The Zimiamvia Trilogy

by E R Eddison

  364 Gro born in Goblinland at the court of Zajë Zaculo, the foster-brother of Gaslark the King. Gaslark born in Zajë Zaculo.

  366 Laxus, high Admiral of Witchland and after king of Pixyland, born in Estremerine.

  367 Birth of Gallandus in Buteny.

  369 Zigg born at Many Bushes in Amadardale.

  370 Juss born at Galing.

  371 Goldry Bluszco born in Galing. Dekalajus, eldest of the sons of Corsus, born in Witchland.

  372 Spitfire born in Galing. Brandoch Daha born in Krothering.

  374 La Fireez born in Norvasp of Pixyland. Gorius, second of Corsus’s sons, born in Witchland.

  375 Corinius born in Carcë.

  376 Prezmyra, sister to the Prince La Fireez, second wife to Corund, and after Queen of Impland, born in Norvasp.

  379 Birth of Hacmon, eldest of the sons of Corund. Mevrian, sister to Lord Brandoch Daha, born in Krothering.

  380 Heming born, second of Corund’s sons.

  381 Dormanes born, third of Corund’s sons.

  382 Birth of Viglus, Corund’s fourth son, in Carcë. Recedor, King of Goblinland, privily poisoned by Corsus: Gaslark reigns in his stead in Zajë Zaculo. Sriva, daughter to Corsus and Zenambria, born in Carcë.

  383 Armelline, cousin-german to King Gaslark, after betrothed and wed to Goldry Bluszco, born in Carcë.

  384 Cargo, youngest of the sons of Corund, born in Carcë.

  388 Goblinland invaded by the Ghouls: the flight out of Zajë Zaculo: Tenemos burnt: the power of the Ghouls crushed by Corsus.

  389 Zeldornius, Helteranius, and Jalcanaius Fostus sent by Gaslark with an armament into Impland, and there ensorcelled.

  390 The Witches harry in Goblinland: their defeat by the help of Demonland on Lormeron field: the slaying of Gorice X. by Brandoch Daha: Corsus taken captive and shamed by the Demons: Gro, abandoning the Goblin cause, dwells in exile at the court of Witchland.

  393 La Fireez, besieged by Fax Fay Faz at Lida Nanguna in Outer Impland, delivered by the Demons: Goldry Bluszco repulsed by Corsus before Harquem.

  395 Corund weds in Norvasp with the Princess Prezmyra.

  398 The Ghouls burst forth in unimagined ferocity: their harrying in Demonland and burning of Goldry’s house at Drepaby.

  399 Holy war of Witchland, Demonland, Goblinland, and other polite nations against the Ghouls: Laxus, with the countenance of his master Gorice XI and by the counsel of Gro, deserts with all his fleet in the battle off Kartadza (eastern seaboard of Demonland): the Ghouls nevertheless overwhelmed by the Demons in Kartadza Sound, and their whole race exterminated: Gorice XI demands homage of Demonland, wrastles with Goldry Bluszco, and is in that encounter slain. Gorice XII, renewing with happier fortune the artificial practices of Gorice VII in Carcë, takes Goldry with a sending magical: Juss and Brandoch Daha, partly straught of their wits, unadvisedly go up with Gaslark against Carcë and are there clapped up: their delivery by the agency of La Fireez, and return to their own country: Juss’s dream: the council in Krothering: the first expedition to Impland. The King’s revenge on Pixyland executed by Corinius, and La Fireez dispossessed and driven into exile: Corund’s great march over Akra Skabranth, sudden irruption into Outer Impland, and conquest of that country: shipwreck of the Demon fleet: carnage at Salapanta: march of the Demons into Upper Impland: amorous commerce of Brandoch Daha with the Lady of Ishnain Nemartra, who lays a weird upon him: Corund besieges and captures Eshgrar Ogo: Juss and Brandoch Daha escape across the Moruna and winter by the Bhavinan.

  400 News of Eshgrar Ogo brought to Carcë: Corund honoured by the King therefor with the style of king of Impland. Juss and Brandoch Daha cross the Zia Pass: fight with the mantichore: ascent of Koshtra Pivrarcha, entrance into Koshtra Belorn, and entertainment by Queen Sophonisba: Juss’s vision of Goldry bound on Zora: the Queen’s furtherance of their designs: the hippogriff hatched beside the Lake of Ravary: the fatal folly of Mivarsh: Juss in despite of the Queen’s admonitions assays Zora Rach on foot and comes within a little of losing his life. Prezmyra Queen of Impland and Laxus king of Pixyland crowned in Carcë, the King sends an expedition to put down Demonland, setting Corsus in chief command thereof: Laxus defeats Volle by sea off Lookinghaven, and Corsus, Vizz by land at Crossby Outsikes, Vizz slain on the field: cruel and despiteful policy of Corsus: dissensions betwixt him and Gallandus: great reversal of these disasters by Spitfire, Corsus’s army cut in pieces by him on the Rapes of Brima and the survivors besieged in Owlswick: discontent of the army: Corsus with his own hands murthers Gallandus in Owlswick: tidings brought by Gro to Carcë: Corsus degraded by the King, who commissions Corinius as king of Demonland to retrieve the matter: battle of Thremnir’s Heugh, with the overthrow of Spitfire’s power: Corinius crowned in Owlswick: arrest of Corsus and his sons and their despatch home to Witchland.

