The Nemesis, The Wizard and The Waterfall. Book One.

‘Elijah, Elijah, wake up, wake up Elijah.’

  Slowly Snorker opened his eyes to see the Wizard, still wearing his luxurious red velvet robes, sitting on the bed at his side, shaking his shoulder, and heard a low growl, then felt a presence next to his left leg. There was Muppy, lying next to him, still protecting him. He sat up and kissed her, and she, in turn, licked his face.

  ‘I’m glad you took my warning and didn’t wander. I expected to find you somewhere else. Time to rise, I’ve much to tell you.’

  ‘This isn’t a dream is it?’ Was Esme saving him from the spider a dream?

  ‘Many wizard philosophers have posed the question, “What is dream and what is reality?” It could be a dream, I could be in your dream, conversely, you could be in my dream. Alternatively, both of us could be in someone else’s dream. However, we must still live this version of reality whomsoever’s dream this is.’

  Snorker blinked uncomprehendingly, his mind was still half-asleep to make out the intelligibility of the Wizard’s words. Muppy snuggled closer into his hand, as if seeking reassurance.

  The Wizard stood and walked towards his workbench. Snorker noticed that Twinkle was perched on his shoulder. One of Twinkle’s wings was blue and yellow, the other near Worlyn’s head was a deep red. Strange.

  ‘Now Elijah, five hundred years ago, or was it four?’

  ‘It was one.’

  ‘One, how do you know?’

  ‘You told me.’

  ‘Did I? Oh yes, a hundred years ago a goddess came to me and told me to expect you.’

  ‘A goddess?’

  ‘Yes, Esme, the goddess of beautiful creatures.’

  ‘Esme?’

  ‘Yes, she comes to me now and again, it was her that entrusted me with the care of her eunicons some one thousand years ago, or was it two? Then again it could’ve been last year. Nevermind.’

  ‘The eunicons belong to a goddess?’

  ‘Yes of course they do, everything belongs to someone. Now stop asking questions and listen.’

  ‘What does Esme look like?’

  ‘More questions. I cannot tell you what Esme looks like because I’ve never seen her, well, not in the flesh, seen picture and statues of her, very beautiful. She visits me in the guise of an animal, or sometimes one of her eunicons. Surely you must’ve seen one of her statues?’

  Elijah shook his head; no he’d never seen one of her statues. Strange feelings came over him, like he should remember something but couldn’t. The name Esme sent his heart into a flutter.

  ‘Now what were we talking about?’

  ‘Esme.’

  ‘No, before that.’

  ‘You were saying you’ve been waiting for me for a hundred years.’

  ‘That’s right, yes, now.’ The Wizard suddenly twirled, then put his fingers to his lips. ‘What was I going to say?’

  ‘You’re going to tell me why you’ve been waiting for me for a hundred years.’ Elijah moved Muppy over and stood, she lay and closed her eyes, as if disdainful of the chattering.

  Worlyn’s eyebrows lifted. ‘Was I?’

  Yes you were thick head.

  ‘Shut up.’

  Elijah shook his head. ‘And, you were going to tell me what my part in this is?’

  ‘Ah, I can’t do that.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because I don’t know.’

  ‘I’m confused.’

  ‘Yes, well, you’re not the only one.’

  ‘It’s obvious you must know more than I do.’

  ‘Yes, you’re correct in that supposition, I do know more than you. However, I don’t know the reasons why you’ve been chosen to fulfil a destiny, which I also don’t know.’

  ‘What’ve you been told?’

  ‘To wait, to guard, and help you in any way I can.’

  ‘Is that all?’

  ‘That’s all.’

  ‘But why a hundred years, why such a long time?’

  ‘Ah Elijah, a hundred years is but a wink of the eye to the universe and the gods that control it. Is it my imagination Elijah or have you grown taller? Stand here.’

  Elijah, more confused than before, obeyed.

  ‘Yes, you’re two hands taller, now that is a surprise, the blue lake’s never made me taller, it’s helped my gout and arthritis, but it’s never made me taller. Let’s conduct a little experiment. That candle there, concentrate on the flame.’

  Elijah looked at the flame.

  ‘Now, think about putting it out with the power of your mind.’

  Elijah concentrated, nothing happened, the wick continued to burn.

  ‘Are you concentrating?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Still nothing happened.

  ‘No. Think about making the flame larger.’

  Again Elijah concentrated; again nothing happened.

  ‘This is very strange. Why’ve the gods chosen you when you don’t have any powers?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘No, neither do I.’

