Gondwane - The Enchantress Of World's End Part 11

After breakfast, the lomagoths went on a guided tour of their beautiful new kingdom by bubble cars, which were now subservient to the wishes of their riders, while our friends considered their next course of action. Now that Zelmarine was more or less permanently out of the picture, the Illusionist was eager to reconnoiter the third of the major menaces he foresaw as threatening the peace and security of Northern YamaYamaLand.* Prince Erigon was more than pleased at this news, for the third menace was none other than the restive and warlike Ximchak Horde, currently threatening his own country of Valardus. The * The first threat, already disposed of, was that of the Airmasters of Sky Island, and the second was the Red Enchantress herself.

Lin Carter mild-mannered, rather soft-spoken young Prince was putting his head together with the Illusionist over plans when an unexpected visitation shattered the peaceful calm of the square.

As a scarlet, lobster-like ghoul-monster with many pincers and twice as many eyes suddenly materialized out of thin air amongst the picnic things, the Prince turned white as salt, jumped three feet into the air and uttered an anguished yelp. When he came down, he was off and running for the nearest sewer: only the Bazonga was fast enough to intercept him in his flight. She snared him by closing her bronze beak on the skirt of his tunic, giving him a playful nip in the process.

"Tuth! Idth on'y Fridth," she chided, mumWingly.

"What did you say?"

Releasing him, she cleared her throat. **Hard to talk with your mouth full, you know, Princey-dear! I said, Tus.h.!.+ It's only Fryx'."

"Did you say only?" shrilled the Prince incredulously. "It's a Gyraphont, that's what it is! I know a Gyraphont when I see one, I do! My nurse used to frighten me half to death with them when I had been, well, unruly. "The Gyraphonts come to get bad little boys in the night,' she would say, the old horror! Only a Gyraphont, indeed!"

"Oh, come on Prince, stop acting the milksop," sneered Xarda, swaggering over to where the Valardan stood, mVbony knees clattering together like wooden castanets. "Fryx is the magister's pet Gyraphont, quite tame and perfectly harmless." Somewhat reluctantly, Erigon allowed himself to be coaxed back to where the scarlet lobster-devil stood conversing telepathically with the old magician.

You come back home now, holay? the weird monstrosity urged. No more zip-zoop around all over? Flion, he moultin' and won't eat, vat-critters all off they feed, an' Vloob Atz allatime pickin 'fights with tin man. Lotsa mail pilirt up, too.

Frowning worriedly behind his vapory vizor, the Illusionist turned to Erigon as he cautiously approached.

183.

"I fear we shall have to postpone our plans to recon-noiter the situation in Valardus, my dear Prince," he said. "My faithful Fryx informs me I am urgently needed at home. The creatures in my private menagerie of fabulous monsters are missing me to the point of malnutrition, and my pet apparition is indulging his vile temper in spats with Azgelazgus, one of my favorite Automatons."

"That's too bad," murmured Erigon faintly, eyeing the scarlet, many-armed lobster-ghoul dubiously.

"It's my own fault. I have been away from Nerelon far too long. Fryx has coped admirably thus far, but I fear I can no longer postpone a brief visit to put things right at my residence. Enchanted palaces are tricksey places under the best of conditions, you know. At times they need a firm hand on the reins, so to speak." "Quite all right, I'm sure," said Erigon. "Does that mean the expedition to the north country is canceled?" inquired Silvermane. The old magician shook his head.

"Merely postponed, my boy, for a brief while." "Well, what about our plans for taking Xarda home? Back to Jemmerdy, I mean."

"By my troth, Jemmerdy can wait," the girl knight said spiritedly. "Our new-found comrade hath a. cause, the which appeals to mine sense of Chivalry! Let us free the n.o.ble folk of sieged Valardus from the savage rabble first, ere any think of going home."

They eyed her a bit askance. The Sirix flushed, biting her lip vexedly. She had more-or-less fallen out of her native mode of speech in their rough-and-ready company. From time to time, however, the antique mode came over her, as now.

