This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
About My Style
Imagine we are in a café’….sitting across from each other sipping on a coffee…cappuccino…tea….whatever….and I am telling you a fanciful story….a fantasy or mystery or sci-fi or a combination of all…
That is how I write…like I am sitting with you…..
There’s minimal punctuation…just pauses here and there.
My style of writing is pre…sixteenth century which is delightfully void of annoying piques and marks that the brain does not need…..I write much in the fashion as to these brief paragraphs…which you probably understood quite without difficulty.
Thanks a million
Donald
Last Part Recap
Outside the lights were dimming. The carnival music had grown silent and everyone was gone except the workers who were shutting the rides down.
“I suggest we fine lodging for the night. I don’t think it is wise to be out and about after the stroke of twelve.” Eifion suggested.
“Why?” Timothy demanded.
Eifion shrugged his shoulders. “I suppose the only way to know is to stay out…..if you dare.”
“Maybe I dare.”
1
“Yes….Maybe I will dare.” Timothy cheered. “And I dare you Mr. Cavalier…if you have the courage?”
“Sometimes Mr. Mundanie…..What looks like courage is stupidity. However…if you chose to be stupid then I must follow and try to keep you from something totally disastrous.”
The midnight trumpets sounded and suddenly the streets were abandoned and silent…..almost silent.
"So." Timothy said with a hint of challenge in his tone. "What should I be watching for?' He asked and was answered but not by Eifion.
"A human....and a Cavalier. How unusual is that?"
The voice came from above.....along the eaves of a grand old manor.
"Very unusual and not very polite. The Cavalier at least should know that the night belongs to us."
"Absolutely rude." I would argue.
Timothy looked in the direction of the voices and to his awe and....hint of delight he spied upon the eaves of the Manor a pair of Gargoyles.....a few moments ago simply statues of stone, but now....living breathing creatures.
"Forgive us. I did not mean to be impolite ore rude. I was merely curious why we should not be out after midnight.....and now that I see you I think the rule is a sad one.....I think you are delightful creatures and would so much like to learn more about you." Timothy exclaimed...or would that be....Proclaimed......Hmmmmmm.
"Interesting. It appears he was not warned." Said one of the Gargoyles.
"Definitely." Said the other....then he asked of Eifion. "You should know. Did you not explain us to this....Human?"
'Yes.....after a fashion....however.....This is a human of a different sort...not born of this realm...but of Mundanie and more so he is the Grandson of that most auspicious hero Wilf Chyme. That is why I did not press the issue of staying in past your hour of waking. You may well wish to meet this Grandson of our Hero." Eifion replied instructively....with his fingers crossed. Gargoyles are notoriously poor tempered even with heroes and Grandsons of Heroes.
The two Gargoyles turned to face each other....conversing in a language none could understand except creatures made of stone....which are actually quite numerous in Majixland.
After a few minutes they spread their wings and glided down to land in the street facing the midnight intruders.
"I am Grunfedol. Captain of the Gargoyle Guard. We protect this city by night. This is my Second, Andringal. We forgive you your rudeness Timothy Chyme...not because of what the Cavalier said but because we have learned that Majixland is once again in need of a Mundanie Hero....and we are charged to advise you to go to Palisade City." (Sometimes called a Stake wall or a Paling which is typically a fence or wall made from wooden stakes or tree trunks and used as a defensive structure or enclosure.) "The King of Majixland is waiting for you. I am afraid what your Grandfather fixed has been....well......unfixed.....by another Mundanie....an unlooked for and unwelcomed Mundanie who is wreaking havoc throughout the realm."
"It seems my journey has taken on a whole new perspective and a very dark one." Said Timothy.....Then he asked..... "Who is the interloper?"
2
"I am afraid you will have to ask the King." Said Grunfedol.
"Then I suppose we should set out for Palisade City as soon as possible. This very night I should think." Timothy responded contemplatively.
"And I Andringal will take up the journey with you.....as I did when your Grandfather disgorged the Fell-beast from its lair....in the first war of Majixland."
"First war....You mean this could be the second war?" Asked Timothy.
"Could be....nonsense....undoubtedly would be far more accurate. Whenever unwelcomed Mundanie try to over-throw Majixland a ware is a certainty." Answered Andringal.
"How would you travel by day?" Timothy queried.
"We sleep by day....usually, but under given circumstances....such as now....we can function by day as well as any." Grunfedol responded indignantly. "You Mundanie's really are dense between the ears." He grumbled.
"Yes well.....if we are to get a start we should get started." Eifion interceded. "Palisade City is a five day march from here....if we don't dilly dally along the way or something does not interfere with our progress."
"We will prepare and meet back here in two hours." Timothy instructed....taking command of the expedition.