  I don’t either.

  ‘Shut up.’

  ‘I haven’t said anything.’

  ‘I wasn’t talking to you.’

  Elijah looked around, no one. This Worlyn was definitely addled. ‘What happens now?’

  ‘We carry on as normal.’

  ‘But this isn’t normal for me.’

  ‘No I suppose not.’

  ‘Normal for me is finding the plants and cleaning the kitchens, washing the pots and pans. I must get back, the Principle-Slave will probably beat me.’

  ‘Does he beat you often?’

  ‘Every day, morning and evening, he likes to see me cringe, but I don’t mind.’

  ‘You don’t mind, someone is beating you morning and evening and you don’t mind? Oh may the gods help you Elijah, you don’t mind being beaten?’

  ‘At first I did, and then I began to imagine I was made of stone, hard stone, and his belt would bounce off my back. The pain lessened, but he must’ve noticed because he began using a whip, and I began to feel nothing. I still cringed, still cried out as if in pain, because he’d other ways he could punish me, denying me food. That I could live with because I could easily find food. But locking me in the deepest dungeon was the worst, denying me light and freedom to roam, keeping me in the dark, not seeing the sunset, not visiting my favourite places. So when he beat me I cried out, screamed, begged him to stop. That seemed to please him.’

  ‘Curious, very curious. Did you turn to stone?’

  Elijah laughed, ‘Course not, how could I turn to stone?

  ‘How could you not feel the whip?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Take off your smock.’

  Elijah looked at the wizard, but did as requested and pulled his smock off.

  ‘Turn.’

  Elijah turned, and felt the wizard run his fingers over his hunchback.

  ‘Smooth as a tenesco’s bum.’ Worlyn shook his head.

  ‘What?’ said Elijah trying to look at his back, then noticed a large mirror and went and looked at his back, no scars, it was smooth, how was that?

  ‘Well, there’re four explanations for this.’

  ‘What’re they?’

  ‘One, you’ve never been beaten and are telling lies.’

  Elijah answered indignantly, ‘I’m not.’

  ‘Two, the Principle-Slave’s been beating you with a feather duster and used magic to make you believe it was a belt or whip. Three, you’ve really been turning yourself into stone. Or four, the magic waters have healed your scars. I’m inclined towards the first two myself, probably the first.’

  ‘I’m not lying.’

  ‘Maybe, maybe not. You can put your, er, smock, is that a smock? Looks like you’ve been using it to clean an oven. Anyway, put it back on. Now, we need to find you a bed, because that’s my bed.’

  Elijah panicked, ‘A bed, but I should be getting back, the Principle-Slave’ll be waiting for me, he’ll want the herbs, he’ll beat me, and probably
lock me in the dungeons. I must go back.’

  ‘You’re not going back.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Haven’t you been listening?’

  ‘Of course I have.’

  ‘The gods have told me to help you in any way I can; I’ve been waiting for you for a hundred years. Doesn’t that tell you anything?’

  ‘Only that the gods must be addled.’

  ‘Shush,’ the Wizard looked around. ‘Don’t say such things, don’t even think them. The last thing we want is an angry god whisking us into a pit of burning sulphur, or even worse, a giant spider’s web, and leave us there. Watch your tongue. Now, until the gods give us some sign or whatever, because they sometimes move in peculiar ways.’

  ‘Their mischief to perform.’

  ‘Will you shut up and stop criticising the gods, you’ll have us turned into a pair of flies in a room full of frogs. Put your smock back on, you’ll catch a cold. Now what was I saying?’

  Elijah put his smock back on. ‘That the gods are peculiar.’

  ‘I didn’t say that.’

  ‘Yes you did.’

  ‘I take it back; I didn’t mean to say it. I was saying that until the gods give us a sign we carry on as normal.’

  ‘What’s normal?’

  ‘Ah, a good philosophical question, one that has confused wizards for centuries. However, normal is you cleaning this place up, then stocking all the fires with firewood, then checking all the torches and candles, then cleaning the stables.’

  ‘You’ve stables?’

  ‘Then feeding the pigmoors and cattle.’

  ‘You’ve pigmoors and cattle?’

  ‘Then helping the cooks kill and pluck a couple of dozen chickens, six pigmoorlets, six lambs, six geese, peeling some fotatoes, some vegetables, arranging some fruit and flowers, I’m expecting some visitors, oh, bring up a hundred bottles of the Chestor red wine, no make it a hundred and fifty, then help to prepare the banqueting hall.’

