Monday, October 8, 2012

Prelude to Savant White


When Timothy was very young he met the monsters under his bed and learned their names. They were Daren and Helen, and they looked as much alike as their names sounded. Both appeared from the shadows, climbing up from underneath him while he slept. Daren would perch on his desk, hunched forward with his chin on his knees and long, thin fingers gleaming white in the moonlight. Helen was accustomed to sit in the chair. Her raven-dark hair tumbled like a still waterfall over her shoulders, molding in the shadows with her black gown. Their eyes shimmered in the dark.

For months he was too terrified of them to make a noise. Timothy would lay, perfectly still, under his covers and hope they thought him asleep. So silently did he remain that he succeeded. They said no words and slunk back to whence they came by dawn. But on his seventh birthday he spoke to them and learned their names. The two monsters offered to teach him all that they knew, and he agreed. For Helen the subject was sorcery, while Daren's primary concern was murder.

For all their strange and sinister powers, neither knew the first thing of talking to children. Thus they approached his lessons in a way they did know, which was the telling of stories. These lasted many days, and Timothy sat in his bed, listening with rapt attention, while Helen told him of the wars between mages, and Daren of the strife that lead to the seizing of crowns. His were always bleaker and fraught with violence, while Helen told the same tale, making it of enchantment and black magic. They were stories suitable for telling by monsters to a small boy in the stillness of the night.

"In the world we are from," Helen began the very first night. "Magic is a science. The study of why the sun rises is an examination of the spells that compel it up. This was not always the case. Once we dwelt in a land Carcosa of dreams, but doom came with the King in Yellow and Carcosa is no more. Thus we came to Wilno, and I learned magic.

"In Wilno there are a number of different powers. Spell magic and the lore of lands are commonly known, while the power of blood and heritage are widely respected though mysterious. The greatest of all, though the hardest to master, is rune magic. It can only be learned through the mastery of many runes. Some of these may be discovered through deep understanding of many spells. They must be compared until the underlying pins can be discerned. Others do not exist in any impure form and can only be obtained from a master. Of these there is only one, me."

"How did you learn them?" the boy Timothy asked. If he did not ask questions, some of these points were never addressed.

"I learned them when I first came to Wilno, before the secrets of that place were hidden. It was very long ago, before the fall of Carcosa."

"Why did you leave?"

"I was exiled," she explained. "For some unpleasantness that followed the death of my father."

At this Daren smiled with deep personal satisfaction.

"After I left Wilno," she continued, "I came her to Earth and dwelt here for many years. In time someone of Wilno sought me out, even here, for my unique talents. He was named James, and he worked for my brother Duncton."