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Gugs don't usually come to the surface.  Old curses and things like that. Turns out that solitary Gugs are a precursor to the Gugs, a dream that is fading away, which is why they are found here. I'd just a soon they weren't, thank you very much. Though, taking a Gug as a team, we were equal to one of those hideous giants.  With the noise they made, as long as we were careful, we had plenty of warning to set up or to try to avoid them. Eventually, as we headed through the forest, the white raven led us to a ruined maze by the sea shore, with a tower in the middle. It looked like a ziggurat, only with a decay to it, and the top was caved inwards and down rather than up. Further out, the sea shore was bounded by a different maze, and we saw a sail boat there. Then I spotted a man with a turban and a cat on his shoulder, looking at the gate into the crumpled tower. As he did, the decaying red plants all swayed ominously. Jean-Robert hailed him and he started, surprised by us, then hailed us back. He was there seeking a grimoire in the tomb of the sorceress Ghadamonihah. He had already tried and failed twice, and was trying to decide how to go about it the third time. Her grimoire had a void recipe which he needed for his ship, to travel beyond the world's edge. He had no taint of chaos about him, and he promised he would bear us away from this place if we assisted him, so we decided to help. At first it went very smoothly. Ghadamonihah sleeps the sleep of the decaying damned, stirring, but barred from action unless disturbed. We were stealthy as a group, with most of us taking the perimeter, just in case. But as Ariel took the grimoire, undead fingers broke through the top of the crystal coffin and reached for her. Ariel was quicker, and in a burst of lightning was with us, holding the book. But then it was war. First the sorceress summoned the corpses of her dead retainers and the red plants erupted with the risen dead. She struck with devolution, regressing several familiars to their prior shapes. Chaos wrapped around Wolfie and tried to burst his heart, but the dragon's eye rune resisted it and the spell failed. As arrows stung her, tendrils flowed from her, attempting to dissolve Marie, skeleton and all, but her magic protection saved her. Amber's fire distracted her and as we fled through the gate, the temple mount began to cave in on her as her undead dreaming failed her. We escaped before the building completely collapsed, but we saw it crumple into the ground, swallowed up as one more lost and failing dream. The sorceress had finally failed and her magic was broken. The grimoire, however, had the necessary spells, though now we needed to help him find the ingredients. All we needed to do was to sail back to the lands of the living dreams. Something we all wanted to do. First we had to deal with the Gnor maze that was between us and the open sea. It, and the occasional Haemophore and residual Beings of Ib haunted these waters. We could wait until the sunfall and sunrise, when the Gnors were at their sleepiest. All that meant was getting on our way by five o'clock in the morning.

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Tinda ... Yes? Ok, why don't we just fall asleep and wake up back home? Because we are here. What? We are really in the dreamlands, we are completely in the dream lands, body and mind.  For us this is not a dream. Well, darn, so much for that idea. That sorceress could give you nightmares. Bald and rotting, with a fringe of hair growing from her neck and ankles (and her ankles revealed cloven goats feet, not a human's toes). A long and leech-like tongue quested out of her mouth, and a nimbus of green tentacles sprouted out of her shoulders like wings. I sure was glad that when we burst out of the ziggurat, she did not follow. But a night here meant setting up camp, taking turns with the familiars (who recovered from the devolution) watching for predators, and a chance to sleep next to Wolfie -- he at least was warm. We also had the land locked part of the maze to stay in, with the walls to give us shelter and protection. The night was over before it started. It was nice to get some quiet sleep without anything that brought me awake, curses ringing and magic flying. Wolfie just grunted when I mentioned that, and I saw the Haemophore that had tried to sneak up on us during his watch. Ah well, I got my beauty sleep, so to speak. The man in the turban is Mironim-Mer al Sarrub, and his cat is called Fortune. Now it is time for us to set sail. I've never deal with Gnors before, all I know is that their mazes collect and digest rotting dead sea dreams. Seems a little smelly, but surely not that bad. Especially since we are headed to Dylath-Leen, with the dark towers reared up with rigid menace and the slave markets filling the dismal city with squalor and hopelessness. It is, naturally, a place close to the dreamworld's sewer, not that far across the seas. But it has a market for the ingredients Mironim-Mer needs, and he seeks word of his lost kinfolk, taken by slavers many weeks past. Given that time flows unevenly in the dreamworld, it may be months or only days. If he finds a trace of them in Dylath-Leen he has asked us to help him, if not, he knows of an oracle that might help. Tinda thinks we should aid him, and the white raven says our path home runs through him for now. Well, Gnors, breakfast of champions, or so I'm told. Even better, sleeping Gnors, and we eat breakfast without them (or any slime demons either -- I can just picture Gnors and slimers together). Then just a quick, enchanted sail across the inner ocean to Dylath-Leen and from there we can surely find a gateway home.

