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Home Index of Tales of Strange Adventures
"Call of the Dragon, Part I"
"Call of the Dragon, Part II"
"Ruins and Hopes"
"Shield Maiden" Cornell #3
"Warrior Eternal" Cornell #4
"Childhood of a Fighter"
"The Pledge" Cornell #5
"The Rock of Discontent"
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"A Tale of the Gods"
- Read in HTML (from Part One)
"The Miracle of Solstice Day" Cornell #6
- Read in HTML (from Chapter
One)
"Life's Values"
"Tangled Elves"
"The Pilgrims' Trial and Faith"
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by
Marc H. Wyman & Chris Bogues
“Shenaumac,
are you here?” Lonapal called into the wide open space of his fellow
god’s home. The walls were as stark and white as he recalled them, but
Shenaumac seemed to have added several new pieces of furniture. At least
as far as Lonapal could tell. It had been an eternity – quite literally
– since he’d last been here.
Nobody
answered.
Lonapal
sighed. Should he stay until the other god returned? Or should he leave?
After all, he wasn’t all that keen on talking to Shenaumac. Except that
he didn’t know who else to talk to. Sadly, he scratched his chest. His
clothes were scorched from Koultirsp’s lightning. She had not
been in any mood to talk. Well, Lonapal should have known better. There
was still the matter of the villagers – she had wanted to destroy all
the houses, and Lonapal had stopped her from burning more than some four
or five.
“That’s
odd,” he muttered and picked up a small wooden statue. It looked much
like Decirius, about a foot tall and very heavy, probably with lead
embedded. But its surface wasn’t as pristine as it ought to be, there
were scratchmarks all over it. The marks looked as if they had been made
by claws – rather tiny ones, if Lonapal was any judge. Curiously he
smelled at the statue, picking up a distinct scent that reminded him of a
jungle, wild, teeming life. He couldn’t place the specific smell,
though. It was somewhat familiar, yet… different.
“Oh,
Pally, I’m sorry,” a voice intruded. Lonapal looked up, half-smiling
when he heard his name mangled like that. About a third of the way to the
ceiling a door had appeared in mid-air, a spiral stairway descending.
Shenaumac stood in the doorway and smiled lopsidedly. “I didn’t hear
you, sorry, and – Whatever happened to you?”
He
quickly ran down the stairs, stopped a couple of feet from the God of
Light and stared at his chest. “You’ve been hurt?!”
Lonapal
shrugged. “Koultirsp. I probably should have stayed away from her.”
“That’s
what it looks like,” Shenaumac agreed, then made a table and two chairs
appear next to them. A pitcher of water and a bowl of fruits stood on the
table. “Let’s sit down, you have a drink, and we can talk, all
right?”
“Fine,”
Lonapal nodded. When he was seated, he reached for the pitcher and poured
himself a glass. (Shenaumac had remembered to add glasses only moments
before Lonapal had grasped the pitcher.) After taking a sip, the God of
Light frowned at his host. “You don’t look all that marvelous
yourself.”
Shenaumac
frowned, then a smile brightened his face and he held up his scratched
hands. “This, you mean?” He shook his head. The scratches vanished
from his hands and face. “Tiger and I had a disagreement. Tiger’s my
cat, you see? Well, I thought he was reeking and needed a bath. Tiger on
the other hand thought that he’d worked too long at his smell to have it
washed off.”
Lonapal
blinked, trying to find his way through the words. “What did you do?”
“We
agreed to disagree,” Shenaumac grinned, as he took an apple from the
bowl and bit into it. “Tiger is sleeping now, as usual. Unless I want
him to get grumpy again, I’d better let him sleep.”
“Why
didn’t you just cleanse his fur?” Lonapal asked. “You don’t have
to bathe him!”
Shenaumac
raised his eyebrows, took another bite, then said, “Pally, you have no
idea how to treat a pet, do you? If you always take the easy road,
there’s no way to appreciate him. You’ve got to work for it. Only
effort can make you truly be grateful for something, my friend.”
“If
you say so.” Lonapal emptied his glass, concentrating on the sensation
of water pouring down his throat. So pleasant and refreshing. He liked
this shape, although it was so vulnerable. Koultirsp had now taken to a
snake’s form, curling around in her home. For a moment during their
conversation he’d thought she would twirl around him and squeeze him.
The lightning had been a bit of a relief, he had to admit.