"Now we are three." Said Eifion. The odds grow in our favour....especially since our third is a Gargoyle who are legendary warriors in a battle.....Very hard to kill since they are made of stone....living stone but stone nonetheless."
"If we are moving toward war we will need more than three soldiers Cavalier." Timothy replied sullenly. Then he said. "Grandfather told me stories about the First Majixland War but I always thought they were just stories. Now here I am writing my own tales.....for whom.....maybe a son or grandson....or maybe no one if I do not survive."
"Be of good cheer and hope Mundanie. Do not defeat yourself before you are even on the road....because it is always a good chance your road is the road to victory." Replied the Groundhog.
Andringal was waiting as planned clad in armour and weapons....a sword and a crossbow. He was as grim looking as Timothy had ever seen someone looking grim.....and dangerous. He was glad in that moment Andringal was a friend and not an enemy.
"Very well my worthy companions. Let us be off and pause only when we cannot take another step....or flap a wing one more time." Timothy ordered cheerfully.
"I will walk and save my energy for flying for a time that it is needed."
"And look skyward Timothy. We are four. She has decided to join us on this expedition." Eifion directed.
Timothy looked up. Circling against the star filled moonless sky was the Qilin. Then a moment later she swooped down and in a mystical transformation she stood next to Timothy as human as he and as beautiful a girl a Timothy had ever seen. She said in a soft, musical voice..... "I see in your eyes those of your Grandfather....a true creature even though he was Mundanie."
And so they....the four companions set off for Pal
isade City to visit the King and.....well.....sometimes not all things are bright and cheer.......or go the way one wishes things to go.
3
The first day's march went along delightfully uneventful....at least in those first early morning hours then while the sun shone a bright gold in the azure sky. The company had only allowed themselves a few brief rest periods so by sunset they were bone weary and ready for a good...log rest....at least until midnight....everyone except Andringal who seemed to have managed plenty of rest while marching...his mind lost in some form of sleep peculiar to his kind. So when the others were ready to sleep he was waking and took the post of guard...which as you will discover was a very....very good thing because the uneventful day did not continue into night.
Luanna curl up near the fire...her human body unused to the open air of night. Timothy was at the edge of the fire light stretched out in his bed roll and using his back pack for a pillow. Eifion had dug a small hollow to bed down in and Andringal had found a branch high in an old oak to keep watch from.
The air was still and silent......
Some of the most treacherous creature of myth and lore are small....but by no means weak.
A sound. A scuffling...like footsteps in gravel drew Andringal's attention. It was faint and far off....on the very edge of the Gargoyle's acute hearing. It was a sound he had heard before and a tingle of alarm went up his spine.
"Wake up." He warned in his gravelly voice. "A troop of Stonemen approaches. It cannot mean anything good. In the first war they hired themselves out to the enemy of Majixland and served as the main fighting force. It seems they have come down from their mountain caves and are abroad again."
Timothy was on his feet in a flash...already wide awake having not being able to find sleep.
"Stonemen....By that you mean Trolls."
"Yes....but a smaller version and far more vicious than trolls."
"Are they coming for us"? Timothy asked cautiously.
"I suspect they are searching for us....but I do not think they have found our company yet. If they had they would be moving much faster and more in our direction." The Gargoyle replied. "I think we should move on now. If the horde catches us we are most certainly doomed." He advised.
But the words had barely faded from his lips when a screech resounded across the night sky that even Timothy recognized as dangerous.....
Andringal spun about abruptly. "We must hurry....The Stonemen have been warned of our presence and most likely our location. That screech came from a Darkingbird....companions of the Stonemen. The will double their pace now."
Luanna slipped into the dark of night and a moment later the Qilin was aloft and a moment after that the screech of the Darkingbird was last in a blast of blue/red flame.
"Run!!!" Cried the Qilin who then swept down and quick took up Eifion on her back then veered north to scout the way ahead.
"Do not stop. Do not rest." The cavalier's voice faded into the night.
Andringal and Timothy set off once again....following the northerly road 30 paces at a trot....30 paces at a walk...
4
The miles and hours blurred by....at first in hope but then when the Qilin returned and Eifion rejoined the company he told them that the Stonemen were gaining on them quickly and before the next nightfall it would come to a fight....30 against 4...the only bright light being that the Qilin was worth all her companions and more in a fight. The bad news was, swords and bows were of little to no use against these dwarfed Trolls, unless you could take out their eyes....which was unlikely. The only weapon that was of much use was a stone-crusher which only Eifion possessed. Of course there was the Qilin who could do a good deal of damage to any creature....which would have proved good....but after another scouting flight she reported that another band of a hundred or more Stonemen were in approach from the northeast and would intercept the company almost at the same time as those coming from the southeast.