I think I'll talk about Dylath-Leen in a flash-back, sort of (maybe a flashforward? anyway, I hope it will make sense), from later, when Tinda and his father met at the harvest festival, starting with what happened when his father addressed him. Tindalasse, Sar Anon, de minimus (that is not a good greeting to get from your father if you are an elf or one of the Shidhe) ... Yes? I have heard rumors of your visiting the slave markets of Dylath-Leen in the dreamworlds and how you have used those allied with my house. Yes? It seemed like a good idea to make a good entrance to avoid trouble. And we made a good entrance. Indigo stood at my right with her wolf at her right hand, and we formed up a retinue to walk in, armed and ready. Tindalasse, Sar Anon, de minimus, so you had a prince of the Elachi run at your stirrup, an assassin at your right hand and put the Rukh's daughter in your train while a sorceress rode a griffin at your left side? Yes, what? Michael is a prince? Of the Elachi?! Uh, it seemed like a good idea at the time, and I was just keeping Amber safe behind me. Tindalasse, Sar Anon, de minimus, just how much of the wine of Sarrub had you been drinking when you did that, for I know one of Sarrub was in your train as well. Yes. He was, but as a guest we were aiding in return for his help in escaping a trap in the deep dreamlands. We were venturing into Dylath-Leen in order to seek out news of his fellows who had been taken, and to ransom or rescue them if we could. So Sar Anon, that explains why you went sailing beyond the edge of the world to Sarrub. And why you took Arilindalle as a slave? Well, they wouldn't just give us Arilindalle when we found her. As the merchant said "Something precious, perhaps what you are really seeking? The price is a mere kings ransom, but worth it." She was, of course, worth what we were able to find to pay. Tindalasse, can you explain why you let her be bought as a toy for an assassin,  a hand of death ?, Uh, it wasn't like that. I didn't have any money on me, and Indigo had found some blood gems hidden in a box, of uncertain provenance, but great value. We couldn't just leave Arrilindalle once we saw her, who knows what would have become of her, and so Indigo bargained for her and the gray veil, but not as a toy. Never as a toy! And we found no sign of the others of Sarrub, so we inquired of their oracle. It was a short sail, though it did take us beyond the walls of this world.? es? Tindalasse, then why didn't you return her home immediately? Well, we had the pact with the man of Sarrub to honor, and she needed comfort, so it just kind of worked out that she stayed with me while things happened. You know we faced a Wendigo on Sarrub? That we traveled to Yundi and the coals of fire to rescue the Sarrubian's fellows? And I have brought you back of the yellow wine of Sarrub as a tribute and a gift of thanks for restoring that people? And, er, that I and Arilindalle are somewhat , kind of affianced, er honest, Dad, nothing formal, but ... we really grew close on the voyage and I'm her only comfort that stills the nightmares. Tindalasse, Tindalasse, Tindalasse [said in kind of a sigh, but it is the triple use of the name that acknowledges one's heir]. Indigo is talking with the Joyous King right now about his daughter and letting him know that she is safely home. es? Tindalasse, my son, my son in whom I am pleased, come sit at my hand. Ok, I shortened up the dialog, it had lots of elvish stuff in it, changing titles and technical phrases, and I think that Tinda will be finished with being grounded by Christmas. Not to mention that it was fun to speak to the king in Gold and Sapphire (another name for the Joyous King, who used to be the King in Gold and Ruby, but gold and ruby are the Rukh's colors and he is wary of pushing his luck). The line before him kind of melted away, though it was really tense, which seemed strange. Looking back, I guess they thought I had the nerve to rub their face in his daughter now being my body slave. When I got to the "returned safely to you, by the grace of luck and fortune [his attributes, it seemed like a nice play on words and I didn't want to focus on the unpleasant parts, though it also was a formal statement that she was returned to him by virtue of his grace and power and not due to anyone else, or subject to any claims]" everyone suddenly started smiling -- if they hadn't been elves there would have been a celebration -- I could feel the difference and the king, himself, lost control and threw himself from his throne and clasped his daughter while his wife looked like she would kill anyone who made the wrong comment, then broke into tears herself. Sheesh, I thought Pork Chop had taken care of all that so there wouldn't be any emotionalism, little did I know he had screwed up the message.  