Greyfax Grimwald

by Niel Hancock

  “Come, old graycloak, dance me a stanza,” laughed Lorini to Greyfax, and after much grumblings of protest, he gave his arm and the two entered the dance, gliding softly upon the music, away into harmony and peace, and soon others joined and formed a gently moving whirl and circle of fair faces and flowing bodies, and the room filled with the music, and outside the very air moved as if dancing, and joyful laughter rose and fell upon the strings and reeds of the instruments, until at last the farthest corner of Cypher was a pattern work of golden music, sparkling and shining in the bright sun, and light spread from the four corners of Lorini’s realm into the darkness beyond, and the winds there carried the music far and wide, gladdening the hearts of all who heard, filling them with deep peace and courage, and wonder.

  As the music of Cypher played, and the lady Lorini danced with Greyfax, and Cybelle with Froghorn, and all the others in the hall were woven into its spell, all the lands in Atlanton Earth brightened, the darkness driven away for a short while. A troubled peace fell over the warring armies, of Atlanton Earth, men turned to men as brothers, and for a time, a part of the long-distant past reappeared, and the forces of the Dark Queen retreated into the World Between Time.

  Yet as the dancers spun slowly down, and the music stilled itself into echoes, then silence, the darkness came forth once more, and a gray shroud enveloped the world once again.

  Greyfax stood ready by An’yim, speaking in a low voice to Froghorn.

  “I have a task at hand that will take me still farther, Fairingay, and I can’t return as yet with you to my old friend, the Dwarf. But I want you to go to him, in a guise that won’t arouse suspicion as to your true identity, and stay with him until I return. You are not to let him out of your sight, understand? And you are not to reveal to mm who you are.”

  “What use can I be if I tell him nothing?” Froghorn was experiencing a touch of misgiving.

  “Your use would be of no use at all if it were to be known that the elder of Fairingay were dwelling with a dwarf. We might as well send a message to Her Darkness saying, look, here you are. Take it. Sometimes, Master Fairingay, what little sense you possess could be drawn on the head of a riding quirt and flung to the wind like a feather.”

  “All right, as you wish, Grimwald. But I still don’t fathom the reason behind it, and I wish you’d open your mouth as to what’s going on in your head.”

  Greyfax, mounted and posed to ride, looked kindly down upon Froghorn.

  If I did that, old chap, I’m afraid I’d have less of a feather to throw to the wind than you. But good cheer, and courage, old fellow, and keep the Light. When next we meet, I’ll have much to tell you, and can perhaps bring more clarity to my speech than now. Greyfax paused. “Unless, of course, my hour-long rambling might bore you.”

  And touching An’yim lightly with a hand, Greyfax disappeared, leaving Froghorn alone in the courtyard. He sighed aloud, called Pe’lon, and quickly mounting, drew under the tower shaped like an ivory form of a great bird in flight and raised his hand to Cybelle, whose fair face was drawn and streaked with tears. The sorrow he saw there bit deeply into his heart, and he resolved to do quickly whatever must be done, to dry forever the tears of Cybelle, and, indeed, remove the reasons for sadness anywhere that now struck at the very heart of gladness and peace. For if even here in Cypher the seeds of the Dark Queen were sown, then the final hour must, as Greyfax and Lorini agreed, be rapidly drawing all into the last, great swirling vortex of destiny. All that remained to be seen was whether the great darkness could swallow them all, fair and foul alike, or whether the Sun of Windameir would once more shine upon all of Atlanton Earth, and all that existed of it, or upon it, or as a part of it.

  With a soft promise that stung Cybelle’s heart with the dagger of his parting, Froghorn whispered to Pe’lon, and horse and rider disappeared from her sight for a time that might be called a century in the worlds where the passing of time was marked by clock or calendar.

  Hearth

  Fire

  In the safe confines of the glowing green wooded valley, Dwarf, with the help of Otter and Bear, fashioned himself a snug, small house, half above, half below the fertile earth. Its roof was thatched with the still living boughs of pine, which gave the interior of the dwelling a heavy resin incense. The floor was covered by thick, growing clover, adding its soft, pungent smell to the pine. Dwarf, along with his lore learning, tongues, and history, had been steeped in the most ancient of dwarf skills as a spanner. His stone masonry and woodcarving were fair to middling by did dwarfish standards, but far better than any craftwork of man, and with tools he had journeyed back to the ruins of Tubal Hall to find, along with Bear, he had shaped and built many things.

