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CHAPTER X

"A sword!" said Amlodd. "Thralls, bring me a sword!"

Within a minute the servants appeared with a sheathed rapier and a sword belt.

"You call this a sword?" Amlodd cried. " 'Tis an awl for stitching leather! Get me a proper sword, a slasher with a blade three fingers wide!"

"A broadsword," said Sean from the bench. "The man wants a broadsword."

The servants returned with a Pappenheimer war sword. Amlodd frowned at the complicated steel basket that guarded the grip, but smiled after he'd swung the thing a few times.

"A man is naked without a weapon," said Amlodd, belting it around his waist. He fumbled with the buckles for a moment, but figured it out. Then he began a routine of exercises with the blade. "North-under with this weak body," he said as he posed and swung, his muscles quivering and sweat standing out on his forehead.

"What do you need a sword for?" asked Bess. They had finished breakfast but remained in their chairs around the table. "I'd like to remind you we're not planning on any duels in this version."

"I need a sword because I'm not a woman," said Amlodd. "Besides, someone must hunt the troll. I see no other man here fit for the work, except perhaps Randy, and him I do not trust."

"Don't mind me," said Randy, who was lounging with a foot on the table. "Just pretend I'm not here."

Amlodd asked, "What manner of man are you?"

Randy sat up straight. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I can sense the Old Ones. There's something of them in you, but it's weak. I'd think you were half-blood with them, only they do not whelp."

"What you sense," said Randy, "is called deodorant. We don't glory in stinking as you do. Unfortunately we didn't bring a supply, so we'll probably sink to your level."

"We Danes bathe every Saturday night!"

"Then I suppose we should do the same, if this is Denmark," said Sean. "Only I wonder when Saturday is."

"Ask the servants," said Diane. "We really ought to do something for them, you know. Everything that gets done around here, gets done by them."

"But are they even human?" asked Rosey. "Has anybody tried to talk with one of them? We know they can speak, but are they just repeating words? Can you have a conversation with them?"

"I've tried," said Peter. "They don't seem to like talking much." He took a drink of wine. He was drinking openly now.

"They are thralls. What does it matter whether they're human or not?" said Amlodd. "What we need to think on is the troll. He has killed already. We must hunt him down. If I can get no help from you men, I must do it myself."

Howie got up and walked around the table to face Amlodd. "I'm telling you again you're talking about my son. You'll hurt my son over my dead body."

"If I must," said Amlodd. "This son of yours has killed one of us already. Shall we all die at his hand to spare your feelings?"

"How do we know it was him? It could have been anybody here!"

"We were all together when Del was killed, Howie," said Bess. "Eric was the only one missing."

"Well, how do we know it wasn't a stranger? So all the natives we've met have been these mimes who wait on the tables. We don't know who or what else might live here. We don't even know that the mimes aren't murderous."

"Fair enough," said Amlodd. "Let's track the killer and see what we find. But I say it again—your son is a troll, and will have to be put down. No doubt you'll want revenge then, so I'll have to put you down too."

Howie shook his head. "You don't understand. I lost my wife just a few months ago. You can't take my son away too. Surely you have a little pity!"

"What a strange word is this 'pity' of yours," said Amlodd. "You'd leave a deadly monster at large, putting all of us, even the women, in peril of our lives every minute, simply to keep you from a sad feeling. Is there no honor in your heart? If I'd become what your son is, my father would have hunted me down the first day, and he'd have been right. Thank the gods I had such a father."

"Listen. You lost your father. Don't you see that you'd be doing the same thing to me that your uncle did to you?"

"Yes. What of it?"

"So can't you see that if it was wrong for him, it's wrong for you too?"

"Why?"

Howie looked stuck for an answer.

"Because right and wrong are the same, everywhere and for everyone," said Peter, leaning his chin on his crossed arms.

"I didn't mean that," said Howie. "I don't believe that."

"Then what did you mean?" asked Peter, and again Howie had no answer.

"It's simple, he loves his son," said Randy. "He'll let any number of people die to protect him. I love love. It brings people together, if only in cemeteries."