To think that I had already given him forty pounds of the best pork and ham cuts we could find. I glared at him, but he was so stuffed full of pork that he just waddled away. The bit of dialogue (and the whispering that went on) is also when we found out that Amber and Ariel knew that Michael was a prince, and the son of the Lightwalker's herald, sent to find us, yes, but also sent to let Michael recover from a terrible injury he had received, and of greater stature and precedence than Tindalasse. I guess I wasn't fair to him when I was thinking he was a bit puny. Letting him run at the drepnir's bridle was a faux pas of sorts, though the Bitter King relaxed when he realized it was something Tinda did in ignorance (now I know what was going on when Amber started to speak up at the idea and Ariel hushed her. Michael just smiled when the idea was suggested and when the Bitter King started talking to his son about it, but it was a good natured smile. Later I saw him talking with the Bitter King, and giving him a small badge in the shape of a Phoenix, ruby and fire-gold -- the only faction badge for the Rukh I've seen or heard of other than one Michael started wearing. Michael and Ariel are really starting to get along well, and he doesn't have any sort of ego problem at all. As for the Bitter King, everyone whisper's at how even the herald sends gifts of her favor. The "badge" is also magical, able to absorb fire and to breath out flame. Though just because we all were happy did not mean that Tinda was out of trouble, and he had known he was pushing his luck. After all, there was the political statement that got made by his having me at his right hand. Actually his having Michael and I out front was a way to let Wolfie and Michael lead -- Michael so the white raven could guide us to the right pathway and Wolfie to scent out any danger ahead. It wasn't a statement that he was hunting enemies on behalf of his father.  Darn it, everyone at court is starting to talk about me as "the Bitter King's assassin" or "his hidden hand" as if I was an old fashioned hand of death in an elvish court. And everyone got the wrong message about my ransoming Ari-Lindallay (well, it isn't written like that, but it sounds like that) -- as if I was buying her for a toy as a sign of relative power in the Court[s]. I gather a ransom should have been paid by Tinda, something else by someone in his entourage, depending on the meaning and significance, taking her as a toy is what happens when a hand of death makes the purchase or pays the price. Guess I need to end the flashback now, more or less (since it is actually kind of a flashforward). The only meaning of my paying the sales price (which would have been a ransom except the price would have gone up) was that I had those three blood gems in that box I had taken from the stone table alter, when it broke and the hidden box was shown. They were the magical heart of the alter, and I had real qualms about what may have happened to their magic, though given the type of people in Dylath-Leen and the lack of chaos taint, no one there would worry (each of the blood stones had picked up a +6 angry, +6 intemperate/arbitrary, +6 lustful modification, which of all things, made them even more valuable to the slavers). When we got home (the whole thing lasted just a night) Arilindalle wanted to stay with Tinda, who was the only person she could sleep around without nightmares. She had clung to him the entire trip. I figured I could just present her to her parents at the harvest festival. Elves are usually so detached from children and time, a little wait seemed harmless. Not to mention, she was the Joyous King's daughter, but only adopted by his queen (she was, an, er, non-quite legitimate issue of the Joyous King and the previous Bitter King's wife before that Bitter King fed his wife to the slime demons as part of his pact with chaos), though Arilindalle has actually been named as the Joyous King's heir, unlike Tindalasse. The details of how she ended up in the slave markets were a little confused, so who wants to take a risk of having her exposed to enemies back at court before we could be with her. We sent word, I mean Pork Chop told the Bitter King and the Joyous King so they could handle the announcement in the best way possible, right. And we didn't hear back with any instructions? How was I supposed to know that the court took all that had happened, including the messenger as Arilindalle being reduced to house toy status, without hope of any change other than death?  