She cleared her throat, leveling a defiant glare at any who might think to venture upon a chuckle. With none forthcoming, the girl knight relaxed and grinned a bit sheepishly.

"No, all kidding aside, really! I mean, look, why don't you go on back home, magister. The rest of us Lin Carter can continue on to Valardus and await you there," suggested Xarda, practical-minded as ever.

"I shall be taking the Bazonga bird,'* said the Illusionist, "which would be leaving you with no method of transportation except for shank's-mare. Twould hardly be f air, asking you to cross the Purple Plains on foot-"

"What about the kayak?" piped up Phadia, who had been listening to this exchange with a crestfallen look on his pretty face, sorry that their adventures were at an end.

"You're right, of course," said the magician, surprised. "Istrobian's flying kayak! Why, I had forgotten all about it!"

"I tied it to a stanchion back in the air duct," said the Bazonga carelessly. "It interfered with my flying-practice, having that great lumbering thing tied to my tail-feathers."

"Hmm, the kayak only seats four, you know. Gane-lon, Xarda, Erigon, Grrff, Phadia. One of you will have to return to Nerelon with me, or walk. I suspect it should be you, my lad," he said, with a fond glance at the young boy.

"But, sir, I want to have some more adventures!" protested Phadia, tears starting hi his eyes.

"You've had quite enough adventures as it is," said the magister with mock-severity. "Time you had a good hot bativsome real home cooking, and a few lessons in reading^writing, arithmetic, and razzledoxy!"

"But-!" Phadia screwed up his face and was about to burst into a storm of girlish sobs when Grrff enfolded him hi a comforting, furry arm.

"Posh and pother, cub! Go along with the nice old human, now-you can join us, later on!" Xarda chimed in with some heartening words, and Ganelon solemnly began describing the many marvels of the Illusionist's mountaintop abode, not neglecting to list the scrumptious, succulent meals Fryx was always shoving before them. Before long the lad was eagerly contemplating his chance to visit the enchanted palace of a world- famous magician, an opportunity few boys his age could hope to enjoy.

And then the City itself spoke up, offering to take the four northwards to Valardus using its mobility as means of transport. One last jaunt, before it settled down to becoming a regular City that stayed in one place all the tune, seemed only fitting and proper.

"A delightful notion, my dear City," nodded the magician. "And should you find Valardus occupied by the Ximchak barbarians, simply remember to reverse your suction as you did with the Death Dwarves! Capital, capital! Why, I may rejoin you to find half the Horde already chopped into minced meat!"

The farewells were brief, though heart-felt. Ganelon had never been separated from his master for any length of time since he had left home nearly a year ago, but he was consoled by the fact that the separation was to be only a temporary thing. The Illusionist bundled the eager-faced Phadia into the Bazonga. Before the noontide sun had quite ascended to its zenith, the ungainly flying contraption rose, circled the plaza clacking her excited goodbys, and flew off to the southwest, dwindling to a tiny mote in the distance. Fryx, of course, had taken his usual interdimensional shortcut and would be home before them, doubtless in time to have a fire lit in the great pillared hall, hot baths drawn, and huge mugs of steaming chocolate ready with heaping platters of sandwiches and cookies.

Ganelon stood gazing after the Bazonga, feeling empty, forlorn and somehow deserted. But before long the City started upward and began flying across the interminable meadows north, towards Valardus and an exciting host of new adventures among strange foreign lands and curious peoples.

It is hard to remain melancholy when faced with such an entertaining prospect. Shrugging off his solemn mood, Ganelon Silvermane turned on his heel and went over to where his friends were already getting Lin Carter set to have lunch with the happy, chattering band of lomagoths.

Gliding steadily on, north and ever north, Kan Zar Kan itself gradually dwindled and shrank until at last it vanished, lost in the distance. What perils and adventures lay ahead for the little band of heroes, only time would tell.

THE END.

APPENDIX.