  401 Reduction of eastern Demonland by Corinius, save only Galing which Bremery holds with seventy men: Corinius moves west over the Stile: his insolent demands to Mevrian: miscarriage of Gaslark’s expedition to the relief of Krothering, his defeat at Aurwath: masterly retreat of Corinius from Krothering before superior numbers: his ambushing and destroying of Spitfire’s army on the shores of Switchwater: fall of Krothering and surrender of Mevrian: her escape by the counsel of Gro, the help of Corund’s sons, and the connivance of Laxus: her flight to Westmark and thence east again into Neverdale: Gro abandons the cause of Witchland for that of Demonland: his and Mevrian’s meeting with Juss and Brandoch Daha on their return home after two years: revolt of the east and relief of Galing: masterly dispositions both by Corinius and by the Demons for a decisive encounter: battle of Krothering Side and expulsion of the Witches from Demonland.

  402 Second expedition to Impland, in which Gaslark and La Fireez join the Demons, lands at Muelva on the Didornian Sea: Juss, Spitfire, Brandoch Daha, Gro, Zigg, and Astar cross the Moruna: Juss’s riding of the hippogriff to Zora Rach and deliverance of Goldry: Laxus sent by the King with an overwhelming power of ships to close Melikaphkhaz Straits against the Demons on their homeward voyage: battle off Melikaphkhaz: destruction of the Witchland armada: Laxus and La Fireez slain: a single surviving ship brings the tidings to Carcë: Corund called captain general in Carcë: gathering of the Witchland armies and their subject allies: landing of the Demons in the south: parley before Carcë: the King’s warning to Juss: implacable enmity between them: signs and prognosticks in the heavens: the King’s desperate resolution if the fight should go against him: battle before Carcë: slaying of Gro and Corund: defeat of the King’s forces: council of war in Carcë, Corinius the second time captain general: Corsus, counselling surrender, falls greatly into the King’s displeasure and is by him shamed and dismissed: in despair he compasses the taking off of Corinius and the sons of Corund, and unhappily of his own son too and his duchess, by poison, but is himself slain by Corinius: blasting of the Iron Tower in the miscarriage of the King’s last conjuring: the Demons enter into Carcë: their encounter there with Queen Prezmyra: her tragical end and triumph: in all of which is completed the fall of the empire and kingdom of the house of Gorice in Carcë.

  403 Queen Sophonisba in Demonland: the marvel of marvels that restored the world on Lord Juss’s natal day, the thirty-third year of his life in Galing.

  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON THE VERSES

  CHAPTER

  III The Funeral dirge on King Gorice XI William Dunbar (late 15th century) ‘Lament for the Makaris: quhen he was seik’.

  Lampoon on Gro Epigram in memory of William Parrie, ‘a capital traitor’, executed for treason in 1584: quoted by Holinshed.

  IV Prophecy concerning the last three Kings of the house of Gorice in Carcë. —

  VII Song in praise of Prezmyra Thomas Carew (1598-1639).

  Corund’s Song of the Chine ‘An Antidote against Melancholy’.

  Corsus’s ‘Whene’er I bib the wine down’ Anacreonta XXV; transl. from the Greek, E.R.E.

  Corsus’s other ditties From the ‘Roxburgh Ballad
s’ (collected 1774).

  IX Mivarsh’s slaves on Salapanta Herrick (1591-1674), ‘Hesperides’.

  XV Prezmyra’s song of Lovers Donne (1573-1631).

  Corinius’s love ditty: ‘What an Ass is he’ ‘Merry Drollerie’.

  Corinius’s song on his Mistress Ibid.

  Laxus’s Serenade Anacreota II; trans. from the Greek, E.R.E.

  XVII March of Corsus’s veterans —

  XXII Mevrian’s ballad of the Ravens Ravens’. Old Ballad: ‘The Three

  XXIV Mevrian’s quotation on the asbeston stone Robert Greene (1560-92), ‘Alphonsus, King of Arragon.’