  Otter that day had woven water sprite and pond lilies into long fragrant coils, and hung them as curtains on the outside windows of the house. He had also taken great time and spent much effort making a little finger of the stream run directly by Dwarf’s deeping room, so that at night he could fail asleep to the music of the water, tinkling like a soft, hushed Iute in cheerful song.

  Dwarf, upon returning with his sack of tools, was so grateful and pleased with Otter’s gifts he had set to work that evening and fashioned a living green door for Otter’s holt, with dwarf magical runes, and many scenes of Otter’s kind swimming, or fishing, or playing upon the bank of a river that seemed to be flowing through the dark wood. Otter’s holt was located near Dwarf’s home, close under the waterfall, and although dry and warm, its rearward section wound around downward until it was well below the falls, forming a small grotto that Otter used at times for sleep or play or getting away from things. For Bear, Dwarf built a sturdy kitchen table, with places in it to keep utensils and a small keg attached to one end for his honey, and a large drawer in the center for whatever there might be that might need storing out of the way of daily chores. Bear’s cave was large and commodious, and needed few comforts to make him right at home.

  On other trips to Tubal Hall, rusting quickly into the earth, the three friends rummaged through all tie quarters left aboveground, and Bear carried away a great stack of leather-bound volumes of histories and subjects of all sorts, and all the usable cooking ware was salvaged. Dwarf found an old coat of arms of the ancient masters of the hall, and this he mounted above the hearth of his fireplace, polishing and cleaning it until it once more shone in a splendid way. Otter also found a stout dwarfish walking stick, with the head of a swan on its end, and often used it on hikes the friends took to explore further their new homeland.

  Days passed into months, and autumn came and went, and winter settled in a pure white blanket on the valley, and still they had no word of Greyfax, or indeed anyone, save the birds and other wild kind that shared the valley with them.

  Summer came and passed again; and they still busied themselves with their everyday lives, patching and mending, digging or building other wings, or forming new tunnels, playing or working, and had little time for thought as to what errand or journey either Greyfax or Froghorn might be on.

  All this time, and more, was in swift movement while the two servants of the Light were with Lorini in Cypher, for all time there was in a constant flow, touching past, present, and future at once. In this fusion, time, as such, did not exist. There was dimension, but beyond the knowledge of the worlds, dimension as was in Windameir, the very heart of existence, the breath in the eye of the One. While Greyfax and Froghorn talked with Lorini, five years slipped by outside her realm, and five more as they dined. And at last, when Froghorn and Greyfax departed, fifteen years had marked the calendar of Dwarf in his little house with the living roof and floor, and all thought of the wizards had ceased to entertain their minds. Their dwellings had grown into homes to them, and each pursued his original quest as best he could, studying and planning, bnt Dwarf still had no idea what it was they should do, nor Bear, nor Otter. So each in his own way prepared himself for whatever had called him, and lingered still for it to declare itself as to what was to be done.
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  The lands beyond the valley grew barren and deserted, old men’s dwellings vanished into thick overgrowth, and for years at a time they saw no movements, save once, when a band of swarthy, bearded soldiers went through on their way to a destination beyond the horizon. Bear and Otter had followed them secretly, and tried to gather what news they could, but all the soldiers’ talk was of the war, and other topics that bewildered and frightened the animals, but nothing more. Another time, not long

  after the soldiers’ passing, the western skyline was blotted out with great billows of black smoke, and far-distant thunder rolled and curled about the sun. That night, a blood-red glow lighted the distance until dawn. After that, they neither saw nor heard anything of Mankind.

  Otter became acquainted with two blue jays that had come long miles from the direction where the smoke and light had been seen, but he could never get them to speak of it, and when pressed they would fly away, giving excuses for their reluctance to talk by saying they had food to seek, or a nest to tend to, and after a while Otter gave up questioning them about it. The only remark he ever heard them say that he imagined might refer to it was once when the husband snapped testily at his wife, “Well, if this tree doesn’t suit your nest, think what it would be like there now.” His mate chattered apologetically, and there was an end of that.

