Lamekis

by Charles de Fieux

  These words seemed so fitting to me that I cried out, “Oh Vilkonhis, let your will be done!” Hardly had I said this when two winged men appeared, like the ones we picture as Spilghis.50 They held a finger to their mouths and motioned me to follow them. I obeyed. They led me into another room, paneled with gold and in the middle was a bed on which a radiantly beautiful woman was sleeping. Her skin was the color of rose and her features beyond compare. I knelt on the ground and contemplated the young beauty whom I had not noticed was stirring. She sighed in her troubled sleep. Without knowing why, I shared her troubles. One of the Spilghis tapped her with a crystal rod and she woke up screaming, which made the two celestial men vanish. The stranger’s reaction affected me. I opened my mouth to say something reassuring, but I felt myself rising up despite myself. She jumped out of bed and grabbed my arm to help me, but a zenghuis51 struck the divine woman’s hand and she collapsed on the ground. I wanted to avenge this treachery, so I turned around to see what barbarian had the gall to attack and I found myself staring into the ghastly face of a monster, holding me in its arms, and I got so scared that I woke up with a start.

  Boldeon was waiting impatiently for me to wake up because he was upset by my restlessness. He urged me to tell him what was wrong. I was so disturbed that I did not answer for a long time, but I finally got hold of myself and told him about my dream.

  “It’s not for nothing,” he said, “that Vilkonhis speaks and this new evidence is sure proof of your birth. It is said in one of the prophecies that a woman the color of Ascalis will give birth to a hero who will make the Abdalles happy and their most valuable goods will be due to him. Oh Motacoa, if the oracle speaks through you, I hope you will be happy and become beloved and honored! Let’s move on under the auspices of this divine omen; the master of the sun guides us. Can we get lost when we are led by such a powerful hand?”

  Talking together like that we went into the depths of the mountain. Soon we came upon the snake that Falbao had conquered. It was still alive and its dying eyes were dreadful. The dog looked away and seemed to want me to do the same. I followed my instinct, which was a good thing because the awful snake struck out when it saw us and its forked tongue broke off a piece of rock. We sped up and after three karies or so we got out of the cave.

  I was going to take a path that I thought I recognized and that I believed would lead me to Lodaï’s grotto, but when I turned around I could not see Falbao. A grave anxiety took hold of me. I had got used to the animal and I loved it. I yelled at the top of my lungs and cried while Boldeon ran around looking for him. I did the same and as night was falling we got lost. No matter how loudly I yelled, nothing answered.

  “Oh Heavens, here I am fallen into bad luck again. Falbao! Falbao, whom the gods gave me for comfort. Oh, I will never see you again! And you, Boldeon, whom I led into this awful desert, what is going to become of you! Wandering around and worn out by remorse as much as by walking, I’m going to lay down under the weight of sorrow and close my frightened, troubled eyes.”

  Weariness and weeping was starting to make me drowsy when I heard a dull, terrible sound. I opened my eyes. “Oh Heavens! What is this I see in the light of the subterranean fires! What horrifying sight is this?”

  A man (can I call it that?) was coming toward me. His head, arms and chest was like a man, but the rest of his body was like a worm, except that he was as big as the thing that Falbao had battled. He was huge and moved using his coils. Sometimes he dragged himself along with his hands and sometimes he stood up straight. His nose was very fat and flat and bent down into a point that almost covered his upper lip. His eyes were small and round and completely surrounded by thick eyebrows. His horrid face was marbled red and his beard and all the hair that covered his body grew together.

  Barely looking at him I yelled and ran away as fast as I could, turning around now and again, knowing that sooner or later I was going to fall prey to the monster. Leaning on his hands he bounded forward so far that he almost caught me, but then against all hope I saw Falbao running to my rescue. What a relief! When the worm man saw him he turned tail and rushed away. Falbao followed him. I got worried and called out to him as loudly as I could because I needed him around and could not stand the idea of losing him a second time. When he came back I petted him and the lovable animal answered in his way. He went ahead and I followed him confidently.

  We had barely gone 30 feet and I heard horrible screams. I was ready to run away again, but I stopped when I heard my name called and recognized Boldeon’s voice. He was begging for my help and in spite of the fright I had just experienced I had to run toward the cries. My dog, as if reading my mind, went first and was on the trail in no time. Imagine how I felt after rounding a corner and seeing Boldeon in front of me in the arms of one of those monsters running away with his prey at full speed. Falbao followed them, but the worm man thrust forward with so much energy that whenever the dog got near him he jumped forward in a single bound and was 30 feet farther on. During this awful chase I could do nothing but follow at a distance, but seeing my dog scare everything he saw gave me confidence. We ran for around an hour and I was starting to peter out when a cave suddenly appeared in front of the monster and he flung himself inside. Falbao chased him and since I was desperate and afraid of being alone again in such a scary place knowing what kind of creatures lived there, I followed them.

