The Trials of Hallac- Part I: The Beasts

Left I her mumbling company,
Determined to find my escape
And my way back to my father.
Only in returning to Farlein would I be able to get
That which I desperately need:
Answers to questions from my kin.
Why did my brothers want me dead?
Had I made some offense grievous,
An error that angered them so?
Did they perhaps fear I had gained our father’s preference
And would therefore receive the crown?

I made my way then to the mouth,
Thinking it would be the best way
To find an exit from this place.
The mouth was closed tight, and I saw
Not like I’d thought. The beast had teeth
That were not sharp as they had seemed,
But made of stiff hairlike brushes,
So stiff and strong they could break wood.
These clamped closed teeth did I prod hard
With the broken butt of my spear,
In hopes that it might encourage the beast to open up for me
That I could then swim my way out.
At my prod, though, it did not move,
Nor open even the slightest,
Though it did let out an unhappy grunt, so that I knew it felt
Upon its insides what I’d done.
Undulations I did then feel,
And knew the squid-whale was moving.
Then did I notice moving air,
Felt it gently upon my face
And looked around to find where from
That stream of moving air did come.
Above my head, on the mouth’s roof,
A goodly way out of arm’s reach,
Was a small hole, deep in the flesh
No doubt used for the beast’s breathing.
The air did move from and to there.
Wondering, I poked that too with the jagged end of my weapon
And was rewarded with a pained squeal from the monster, and with,
More importantly, a narrow opening of the creature’s mouth!
Then could I not help but grin wide,
Brace myself, and thrust not the butt
But the point of my spear hard into the air-moving opening.
There was a high vibrating scream!
I was spewed out of the great mouth,
Broke the water’s surface, flew an uncounted number of arm-lengths,
And landed back in the water
With a splash that made me cry out,
So painful was it when I hit.
Once I surfaced, seeing the sweet sunlight-- for all of the morning
I had been inside the creature--
Turned did I, to see the retreat
Of the fins and tentacles of the monster’s body, submerging
And going away from my place.
So was I free, still in one piece.”

Silence filled the room,
The chamber where Hallac was telling his danger-filled tale.
Not a breath stirred from those gathered
As they stared raptly,
Intent on the storyteller.
Socestrian, too,
Fair and wise monarch,
King with years of hearing stories
Far-fetched and detailed,
Was bound, enthralled by his nephew
And the tale he told.
Faces in the wall tapestries
Seemed entranced also,
With the words from the princeling’s mouth.

As was his privilege as King,
Socestrian stood
And proclaimed aloud,
“Believe I that everyone tires
And is in dire need of peaceful rest,
For your recounting of thy travels,
My most arduous royal nephew,
Are wearing to the body and mind.
Doubtless every soul in the room
Empathizes with thy grand story,
Each man and woman must feel as worn
As thou didst when the monster squid-whale
Spewed you from its mouth to the water.
Tired must thou be, too, bold Prince Hallac,
For thy tale seems quite far from done;
Doubtless you need rest more than any.
Bid I now all to adjourn. Retreat.
Head to thy homes and thy chambers, all,
That we may meet again in the morn’
To continue hearing Hallac’s tale.
So to bed now must we all withdraw,
Sweet sleep to my fellows and kin.
Meet we on the morrow. Farewell all!”