  ‘You’ve a banqueting hall?’

  ‘And wait on my guests, then after we’ve all retired, you clean up. Then tomorrow.’

  ‘Excuse me.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’m not your slave.’

  ‘What do you expect to do, laze around all day eating me out of house and home, living the life of a Wizard, when obviously you’re not?’

  ‘You said the gods told you to help me.’

  ‘I am helping you, I’m teaching you discipline.’

  ‘But obviously if the gods wanted you to help me, it must mean in some way they consider me to be an important person.’

  ‘Conversely, the gods could have made an almighty mistake, and you are just an ugly little nobody.’

  Elijah gave an involuntary twitch at his insult. ‘Can the gods make mistakes?’

  ‘Course, well, not normally, but even the gods are fallible, well, no not really, the gods are infallible, the gods are great.’

  ‘You’re confusing me.’

  You’ve been confusing me for a long time.

  ‘Shut up.’

  Again Elijah looked around, who was he talking to?

  ‘Let’s move on from the subject of the gods, it makes me skittish.’

  ‘I don’t understand any of this.’

  ‘Do you believe in pre-destination?’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Divine determinism?’

  ‘I’m lost.’

  ‘That the gods have determined the future, and everything that’s happening is meant to happen.’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘I don’t believe in it myself. I believe that everything’s in a state of flux, but the gods can, and do, influence the future.’

  ‘Sounds reasonable.’

  ‘Therefore, in some way, the gods have decided you’ve some part to play in influencing the future.’

  ‘But why me?’

  ‘Again, I don’t know.’

  ‘I think.’

  ‘Very good, that’s a beginning.’

  ‘I was going to say, I think the gods have more for me than to be your slave.’

  ‘You’re not going to be my slave, I don’t believe in slavery. I’ll pay you, plus your board and three meals a day, the same as all my employees. I consider that to be very reasonable.’

  ‘Again, the evidence would suggest.’

  ‘Evidence, evidence, don’t start getting uppity with me, you ugly little scallywag. What evidence?’

  Elijah looked to the ceiling and took a deep breath. ‘That the gods have chosen me.’

  ‘I said, don’t get uppity.’

  ‘I was going to say the gods have chosen me for a reason.’

  ‘Your logic is worthy of one of the great ancient philosophians.’

  ‘Also, why ask you to help and assist me? I believe the gods want you to teach me.’

  ‘Do you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What do you believe the gods want me to teach you?’

  ‘Everything.’

  ‘That’s impossible.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because I don’t know everything.’

  ‘Everything you know.’

  ‘Everything I know. There’s one flaw in your reasoning,’ the Wizard put his hands behind his back and looked up into the dark ceiling, ‘you don’t have any magic powers. I’ll admit that the waters from the waterfall have changed you more than I thought possible, but...’

  Elijah stood directly in front of the Wizard and looked up into his eyes. ‘Are you going to insult the gods?’ He surprised himself by his audacity, where was it coming from?

  ‘Insult the gods, what d’you mean?’

  ‘If you don’t help me, you are, by your actions, insulting the gods.’

  ‘I most certainly am not, I would never insult the gods.’

  ‘Then you must help and teach me.’

  The Wizard stared deep into Elijah’s eyes, and Elijah held his gaze. The Wizard’s pupils seemed to expand until Elijah was engulfed in their blackness, then he saw stars, planets, moons, large clouds of multi-coloured gases, comets with silver tails, exploding nebula and solar flares. Elijah seemed to be flying at an enormous speed through the comet’s tails, through the solar flares, past the planets, past the moons, through rings of brightly coloured ice particles, then the Wizard stood back and Elijah was once again staring into the Wizard’s face.

  ‘This’s very strange,’ the Wizard said rubbing his eyes. ‘We must go back to the waterfall.’

  ‘What happened then?’

  ‘Again Elijah, I don’t know, and I don’t wish to speculate. However, you’re right, I’ll teach you; but, in return, you must work. Is that agreed?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Just thought on, we cannot go to the waterfall today because my guests’ll be here soon. Therefore, you’ll do the tasks I’ve set for you, and tomorrow, after my guests have left, we’ll go to the waterfall.’

  ‘What’ll you teach me?’

  ‘As you said before, everything I know. But firstly to work, go through the first door on the right, down the corridor, take the sixth on the left, go down thirty five flights of stairs, take an immediate left, a right, another right, down twenty two flights of stairs, turn left and you’ll find yourself in the kitchens. Tell the head cook to put you to work, he’s expecting you.’

