Gesh Dagshi and the Quest of the Holey Snail
GESH DAGSHI was a Visionist, or rather 'The Visionist', for he was the only one of his kind in the entire Known Lands. That single fact made him a unique young fellow and he was proud of it. His occupation took him far and wide and though he had not planned such a lifestyle he admitted freely that visiting distant lands and far off places appealed to his sense of adventure.
Gesh was seventeen years old and grew up on Dwale. His parents were employed by the mystic, WELAND, and their status allowed them to live in a suite of rooms in Summer Town, the administrative centre of the Green Empire. Gesh was well liked by all, lively and imaginative, friendly and outgoing. He had the kind of face you could share a secret with and his popularity with the young ladies was a reflection of his handsome features. He was educated along with the children of the other palace officials and it was assumed that he would follow in the career footsteps of his parents. But Gesh was more interested in imagining daring adventures in the far off places he heard about instead of learning boring details about their economies and political structures.
Something else that caught Gesh's imagination was the ancient staff owned by Weland. If he tapped it on the floor in a secret pattern and concentrated hard it would shower coloured lights and create scenes of events that where happening, or had already happened, throughout the Known Lands. Weland's skill was known as 'far sight' and he had used it to show the scene of Egrelda's kidnap to Bozadir and launch the mission to rescue her from the Wasp of Norg.
Gesh was fascinated by the staff and regularly sneaked into the Council Chamber uninvited, hide somewhere and watched Weland's scenes. One day he got caught but for some obscure reason Weland offered to show him the staff's basic use - providing it remained their secret. Gesh jumped at the chance and was soon able to create his own simple scenes. But Weland refused to show him how to use the staff for far-sight, though Gesh was determined to discover its secret code and wrote down all Weland's slips of the tongue about it.
When Weland disappeared mysteriously during the time of Bozadir's quest he left the staff to Gesh and there was uproar from the other mystics. They believed it was a symbol of rank and WULFSTAN, the newly appointed senior, demanded it for himself. But neither he nor any other mystics were able to use the staff for far-sight and as far as the Council was concerned it was useless. Gesh was allowed to keep it, which he did - along with the secret of its basic use.
Gesh hardly used the staff for the next four years, fearful that Wulfstan would find out, but things changed when he went to a concert and heard a remarkable performance from a young, up and coming musician called PERIWINKLE POON. Periwinkle was a master of the buzzdolin, a twenty-four stringed instrument that created weird music and, most amazingly, could reproduce the wing sound of any flying insect you could care to mention with frightening accuracy. It was so realistic that Gesh could almost see the insects flying around the concert hall. Now there was an idea! Gesh rushed backstage immediately after the concert and put his idea to Periwinkle, who did not need much convincing after a quick demonstration from Gesh. They got together and became the sight and sound duo called The Wingbeats. However, they had to leave Dwale and Wulfstan well behind before they could launch their new career properly.
The fame of The Wingbeats grew and at the start of this story we join them travelling south through the land of Morch-Dewn, on their way to the city of Laphelle to perform The Flight of the Bombus Lucorum at the special request of the LADY EGRONIA on the prestigious occasion of her marriage to the renowned warrior, GERIC ODWIN.
They were travelling in a brightly coloured cabin-cart, pulled along by a grumpy green beetle. It was the height of summer and a beautiful day, but Gesh was under a cloud. He had been plagued with a recurring nightmare recently and it was getting more horrific as he approached Laphelle. Periwinkle was getting fed up with being woken every night by shrieks and screeches and insisted that Gesh saw a mystic about it directly they reach Laphelle. The last thing Gesh wanted was a mystic poking about inside his head and he was determined to avoid it at all costs , but he was becoming increasingly frightened that the horror of the nightmare lurking in his mind might manifest itself as a terrifying vision during the wedding performance.
They meet EARL GOODWING of Hagrath and the burly warrior, ODO OAKBARK, on the way...
Gesh turned, heard a noise and froze in his tracks. It got louder, sounded like something big thrashing through the tall grass to his right. And it was coming his way! Spiders! He should have listened to Periwinkle and not strayed so far from the cart. He hefted his staff, but knew it would be useless if the spider was as big as it sounded. He would have made a run for it but he was rooted to the spot and trembled in his boots.
