Great Ape, Chapter Four, Home and Hearth

[Lord Zombiac]

Chapter Four: Home and Hearth

Over the years I had kept thinking, colder! Higher! More remote!


The hot country I had left was teeming with people, any one of whom could be my murderer. So I had gone colder! Higher! More remote!


Indeed I grew to love the bracing cold of the deep forest in the morning, the lonely stretches of road where I might pass several days without ever seeing another soul. I found myself at home in the windy mountain peaks, sitting on beds of pine needles and ambling over cliffs and rocks.

I began to grow more comfortable in my remoteness from my assassins. I lingered longer and grew more contented as I wandered. I had spent all of my precious jewels long ago dispatching messengers to find Ondrymi and tell her of her father’s fate and where she might find his sword and his remains. Now I was happy, and lived by hunting, fishing, and foraging.

I had come to a wild mountain range called the Schinderschands, where small barbaric villages known as “shires” existed as free states.

I wandered close to a place called Warclover one night. I had been following a clear stream, watching the fish leap in the moonlight. I had been well rested and felt like keeping my pace up through the night. It was late summer and wonderfully crisp in the high mountains. I trotted comfortably on all fours, watching stars shimmer and wave in the breeze as the moon poured down its lavish, silvery light.

There, as I had just begun to see the distant glow of village hearths, I rounded a bend in the river and came across a vision of paradise that stopped me in my tracks.

There was a pool and a grotto, with thick trunked old pines ringing a downpour of moonlight. Those ethereal beams fell upon the sculpted backside of a woman, bathing in the cold water, naked and alone. She seemed to me like a nymph or a woodland spirit and I could distinguish many details at a glance. I beheld the brown skin, uncommon in these parts, here and there strewn, starlike, with black freckles. She had hair of auburn, long and intricately braided, and the noble features that reminded me of an owl or some other bird of prey. The tone of her flesh was lithe and athletic. I was startled and amazed that she should be out here alone, bathing nude and unprotected with so much faith in her safety.

I withdrew into a thicket of ferns and kept myself hidden. I could still see her well, and as I studied her I became glad for my concealment, for it made my mind freer to conjure the delightful images of love and tenderness that seemed to flow so naturally. My eyes roamed over her curves in the shadows. I grew aware, as I watched her, that I had no memory of ever having laid down with a woman. What my life had been like before Baelbozurg, I knew not, but since then I had not wanted to touch a woman or lie next to one. The sacrifices I had been called upon to make were too fresh in my memory, and while I had been dimly aware that many of my companions in battle sought the pleasures of the flesh when it was time to spend what we had earned, I had not felt the allure of lust or the call of passion.

Now, for the first time I could ever recall, my breathing had become rapid and my heart had begun to pound at the sight of a woman. Impossible fantasies filled my head, and I was surprised to find myself enthralled and captivated by this living female presence. Some deep reserve of latent desire had suddenly become uncorked and I had become intoxicated by the allure of it. Splendor seemed to coax sensations from my body that I scarcely understood how to govern.

Yet I watched and waited, enchanted by this powerful vision. For a while all I was aware of were the sparkling stars, the distant glow of warm hearths, the feel of pine needles and rich earth beneath my fur, the splash of water, the glorious shards of falling moonlight, and crowning it all, the focal point, this astoundingly beautiful woman. Then I became aware that my desires were too powerful for me to contain. I realized that I had to make this woman mine, somehow, someday.

At length she rose from the pool and stretched out on a rock by the shore, letting the water form beads and drip from her glistening, cool body. When she was dry, she stood and retrieved a white slip of a garment and slid it over her springy frame until it had settled snuggly around her. She placed gilded sandals on her feet, and wove a laurel of holly into her hair, leaning over the water to glance at her own reflection as she dressed.

Your name! My heart cried out, tell me your name!


