Ralph and the Pixie

The false Adjunct couldn’t help but feel a little pity towards the old Scribe, but it was tempered with an equal disdain. Haloch, of course, thought that his son would follow in his footsteps. Such men should not be afforded the privilege of having children, he thought to himself. For one thing, Mraan is not cut from the same cloth- he has the makings of a soldier. The boy and his future are being wasted, and we have few enough with his potential.

Haloch had, the false Adjunct knew, been married only because of Fate. That same Fate had later taken his wife, a beautiful woman less than half his age, away again. She had practically been given to him (he, then a middle-aged bachelor with no thought of ever marrying), for her own protection. Her father had thought to protect her in this way from the predacious and unwanted attentions of Prince Cir.

The false Adjunct ceased his reverie as activity caught his eye, and his attention. The boy, Mraan, handed Haloch the quill his father had planned to use next without a word, making the old Elf smile. The Master Scribe then began the work of outlining the final illustration.

The false Adjunct noticed that as Haloch studied the original, the old Scribe had to suppress a tremor of misgiving, and knew the reason for this reaction. Why this ominous portrayal had been set down at all, and why its creator had seen fit to place it last, had given many, Haloch included, cause to wonder. The basic picture was of a classic mode; sharply defined and elegant stone architecture, scantily clad people in a variety of poses depicting lofty preoccupation . . . that much was understandable. But the rest of the illustration was evil and chaos. The people depicted bore a strained aspect, as though deep in concentration despite great physical pain. Dark, ghostly, evil shadows were everywhere; despite the bright illumination of the figures depicted, the sky was incongruously troubled; a portent of a great evil. The people . . . ah, there was a riddle! They continued playing out their roles as the evil things which surrounded them gnawed at their flesh, tore down and defiled the classic beauty around them.