15th August. Weybridge
I didn't sleep all that long after all, for my dreams were filled with frightening images of enormous horses crushing Woking like boys kicking over an ants' nest, nickering in amusement. The artilleryman had little trouble rousing me around noon, affirming that the invaders were nowhere to be seen at this time. I agreed it was a good time to make our move and he had clear intentions to re-join his unit and report, and so we would travel together as far as Surbiton where I intended to then double-back towards Leatherhead. We filled our pockets with as many finger foods as could keep on the journey, he even filled a flask with plenty of water to which he added a good dose of whisky.
As we set off I looked round at the neighbourhood, the sight of houses apparently torn apart was discombobulating but when I shook off these feelings I noticed that my house wasn't unique in being left alone, indeed a stretch of intact houses could be made out running almost directly from North to South, sometimes there were three houses in a row untouched but in places up to seven were intact. Once we were on the road to Byfleet the sight of the ruined houses and the stretch of intact houses receded and I now took notice of the craters in the fields and side-streets, which I took to be just as wide as my home and this highlighted how serendipitous it was that my home was one left intact. We sheltered in a patch of shrubbery near the road back to Pyrford to take some sustenance, from here I could see my fears from the night before were realised as a massive house stood looming over the village, and my companion affirmed that it must lie right across the only road that led out of the village in our direction. At this time a new sound registered in my mind, one that had been going on for a while but I hadn't considered due to the shock of the wreckage of the town; it wasn't quite the same heavy thuds that marked the passage of one of the alien equine beasts, indeed it reminded me of the sound of a bricklayer at work except this was so heavy as to suggest somebody slamming a rock-face with a mallet.
It was around mid-afternoon by the time we reached Byfleet where another artillery company was positioned in a copse on the eastern side of the river. The artilleryman gave their commander a report after identifying himself and his own company, after which he was permitted to take his leave while I offered some information of my own, hoping that it would corroborate his own account. We continued towards the station, stopping off at an inn for a spot of dinner, finding a substantial number of people congregating in the park while more soldiers moved through to establish defensive positions around the town, it almost looked like the residents had gathered for a public holiday such as one might find with a brass band preparing for a patriotic performance upon a cast iron bandstand. Some of the soldiers who had leave to exchanged some words with my companion, who returned to our table as the food arrived muttering. "Bows and arrows against thunder and lightning."
We were just about to leave when a familiar face walked into the inn. I was delightfully surprised to see that my grocer had escaped the chaos in Woking and had to take some time to catch up with him, he too was momentarily stunned to see me alive and reasonably well. From what he told me he made a get away from under the noses of the giant equines, sometime around sunset while I was leaving Leatherhead, sneaking from cover to cover. He wasn't in the best of states, aside from scrambling through the muddy fields he was feeling guilty about losing track of his wife and daughter. While speaking to him I learned that he saw what could only be described as the hooves of the sky-blue creature the artilleryman told me about, but there was another neither of us had seen that he recalled in what I found to be a confusing manner, although now I know just what he was referring to, as will become apparent at the relevant time. He insisted on paying for our drinks in exchange for which I would pay the cost of his train ticket. Once we reached the station we found there was a train bound for Waterloo station and each selected a one-way trip all paid for out of my own pocket; I only wanted to get as far at Surbiton so as to then take the track down to Leatherhead while the artilleryman would alight at Vauxhall and my grocer would go all the way in the hopes that the authorities would offer him suitable shelter and means to track down his family.
We got on board the train in good time, but were frantic that the service should get underway immediately while the available railway men were adamant on keeping to the timetable. The sun seemed to be very low in the sky by the time the whistle was blown and the sound of the locomotive's pistons rang musically in our ears as we gradually left the station, when all of a sudden a wild chattering erupted from among our fellow passengers. We turned uneasily and saw them coming from the South-West; four horse-like shapes taller than any church steeple I had ever seen, each one covered in a strikingly different coloured coat that seemed outrageously garish on anything other than an exotic bird. They stood towering over the roofs of the town, lined up in a row comparable to how a flock of geese might array themselves in flight, each carried a pair of saddlebags straddled across their backs and I felt a deep sense of dread as I recalled what had happened to the innkeeper's steed. Up front and centre there was that same lavender coated unicorn I saw the night before, its face no longer suggesting a judging frown but instead exuding a quiet confidence. Just off to its left, slightly behind, was what I can only conclude is the sky-blue being my companions had already witnessed, which looked out across the town with sharp magenta eyes under a rather rough-looking mane that seemed to bare every colour of the rainbow in sequence. On the unicorn's right, slightly farther back, I saw one that looked as though it had been immersed in the biggest vat of orange juice and alum ever apart from the blonde mane, which so happened to have a ribbon tying it back to convey a more feminine quality when contrasted with the earlier two. The fourth one stood on the left of the sky-blue one, and this was a most dreadful colour of light pink under thick curly puce locks.
