Let’s begin…
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Let me congratulate you on taking the first step!
The book has been open…
No turning back now!
Write down your name:
Okay! Let’s begin! See that door over there? That is where we are going to go first. Once you have walked through the door you will learn everything that you need to now…
…For now anyway!
Let’s go! Turn the page!
A great adventure is now yours…
Pick up the map.
Look at it.
This is now your world.
A door opens… I think you should enter…
Come close to the fire. Feel its warmth. Bask in its glow. This is your home… for now. You may not have wings but soon you might fly! Look out of the window… What do you see? The sea! Ah yes! I am happy to tell you that you are standing in the heights of the fine Tower of Ritanoss on the fair isle of Sirunvale. Look at the map! That is where you are… For now! Enjoy the fire, enjoy the glow! Enjoy it now while the time is slow… For time will not always flow quite like the glow of the flame. Enjoy this fine little moment of rest.
Let me introduce myself! I am the voice of the sleeping Trolloyed Lord who is called Hadononsphere and I am speaking to you through this orb of light. Many think I am dead… I am not. I am not dead. I am simply asleep. Asleep and waiting to awake. But I will not wake from my slumber by myself. I need YOU to wake me up! The time is here at last for me to stir from my long rest. Take the orb so that I might travel with thee…
A door opens… I think you should enter…
Come close to the fire. Feel its warmth. Bask in its glow. This is your home… for now. You may not have wings but soon you might fly! Look out of the window… What do you see? The sea! Ah yes! I am happy to tell you that you are standing in the heights of the fine Tower of Ritanoss on the fair isle of Sirunvale. Look at the map! That is where you are… For now! Enjoy the fire, enjoy the glow! Enjoy it now while the time is slow… For time will not always flow quite like the glow of the flame. Enjoy this fine little moment of rest.
Let me introduce myself! I am the voice of the sleeping Trolloyed Lord who is called Hadononsphere and I am speaking to you through this orb of light. Many think I am dead… I am not. I am not dead. I am simply asleep. Asleep and waiting to awake. But I will not wake from my slumber by myself. I need YOU to wake me up! The time is here at last for me to stir from my long rest. Take the orb so that I might travel with thee…
Take the orb and open the door!
See the road? Follow it. It will lead you to the coast. Hurry now! Your greatest enemy is time and time follows thee in all thy steps!
Now you must make for the sea. There is a boat waiting for thee… Step up and step out my friend. I cannot follow you on this next stage - but my friend here will accompany thee on thy fine journey.
Young Tallow leads thee aboard the boat. “This way dear Reader,” says he to thee. “We sail now. To Linkenoss we go!” And there was the fair port of Linkenoss a little way ahead of the bobbing blue waves of the sea. What a fine thing to see! O how the waves of the sea wave at thee thy fine port! “Let’s get a little closer, dear Read,” Tallows rode a little harder loyal fellow he is but it was not for nought for his valiant efforts finally brought them ashore.
“What lies in the land yonder none can be sure, but we will let the road lead me and thee, and I will lead thee the best I can, over hill and river!” said young Tallow. “Are you ready for the road, dear Reader? Yes! Then turn the page and off we go…”
You arrive on sweet land! Leap out of the boat and place you feet on the soil! Look around you and tell me what you see. You can see it, yes? And maybe you can hear it too! Listen to that sounds, listen to that music - it sings not in thy ears but in thy heart. Listen and drink it in - this soul will light thy soul on the road ahead.
LISTEN:
"All around the grass is green and in the mud flows all things that have ever been - lives lived and still yet not seen. They crown each other, life and light, and in the water their reflections dream. No lovelier sight has there ever been seen, thy scarlet flight, thy sight, thy right, in whose rays we all delight, praise the skies for all that has ever been, thou art the finest thing I have ever seen..."
"All around the grass is green and in the mud flows all things that have ever been - lives lived and still yet not seen. They crown each other, life and light, and in the water their reflections dream. No lovelier sight has there ever been seen, thy scarlet flight, thy sight, thy right, in whose rays we all delight, praise the skies for all that has ever been, thou art the finest thing I have ever seen..."
The orb returns. It speaks:
"Ah! What has become of me? I was a Trolleyed. I ruled nothing at all in my fine hall, windows gleaming on the floor! O I remember it well! Visitors came to see me from far and wide. I had eyes here and there and in ALL places. And in these places I saw many faces, and with these faces with me we would change the world like waves change in the sea... O that is how it once was with me in those golden days...
But now I am this light - and you have this light and with this light you can hear me, and when you hear me you see through me, all those places and all of those faces. Always listen to the voice in the light...
"Do you see me, fair reader? I am here for thee. I shall never be apart from thee. And I will always speak to thee. And whenever you need me think of a song and it will sing, and you will hear it in your heart. Your ears are no longer king, not in this world - not in matters of song and fife. For such is life. But strange though it is, you have your ears and a song in your heart and a quest in your soul! You may not hear the song, not yet - but keep walking along and it will be along, and the song will hold thy hand as time holds the seas! So if you please - turn a corner in the road. Dear Tallow will follow and aid thee, he knows this land from adventurers of old. Ah there! Look! Do you see it? Those pools! Dreams of dreamers that dreamed of dreams - born of tears wept from the skies! The sadness is gone! The storm is done! Look at the pools... Touch then... Listen to them! Don't you hear them? Please tell me that you can hear them?"
"Ah! You can hear it can't you? Blest art thou! I knew you could, and that you always would, hear the songs of the wiles of time! So take a drink and drink it all in. Let it fill you. Let i make you whole and full and strong. Let it make you be you, YOU, just YOU and no other. For it is not just the road that is yours - it is the dream that your soul sees and your heart weaves. That is YOU. So you must head out with my song in your ear, if you ever hop to be near, the peace the song long seeks and you alone do seek. Listen one last time if thou will. Now you know it you are ready to seek it! Step up and step out. The road is now truly yours."
"See me? See me not? See it for me and see it through me. Live for me as I have lived for you. I have seen the Mirrors... I have stood with them and seen through them. I have seen it all - nearly all... I know it - the secret behind the hills, I know the riddle of the shadows that bend behind the stars. I can read the signs in the moons and I understand the language of owls. Seek out the Great Owls! They will teach you. The wooded road of the woodland road awaits thee - west and south that is where thou feet should greet, let your feet meet with the road of the west!"