"I kill my enemies," said Amlodd. "My enemies try to kill me. The one the gods favor wins. That is how the world is. It has nothing to do with right or wrong."

"That's right," said Diane. "If it feels good, do it. See, Peter? You Christians always talk as if you're defending traditional values—but there are traditions older than yours."

"If I thought right and wrong were the same for me and my enemies, how could I kill them?" asked Amlodd. "Now, who will help me hunt?"

Everyone stood silent, embarrassed to hurt Howie.

"If you're going after my son, I'm going to be there," said Howie. "There's got to be somebody to talk to him."

"Then I'm coming too," said Peter.

"I wouldn't miss it," said Randy.

"I'll come," said Bess.

"A woman?" asked Amlodd.

"A damn strong one," said Bess. "I felt silly yesterday, staying back here while you guys went out. Anyway, who'd you rather have? Me, or the majesty of Denmark over there?"

"Don't mind me," said Sean, still at the table. "I felt rather silly myself yesterday. I wouldn't go now to save my life. In fact that's my very purpose. I once said to Maurice Evans—"

"I'll come too," said Rosey.

"No," said Amlodd.

"Why not?"

"I need you for bed. If you were killed I'd have to sleep with Bess."

"In your dreams, sweet prince," said Bess.

"We'd better all get swords, I suppose," said Peter.

"No. Spears are better," said Amlodd.

"Spears?"

"Much better for hunting. Especially for men without skill. You can throw them or use them close. I'll get a spear myself. My sword is for other things."

He called for spears and soon they were outfitted.

"Let us go then," said Amlodd.

As they set out Bess turned back. "You're really not coming, Rosey?"

Rosey looked at the floor and shook her head.

Bess went with the others.

"Does anyone actually know the way out of this castle?" asked Randy.

"First we hunt an exit, then we hunt the monster," said Peter.

"Eric," said Howie. "His name is Eric."

They followed the main corridor until it took a right turn.

"Perhaps we should scatter bread crumbs," said Randy.

"This is folly," said Amlodd. "Thralls!"

A servant appeared, coming from the direction in which they were headed.

"Lead us outside," said Amlodd to him, and the servant turned and led them. As it happened, the corridor led straight out to the main door of the hall. They emerged into the grass-grown bailey. The gate was not far to walk. Past that there was an even shorter walk through the outer bailey to the main gate.

" 'Tis Denmark," said Amlodd, breathing deeply. " 'Tis home. But not Jutland, I think."

They stood on a solitary cliff, surrounded by low hills covered with trees, dotted with lakes and marshes and seamed with rivers on three sides. To the west writhed the sea, troubled by a stiff wind. Seagulls hung motionless in the wind's face before diving for their meals. Two weathers contended—a blue storm over the sea and golden sunlight over the land. A winding track led down the cliff face to a harbor.

"Elsinore, I imagine," said Bess, shielding her eyes from the wind with a hand. "What you Danes call Helsingør."

"I know Helsingør. It has no mountain."

"No. This is Shakespeare's Elsinore. Shakespeare was a great storyteller, but not much of a geographer."

"The ghost said this was an 'unused' world," said Peter. "Does that mean a world without people, do you suppose? What would that kind of world be like?"

"I thought we decided this was Hamlet's world, with all the good stuff sucked out," said Bess.

"Could be both."

"More important, who's at the top of the food chain?" said Randy.

Amlodd knelt on the path. "He went this way," he said, touching the soil. "Three toes, like a bird, but large."

They set off down the track, Amlodd in the front and Randy bringing up the rear. It was a harrowing descent, the path sometimes little more than a yard wide, with a sheer drop on the seaward side.

"In our world they'd install handrails," said Diane.

"When all of you go home, remember to leave me here," said Amlodd. "From what I've learned of your world, I'd as soon live with the troll."

Amlodd was standing on a hairpin in the path as he spoke, somewhat ahead of the others. There came a whistling and a roaring as of some large object through the air, and it snatched Amlodd and carried him down to the beach sand below. The two bodies landed feetfirst; Amlodd's spear went flying out of reach. Eric (or Yggxvthwul, for it was his body with Eric's head) rebounded immediately, while Amlodd had more trouble freeing his feet from the sand. While he struggled, Eric reached a tentacle and casually disarmed him, drawing his sword and casting it into the sea.