  As the years grew on one to another, each of the three contented himself with his books, or river, or cave. Dwarf began polishing up his almost forgotten dwarf magic from a book he had taken from Tubal Hall. It had belonged to Bani, who, like Dwarf, had been a lore master.

  Such were the lives of the three comrades during the time it took Greyfax Grimwald and Froghom Fairingay to seek their counsel of Lorini, and make their plans, and to set out once more from the halls of Light into the darkening world of Atlanton Earth.

  The World

  Between Time

  In the World Between Time also, where Dorini, Queen of Darkness and the Frozen Night, ruled, time did not move as in the world. Her great ebony halls glowed with an evil greenish light when she held court or met with her servants to gather news of her progress in her war to capture Atlanton Earth. Doraki, her prince and next-in-command, came and went many times while Greyfax and Froghorn were at their business in Cypher, and Fireslayer and Suneater devoured armies and smote kingdoms with their fierce, frozen breath. All the others, including Cakgor, son of the vile two, Fireslayer and Suneater, chased the stars at night for sport and haunted the places of men by day. Still, there were those upon Atlanton Earth who had mighty powers to resist, and the war had fallen into a stalemate of half light, half darkness.

  Dorini called for Doraki. In the throne room, greenish blue shafts of fire cracked upward into the frozen stillness as the two talked and made their schemes. A low rumble fell over the World Between Time as their two cold voices rose and fell, full of violence and destruction, and the icy touch of hopeless, eternal death.

  “What have you learned of our accursed meddlers, my repulsive love? What of the Secrets? And that despicable box?”

  Anger exploded her words into shards of steely darts that pierced his dark soul.

  “Everything possible is being done to find and capture it. Or even if we had only one of the miserable Secrets, we could keep Atlanton Earth forever in the dark.” His laughter came, sharp and barbed. “All our reports lead me to believe Greyfilth still holds the box, although he has disappeared since his escape from us, and none of our eyes or ears have spied him out yet.”

  “What of Foulingray? Anything of that squirming meddler? Oh, how I long to lay my hand just once more on those two.”

  “We’ve discovered no sure sign of either of them, Your Darkness. I thought once we might have turned up something, near the stink hole of Tubal Hall, where old Creddin, the imbecile wretch was at watch for us, but it came to naught. I was close at hand at the time, but the fiends, whoever they were, slipped by me with some accursed magical stunt. I have no proof it was our delightful friends, although I am sure it was some of those of that vile Circle of your foul sister.”

  “Accccch,” came the cold screech of reply, shuddering the dark hall to its cold, deep roots, and setting Fireslayer and Suneater quailing and howling at their chains. “Don’t drag the mention of her filthy name before me. I have been tricked and deceived by my sister and that lot she runs with for the last time.”

  “Forgive me, Your Darkness,” trembled Doraki. “I know what grief she has done you, but I only tried to answer your question, Your Darkness.”

  A fiercely gleaming finger of cold fire blazed from the Dark Queen’s eyes, huge and yellow-glowing in her wrath, but she spoke so softly Doraki had to lean closer to hear the words.

  “I am denied my rightful throne beside my witless, spineless sister, and that miserable pack of fools she has thrown her lot with all conspire with her to keep me from what is given me by the High Crown of Windameir. Yet they shall see that it is I, and not she, nor even he who sits on the High Crown, who shall wax more powerful. And the grief, as you call it, that the fools have done me is but a small token of what I have in store for you if you fail to find me Greyfilth and his groveling friend.”

  Doraki shivered before her.

  “No, Your Darkness, there will be no failure.”

  “My good friend Greyfilth will wish he had taken me up on my offer of half my realm before all is said and done.” Dorini suddenly laughed menacingly. “Does that bother you, my sweet, to hear me talk of replacing you with that monster Greyfilth? But you, my lovely, shall share it with me if you complete your errand successfully. And if not, perhaps I shall have my revenge I had planned for them on you.”

