Book Description

Excerpt from The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth Gaznak. Therefore he gathered the people of the village, and told them that he had uttered his mightiest spell - a spell having power over all that were human or of the tribes of the beasts; and that since it had not availed, the dreams must come from Gaznak, the greatest magician among the spaces of the stars. And he read to the people out of the Book of Mag icians, which tells the comings of the comet and foretells his coming again. And he told them how Gaznak rides upon the comet, and how he.visits Earth once in every two hundred and thirty years, and makes for himself a vast, invincible fortress, and sends out dreams to feed on the minds of men, and may never be vanquished but by the sword Sacnoth. J And a cold fear fell on the hearts of the villagers when they found that their magician had failed them. A a at hen spake Leothric, son of the Lord Lorendiac, and twenty years old was he: Good Master, what of the sword Sacnoth? At And the village magician answered: F air Lord, no such sword as yet is wrought, for it lies as yet in the hide of Thara protecting his spine. Or hen said Leothric: Who is Thara gavverug, and where may he be en countered? At And the magician of Allathurion answered: He is the dragon-crocodile who haunts the Northgrnmarshes and ravages the homesteads by their marge. And the hide of his back is of steel, and his under parts are of iron; but along the midst of his back, over his spine, there lies a narrow strip of unearthly steel. This strip of steel is Sacnoth, and it may be neither cleft nor molten, and there is nothing in the world that may a vail to break it, nor even leave a scratch upon its surface. It is of the length of a good sword, of the breadth thereof. Shouldst thou pre vail against Tharagavverug, his hide may be melted away from Sacnoth in a furnace; but there is only one thing that may sharpen Sac noth's edge, and this is one of Tharagavverug's own steel eyes; and the other eye thou must fasten to Sacnoth's hilt, and it will watch for thee. But it is a hard task to vanquish Thara gavverug, for no sword can pierce his hide; his back cannot be broken, and he can neither burn nor drown. In one way only can Tharagav that is by starving. J at EN sorrow fell upon Leothric, but the magician spoke on: at If a man drive Tharagavverug away. From his foodwith a stick for three days, he will Starve on the third day at sunset. And though he is not vulnerable, yet in one spot he maytake hurt, for his nose is only of lead. A sword would merelylaybaretheuncleavablebronzebeneath, but if his nose be smittenconstantly With a stick he will'always recoil fromthe pain, andthus may Tharagavverug, to left and right, be driven away from his food. A Then Leothric said: What is Tharagavverug's food? A And the magician of Allathurion said: ihis food is men. At at UT Leothric went straight way thence, and cut a great staff from a hazel tree, and slept early that evening. But the next morning, awaking from troubled dreams, he rose before the dawn, and, taking with him provisions for five days, set out through the forest northwards to wards the marshes. For some hours he moved through the gloom of the forest, and when he emerged from it the sun was above the horizon shining on pools of water in the waste land. Presently he saw the claw-marks of Thara gavverug deep in the soil, and the track of his tail between them like a furrow in a field. Then Leothric followed the tracks till he heard the bronze heart of Tharagavverug before him, booming like a bell. J 4. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com