in alarm. Zadock and the ducklings awoke frightened and disoriented, spilling out of the nest and running to her side.
"What has happened?" Zadock cried.
"The egg!" Lavinia replied, and the entire family turned to look back into the nest.
Even in the dim, pale moonlight, one thing was obvious - the duckling was hideous. Huge and mishapen, it loomed so tall that it seemed impossible that only moments ago it could have fit inside so small an egg.
The other ducklings peeped in terror, and Zadock instinctively stepped between his family and the monster. But then the ugly duckling whimpered a sound of unutterable loneliness, and Zadock and Lavinia cautiously stepped back into the nest. The duckling stared at them in obvious confusion and distress. Lavinia and Zadock shared a look, and nodded to each other. They turned back to face the duckling.
"Hello, son," said Zadock.
"Welcome to the world," said Lavinia.
In the days to come, the duckling grew at an alarming rate. He ate as much as his six siblings combined, but Lavinia and Zadock did not need to struggle to provide for him, as he soon took to hunting small fish and frogs on his own. The other ducks of the area, once so standoffish and aloof, now could not be silenced. They called him a freak. They called him monstrous and unclean. On more than one occasion, it was suggested that Zadock and Lavinia should have drowned the thing in the pond when he first hatched, and that it was not yet too late for them to do so.
Lavinia and Zadock waved off their concerns, and scoffed at the suggestion of drowning their son as a joke in poor taste. Yes, they admitted, the duckling was hideous beyong imagining. True, they conceded, he did seem to have more than the usual number of eyes and limbs, and some of those limbs were unconventional for a duck, but perhaps they were only temporary.
"Like a tadpole's tail before it grows into a frog," Zadock said in one such argument. The other ducks weren't sure if he actually believed that this was possible, or just thought that they were idiots.
Things became even more awkward when the duckling began to talk, both because he learned to do so at an abnormally young age, and because of the things that he said.
"I hear the stars at night," the duckling said at one point. "Do the stars sing to you, mother?"
"That's probably just the hum of high-tension power lines," said Lavinia.
"I don't think so," said the duckling. "They sing to me that there are other things like me. Things out in the deepest darkness, waiting. But they are nearly done waiting. Soon they will come, and they will remake the world to suit their whims."
"Well," said Lavinia as she struggled to come up with a response to this. "It will be nice for you to have someone to play with, won't it?"
"Yes, mother."
They were difficult times to be sure, but the real trouble did not start until the incident with the fox.
The entire family was asleep, and the fox saw what seemed to be an easy meal. It crept up on the nest, silently pondering how best to conduct the slaughter. The fox decided to start with the adults, and then the children would be easy pickings. It opened its jaws and leaned in towards Zadock, when suddenly the ugly duckling opened his eyes. The fox froze in confusion, not having realized the misshapen lump was another duckling. The fox watched in horror as the ugly duckling unfolded taller than any duck could be, his silhouette in the moonlight suggesting too many limbs. His eyes began to glow a muddy, sickly orange, and then new points of light kindled to life, as if he had opened more eyes in places all along his neck and limbs where eyes should not be.
The fox's mind broke. It whimpered and pawed at its own face, trying to dislodge something that was not there. It turned to run but tripped over its own feet and fell, and then was unable to rise. The ugly duckling crept silently from the nest towards the fox.
None of the duckling's family awoke until the dawn, when they discovered the desiccated, bloodless corpse of the fox. The ugly duckling had grown several more inches.
"Well," said Zadock, but then couldn't seem to think of anything more to say.
"This is going to be very difficult to explain away, isn't it?" said Lavinia.
Zadock tried to figure out if there was some way that they could hide the body before it was discovered by the other ducks, but it was already too late. Word of the attack spread quickly, becoming even more ghoulish and horrific with each retelling. It did not matter that the ducks would have been the victims - it was the ugly duckling that was cast as the villain in the tale.
Finally, some of the local ducks confronted Zadock while he was alone.
"That creature is no son of yours," one of the local ducks said. And then it explained that the local opinion was that something else entirely had fathered the creature upon Lavinia.
Zadock, normally as mild and gentle a duck as you could ever meet, threw himself at the other duck in a rage, kicking and biting furiously. The other ducks pulled him off and held him back.
"I will thank you all not to spread such vile rumors about my wife. Or about my child." Zadock said. Then he shook off the ducks that were holding him and went on his way. But the damage was done - he had physically attacked another duck, and now the entire family was seen as a danger to everyone in the community. Fear and distrust festered among the locals.
"You should go," said the duckling to his parents. "Take my siblings and leave this place. It is not safe for you."
"Those small-minded ducks are all bluster. They wouldn't actually hurt us," said Zadock, but he didn't sound as if he really believed it himself.
"It is not only the other ducks you have to fear," said the ugly duckling. "The doors between worlds shudder. The time comes soon when all barriers shall break, and the the world shall be remade. When you find somewhere to settle down, send me a postcard."
Reluctantly, Lavinia and Zadock agreed to go. They both gave him an awkward hug, since he was not shaped well to receive hugs, and tearfully bid him farewell.
Winter came and went. The ugly duckling got a postcard from his parents, who were now living in Innsmouth. They said he should stop by for a visit sometime - they thought he might like it there.
Eventually, the stars aligned just right, and the things waiting outside our world broke through the walls that held them back. Three of them alighted on the surface of the pond, and the ugly duckling went out to meet them. He writhed and undulated in greeting, happy to at last be among those who were truly his own kind.
The terrors from outside space and time took one look at him, shuddered in horror and revulsion, and flew away.