  XXX Gro’s serenade to Prezmyra Sir Henry Wotton (1568-1639), verses to Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia.

  XXXI Prophecy concerning conjuring —

  XXXIII Lines quoted by Queen Sophonisba on the fall of Witchland Webster (beginning of 17th century); ‘The Duchess of Malfi,’ Act V.V.

  Queen Sophonisba’s Sonnet Shakespeare, Sonnet XVIII.

  The text here printed of Wotton’s poem is that of ‘Reliquiae Wottonianae,’ 1st ed., 1651, edited by Izaak Walton; except that I read (with the earlier texts) 1.5 Moone, 1.8 Passions, 1.16 Princess, instead of Sun, Voyces, Mistris of the 1651 edition.

  Shakespeare’s Sonnet is from the Quarto of 1609.

  The passage from Njal’s Saga in the Induction is quoted from Sir George Dasent’s classic translation.

  E. R. E.

  Also by E. R. Eddison

  The Poems, Letters and Memoirs of Philip Sidney Nairn

  Styrbiorn the Strong

  Egil’s Saga

  Mistress of Mistresses

  A Fish Dinner in Memison

  The Mezentian Gate

  Dedication

  WINIFRED GRACE EDDISON

  To you, madonna mia,

  and to my friend

  EDWARD ABBE NILES

  I dedicate this

  Vision of Zimiamvia

  Proper Names the reader will no doubt pronounce as he chooses. But perhaps, to please me, he will keep the i’s short in Zimiamvia and accent the third syllable: accent the second syllable in Zayana, give it a broad a (as in ‘Guiana’), and pronouce the ay in the first syllable – and the ai in Laimak – as in ‘aisle’: keep the g soft in Fingiswold: let Memison echo ‘denizen’ except for the m: accent the first syllable in Rerek and make it rhyme with ‘year’: remember that Fiorinda is an Italian name, Amaury, Amalie, and Beroald French, and Antiope, Zenianthe, and a good many others, Greek: last, regard the sz in Meszria as ornamental, and not be deterred from pronouncing it as plain ‘Mezria’.

  Mère des souvenirs, maîtresse des maîtresses,

  O toi, tous mes plaisrs! ô toi, tous mes devoirs!

  Tu te rappelleras la beauté des caresses,

  La douceur du foyer et le charme des soirs,

  Mère des souvenirs, maîtresse des maîtresses!

  Les soirs illuminés par l’ardeur du charbon,

  Et les soirs au balcon, voilés de vapeurs roses.

  Que ton sein m’était doux! que ton cœur m’était bon!

  Nous avons dit souvent d’impérissables choses

  Les soirs illuminés par l’ardeur du charbon.

  Que les soleils sont beaux dans les chaudes soirées!

  Que l’espace est profond! que le cœur est puissant!

  En me penchant vers toi, reine des adorées,

  Je croyais respirer le parfum de ton sang.

  Que les soleils sont beaux dans les chaudes soirées!

  La nuit s’épaississait ainsi qu’une cloison,

  Et mes yeux dans le noir devinaient tes prunelles,

  Et je buvais ton souffle, ô douceur, ô poison!

  Et tes pieds s’endormaient dans mes mains fraternelles.

  La nuit s’épaississait ainsi qu’une cloison.

  Je sais l’art d’évoquer les minutes heureuses,

  Et revis mon passé blotti dans tes genoux.

  Car à quoi bon chercher tes beautés langoureuses

  Ailleurs qu’en ton cher corps et qu’en ton cœur si doux?

  Je sais l’art d’évoquer les minutes heureuses!

  Ces serments, ces parfums, ces baisers infinis,

  Renaîtront-ils d’un gouffre interdit à nos sondes,

  Comme montent au ciel les soleils rajeunis

  Après s’être lavés au fond des mers profondes?

  – O serments! ô parfums! ô baisers infinis!

  BAUDELAIRE

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Foreword by Douglas E. Winter

  THE OVERTURE

  ZIMIAMVIA

  I. A Spring Night in Mornagay

  II. The Duke of Zayana

  III. The Tables Set in Meszria

  IV. Zimiamvian Dawn

  V. The Vicar of Rerek

  VI. Lord Lessingham’s Embassage

  VII. A Night-Piece on Ambremerine

  VIII. Sferra Cavallo

  IX. The Ings of Lorkan

  X. The Concordat of Ilkis

  XI. Gabriel Flores

  XII. Noble Kinsmen in Laimak

  XIII. Queen Antiope

  XIV. Dorian Mode: Full Close

  XV. Rialmar Vindemiatrix

  XVI. The Vicar and Barganax

  XVII. The Ride to Kutarmish

  XVIII. Rialmar in Starlight

  XIX. Lightning Out of Fingiswold

  XX. Thunder Over Rerek

  XXI. Enn Freki Renna

  XXII. Zimiamvian Night

  NOTE

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  MAPS OF THE THREE KINGDOMS

  ALSO BY E. R. EDDISON

  FOREWORD

  BY DOUGLAS E. WINTER

  ‘Is this the dream? or was that?’