  I entered a large opening lit up so brightly by bitumen that it was easy to make out the minutest details. I went trembling into this dreadful place and had not gone 60 feet when the road split into four parts. I was in a terrible quandary because they all seemed to go in different directions. Which one had Falbao taken? Three of them were lit by bitumen snaking through the rock, but the fourth was deadly dark and horrifying. I was not sure what to do, but then I saw a bunch of those monsters coming down the middle path straight in front of me, apparently trying to tell me something. I was so gripped by fear that my legs shook and had no strength to move. In vain I tried to get hold of myself; my nerves refused to obey. Meanwhile, all the hideous faces surrounded me, twanging awful flute-like sounds.

  After huddling together, one of them grabbed me with his strong, sturdy hand and shrieked, shaking me with all his might. What could I do against the iron fists of a giant? The monster put me under his arm and hurried down the dark passage. He held me so tightly that I was about to faint and he noticed it. Afraid that I might die, he grabbed me by the feet and carried me like that. Around 20 constantly buzzing creatures followed us. After walking for an hour like that, which seemed like a century in my uncomfortable position, we came out of the rock. I was so shaken up by the bouncing monster that I passed out, but snapped out of it right away because of the new, painful way of carrying me—by the hair. I screamed in pain and they twanged fluty again. The result was to carry me by the neck. As uncomfortable as this was, it was gentle compared with the others.

  After walking half a karie like this an odd building came into view. It seemed to touch the sky, which I could see here. Its foundation looked like four shapeless columns made of a strange material supporting the building that had a round door, a square façade and a statue of a worm man whose two tails and coils formed the entablature. The building extended on both sides and the back looked like it was attached to the mass of shiny rock. A great number of worm men were coming and going, or better said were bouncing around on the platform, and others were crawling either up or down the ramp that led to the door of the building, which was guarded by several of these monsters who stood out from the others by a kind of short cape made of those crimson feathers I mentioned before. They wore a cap that looked pretty much like a dried pumpkin decorated with gems and in their belts they carried zenghuis52 made of shiny metal. But the most terrifying of all were their ghastly faces.

  When we got to the building the monster carrying me made a stupendous jump to the door, which was more than ten measures up. The guards surrounded him when they saw him loaded with me and one afte
r another they brushed their hand over my face. After this ridiculous, annoying ceremony, we went through the door into a huge room where 100 guards were lined up, looking surprised to see me. Then, the one carrying me, who could obviously go no farther, gave me to the first guard and he gave me to the second who gave me to the third and on and on I went faster and faster from hand to hand across the grand hall and through others that I did not have time to examine. Finally I arrived at a large door decorated with the most precious things that were found in the center of the earth and they put me down. Everyone in this big room came up and stared at me as hard as they could. A minute later the door opened and a daffodil-colored face that looked like a woman popped up with a finger over its mouth. At this sign the usual buzzing stopped and the people stood still. Then the door closed again very softly. But what really struck me was that I distinctly heard yapping that sounded like Falbao. I listened more carefully and had no doubt that it was my faithful dog.

  I was concentrating on this when the door flung open. I had never seen such a strange and beautiful sight: there were four rows of worm women marvelously dressed and covered in gems. They carried a six-branched candlestick with pieces of wood burning like candles that lit up the room furnished with the most wonderful things you could imagine. It was a square room that went back as far as the eye could see and ended in a colonnade of transparent stones with very high arches. The middle of it was covered with a dome encrusted with many shiny, precious minerals. Behind this arch, which you could call “de triomphe,” was an elevated armchair. Sitting there was a woman whose beauty captured all my attention and kept me from looking at anything else. Because of the distance I could not see her face clearly, but I was moved and could tell that she was shaped like me. Little ribbons of those feathers I talked about girded her body, arms and legs, showing off her perfection. Her hair was the most beautiful black in the world, partly floating over her breasts and shoulders and partly fastened with a stick covered with diamonds that were no less beautiful for being uncut. I sighed seeing myself so far away from this charming beauty, but a piercing cry rang out from the foot of the throne and I quickly turned my head. How happy I was to see Falbao. He had seen me and whimpered loudly to come join me, but he struggled in vain against the collar around his neck and his sad cries testified to it.

  Lamekis is swept into the sky

  I had gotten this far in Motacoa’s story and Sinouis was paying close attention when I saw that the sea was boiling and a column of water rose up carrying the ship with it. We shouted out in the face of this new danger and the crew woke up. When they realized what was happening they started wailing in sorrow. The column and the ship, however, kept rising higher and higher until we were carried into the clouds. The sight was awful and we thought that the column would collapse at any minute and we would plunge and sink into the sea. There was nothing to do but resign ourselves to fate. We kept rising with a frightful noise and little by little got closer to a bright region that we were justifiably afraid was fire since we were already feeling a heat that became more and more unbearable the closer we got. And we could already make out the circles of the universe. We could feel the painful, burning torrid zone near where we were headed. Everyone hid in the hold to delay the end of their lives at least for a few extra moments. I alone, embittered by my bad luck and convinced that human wisdom could do nothing against eternal decrees, abandoned myself to whatever was in store. Already the fire was devouring me. I felt about to burn up when a whirlwind spun the ship around and lifted it from the column that was holding it up. In the blink of an eye it rushed through the vast space of the universe on top of a cloud and finally came to a stop in a huge tree. The cloud slowly dissipated into the air above and left us perched on the branches. From there I saw a strange land and several big cities.