Lin Carter - 5bGondwane 025d - The Enchantress of World's End-13.jpg Chx: The small city-state of Chx, together with its neighboring realms of Ning, Quay, Horx, Poy, Cham, and possibly Ixland (for some students of Gondwanol-ogy consider the original name of that country to have been "Ik"), are the remnants of the Monosyllabic Empire which flourished in these border regions of Northern YamaYamaLand in the early millennia of the present Eon. After the collapse and breakup of Monosyll.a.b.i.a, former provinces or counties achieved their independence and embarked on the troubled path of self-rule. Old customs died hard during this period, while personal and tribal names gradually developed into polysyllabism. Place-names, more securely rooted in ancient tradition, remained words of one syllable. Chelibus has an interesting monograph on this subject.

Dianium: According to leading authorities on Alchemy, a metal found only on the Moon, whose strongest urge is to return to its satellitic home. One of the living, or at least sentient metals, such as glegiwn. (for which see pertinent data in the Third Book of the Epic, forthcoming). Technically, dianium is element 122 on the Periodic Table, and the known 188 Lin Carter isotope of dianium with the longest halflife has an atomic weight of 273. The sentient or Living Metals are considered of recent origin, cosmically speaking; only with publication of Cardoxicus' milestone theorem, The Evolution of the Elements, was it realized that the doctrine of evolution could be extended to matter itself, and that all things hi the Plenum tend towards vitality, if not indeed intelligence.

Greater Zuavia: The land-surface of Gondwane was so vast by the time of Ganelon Silvermane that it had long-since become impractical for historians or geographers to discuss individual countries as such. A new geohistorical term, which I translate as "conglomerate," has been corned in order to deal with groups of countries as ent.i.ties. Such conglomerates were composed of several individual realms which were individually autonomous, but linked together by a common ethnic origin or by common adherence to a religious creed. Southern and Northern Yama-YamaLand were two such conglomerates: the twin conglomerates were originally settled by the Yam-iac Nomads, a migrant horde of youc-herders who strayed into these gra.s.sy regions one million years before. They were forced to invent or adopt urban civilization when the yax herds succ.u.mbed en-ma.s.se to the Giggling Fever. Originally divided into East YamaLand and West YamaLand, the northern countries became united during a wholesale conversion to the Zul-and-Rashemba Mythos and were simply known as "YamaYamaLand." The southern half of the race remained true to the parent creed of the Mythos, which was Old High Great Quaxianity, hence the division into north and south.

As for Zuavia, which lies beyond the Purple Plains to the north, the Plains forming a natural border between the conglomerates, both Greater Zuavia and its sister-conglomerate to the east, Lesser Zuavia, were established some two and a half million years ago. The Zuaves wandered down from their mythic homeland on the sh.o.r.es of Zuav, the Sacred River. Originally, they were descended from a forgotten race called the Paniche. Greater Zuavia, the scene of the Third and Fourth Books of the Epic, comprises some twenty-two separate realms. They are purely Zuavic in ethnos and religiously devoted to the several creeds of the Pesht.i.te Mys-terium. Greater Zuavia is half again the size of Europe.

Istrobian: Towards the middle of the "current" Eon-current in context of the Epic, that is-flourished a brief period known as the Age of Magicians, or more formally, the Epoch of the High Wizards. Human civilization was for the most part dominated by the rise to power of some ninety major magicians. This period had long since lapsed by the time of our story, but the effects of this minor Age of Magicians still reverberated hi human affairs. Among the High Wizards of the epoch were several who have some bearing on our story, such as the celebrated Qesper Volphotex to whom Grrff refers hi Chapter 10 of the present book, the famous Miomi-vir Chastovix who is mentioned several times hi the First Book; the notorious Palensus Choy who appears in the Third; and Istrobian, a distinguished sorcerer of Greater Zuavia. The flying kayak was only one of his many- celebrated achievements, among which were the Star Lens, Istrobian's Fire-Flasher, the Earth Tube and the Submarine City. Many consider this last to be purely legendary, however. Oddly enough, the Illusionist of Nerelon does not seem to be a survivor of this Epoch, despite his evidently considerable longevity which should have made him a contemporary of these celebrities. The author of the Ninth Commentary Lin Carter postulates that the Illusionist was extant during the Age of the Magicians, but maintained a low profile for some peculiar reason. The question is still unresolved.