DO you hear? Tell me you hear it? The music! Tell me that thou can hear the music?
'We will seek out the Great Owls!' said Tallow. 'Follow me and I will follow you.'
Yes! I hear the music! Sounds like water! Water dripping into water - water echoing through time! For time is water!
And you return to dear Tallow - I will follow if you follow me. And you and Tallow set off.
What else can you do? Turn back?
If that is your wish then close the book! OPEN will be CLOSED!
Fine and fine indeed!
Other than that your only choice is to read on and walk on - Tallow knows the way. And you know the song. You have heard it before even though you cannot remember - O yes you have heard it! You have heard it while asleep. You have heard it in the quiet. It is your song! The song that goes on and on. The song that is in your heart! Tallow follows the road, but you follow the song.
You follow your heart, and your heart is harder and truer and lighter and fairer than the road.
**& #€**
** This way and that! I don't fancy that! But then that is the way of the road...
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Are those old Loricks I see? Or maybe my sight deceives me! Are those the old words carved on that stone?
You ask Lorick.
Mayhap, he replies ominously. 'But who is to know? And who is to care? There is but one road and that is all that we we need to know...'
And you respond bleakly, 'For now!' but you do not say your words outwardly so that they could be heard in the air. You store your words in the back of your mind and keep them there, a treasure chest for worthy ears - a feast for worthy minds. And you plan to save the feast so that when the time is ready it may be appreciated to its fullest.
Tallow leads on.
And he leads on.
What is this road that thou follows?
Is it not fair? Is no darkness lurking there?
No darkness!
The voice in the orb speaks:
"I cannot see it!"
No darkness - not there or here. Not in these fields.
For these fields, o so many fields - are like a dream revealed. Onwards and onwards they go.
You find a beautiful pool of water! It is just there on the side of the road, among the trees and among the grass. It's wasters are beyond pure - of that you are sure and in the waves there are words - they sing you over.
SING! YES SING!
There is a song in the pool:
drip
drip
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In the the sound of the water your hear music, and in the music you hear colour and in the colour you see a scene - a vision of something that had once been...
'This was Hinhall,' said a voice.
It was the orb that was speaking. 'I lived here once. What a place it once was - full of cold and cheer, light and dark - and o so many people bustling and rustling eating and fasting, sleeping and talking. This was the place where it once ALL was. IL miss it with my heart and dream about the halls of Hinhall with my soul. The place was never lost to me! I used to play war games here - games of logic and cunning -
- I miss it! But o well! Onwards and onwards. The road awaits. In a few more steps you will stand in front of the Valley of Birds, and then things will really start to begin!'
Birds. The valley of Birds! Up up and away! Let us fly like the birds to the Valley of the Birds! Lead the way hale spirit! I beg thee, I sing for thee - please lead the way...
'You know the way,' said the orb. 'Follow your heart!'
And that is when you begin to see things, signs...
Look around you.
LOOK.
You see sign in the stones...
The sign of owls...
See the owl?
Yes?
Now you know the way!
One step.
Two step.
Finally YOU see it! The golden valley...
So there it was in all its beauty.
You step up to the owls and they step up to you.
Twee Twoo!
'How are you?'
'Fine,' you answer, but deep down you are afraid. The owls! They are... taller than the greatest trees, and if you please, wilder than the seas. They gleam at thee, their eyes, o they gleam - deeper than the thickest green in the trees.
'Do you see my eyes? Yes! TWEE TWOO! Do you see my eyes? YES - say you? Good. Come closer! My eyes can be like your eyes! Would you like to see with eyes like my eyes? I can give you eyes like mine! Bend your ear a little bit my way and I will sing to thee - it will be a sing about the Mirrors. For art my eyes not like mirrors? Look again at my eyes - look INTO my eyes. Do you see your eyes in my eyes? Do you see your face? That is because my eyes are mirrors! Indeed they are. And it is with mirrors that I can see ALL things. And you can see ALL things as well! Are you ready to see, TWEE TWOO? Will you let me sing to you?'
Still very much afraid, you do not say a word. Young Tallow at your side sees your fear and steps up. he says:
'Sing to us O great owls! We are ready to drink your in lovely words! Please sing to us o mighty owls of the Valley of Birds!'
"Never let us be apart, o art, thou art a thing that plays in my veins - that stirs my blood like a storm, like a sea at peace you art, like a gale shaking in the branches of trees! We shall never ever be apart, o art that sleeps in my veins and whispers in my dreams - when I awake you sing in my heart and play games in my fingers - o art, let us always be a part of a world that is forever warm in winters! O art, let us start, and make art - let thy beauty gleam again and again in endless mirrors...
...Did you hear me sing it? I will sing it again.
Mirrors.
MIRRORS...
Young Tallow takes in a deep breath.
'We must seek out the mirrors!'
That was what WE have to do then.
Seek out the Mirrors!
Seen out the Mirrors!
Young Tallow plucks himself up. He says:
'There is no other way - so they say - but I know a way! Follow me!'
It was time to leave the Valley of the Birds...
'Alas for the observing eye - it was time to cast the gaze away from its glades, the memory of i will always linger but our feet cannot stay there. It was time to make a move. Goodbye fair birds that sing with words! May I see these again in these fair woods!'
Onwards and onwards!
The road swerves and serves as a dream - it feels like it is the only thing that has ever been:
You and Tallow sing he song of the road!
What adventures we might meet. What fine things we might yet greet!
Onwards and onwards!
O the air is warm and sweet, fragrant with lilies of the valley! And the sound of the birds among the leaves reminds you of the Birds of the Valley - you can still hear their song, you can still hear the song of the owl in your ears! It warms your heart...
"Let thy beauty gleam again and again in endless mirrors..."
O that song of the mirrors!
It plays in your heart!
You realise a truth as you walk along. You might only have ONE adventure like this. ONE chance to see the world for what it is. You adjust your backpack and stride on. You are going to make the most of this. This is not just your road - this is your story and you are going to live it to its fullest.
You decide it is the only way. You are going to live the game to its fullest.
Over hills, beside hills and beyond hills... On and on you go until you finally find it - LOOK! I can say without errors, that is indeed the Hall of Mirrors!