Amlodd knelt with his arms spread, shock on his face. He closed his eyes and began to sing, a song that was not a tune by the modern folks' standards.

Ahead of the rest, Howie and Peter rushed breakneck down the switchback pathway, protected from falling only by their momentum. At the last hairpin but one, Howie leaped straight down to the sand, and Peter followed him, falling on his hands and knees. Eric could have finished Amlodd off by then, but had held back for some reason.

"Eric, for God's sake!" Howie cried.

"Hey Dad," said Eric's head atop the grotesque body. The torso and legs were like a lizard's, or a dinosaur's. Instead of arms there were suckered tentacles of various lengths, in constant motion so it was difficult to count them. They seemed to emerge from all around the upper trunk except for the scaly chest area. He towered over them, about eight feet high. He smelled more or less like a chicken carcass. "How's it hangin'?" It was the most clearly anyone had heard him speak in a long time.

"What's happened, son? Who did this to you?"

"Hey, nobody does nothin' to me. I worked for this. It took me a long time to master Yggxvthwul and then to get him inside me."

"He's possessed," said Peter, getting to his feet.

"Don't bring that supernatural crap into this," said Howie. "Look at you, Eric, this isn't what you want to be." By now the whole company was down on the sand, keeping well back. Peter stood midway between the father and son and the half circle of watchers. Amlodd knelt to one side, looking at the sky.

"Whadda you know about what I want to be?"

"I didn't raise you to be a killer."

Eric gaped his mouth and laughed. The laugh came up from Yggxvthwul's lungs, booming like a whale song, echoing off the cliff face.

"That's great, Dad. That's really bad. I remember everything you taught me. I've heard you say it a hundred times—'All human progress comes from breaking taboos, from killing hypocrisy.' You used to brag how your generation smashed all the sex rules."

"Well, that's not all I taught you—"

"And I thought, hey, you guys already broke all the taboos. What's left for us to break?

"And then I realized, there's still one taboo. There's one thing everybody does but they lie about it; something everybody keeps secret. It's hate.

"Everybody hates. Everybody hates somebody in their heart. But everybody says they love everybody.

"So that's the taboo my generation's gonna break down. We're bringing our hate out of the closet.

"So I thought about hate. I thought about it all the time—who I hate; what I'd do to them. You know what I discovered?

"Hate is a person. Hate is a god. I started to worship hate. Then I discovered Yggxvthwul. Yggxvthwul became my god. I prayed to him. I asked him to give me his power. He answered my prayer."

"He's definitely possessed," said Peter.

"Shut up, Peter," said Howie. "Eric, I taught you about love, too. We believe in love in our family."

"Like your parents believed in virginity until marriage, Pop," Eric answered. "That was then, this is now. Get with the program.

"Now listen—I'm telling you how it's gonna be. I don't wanna kill any of you today. There's lots of animals on this world for me to hunt, and frankly, they're more fun than most of you would be.

"So leave me alone. Keep this caveman off my back. You let me be and I'll let you be—for now, anyway."

He crouched and sprang, and was up the cliff face and out of sight in a moment.

Amlodd's voice rose in a wail. "My enemy disarmed me, and he taunted me to my face! He thought me unworthy of killing! Give me one of your spears, that I may slay myself with it."

They gathered around him and led him up the path to Elsinore castle. He did not resist them.

They were a silent group at supper that night. Sean's attempts at jokes found no audience. Amlodd ate nothing at all, but crouched in a dark corner. Peter drank continually.

Three dark figures approached Howie in the dining hall as he went towards his chamber.

"Master Horatio," they said,
Bearing on thine affect for Lord Hamlet,
Much remarked and praised by all and general,
Who holding high conceit of his discourse and parts
Would see him eased from the dark address
Of his late melancholy; for his good weal
We'd tell thee of a wonder—" 

"Lead on, MacDuff," said Howie. "Why the hell not?"