  Elijah looked at the door, but couldn’t move, he had the feeling that behind the door was lurking something unpleasant.

  ‘Well, what’re you waiting for?’

  ‘That door on the right?’

  ‘Have you opened that door?’

  ‘No, I don’t think so.’

  ‘Well, go through it then.’

  Elijah slowly walked to the door and tentatively pulled on the handle and stood back. The massive door swung tortuously open, its hinges squealing, Muppy looked up, then jumped off the bed to stand besides Elijah.

  Beyond lay the darkened corridor, lit only by flaming torches. Elijah ha
lf turned, looked at the Wizard and gave a smile of relief. He then went to walk through.

  ‘Elijah.’

  Elijah stopped and turned.

  ‘What did you think was behind the door?’

  ‘I, I don’t know.’

  ‘Did you sense there was something behind that door?’

  ‘I can’t say.’

  ‘Come back here Elijah and sit down.’

  He did as the Wizard requested, Muppy trotted behind him and also sat.

  ‘Now, watch my finger,’ the Wizard stood in front and held up his right forefinger, and slowly began moving it to and fro. Elijah’s eyes followed. ‘You’re feeling very sleepy, your eyes feel heavy, you cannot keep them open, you are asleep.’

  ‘No I’m not.’

  ‘You should be, you’re not concentrating.’

  ‘I am.’

  ‘We’ll try it again, this time look at my finger.’

  ‘I was looking at your finger.’

  ‘You’re feeling very sleepy, your eyes feel heavy, very, very heavy, you cannot keep them open.’

  ‘Yes, I can.’

  ‘No you can’t. If I say your eyes feel heavy, they feel heavy, now go to sleep.’

  ‘I don’t want to go to sleep.’

  ‘Bah, do you realise you’re undermining my position as Wizard, this’s never happened before. There’s something very strange here.’

  ‘I’ve thought that from the moment I woke up.’

  ‘Go about your duties, I’ve some thinking to do.’

  ‘What about Lord Zanatos and the Principle-Slave, they’ll be very angry when I don’t come back, probably lock me in the dungeons for weeks.’

  ‘Bosh to Zanatos, you’re not his slave anymore. Go on, off you pop.’

  Elijah, with Muppy following, reluctantly left the room and went into the long dirty and cobwebby corridor. Now, he thought, did the wizard say left, sixth on the left?

  Yeah. Muppy stood beside him, her ears flat to her head and quivered.

  But, he stopped before opening the door, something inside was beckoning him. Something that whispered to him, sounds that were indistinguishable, but made him want more, sounds that were warm and comforting, sounds that were like a mother soothing her baby, a father laughing and playing with his son, a grandmother wiping away tears and applying ointment upon a scraped knee, a grandfather telling a bedtime story. Sounds and voices he’d never heard.

  He wanted more. But as he opened it he was astonished to find it was a massive junk room, filled with all kinds of weird and wonderful stuff. He took a step over the threshold and Muppy followed, giving a little whine. He spotted a human skeleton with horns, chained to the wall by its wrists and ankles, which growled as he approached. He jumped back, Muppy’s hackles rose and she growled and barked, but kept a good distance. They were both ready to turn and run away as fast as they could. They both stared at the skeleton, watching to see if it made any more movements; but it was still. Had he just imagined that? No, Muppy had barked, she’s seen it also. He’d stay away from that.

  Voices, kind and pleasant, whispered to him, urging him forward.

  They continued walking, occasionally turning to look at the skeleton. There were large and small jars filled with all kinds of horrible green entrails, but they both stopped at a large fish tank and could do aught but stare. Swimming inside was the weirdest thing they’d ever seen, a creature that had the top half of a little pink bald dog with gills and the tail of a fish; it swam backwards and forwards barking at him underwater. Muppy cocked her head to one side, her ears pricked up and her head moved from side to side, as if trying to figure out what this strange creature was. They watched it for some moments, hypnotised by its strange swimming and barking. The half dog, half fish swam to the back of the fish tank, lay on the bottom and closed its eyes. Muppy looked up at Elijah, he looked down at her and shrugged his shoulders. They continued.

  There was a pyramid of crystal balls, some of them had different coloured fogs swirling inside, others, to Elijah’s consternation, had little people trapped, trying to break out. What had he walked into?