There is an owl resting on the mirror. It flicks its head at you and speaks. These are its words:
Look now and see thy heart!
Pick a mirror!
This is where you start.
You look at a Mirror:
Look up and look into it!
Such horrors you perceive? Past? Present? Future? It doesn't matter. What you see is awful and no angle in time will make it look sweeter.
A whisper draws you closer...
"Look nearer- peer deeper! Tell me what you see!"
So you step closer and take a deeper look - the image changes right in front of your eyes...
"What do you see?"
My gosh! What is that? Such horror.
You struggle to find the words - they refuse to arrive in your throat, though you can feel them dancing on the tip of your tongue.
Eventually you find the will again to speak and you describe what you see:
Why does the mirror show you such horrors?
What is the meaning of it all?
You want answers.
ANSWER ME! WHAT IS IN THE MIRRORS!
No response...
I feel a chill creep up your spine.
There is a dark feeling swelling in your heart.
These mirrors...
These visions...
None of it is good!
Not at all.
There is something foul about it all.
It feels like a nightmare is slowly waking up - a NIGHTMARE! Once a figment of the soul, now the nightmare is slowly being woven in flesh. You can't stand it anymore. You look away.
You need time to think, time to rest.
You hear a voice in your head:
"O dear sweet sounds of the world - birds and such - sing me a song! Will you not sing for me? NO? No... So sad. I need a song. My soul - find me a song. Restore a song to my mind. Dig deep into my memory! I need a song. A song that will kind a warm fire in my heart again. O please mercy find me a song!"
There is no song...
No wait! Here it is!
Fade not dear roses, dripping red in dreams -
such dreams after these...
Dear roses - fair poses - nothing might depose it!
NO dream may capture you though thou might stand still - never still are thou...
NO mirror is qualified to capture thy light,
thy might,
such a sight,
as gentle and as fierce as the sun,
O rose thou bleedeth in dreams, repose, like a man needeth
rest from the road.
Thy soul is a dream, that sleeps beyond sleeps and awakes in thoughts that glimmer
in the eye.
Thou dreams are my dreams, give me thou dreams,
bleeding rose - who repose - in worlds born again!
But your world, O rose, with its many mirrors...
O rose...
I beg thee bleedeth into my dreams.
Compose a song worthy to speak to thee.
A song of a dream!
One dream -one thing - that is all I ask
One dream of thee that I might sing of thee,
for such wondrous things are made of thee,
sweet rose, whose red drips into the lips
of the world that doth breatheth thee!
Needeth thee? O needless I dream of thee
O rose please sing for me!
Just sing for me.
"The song is over. My soul sleeps no more. I am awake again!"
You turn away from the mirrors. You cannot bear to look at them a moment longer, NEVER again!
They are not for you, not for your eyes. Absolutely not. You seek sunlight and light in the leaf in the glen and in the face of the flower - you seek not dark things that might devour thou happier dreams.
Young Tallow returns and he has words for thee:
'I have a plan!' says he. 'My brave father, Lord of Antor and Thennett of Aranoth needeth men in his guard. His armies are on the border, waiting to resist the armies of the king. But his home and hearth is inrounded with hollow walls - no blood to fill the gaps. But blood is harder than stone - stones crumble without blood and the king is all out of blood. Will you join us? You would make a fine warrior! I beg you, say yes. Aranoth needs all the blood it can get right now, young blood and hot blood - your blood. So stand up and say yes!'
You hold up the orb and it speaks:
"Follow young Tallow! He is a worthy fellow. Walk with him to Aranoth and you will learn much about the lands. Much indeed. Serve the Thennett of the west. It is a worthy quest indeed. The Thennett is a good man to fight for. You will learn much. You will learn to become a warrior. These tough times need tough men. As the man of the guard that is what you will become. And it will be good for you. It will put strength in your limbs. Strength in the libs means strength for the future. And your future is the future of the world! Remember that I said that!"
You agree.
You will follow Tallow.
Farewell Great Owls! Farewell O fearful mirrors of the past the future and the present! We are heading West. West is where our feet are going - beyond the Dragon Neck Mountains.
It is time to return to the road. With Tallow leading the way you move your feet.
Tallow speaks to you:
'My fathers fort at Komardien is seven suns away! Six if the weather is with us!'
Very well! Then let us make those suns not wait for us.
The road is far but fair.
'Be thankful it is summer,' says Tallow as you walk along. 'Rain and snow make a hard road harder! We may make it in six suns yet!'
Aye. The road is fair and far:
What a gorgeous thing it is to wake up in the morning with the fresh air swimming in your lungs! You pack up and grab your staff and head out.
You eat a loaf as you walk. You left and right, and everywhere your head looks a scene of delight greets your eyes.
The road goes this way and that, around rocks, stones and hill - gardens and little bundles of trees... o please those trees so fair they sing with the cheery throats of birds! A marvellous thing to see and to hear! Blessed is thy ear to hear the sound of the birds and the trees!
An old ruin pops up behind a hill to your right side, what memories lurk there? You might never know - you might never see the place again but at least you have seen it - and the sight of it might have given you a slight taste of what might have been... a trickle of a memory of another soul. Drink it, enjoy and move on.
Each soul nourishes the soul...
You wonder where the road will lead...
What an adventure this is!
O look at that stone...
There are... signs carved carefully into it...
You try to read the signs... you try to read...
^
( Io - )
* * ^ V
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But you cannot read them...
How strange!
A mystery!
A mystery never to be solved not at least by you!
O no! Not by you!
Time to move on.
And after a day or two you see it - a valley fair and far swept all over this way and that in oak and ash - the best dream could never please the sight that you now see. You hum a tune as you go along:
O yes this is for me!
O indeed certainly for me!
So let it be!
Bring it all to me!
There is a beautiful hill ahead crowned with stones eight feet high - perfectly symmetrical. You wonder about their story - how they found there way to be like that...
Another story you will NEVER know.
Sad and yet wonderful.
Beyond this the path curved away into a valley, and down to a bridge that leads over a trickling stream of silver water and beyond that a glen where sunlight is fighting for its place to gleam between the leaves of elms and the bur oak.
And up another hill you ago, where yet another remarkable sight greets you.
