And as soon as morning appeared on the desolation, and all the useless
rocks began to glow, he took the false weight and softly rubbed it along
both sides of his sword until all its magical edge was disenchanted. And
he did this in his tent while his followers slept, for he would not let
them know that he sought for help that came not from the ravings of Niv,
nor from any sayings that Zend had had from the moon.
Yet the troubled sleep of madness is not so deep that Niv did not watch
him out of one wild sly eye when he heard the false weight softly
rasping the sword.
And when this was secretly done and secretly watched, Alveric called to
his two men, and they came and folded up his tattered tent, and took the
long pole and hung their sorry belongings upon it; and on went Alveric
along the edge of the fields we know, impatient to come at last to the
land that so long eluded him. And Niv and Zend came behind with the pole
between them, with bundles swinging from it and tatters flying.
They moved inland a little towards the houses of men to purchase the
food they needed; and this they bought in the afternoon from a farmer
who dwelt in a lonely house, so near to the very edge of the fields we
know that it must have been the last house in the visible world. And
here they bought bread and oatmeal, and cheese and a cured ham, and
other such things, and put them in sacks and slung them over their pole;
then they left the farmer and turned away from his fields and from all
the fields of men. And as evening fell they saw just over a hedge,
lighting up the land with a soft strange glow that they knew to be not
of this Earth, that barrier of twilight that is the frontier of Elfland.
"Lirazel!" shouted Alveric, and drew his sword and strode into the
twilight. And behind him went Niv and Zend, with all their suspicions
flaming now into jealousy of inspirations or magic that were not theirs.
Once he called Lirazel; then, little trusting his voice in that wide
weird land, he lifted his hunter's horn that hung by his side on a
strap, he lifted it to his lips and sounded a call weary with so much
wandering. He was standing within the edge of the boundary; the horn
shone in the light of Elfland.
Then Niv and Zend dropped their pole in that unearthly twilight, where
it lay like the wreckage of some uncharted sea, and suddenly seized
their master.
"A land of dreams!" said Niv. "Have I not dreams enough?"
"There is no moon there!" cried Zend.
Alveric struck Zend on the shoulder with his sword, but the sword was
disenchanted and blunt and only harmed him slightly. Then the two seized
the sword and dragged Alveric back. And the strength of the madman was
beyond what one could believe. They dragged him back again to the fields
we know, where they two were strange and were jealous of other
strangeness, and led him far from the sight of the pale-blue mountains.
He had not entered Elfland.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account