by A. L. Brooks
He regarded the gourd when he were done. Upending it again to his lips to suck out any last drips. He sighed when he were done. Knowing now he were doomed to die here.
With great effort he clipped it back to his belt. There may be fresh water ahead, he thought. And if there were none, well, he would trail the hoof prints until his body and mind succumbed to exhaustion and delirium. Then he would likely fall to his knees, slump forward onto his belly and face, and let sweet death carry him away.
He turned and resumed his trudge across the plain.
6
It were not long after that he spotted some far off object.
He stopped and stood, his head craned forward, mouth ajar, eyes narrowed. Were it something tangible he were seeing or something thrown out from his mind? It were impossible to tell. But it did not leave his sight, even when he blinked, it remained there, in the general heading of the meandering hoof prints.
‘Do you see that?’ Gargaron asked the little one eagerly. ‘Tell me. Do you see it?’
The little one were looking with keen, perhaps cautious, interest. It did not reply directly except a voice arose in Gargaron’s mind, What be it?
‘Come,’ Gargaron croaked. ‘I wager it be Grimah my steed. We must not let him out of our sight. Come now!’
Gargaron set off with renewed purpose, with a new sense of optimism and feeling of strength. He did not take his eye from the object lest it move and vanish from view.
But vanish it did not. And as they progressed toward it, it remained where it were. And slowly it grew in detail.
Gargaron saw first its legs, and its bulky torso, and saw two heads. He almost cried with relief. Tears filled his eye. ‘Grimah,’ he panted desperately. ‘Oh, Grimah, sweet horse. You await me.’
Yet, as he and the being advanced further, what Gargaron had taken for two heads and a bulky horse torso and long legs, turned out to be something else altogether. Confused, Gargaron shaded his brow with his hand and slowed his pace.
Soon, perplexed, he stopped altogether. No horse were standing there, although hoof prints appeared to trail toward it and culminate there at its feet.
It were a Dark One, tall and black with a feminine posture, with searing white eyes glaring back at both Gargaron and the new being. Beside it there were a ceramic sink with a white faucet and flowing water. Beside that a marble dais with berries and fruit and bread and succulent sliced meat.
Gargaron were not certain if what he saw before him were real or if it were a phantom thrown out by his mind. As he watched, the Dark One, tall, almost graceful in her movements, stood back, as if beckoning him and his new companion, allowing him access to food and water without her hindrance.
Gargaron were naturally cautious. Yet, strangely, he felt no threat from her. He could not fathom why. He had seen her kind kill and destroy and yet… none had ever seen it their business to harm him. He felt that trend were not about to change here. Still, what did it matter if it did? He would die out here soon enough. If she struck him down it might be a blessing.
He glanced around at the small being behind him. It had stopped, and seemed to be using Gargaron as a shield between him and the Dark One. Gargaron eyed the food and water. He suspected a trap, but he were almost beyond caring.
He strode tiredly toward the faucet, eyeing it, waiting for it to swirl away like smoke on the wind. It remained there however and when he reached it and stuck his hand out to touch it he found it solid and real. There came to his nostrils the scent of pristine water as it gushed from the tap. He put his fingers beneath its flow and cool water gushed over them.
He did not remember cupping his hands beneath the flow and guzzling feverishly. All he knew were he had his eye shut and his mouth deep in water and he were filling his belly. It were an almost instant relief, the feelings of strength and vitality surging through his bones and muscles, bringing on a renewed lucidity to his mind.
Yet soon he were doubled over, vomiting great gushes of water into the salt crust; not because it were poisoned but because his belly were not ready for such inundation.
He caught his breath, coughed spit from his mouth, wiped his chin. Then he were bent over the faucet again, drinking and hoisting handfuls of water over his face and head, drenching and cooling himself.
7
He breathed in deep, stood straight, sucking in huge gasps of air, his eye remained shut, his head turned to the heavens, a soft breeze cooling his damp skin; he felt like he’d just awoken from Afterworld’s torturous limbo. Now he got a scent of the food. With his thirst abated he were suddenly overrun by surging, raging hunger.
As he stepped toward the dais laid out with foodstuff, he glanced around at the tall Dark One. She stood there, calmly watching. The transparent small being stood aside, watching Gargaron with bewilderment and confusion.
Gargaron grabbed handfuls of meat, berries, fruit, stuffing them into his gob with a ravenous ferocity he had never known. He ate until not much were left, until there were but scattered scraps and morsels and then he fell to his knees and vomited, heaving up mighty lumps of half masticated meat and bread, followed by more water and bile and spit.
Then he turned over and slumped to his rump and sat there, arms loose at his side, his head hanging, drool spilling from his lips. He endured a time of reflection as he sat there. He remembered an old dream. Of he and Veleyal, his daughter. A famine had struck and she had wasted away to almost nothing. Her skin had become transparent. There were no food to give her. No water. All he had left were his life. He had prayed to the gods to take it from him and give it to his daughter. And they had granted him his wish. All he had to do were touch her, make some physical bond, to pass on his life force.
