A Light in Darkness
Author's Note:
This story was written April 10, 1995 in response to a dream I had in February 1995. I had forgotten of its existence until I starting sorting through "Story Stuff" boxes, and thought it was interesting enough to post as my first piece of string. I am typing this verbatim, and not fixing any of the grammar, etc. After all, I was all of 21 when I wrote this, way back when.
He was gone when I returned, the fire in the grate burned out ever since I'd been gone. His bed, comforting in its softness, was cold. I don't know how long I'd been gone this time--keeping track of time is almost impossible when you can't see the sun he swears is still there. I would have known if he was in the room. Even though I am blind I can tell when a room is unoccupied--a handy trick seeing that we're not the only strange creatures living in the Mountain.
We pay our dues to the dragon, whose Mountain this is, in increments of things he says are junk, making the dragon a Junk dragon. But one man's junk is another man's treasure, or so he's told me, so I guess that would make sense.
We'd been living in the Junk Dragon's mountain ever since the sun blew up and humanity died. Eiric said he rescued me. I've lived with him in this little room for too long to remember.
"Where is he?" I asked, my voice echoing down the hall, disturbing the other residents who lived in the enormous Mountain of Junk. The walls were lined with rough things and smooth objects--pieces of cloth that were almost too soft to touch lay mouldering in a corner.
I loved the Mountain. Some of its residents, I'm afraid to say, didn't like Eiric and I. I've never been able to figure out why. We use up none of their stored food--Eiric and I live off of a dwindling supply of dried blood he found in a bombed out hospital on a foraging trip. We weren't harmed by the radiation that covered the earth so I couldn't understand why the others didn't like us.
"Where is Eiric?" I asked again.
I heard a faint rustling sound near me and turned toward it, hoping it was someone who could help me. I usually could help myself, but not when Eiric is missing.
He says I am beautiful, like a Queen in a fairy story. I've never been able to tell if he was serious or not.
"Lelina!" a voice, muffled, but still one I recognized shouted. "Wait right there! Something horrible has happened!!"
I waited while Siegfried extracted himself from whatever he was attempting to get into this time. Siegfried is a cat. Eiric always says that curiosity killed the cat, but I've never been able to figure out what he meant. As far as I know, Siegfried has never died.
"Where is Eiric?" I asked. Siegfried jumped into my arms and I caught him without any difficulty, having much practise.
"The dwarves have been losing many of their number to a strange disease," Siegfried said softly. "Eiric is dead. They blamed him and killed him."
My mind went numb from the shock. "Eiric can't be dead!" I gasped. "Who will read to me? Who will tell me those stories he loves to tell? Siegfried, Eiric can't be dead!" I felt something alien slip down my cheeks and raised my hand to find that they were wet. "I don't believe you. Will you take me to the dwarves?"
Siegfried squirmed in my arms and jumped down. "If I take you to the dwarves, they will kill you too," he said. "You have to get out of here before they realize you're back."
"I can't leave until I know if he is really dead," I replied, although I was deathly afraid of the rough, smelly dwarves. They claimed they lived in the Mountain ever before the Dragon, but I'd never known one to order the Dragon out. Just because Eiric and I were different, just because we were not dwarves made them think they had the right to push us around. And now... If Eiric was really dead, I don't know what I would do. I would be lost.
"I'll take you to where they buried him, but no further than that," Siegfried replied. "They use silver weapons, Lelina. Do you know what silver does to one of your kind?"
I shook my head. Eiric had never mentioned silver, although I do remember once touching some sort of goblet that burned my hand quite badly.
Siegfried jumped into my arms once more and directed me through a maze of tunnels until I smelled freshly turned earth. Siegfried jumped out of my arms, cursing under his breath. I dropped down to my knees and began to feel over the grave. It was hollow. There was no body.
"This is his grave?" I asked. "Are you certain? There is no body here."
"I know," Siegfried replied. "I don't understand it--he was dead, Lelina. But there are some sort of tracks leading away from the grave, but I can't believe he'd just walk away."