Oh, that I might whisper it to myself, feel it thrumming through my veins, and kindle it, that it might thrill me and entice me forever! Yet my appearance here would surely alarm and startle her. I felt a twinge of shame, and yet the thrill and the sensation I wished never to end. I would gladly suffer it to consume me.

I had faced many dangers and horrors head on and had been unshaken by all. Why, then, did the figure of a woman cause me to tremble and shiver so?

I watched her walk down the shaded path until she was gone and the moment she vanished my spirit writhed in a torment of ecstacy. It was all I could do to contain myself. To not cry out for her to return to me, to still my desire to touch her and absorb all I could of her magnetism.

I undid my pack and spread my blanket out there in the cool shadows. I felt feverish and consumed. Try as I might I could not quelch the stirrings within me, desires that had come to me so strongly and unexpectedly. Vaguely I felt myself grow shocked at the torrid, carnal images that flooded me and demand I yield to them.

The thing that unsettled me the most was how quickly I had lost my willpower and how eager I had become to cast off every caution and fling myself headlong into the web such desires spun within me. Here too, was the seed of fear, taking hold and sprouting within me. I knew the feelings I had were unreasonable, laughable-- and yet I could not leave them alone. I twisted and tossed all night in the lingering torment of the swollen passion.


I slept fitfully, glancing up at the sky on occasion to see how the stars and planets had moved. By morning I was eager to wander into the shire and find out who this captivating creature was. Yet when I glanced on the village below, I felt the fear again and withheld myself from action.


I spent four days and nights on the edge of this settlement, thusly perplexed and obsessed. I concealed my presence well, but by the fifth night, my presence had become known and I awaited the inevitable inquiry as to who I was and what was I doing, perched like a bird of prey, studying the shire I had not dared yet to enter.


On that fifth night I had decided to keep myself well distracted. I collected firewood and began to make my encampment something more tangible and ready for unexpected visitors. It was as though I knew I would have company and wanted to prepare myself for them.


So it came to pass, as I poked the coals of my fire with a stick and thought glumly of my powerlessness, that a wolf padded softly towards me and bounded onto a high rock to sit and watch me. I regarded it solemnly and at length called it to me.


The wolf leapt away and just as I had begun to convince myself that it would not return, a tall human figure shook itself and emerged from the shadows.


“Brother ape,” said the shadowy figure, “I am Baron Urklar, of the shire of Warclover. What is your name and what are your intentions?”


I looked upon the man’s tangled, beer colored beard, his wild unruly hair, his long face and bright blue eyes, the ruddy, weather worn skin which still brimmed with youth and a healthy glow. I looked upon him and recalled that this man had just transformed from a wolf, almost before my eyes.

“I am Zombiac,” I said, “a friendless wanderer, a sword for hire and an ape. I have a price on my head, but I am not costly to keep. I wish to lay my head on a pillow, taste the comforting refreshing draft of beer and feel its warmth glow in my belly. I seek a place that I might call home, if even for a little while,” then I added, “brother wolf!”


“Why then, did you not come into our shire and make yourself known? Why have you been sulking to yourself in these mountains, where you might easily get shot by one of my over-protective charges?”


I had to speak slowly and collect my thoughts. I could not explain myself to him fully, not until he knew me.


“I am war weary, my friend. I have seen horrors and hells aplenty in the miles I have wandered. Your lands seem to me peaceful, too good to be true. I grew afraid. Afraid,” I added, thinking of the woman, “of rejection.”


Urklar nodded, seeming to understand, then announced his willingness to have me come to his shire.

“I am the Baron of these lands, and my family has had stewardship of it for centuries. I am not the leader here, however. She will have to make a more formal offer herself, when she sees you. I am a hunter and a fisherman. I am a brewer and a vinter, and my cellars brim with strong and comforting drink. I have roots and herbs aplenty in my garden, and stores of honey and millet. Sometimes we buy great wheels of cheese and fresh cakes from wandering merchants, and at such times we feast, all sharing alike. I always have meat and fish for my guests, my friends, and my workers. Even in the dead of winter no one in my shire goes hungry. I have a barn which should be a fit enough home for a wanderer such as yourself, until we can make better arrangements, and I can offer you three nickels a week if you will pledge your sword to our defense and help train the young ones in whatever fighting skills you might have. I will leave you the remainder of the night to decide what you want, Zombiac. If you should come to town tomorrow, be welcome! But if you should choose this is not the life for you, then you may spend an hour or so hunting and foraging provisions-- and then you must leave.”


