Lamekis

by Charles de Fieux

  The Princess is interrupted by the toad monsters

  The Princess, who had listened to Boldeon with pleasure, was surprised to hear him so well informed about the history of her nation. She assured us that the summary he made differed in very few points from what she knew. “As for the great wall, it was only built because Phiocles had been caught trying to escape from Hor-his-hon-hal. In his initial fit of anger the Prince wanted her to be put to death, but during the preparations for her execution he was moved by her begging and pardoned her on the condition that she herself lay the first stone of the great wall (which still stands today) and that she stay in prison until the wall was high enough that she would never think of escaping again. He was painstakingly careful about the work, so it took ten years before it was in a state to fear no escape attempts by Phiocles. But he did not know how tricky a woman could be when she has made up her mind to do something.

  “Phiocles was bent on leaving Hor-his-hon-hal and one day she finally disappeared. No matter how hard the Prince searched, he could not discover how she managed it. Out of his mind and furious that in spite of his vigilance he had been duped by Phiocles, he kept building the great wall and so that his people not have to worry about the future he passed a law that decreed all the girls in his kingdom be kept in a perpetual prison and only be allowed to see the man whom their family destined them to marry.

  “As I tell my story,” the Princess went on, “some of our customs might seem very strange to you…”

  Up to this point not one of us had dared to ask the beautiful Nasilaë the extraordinary reason behind her Ascalis color. My mother, who was less used to it and more curious (being a woman) could not help saying something about it. “We were wondering…” she said with an eager and bewildered smile.

  “Concerning ourselves, the tradition says that Hor-his-hon-hal, from whom we originated, was the color of a red poppy and Phiocles was white. The Amphicleocles men have kept the color of their first father, but the women are still white like Phiocles and their skin, as you see in me, has got only a faint hint of color from the head of the clan.”

  The Princess of the Amphicleocles was about to start her story, sitting next to us, who were silent and all ears, when we heard a sound like a stampede of horses and yelling and screaming and we all jumped up, afraid to find out what it was. I was the first to leave the house and stumbled back in dread at the sight of a horde of monsters a hundred times more frightening than the ones we had just escaped from. They were as tall as a man and from afar looked like toads, except for the face, which was vaguely human; they were naked and their skin was yellow with black spots. They were riding huge worms like horses with short, stubby legs. The troop marched in order and one of the monsters in front carried an owl with its wings spread out on a staff. Lodaï, Boldeon and I ran scared into the house. My mother and the Princess were frantic seeing the fear on our faces and begged to know the reason. In this new plight we could think of nothing to do but barricade the door. Falbao, who had been sleeping, suddenly jumped up on hearing the stampede and tried to encourage us with his fierce looks. His first move, when I made for the door, was to follow me, but Boldeon held him back and the loyal animal, as docile with us as he was vicious with our enemies, went and sat at the feet of the Princess and my mother.

  We were trying to figure out what to do in this perilous situation when we saw the dreadful face of a monster appear in the slot that served as a window. We screamed at the sight and Falbao jumped at the opening, trying in vain to squeeze through. He knew by instinct that he could not do it and went to scratch at the door, looking at us, begging us to open it. We were too scared to do it, so Falbao finally gave up and started digging up the ground. It was sad to watch him failing at this new plan, but all of a sudden we saw the ground start trembling and Falbao fell headfirst into a hole that opened up under his feet.

  Part 3

  The toad men

  We were dazed, amazed and cruelly dismayed by this new wonder. Lodaï, whose courage was shaken by nothing, was brave enough to approach the hole that the rest of us backed away from. An example is always a great influence when it is set by respected people. I was ashamed by my show of fright and by the impression it had made on the Princess of the Amphicleocles, so I hurried to follow the minister.

  The opening Falbao fell into looked pretty large to me and the underground, lit by a strange light, looked pretty easy to enter. I did not think twice about what to do. The fear of losing my faithful Falbao and of giving a bad impression of my courage compelled me to go in. Even with the impact that the charming Nasilaë had on my heart, it was useless for her to call me back; her appeals had no more power. My recklessness had already pushed me forward. The path I wandered was swampy and scattered with rocks, but I heard Falbao from time to time and his voice guided me. I soon found the exit from the dark cave.

  Just as I was starting up a kind of natural, uneven slope that led to the exit I heard awful cries (among which I could make out Falbao’s barking) and I stopped to try to pinpoint where they came from. But I could not see a thing around me, so I hurried out, took a few steps forward and, Heavens! What did I see? A mismatched, furious battle was unfolding a few feet away. A legion of monsters surrounded Falbao and his famous strength was fighting with raging valor in vain. And in vain did the death of a hundred monsters, heaped up around him, work as a defense for the stalwart animal—and the pile was growing. The advantage that I saw him have over the worm men was of no account here. He was preparing to die. He was already staggering, covered with blood and wounds and was slowly waning under the attacks of the cruel enemies.