Magic: Some sixty of the Secret Sciences were known and practiced in Ganelon's day, more than half of which fall into the category of the Divinatory Arts, such as seers.h.i.+p, astromancy, fortune-telling, Greater, Lesser and Middle Prophecy, haruspexy and theomancy. Three others were among the Alchemic or Metamorphosical Sciences. As for magic per se, which may be defined as employment of various world forces to alter, affect or manipulate Reality, twenty of these were studied during this period. Among these were Red Magic, which employs the Auric force from whose sanguinary coloration (to the Astral vision, at least) the name is derived; Green Magic, which taps the earth current itself; Purple Magic, and also Mountain Magic, which are among the several forms of Elemental Goety, and which utilize the Gnomic elemental force; Air Magic, and its variant, Blue Magic, which use the Sylphic force according to different modes; White Magic, which taps the Celestial force; Black Magic, which employs the Demonic or Infernal; an$ Gray Magic, which taps the Halfworld current. Sea Magic, Metal Magic, Star Magic and Yellow Magic were virtually hi their infancy during this period, and did not flower until the following Eon. Fire Magic, another of the Elemental variety, employs the Salamandric force. Beyond these, and the others I have too little s.p.a.ce to describe or even list, there were the four arts of Thaumaturgy per se; that is, the Astral, the Vitalic, the Psychonic and the Phonemic, and one other magical science un-practiced by humans or Quasi-humans, but known to them and reserved for the G.o.ds only.

The only pract.i.tioner of Phonemic Thaumaturgy 191.

mentioned in the entire Epic is Zelobion of Kar-choy, who appears in the Eighth Book; from this, the Commentaries deduct the art was either one of extreme rarity or extreme newness, or both.

Red Amazons, the: An all-but-extinct race of quasi-humans who formerly inhabited the islands of the Cham Archipelago near Thoph, in the remote southwestern corner of the Supercontinent. Although evolved from True Human stock (or such as was the prevailing opinion of the period), the Amazons were considerably larger, stronger, more intelligent, durable and longer-lived than the other human or human-derived races of the Eon. The reason why such Superwomen died out remains an enigma, although the author of the Sixteenth Commentary (notedly, if not indeed notoriously, pious), attributes their extinction to a direct act of intervention into human affairs by the G.o.d Galendil himself.

The Cham Archipelago, by the way, has no known connection with the Cham Empire directly north of Shai beyond the Mountains of the Death Dwarves, extending as far as the southern sh.o.r.e of the Gla.s.s Sea. It is unfortunately obliterated on my map in this book by the legend. Since there were one hundred and thirty-seven thousand individual countries in Gondwane during this period, and since the Gondwanish language only consists of twenty-nine phonemes, capable of a.s.sembly into a strictly finite number of combinations, many hundreds of place-names were duplicated by sheer inadvertence.

Tigermen of Karjixia, the: A fairly civilized race of Nonhumans evolved from a chance mutation to sentience in Panthera tigris, some fifty thousand years before the period of Gan-elon Silvermane. This, at least, is the currently popular opinion. According to the Savants of Nem 192 Lin Carter bosch, the mutation was implemented by the notorious supermagician, Palensus Choy, the so-called "Immortal of Zaradon," whom we will encounter in the Third Book.

Ygdraxel: Traditional weapon habitually employed by the Tigermen of Karjixia in war; a sort of tridentiform billhook terminating in long, razory, collapsible hooks. Obviously, the Tigermanic weapon, unique to the armory of Karjixia, was a mechanical elaboration on the design of a cat's claws.

End Of The Glossary