Watching these massive creatures thunder towards us as the train kept picking up speed made us all terribly anxious, however I could subsequently see still more details as they came. Each of them had a striking mark upon their hind flanks that had an almost uncanny resemblance to the clasps on their saddlebags, their faces all had something of a confident expression but varied from the lavender unicorn's scrutinising expression to the frighteningly joyous grin that seemed to dominate the pink creature's face. What I found most unusual was that only one of them had a horn. I could also see the orange creature's eyes gleaming in emerald green and the pink one's blue eyes shining as bright as its smile, though they didn't register as being the same sapphire colour I saw on Horsell Common. Just then another outcry occurred as some of the passengers looked out of the opposite windows, through which I could then see a fifth giant approaching from the North-West; this one was clearly a unicorn like the first but had a coat colour that was more reasonable that the others, one of a mild off-white colour, but looking at its face I saw the glittering eyes behind long eyelashes that I remembered under a mane that was astonishingly well-groomed like any lady of reasonable means, although the royal blue colour was novel. As we watched their muzzles moved in amazingly dextrous ways, which subsequently led to a blast of sounds such as I heard that night coming back from Leatherhead.
The next thing I knew the sky-blue creature brought its left foreleg up and swept it across the roofs of a row houses, tearing four of them clean off and depositing them somewhere beyond my line of sight before bending down with an expression that suggested it was looking for something, or maybe someone. After this it turned back to the others and made some more sounds that indicated they were conversing. Just then the artillery battery we passed upon entering the town opened fire, causing a number of starts among these beasts that led to the lavender unicorn's horn illuminating in the same magenta I'd seen before and the shells exploding in a shimmer of magenta light. Though this was a dreadful sight to behold I could now see something that made my jaw drop, the sky-blue equine had a pair of feathery wings attached to its back; it looked like a depiction of Pegasus you might find scrawled on a nursery wall. The giants neighed and whinnied at each other for a while when the orange one gestured and the purple unicorn lit its horn once more and the magenta field lifted the entire artillery force, guns and crew alike, into the air. All five of them moved closer, opening up houses as they went. This was when I noticed that the pink creature wouldn't walk, but instead jumped about on all fours, shaking the ground more than any of them.
The train journey prevented me from seeing them from actually taking anyone from within the buildings, or even if any were destroyed like I saw around the inn back in Woking, but the impacts of their hooves shook the train on the rails until we were thrown off the track just before the turn into Weybridge station. There was chaos all around as people struggled with their injuries while we made what efforts we could to escape. I scrambled across the fields towards the town of Weybridge, looking back for a moment to see the giant equines looming over Byfleet, the two unicorns' horns shining in magenta and blue as they dragged people into their saddlebags. I have taken shelter in a chapel for now.
I didn't sleep all that long after all, for my dreams were filled with frightening images of enormous horses crushing Woking like boys kicking over an ants' nest, nickering in amusement. The artilleryman had little trouble rousing me around noon, affirming that the invaders were nowhere to be seen at this time. I agreed it was a good time to make our move and he had clear intentions to re-join his unit and report, and so we would travel together as far as Surbiton where I intended to then double-back towards Leatherhead. We filled our pockets with as many finger foods as could keep on the journey, he even filled a flask with plenty of water to which he added a good dose of whisky.
As we set off I looked round at the neighbourhood, the sight of houses apparently torn apart was discombobulating but when I shook off these feelings I noticed that my house wasn't unique in being left alone, indeed a stretch of intact houses could be made out running almost directly from North to South, sometimes there were three houses in a row untouched but in places up to seven were intact. Once we were on the road to Byfleet the sight of the ruined houses and the stretch of intact houses receded and I now took notice of the craters in the fields and side-streets, which I took to be just as wide as my home and this highlighted how serendipitous it was that my home was one left intact. We sheltered in a patch of shrubbery near the road back to Pyrford to take some sustenance, from here I could see my fears from the night before were realised as a massive house stood looming over the village, and my companion affirmed that it must lie right across the only road that led out of the village in our direction. At this time a new sound registered in my mind, one that had been going on for a while but I hadn't considered due to the shock of the wreckage of the town; it wasn't quite the same heavy thuds that marked the passage of one of the alien equine beasts, indeed it reminded me of the sound of a bricklayer at work except this was so heavy as to suggest somebody slamming a rock-face with a mallet.
It was around mid-afternoon by the time we reached Byfleet where another artillery company was positioned in a copse on the eastern side of the river. The artilleryman gave their commander a report after identifying himself and his own company, after which he was permitted to take his leave while I offered some information of my own, hoping that it would corroborate his own account. We continued towards the station, stopping off at an inn for a spot of dinner, finding a substantial number of people congregating in the park while more soldiers moved through to establish defensive positions around the town, it almost looked like the residents had gathered for a public holiday such as one might find with a brass band preparing for a patriotic performance upon a cast iron bandstand. Some of the soldiers who had leave to exchanged some words with my companion, who returned to our table as the food arrived muttering. "Bows and arrows against thunder and lightning."