  Shrill, jarring, pleasureless peals of mimicking laughter filed the huge black expanse of the throne chamber.

  Doraki bowed low and fled, the darkness of his bitter heart frightened and angry, and he went to the chamber of Cakgor and took the gaunt, huge beast with him, and sped away into Atlanton Earth with vengeance welling inside him. At his heels came Cakgor, great wolflike jaws slavering and evil, vile frozen breath deadening the air, down, ever down into the world of men.

  A great, ominous black cloud enveloped the sun with their passing, and all who saw it quivered and shuddered in their hearts and their minds were filled with a dark, unspeakable terror.

  Those who served the Dark Queen gladdened at the black immenseness of the cloud, and planned new evils to strike against the light. Their bitter hearts feared the light, but also the darkness, and the icy fingers of the Dark Queen covered their eyes and numbed their minds to all but obeyance of her will, and new strife and crises spread like a raging black fire over the world of Atlanton Earth.

  A

  Valley

  Fair

  Mayfest

  In the month of Mayfest, two strange events occurred in the valley that Broco, Bear, and Otter had dwelt in so long, both unknown to the friends, but which would bring eventual terror and force them once more to their long-neglected journey.

  On the day of All Summer, four dim, cunning eyes watched from the hills above Dwarf’s now rather large house, for many wings and new windows had been built. He now had room for all the friends to live together under the same roof, but Bear wanted privacy, and apologized to the hurt dwarf that bears really wouldn’t feel right even in such a nice home as Dwarf had, and that he liked to ramble around in the little-used tunnels he had dug, then forgotten, then occasionally rediscovered. Otter simply said he’d be lost without the river close to paw, and scampered away, giggling. Dwarf solved the problem of having his roof shared by taking in a smallish, beautifully marked tabby cat that arrived drenched one night in a driving rainstorm. It showed such intelligence and affection for him he couldn’t bring himself to part with it, even when they fought, as they did often. They all came to love Froghorn well, which is what Dwarf named him, for he thought the animal’s eyes bore a striking resemblance to those of Greyfax Grimwald’s friend. The cat knew many strange tales, and often amused
the friends after a long late night’s supper by reciting old histories or spuming yarns about the ghosts of men who dwelled under the earth, or telling funny little anecdotes about falcon hunting in far-off lands. Even Froghorn was unaware of the spies who watched them steadily on All Summer’s Day, hidden in the alder trees away from sight or sound that would give their grim presence away.

  “Let’s eat them, says I,” growled the low voice, harsh as a sticker burr, and menacing. “We ain’t had the likes in days, and I’m hungry.”

  A snarl of protest rumbled in the other huge wolfs throat.

  “You know what He said. Any strangers are to be reported, and we’re not to touch anything till he says so.”

  “He says, He says. Bah. His belly’s always full. Let’s at least have the dwarf, then we can tell him. My stomach don’t fancy animal meat, anyways not no more. We haven’t had man flesh since the war left these parts, and even a miserable dwarf would make an all-right snack now.”

  “We leaves ‘em, I says. We can come back for ‘em if he don’t want ‘em.”

  The great grayish-white hackles of the first werewolf rose and bristled, but the other gaunt beast bared his huge throat-tearing fangs. Their dull yellow eyes flashed in the silence, then the first beast retreated, snarling sullenly.

  “All right, has it your way. We’ll tell him, but mark me, if He don’t want them, I gets the dwarf to myself.”

  “We’ll see about that when He gets to it. Come on.”

  On silent feet the two beasts slipped away, leaving only the foul odor of their filth to stain the earth where they had hidden, and the birds hung to their branches high above, terrified and silent. Soon afterward, a silence fell in the green woods that guarded the valley, for a dark presence was felt to descend into its undisturbed tranquillity, but nothing of what it might be or what end it sought was learned, for it, too, passed away silently, letting the golden shafts of sunlight whirl and dazzle the stream, and the wind crept forth from its hiding and brought back the old, untroubled music and songs of the birds. Peace descended once more, and the three friends found new joy in their companionship, and held a great feast on Midsummer Eve.