Elves (and yes, I know when I say it that way everyone hears "Idiots" -- but really!). Anyway, the slave markets did not help Mironim-Mer al Sarrub and there was no trace of his friends, so we needed to seek out the oracle. We sailed, and suddenly noticed that we were not sailing on the ocean of dreams. The trip was fast and Sarrub was nothing like we had expected, it was covered with snow and cold.  I had expected warm vinelands, more like the Greece of my youth (well, I was four years younger then).  Mironim-Mer al Sarrub seemed very upset, not to mention the things living there did not seem to be doing well with the cold, though they were hostile -- the few that we met. We just by-passed them, who has time for fighting with poisonous reptiles and amphibians, and Mironim-Mer seemed reluctant to engage them in combat.   When we reached the oracle, something was very wrong, Chaos stunk in the air, the Oracle told us to flee and then the great mirror of seeing erupted as a Wendigo started to spill out.  The fight was hideous, the Wendigo was a great old one of storm and cold,  eye-covered tentacles reaching for us that just kept coming, until it seemed like there was nothing we could do. Then Parakile broke the mirror, which severed the Wendigo in half, a mortal wound for even it. Severing the Wendigo broke the cold afflicting Sarrub as well, though using Amber as a fire source, Parakile was also able to repair and renew the mirror. Nothing like a fire elemental for a true forge's fire heart. Which let us discover where Mironim-Mer al Sarrub's friends and lover were. The oracle mirror without a Wendigo possessing it was helpful int he extreme. But I could have skipped knowing that they were prisoners on the world of ewWendian, which circles in the lands of dream aorund the glowing coals of Yundi. I could have skipped knowing that.  The glowing husk of Yundi, a lot of evil has come from there, and if they were there, we had to go with him to help rescue them. Yundi's sun is dead and shattered and Yundi has no real world left, only the dying dream of those given over to chaos and evil, so what life is at Yundi is all in the dream realms. In dream the dead sun was is a glowing ring of coals. Yundi floats in orbit around it, part of a chain of worldlets and shattered rock, home to Wenelian slavers, their servants and the hideous monstrosity (Dyaus-Pitar) they feed to maintain their undying land. -- That is a fungus encrusted Wenelian. All of the Wenelians are fungus encrusted, some completely, some only partially. The Wenelians have mortgaged their forms and future to the Migo, sentient fungi from Yuggoth, for servants and power, anything to escape the death that has claimed their world for their sins. The picture below is another look at a Wenelian, this one more in its "normal" shape and colors. They shoot darts from those whistling mouths, spew vapor from the other orifices and claw rabidly at themselves and others. They are feared slave traders and slave takers, using slaves for many sorts of abominations, though feeding all to Dyaus-Pitar in the end, his hunger for sentient sacrifice the darkest evil as he eats their young as well as the slaves they trade in for him/her/it/him. The rescue of the Sarrubians from the Wenelians was a combination of stealth and sharp fighting, but we made it out and Mironim-Mer was good to his world and delivered us to the realms of dream that adjoin the campus where I go to school.  Tinda opened the way for us and we returned to Oregon. Just in time to go to the next day's class, having missed all of Sunday in our journeys. Well, Thanksgiving is coming up, so I'll get another break, and then Christmas. Should be interesting to see how the fall festival goes at the Court. Speaking in the present (post Thanksgiving) everyone has agreed that Tinda can comfort Arilindalle until Christmas, when she might be ready to go home, both fathers are resigned to the comforting and the Joyous King is actually a bit relieved that it wasn't what he feared. Not that it still might not get Tinda in trouble (well, you've seen my "flashback" -- you know he got into some trouble with potential for more), but elves are elves some times and I'm not interested in having her sleep in my room, nightmares and all, though I've loaned her "Major Major" to watch over her. Teal about had a heart attack when we explained who she was to him, and he is short staffed right now. Guess he decided I can look after myself for a while, though he gave Wolfie a badge and told him to look after me. Though, at the end of the day, I now have the neatest veil. I'll be wearing it to Court.

Copyright 2001-2004 Stephen R. Marsh and Heather N. Marsh E-Mail comments and suggestions to: story (at) adrr (dot) com We would love to know how you got here and what you think about the site All Rights Reserved Terms of Use / Story Index

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