We were just about to leave when a familiar face walked into the inn. I was delightfully surprised to see that my grocer had escaped the chaos in Woking and had to take some time to catch up with him, he too was momentarily stunned to see me alive and reasonably well. From what he told me he made a get away from under the noses of the giant equines, sometime around sunset while I was leaving Leatherhead, sneaking from cover to cover. He wasn't in the best of states, aside from scrambling through the muddy fields he was feeling guilty about losing track of his wife and daughter. While speaking to him I learned that he saw what could only be described as the hooves of the sky-blue creature the artilleryman told me about, but there was another neither of us had seen that he recalled in what I found to be a confusing manner, although now I know just what he was referring to, as will become apparent at the relevant time. He insisted on paying for our drinks in exchange for which I would pay the cost of his train ticket. Once we reached the station we found there was a train bound for Waterloo station and each selected a one-way trip all paid for out of my own pocket; I only wanted to get as far at Surbiton so as to then take the track down to Leatherhead while the artilleryman would alight at Vauxhall and my grocer would go all the way in the hopes that the authorities would offer him suitable shelter and means to track down his family.
We got on board the train in good time, but were frantic that the service should get underway immediately while the available railway men were adamant on keeping to the timetable. The sun seemed to be very low in the sky by the time the whistle was blown and the sound of the locomotive's pistons rang musically in our ears as we gradually left the station, when all of a sudden a wild chattering erupted from among our fellow passengers. We turned uneasily and saw them coming from the South-West; four horse-like shapes taller than any church steeple I had ever seen, each one covered in a strikingly different coloured coat that seemed outrageously garish on anything other than an exotic bird. They stood towering over the roofs of the town, lined up in a row comparable to how a flock of geese might array themselves in flight, each carried a pair of saddlebags straddled across their backs and I felt a deep sense of dread as I recalled what had happened to the innkeeper's steed. Up front and centre there was that same lavender coated unicorn I saw the night before, its face no longer suggesting a judging frown but instead exuding a quiet confidence. Just off to its left, slightly behind, was what I can only conclude is the sky-blue being my companions had already witnessed, which looked out across the town with sharp magenta eyes under a rather rough-looking mane that seemed to bare every colour of the rainbow in sequence. On the unicorn's right, slightly farther back, I saw one that looked as though it had been immersed in the biggest vat of orange juice and alum ever apart from the blonde mane, which so happened to have a ribbon tying it back to convey a more feminine quality when contrasted with the earlier two. The fourth one stood on the left of the sky-blue one, and this was a most dreadful colour of light pink under thick curly puce locks.
Watching these massive creatures thunder towards us as the train kept picking up speed made us all terribly anxious, however I could subsequently see still more details as they came. Each of them had a striking mark upon their hind flanks that had an almost uncanny resemblance to the clasps on their saddlebags, their faces all had something of a confident expression but varied from the lavender unicorn's scrutinising expression to the frighteningly joyous grin that seemed to dominate the pink creature's face. What I found most unusual was that only one of them had a horn. I could also see the orange creature's eyes gleaming in emerald green and the pink one's blue eyes shining as bright as its smile, though they didn't register as being the same sapphire colour I saw on Horsell Common. Just then another outcry occurred as some of the passengers looked out of the opposite windows, through which I could then see a fifth giant approaching from the North-West; this one was clearly a unicorn like the first but had a coat colour that was more reasonable that the others, one of a mild off-white colour, but looking at its face I saw the glittering eyes behind long eyelashes that I remembered under a mane that was astonishingly well-groomed like any lady of reasonable means, although the royal blue colour was novel. As we watched their muzzles moved in amazingly dextrous ways, which subsequently led to a blast of sounds such as I heard that night coming back from Leatherhead.
The next thing I knew the sky-blue creature brought its left foreleg up and swept it across the roofs of a row houses, tearing four of them clean off and depositing them somewhere beyond my line of sight before bending down with an expression that suggested it was looking for something, or maybe someone. After this it turned back to the others and made some more sounds that indicated they were conversing. Just then the artillery battery we passed upon entering the town opened fire, causing a number of starts among these beasts that led to the lavender unicorn's horn illuminating in the same magenta I'd seen before and the shells exploding in a shimmer of magenta light. Though this was a dreadful sight to behold I could now see something that made my jaw drop, the sky-blue equine had a pair of feathery wings attached to its back; it looked like a depiction of Pegasus you might find scrawled on a nursery wall. The giants neighed and whinnied at each other for a while when the orange one gestured and the purple unicorn lit its horn once more and the magenta field lifted the entire artillery force, guns and crew alike, into the air. All five of them moved closer, opening up houses as they went. This was when I noticed that the pink creature wouldn't walk, but instead jumped about on all fours, shaking the ground more than any of them.
The train journey prevented me from seeing them from actually taking anyone from within the buildings, or even if any were destroyed like I saw around the inn back in Woking, but the impacts of their hooves shook the train on the rails until we were thrown off the track just before the turn into Weybridge station. There was chaos all around as people struggled with their injuries while we made what efforts we could to escape. I scrambled across the fields towards the town of Weybridge, looking back for a moment to see the giant equines looming over Byfleet, the two unicorns' horns shining in magenta and blue as they dragged people into their saddlebags. I have taken shelter in a chapel for now.
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April 19
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