“That is a fair offer,” I said, “and I will think on it Baron Urklar. I only hope you understand that by sheltering me, you may be bringing unwanted risks here from others.”


Urklar laughed, “Risks are part of life, and we do not sit timidly here and let life pass us by! With risk comes reward, Zombiac. I think you may have more to offer us than you know. In the meantime, I can not suffer you to lurk in the woods indefinitely. There is too much talk of the stranger who hides himself in our forests and watches us from the bushes. There are too many rumors of a dangerous beast man in our midst. It is high time you make yourself known, or make yourself scarce. The choice is yours. I bid you good night.”


At this, Baron Urklar bounded into the brush and emerged again as a magnificent four legged beast running back to the glow of fires and the sounds of life. I began to understand that I missed them too. Too long had I been in wilderness. Too long had I gone without a friend.


There was little else to do that night, but I welcomed the solace of another night’s camping. This time I could rest better. The Baron’s visit had snapped me out of my fevered desires and I had all of the night to relax and soothe myself. Here was home and hearth, as wholesome an offer as I would ever be likely to get.

By morning I was anxious to go into Warclover proper and make myself known to its inhabitants. I followed the path into the village and watched as people craned their necks to look at me or gawked outright as I went among them. I made my way to the stateliest home I could see, which had to have been the Baron’s. There I took hold of great brass knockers and rapped upon the doors.


A woman with cropped circlets of raven hair framing her big, amber eyes and red, pouting lips opened the door, dressed in the pale green gown with the high upturned collar, that could only have been the raiment of a druid.

“Ah, Zombiac,” she said, “so you have decided to join us! I am the Baroness, Lady Whitelore, wife of Urklar. Be welcome into our home. If you will come into the great hall, you will find our Sheriff here to welcome you and attend to the formalities.”


“This Sheriff is your leader?” I asked.


“Duly elected,” laughed Whitelore in peels that sounded like music.


She led me to a double door and opened it wide for me.


There, sitting on a couch, was the woman I had seen before! To look at her again set my heart racing and my hands trembling. But when she smiled at me and called my name, I nearly fell over in a swoon.


“Hello Zombiac! I am Lady Laplis, Sheriff of Warclover! Welcome!”


“Laplis...” I said, requiring great effort to keep it from sounding like a lustful whisper. I knew her name! It danced in my heart.


“I will be happy to show you around our little shire,” she said, “and when the people see that you are with me, perhaps they will be more at ease with you.”


I could only repeat “Laplis,” stupidly. My cheeks warmed. The last thing I wanted her to know was that I was smitten. I felt flushed and clumsy-- afraid that somehow she would know I had hidden in the ferns and watched her bathing, naked as the day she was born.


Impossible! I thought, control yourself!


Then Baron Urklar walked into the room, allowing me to recover some of my poise.


“Zombiac! Greetings! Have you eaten this morning?”


“No,” I told him, “I’m not hungry.”


No sooner had I said those words, than my belly began to rumble. I realized just then that I was indeed hungry and that food would keep me too occupied to make anymore awkward mistakes with Lady Laplis.


“But I think I could use a bite,” I added, “so that I will have the strength to keep up with your Sheriff.”


“It is well!” cried Urklar, gesturing towards a table. On it were apples, slices of cheese, and fresh baked bread, “But first a drink!”


I noticed that Urklar carried a horn of beer with him. He passed it to me and said, “raise your drink, Zombiac! Toast to home!”


“To home!” I said, lifting the horn high, “home and hearth!”