What is that on horizon yonder? Can it be? It must be! It is the wild and wily wiles of the mighty Dragon Neck Mountains! There lies the border of Aranoth fair - there lies the start of things that are to be for thee. Have a look and see what you can see:
Tallow tells you that there is a pass through the mountains that will lead right across the Green Heath towards Awatunt.
That sounds excellent.
You tell your good guide to lead the way.
The pass though the mountains is NOT a pleasant place... sadly.
You can see eyes above and below watching you go...
Unhappy unfriendly eyes!
Tallow tells you a story or two:
'This land is cursed my friend!' he says. 'Aye! We use the pass seldom these days. It has become the hiding place for many foul thins. The Torks held court there in the old days, and in these days Rhuks have taken over. There will be some waiting for us no doubt, but I am handy with a sword, thank goodness! How about you? Have you used a sword before? I mean properly, have you used a sword in a fight? Have you slain any beasts before?'
You tell him the truth.
'Then here you go!' Tallow returns, and he hands you a blade.
'Better arm up and ready yourself. There is going to be a lot of fighting ahead, my dear friend, and the Thannett of Aranoth needs fighters.'
You settle down for a meal and Tallow tells you a grim story:
'There is a war going on in the west. A sad war but a necessary one. The Thannett wants to break off from the rule of the King of Bradagus. As we speak he is forging alliances. But Vindark, the King of Bradagus rules three kingdoms, Rotanya and others across the sea, and he is very mighty. But we the Dragon Beck on our border, and once we have fortified its passes we can hold him back! We can crush him, and Aranoth will be one. It is the only way. But the situation is tricky! We have more than one enemy to deal with! But that is enough for now! We will talk about this more another day! Let us enjoy our meal and rest until tomorrow. You will find wine in that flask over there. Drink and enjoy yourself - for our road will be over in a day or three - and then I will bring thee to the throne of the Thennett!'
You enjoy your meal and your drink and spend the rest of the day at rest!
It is as Tallow feared...
The pass is full of foul things...
Ancient creatures lost and full of hate live in the pass. They will attack anything. Strange. Each other. The mountain pass is a place of madness, but you must make your way through it to complete your quest.
And so you put one foot in front of the other and do what you have to do.
And finally you make it through!
Almost...
Something is crawling in the back - so you turn and flash your blade at it. It runs away.
NO fighting today!
Thank goodness for that!
The pass has been cleared! The danger is behind... For now anyway.
Good.
Time to move on.
Ahead of you lies a marvellous pasture land. A few steps lead you to a beautiful inn, a lovely place that you would like to live in.
You enter the cheery homely looking building. O! How marvellous, as wonderful on the inside as it was on the ground outside. The perfect place to rest thy legs and back, to drink, to eat, to forget the weariness of life and the road - thy weary feet let them rest and let them forget the road.
But as you enter the lovely building an old knight, a wanderer of the lands, weary worn and weary beaten, raises a hand up to you and offers you a chance to join him at the table. Looks like he is wanting company!
The Inn is quiet.
The knight wants to chat.
He has a tale to tell.
He offers to buy you food and drink!
How can you deny such a generous patron?
You decide to join him at the table - you drink the ale brought to you by his generosity and widen your ear as he begins to speak:
'I have a tell or three, for thee. Wilt thou hear me through?'
You tell him of course - yes! Tell me thy tale!
And so he tells it to you:
'Were it drinking or stupidity or dreams - I know not - I was a youth and my youth is as lost to me as the waters of the 74 that bathed me in a ceremony when I awoke in the times of yore. I was young when I rose up to serve the flower and the tree, and as the souls of the long departed spoke to me: 'Go forth and do what you must do!' That is what they said to me. And so I awoke one day alone on a misty heath with voices in my ear "rise up and go on." And so I did what I had to do.
A little rest... I needed it...
So I sought the mirrors!
My horse and I set out abroad. It was time to get things done!
My horse and I set out abroad. It was time to get things done!
The land was flowing and rolling in all directions. Everything my eyes fell upon was all alive and well and this was very good to see! On the road ahead there was a bridge waiting for me... and beyond that bridge rolled lands I still had yet to see.
Each step that we took on that road was filled to the brim with the horrors and the wonders of mystery...
What waited for us in the mists yonder?
I raised my sword and shield!
It was time for us to go forth and see!
'Come now Old Wile!' I named my beast after his wily and wild legs. 'Time for you to cross the stones that cross the water, old fellow. There is a forest yonder and hills with wild mountains in between... It is time for us to greet them up close.'
Old stones standing by old stones and a trail with a cave swallowing it - and up on a sharp hillock surrounded by water an old forgotten keep stares down - a burial ground for memories with no one left to remember...
I look up at the keep from my place below - it keeps nothing, sees nothing, protects nothing - serves nothing... It is a folly wedged in a scar of time that only the fish and the reeds in the waters know for only they can hear the song of grass and stones. 'It is up to us to remember this place now, Wile,' I whisper to my loyal friend. 'It is up to us to remember the stories, and to tell them to ears with eyes that might set out one night to see and to think and in thinking kindle a sleeping dream...'
A giant dream. A dream of giants! Giants in mountains... Giant mountains with giants living in them! Maybe that is why giants prefer mountains - somewhere large enough for a big thing to perch and to sleep and to be left alone with the clouds...
Upward we go and downward we go, dear Wile! With thy wily legs trotting over the old stones - another bridge is ready to serve us.
There we go.
Once, my dear listeners, I rode day and night without rest. I rode and we strode till we found a stream, dreaming. Its waters were gleaming, and yonder I see a reflection of something I swore I saw long ago.
It was the mirrors!
At least here we are old Wile!
Stay with me a while longer Wile and ride us forth! You bear my armoured bulk well, just a little more and you will be well enough to rest!
On my dear friend.
The mirrors are with us at last!
In the mirrors I saw myself, but not myself as I was then in the ruined halls, but myself as I might one day be, with my sword and with my shield raised ready for war. In the depth of the mirror I saw a fanged fiend waiting for me...
My quarry?
My end?
I knew I had to find it and finish it.
It was not a voice that told me so - it was the swirling signs in the mirror that made me FEEL so.
So it was upon a feeling alone that I took my horse and rode out again.
Where were we to go?
The mountain pass ahead was fierce and fiercely guarded so...
But the feeling I drew from the mirrors was deep and drove me on.