  WORDS create worlds: storytelling is a kind of godhood, taking the imperfect day of language, moulding it in the writer’s own image and, with skill, breathing it to life. The task is a formidable one, and it is little wonder that most fiction is content with reinventing reality, safely sculpting what is known. And why not? Stories are for the most part entertainment, ephemeral, meant only for the moment. Few novels strive for life beyond their covers; few hold us in their dominion for years, fewer still for lifetimes. The words and the worlds of E. R. Eddison, which I first discovered more than twenty years ago, still intrigue me, uplift me, haunt me, today. I know that I am not alone.

  Eric Rücker Eddison (1882–1945) was a civil servant at the British Board of Trade, sometime Icelandic scholar, devotee of Homer and Sappho, and mountaineer. Although by all accounts a bowler-hatted and proper English gentleman, Eddison was an unmitigated dreamer who, in occasional spare hours over some thirty years, put his dreams to paper. In 1922, just before his fortieth birthday, a small collector’s edition of The Worm Ouroboros was published; larger printings soon followed in both England and America, and a legend of sorts was born. The book was a dark and blood-red jewel of wonder, equal parts spectacle and fantasia, labyrinthine in its intrigue, outlandish in its violence. It was also Eddison’s first novel.

  After writing an adventure set in the Viking age, Styrbiorn the Strong (1926), and a translation of Egil’s Saga (1930), Eddison devoted the remainder of his life to the fantastique in a series of novels set, for the most part, in Zimiamvia, the fabled paradise of The Worm Ouroboros. The Zimiamvian books were, in Eddison’s words, ‘written backwards’, and thus published in reverse chronological order of events: Mistress of Mistresses (1935), A Fish Dinner in Memison (1941), and The Mezentian Gate (1958). (The final book was incomplete when Eddison died, but his notes were so thorough that his brother, Colin Eddison, and his friend George R. Hamilton were able to assemble the book for publication.) Although the books are known today as a trilogy, Eddison wrote them as an open-ended series; they may be read and enjoyed alone or in any sequence. Each is a metaphysical adventure, an intricate Chinese puzzle box whose twists and turns reveal ever-encircling vistas
of delight and dread.

  Eddison’s four great fantasies are linked by the enigmatic character of Edward Lessingham – country gentleman, soldier, statesman, artist, writer, and lover, among other talents – and his Munchausen-like adventures in space … and time. Although he disappears after the early pages of The Worm Ouroboros, Lessingham is central to the books that follow. ‘God knows,’ he tells us, ‘I have dreamed and waked and dreamed till I know not well which is dream and which is true.’ One of the pleasures of reading Eddison is that we, too, are never certain. Perhaps Lessingham is a man of our world; perhaps he is a god; perhaps he is only a dream … or a dream within a dream. And perhaps, just perhaps, he is all of these things, and more.

  In a transcendent moment of The Worm Ouroboros, the Demonlords Juss and Brandoch Daha, searching desperately for their lost comrade-in-arms, Goldry Bluzco, ascend to the dizzying heights of Koshtra Pivrarcha. There, in the distance, they see paradise. Lord Juss speaks:

  ‘Thou and I, first of the children of men, now behold with living eyes the fabled land of Zimiamvia. Is that true, thinkest thou, which philosophers tell of that fortunate land: that no mortal foot may tread it, but the blessed souls do inhabit it of the dead that be departed, even they that were great upon earth and did great deeds when they were living, that scorned not earth and the delights and the glories thereof, and yet did justly and were not dastards nor yet oppressors?’

  ‘Who knoweth?’ answers Brandoch Daha. ‘Who shall say he knoweth?’

  If anyone knows, it is Edward Lessingham. In the Overture to Mistress of Mistresses, we learn that old age has claimed him, his final hours watched over by a mysterious lover. Lord Juss’s question is repeated, and the reader – like Lessingham – is taken straightaway to Zimiamvia. This is neither the biblical paradise, nor that of classical mythology, but a mad poet’s dream of Northern Europe during the Renaissance. Zimiamvia is an imperfect heaven – what other kind could exist without boredom for its residents? – a Machiavellian playground for men and gods, where mystery and menace, romance and revenge, swordplay and soldiering are the natural order of things.