Dreamlands 5: Questers for Kuranes: Two Tales of Hero and Eldin

  “Ah!” said Chim. “Ah! But discovered him too late!”

  “I’ve known for some time.” Hero sighed, his dying searchlight’s beam beginning to show through his flesh. “Not the how of it, until now, but certainly I suspected the who.”

  Chim nodded. “That’s as it may be; it detracts not at all from my enjoyment. Out with it, then, this last tale. Tell it all—and then you’re done. And me? Glutted, I’ll first sleep it off, then live on your fat dreams for quite some little time before I’m hungry again.”

  And Hero, unable to resist, began to comply:

  “It started with drinking,” he said, his voice very ephemeral now, “and with boasting, and of course wagering as well. As the muth went down faster, so the boasting and wagering grew wilder. Mine and Eldin’s, of course. Finally the great buffoon declared that ‘alone, single-handed, on (his) own, without assistance and—’”

  The anchor chain rattled and Chim gave a start. Beneath his ballooning shirt the great mass of him quivered. His piggy eyes left Hero’s fading face to scan the dark deck. There was a streamer of creeping mist; there were shadows, splashes of yellow moonlight. Nothing else.

  Chim faced Hero again. “Go on,” he said.

  “No!” came a gruff, grim, croaking voice from the darkness of the wheelhouse. “No, lad, say no more. For it strikes me you’ve damn near talked yourself to death already!”

  Shallis Tull’s ghost came lumbering, bearded, and burly. Except it wasn’t Tull but Eldin!

  “Gah!” said Chim Nedlar, who knew the game was up. “Gah!” He drew a long thin knife from its sheath sewn into his shirt. Eldin disarmed him with a lunge and a twirl of his great straight sword. And, “Gah!” the soul-stealer said again, shrinking against the strakes.

  “Eldin!” whispered Hero, unable to rise. “Eldin!”

  “The same,” said the Wanderer, his own voice scratchy as sandpaper. He reached down, took up Hero’s bottle, drained it in one massive gulp.

  “Did you hear?” Hero was thin as water, blurred at the edges, gradually going gaseous.

  “Enough.” Eldin nodded. “I’ve been clinging to the anchor chain for some little time, waiting to be sure I knew what it was all about. Now I know.” He placed the point of his sword on a spot a little below Nedlar’s fat, bobbing Adam’s apple. “Now tell it back,” he ordered. “All of it, exactly as you heard it.”

  “He told the stories of his own free will!” Chim Nedlar babbled.

  “And so will you,” said Eldin grimly.

  “What? At swordpoint?”

  “You have a choice: untell the things, and unspell Hero—let out those tales of his which you’ve somehow trapped—or I’ll let you out all over the deck here!” He pressed harder with his sword and the other’s throat was indented, where the tiniest prick of red showed.

  “I’ll do it,” the vampire gulped.

  He retold Hero’s stories. In the telling, his bulging shirt subsided a little and some of the puffiness went out of him; Hero put on flesh, or rather his outline began to fill out and look less like that of a jellyfish in the sunlight. Soon he was able to stand up. He looked more his old self, and yet still a little vague.

  Chim Nedlar had come gaspingly to a halt.

  “Did he retell all?” Eldin was suspicious.

  Hero scratched his head. “How’m I supposed to know? I reremembered everything he said, but how can I say he said everything?”

  “Lathi?” said Eldin, and Hero nodded.

  “Zura? Kuranes? Gytherik? Serannian?” Nods to all.

  “The Mad Moon? Yibb-Tstll—”

  “Eh?” said Hero. “Yibb-who?”

  “Hah!” Eldin prodded again.

  Chim Nedlar, looking very pale, gave a little shriek and quickly spilled the rest of the beans—spilled the rest of Hero’s memory and being back into him. And: “That’s it, that’s all, I swear it!” he finally cried.

  “Not by a long shot,” said Hero darkly, entirely entire again.

  Eldin didn’t understand.

  But Chim Nedlar did. “You’re out to destroy me,” he whispered, his lips aquiver.

  “Too true,” Hero agreed, “one way or the other. My turn, Eldin.” He unsheathed his slender, curved Kledan sword with a steely whisper, held its keen edge to Nedlar’s windpipe. “Let’s start with Shallis Tull,” he said.

