Tale of the Efreet's Prize ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ O listeners, let my words carry you back to the ancient times when Calormen was young, and the Tisrocs were in knowable line direct from the Great God Tash. The Empire stretched across the desert sands south to the forests of what would be Calavar and Teebeth. And know that in those times, there were many riches, and Tarkaans and Tarkheenas aplenty in the towns and new cities, forming along the roads and rivers of the land. Among them were the Tarkaan Akalasaar, son of the Tarkaan Adrashaar, son of the Prince Kalamar, son of the Tisroc himself (may he reside with Tash forever!), and the Tarkheena Belarel, daughter of the Lord Tarkaan Anaqat of Azim Balda, when it was newly a province. The Tarkheena was beauteous beyond words, with light skin (by the standards of Calormen) and hair like dark silk. And the Tarkaan was handsome, tall and full-muscled, and swift on his feet. And O listeners, it was this Tarkaan who did court the Tarkheena for her hand, for not all marriages were arranged as they now are in these enlightened times. And the Tarkheena Belarel was flattered by his attentions, and responded in kind, with her father's approval. A marriage was planned, and set to take place but a month from the events I shall now relate unto you. Akalasaar one day journeyed to the estate of Anaqat Tarkaan, his beloved's father. As he approached the gates, he did witness a rider cloaked in black racing away from the estate upon a black horse. He entered the estate, and found the slaves and servants asleep where they stood, and sought out the Tarkaan Lord. He found the man also asleep, and made to rouse him with herbs and spices from the kitchens of the estate. The Lord awoke with a cry, and then wept into his arms. "O Lord, what brings tears to your eyes and rasps your throat, and causes night to fall before its time upon your slaves and servants?" asked Akalasaar. "O Tarkaan, who wishes to be husband to mine daughter, I have let my daughter and your love be taken from the palace by a man who enchanted and enthralled the minds of myself and mine, and who laughed in triumph and cried aloud that she should not leave his side forever more," answered the Lord Anaqat. And now Akalasaar wept, and said "O my father to be, who was he that wrought this deed and tore your and my hearts asunder, that I might exact vengeance and take back the Tarkheena from him?" "He spoke not his name, O love of my love, yet he cried aloud of his home in the mountains to the west." And indeed, Akalasaar had seen the black rider take the western road from Azim Balda. Quoth Akalasaar, "O my Lord, rouse your servants with these spices, and weep no more, I shall ride west and seek to return your daughter to you, from the cruel enslavement of this evil man." Akalasaar then rode from the estate, and gathered supplies, taking his shield, emblazoned with the vulture in orange with a long spike erupting from its center; his scimitar, cruel and curved; his armor, heavy chain that deflected all blows; and the spiked turban that topped his head. And with a heart that was not heavy with dread but with fear for the Tarkheena who held his heart, he did set forth upon his charger, west from Azim Balda. Know that the roads upon which he traveled were new, and not yet cobbled, but still he journeyed to the Lake at Mezreel, and circled south. No bridge yet spanned the river south of the lake, yet a small town rested along the banks, and he made his journey known to the peasants who resided there. "Know you of a rider in black, upon a horse of night's shade?" he asked. And they responded thusly: "One of such a nature rode through, but made no sound but the cries of something he carried that we saw not, and that his horse leapt across the river in but one bound, and vanished to the west past the hills." Akalasaar furthered south around the lake of Ilkeen, for two days and two nights before he could pass and continue west after the man in black. The grapes of Ilkeen's famous wines were freshly planted upon the rocky hillsides near the lake, and as he rode past he asked the peasants who worked them for news of the rider he chased. And quoth the peasants, "O Tarkaan, the rider is known to us as a terror, for he has made our children vanish and our livestock sick and mad, and is a woe unto us, but we have not seen him this month, as you ask." And so he rode on, and west into the hills. He passed trains of slaves, being sent to the mines at Pugrahan, who cowered in fear as he rode past. And before the rising of the sun had come thrice more, he came to Lagour. O listeners, the educated among you may know well that Lagour is the Flaming Mountain, the vent of the earth which sends forth rock and fire into the sky and ash to the slopes of Ilkeen. But in these times, the mountain had not yet begun to flame, and was but a cruel and twisted spire of blackened rock. And at the base of this mountain did Akalasaar stop, and searched for a sign of the black rider. And as he searched, his supplies did grow lean, for there was naught that grew in the forboding landscape, yet he found no sign. After the twice come setting of the sun, he looked skyward and saw a circling vulture in the skies above. Aloud he cried at the sign, and he fell to his knees upon the black rock and made his peace with Tash. And know that the vulture swooped down and landed on the stump of a tree before him, and said "Tarkaan, follow the trail up the mountain, and you shall find what you seek." And Akalasaar turned pale and prostrated himself before the animal. "O wise bird, but there is no trail to mine eyes!" And the vulture cackled like the jackal of the northern desert. Quoth the buzzard, "You seek a creature of the night; so should you seek signs by the night." Know then that the vulture did take flight, and circle high into the sky through a parting in the clouds. And so Akalasaar did make his bed upon a sheaf, and wait for the fall of night. And when it did fall, he arose and searched again for a trail, seeking the rider in black. And he did then find the prints of a horse, in shining silver against the black earth, and he followed these up the cruel mountainside. O listeners, the trail lead to a rock face, sheer and flat, and vanished beyond it. He took forth his scimitar, and impacted the hilt upon the mountain, crying "Open! In the name of Tash, open!". And with his words, know that the face split, and a crack opened to allow him passage. And then a torch he did light, and entered into the darkness. Akalasaar