  He turned to go back out, but walked into a giant bat, which had a smoking pipe dangling from its mouth and wearing white flannelette pyjamas that had big red lips printed onto them. He staggered back and fell over Muppy. The bat’s red eyes leered at him, and the talon pointed, then there was a loud crack and the bat disappeared. He realised he was sweating, Muppy had jumped into his arms and was shivering. He looked over to where the bat had pointed, something round was glistened like white gold, a thing that had jewels set into it, deep red rubies, sparkling green emeralds, rainbow diamonds. A shield. He’d seen shields before, but nothing like this. The shield was perfectly round and inset into the shield were many jewels, then he realised they were set as to make a figure, a figure of a eunicon, diamonds traced its shape, emeralds made its eyes and horn, and rubies its hooves.

  He could not, even if he’d wanted to, stop himself from reaching for the shield. As soon as he touched it he was flooded with an electrical energy, a great chorus of voices swelled inside his head. Magical melodious voices that sang a dreadful prophetic song.

  We are the White Shield of the Realm Dionysus

  If you can hear you are the one sent to us

  We were created by his hands to serve you well

  To save the universe from an evil hell.

  To handle this shield you must learn

  Or else the stars and the skies will burn

  The cosmos will be plunged into black

  Sucked up until there is no turning back.

  Beware of flattering gods with evil mission

  By the rule of cruel slavery is their vision

  To subjugate all beneath their will

  And to dissenters they would kill

  Listen hard and remember well

  You have no magic to excel

  They would grind your bones to dust

  Just to satisfy their ambitious lust

  But be assured of your role in this

  The One would not send you amiss.

  Well, he thought with some apprehension, that was jolly. He picked it up, expecting it to be heavy, but it wasn’t, it was as light as a dry sycamore seed. At the back of the shield were two loops for his hand and arm, which fitted him perfectly.

  ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING?’

  Muppy barked and Elijah dropped the shield, the noise echoed around the large room with a resounding clang.

  The wizard was standing by the door, his hands held aloft, a look of utmost terror and fear on his old lined face. ‘What’re you doing?’

  ‘I, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise I was doing anything wrong.’

  ‘How can you touch it, how can you lift it? You shouldn’t have touched it, that is the White Shield of the Realm, made by the god Dionysus.’

  ‘Dionysus?’

  Worlyn’s face twisted with anger, ‘Oh, you are simple, the god of nature, of the land. How’re you still alive? Why aren’t you a pile of ash? See all this dust and ash,’ he spread his arms expansively, ‘that’s what’s left of stupid greedy wizards that thought they could own the shield.’

  ‘You sound disappointed?’

  ‘How did you get in here, how did you get into this room?’

  ‘You told me to come here, you said it would lead to the kitchens.’

  Worlyn seemed to deflate, ‘Ah yes, silly me, it’s the muddlement curse you see. Can you pick it up and put it back where it belongs?’

  ‘You told me not to touch it.’

  ‘Pick it up and put it back.’

  Elijah did as the wizard said, picking the shield up and gingerly placed it back.

  ‘Follow me.’

  Elijah followed the wizard out and back to his room.

  ‘Sit.’

  ‘Are you angry with me?’

  ‘No, of course not, it just came as a bit of a shock, no human should be able to lift up Dionysus’ White Shield of the Realm. I
t’s just that I’m totally confused, and it’s not because of the muddlement curse. Esme told me to look after that shield, along with other things in that room. Elijah, I’m going to tell you everything I remember. Firstly, you must remember years ago, I cannot remember how many, I fought Zanatos for the third time in the Centuria wizard duel, he was winning, he was so powerful, more powerful than any wizard I’ve ever faced, and I’ve faced quite a few. He cursed me with the muddlement curse, and I knew he was going to kill me. I only just escaped. The muddlement curse makes you forget practically everything you’ve ever known and learnt, for instance, I forgot how to read, I’ve forgot how to even wipe my nose, all the basics of humankind. However, the muddle curse cannot make you forget what the gods have told you, that it cannot do, once the gods have told you something it is etched in your mind until the day you die. Esme, and Bearbert, have been very good to me, they’ve told me many things, shown me the basics on how to live a relatively normal life, how to cook, how to clean, how to read.’

  ‘You’ve seen Esme?’ Elijah interrupted.

  ‘Of course not, to look upon the true image of some gods would mean instant death or madness, if they so wish. I told you she comes to me in the guise of an animal. Although, having said that many gods are so vain they wouldn’t appear as anything but their true image. Bagarnack being one. Anyway, I still have many memories of the gods who had visited me.’

  ‘More than one god has visited you?’

  ‘Oh yes, many gods have came to me, more I think on the bidding of Esme than anything.’