"What if it was a Crimple-thought?" I asked. Crimple-thoughts were the dragon's creatures, strange squat things that took the shape of the things they last touched. A Crimple-thought could have taken Eiric away, but where?
"If it was one of the dragon's creatures, then Eiric is beyond saving," Siegfried whispered.
I stroked his back, feeling the way his fur stood almost straight up.
"The Junk Dragon never releases anything it takes."
"If Eiric is still alive, I'm not going to let him die," I said as quickly as I could, and on my hands and knees, followed the tracks down the tunnel. Siegfried followed cautiously. "You don't have to come, Siegfried," I said, but he didn't listen to me. He rarely does. Eiric says its because he is a cat. That I can believe.
The ground kept getting warmer until I was covered with mud, and still the tracks led deeper into the Mountain. After the wet, it abruptly dried out and the tracks stopped.
"The end of the trail," Siegfried reported, but that was something I already knew.
I dusted myself off and faced forward. The air, usually cold and fresh, was now hot and sultry, making me wish I'd worn more appropriate clothing.
"You haven't seen any dwarves, have you?" I asked just as Siegfried hissed a warning and I took a step forward.
"Don't go any further," a gravelly voice growled and I froze.
"He has a sword, Lelina," Siegfried warned. My fear almost choked me, then I remembered Eiric. They had buried him adn he wasn't really dead! Even though Siegfried said the sword was deadly, I still wanted to find him. I wasn't about to back off.
"Eiric isn't dead," I said to the dwarf. "One of the Dragon's Crimple-thoughts took him. Let me pass."
"Not you," the dwarf growled. I've never heard a dwarf do anything but growl. "We will not have you feasting off of our kind anymore." I laughed. I had to--to drink a dwarf's blood would border on the most disgusting thing I could think of.
"We would never do that," I protested. "That's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard."
"Your Eiric was found with a dead cousin," the dwarf growled and poked at my stomach with his sword. I'm sorry, but I take offense at swords being poked at my middle.
"I won't let you prevent me from going to him," I finally said. "What do you care if I go to the Dragon? How can that hurt you?" I felt relieved when the dwarf stepped away.
"I don't believe it," Siegfried muttered under his breath, but both I and the dwarf heard him.
"If you didn't kill my cousins, then who did?" the dwarf growled.
I shrugged. "When I return with Eiric, we will help you find out," I promised.
"He's gone!" Siegfried gasped. "I don't believe it, Lelina! You did it! Though how you're going to find out who's been killing the dwarves, I don't know."
I stretched my arms out and found the side of the tunnel.
"Do you think we're still going the right way?" I asked. "Have you ever seen the Dragon?" The going was slower now that I was not on my hands and knees, but I could feel that we were growing closer to our goal. The wall ended abruptly and I dug my fingers into stone, trying to catch my balance.
Siegfried gasped beside me. "What is it?" I asked.
"Junk," Siegfried replied, although I sensed that he was leaving something out.
"Do you see Eiric?" I asked, cautiously feeling my way down a steep slope. Siegfried was no help. He vanished.
I found out why a moment later when a breath of hot, stinking air blew over my face and something very immense shifted its weight mere feet in front of me.
"Who are you and why do you dare to tresspass in my lair?" the voice growled worse than a dwarf's. I shuddered but held my ground.
"I've come for Eiric," I whispered. "One of your Crimple-thoughts stole him out of his grave. Before I leave the Mountain, I have to know if he's still alive."
The Dragon shifted again and something slid against my legs. I stepped back and tried not to lose my balance.
"My Crimple-thoughts won't ever take anything that isn't alive," the Dragon said. "So your Eiric must be alive. What does he look like?"
"I don't know," I whispered. "I've never seen his face."
The Dragon was silent for so long that I feared it had fallen asleep.
"Then that explains why you aren't afraid of me," the Dragon growled. "I can't abide something that isn't afraid of me. Perhaps I'll kill you both."