The feeling drove me and I drove Wile.
I drove Wile, poor Wile, on and on, beyond the menaces of the pass and on beyond the marshes and on into the depths of the wood...
Protest not o horse! I need thee more than thou need thee... So I beg thee. Ride on a little more for me...
My fanged foe is not far below those far misty hills that lie there yonder...
So ride on precious Wile - ride on.
But the way forth was blocked...
Our foes were one sad step ahead of myself and my beast...
My foes had their spears down and up - ready for us to jump.
No way that way...
It was time for me to show my worth as a warrior - to prove to my spirit, to the rot of memory, to the motions of my then young flesh - that I was worthy of my prize to wield a sword, to carry a shield, and to wear the armour worthy of a lord.
"O Wile my fine beast! Now is our time!"
I had my blade drawn in my hand - steel - the enemy of all living flesh. But steel was not going to be enough to win the fight for me. NO sir. I would need to put to use another muscle - one not tide by force of sinew - I was going to have to use my brain!
And so I did as best I could doing that.
And so I did as best I could doing that.
I feigned a direct attack. The enemy tightened their lines - waiting for me to doe - and then my beast and I ducked low, and swerved so, and with a sweeping arch I lopped a head or two - and with another arch there fell another head or three!
And I say to thee and I swear to thee, the enemy broke line and spilled all over the hills.
Then I heard a sound... NO! I remember it not so well curse my age - I play it down! It was a loud sound, a rumble form above and below.
And then I saw it - a hill giant massive and terrible it's intent sure I saw it keenly in its eyes. It meant o to disturb the joy of my fight with the goblins, so I fled so, but with great stride the massive fiend quickly caught up with me and my friend Wile!
It was time for us to hide.
Were it luck, or fortune or secret power at work - take your pick - Wile and I found a cave too small for the giant to fit in, but just about right for us to hide in. And hide we did!
We should have waited for the giant go go by - but then I smelt adventure in my nostrils!
The cave was deep so we decided to follow it.
Good idea or bad idea? Only time nows and yet here I am to tell the tale...
And so on we went, Wile and I, down and on into the guts of the world.
Leading wile on foot we went as far as the light would lead - and when we could not see I lit a torch and on went we. There was a shadow ahead, deeper than the rest of the darkness and IT moved. And it whispered.
Wile and I turned around and fled with speed. NO more of that thank you!
When we remerged fro the dirty hole we pressed on without quest.
I remounted my noble steed and on we trotted, on through the mountain pass on through the woods on and on and into the marshes beyond...
Ere the marshes were brooding ere... I could feel it in the air. The cold air - the air nipping at the tiny bits of skin shinning tween my armour! What is that over there, beyond the air? A mist? Nay! Dragon smoke! Full monster slither so tween smoke and the river flow... The waters jump now and then, and something is rustling down by the fens - warblers in the reeds? I say no. I say yes and yet I say more than that! A heron goes, eel wiggling in its beak - living and living to die! Sunshine shining on its slimy dying belly. The marsh is alive with a hundred things that are unseen and yet they live and live forever in hat forever alive waste of water and vapour.
And between the mist and the slime stands a building, old but yet as young and time. How divine! Another memory to feast on. A feast of memories. The rot is good and flowing tween the moulding rocks, and yet the feeling still rocks in my mind visions accompanied by feelings or feelings with visions of merry meals and wine and fine things - voices walloping in acceptance and mirth - I feel joy more than I feel sorrow when I see the decay in the roots and the bones of that old display. There were souls who once were there that danced and no just danced in a dance but danced with the beat of the song that flows beyond the Dragons glows beyond the scales and beyond the mists that cover this - a place where time does not exist.
It is hard to resist, a press about the stones - to sift among the mould and the juice of the earth... but nay say I , and nay say my horse of mine, Wile says ride on, and ride on my beast and I will do.
But I cannot help but brood and stew when I see that building in my view - those rocks, those stones, those thoughts that sing beyond that - for the song is prettier than that - prettier than the sight that clouds my eyes - that grows the doubt before my mind mind NO! The thought shines deeper, and I wish I could be a seeker of mans residue - but I must be a retreater ad and seeker of a quest that one soul, one memory beyond rot my live in and hope to rot no more.
So on we rode. Fear bestrode the land in front of us. In each nook and cranny it waited with glee and with a sneer. Watching waiting seething watching. Rattling - crackling - howling - a most awful thing to hear.
On the morrow I must face it.
The horror of my dreams. The horror of my life. I must live it and love it.
This whole journey as been one long road toward it.
So what was this journey?
My foot, my muscle, they move so? But did they decide such a fate for me? Was this not a journey of my mind? Was this not me rising myself up to fight my shadow? Were my steps real or were they shallow?
I could not beat it. I had to turn back. The memory of that day haunts me. Let nothing haunt you, my dearest friends! You are still young enough to do what the quest of life has planned for you. Earn yourself not numerous ghosts as I have over the years - memory is a deep rotting thing let it not be the thing you eventually drown in. See me? Look at me please! Drink your wine and then drink in the sight of me! Be not me, I beg thee I implore thee please - be not I, the knight who failed, the soul who turned away. Wile is sleeping in the hay, long gone, bless him, he cut his teeth on the road and earned his spurs. He lived well and earned his death. The same cannot be said for me... I am the knight who failed. Live like young me and wither not like the old me - it is memory that withers not time. Thy memories can be line wine, ripe and full of fruit, or sour to be thrown down by the boot. Live, ride, drink the air! Life is your friend and your enemy. Fear not anything! Truth is the remedy. The truth is that you are the light, the dark, the wind in the grass and the grass without the wind, and the trees with roots without branches until they had branches and until they had seed for you to fly in. You grow not - you simply are.
I thank thee for sharing a drink with me! Thank thee for keeping this old failed knight company, thank thee for wearying his tales. I hope that the song which sing sin the wind of my breath aids thee in the days - the months - the memories that lie ahead.
I see that you are eager to leave!
I will detain thee no longer.
Far thee well my fine fellows - and let thy memories rot not..."
"The knight breathes. The knights sleeps."
The failed knight has shared his tale and you and Tallow decide to up and leave...
The inn was a highly pleasant place!
But it was time to go...
SAD TO GO...
BUT WE MUST GO!