The Qilin descended to the earth and in a swirl of light transformed into Luanna. She joined the others and said...."There is a way out of this.....at least enough to gain us some time. I could carry Timothy for an hour...in flight....and Andringal could carry Eifion. If we were to fly northwest then we would have some distance between us and the Stonemen....and hopefully they would lose our location....I have seen no more Darking Birds in my sojourns."
It was considered by all a good plan and may have worked but just as the decision was made the whole plan was made useless for out of the darkness came a horde.....as nasty as nasty can be. Some might have called it a swarm...but whatever name it was called the giant Praying Mantis were hunting......and they could fly.
"We are doomed." The Gargoyle screamed. "These creatures have only the very basic survival instincts....eat and reproduce."
"Great....Eaten alive by bugs. I find this....." Timothy was saying when suddenly he felt something grab his arm. Without looking he drew his sword and lashed out.....a lucky blow lopping off the head of a large green mantis....as big as an eagle. Then another came right behind it and knocked Timothy to the ground......
And if that was not enough Luanna who was now the Qilin cried out a warning that the Stonemen were closing in.....All of them.
Like it was told....you cannot reason with an insect....no matter how small....or....big it is....but they can be tricked and sometimes running toward danger has its merits.
"Follow me." Timothy commanded as he turned toward the oncoming Stonemen but not exactly running straight at them. It was more like charging the space between them as they approached from the north east and south east.....I am sure you can see the merit in this desperate plan....and the folly if it failed...which it did not do....however the plan did not go exactly the way Timothy hoped. Still.....In the finally throw of the dice it worked out.....more or less.
What happened was what Timothy hoped. When the Stonemen met the swarm of giant praying mantis there occurred an incredible battle that took all the attention away from the company.....and that gave them time to put some distance between them and the battle....which Timothy thought would go on for some time.....But things don't always work out....as you probably well know from your own experiences in life.
It was only a matter of twenty or so minutes before the Stonemen decimated the Mantis because...even the jaws of the giant praying mantis is a match for the rock hard skin of the Stonemen.
So...Before the company could get any good distance away...The Stonemen were in hot pursuit of their quarry once again.
5
The night wore out and dawn etched a white/gold line across the eastern horizon. The company....who had been running now for three hours was quickly slowing to little more than a weary jog.
And the Stonemen were coming on tirelessly.
"If we run ourselves ragged we stand no hope at all of defending our selves." Said Timothy as he slowed to a halt. "Can we not try the first plan and let our winged companions take us away....at least put some distance between us?"
"I am weary beyond reckoning but I will try." Said Luanna.
"Yes. We could but I too am weary...." the Gargoyle was saying when an enormous harangue reached them.
"What is it?" Timothy cried out.
A cloud of dust to the north rose skyward.
"More trouble I suppose." Timothy added sarcastically.
Andringal took to his wings and rose aloft quickly....flying in the direction of the dust cloud. Only a few minutes later he returned with cheer in his voice.
"We may face battle this day but we will not be alone." He announced. A cavalry of mounted Cavaliers is coming.....Your comrades Eifion....They ride Centaurs and like all Cavaliers the bear Stone-crushers. I count thirty....but that will make sixty fighters...as well as us four. A great battle will be had and I am sure we will rise victorious from the melee'."
"But where have they come from and how did they know our plight?" Timothy asked excitedly.
"We shall ask when this is done. In the meant
ime my Mundanie friend just accept the boon and prepare for battle. I have a spare Stone-crusher.' Said Eifion then handed Timothy a short handled sledge hammer.
And a cloud of dust rose in the western sky.
*********
Have you ever had to wait for something horrendous to happen....inevitable but seemingly taking forever to get at it and get it over.......and......your life is at stake.
Probably not and you must believe you never want to experience it....especially when you are far away from home....in a world you don't know or even understand....but you cannot escape because you are not entirely certain how you got there.
I mention all this because I wanted you to have some understanding of how Timothy Chyme felt as he waited to engage in battle....waiting to live....or....not.....
*******
Timothy took the Stone-crusher in both hands and swung it freely. He never realized how much a ten pound block of iron attached to the end of a 2 foot stick could weigh. He tested it on a rock about the size of a man's head. The weapon crushed the rock to bits and pieces.
It frightened Timothy as he wondered if he could do such a thing to a living being....even a malevolent one.
He was minutes from finding the answer.
The Cavalry to the north began to take form and in the east the vague shapes of living rock resembling a rounded form of human thundered ever closer by the minute and it would only be a short time before the clash of weapons filled the air.
6
It was good fortune that the Cavalry of Cavaliers and Centaurs arrived first......announcing that the King's Watcher had seen this foray but.... "We were not aware that treachery was so close at hand....Otherwise we would have come sooner." Said the Captain...who then added.... "Nonetheless we are here now and we shall fight the good fight all the way to victory." And as the Captains words faded his companion.....the Centaur turned toward the oncoming horde.