  Weeping and babbling, and cursing a lot between stories, the vampire retold Tull’s tales, and so revitalized the man. In a little while something more than a ghost came bowling up from belowdecks, beard bristling and eyes ablaze—with astonishment, with joy! “It’s coming back!” Cap’n Tull cried. “I’m coming back!”

  And as he in turn filled out, so Chim Nedlar continued to diminish.

  After Tull, in short order, it was the turn of Eelor Tush, vintner extraordinaire; but he did not materialize here but in Baharna, no doubt. Then Tark the Tall, mountain man, who probably came back clinging to some pinnacle somewhere. And Geerblas Ulm, doubtless fattening out in one of his favorite underworlds; and so on, and so on …

  Finally Chim Nedlar was a wisp. Toward the end he’d been unstoppable (the siphon principle again) and simply spilled all the life he’d taken in back out into dreamland’s aether, through which it sped back to its rightful dreamers. They knew when he’d told all, for his eyes—about as invisible now as the S.W.I.E.’s—suddenly went extremely vacant.

  He floated to his feet, leaving his voluminous shirt and empty clogs behind, and looked this way and that without recognizing anyone or anything. Then, seeing Hero, Eldin, Shallis Tull, perhaps he did remember something. He backed off from them, passed through the ship’s strakes and stood for a moment on thin air over misted, unknown chasms of night. Then he began to fall, and falling dispersed entirely.

  A thin, thin cry of empty frustration and lost longing drifted back to them. Or maybe it was only the wind rising in the crags, blowing the mist away in tatters which vanished almost as quickly as Chim Nedlar …

  SITTING IN SUNLIGHT upon a pile of nets where they dried on the wharf side, Hero and Eldin watched Shallis Tull painting out Shark’s Fin on the upper outside port strakes of The Silver Fish. He’d promised to sail them back to Celephais, but not until his vessel bore her rightful name once more.

  Meanwhile, Eldin had told his own tale, which Hero didn’t steal but merely listened to: told how he’d crashed among the crags and his flotation bag was bust; how he’d clung to a ledge while his numbed arm regained its strength and feeling; how then he’d yelled himself hoarse, yelled till he had no voice left to yell with, for the better part of a day and night. But when the mist had thinned a little he’d seen his way clear to climb up from the chasm, to where the S.W.I.E. had found him hungry, thirsty, and a bit banged-about, but otherwise well, and helped him up on to the back of his yak.

  Then, on their way down to Baharna, they’d spied the Shark’s Fin and heard Hero’s and Chim Nedlar’s shouting. Following voices and fading searchlight beam both, soon they’d come to the place where the sky-ship was anchored. By then all was silent.

  Eldin would have called to those aboard but couldn’t: he had no voice.

  And anyway, the S.W.I.E. had cautioned him: “Something’s wrong here! I can smell it!”

  Following which Eldin had shinned soundlessly up the anchor chain … and the rest is known.

  “Who was he, d’you suppose?” Now the Wanderer wanted to know. Hero shrugged. “Someone from the waking world, I should think. Somehow, when his time was up, he found his way here. Maybe he was the kind who lives on the glories of others. You can find his like in any bar you choose: poor souls whose own lives are so drab they may only color them with the lives of others—whose nature it is to bask in the glow of adventures they’ve never experienced for themselves, except as recounted by their heroes. And in his transition from waking- to dreamworlds, his dependency grew strong while his will weakened. Until he emerged here as a weird sort of vampire, as—”

  “A stealer of dre
ams?”

  “That’s my guess, anyway.” Hero nodded.

  Eldin said: “Hmmm!” and changed the subject. “Well, lad, it strikes me I’ve saved your life—again.”

  Hero snorted. “It was you put it at risk in the first place!” he accused. “You drunken old—”

  “Not so much of the ‘old,’ if you please!” Eldin cut him short.

  “And that’s the end of that, too!” said Hero, threateningly.

  “Eh? End of what?”

  “Boozing! We’ve done much too much of it. It’s what started all of this in the first place.”

  “What!” Eldin was aghast.

  “No more muth,” Hero declared.

  “You’re joking! What about wine?”

  “No,” Hero pursed his lips, shook his head. “All booze is out—as of now.”

  “Immediately?” There was a frog in Eldin’s throat.

  (A moment’s silence.) “Tomorrow.”

  “Good!” The older quester’s grin split his face. “’Cos right now I’ve a hell of a thirst on. How about a pint?”