Once again young Tallow takes up the lead. He assures you that there is not much to go now.
He tells you: 'We have one more night out in the open before we find the town!'
Those words lighten you in and out and your steps become lighter and full of joy with each stride!
The land on either side of you is lovely to see - roving fields with daises - deer feeding on the lush grass - heather amid the rocks and then a stream winding between the verdant folds glimmering in the sunshine.
How divine!
Is that singing you hear? Why not head over to those gentle waters?
It is someway from the road but you take the first steps towards the stream anyway.
You are drawn by more than just a gentle love of the scene - it is not mere admiration that lures you to the stream. It is something deeper - and yet also something simpler - something stranger... that is what led you then to the stream away from the road and on into the thick of the scene.
Up close you find its waters to be very clean - but you cannot see your reflection in their ripples - no mirror resides for you in those languid flows.
And then a vision grows inside your head - a strange sign is forming inside if your mind you can see it clearly even though you haven't a clue what it means:
\ v ^ /
~~~#
*&
***
And then the blue orb rumbles up and inside of it your old friend dims into view. He has a few words to share with you:
"Remember well whenever you care the tale the old knight told thee, my wandering friend! He could not face the fiend... He failed in his quest. He was defeated by the one thing that drove him. He was alone in the darkness, nothing but him and his heart and his mission, but in the end he turned around. He gave up! Don't ever give up. Surrender and you will be broke like him - resting in an inn drinking your sins away leaving your finest moments as nothing more than mere words dribbling forth from your lips...
"Don't let your deeds whittle into this - be not words to be banded around between the ears of them who care not for your sound. TAKE CARE! You will have visions and you will see them whenever you are in darkness - hopefully they will lead you - lead you not outside but inside. That is where the real journey is my friend... Let me share with you now your first vision - drink it in before you begin:
That vision... what can it be? Some kind of tree? Cannot be! Cannot be! O vision o vision say something to me! Be clear to me like the waters in the stream... be clear be clear... Not so clear. I can see myself in the waters... the vision is gone - and not gone. It still lives in me!
The orb grows quiet.
It's light begins to fade...
Fade...
It is no more.
You return to the road.
Tallow has setup camp. Has time really gone by that quickly?
Tallow speaks:
'There is a sight over there that few can see.. unless you have the eyes of an oread - beyond the trees - there lies the fringes of Awatunt, a fair town and my home we shall be there when the sun us awake! But for now eat and sleep!'
Eat. Close thy eyes. Open them! Sleep has gone by like a swallow in the sky and now it is daybreak.
Time to step up and step out.
There was a copse of trees.
Looks harmless enough.
Time to go on - nothing to fear here. We have seen trees all the way up and down the road...
And that was when the bandits jumped out.
If the ambush had been planned or not nobody knew and nobody cared - this was the situation you are in now:
Six well armed men two in the trees armed with bows.
They were being led by a giant.
The giant accosts you.
'I thought about reasoning with you for your goods - but I am thinking "Forget that!" I am just going to slay you and take what I want instead.'
Tallow has his hand resting on his sword hilt. He speaks:
'Let us go in peace. My friend and I do not carry much! But I know a man who lives a ways down the road from here. He is very wealthy. He will pay you well if you let us go. So what say you?'
The bandits were not having a wisp of it!
'I say you die!' said the giant.
Tallow leaps like a cornered rat, slices the giants throat with his sword! Then he uses the giants great corpse as a shield against the arrows that eventually flew from the bows.
Time to aid your friend!
You get stuck in! You cut down two of the bandits. The others flee!
'Leave them be,' said Tallow sheathing his bloody blade. 'I do not know how they have manged not to be caught by the patrols... This road is usually well guarded by the Thannetts men I know that from old - this land is my home! Something evil is afoot I am sure of it! But those fallen men have nowhere to go - there will be a patrol out there that will catch them eventually. We on the other hand must keep our energy for the last stretch - and that stretch is almost done.'
You fell the orb quivering at your said. a voice from within its light speaks:
Protect your energy! Feel anger not. See not the splendour in the green? And yet there is always evil about unseen - it is just the way it has always been. You must blend and bind into it, and shine the brightest when the darkness is near...
The road goes around a hill or three - and across a stretch of plain green territory and then it appears before thine eyes - the walls of the town of Awatunt. Young Tallow is a few steps ahead of you and he is calling and waving you on. You hasten your step! Time to get this done!
Over the bridge and through the gates - up and on.
While wandering the way of the towns streets Tallow turns and says to you, 'I have a confession to make. I am more than what I might seem. Here let me prove to you!'
Throwing open the doors they enter the fortified villa near the river in the heart of town.
Once in the hallway beyond the doorway Tallow swiftly concluded his mysterious speech:
'My dear friend! Let me introduce you to my father!'
THE THENNETT!
'Welcome to my hall one and all - welcome to my hall!'
The Thennett calls you over.
He would have words with thee.
You approach carefully.
'Your journey went well?'
'Well enough to say that we lived,' Tallow replied. 'We were attacked. Bandits on the round near the Green Heath. A strange place to find them considering the patrols...'
'Ah! It greaves my heart to tell you my son but we are in these hard times now at war,' the might Thennett relies. 'I petitioned the king to return my crown and release us from his dominion. He returned with harsh words that amount to - NAY. He would not have it. And so I have taken it upon myself to declare rebellion upon the crown, and I will fight until our crown has been returned, my son. I have ordered soldiers east and north to secure our positions there... I had to do it!'
'I understand father,' Tallow returned. 'You have made the right move! Long have I your son and your noble council begged thee and O begged thee again to make a stand against our old enemies from beyond the mountains. May the Ethentuans know our swords!'
'They will know them well enough my son,' the Thennett returned gravely.
'You should be crowned king now my father! Let us forge for thee a new crown... a fresh crown to represent this new age of freedom!'
'I cannot forsake the memory of my fathers - nay I will not do that,' said the Thennett. 'It must be the crown of old, stolen from the hands of my humbled father - your grandfather.'
'Yes! The old man who would rather kneel than fight!'
'Speak not in such a way of your own blood!' spoke up the Thennett. 'His blood is quiet as his body sleeps - but his energy, his light, is still very much alive here in this hall and alive even more in all of us! So step back from the harsh words, but step up ready for the noble war that leis ahead.'
