Stick and the Lion and The Moon Queen -- Extract

 

Richard Stooker

 

Copyright © 2013 by Richard Stooker, Love Conquers All Press, and Gold Egg Investing LLC.

Cover graphic design by Drew at idrewdesign on Fiverr.com.

Cover, book, and graphic design Copyright © 2013 by Richard Stooker, Love Conquers All Press, and Gold Egg Investing, LLC.

The right of Richard Stooker to be identified as the author of this book has been asserted in accordance with Sections 77 and 78 of the Copyrights and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved.

Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the author.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

Stick and the Lion originally appeared in BARDIC RUINS IX 1994. 

Stick and the Lion

 

While meditating before dawn on the morning of the final test, Stick fell in love with a goddess, thus destroying every hope of his family and village for wealth and power, even if he survived the day.

Stick, along with his enemy Puddle and eight other wizards-in-training at Turram Temple, concentrated their minds and emotions, seeking to open their energy centers. For months they had purified themselves through fasting, sweating in steam huts and drinking magic potions. Now they hoped for a sign of favor from Pennrune, God of Fire and Mountains and Turram Temple.

Instead, a bright silver light shone into Stick's inner sight. The dazzling brilliance gleamed from a small female figure.

Sammal, she called to him.

Stick's heart opened with awe, fear and devoted love.

Only Stick's parents and Loraa the Moon Goddess knew his secret name.

Loraa, Ruler of dreams, tides and blood. The Weakest and Strongest. The Younger Daughter who kept peace between Father Sun, Mother Earth and Older Son Death. Loraa had chosen Stick as her servant.

She revealed to him Pennrune intended Puddle to succeed the Grand Wizard of Turram Temple. Also, she could not intervene to help Stick if he failed the final test. If he survived, he knew, he now faced a life of poverty. No servant of Loraa could sell his magic to a wealthy emperor.

He had worked hard for ten years for nothing, he thought with bitterness, but also pride.

The rice gruel in Stick's belly hardened into rocky lumps as he approached the sleeping lions.

The cages enclosing the lions were at one end of a compound constructed of long, thick poles into the ground and crosspieces lashed with hemp rope. Wood bars roofed it over. Corridors led from the lions' cages to empty ones at the opposite end. Soldiers carrying spears and swords stood about the compound.

Wearing the gold medallion of Pennrune, a cloak of red and green feathers draped over his shoulders, and holding his staff of power, Mondreen, the Grand Wizard of the Central Kingdoms, strode across the field from Turram Temple. His entire retinue of advisors and attendants, assistant wizards and trainers, wives and servants followed him in a long, single-file line. As Mondreen spoke to the boys, the servants erected canopies and chairs and set out bowls of fruit and pitchers of wine for the others to consume as they watched the final test.

Mondreen bellowed the ritual words: "If any of you lack a hero's heart, leave now!"

No boy dared to go. The strenuous training of the last ten years and the previous test had already winnowed out the weak.

"The wizards of Turram Temple are the greatest in the world," Mondreen said. "Descended in an unbroken line from Lemuria itself, we serve the rulers of the Central Kingdoms, but for our own purposes. Even the wizards in mighty Atlantis fear us. You now face the final test, the challenge of death. Each of you will take hold of the tail of one of the king of monsters. When they awake from their potion, you must direct them to the other cage. The first one to accomplish this task shall be my successor."

As soldier pounded a slow, heavy beat on a drum, another pulled a rope. A door into each cage slid open.

Stick stepped inside. Puddle also did not hesitate, and entered the cage on Stick's right. The drumming halted. The doors fell shut behind the boys.

"The only way out is through the other side," their master said. "Marshall your powers before the lions come awake. They have not eaten for fifteen days."

Stick sat behind his beast and crossed his legs. It was a large man lion. Its claws would be long and sharp. They could rip open the side of a gazelle.

The heat lay on Stick with the weight of an elephant. The smell of the giant cat's body and droppings hung thick in the air. Flies swarmed.

Stick saw Puddle's lion matched his in size. Theirs were the largest of the ten.