  You can’t imagine how I felt at the sight of this tragic scene and even more extraordinary was that his defeat was not due to a lack of strength or bravery but to a strange spell. The weapon they used against poor Falbao, what was laying him low, was none other than the deadly Owl flag I mentioned before. The foul face seemed to stagger him and stun him with its gaze. He chanced to look at me and a ray of hope flashed through his misery—but bent on his downfall his enemies soon blotted it out. His eyes were shrouded in tears; his strength failed; and then he howled loudly and fell backward.

  As soon as he hit the ground all the monsters jumped on him at the same time. And just then, overcome by the lovable animal’s fate, racked by his ruin and by all that I owed him, not thinking about my weakness or inability to help, I stormed onto the battlefield, armed only with a pointed stick as hard as steel. I hit the dreadful monsters hard and Wonder of Wonders, they fell back. At the sight of me they all ran away wailing and screaming. Before long the cowardly mob had abandoned the place and I was alone with my dear Falbao.

  I was carried away by the joy of having saved him from impending doom, but still did not stop thinking about what had just happened. If I could have taken advantage of the fact that the sight of me was so frightening to these new inhabitants of the Inner Earth, I would have, but I was more affected by the sad state of my faithful dog than by the glory of my victory. I could only think about taking care of him and bringing him back from the brink of destruction. My tears were enough to show my grief. I talked to him, comforted him and used all the pet names I had given him in friendship to express my love and regret. I tore off a piece of my clothing to stop his bleeding wounds, but my care was of no use. His eyes only opened, it seemed, to say a final farewell to me. Closing his eyes again he licked my hand. He took a deep breath that I knew was his last and it was so devastating that I fell on top of him crying bitter tears.

  When I got over my grieving, I was lying face down on the ground. But knowing for sure that my lovable dog was no more, I was still lost in sorrow. A sudden attack wrenched me from my moaning to think about my own safety. The enemies, who had run a certain distance away, saw me covering my face and got some of their courage back, which my face had robbed them of. They were so careful coming up that, buried in grief as I was, I was soon surrounded before I knew they were there. Then I was grabbed from behind.
I yelled loudly and jumping up quickly to defend myself. The fury in my eyes, or better said the secret spell in them, was so suddenly and so tremendously scary to this crowd bent on my destruction that it went howling away again.

  The event was too weird and shocking to give me time to wonder about the cause: it was not normal for an army to flee before a single man, but that is exactly what happened. On more careful reflection, I could not help thinking that my eyes sealed my victory and their gaze hit the enemy hard, causing it to flee. Armed with this confidence I looked around at my environment and as I turned my head I saw a monster covering its face with its hand to avoid my dangerous eye and threatening me with the Owl flag. I was more disgusted than scared by this useless tactic and pushed it back, filled with anger at what these monsters had done to Falbao. With my other hand I hit the bearer of the foul flag. Just as I came up to him, he dropped dead at my feet. The hideous Owl shared his fate, smashing its head and shrieking as it died. An awful howling echoed in the land after the final death throes of the bird, whose loss was obviously very important and precious to them.

  As logical as it was to be astonished by these things, I only paid them a little attention: I was completely preoccupied by Falbao’s fall. A ray of hope lit up in me. Maybe, I thought, the loss of blood just made him pass out. I turned around to check and what a surprise I had to see Falbao up and running toward me. I cried out in joy as he came up. The lovable animal expressed his joy by jumping up and scampering around. I petted him with all my heart and looked into his jubilant eyes while I tried to figure out what the secret principle was of this miraculous transformation. After backing up a little Falbao stopped short, twitched and started howling with deep sadness in his eyes. His blood, which I thought had stopped flowing, started gushing out of his wounds again. The animal fell at my feet and looked like he was begging for my help. What could I do? What was going on? I had absolutely no idea of the fatal cause that lay at the heart of these stupendous changes.

  Hearing a noise a few feet away I looked up and finally uncovered the mystery. A foolhardy monster, obviously devoted to the safety or glory of his fellows, had separated from the crowd of enemies carrying a new flag on which another Owl was perched, staunch and looming. The monstrous hero covered his own eyes with a kind of shield and mounted on his worm horse was galloping toward us.

  Falbao’s howling got louder as the monster got closer and when he collapsed seeing the Owl held up at the end of that foolhardy arm, I knew for sure that the gaze of that hideous bird affected him like his affected the Tumpingands and I had reason to believe that mine had the same murderous influence on our present enemies.

  As soon as Falbao was spread on the ground the monster spurred his worm steed and came at me brandishing his flag, obviously thinking that the sight of the animal would have the same effect on me as it did on Falbao. I grabbed onto the contemptible flag in my enemy’s hands trying to make him look at me and find his undoing, but knowing now from experience that the Owl had no influence on me he kept his eyes closed and forgetting the brave plans that had separated him from the army he gave up the glorious flag, kicked at his monstrous steed and rejoined his compatriots much faster than he had left them. I watched him go and saw the welcome he got on his arrival. His partners were obviously furious at seeing him come back without the glorious standard they had entrusted to him and bludgeoned him with clubs. After this righteous lesson all the monsters went into hiding.

