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."
No comments:
Post a Comment