  “I could murder one.” Hero sighed …

  The Dreamland Series

  An A to Z Concordance

  BY W. PAUL GANLEY

  Atal. Sole survivor of a long-ago attempt to climb Hatheg-Kla, where the meek gods of Earth once frolicked (as documented by H. P. Lovecraft). Now fully three centuries old, and himself a legend in dreamland, Atal serves as priest in the Temple of the Elder Ones in Ulthar.

  Bahama. A mighty port city, located on the Isle of Oriab. Even the wharves are made of porphyry, and one wharfside tavern is sometimes frequented by Eldin.

  Celephais. A city in Dreamland, located on the Southern Sea, in the valley of Ooth-Nargai, beyond the Tanarian hills. Here reigns King Kuranes for half of each year.

  Cerenerian Sea. Where ships bound for Serannian sail up into the sky.

  Crow, Titus. Titus Crow’s visit to the Dreamlands has become legendary, but it takes place before these novels begin (in The Clock of Dreams, which is not part of the Dreamlands series but belongs to an earlier series known variously as the Titus Crow cycle or the Cthulhu Mythos series). He is often mentioned in the Dreamlands books, however.

  Cthulhu. One of the Great Old Ones who seeped down from the stars long before mankind existed. Imprisoned in the city of R’lyeh, on a sunken island in the waking world, “Great Cthulhu Waits Dreaming,” until the stars are right and he awakens to claim his rightful domain—the whole world. (See Crow, Titus and. Lovecraft, H. P.)

  de Marigny, Henri. Titus Crow’s “sidekick,” who reaches the Dreamlands by an unique method: using the “time-clock,” a space-time device described in the books about Titus Crow. His visit, like Crow’s, is now a legend of Dreamland. He is not a character in the Dreamlands series, although his name is occasionally mentioned.

  Dingle, Leonard. A professor of psychology and anthropology in the waking world. He delivers public lectures upon the meaning of dreams. In Dreamland, L. Dingle becomes Eldin, a Dreamland word for “wanderer,” hence his Dreamland name of “Eldin the Wanderer.” (See Eldin)

  The Dreamlands. A multiverse created by the dreaming of various inhabitants of the waking world, including human beings and others such as The King in Yellow, Cthulhu, and Nyarlathotep (see Earth’s Dreamland).

  The Dreamlands Series. This term is used to designate the four books entitled Hero of Dreams, Ship of Dreams, Mad Moon of Dreams, and Iced on Aran. Two other stories exist but have not yet been collected in book form. They originally appeared in Weirdbook magazine entitled “The Weird Wines of Naxas Niss” and “Stealer of Dreams.”

  Dylath-Leen. A city on the river Skai, which has a bad reputation, partly because of the mysterious ships, from which come oddly shaped traders.

  Earth’s Dreamland. That portion of the Dreamlands created by the dreams of Earth’s inhabitants. Often spoken of merely as “Dreamland.”

  Elder Gods. Before mankind existed, the Elder Gods conquered and imprisoned Cthulhu and the other Great Old Ones.

  Elder Ones. This term may mean the benign Elder Gods (cf. Temple of the Elder Ones). However, it may also denote far more sinister deities such as the “Great Old Ones,” who are the exact opposite. Be aware of the context in which this term is used.

  Eldin the Wanderer. A waking-worlder in Dreamland. Like David Hero, Eldin is a swordsman/adventurer in Dreams, who lives two lives, in effect, one in the Dreamlands, the other in the waking world. However, while in the waking world, he is able to recall somewhat more of the Dreamlands than Hero; likewise, in Dreamland he can recall somewhat more of the waking world. In the waking world, he seems to make a living by lecturing upon the nature of dreams. Rescued by Hero from an attack by spider-hounds, he becomes Hero’s best friend and steadfast companion. (See Dingle, Leonard)

  Elysia. Mysterious and wonderful, it is the home of the Elder Gods, apparently neither in our universe nor in the Dreamlands.

  Enchanted Forest. Also known as the Enchanted Wood, located in Upper Dreamland. Inhabited by Zoogs.

  Gate of Deeper Slumber. The usual route to Dreamland, taken by an experienced dreamer like Eldin the Wanderer. One goes down the seven hundred steps to the gate of deeper slumber. On the other hand, Hero was content to let his dreams take him where they would.

  ghasts. Repulsive beings which die in the light, and which live in the vaults of Zin. They leap on long hind legs like kangaroos.

  ghouls. Creatures of the night, vaguely man-like, who live on the flesh of corpses. They haunt the graveyards that lie poised on the boundary between the Dreamlands and the waking world. Occasionally they leave changelings to be raised as human.

  gnorri. Finny and bearded, they swim in the Twilight Sea below the cliffs of Ilek-Vad.