  ‘What are the gods like?’

  ‘Ah, just like us, just like people.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Oh yes, there are jealous gods, insecure gods, apathetic gods, philanthropic gods, evil gods, vain gods, gods that demand obedience, prejudicial gods that would destroy you just for the pleasure of it, and thousands of lesser gods, living in rivers, lakes, caves, all over the place. Ah Elijah, the universe is so complex. Imagine a pyramid with many layers, classified by the gods as those that can reason for themselves. At the bottom layer are slobberlobbers, rotrobbers, killykarkins and gobbledegeeks. Up to the next level are ceskarkias, siluns, and of course, humans, take the stairs up to the next layer and are, hagges, vampyres, werewolves, ghouls, fiends, cacodemons, ghosts, ogres, bugaboos and hell-hounds, and probably more I’ve forgotten. Then up again, there are witches, warlocks, shape-shifters, seers, shamans and giants, and probably more I’ve forgotten. Then up again to wizards, magi, thaumaturgists, philosophians, necromancers and sorcerers, then up again to demi-gods, that is where a god has taken a liking to a human and mated producing a demi-god. However, some gods will mate with anything, so you can imagine what sort of, er, creatures that will produce.’

  Elijah didn’t have a clue as to what sort of creature that would produce.

  ‘And Kentauri. A word about Kentauri, if you should ever encounter a Kentauros, I advise you to throw yourself upon the ground, put your arms to your sides, and get really muddy.

  ‘Why should I do that?’

  ‘Because the Kentauri are a secretive, proud and ancient race, by lying down and getting muddy you’re acknowledging their superiority, even the gods don’t bother the Kentauri. But I doubt you’ll ever encounter a Kentauros, they very really show themselves to humans. The Kentauri have an intelligence far beyond human understanding.’

  ‘Have you ever met a Kentauros?’

  ‘Oh yes, I met Grifted once. Grifted was a young Kentauros, a junior, curious and inquisitive, he wanted to know what I was. I told him, he’d never seen a human before, he laughed, seemed to find my shape ridiculous, then just galloped off. Then three hundred years later Esme invited me to the Kentauri Graduation, with their permission of course, well with Grifted’s permission, as he had become Kentauros Overseer, that’s the chief of the Kentauri. Ah what a wondrous occasion, magic you wouldn’t believe, and Grifted even remembered me.’ The wizard stopped talking and looked as though his eyes had glazed over and was remembering something fantastic, then he shook his tattooed head. ‘Where was I? Oh yes, demi-gods, Kentauri, angels and saints. Angels come in two different types, good and er, not so good, but there’s one easy way to recognise which is which, good angels, also guardian angels are completely white, even their eyes, whereas the not so good angels, although completely white have red eyes. Or so I believe, I’ve never met an angel. Now saints, they’re a little bit different, saints are humans that have sacrificed themselves to save another human, not just an ordinary sacrifice, one where they’ve sacrificed their soul to save another human, most usually a relative. The gods place them very highly, and Daemons, stay clear of them, nasty things they are, keep you enslaved for all eternity if you don’t have a protective god. Then there are the gods, twenty-four gods split into two groups of twelve. One group calls themselves the Titans, don’t ask me why. Six male gods, Okeanos, god of the sea, Koeus, god of wisdom and intellect, Kreios, god of something or other, Hyperion, god of light, Iapetus, god of mortal life, whatever that means. And Bagarnack, also known as Kronos, leader of the Titans. And six goddesses, Theia, goddess of concepts. No idea what that is. Rheia, goddess of words, Themis, the goddess of law and justice, Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory and forgetfulness, Phoebe, goddess of time, and Tethys, goddess of retribution. Problem being is that they change jobs every now and again.’

  ‘I’ve heard of Bagarnack.’

  ‘I bet you have. Zanatos loves Bagarnack. Then there are the other group of gods who call themselves Olympians, don’t ask me what that means. They are Zeus, the leader of the Olympians, the upholder of justice, law and morals, bit of a conflict with Themis.’

  ‘I’ve also heard of Zeus.’

  ‘Quiet, don’t interrupt. Yes, well, he seems to have gone away. Poseidon, the god of the sea, more conflict with Okeanos.’

  Elijah nodded.