Seconds later two great black beetles burst from the grass and hurtled straight towards him. His instinct for self-preservation overcame his paralysis. He gave a yelp, hurled himself sideways and rolled clear of the thrashing claws of the beetles' feet.
There was a loud shout. 'Whoa!'
One of the beetles skidded to a halt and the other careered into its side. There was a knot of insect legs and a string of curses from the beetle riders.
Gesh thought to make his escape while the beetles struggled to untangle their legs, but before he had time to gather his wits, grab his staff and jump to his feet one of the huge beasts barred his way. It snapped a warning with its mandibles and pawed the air in front of him with a pair of razor sharp fore claws.
'What have we here?' asked the rider of the beetle.
Gesh looked up and saw a warrior with bright emerald green skin, yellow hair and piercing black eyes looking back down at him from the high backed saddle of the pawing warbeetle. He would have breathed a sigh of relief had he believed that warriors were any less dangerous than spiders, but he had no such illusions and gulped instead. He stood up slowly and tried not to make any sudden movements.
Goodwing and Odo turn out to be friendly and are also on their way to Laphelle for the wedding but had been set ashore way up the coast and got completely lost. Gesh offered to show them the way and the following day they all arrived at Laphelle. Gesh and Periwinkle are booked into an inn on the other side of town...
'And where can we find The Gnat's Whiskers, captain?' asked Gesh.
'Eh? Oh, simple. Down there to the third junction, turn left, third right...'
'Come on, what's the stinking hold-up!' yelled the driver of the next cart in the queue..
'One more word out of you, dung brain! Where was I? Right, fourth left, that'll be Leafy Lane, under the footbridge and then down the narrow passage between the armoury and the stone warehouse. You can't miss it.'
'Er, thanks,' said Gesh. 'We'll be off then.'
Goodwing raised a hand in farewell. 'Thanks for getting us here, Gesh, see you tomorrow.'
'Think nothing of it.'
'And don't get lost,' said Odo, grinning.
'And I'd lock the doors your cart if I were you,' the captain advised.
A minute later Gesh joined Periwinkle on the driver's seat and whacked the grumpy green beetle, waving a farewell.
'Other way!' yelled the captain.
'Silly me!' said Gesh, yanking the reins to turn the beetle.
'Didn't you get those directions?' asked Periwinkle.
'Not exactly, I hoped you had.'
Ten minutes later it was obvious that neither of them had a clue which way to go and were completely lost...
...Drunkards reeled around them alarmingly or sprawled in the gutters. The streets stank of stale dandelion ale and vomit. Gangs of unsavoury looking characters hung around on the street corners, leering and eying them up and down as they went by.
'I don't like this,' said Periwinkle.
'Nor do I. Leafy Lane must be around here somewhere.' Gesh pointed. 'Look, that road's got a name sign. What does it say?'
'I can't read it from here.' Periwinkle jumped off the cart.
'Don't go over there on your own!' Gesh jumped down after him.
They strode quickly into the side road squinting up at the dark sign and almost bumped into a burly figure standing in the shadows. He wore a brown worm-skin jerkin and matching breeches. His studded boots were planted well apart and clenched fists rested on a pair of wide hips. He had hair that looked like a badly cut corn field. A black patch over his left eye concealed part of a vivid scar that ran from his forehead to the corner of his mouth. His lips were thick and he gave a crooked smile. Then his arm shot out, he grabbed Gesh's collar and yanked him roughly to one side.
The fellow was TOBI TUMBLEWEED, a larger-than-life, wheeler-dealer and entrepreneur. He befriends Gesh and Periwinkle and takes them to The Gnat's Whiskers.
As bill-toppers Gesh and Periwinkle are also wedding guests and are surprised to find that they are sitting at the same table as Tobi Tumbleweed. Tobi is equally surprised to learn that The Wingbeats do not have an agent - a situation he is determined to correct at the first opportunity.
When Gesh first saw Lady Egronia his thoughts were ones of deep regret that he had not met her before the day of her wedding. She was stunningly gorgeous, elegant, alluring and he could not take his eyes off her.
As the splendid wedding banquet neared its end Egronia's pet aphid, POPPET, scuttled down the central aisle towards the dais. It had been missing for a while and Egronia was delighted to see it again. She picked it up and gave it a smacking kiss on the head but recoiled immediately and spluttered. DAISY, her maid scolded Egronia for getting too excited and ushered her back to her table.