He emerged from his reverie… puzzled. He were not certain it had ever been a dream he’d experienced. It felt more like a thought that had occurred to him only now. For it were not Veleyal he imagined needed saving, but the small being.
More images came to him then. Of beings great and small, thousands of them, in the eons of time that had come before this moment, conducting similar selfless acts, giving over their life to some transparent ghostlike being.
Gargaron gazed up at the Dark One. He saw there were no faucet gushing water, no dais layered with platters of food. It were just the Dark One gazing down at him with her empty, white, soulless eyes. The salt plains stretched on about her, still brilliantly reflecting the blue sky and the mountainous white clouds on the horizon. And not only that, the colourless being now stood before him, searching his eyes as if for his guidance.
He thought of the words of his wife: You have work here yet. He looked across at the small being. He wiped his mouth with the back of his arm, took in a deep breath. The message has been with me for some time. I did not understand its relevance. His gazed switched from the small being to the Dark One. I am the last, he thought. And his eyes settled on the small transparent creature once more. And this be the first. The last of this great epoch gives his life up to the first of the next. I do not proclaim to know how or why Cloudfyre has come to this. Sadly this is as much as I comprehend.
From where he sat he reached out his hand, gesturing to the small one. She came forward. And stopped before his outstretched fingers. She watched him. And he heard her thoughts one last time: May you not be forgotten.
Then she reached out and lay her hand on his.
8
Above them, at that moment Cloudfyre were pulled at last from the grip of Melus and delivered into the hold of Gohor. The world rumbled, and shook and far away mountains came down and oceans sizzled and mighty waves hundreds of feet high crashed across barren and empty lands.
But the assault did not last long. For the process had begun months before. This were but the final tug. And like a petal ripped from its flower in a gale, the violent rent were quickly done… and Cloudfyre soon fell to silence.
9
Their hands and fingers became one, gelled, coalesced, merged. Gargaron felt his life beg
in to drain from him. For a while he watched it happen. He saw colours of energy, blue, red, green, washing down his arm and gushing into the being, like water flowing into a cracked, dry river bed after heavy rains. He saw her filling up with it all. And for a time he even saw himself, as if gazing back through her eyes.
He felt the vitality of youth, sheer optimism, strength, power, yearning, pride. He felt it all as he watched himself fade. Watched the colour go from his skin. Watched the light go from his remaining eye.
The small one saw green vines sprout from her toes and feet, vines with yellow pods, that opened and burst and filled the air with spores that caught the wind and drifted serenely away.
And with that, the tall Dark One, knowing her work were done, now turned and walked away, leaving four hoof prints in the salt, and soon were gone, unseen, swallowed up by the watery mirages of the plains.
HOORSK
DAWN OF REETH
100 YEARS LATER
THE great salt plains of Uyiga were no more. In a century waters had found their way across them, islands had risen, and it had become a peaceful shallow sea teeming with fishes and turtles. On one of the islands a stone formation that were once a giant from a small village called Hovel stood. And it were considered a sacred place; sentient souls from surrounding lands would travel to it and pay respects. For he were the God of birth, it were said, Gargarre were his name, a child who had come from the stars to bring life to a barren world. And any who would seek him out would receive blessings of long life and fertility.
And the small being he had impregnated, she had long perished, but her people had flourished and remained custodians of these lands. And a revered people they, the original people of this world, the Firstwuns, who it were said had lived during the last days of Gargarre, and had greeted him when he had fallen from the stars.
DUMIINS
GREAT FALL 5473
10,000 YEARS LATER
THE oceans were filled with some of the most magnificent creatures Cloudfyre had ever known. The mighty Fraeysharks with their luminous mouths, so large, colonies of Seasprites lived within them. And the gargantuan Lesothaurs who could swallow time itself. Born into this watery world deep below the raging ocean’s surface, were a small mergirl from the seafloor city of Envili Deep. She were but a little creature. And were but a youngling, with all her long life before her. She swam about her days, carefree and joyful, playing with her friends, helping her Oldwuns with chores, and she did not know that one day she would be the last living thing on this world, before Gohor gave Cloudfyre back to Melus, when the Dark Ones would again rise, when the Death Bells would once more toll…
~ THE END ~
Want More Monsters?
If you enjoyed this tale and have a taste for more monsters and adventure then keep your eyes open for the re-release of my novel STRANGEWORLD: THE MORTIFERA. It should be out at the back end of 2015.
In the meantime check out my short story THE SHAPESHIFTERS.
Review or not to review…
If you enjoyed Cloudfyre Falling and have a few moments to spare, please feel free to leave a short review at the site where you found this book. Reviews not only help new readers locate these books but they also help an author gauge how his writing has been received out there in the wider world. Think of it like a round of applause at the end of a stage play. After so many months of silence, locked away tapping at a keyboard, it’s nice to hear some noise.
Thank you.
Once I work out what I’m doing (I’m still figuring out a lot of this online stuff!) I hope to have a website/blog up and running and a mailing list available for readers to keep track of news and upcoming stories. Stay tuned…
A.L.BROOKS
615