I had a hard time staying on my feet. My knees kept wanting to collapse.
"I'm very afraid, Sir Dragon," I admitted, "but I cannot live knowing I left Eiric here to die."
The Dragon snorted and a puff of hot air blew over my face.
"You cannot see my magnificant scales or my terrible fangs?" The Dragon asked. I shook my head. "And all you want from me is this Eiric? What if I told you he was wounded beyond repair by the dwarves?"
I stiffened my spine and tried to look as brave as I could. "I would die for him," I whispered, though I really didn't want it to come to that.
The dragon snorted again. "I see," he murmured. "What is your name, child?"
Now the Dragon didn't sound half as angry as before. I cleared my throat and whispered my name.
"Lelina," the dragon replied. "I do not require you to give your life for the life of your Eiric. But I do require some sort of payment in exchange for him."
My mind raced with possibilities. "I will do whatever you wish," I replied, hoping he would choose something I was able to do.
The Dragon chuckled softly. "I have grown too large to move from my chamber, though you cannot see that," the dragon said.
"I can feel your size," I replied.
"I believe you," the Dragon said. "I know what happened to the outside world, and I also know what has been killing the dwarves. You don't want to leave here, do you?"
I shook my head.
"I didn't think so. One of my Crimple-thoughts discovered a book in my Mountain about creatures like Eiric and you. It changed into the creature in the book and killed those dwarves. It is dead now."
"The dwarves will be happy to know that," I commented. "Where is Eiric? What must I do to free him?"
The Dragon shifted again. "I have a small request," he whispered, "though I doubt you can do it. I will live out the rest of my life here, Lelina. You and Eiric can go anywhere you wish. My request is for a story."
"Eiric tells better stories than I do," I said. "He can read the books he found."
"You have books?"
"Piles of books," I replied. "Every time Eiric goes foraging he brings something back to read."
The Dragon sounded positively excited. "What kind of stories do you have?" he asked.
"Any kind you want," I said. "Eiric reads me a different story every night. I think I can persuade him to read you one also."
"I will send one of my Crimple-thoughts to your rooms every night," the Dragon said. "Hold out your arms."
I obeyed and almost fell under Eiric's weight. He was unconscious and covered with dirt.
"You're going to let me leave with him?" I asked, not believing that I actually held Eiric in my arms and that he was still alive.
"If I can trust you not to run away," the Dragon rumbled, but instead of sounding terrifying, he merely sounded lonely. "I will send one of my Crimple-thoughts with a powder that should help your Eiric heal," he said. "If you turn around and walk straight up the hill, you'll be in the tunnel you came out of." I carefully followed his directions and stopped a few minutes later when Siegfried's voice drifted up at me.
"Lelina!" he shouted. "You're alive!"
I smiled and clutched Eiric tighter to my chest. "Of course, Siegfried," I said. "I spoke to the dragon and he doesn't seem to be very mean at all. Just lonely."
"I tried not to listen," Siegfried confessed. "I thought he would burn up." Eiric moaned in my arms. "Is he going to live?"
"According to the dragon, he will," I said. "He's even giving us a potion to heal Eiric's wounds. I can't wait until he wakes up."
"Why?" Siegfried asked, showing that he had been listening to our conversation a little bit. "To keep your end of the bargain a little bit?" I shook my head. "Why, then?"
"Because I'll finally be able to tell him a story he hasn't heard before," I replied, and carried Eiric home.
THE END
(Original author's note:)
AUTHOR'S NOTE
This story began as a dream I had in February. I did not realize Lelina was blind until I sat down and started writing. I've never had a blind heroine that defeated a dragon and angry dwarves without killing any one of them. Siegfried was also in my dream. He looks like a perfectly ordinary black and white cat. Lelina has long blond hair and blue eyes. Eiric has reddish-brown hair and brown eyes.
7-9 pm April 10, 1995
Bethel, Ohio
J.L.S.