  ‘Apollo, bit of a contradiction, he seemed to be a god of many things, moral excellence, male beauty, music, prophecy, healing, archery, care of herds and flocks, of light, healing and medicine, but also plague, and philosophy and law, but also executions. Those who are about to die pray to him, hoping for a swift end. Then Hermes, god of fertility and good fortune as well as road and boundaries. Dionysus, I’ve mentioned him. Hephaestus, now Bearbert, god of fire and the making of weapons using fire, warriors give sacrifices to him. Ares, the god of war, instigator of trouble and strife, not a popular god, but as Bearbert said, someone has to do it. Esme, you already know. Aphrodite, besides Esme, she’s the most beloved of the gods, she’s the protector of towns and villages, a patron of arts and crafts and the personification of wisdom and good sense. She’s sometimes known as Pallas Aphrodite; ready to anger the other gods to do what she feels is right. Also the goddess of love, beauty and fertility, and the protector of prostitutes. And, Artemis, a goddess of fertility and a protector of women in childbirth, she’d give a quick and painless death to those women that would otherwise suffer. And finally, Dementer, the goddess of grain and agriculture, but if she didn’t receive her sacrifice your crops would fail. Then there are the lesser gods, no body knows how many of them there are, obviously the gods themselves know, and the one above them.’

  ‘The one above them?’

  ‘Ah, yes, but we’re moving into the unknown here, it’s only what the gods themselves have let slip, that there are, er is, for want of a better term, the One.’

  ‘The One?’

  ‘Yes, The One, what The One is I don’t know, I don’t think even the gods know. But The One, and this is only guesswork from snippets that the gods let slip, is that The One is the creator of everything.’

  ‘Everything?’

  ‘Everything that you can see, hear or feel, and lots of things that are outside those senses, outside our material world, outside the dimensions that hold us, the bad as well as the good.’

  ‘The One created the bad?’

  ‘Ah Elijah, you’re judging The One on human frailties, you’re
judging him, or her, or even it, for creating the lion that kills the deer, the spider that kills the fly, what would we know of The One? We’re less than ants. Our world is full of wonders; the universe is full of more wonders. I quickly learnt that I’m nothing but an eventual food source for maggots, an insect that the gods would prod with their fingers for their amusement, and just as quickly squash beneath their feet when they became bored. I’ve asked myself many times, the gods reminding me, why there’s so much conflict, why has The One not made everything to live in harmony, why did he not make every creature herbivores, so that every animal would be in harmony with its neighbours? And the only answer I can come up with, with a little nudge and wink from whatever animal Esme has chosen to be at that particular time, is that there are two Ones, two with different goals.’

  ‘A good and evil.’

  ‘You see these are human concepts, which I’m not sure the gods recognise. Would you say that the lion that eats the deer is evil?’

  ‘No, that’s the nature of the lion.’

  ‘What about the dragon that cooks the farmer then eats him, or the vampyre that drinks the blood of a maiden, or the werewolf that rips the throat of the traveller?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why? The dragon is only doing what the lion is, eating, so is the vampyre and the werewolf.’

  ‘But they are eating people.’

  ‘So that’s your distinction, people are more important than deers?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Maybe the gods don’t think like that, really we don’t know how the gods think. It’s all very confusing, like a goldfish in a glass bowl, just going round and round, looking for a way out, but by the time it’s thought of a plan, it’s forgot it, like everything else it had learned. It’s late, time for bed, tomorrow you’ll start reading.’

  ‘I cannot read.’

  ‘Oh, I’ll teach you, or is there a spell, maybe a potion, nevermind, I’ll remember in the morning. Your bed is over there, now where’s mine?’ The wizard began looking around, as if he’d lost something. ‘Silly me, that is my bed. I’m sure there’s another somewhere around here, perhaps over there behind those bookcases.’

  ‘Wait, you haven’t told me your name.’

  ‘Ah, yes, er, let’s see,’ he put his fingers to his lips, ‘Artem, Hartiboff, Wigwhizzer, Dumbledore, Gandalf, Merlin? Oh, nevermind, I’ll remember soon, goodnight, er, what’s your name again? I remember, Elijah. Sure I knew a Gandalf once, or was that Bearbert telling me about a Gandalf?’

  Elijah watched the ancient wizard walk behind the bookcases muttering incomprehensibly to himself. He was somewhat confused, he thought the wizard said this was his bed, yet, why had he gone behind the bookcases? He shrugged his shoulders, lay down next to Muppy and looked at the walls, a dark green lizard scurried across, he hoped he could get back out into the light, he wondered had the Principle-Slave ordered a search for him yet?

  ‘Worlyn Wicklewart the Wonderful.’

  Elijah sat up, the wizard’s head was peering around the bookcases.

