What Demane Heard
Language is almost a character itself in this novel. Tonal shifts and variations in diction can vary considerably from one scene to another. This tonal shift results in some passages of imagery that are hallucinatory and prophetic in their intensity, such as this example. “Demane had known noise in nature: he’d heard Mt. Bittersmoke erupt, heard white glaciers calving blue children; he’d stood once knee deep in mud beside his master, on the naked seabed, while she broke a hundred-foot whitewave of returning ocean, her pure will slowing the apocalyptic waters— such noise!—but never before had Demane heard a thousand mortal voices compounding at full cry to deafen like some act of God.” The full scale of Demane’s complexity of character is still not completely revealed by this point and part of the intent in presenting such dense and phantasmal imagery enhanced by menacing references to the apocalypse is to instill this sense of mystery about the character.
What They Saw
The Captain and Demane cross over into a primordial world of prehistoric creatures enjoying the benefits and suffering the drawbacks of gigantism. Two beasts engage in battle. “This is what they saw: The excavations of the carnivore sent up blasts like storm surge against a rocky headland. Oceanic and salty: though these waters were scarlet blood. Honks of the leviathan cracked back from the cliffs of the valley, echoing, and the outflow of its gore purpled the brown river.” This imagery may seem overdone and lacking in specific detail. In fact, it follows a prefatory description which is pure imagery disconnected from any eyewitness detail: “Here, it would help to have seen the Assumption of the Towers. Such a cataclysm! Tongues of fire licked the clouds; eruptions of steam such as the gods in bright ascent saw blot the sphere below them; tsunami, worldwide.” This divergence is a perfect example how shifts in tone and diction are utilized for a purpose beyond narrative description.
Stronger Than He Looks
The Captain is stronger than he looks. This reality is cemented for everyone present through imagery. “Snarling, Captain spun and seized a barrel beside that from which the drudges drank. Was it empty? For he wrenched the barrel off the ground, and above his head, so easily. No— half full: weighing more than himself. Water cascaded from the open side as the barrel came up high and lateral—more splashing forth as it burst to staves and splinters against the side of the stable.” The Captain’s capability of lifting a half-full barrel above his head is not utilitarian. It is a demonstration with a purpose. He is establishing beyond all doubt that contrary to not being the most impressive looking of the mercenaries, he is the irrefutable alpha male who is not to be trifled with or confronted with intent to dominate.
The Jukiere
The jukiere is a strange, semi-mystical tiger-beast almost impossible to actually detect when not moving. “Only in movement could the jukiere be seen. When still, the creature’s brindled coat merged with the jungle’s greenish light and shadow. The fur of its flanks and back was mature evergreen, dark-stippled as if muddy. Its fur hung thick and longer along throat and underbelly, new-grass-color, white with age at the fringes.” This physical description is helpful to a point, but only as a guide to dealing with primal animal predation. The descriptive imagery of what to actually look for does nothing to do help with the mystical aspect of the animal as a necromancy-practicing sorcerer.
