Hero of Dreams (21 page)

Now, in the dawn light, they could see that he was very old, and such was the weary smile on his wrinkled but friendly face that their apprehension quickly went out of them. “Mighty adventurers indeed!” he said, his rheumy eyes upon the wands which Hero and Aminza still carried. “Since you have that wand-” he pointed an agued finger at Hero’s rod, “it may be supposed that my cousin Thinistor is no more.” He turned to Aminza. “And while you have that wand-” again he pointed, “the same must be believed of Lathi!”

“You’re right, old man,” growled Eldin. “Both Thinistor Udd and the eidolon Lathi are dead. And you’d have us believe that such news pleases you, would you?”

“Pleases me?” the wizard answered at once. “No, it saddens me, for it means that a little more of magic and mystery has gone out of Earth’s dreamland. Oh, I’ll agree it was probably necessary, but still … Both dead, you say, and by your hands?” He peered at each of the three in turn. “My, my! They’ll sing songs of this one day in Celephais and Ulthar.”

“Wizard,” Hero now spoke up, “we’ve come a long way and faced many terrors to get here. We’re questers, and since you’ve already seen and recognized these wands we’ve won, well, I’m sure you’ll know mat we’ve come to you for the third.”

“Oh, I know that well enough,” Nyrass answered. “But I’m sorry, for I can’t help you.”

“What?” scowled Eldin. “But the wand’s here. We know it is!”

Nyrass nodded. “Indeed it is-but still I say to you that you can’t have it.”

“Be warned, old man,” said Aminza, nimbly stepping between her suddenly tense companions and the wizard. “These are desperate fellows when their blood’s up. If you have the wand, you’d do well to hand it over.”

“I have it,” he answered, taking her hand and patting it, “and I don’t have it. You’ll understand presently, my dear. But come along, let’s not stand out here all day. We’ll breakfast together and then you can tell me your story. After that, if you wish, I’ll tell you mine-and then you’ll know why I can’t give you the third wand. Well, are you coming?”

Hero and Eldin looked at one another for a moment or two, then shared a shrug. They followed Nyrass and Aminza where they walked slowly ahead, the wizard leaning a little on the girl’s arm, through a great oaken door and into the castle proper.

In a room high in an east-facing turret, where the sun flooded through great arched windows, tfiey breakfasted on honey and bread washed down with scented tea from Kikuran, simple but satisfying fare. As they ate so the adventurers told their tale and Nyrass listened attentively, occasionally nodding his head. He was done with eating before his guests, and after daintily dabbing at his lips he said: “Well, most of what you’ve told me is as I divined it. Indeed I followed part of your flight on the life-leaf in my shew-stone. That, however, was quite by accident and I assure you I haven’t been spying on you. No, for I have my own problems and little enough time these days for wiz-ardly pursuits.” He chuckled a little, but sadly, they thought.

“Very well,” he continued after a while, “you’ve told your tale so now I’ll tell mine-and may you find it just as interesting.

“Let me think now … Ah, yes! I’d best start back at the very beginning, in an age undreamed of by anyone living or dreaming in Earth’s dreamland today. Now then, you’ve repeated to me what the Keeper of the Keep told you of the tenth First One: how he went mad and fled the keep, taking with him the three Wands of Power. Well, let me start my part of the story at that point in time, when dreams were very young and the dreamlands full of a primal magic!

“So the mad tenth First One, Klarek-Yam by name, stole the wands and made off with them. Now these wands were the tools of the First Ones-keys, you might call them-the keys of those great gates of space and time through which the First Ones came and went at will. And when the keys were stolen … then those gates were locked forever.

“And die Cthulhu-maddened Klarek-Yam knew that he could not keep the wands, not all of them, for the other First Ones had instruments by use of which they would quickly discover their whereabouts if all three were kept together. So, as he fled, the mad one hid the first wand away in a deep cave in the mountains, where long ages later Thinistor found it one day; and the second he tossed into that mighty lake behind the Great Bleak Mountains, so that it was finally washed down into Thalarion and eventually came into the hands of the eidolon Lathi; but the third wand, that one he kept for himself.

“Now, of the wands themselves, let me explain something.