  ‘Worlyn Wicklewart, that’s my name. Goodnight Elijah.’

  Elijah lay down, tickled Muppy behind her ear and closed his eyes. Worlyn Wicklewart, he’s once heard the Principle-Slave yelling at the cook saying he’d end up like Worlyn Wicklewart if he didn’t pull his finger out.

  ‘Arrhem.’

  Elijah sat up, Worlyn was standing next to the bed.

  ‘That’s my bed, yours is behind the bookcases, come on, off.’

  The Commentaries of Asher the Dwarf. Trusted Slave of Alar Barton-Abercrombie.

  It started with the voice, every slave heard the voice in their minds, “Seek freedom, the Nemesis is coming, rise and battle oppression, conquer the oppressors.”

  At first the slaves kept this to themselves, but once one mentioned it, it became like a tsunami of gossip, quickly spreading amongst all the slave population. Of course, certain slaves went and told their masters, who dismissed it as fantasy.

  But it wasn’t.

  Some slaves heard more than the one sentence, some heard instructions telling them what to do. But I, not only heard the voice, I heard thousands of other voices; voices that drove me to the brink of insanity; voices that were petty, sarcastic, cruel, angry, every emotion I could think of. But this only happened when I was totally relaxed, laying on my straw pallet, in the dark; I couldn’t do it during the day.

  Then, after a long period, I realised what these voices where, they were the thoughts of thousands of people across the world. I could hear their innermost thoughts. After many years I became able to suppress these thoughts, drive them into the under-conscious of my mind, but I could cherry-pick, reading the thoughts of my masters, of warriors, but not wizards, and certainly not rotrobbers, because their thoughts are bestial at the best of times, all they think about is killing and eating their prey and victims.

  I was very lucky as slaves go, my whole family stayed together, for some reason we were not split and sold as other slave families were. I was the youngest of four sisters and two brothers. When they realised that I would never grow any taller they became very protective of me, shielding me from the inevitable taunts. My brothers fought many battles on my behalf; the favourite taunt was ‘runt’. My sisters washed and dressed me, and accompanied me everywhere, my parents took on the extra load of doing the work that was allocated to me.

  But eventually we were split and sold. I miss them so much. I know they are all dead, because I would have found their minds.

  My parents knew I would never be able to do manual work, so they enlisted the help of those slaves who could read and write, so began my education. I did have talents, my handwriting was fast and exceptional, I had an analytical mind and became second to none for my arithmetic abilities, plus my tutors, friends and relatives would always tell everyone that would listen that I would make an excellent counter and clerk.

  Eventually, I was sold to the estate of Alar Barton-Abercrombie. I kept my head down and worked to the best of my ability. I found corruption amongst his overseers, his foremen, and his slave-masters to the detriment of the slaves. At least thirty percent of his produce was being stolen and sold on the black market and blamed on the slaves. I knew that to bring it to the attention of my immediate superiors would result in losing my head, so I wrote him a long letter detailing the wrongdoings of these freemen, and how they were blaming the slaves. A trusted friend of mine, also a slave, and a messenger, took the letter to his home.

  Months passed, and my nerves were shredded, any moment I expected the slave-masters to come and drag me away. I thought my ability to hear their thoughts had failed me because I couldn’t detect any malice or plans to have me killed. I searched out the mind of Alar Barton-Abercrombie, but it’s difficult to find the mind of one specific person, when those minds that are closest to mine would intrude.

  Then one day Alar Barton-Abercrombie himself rode into our town, accompanied by three wizards and a large force of warriors. I was brought before him. He dismissed the slave-masters, leaving only him and the three wizards in the room. He had all the accountancy books brought to him. For hours he questioned me, them made me sit behind a heavy curtain to his right, told me to whisper answers to his questions, and had the slave-masters brought in one by one.

  He questioned them, and consulted me about their answers. The process took almost two months, at the end almost fifty slave-masters were executed, and to my shame I pitied them not one jot. Alar Barton-Abercrombie took me back to his headquarters in Terrim-Vorus.

  I quickly proved my worth to him. At times he praised my abilities, but other times he completely ignored me. But I knew my bookkeeping had, and was, saving him millions.

  It took him a long time to trust me, but when he did it put me in a privileged position, because the slaves instinctively knew I was on their side. I would point out where savings could be made, where better practices would make greater savings, and henceforth more profits, where better
food would increase the productivity of his slaves. Well-fed slaves worked harder than starved ones. I became his moneymaker.

  Then came the voice.