  Great Old Ones. Beings such as Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, or Yibb-Tstll, who seeped down from the distant stars when the Earth was young, before the human race existed.

  The Great Tree. A very large, sentient tree. They originated on a far world that was destroyed, but a few of their life-leaves were saved by Ardatha Ell.

  gugs. Hairy and gigantic beings that were banished to the underworld beneath the Enchanted Forest, where their enormous city lies. They usually subsist on ghasts, though they also find mortal dreamers especially tasty.

  Hatheg-Kla. A mountain located in the stony desert, upon which the Gods of Earth were wont to frolic in older times. To see them, Atal the Ancient and Barzai the Wise climbed up (but only Atal clambered back down again). This is another legend of Dreamland.

  Hero, David, aka Hero of Dreams. First met by the reader while David Hero is adventuring in the northern uplands of Dreamland. He is a waking-worlder who cannot clearly recall the waking world while dreaming, and cannot clearly recall Dreamland while awake (until he encounters Professor L. Dingle). In the waking world, Hero is a British artist who makes his home in Edinburgh, Scotland, in a converted attic on Dalkieth Road. He paints weird, unearthly scenes, such as fantastic cities for which he “invents” such titles as DylathLeen and Ilek-Vad. All seem somehow familiar to him, though he cannot comprehend why they should.

  Ilek-Vad. A Dreamland city on the Twilight Sea.

  Isle of Oriab. Located in the Southern Sea, where stands Mount Ngranek.

  Kadath in the Cold Waste. A vast plateau rumored to exist somewhere toward the north of the Dreamlands. There is found the gigantic onyx castle of the Other Gods; a place best not approached by any human dreamer. (See “The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath,” by H.P. Lovecraft)

  King Kuranes. Formerly a waking-worlder, Kuranes now rules in Dreamland, splitting his time between Celephais and Serannian. He is often called “Lord of Ooth-Nargai, Celephais, and the sky around Serannian.”

  Kled. Hero bears a curved blade from jungled Kled. The Kledans are small, brown-skinned people primarily known as traders.

  Koth. Eldin likes to swear by “Koth’s awful sign.” This monstrous symbol is displayed in bas-relief above the entrance to the Towe
r of Koth, which contains the huge stone steps leading to Upper Dreamland and the Enchanted Wood.

  The Larvae of the Other Gods. Pawing, groping, hideous, shapeless, drifting things that lurk in the outer spaces.

  Leng. A northern plateau of ill-repute, which is home to some of Dreamland’s vilest inhabitants, such as the squat, horned wide-mouthed beings.

  Lovecraft, H(oward) P(hillips). An innovative American horror writer, who originally wrote of the Dreamlands in a number of short pieces and in his novella, “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.”

  Mount Aran. Located near Celephais, the peak retains its cap of snow even in summer; because of some magical property of timelessness, it resents or resists change.

  Night-Gaunts. Faceless, with rubbery skin and leathery wings, these unpleasant beings are generally considered evil, as indeed they are if controlled by a Great Old One. But they may be controlled by a human if he knows how.

  Ngranek. A mountain. Upon its solid face is carved a likeness of the gods of Earth. It is also known as the “gate to the underworld.”

  Nyarlathotep. One of the Great Old Ones; known as their messenger. Believed by some to refer to their telepathic powers rather than being a living being. On the other hand, Randolph Carter did meet such an entity in “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath” (by H. P. Lovecraft).

  Oon. Desert near Celephais.

  Ooth-Nargai. In this valley lies the city of Celephais.

  Parg. Source of the black slaves known as Pargans.

  Pnakotic Manuscripts. Ancient pre-human book of evil magic. A copy is said to reside in the temple of the Elder Ones in Ulthar.

  Primal Continent. Also known as Theem’hdra.

  Sarkomand. Primal city once known both for the quality and potency of its wines. Otherwise, the location of Oorn’s temple, where Oorn herself is imprisoned in a deep shaft in the earth.

  Serannian. A floating city located where the west wind flows into the sky.

  Sky-island. A term that refers to the “land” beneath Serannian, a city that floats among the clouds.

  Southern Sea, The. Lathi’s hive-city, Thalarion, is nearby. The Isle of Oriab is located in this Sea.