Copyright 1995 Jennifer St. Clair
This story was written April 10, 1995 in response to a dream I had in February 1995. I had forgotten of its existence until I starting sorting through "Story Stuff" boxes, and thought it was interesting enough to post as my first piece of string. I am typing this verbatim, and not fixing any of the grammar, etc. After all, I was all of 21 when I wrote this, way back when.
He was gone when I returned, the fire in the grate burned out ever since I'd been gone. His bed, comforting in its softness, was cold. I don't know how long I'd been gone this time--keeping track of time is almost impossible when you can't see the sun he swears is still there. I would have known if he was in the room. Even though I am blind I can tell when a room is unoccupied--a handy trick seeing that we're not the only strange creatures living in the Mountain.
We pay our dues to the dragon, whose Mountain this is, in increments of things he says are junk, making the dragon a Junk dragon. But one man's junk is another man's treasure, or so he's told me, so I guess that would make sense.
We'd been living in the Junk Dragon's mountain ever since the sun blew up and humanity died. Eiric said he rescued me. I've lived with him in this little room for too long to remember.
"Where is he?" I asked, my voice echoing down the hall, disturbing the other residents who lived in the enormous Mountain of Junk. The walls were lined with rough things and smooth objects--pieces of cloth that were almost too soft to touch lay mouldering in a corner.
I loved the Mountain. Some of its residents, I'm afraid to say, didn't like Eiric and I. I've never been able to figure out why. We use up none of their stored food--Eiric and I live off of a dwindling supply of dried blood he found in a bombed out hospital on a foraging trip. We weren't harmed by the radiation that covered the earth so I couldn't understand why the others didn't like us.
"Where is Eiric?" I asked again.
I heard a faint rustling sound near me and turned toward it, hoping it was someone who could help me. I usually could help myself, but not when Eiric is missing.
He says I am beautiful, like a Queen in a fairy story. I've never been able to tell if he was serious or not.
"Lelina!" a voice, muffled, but still one I recognized shouted. "Wait right there! Something horrible has happened!!"
I waited while Siegfried extracted himself from whatever he was attempting to get into this time. Siegfried is a cat. Eiric always says that curiosity killed the cat, but I've never been able to figure out what he meant. As far as I know, Siegfried has never died.
"Where is Eiric?" I asked. Siegfried jumped into my arms and I caught him without any difficulty, having much practise.
"The dwarves have been losing many of their number to a strange disease," Siegfried said softly. "Eiric is dead. They blamed him and killed him."
My mind went numb from the shock. "Eiric can't be dead!" I gasped. "Who will read to me? Who will tell me those stories he loves to tell? Siegfried, Eiric can't be dead!" I felt something alien slip down my cheeks and raised my hand to find that they were wet. "I don't believe you. Will you take me to the dwarves?"
Siegfried squirmed in my arms and jumped down. "If I take you to the dwarves, they will kill you too," he said. "You have to get out of here before they realize you're back."
"I can't leave until I know if he is really dead," I replied, although I was deathly afraid of the rough, smelly dwarves. They claimed they lived in the Mountain ever before the Dragon, but I'd never known one to order the Dragon out. Just because Eiric and I were different, just because we were not dwarves made them think they had the right to push us around. And now... If Eiric was really dead, I don't know what I would do. I would be lost.
"I'll take you to where they buried him, but no further than that," Siegfried replied. "They use silver weapons, Lelina. Do you know what silver does to one of your kind?"
I shook my head. Eiric had never mentioned silver, although I do remember once touching some sort of goblet that burned my hand quite badly.
Siegfried jumped into my arms once more and directed me through a maze of tunnels until I smelled freshly turned earth. Siegfried jumped out of my arms, cursing under his breath. I dropped down to my knees and began to feel over the grave. It was hollow. There was no body.
"This is his grave?" I asked. "Are you certain? There is no body here."
"I know," Siegfried replied. "I don't understand it--he was dead, Lelina. But there are some sort of tracks leading away from the grave, but I can't believe he'd just walk away."