“You have told how Thinistor’s wand points the way. Aye, and I may tell you that it has the power to do many other things as well; but indeed pointing the way is its primary function. It is the instrument by use of which the First Ones guided their mighty ships amongst the stars and down the timestreams! And Lathi’s wand … you have seen how it glows with a cold, golden, everlasting light? That is the essence of the Ultimate Power which propels the ships of the First Ones upon their voyagings. And as for the third wand-

“Ah, but that one is the strangest wand of all!

“By use of the third wand the First Ones are able to slip into and out of this plane of existence, or any other such plane, at will-or they were before it was stolen. It cancels space and time utterly, as if they never were, and reconstructs them to suit itself. Or rather, to suit its masters. Now it has only one master, Klarek-Yam himself, and he is locked in a place where even he cannot use the third and last wand.”

Here Nyrass paused and held up a finger to keep the three silent. “This, too, shall I explain,” he presently told them; and eventually, after a little thought, he continued with his tale.

“In those primal days of dream there dwelt here beside the Tross, in this very castle, my ancestor Soomus the Seventh of the Seventh. Now as his name and title implies he was the seventh son of the seventh son of dreamland’s very first wizard, and as such he was mightier in magic than all other men. How easily he could have made the dreamlands in their entirety his own, had he so desired. He was a good man, however, as have been all of his descendants with very few exceptions.”

“One of those exceptions being Thinistor Udd,” Eldin cut in, a trifle sarcastically.

“Er, aye, even so,” Nyrass agreed and quickly went on. “Now Soomus kept in the castle’s apartments some of dreamland’s most ancient and esoteric writings, direful tomes whose very titles may not be spoken by sane or human tongues. I myself have inherited certain of those volumes, and I may tell you that even I dare not look into all of them! Suffice it to say that upon the least potent pages one may find Koth’s Sign explained and His Essence delineated, the runic keys to the Pnakotic Manuscripts, spells for conjuring the Myriad Minions of Maggab, and numerous other terrible thaumaturgies whose purposes I will not even name.

“Well, the crazed First One had heard of Soomus and knew him for a mighty magician. He determined to seek him out and ask his aid in the performance of the blackest rite of all, which, were it performed, would surely doom Earth’s dreamland in its entirety-not to mention the rest of space and time!

“In short, he wished to free Cthulhu and the Great Old Ones from their immemorial prisons-not only here but also in the waking world! Need I say more on that subject? Of course not.

“And so he came to Soomus with his wand and his blasphemous proposition. In the wand, you see, he already controlled the power to seek out and find Cthulhu and his ilk, so that all he needed from Soomus was a key to their prisons, with which to undo in a moment all the work of the Great Gods of Eld. Of course, Soomus and Klarek-Yara, they themselves would not be harmed. No, for they would be first-loved amongst all Cthulhu’s human priests and acolytes. And immortal, they would walk in wonder and glory forever!” Nyrass uttered a dry chuckle.

“But who, I ask you, would willingly become an immortal madman? Certainly not my ancestor Soomus the Seventh of the Seventh, you may be sure!

“And so he asked for time to consider the mad one’s madder proposal, and instead prepared a potent spell and a trap fit for one so wily as that lunatic First One; and indeed the poor mad creature fell into Soomus’s trap, for which we can all be thankful. And Soomus shrank him down, him and his wand and all, and prisoned him in a glass sphere no bigger than a shew-stone. And there he remains to this day-but for how much longer, no man can say …”

‘To this day?” repeated Hero. “Alive?”

“Aye, for my ancestor had not the heart to take the First One’s life. They are long-lived, the First Ones, as you know, and this coupled with Soomus’ spell made Klarek-Yam near-immortal.”

“And the third wand is locked in the shew-stone with him?” questioned Eldin.

“Indeed it is, and many books of magic also, for they were in the rooms which Soomus shrank. He shrank entire rooms, as many as a great house, the better to ease the mad First One’s bitter imprisonment.” The three looked at each other and back at Nyrass. “It’s a strange story for sure,” grunted Eldin, “and we certainly don’t wish to seem ungrateful for your hospitality, but-“

“But you don’t believe me anyway, is that it?” the wizard smiled his sad smile. “Very well, you shall see for yourselves.”

He stood up and beckoned them to follow, leading the way down spiral steps from the turret and out across the courtyard to an iron-bound door of age-blackened oak. There they paused while he took out a great key from his wizard’s robe, turning it in the lock of the massive door.