“Well,
I do say so,” Shenaumac insisted. “Pally, you’ve got to reach out to
the creatures. I mean, look at your villagers. You’re affectionate of
them, you play with them, but do you try to reach them? Or do you just
stay one of their gods?” He smiled softly. “Of course I’m probably
Tiger’s god. Even though he doesn’t mind putting his will ahead of my
divine decisions. But I treat him as if he were divine himself, and
that… Let’s just say, it makes me enjoy his antics more.”
“Really?”
Lonapal frowned. He couldn’t remember Shenaumac ever having been this
cheerful. Normally he was more of the brooding kind. Perhaps he’d grown
up? Taking care of the – the cat might have helped. He sighed.
“Maybe I should take a pet of my own, then.”
Shenaumac
nodded eagerly. “You really should, Pally. It gives you a whole new
outlook on existence. Let’s see…” He turned the apple over in his
hand. It was starting to get brown. After a moment, the god noticed and
made the apple fresh again. “I guess a bird would suit you. An eagle.
You could fly with him – or her? – through the sky. That’s what you
like to do, and your pet could share your joy.”
Lonapal
couldn’t help but agree. The idea of sharing the experience was
invigorating, in a strange way. He’d never considered it. Oh, yes,
he’d often flown with birds, but they had been just birds. Animals who
happened to fly along. None of them had had a bond with him, of the kind
that Shenaumac and his Tiger had.
Nor
had Alyssa enjoyed it much, he thought with a sour note. The single time
she had flown with him, she had tired within an hour or two, only to
return to the ground.
But
a bird… An eagle… Already at home in the air, it wouldn’t mind that
at all. Yes, he liked the idea a lot, Lonapal decided.
“Yes,”
Shenaumac smiled, “I can just picture you with an eagle by your side. A
good, loyal pet, that’s what you need, Pally. Like Taurk and her
dwarves.”
Lonapal
breathed deeply. “Taurkémad and her dwarvies,” he said. “Now
I really don’t know if that’s such a good comparison. She used to be
so obsessed about them, and what’s she done now? Melted all the trophies
she’d gathered, as if the dwarves didn’t mean anything to her anymore!
No, that’s not how I want to treat a pet.”
“Right,”
Shenaumac said slowly. “I talked to her a while ago, you know? It seems
that somebody toyed around with her dwarves and changed them. That’s not
a nice thing to do. If that somebody were to try to alter my little Tiger,
why, I –“
“Would
you just forget about him, or would you try to defend him?” Lonapal
asked eagerly.
“Well,”
his host frowned, dropping the apple on the table, “come to think of it,
I would defend him. I already did, you know? Tirspie, our unfriendly
neighborhood goddess, tried to kill him. My Tiger!”
Lonapal
nodded. “See? That’s what I mean! That’s how I want to treat a pet!
As something worthy of my affection!”
“Someone,”
Shenaumac corrected. “A pet isn’t a thing.”
“You’re
right.” Lonapal shook his head. “I’ll get used to that once I have
my own pet. An eagle, an – Did you say that Tirspie, I mean, Koultirsp
tried to kill your pet?”
“That’s
exactly what she did,” Shenaumac said sourly. “I’ve been keeping a
close watch over Tiger ever since. You never know when that goddess might
strike next. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if it had been her who
altered the dwarves, to spite Taurk!”
Lonapal
somberly agreed. “I wouldn’t put it past her.”
“Ahh,”
Shenaumac shook his head and smiled, “let’s forget about those dour
things, all right? You’ve got to get yourself a pet, Pally, and then
you’ll find out what a joy pets are! Watch out a little for Tirspie, but
never forget that you can smell her stench from twenty miles away.”
Lonapal
had to smile. “I will, Shenaumac. I will find myself a pet.” He rose,
waved good-bye and headed for the entrance. “Thanks for your
conversation. I’m feeling much better now.”
“Glad
to hear it,” his host answered. “Introduce me to your pet, will
you?”
“I
surely will!” Lonapal asserted, then left.
Behind
him, Shenaumac’s smile froze on his face. “Thus, you join my little
game,” he said. “Watch out for your pet, Pally. You never know
what’s going to happen next. Or who.”
A
mewing came from above, beyond the door in mid-air. Shenaumac rolled his
eyes and smiled as he started walking up the steps. “Will you stop it,
Tiger?” he yelled. “Trust me, you’re going to have to suffer a bath
before there’s going to be any food. We’ll see who’s the master
around here, and who’s the pawn!”
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