  The tree we were in was unbelievably tall. “Oh Heavens,” I cried out, “will I always escape a danger only to fall into another? What will become of us? The slightest wind can fling us down! When, Oh Serapis, will you stop chasing me?”

  The crew was unaware of what happened, but when they noticed that the ship had stopped moving, they ventured out. What a surprise they all had at seeing the extraordinary situation we were stuck in. We discussed what we should do and the unanimous decision was to try to get out of the ship as carefully as possible to see if it was solidly supported. I was chosen for the exploration and after checking things out I found that the weight of the ship had nuzzled into the branches so securely that there was nothing to worry about on this account.

  I told the good news to the ship. They decided that we should go down and get on solid land if it was possible. We started uncoiling rope and tying the ends together to make them long enough when a sudden wind, followed by an awful storm, shook the tree so hard that we thought the ship would plunge down at any minute. Three of the crew, who were trying to lower the sails that the wind was sweeping away, were thrown overboard and surely died a horrible death. The example made the rest of us more cautious and as the storm increased in violence we ran scared to hide in the depths of the ship.

  Part 2

  The Island of the Sylphs

  We were in this state of confusion and talking to each other about the danger and the new, extraordinary situation we were in when an even more fantastic event happened. An unexpected noise broke out overhead. We listened carefully. It sounded like people were working on the ship with axes and hammers. A minute later we saw the boards of the powder magazine (where we had taken refuge) removed one by one. We all screamed together when we saw the ship being taken apart and then the crowd of winged monsters working together to destroy it. Some were taking down the masts while others were cutting the ropes; others still were loading up supplies. Every one of them looked excited to be contributing to the destruction. It did not take long for the monsters to strip off the top of the ship, but it was enough for us to observe the startling creatures: their heads were very fat and topped a body that looked like a bird; they used their two huge wings to slice through the air and under them were two strong hands.

  The only thing left of the ship was the floor on which we were sitting, so we just waited to be thrown out of the tree, but instead each of us was lifted into the air by the monsters who flew off in different directions with their prey.

  The monster who picked me up flew out in front with one of its partners carrying someone else. The way it was holding me did not hurt, quite the opposite, but what scared me was that I felt like I was flying by myself, feeling neither the arms above me nor the body that must have been pressing against mine. But in spite of this marvel, my philosophy calmed me down by convincing me that nothing could change destiny. I abandoned myself to my fate and was bothered by nothing but the curiosity to know more about the extraordinary Being whose power I was under. So, I chanced to reach up to its body and was flabbergasted when my hand went through it like a sword, feeling no resistance to my touch. I closed my fist but only grabbed empty air.

  “Oh Heavens,” I screamed, “where am I and what Demon is taking me away?”

  Until then I had heard no sound. The monsters flew in utter silence. But as soon as I screamed, a voice like a hoarse flute spoke to me in my own language. “What! Can Lamekis be scared and astonished? What’s the point of penetrating into the center of the earth and dipping into the heart of wisdom if, in spite of all the ordeals, he belittles himself?”

  I was amazed and could not figure out by what strange fate the monster knew my name and language. “Spirit or Ghost,” I replied more calmly, “how do you know me?”

  “Some day the mystery will be revealed to you,” responded the Intelligence (for it was one), “I am not allowed to tell you anything else for now, except that I have always been watching out for you.”

  “But where am I?” I asked. “Where are you taking me?”

  It continued, “We are going to the Island of the Sylphs53 where Scealgalis54 reigns. It’s a miraculous island that is touched by nothing im
pure or material, except for Dehahal55 and the mysterious tree in which your ship fell, which is why we dismantled it and flew you away, so that you crude beings not sully the ground you walk on. You are going to be at Scealgalis’ palace soon. The rustling of the air should tell you the latitude. After you have examined his divine palace, we will strip you of your humanness in the Ceolbhaume.”56

  The Spirit stopped talking after this, but encouraged by its kindness I ventured to ask one more question. “Holy Intelligence, what has become of my dear wife? Is she still alive? Can I hope to see her again some day?”

  “Hope,” the Sylph snapped back, “but don’t ask any more questions.”

  That made me sigh and I looked over at another Spirit flying a little farther off. I was glad to see that it was carrying my dear Sinouis. I called out to him and saw that my friend, devastated by his disgrace, had recognized me too, but had not said anything. Reassured by my voice he answered, “Where are we? Lamekis, what’s going to happen to us? Are we still alive or is this just a dream?”

  I was about to respond when the Spirit glared at me and put a finger to its mouth to tell me to keep quiet. Sinouis apparently got the same advice because he did not say a word, just looked at me and sighed.

  However, I felt like we were slowing down. We were so high over the land that I could see many other globes57 that seemed no bigger than the sun seen from the Earth. But the ones we passed closer to were so big that I could barely see the whole of them. These globes seemed to sail through the sky like ships on the sea, but their movements were as precise as the most skillfully constructed clock and every time one moved away from us we were blasted as by a strong wind.