Back | Next
Contents
Framed

Back | Next
Contents

CHAPTER X

"A sword!" said Amlodd. "Thralls, bring me a sword!"

Within a minute the servants appeared with a sheathed rapier and a sword belt.

"You call this a sword?" Amlodd cried. " 'Tis an awl for stitching leather! Get me a proper sword, a slasher with a blade three fingers wide!"

"A broadsword," said Sean from the bench. "The man wants a broadsword."

The servants returned with a Pappenheimer war sword. Amlodd frowned at the complicated steel basket that guarded the grip, but smiled after he'd swung the thing a few times.

"A man is naked without a weapon," said Amlodd, belting it around his waist. He fumbled with the buckles for a moment, but figured it out. Then he began a routine of exercises with the blade. "North-under with this weak body," he said as he posed and swung, his muscles quivering and sweat standing out on his forehead.

"What do you need a sword for?" asked Bess. They had finished breakfast but remained in their chairs around the table. "I'd like to remind you we're not planning on any duels in this version."

"I need a sword because I'm not a woman," said Amlodd. "Besides, someone must hunt the troll. I see no other man here fit for the work, except perhaps Randy, and him I do not trust."

"Don't mind me," said Randy, who was lounging with a foot on the table. "Just pretend I'm not here."

Amlodd asked, "What manner of man are you?"

Randy sat up straight. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I can sense the Old Ones. There's something of them in you, but it's weak. I'd think you were half-blood with them, only they do not whelp."

"What you sense," said Randy, "is called deodorant. We don't glory in stinking as you do. Unfortunately we didn't bring a supply, so we'll probably sink to your level."

"We Danes bathe every Saturday night!"

"Then I suppose we should do the same, if this is Denmark," said Sean. "Only I wonder when Saturday is."

"Ask the servants," said Diane. "We really ought to do something for them, you know. Everything that gets done around here, gets done by them."

"But are they even human?" asked Rosey. "Has anybody tried to talk with one of them? We know they can speak, but are they just repeating words? Can you have a conversation with them?"

"I've tried," said Peter. "They don't seem to like talking much." He took a drink of wine. He was drinking openly now.

"They are thralls. What does it matter whether they're human or not?" said Amlodd. "What we need to think on is the troll. He has killed already. We must hunt him down. If I can get no help from you men, I must do it myself."

Howie got up and walked around the table to face Amlodd. "I'm telling you again you're talking about my son. You'll hurt my son over my dead body."

"If I must," said Amlodd. "This son of yours has killed one of us already. Shall we all die at his hand to spare your feelings?"

"How do we know it was him? It could have been anybody here!"

"We were all together when Del was killed, Howie," said Bess. "Eric was the only one missing."

"Well, how do we know it wasn't a stranger? So all the natives we've met have been these mimes who wait on the tables. We don't know who or what else might live here. We don't even know that the mimes aren't murderous."

"Fair enough," said Amlodd. "Let's track the killer and see what we find. But I say it again—your son is a troll, and will have to be put down. No doubt you'll want revenge then, so I'll have to put you down too."

Howie shook his head. "You don't understand. I lost my wife just a few months ago. You can't take my son away too. Surely you have a little pity!"

"What a strange word is this 'pity' of yours," said Amlodd. "You'd leave a deadly monster at large, putting all of us, even the women, in peril of our lives every minute, simply to keep you from a sad feeling. Is there no honor in your heart? If I'd become what your son is, my father would have hunted me down the first day, and he'd have been right. Thank the gods I had such a father."

"Listen. You lost your father. Don't you see that you'd be doing the same thing to me that your uncle did to you?"

"Yes. What of it?"

"So can't you see that if it was wrong for him, it's wrong for you too?"

"Why?"

Howie looked stuck for an answer.

"Because right and wrong are the same, everywhere and for everyone," said Peter, leaning his chin on his crossed arms.

"I didn't mean that," said Howie. "I don't believe that."

"Then what did you mean?" asked Peter, and again Howie had no answer.

"It's simple, he loves his son," said Randy. "He'll let any number of people die to protect him. I love love. It brings people together, if only in cemeteries."