'We will march with what men that can be gathered locally,' said Tallow.
'Nay it will not be that way,' said the Thannett. 'We need but only secure the pass. This will be a war of attrition. We will starve our foes into submission... also I have other plans in pace... Allies I intend to raise. But those are things that concern conversations to be spoke in halls at a much later time. For now though I have a quest for thee and thy companion.'
And the Thennett looks at you.
'Are you ready to fight?'
You tell him YES.
'Good!' says he. 'Then I have something to show thee.'
The Thennett led the two men into the war room.
He had orders for them:
'The Pass is open. I want it closed. You two are the fellows to get this job done!'
'We cannot do this by ourselves,' Tallow replied. 'I consider myself to be rather good with a sword - for sure,
but to hold a whole Pass alone - that would be too great a task even for me and my friend! We will need help!'
'And you will have it,' the Thennett replies. 'There is a token force of my finest warriors waiting for you by the foothills of the mountains. They will join you! Now gather round my friends! Let us drink now to war and glory!'
The Thennett had wine poured in cup for all in the hall (except the guards). They raised their cups:
"TO WAR AND GLORY!"
You chant in return...
to war and glory...
But inside your head you are thinking "I hope so!"
This will be your FIRST war. Are you ready for it?
You rest your hand on the pommel of your sword and take a deep breath.
The Thennett has more to say:
'Meet up with my chosen warriors and hold the Pass for a week! It will give me time to raise my main army. After seven days have gone by I intend to join you! I will march in full force from Awatunt, and when our forces are as one at the Pass we will march east and fight the king on his own soil... Are we ready?'
Tallow says yes.
You says yes.
Time for the mission to begin!
There are rooms with beds of hay in the back of the hall. There you are given time to rest.
One day of rest and that is all.
On the morrow you must rise up and set out.
It is the only way.
Morning arrives quickly.
It is time to go!
Out of the hall, across the road through the gates and onwards...
Tallow is up front, waving you on.
He speaks to you:
'I wish we could have stayed longer at Awatunt. It is a fair and fine place! But war is on us, alas, but maybe after this business with the Pass we will return! Feel sadness not my friend. This is not the end of something good. NO. This is the start of something great! We will return from the eastern campaign heroes! You will see! Now let us head on and head out!'
And off you go!
GO!
GO!
GO!
Three days, you are told, before the Pass will be in sight.
Three days.
Not long.
There should be warriors waiting for them.
Then with their help you must hold the pass against the kings soldiery...
A daunting task indeed!
Time to sleep.
You sleep.
Then you awake...
How long did you sleep?
You don't know.
Everything is DARK.
Your camp is surrounded and covered in all directions by mist -
You cannot see before you or behind you...
What foul business is this?
The night was clear before you let your eyelids fall. And yet there you were - surrounded in darkness and overlapping gloom...
This can't be real.
NO!
It's a nightmare.
ANd then a voice that appears to have actually read your kind answers you - it says this:
'You are not in a nightmare, mortal. Let me welcome you to your destiny! I have long waited for this moment and now... finally...'
And out of the wispy waves of gloom and figure looms - they are armed... weapons drawn!
Who is it that is attacking?
Do you recognise them?
You fancy that you do...
Is that...?
NO!
But yes!
IT'S TALLOW!
He lunges with a dagger in his hands!
But why?
He is your friend - he has led you from shore to shore, across hills fields and over mountains - and now this? He strikes you with deadly weapon drawn?
You refuse to believe your eyes.
NO.
This cannot be!
Your good friend and guide would never behave in such a way.
NO.
It has to be a nightmare.
You close your eyes.
It is time for you to embrace the nightmare!
fierce and foul - hot and terrible. The feeling is in your left shoulder...
You dare not open your eyes.
You grow numb.
Sleep overtakes you.
It is time to roll over and drift with the way of dreams...
And then you awake!
Amazingly you are alive.
And amazing even more still the nightmare was not a nightmare, not not so! Everything you bore witness to, the darkness, the mist, your friend armed with a knife, it was all very real, and you have a bloody wound leaking blood from your left shoulder.
What are you going to do?
You do not have the skill to mend it?
Maybe this is how your road will end?
The mist has cleared, thank goodness, and a hooded figure emerges from behind a standing stone not far from view. He has a few words for you:
'You have been poisoned,' he said. 'I will try to help you. But you must trust me!'
You say that you will trust him.
What choice have you?
Blood is flowing from your left shoulder and showing no signs at halting.
The hooded fellow lends you a hand and helps to lift you up.
That is when you notice something very odd about him...
He doesn't have a face...
Was he ghost?
Perhaps you are dead after all! The poison got you and killed you!
And then the figure says to you:
'Slaughter all doubt that lurks in thy brain, and refrain from weakling thoughts! You are under my vigil now. Call me D. Nothing more. Follow me or die...'
D?
That was a name?
You don't care at that moment.
The blood is flowing down your arm...
You decide to follow the strange shadow bound figure.
'The horror of thee is in the heart of thee,' said D. 'That is why you must listen tome. Listen to me at ALL times. You have a new quest before you. My voice - your feet - my words - your ways. You live and die according to what I say,' said D.
You want to weep...
But you cannot find the tears...
* *
* *
* *
*
~~~~~~
You take a deep breath and you say inside of your head:
"NO."
That is all that you say.
The world is not what you thought it was.
You will find it hard to trust ever again.
Tallow was your friend...
Or so he appeared to be.
A good man from over the mountains, a man with a good heart. The son of a Thennett on a mission.
Except he was a changeling - and you have been changed forever.
You have moire words to say inside your head:
"I trusted Tallow, who prove fallow, and now I must trust this shadowy fellow? I don't know if I can do it... But O the pain! I can feel the poison marching about in my crumbling veins. I will follow him, as I once followed Tallow..."
BUT YOU WILL NOT TRUST HIM.
Not yet anyway.
The journey goes on.
Across the waters you go.
Thy journey is like a dream - a dream of mists - a dream with no time. A dream of a nightmare outside of time without rhyme.
And D says:
I will show you the way down into the deeper dark, for in the depths of the dark lurk the dreams the dreamer needs to dream of light - but there is not light without dark - so drink in the dark my friend...
"Drink in the dark my friend."