"What if it was a Crimple-thought?" I asked. Crimple-thoughts were the dragon's creatures, strange squat things that took the shape of the things they last touched. A Crimple-thought could have taken Eiric away, but where?
"If it was one of the dragon's creatures, then Eiric is beyond saving," Siegfried whispered.
I stroked his back, feeling the way his fur stood almost straight up.
"The Junk Dragon never releases anything it takes."
"If Eiric is still alive, I'm not going to let him die," I said as quickly as I could, and on my hands and knees, followed the tracks down the tunnel. Siegfried followed cautiously. "You don't have to come, Siegfried," I said, but he didn't listen to me. He rarely does. Eiric says its because he is a cat. That I can believe.
The ground kept getting warmer until I was covered with mud, and still the tracks led deeper into the Mountain. After the wet, it abruptly dried out and the tracks stopped.
"The end of the trail," Siegfried reported, but that was something I already knew.
I dusted myself off and faced forward. The air, usually cold and fresh, was now hot and sultry, making me wish I'd worn more appropriate clothing.
"You haven't seen any dwarves, have you?" I asked just as Siegfried hissed a warning and I took a step forward.
"Don't go any further," a gravelly voice growled and I froze.
"He has a sword, Lelina," Siegfried warned. My fear almost choked me, then I remembered Eiric. They had buried him adn he wasn't really dead! Even though Siegfried said the sword was deadly, I still wanted to find him. I wasn't about to back off.
"Eiric isn't dead," I said to the dwarf. "One of the Dragon's Crimple-thoughts took him. Let me pass."
"Not you," the dwarf growled. I've never heard a dwarf do anything but growl. "We will not have you feasting off of our kind anymore." I laughed. I had to--to drink a dwarf's blood would border on the most disgusting thing I could think of.
"We would never do that," I protested. "That's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard."
"Your Eiric was found with a dead cousin," the dwarf growled and poked at my stomach with his sword. I'm sorry, but I take offense at swords being poked at my middle.
"I won't let you prevent me from going to him," I finally said. "What do you care if I go to the Dragon? How can that hurt you?" I felt relieved when the dwarf stepped away.
"I don't believe it," Siegfried muttered under his breath, but both I and the dwarf heard him.
"If you didn't kill my cousins, then who did?" the dwarf growled.
I shrugged. "When I return with Eiric, we will help you find out," I promised.
"He's gone!" Siegfried gasped. "I don't believe it, Lelina! You did it! Though how you're going to find out who's been killing the dwarves, I don't know."
I stretched my arms out and found the side of the tunnel.
"Do you think we're still going the right way?" I asked. "Have you ever seen the Dragon?" The going was slower now that I was not on my hands and knees, but I could feel that we were growing closer to our goal. The wall ended abruptly and I dug my fingers into stone, trying to catch my balance.
Siegfried gasped beside me. "What is it?" I asked.
"Junk," Siegfried replied, although I sensed that he was leaving something out.
"Do you see Eiric?" I asked, cautiously feeling my way down a steep slope. Siegfried was no help. He vanished.
I found out why a moment later when a breath of hot, stinking air blew over my face and something very immense shifted its weight mere feet in front of me.
"Who are you and why do you dare to tresspass in my lair?" the voice growled worse than a dwarf's. I shuddered but held my ground.
"I've come for Eiric," I whispered. "One of your Crimple-thoughts stole him out of his grave. Before I leave the Mountain, I have to know if he's still alive."
The Dragon shifted again and something slid against my legs. I stepped back and tried not to lose my balance.
"My Crimple-thoughts won't ever take anything that isn't alive," the Dragon said. "So your Eiric must be alive. What does he look like?"
"I don't know," I whispered. "I've never seen his face."
The Dragon was silent for so long that I feared it had fallen asleep.
"Then that explains why you aren't afraid of me," the Dragon growled. "I can't abide something that isn't afraid of me. Perhaps I'll kill you both."
