Someone Else's Kingdom, BOOK I - Chapter 20

Prince Aralak entered the darkened room, a blindfold around his face, dressed in a long cascading ceremonial robe. The robe was elaborately designed with a huge array of colours, primarily pinks and greens and blues - not that he could see it now - and it was trimmed and adorned with gold thread; stitched to create the impression of birds, tigers and other animals. The blindfold was likewise exotic in design, covering not just his eyes, but the rest of his head. Flowing down the sides of his face, the cloth then tapering down onto his chest, like braids of hair. With just his mouth uncovered.

He felt ridiculous dressed up in such a manner, and as with everything else in life, he struggled to take it with the seriousness it merited. The smirk on his face dimly visible to those around him watching on.

As he walked down the long corridor, guided by his father - who grasped him firmly by the shoulder - he could feel the increasing warmth of a large fire out in front. As he gradually and solemnly marched closer he could feel this fire beginning to warm the elaborate robe, and heat the skin around his smirking lips.

Just as it was beginning to burn he was stopped. His father then rolled up the sleeve on his left arm, and ask him to put his hand forward.

He stretched his arm out and it entered the flame. Not being able to withstand the heat, he instinctively withdrew it. His tempestuous nature responding with an anger that he'd been pressed into doing such a thing. Before he could lash out or express this he heard a booming ceremonial voice though:

"The world is surrounded by a ring of fire ..through which no man can pass.

BUT, there is a way. For beyond the earth, there is a fire, and beyond the fire, there is an earth."

At this point the people in this dark cavernous chamber chanted back:

    "A serbhendh dhembhdhed Shhe, tu dhrae þe abhle, vhrom þe dhre."

The loud tone and reverberation of this chanting disorientated Prince Aralak for a moment, and he began to feel an apprehension in his stomach. Still, in the fortitude of his mind he downplayed it as nothing but dramatics. He steadied himself, but then his feelings of unease were heightened once again, as he suddenly felt a large cold blade press upon his throat, beneath his chin.

"Do you wish to know the secrets of this world, stranger? The toll is secrecy, if you choose to do so."

By this point the heat of the fire was beginning to warm the blade of the sword, and his brow sweated beneath the material of the blindfold. He was asked the question again; the loudness, pitch and timbre identical to the previous asking.

"Do you wish to know the secrets of this world, stranger? The toll is secrecy, if you choose to do so."

"Yes," he answered in a croaking voice. Then, clearing his throat, and slightly embarrassed that he'd shown visible weakness, he answered more firmly - "Yes".

"If you fail to keep the secret, the price is death. Even princes die. Even kings."

At this point the assembled members chanted once more:            

"Whe sunles rives weebh

Þee waavs indhu þe deebh

Shhe sleebhs a dhyaamd sleebh

Awaagh hee nodh"

"Just as I have become the snake. So must I die like the snake. The head taken clean off."

"Repeat."

The silliness of this last phrase dampened the seriousness once again for Prince Aralak, and in his mind he grinned a sigh of relief. Losing track of the exact wording of the phrase as he pondered its absurdity.

"Repeat."

"What am I repeating again?" he exhorted, with a renewed self-confidence.

"Just as I have become the snake. So must I die like the snake. The head taken clean off."

Hiding his mild amusement he murmured back the mantra.

"Just as I have become the snake.
So must I die like the snake.
The head taken clean off."

With this those assembled in the chamber began to chant over and over again. "Serbhendh, Ervh, Vhrudh, Vhaeya; Serbhendh, Ervh, Vhrudh, Vhaeya". Banging the butts of their ceremonial staffs on the ground as they did it to amplify the racket. As this took place the master of ceremonies removed Prince Aralak's blindfold. As he dimly looked around he was confronted by a bizarre sight. All the people in the chamber were dressed in costume, with heads like that of dogs, birds, dragons and other various other creatures. He knew they were just sacramental guises, but in the murkiness of the room, and with his eyes struggling to readjust after having had the mask on for so long, it was an unsettling sight. The fire, still roasting out in front of him, like a huge orange haze. A Sun-like blur. Blazing from a large, oil-filled dish, not unlike a genie's lamp, or an ornate golden platter. As the chanting continued this fiery platter was lifted above head height by six of the animal-headed men, three on each side. Aralak was then enjoined to walk beneath this lofty flame.

"Enter the underworld."

He then stepped beneath the oily fire, the light reflecting from the dim ceiling, casting strange shadows around the chamber. As his bare feet negotiated the cold stone ground he felt a step downwards, which momentarily caused him to lose his balance. Checking this misstep he quickly understood it to be a stairwell, which he then began to descend. It took him to a narrower, and even darker passage. The flickering light now a backdropped veil behind him. His eyes once again struggling to pierce the blackness. He was then pushed through a heavy wooden door, that closed firmly behind him.

In the room he now found himself in was the King of Tunid, sat at a desk in rather plain attire. Alongside whom was Drua Maleeva, the woman in black, who stood quite formally to his side.

Prince Aralak was then asked to take a seat..