O up! O up! Please skies lift me up?
No?
O very well.
Drop me down and I will strive my best O indeed I will strive.
I have friends indeed...
Strange friends, and they whisper to me in sleep and unsleep.
Finally you reach the shores of the land beyond and D lifts you up and leads you on.
D? Give me a better name than that! I cannot keep calling you that!
What madness is this?
"No more names none of that," says D to thee. "You just follow me!"
The land beyond the wisps of the sea was fair and strange.
The strangeness is strange, but it was also strangely fair...
You can smell it in the air! Change is there.
D leads you up and along.
He leads with confidence he knows where he is going.
What choice have you but to follow?
"O the poison it bites!"
Onward you go.
And as you go there is so much to know...
And yet so little do you know...
O ho! Help us! Help us all! Let us know...
D speak up!
He speaks no.
But he leads.
The land ahead and around is odd...
You see it right away and can tell not is all quite well.
There is an island surrounded by trees, and in the middle of these trees there is a lake.
And in the middle of the lake there is a stony tower, and the tower is broken up and left and right. The door is broken down and the walls are cracked. The windows are portals to doom...
But amid this gloom a tree rises full alive right in the heart of the stone.
What a thing to see!
Your eyes are gladdened by the sight of it:
Follow me...
Onward and inward you go, across the water, and through the stone.
And with time you are in the old building.
You made it.
One and whole you made it.
It is a very old building. No soul bound in flesh has walked these ruins in a long time.
Among the ruins a mirror stands, tall proud and quite apart from all else that there is to see.
D invites thee to look at thy reflection...
... and so you look...
NOTHING.
You are fading into Shade!
You will soon fade into memory.
So let us remedy your journey out of destiny.
D has words for thee:
'Join with me,' says D. 'Join with me and be a part of me and then you will be free for eternity. Will thou sync with me?'
You have a decision to make.
Here are your choices...
Sink back to the waters and to doom...
Or resume thy quest and take up the request of your new friend who unbelievably calls himself D.
'I will drink with thee,' say thee. 'Just please save me.'
D goes ahead and does a chant or three:
Hum Dee Dee
Hum INDEED Tee...
There is a image for thee
In the mirror you can see a fine cup.
'This is my gift to you,' says D.
Then D turns into the cup - the thing is presently brimming and foaming with his foul shadow essence.
'DRINK. Drink for this will save thee!' says D.
You feel a burning sensation on your chest. It is the orb that you have been carrying with you throughout your journey across the land. It says this:
'Drink not! I beg thee do not drink from the cup. You are a fool if you do!'
But you are dying and this is the only way you can be saved.
So you take up the cup and you drink the foul putrid essence that is foaming inside.
A voice no speaks inside your mind. It speaks in a low deep and very serious voice:
You are now a castle - and I am YOUR MASTER!
The poison is no longer burning inside your veins.
You are finally free of its evil!
Thank goodness! What a relief. You step out of the ruin and toss the blue orb into the lake. You don't know why you do it, but you do. You can feel something commanding you - and there is a voice now that whispers between your ears.
'You have done the right thing! Hear me and I will hear you,' says the voice in your head. 'I want to survive and grow and so do you. And together we will grow. O indeed I will show, we will grow. You will see everything that I can do, as a gift for you - I will lead you across the land. I will show you who you really are and what you can be - what you will one day be if you but let me lead thee!'
You ask, 'Where do we begin?'
And the voice returns:
we get Vengeance.
vengeance for you.
and vengeance for me.
'Wait by the rocks and by the trees, wait for the night to take ease,' the voice goes on. 'Night will be a robe of fine protection to you. With the night around you and above you, no one will see you from before or behind. In nights robe you will be like a ghost. Powerful. No one will see you. But you will see them. You still have your sword? Good! You will need it and you will use it. TONIGHT!'
Tonight is the night! You will return to the town and rid yourself of your enemies.
'Yes. That is right, tonight you will return to the town where this nightmare for you started... You will take the road to Awatunt. On top of your old feet it would have taken a day or two to reach its walls, but that will not be so not now. I have YOUR POWER to live, and you have MY POWER to kill. The night will carry you on wings of smoke to the walls of Awatunt as soon as the sun has dropped and the moon is hidden by the arms of the Dragon! Then you will have YOUR time. You will seek out the changeling who tried to kill you, your faux friend Tallow you led you astray, and tried to slay with a knife dressed in ghouls blood. You will find him, under your dark hood, with your robes of night around you, flying on the breath of the Dragon - with night in you and out of you. And you will return the favour to the foolish ghoulish changeling...'
The voice finished. He has given you a quest. A quest that you both shall share.
In the air you hear a voice calling to you, pleading to you, from the waters.
This is what the voice says to you:
I beg thee do not fly
Fly thee not!
Fly not with the wings of night...
The night is a friend only in sleep.
But when the night does speak it is not thy friend.
Awake - friend - awake!
But wake NOT with the night.
But if the wings do carry thee,
Remember me...
Remember me...
And I WILL remember you!
Keep thy VIGILANCE in the night.
It might save thy plight.
Remember the word - and it will remember YOU.
Good night dear friend.
LIVE in the DAY.
And then voices speaks and rises over so that it is the only voice that you can hear:
What do you desire?
Peace? A warm hearth? Good food and warmth?
Would such things please thee?
You know the your answer. NOW SELECT:
You choose Vengeance.
Finally you awaken outside the walls of the town of Awatunt.
It is night.
The shadows are before you behind you and within you.
You pass the gates and none see you.
You ask a fool for the prince and he leads you.
And there he is finally, in his hall, quaffing wine like the whole world was his to dine upon.
TALLOW. CHANGELING. GHOUL. FOE.
He knows you are there, he sees your shadow in the corner.
His guards maybe fools - but the changeling is NOT.
He confronts you in his true form:
'I like your knew look,' he says. 'It suits you.'
You draw your sword.
********
To be continued... (this is an ongoing work and I shall add to it as the days go by. Best wishes dear reader - SWW).
NOTE to the reader: This story is a precursor to a MASSIVE story I have written and I am currently editing called The Trials of Rudwin. So this story is setting that story up - if that makes sense? Anyway this story here in this blog OPEN is just a bit of fun. I hope you enjoy reading it! Best wishes!
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