I had a hard time staying on my feet. My knees kept wanting to collapse.
"I'm very afraid, Sir Dragon," I admitted, "but I cannot live knowing I left Eiric here to die."
The Dragon snorted and a puff of hot air blew over my face.
"You cannot see my magnificant scales or my terrible fangs?" The Dragon asked. I shook my head. "And all you want from me is this Eiric? What if I told you he was wounded beyond repair by the dwarves?"
I stiffened my spine and tried to look as brave as I could. "I would die for him," I whispered, though I really didn't want it to come to that.
The dragon snorted again. "I see," he murmured. "What is your name, child?"
Now the Dragon didn't sound half as angry as before. I cleared my throat and whispered my name.
"Lelina," the dragon replied. "I do not require you to give your life for the life of your Eiric. But I do require some sort of payment in exchange for him."
My mind raced with possibilities. "I will do whatever you wish," I replied, hoping he would choose something I was able to do.
The Dragon chuckled softly. "I have grown too large to move from my chamber, though you cannot see that," the dragon said.
"I can feel your size," I replied.
"I believe you," the Dragon said. "I know what happened to the outside world, and I also know what has been killing the dwarves. You don't want to leave here, do you?"
I shook my head.
"I didn't think so. One of my Crimple-thoughts discovered a book in my Mountain about creatures like Eiric and you. It changed into the creature in the book and killed those dwarves. It is dead now."
"The dwarves will be happy to know that," I commented. "Where is Eiric? What must I do to free him?"
The Dragon shifted again. "I have a small request," he whispered, "though I doubt you can do it. I will live out the rest of my life here, Lelina. You and Eiric can go anywhere you wish. My request is for a story."
"Eiric tells better stories than I do," I said. "He can read the books he found."
"You have books?"
"Piles of books," I replied. "Every time Eiric goes foraging he brings something back to read."
The Dragon sounded positively excited. "What kind of stories do you have?" he asked.
"Any kind you want," I said. "Eiric reads me a different story every night. I think I can persuade him to read you one also."
"I will send one of my Crimple-thoughts to your rooms every night," the Dragon said. "Hold out your arms."
I obeyed and almost fell under Eiric's weight. He was unconscious and covered with dirt.
"You're going to let me leave with him?" I asked, not believing that I actually held Eiric in my arms and that he was still alive.
"If I can trust you not to run away," the Dragon rumbled, but instead of sounding terrifying, he merely sounded lonely. "I will send one of my Crimple-thoughts with a powder that should help your Eiric heal," he said. "If you turn around and walk straight up the hill, you'll be in the tunnel you came out of." I carefully followed his directions and stopped a few minutes later when Siegfried's voice drifted up at me.
"Lelina!" he shouted. "You're alive!"
I smiled and clutched Eiric tighter to my chest. "Of course, Siegfried," I said. "I spoke to the dragon and he doesn't seem to be very mean at all. Just lonely."
"I tried not to listen," Siegfried confessed. "I thought he would burn up." Eiric moaned in my arms. "Is he going to live?"
"According to the dragon, he will," I said. "He's even giving us a potion to heal Eiric's wounds. I can't wait until he wakes up."
"Why?" Siegfried asked, showing that he had been listening to our conversation a little bit. "To keep your end of the bargain a little bit?" I shook my head. "Why, then?"
"Because I'll finally be able to tell him a story he hasn't heard before," I replied, and carried Eiric home.
THE END
(Original author's note:)
AUTHOR'S NOTE
This story began as a dream I had in February. I did not realize Lelina was blind until I sat down and started writing. I've never had a blind heroine that defeated a dragon and angry dwarves without killing any one of them. Siegfried was also in my dream. He looks like a perfectly ordinary black and white cat. Lelina has long blond hair and blue eyes. Eiric has reddish-brown hair and brown eyes.
7-9 pm April 10, 1995
Bethel, Ohio
J.L.S.
Copyright 1995 Jennifer St. Clair
posted by Jennifer at 2:49 PM
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