by Jack Vance
Rhialto bound Morreion's arms to his side with swaths of tape. He strapped Morreion's ankles together, and wrapped bandages into Morreion's mouth, to prevent him uttering a sound. He found a net and, capturing the IOUN stones, drew them down about Morreion's head, in close contact with his scalp. As an afterthought he taped a blindfold over Morreion's eyes.
He could do no more. He dissolved the spell. Ildefonse was already walking across the pavilion. Morreion jerked and thrashed in disbelief. Ildefonse and Rhialto lowered him to the marble floor.
"Vermoulian," said Ildefonse, "be so good as to call forth your staff. Have them bring a trundle and convey Morreion to a dark room. He must rest for a spell."
13
Rhialto found his manse as he had left it, with the exception of the way-post, which was complete. Well satisfied, Rhialto went into one of his back rooms. Here he broke open a hole into subspace and placed therein the netful of IOUN stones which he carried. Some gleamed incandescent blue; others were mingled scarlet and blue; the rest shone deep red, pink, pink and green, pale green and pale lavender.
Rhialto shook his head ruefully and closed the dimension down upon the stones. Returning to his work-room he located Puiras among the Minuscules and restored him to size.
"Once and for all, Puiras, I find that I no longer need your services. You may join the Minuscules, or you may take your pay and
go."
Puiras gave a roar of protest. "I worked my fingers to the bone; is this all the thanks I get?"
"I do not care to argue with you; in fact, I have already engaged your replacement."
Puiras eyed the tall vague-eyed man who had wandered into the work-room. "Is this the fellow? I wish him luck. Give me my money; and none of your magic gold, which goes to sand!"
Puiras took his money and went his way. Rhialto spoke to the new servitor. "For your first task, you may clear up the wreckage of the aviary. If you find corpses, drag them to the side; I will presently dispose of them. Next, the tile of the great hall. ..."
Footnotes
1 time-light: an untranslatable and even incomprehensible concept. In this context, the term implies a track across the chronic continuum, perceptible to an appropriate sensory apparatus.
2 Eshmiel's more thoughtful associates often speculated that Eshmiel used this means to symbolize the Grand Polarities permeating the universe, while at the same time asserting the infinite variety to be derived from the apparent simplicity. These persons considered Eshmiel's message profound but optimistic, though Eshmiel himself refused to issue an analysis.
4 The Monstrament, placed in a crypt at Fader's Waft, drew its coercive force from the 'Adjudicator,' ensconced in his 'Blue Egg': a shell opaque to distracting influences. The Adjudicator was Sarsem, a sandestin trained in the interpretation of the Monstrament. Sarsem's judgments were swift and stern, and enforced by the Wiih, a mindless creature from the ninth dimension. When applying to the Adjudicator for justice, the plaintiff was well advised to come with a clear conscience. Sarsem felt an almost human impatience with his cramped seclusion inside the egg; at times he refused to limit his verdict to the issue at hand, and examined the conduct both of plaintiff and defendant for offenses against the Monstrament, and distributed his penalties with even-handed liberality.
5 hiatus: The Spell of Temporal Stasis, affecting all save he who works the spell. All others are frozen into immotility. Magicians bitterly resent being placed in hiatus by other magicians; too many untoward events take place under these conditions and many carry monitors to warn when a hiatus has occurred.
6 chug: a semi-intelligent sub-type of sandestin, which by a system too intricate to be presently detailed, works to control the sandestins. Even use of the word 'chug' is repellent to the sandestin.
7 flantic: winged creature with grotesque man-like head; precursor of the pelgrane.
8 The spell of Forlorn Encystment operates to bury that luckless individual subject to the spell in a capsule forty-five miles below the surface of the earth.
Table of Contents
TALES OF THE THE DYING EARTH
Table of Contents
The Dying Earth
1. TURJAN OF MIIR
2. MAZIRIAN THE MAGICIAN
3. T'SAIS
4. LIANE THE WAYFARER
5. ULAN DHOR
6. GUYAL OF SFERE
The Eyes of the Overworld
Chapter I: The Overworld
Chapter II: Cil
Chapter III: The Mountains of Magnatz
Chapter IV: The Sorcerer Pharesm
Chapter V: The Pilgrims
1: At the Inn
2: The Raft on the River
3: Erze Damath
4: The Silver Desert and the Songan Sea
Chapter VI: The Cave in the Forest
Chapter VII: The Manse of Lucoimu
Cugels Saga
CHAPTER I FROM SHANGLESTONE STRAND TO SASKERVOY
1 FLUTIC
2 THE INN OF BLUE LAMPS
CHAPTER II FROM SASKERVOY TO TUSTVOLD MUD-FLATS
1 ABOARD THE GALANTE
2 LAUSICAA
3 THE OCEAN OF SIGHS
CHAPTER III FROM TUSTVOLD TO PORT PERDUSZ
1 THE COLUMNS
2 FAUCELME
CHAPTER IV FROM PORT PERDUSZ TO KASPARA VITATUS
1 ON THE DOCKS
2 The Caravan
CHAPTER V FROM KASPARA VITATUS TO CUIRNIF
1 THE SEVENTEEN VIRGINS
2 THE BAGFUL OF DREAMS
CHAPTER VI FROM CUIRNIF TO PERGOLO
1 THE FOUR WIZARDS
2 SPATTERLIGHT
Rhialto the Marvellous
Foreword
1 The Murthe
1
2
3
4
2 Fader's Waft
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
3 Morreion
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Footnotes