“You seem to take good care of this shew-stone, Nyrass,” said Hero as they descended dank steps into deep bowels of earth. “Is that where we’re going-to see the shew-stone?”

“Yes to both questions,” answered Nyrass. “I do take good care of it, and you are going to see it. Of course I take good care of it, for if ever Klarek-Yam should escape-” and he shrugged. “That would be the end of it.”

Now Aminza spoke up, asking: “And is he likely to escape?”

“I fear so,” Nyrass nodded.

“But if your ancestor Soomus locked him up all those centuries ago,” she pressed, “why shouldn’t you do the same?”

“Soomus took him by surprise, child. And after all these-not centuries, my dear, but eons-d’you really think he’d allow himself to be taken so easily again?” Aminza had no answer, and in another moment the way had grown so dark that she held up Lathi’s wand to light the way.

The steps wound interminably down and the air quickly grew colder. Nitrous patches gave the walls a leprous appearance, and the footsteps of the party echoed loudly. Now Eldin thought to inquire: “You said the mad First One is likely to escape, but you didn’t say how he’d go about it. Is someone trying to free him?”

“He is trying to free himself, as he has tried ever since Soomus locked him away,” Nyrass answered

“That’s what puzzles me about your story,” Eldin returned in his rumbling growl, “If this crazy Klarek-Yam has the third wand with him in his fish-bowl world, how come he’s still in there at all? I thought the thing was a key to alien dimensions, times and places?”

“So it is,” said Nyrass, nodding his white head and calling a halt as they reached the foot of the stone staircase. “Indeed it is-but its powers were reduced along with its size!”

“What?” cried Eldin. “Are we fools that we should believe all this?”

Nyrass paused before a door which was strong as the one at the top of the steps. He turned to Eldin and frowned. “Dreamer,” he said, “you persist in doubting my word! Fortunately for you I love my fellow men, even unlovely ones … What would you do if I struck you?”

“Eh?” said Eldin, surprised. “Why, with my temper, I’d probably strike you back!”

“And if you were only one inch tall?”

“An inch?” Again Eldin was taken aback. “Why, I’d-I’d-“

“And if you were less than a grain of sand?” Nyrass pressed. “Don’t you see? Just as the mad First One was made tiny, so was his power. And so was the power of his wand.”

Hero was frowning heavily and that was a sign that something bothered him mightily. “Nyrass,” he said, “you may well find that Klarek-Yam has an ally in a certain Ossaran, one Ebraim Borak. You’ll remember we told you it was Borak sent us into the mountains in the first place to bring back Thinistor’s wand. Could it be that Borak plots to release the First One?”

“Ah, no!” replied Nyrass, “though I can see why you might think so. But no, I myself enlisted Borak’s aid in attempting to recover the first wand. I thought the wand might help me to prevent the inevitable escape of the mad First One, do you see? But as an agent the Ossaran was not a good choice. He was too devious, untrustworthy. I later discovered-even as you discovered-that he was in league with Thinistor Udd himself!”

“Aye,” Eldin grunted, “and we’ve still a score to settle with Borak.”

“No longer,” Nyrass smiled his wan smile. “All such scores were settled when Borak ran a-foul of the taw in Theelys. He came to me for help, and when I would have hidden him away he attempted to murder me. He had determined, you see, to make himself the next Great Wizard of Theelys. With all of my books, charms, spells and other devices, he just might have succeeded.”

“You killed him?” Eldin seemed disappointed.

“No, for that is not my way.”

“Well, it may not be your way, Nyrass,” Hero cut in, impatient now, “but we don’t have your benevolent nature. Where’s Borak now?”

“Come,” answered the ancient magician. “The answer-all answers-lie within the rooms beyond this door. If you see for yourself, then you will know and understand. Then, too, you’ll fear the madness of the tenth First One as much as I do!”

The Tenth First One

CHAPTER III

From the cold, nitrous foot of the stone steps, Nyrass led the questers into brightly lighted, sumptuous subterranean apartments which would rival in their opulence any of the wizard’s own rooms in the castle far above. They would never have suspected that such a place could exist down here, and by the neatness of the rooms it was obvious that they were occupied. But by whom? Hero asked this of Nyrass as he led them through one well-kept room after another.