"I kill my enemies," said Amlodd. "My enemies try to kill me. The one the gods favor wins. That is how the world is. It has nothing to do with right or wrong."

"That's right," said Diane. "If it feels good, do it. See, Peter? You Christians always talk as if you're defending traditional values—but there are traditions older than yours."

"If I thought right and wrong were the same for me and my enemies, how could I kill them?" asked Amlodd. "Now, who will help me hunt?"

Everyone stood silent, embarrassed to hurt Howie.

"If you're going after my son, I'm going to be there," said Howie. "There's got to be somebody to talk to him."

"Then I'm coming too," said Peter.

"I wouldn't miss it," said Randy.

"I'll come," said Bess.

"A woman?" asked Amlodd.

"A damn strong one," said Bess. "I felt silly yesterday, staying back here while you guys went out. Anyway, who'd you rather have? Me, or the majesty of Denmark over there?"

"Don't mind me," said Sean, still at the table. "I felt rather silly myself yesterday. I wouldn't go now to save my life. In fact that's my very purpose. I once said to Maurice Evans—"

"I'll come too," said Rosey.

"No," said Amlodd.

"Why not?"

"I need you for bed. If you were killed I'd have to sleep with Bess."

"In your dreams, sweet prince," said Bess.

"We'd better all get swords, I suppose," said Peter.

"No. Spears are better," said Amlodd.

"Spears?"

"Much better for hunting. Especially for men without skill. You can throw them or use them close. I'll get a spear myself. My sword is for other things."

He called for spears and soon they were outfitted.

"Let us go then," said Amlodd.

As they set out Bess turned back. "You're really not coming, Rosey?"

Rosey looked at the floor and shook her head.

Bess went with the others.

"Does anyone actually know the way out of this castle?" asked Randy.

"First we hunt an exit, then we hunt the monster," said Peter.

"Eric," said Howie. "His name is Eric."

They followed the main corridor until it took a right turn.

"Perhaps we should scatter bread crumbs," said Randy.

"This is folly," said Amlodd. "Thralls!"

A servant appeared, coming from the direction in which they were headed.

"Lead us outside," said Amlodd to him, and the servant turned and led them. As it happened, the corridor led straight out to the main door of the hall. They emerged into the grass-grown bailey. The gate was not far to walk. Past that there was an even shorter walk through the outer bailey to the main gate.

" 'Tis Denmark," said Amlodd, breathing deeply. " 'Tis home. But not Jutland, I think."

They stood on a solitary cliff, surrounded by low hills covered with trees, dotted with lakes and marshes and seamed with rivers on three sides. To the west writhed the sea, troubled by a stiff wind. Seagulls hung motionless in the wind's face before diving for their meals. Two weathers contended—a blue storm over the sea and golden sunlight over the land. A winding track led down the cliff face to a harbor.

"Elsinore, I imagine," said Bess, shielding her eyes from the wind with a hand. "What you Danes call Helsingør."

"I know Helsingør. It has no mountain."

"No. This is Shakespeare's Elsinore. Shakespeare was a great storyteller, but not much of a geographer."

"The ghost said this was an 'unused' world," said Peter. "Does that mean a world without people, do you suppose? What would that kind of world be like?"

"I thought we decided this was Hamlet's world, with all the good stuff sucked out," said Bess.

"Could be both."

"More important, who's at the top of the food chain?" said Randy.

Amlodd knelt on the path. "He went this way," he said, touching the soil. "Three toes, like a bird, but large."

They set off down the track, Amlodd in the front and Randy bringing up the rear. It was a harrowing descent, the path sometimes little more than a yard wide, with a sheer drop on the seaward side.

"In our world they'd install handrails," said Diane.

"When all of you go home, remember to leave me here," said Amlodd. "From what I've learned of your world, I'd as soon live with the troll."

Amlodd was standing on a hairpin in the path as he spoke, somewhat ahead of the others. There came a whistling and a roaring as of some large object through the air, and it snatched Amlodd and carried him down to the beach sand below. The two bodies landed feetfirst; Amlodd's spear went flying out of reach. Eric (or Yggxvthwul, for it was his body with Eric's head) rebounded immediately, while Amlodd had more trouble freeing his feet from the sand. While he struggled, Eric reached a tentacle and casually disarmed him, drawing his sword and casting it into the sea.

