[SIZE="4"]First off: a big thanks to AlvinFox for looking at the first draft of this article. His suggestions, and his knowledge of the newer, revised edition of the short story, were invaluable.
Second off: a note on style. Where a short story is mentioned in the text, its title is put in quotes. Books have their titles underlined.
Third off: I recommend we find a way to better denote that text inside quotation marks in the Plot and Characters sections are actually quotes from the short story itself.
Fourth off: as AlvinFox and I agreed when we began editing the first draft, anything is open to change, so don’t be afraid to suggest things. Since this is the first Wiki article of (hopefully) many to come in the Adversary Cycle Wiki Project, it will be far better to make changes to the structure of this one that can carry through on all the ones to follow than it will be to change things later and have to have everything re-written (although that may well happen, too).
So, here’s the third draft of the Demonsong Wiki or, as I like to call it, version 1.3:[/SIZE]
[SIZE="6"]Demonsong (short story)[/SIZE]
“Demonsong”, written by American Author F. Paul Wilson, introduces characters that will eventually become known as the Adversary and the Sentinel in a multi-story arc referred to as The Adversary Cycle. “Demonsong” was first published in 1979 by DAW Books in the anthology Heroic Fantasy. Its most recent publication was in a corrected edition by Borderlands Press in The Little Beige Book of Nondescript Stories in December 2004.
Plot Introduction
In an epoch before recorded history, a red-haired outlander named only Glaeken finds himself in the City of Kashela, in the Kingdom of Prince Iolon, seeking adventure. He appears as, “…a young man not yet out of his third decade who behaved with an assurance beyond his years.”
Plot Summary
Glaeken answers a public notice from Prince Iolon to undertake a mission to rid the kingdom of a wizard for 10,000 gold Grignas. The wizard’s name is Rasalom. Despite the fact that squads of soldiers previously sent to solve the problem never returned, Glaeken accepts.
Prior to his departure, he comes to the aid of a musician bearing a wonderfully crafted musical instrument called a harmohorn. Its bearer was being assaulted by a gang of street youths, all of whom Glaeken and the musician defeat using no weapons other than their fists and a knife that the leader of the gang pulled in an attempt to attack the musician from behind.
The musician introduces himself as, “…Cragjaw--although I assure you I was not given that name by my parents.” Glaeken’s mission lies in Elder Cavern in the eastern farmlands. Cragjaw, also in the employ of the Prince, is travelling east as well. When he requests that they travel together, Glaeken does not object.
On the road, Cragjaw relates a tale from the Western Isles about a young, red-haired adventurer named Glaeken-the-Laugher. An evil king named Marag threatened to kill this Glaeken’s most recent beloved if he did not become the King’s champion. His mission was to hunt down and kill the leader of a group of marauders named The Nightriders. Glaeken did so and thereby became leader of the Nightriders. He then returned to teach “…Marag a grisly lesson.” But, “…after a year or two…[he] grew restless and dissatisfied” as the leader of the Nightriders and left them to seek his fortune.
Glaeken initially suggests that he is not that person. When Cragjaw presses his case, Glaeken deftly changes the subject by discussing his destination, Elder Cavern, and his target, Rasalom. Cragjaw refers to Rasalom as, “infamous.”
Rasalom is said to be a giant of a man, standing 1 and ½ times the height of a normal man and 3 times wider at the shoulders. The Wizard is blamed for a strange wasting disease affecting all living things in the eastern farmlands. The disease began shortly after Rasalom entered Elder Cavern, two years prior. We also learn that people soon recover after they are moved away from the affected area.
During their conversation, we learn that Prince Iolon wants Rasalom captured or dead and, if the latter, wants proof in the form of his magic ring: The Ring of Chaos. The Ring is said to be, “…the most potent focus for black sorcery this side of the Netherworld.”
At the last crossroad before the eastern farmlands, Cragjaw turns his horse North towards Prince Iolon’s summer quarters to prepare for the Prince’s arrival the next day. Glaeken continues eastward on his trusty stallion, Stofrall.
Soon after Glaeken enters the eastern farmlands, he realizes he is in a lifeless dead-zone. There are no living birds or animals and even the trees are losing their bark and dying. That evening he finds himself suffering from a strange lethargy. Despite intentions not to sleep, he awakes from a horrible dream about countless shrieking demons. Finding his horse laying on the ground a short distance from his fire and suffering from the same strange affliction, he revives the beast and drives it back the way they came, hoping it will continue down the road to safety. Shouldering his pack and not willing to wait until morning, he continues on towards Elder Cavern.
At this point, he begins revising his opinion that sorcerers and evil magic are merely products of tales designed to frighten children.
Feeling drained and sickened, Glaeken reaches Elder Cavern just before dawn. Through strength of will, and the pragmatic understanding that he is too weak to turn back, Glaeken ventures into the cave. With a bit of good fortune, he comes across a dimly lit room with a huge chair in one shadowy corner and the carven outline of doors on a nearer wall.
In the chair, hidden by shadows, is the wasted but still living form of Rasalom, too weak from his sorceries to even stand. Rasalom mocks Prince Iolon and Glaeken’s mission, actually offering The Ring of Chaos to Glaeken because he claims to have no further need of it…he has made a pact with Chaos to be reborn in a new body, formed of Chaos itself, eternal and unstoppable.
Glaeken accuses him of being mad and tells him to lift his curse or die.
Rasalom informs him that death would only speed his transition into his new form and dares him to enter through the carven doors if he does not believe.
Glaeken opens the carven doors and four more doors after them. As he opens each door, a discordant hum steadily grows, horrifically, into the same shrieking cacophony as Glaeken experienced in his dream, the night before. The final door reveals an Amphitheatre and, as Rasalom claimed, twelve-hundred howling, idiot Demons; the Choir of Chaos. And there, floating above the Choir, is an inky amniotic sack containing a “…dark, nameless shape and two glowing yellow eyes”; Rasalom’s new, hellish body.
Whether by inspiration or madness Glaeken begins to sing, “…the hymn of praise to the Goddess Eblee, a sweet simple song known the world over.” The coherent melody has an immediate effect on the Demons and the creature in the black womb. The Demons increase their volume and focus it on Glaeken, overwhelming him and driving him towards unconsciousness.
Just when all seems lost, a harmohorn joins its dulcet tones to Glaeken’s fading song. Together, Glaeken’s and Cragjaw’s simple ordered melody drives the Demons and the embryo into fits of rage and pain.
The embryo breaks free of its membrane and falls into the mists that shroud the bottom of the Amphitheatre, followed closely by the Demons, returning from whence they came.
Staggering back to the antechamber they find Rasalom’s dead body. Glaeken takes The Ring of Chaos from the corpse’s neck. Cragjaw explains that, unfortunately there will be no reward…Prince Iolon was overthrown by the army the previous day, putting Cragjaw out of work as well. Cragjaw resolved to warn Glaeken that he was imperilling himself for no reason, which is how he came to be there.
Cragjaw and Glaeken leave Elder Cavern with Cragjaw renewing his question about Glaeken being from the Western Isles. In response, Glaeken simply smiles.
[end of Plot Summary, end of first part of the article. Part 2 will complete the article]
Axioms Jack seems to live by (inadvertantly or not):
Why he does what he does: "I chose this life. I know what I'm doing. And on any given day, I could stop doing it. Today, however, isn't that day. And tomorrow won't be either." Bruce Wayne, Identity Crisis
On Rasalom: "Water's wet, the sky is blue...and good old Satan Claus, Jimmy...he's out there...and he's just gettin' stronger." Joe Hallenbeck, The Last Boyscout