picked his way through the mountain, and cried out the name of his beloved Tarkheena Belarel, then listened for her reply, if she was yet able. And lo, he did hear a faint cry, and made his way towards the sound, calling again. And again he heard a reply. And soon, it was near upon him when he heard a call in response, and quoth the Tarkaan: "My Tarkheena Belarel, is that indeed you?" And he passed around a corner, and from behind him heard a cry, "Nay, my Tarkaan, but you may be mine elsewise as a meal!" and he turned to see a cruel form perched high upon the rock wall, lit by his torch. Know, listeners, that in Calormen there are creatures known as gryphons, vile beasts with the head and body of a jackal, and the wings and talons of a vulture, and these creatures are gifted with speech, and hunt by trickery. And one creature as this did leap from the wall down upon the Tarkaan. But Akalasaar was wary, and raised his shield, bearing the form of a vulture, and in the near darkness the gryphon took it as easy prey, and fell upon it, and ran himself through on the cruel spike projecting from the shield, and cried aloud in pain, before the Tarkaan dispatched him with his scimitar. Then the Tarkaan did bow down and make a prayer to Tash, and call out again. "O Belarel, do you hear my pleads?" And again, he heard a faint cry in the distance, and chased the tunnels toward it. And lo, he did soon emerge in a vast cavern, and he heard the faint cries of many voices from behind the walls of the mountain. But he could find no passage through, so thinking upon the matter, he did extinguish his torch, and see once more the silver hoofprints of a horse shining in the dark, and he followed these through twists and turns within the mountain, to a tiny space through which he crawled. And thusly he emerged in a cavern lined with gold and lit by candles, as tall as the tallest spires in Tashbaan, and as wide as the Tashbez, and along the walls were young children, chained to the walls and floors and polishing the gold to make it gleam with in the faint light, without flaw. And at the heart was a black throne, carved from the rock of the mountain, and upon it sat a man in black, and chained at the feet of the man was his beloved Tarkheena, made to look as a slave, with eyes puffed from weeping. And from all around came the soft cries of the children, who polished the golden walls. And he trembled in fear, until he saw that the the man in black was asleep and unmoving upon his black throne. So Akalasaar sought one of the children who polished the walls, and whispered, "O child who are so cruelly enslaved, tell me of yourself and your trials." And lo, the child responded, "O sir, the monster hath taken us from our homes and made us polish these walls. When we fail, he devours us and seeks out others to take our place." And of the Tarkheena, when asked, the child said, "And she he took as his bride, to be his for all time in this cavern under the mountain." "Know you of his nature?" asked Akalasaar. "He is no man, but an Efreet!" quoth the child. "But I know nothing else of him but this - that those who challenge him he grants one wish, and then they are destroyed and join the others in the pit." And with this he pointed at a deep pit, filled with bones to its very brim. Then the child returned to his polishing in fear, and the Tarkaan sat back upon his heels and thought. And then, knowing aught else to do, he rose and stood before the man in black, and he cried, "O Efreet, who doth take children and Tarkheenas from the Empire of Calormen, awake! I challenge you!" And the man in black stood, and before the Tarkaan's eye grew in size until he dwarfed the Tarkaan as the Tarkaan would dwarf a child. And at the efreet's shoes the Tarkheena Belarel did awake and cry out her beloved's name. And the efreet glared down and bared his claws and his sharp teeth and quoth, "Mortal, know that I shall give you one fair wish before I take your life from you! So speak it now!" And the Tarkaan trembled in his pointed shoes, and said, "Then my wish, O cruel demon of the darkness, is to know your weakness, that I might defeat you!" And the efreet laughed, and quoth: "Know that my only weakness is light, but also know that I travel by day, and it harms me not, nor does the light here dismay me nor weaken me, and nor may it allow you to defeat me!" And Akalasaar did think how he might use this knowledge, for if light was the bared heel of this demon, yet it harmed him not, how could it defeat him? And it came to him that a weakness of men is the very air they breathe, for they need it, yet fall faint in its absence, yet it is rightly said that the air is a weakness of men. And so he cried thusly, "Children, smash your golden plates and douse the lights, and I shall set you free!" And the efreet cried out, and the children did as the Tarkaan asked, and the golden mirrors fell to the ground and the lights were doused, and the golden shine of the cavern faded into darkness. For like the air of men, the light did sustain the foul efreet. And in the darkness, the efreet howled, and Akalasaar did draw forth his scimitar and slay the vile demon easily by its cries, and soon there was no sound but the cries of the children in the darkness, and the weeping of the Tarkheena Belarel. And then the Tarkaan did light his torch, and with his sword he smashed the chains which bound his love, and they did embrace, and avowed their love to each other, then set the children free from their chains. And the children cheered and danced, and Akalasaar bade them to gather up the golden shards of the mirrors, and carry them as he led them free from the mountain, which was by now in day. And they journeyed back through the lands of Calormen, and the Tarkaan and his Tarkheena returned the children to their parents in the lands near Ilkeen. And then upon the Tarkaan's charger they returned to Azim Balda, and did make towards the estate of Belarel's father. And then the Lord Tarkaan bade them to venture to the Tisroc's palace in Tashbaan, and tell the tale of their story to the Tisroc. And upon the Tisroc's ears the story did ring a delightful take, and as the Tarkaan presented his prizes - the gold from the efreet's chamber and the Lord Tarkheena of Azim Balda - the Tisroc did bequeath upon the Tarkaan the Province of Tehishbaan, in the far west near where the adventures had taken him, and the hand of Belarel as his wife. And they did preside well and fairly over the land until they joined Tash in His land many years later. And thus ends the Tale of the Efreet's Prize.