Amlodd knelt with his arms spread, shock on his face. He closed his eyes and began to sing, a song that was not a tune by the modern folks' standards.

Ahead of the rest, Howie and Peter rushed breakneck down the switchback pathway, protected from falling only by their momentum. At the last hairpin but one, Howie leaped straight down to the sand, and Peter followed him, falling on his hands and knees. Eric could have finished Amlodd off by then, but had held back for some reason.

"Eric, for God's sake!" Howie cried.

"Hey Dad," said Eric's head atop the grotesque body. The torso and legs were like a lizard's, or a dinosaur's. Instead of arms there were suckered tentacles of various lengths, in constant motion so it was difficult to count them. They seemed to emerge from all around the upper trunk except for the scaly chest area. He towered over them, about eight feet high. He smelled more or less like a chicken carcass. "How's it hangin'?" It was the most clearly anyone had heard him speak in a long time.

"What's happened, son? Who did this to you?"

"Hey, nobody does nothin' to me. I worked for this. It took me a long time to master Yggxvthwul and then to get him inside me."

"He's possessed," said Peter, getting to his feet.

"Don't bring that supernatural crap into this," said Howie. "Look at you, Eric, this isn't what you want to be." By now the whole company was down on the sand, keeping well back. Peter stood midway between the father and son and the half circle of watchers. Amlodd knelt to one side, looking at the sky.

"Whadda you know about what I want to be?"

"I didn't raise you to be a killer."

Eric gaped his mouth and laughed. The laugh came up from Yggxvthwul's lungs, booming like a whale song, echoing off the cliff face.

"That's great, Dad. That's really bad. I remember everything you taught me. I've heard you say it a hundred times—'All human progress comes from breaking taboos, from killing hypocrisy.' You used to brag how your generation smashed all the sex rules."

"Well, that's not all I taught you—"

"And I thought, hey, you guys already broke all the taboos. What's left for us to break?

"And then I realized, there's still one taboo. There's one thing everybody does but they lie about it; something everybody keeps secret. It's hate.

"Everybody hates. Everybody hates somebody in their heart. But everybody says they love everybody.

"So that's the taboo my generation's gonna break down. We're bringing our hate out of the closet.

"So I thought about hate. I thought about it all the time—who I hate; what I'd do to them. You know what I discovered?

"Hate is a person. Hate is a god. I started to worship hate. Then I discovered Yggxvthwul. Yggxvthwul became my god. I prayed to him. I asked him to give me his power. He answered my prayer."

"He's definitely possessed," said Peter.

"Shut up, Peter," said Howie. "Eric, I taught you about love, too. We believe in love in our family."

"Like your parents believed in virginity until marriage, Pop," Eric answered. "That was then, this is now. Get with the program.

"Now listen—I'm telling you how it's gonna be. I don't wanna kill any of you today. There's lots of animals on this world for me to hunt, and frankly, they're more fun than most of you would be.

"So leave me alone. Keep this caveman off my back. You let me be and I'll let you be—for now, anyway."

He crouched and sprang, and was up the cliff face and out of sight in a moment.

Amlodd's voice rose in a wail. "My enemy disarmed me, and he taunted me to my face! He thought me unworthy of killing! Give me one of your spears, that I may slay myself with it."

They gathered around him and led him up the path to Elsinore castle. He did not resist them.

They were a silent group at supper that night. Sean's attempts at jokes found no audience. Amlodd ate nothing at all, but crouched in a dark corner. Peter drank continually.

Three dark figures approached Howie in the dining hall as he went towards his chamber.

"Master Horatio," they said,
Bearing on thine affect for Lord Hamlet,
Much remarked and praised by all and general,
Who holding high conceit of his discourse and parts
Would see him eased from the dark address
Of his late melancholy; for his good weal
We'd tell thee of a wonder—" 

"Lead on, MacDuff," said Howie. "Why the hell not?"

Back | Next
Contents
Framed