  Astonished by all this, but then figuring that I knew the reasons, I left Falbao to crush the Owl’s head against a rock and throw it into the bushes. The shriek it let out with its final breath ended like the first time with an even more frightful howling from the hidden monsters.

  My experiment was not in vain. Falbao stood up before me to prove that the death of the Owl gave him back his life. Without everyday examples of the effect of antipathies, wouldn’t we call these things fictions? But, philosophers, you are still far from the knowledge you brag about. And why do you continue to search in the Heavens for mysteries that are beyond your mediocre intelligence when you can’t even explain the least of things here on the earth you crawl on?

  Although I was worn out by all these events, I decided to get far away from the dangerous place. Seeing me turn back to where I came in, Falbao walked ahead of me and let me know how happy he was to be leaving there. Soon he was at the entrance to the cave waiting for me to follow him in. All of a sudden I saw him take a leap and I started running, scared that there was some monster in ambush, but the sight of Boldeon calmed me down. He had been worried, came searching for me and looked delighted to see me again.

  On the road I told him everything that happened. “Vilkonhis be praised!” he shouted. “Let’s get to Lodaï’s house fast. You have to give some comfort to the worried Princesses. They are all terribly depressed and just seeing you will pull them out of it, Motacoa. The Queen has proven her motherly love for you in her tragic fright, but the Princess of the Amphicleocles has shown that you are no less dear to her. She loves you, I am sure of it, and if my assurance doesn’t fill you with joy like it should, it does me: I see your destiny fulfilled and I believe that everything will happen according to our desires.”

  His words filled me with a quiet rapture. I loved beautiful Nasilaë so strongly that my young heart never believed it could feel such things. I was burning with desire to see her again and quickened my pace to get there. When I showed up, the sadness and tears were replaced by joy and cheer; and I had to repeat what happened to me. Nasilaë interrupted me at the part about the Owl’s powerful effects. “During your adventure,” she said, “you learned some interesting details about these people. My extraordinary stay among the Tumpingands gave me the opportunity to hear many things about them. At least what you are saying and the way you describe them makes me think that they are the same. If that’s the case, we have nothing to fear—they came here for Falbao. There are mysteries that I will explain later. In the meantime, we shouldn’t worry about them. They are not brave enough to take another stab at it.”

  The Princess’ speech managed to reassure my mother, who at first could not get over her fright, while the latest events gave us plenty to talk about. Lodaï told us that one day when he was far from his house he came across such a monster, but it ran away so fast that he barely had time to catch a glimpse. We figured that Lodaï’s gaze was the reason for the monster’s hasty retreat and the Princess confirmed as much when he had finished his story.

  So, night fell and we stopped talking. After taking care of our bodily needs and preparing a bed in my mother’s room as comfortably as the space allowed for Nasilaë, we said good night and went to bed. Before going to bed Boldeon and Lodaï had a long discussion about what we should do to get out of the dark room we were living in. Before the adventure with the monsters it was agreed that the Princesses and I would live in the center of the earth until Boldeon’s final preparations were ready to put me on throne because they were afraid of us falling into the hands of the usurper. But what had just happened changed the plan, because now we knew that the Inner Earth was inhabited by different peoples and we would be running new and dangerous risks everyday. After careful consideration it was decided that we would go to Boldeon’s secret hideaway on the road that I met Falbao on and once there we would wait for the results of the minister’s plans.

  It took three whole days for the Princesses to get over their fright and fatigue, during which time it was decided that Lodaï, being the most experienced of us all with his years of living in the Inner Earth, would scout out the places we could leave from so we would not be in danger. When everything was ready the next day we went to my mother’s grotto. The Princesses had had a rather bad night, but they were better than the day before. It seemed to me by my mother’s talk and by the flattering kindness the Princess showed me that they had been up talking about me and had decided that they would take the first opportunity to marry me to the beautiful Princess of the Amphicleocles. />
  Part of the morning was spent discussing the current situation. In what the Princess said, she showed us how intelligent and insightful she was and that she deserved all the wonderful praise she got. My heart, which barely had time to recognize this during the constant flight we were in since I had first laid eyes on her, was filled with the sweetest satisfaction and without any notion of why or how, love entered my soul. I felt a secret joy that affected my organs and made all my senses tingle. I could not look at Nasilaë without feeling something strange inside me, which my ignorance did not understand, but whatever it was my heart adored it and made it the most precious treasure.

  After a meal of those chickens that Lodaï found, which were exquisitely tasty, we turned to the Princess, who was ready to tell her story.

  (“It’s amazing, Sinouis, that even though so many extraordinary things happened to me, as you hear, I haven’t forgotten a single thing.” I took my friend’s hand and continued, “It’s useless for me to repeat that this is still Motacoa who is telling the story and that up to this point he has still only indirectly mentioned me once.”)

  The Princess saw us silent and knew we were ready to listen. She nodded graciously to my mother and began her story.