After the banquet came the entertainment. The Wingbeats were the last to perform.
HERFAST was waiting for them on stage. He raised his arms for quiet. 'And now for our finale!' he cried. 'Please welcome the fabulous Wingbeats! Gesh Dagshi and Periwinkle Poon! For your enjoyment they will perform their acclaimed rendition of The Flight of the Bombus Lucorum, specially requested by our dear Lady, I believe!'
Herfast paused until the rapturous applause died down, then he smiled and decided to take a rare chance. 'It's called The Flight of the Bumblebee for those warriors among you not well acquainted with the classics.'
There were howls of mock offence, good-humoured catcalls and noisy table banging.
Gesh concentrated hard. Coloured lights showered from his staff and formed a swarm of bees that zoomed around the hall, much to the initial consternation and then the delight and of the guests. Together with Periwinkle's sonorous wing buzzing and other strange music the audience was held in awe. The finale came - Gesh closed his eyes and concentrated even harder - wasps appeared from the staff and began to attack the bees. Then there was a murmur in the hall, it got louder and there were sounds of panic. The nightmare! Gesh opened his eyes, but visions of bees and wasps were still in the air as they should have been. What was going on? He saw a cluster of frantic folk on the dais - they move apart - Gesh saw Egronia writhing in agony, black bile frothing on her lips.
GROKEL, the one time Chief Councillor of Laphelle, was also known as 'The Grip' because of his nasty tendency to throttle those he did not like - which was almost everyone at the time we first meet him.
He was in exile for his involvement with the murderous COMISSIONER BURDOCK, his deceased partner in crime, and his subsequent short-lived but brutal take over of Laphelle's Council during the Thrips crisis. He and his crony, TOADFLAX, had been hounded out of Morch-Dewn and into the land of Auricula by that stinking warrior, Geric Odwin and had sought refuge with the LADY EGLISHA, a fellow exile. They were given shelter in Eglisha's stronghold, where Captain CLEG commanded a band of desperate cutthroats and outlaws employed by Eglisha to carry out the dirty deeds she did not want to be associated with, namely rustling earwig herds from the barons of Auricula - something that would soon get her into serious trouble.
Grokel spent his time plotting diabolical revenge against Geric Odwin and planning his triumphant return to Laphelle to reclaim his rightful status, power and wealth. He had paid Cleg and young SPIKE handsomely to carry out the first part of his revenge and waits anxiously for their return from Laphelle with news of its success.
Gesh Dagshi was probably the only one who had not taken his eyes off Egronia for a second during the whole wedding ceremony and was convinced that she had only become ill after kissing the aphid. He demanded to be taken to someone of authority and relay his suspicions. Tobi Tumbleweed said that WAGWAH was in charge of the situation and agreed to take Gesh to see him immediately. But when Gesh learned that Wagwah was a mystic and Periwinkle further insisted that Gesh must ask him to get rid of his nightmare at the same time, Gesh changed his mind. He was now fearful that his amorous thoughts about Egronia would be discovered if Wagwah entered his mind, even more worrying was the fact that only he held the secret of how to use the staff, knowledge that a mystic would probably destroy his mind to get hold of. But it was too late.
Wagwah was surrounded by piles of ancient books and scrolls, desperately trying to find the symptoms and cure for Egronia's malady, which seemed to be more of a poisoning of her mind than her body. He was not pleased by the interruption and told Gesh sharply that he all ready knew about the involvement of the aphid. Gesh breathed a sigh of relief and turned on his heel.
Tobi had just persuaded Gesh and Periwinkle to sign a contract that made him their business agent but since the revelation of Gesh's nightmare he feared it might ruin the future of The Wingbeats, not to mention his cut of their profits, and he was not prepared to leave until things had been sorted out...
Wagwah clicked his tongue and gave a deep sigh of resignation, as most folk eventually did under Tobi's methods of persuasion. 'Very well, Tumbleweed, anything to shut you up!'
Tobi grinned. 'Thanks, old boy. I will be ever in your debt, so if there are any other delicacies you fancy....'
'Yes, yes.' Wagwah stood up. 'Come here, boy.'
Gesh felt his stomach sink into his boots. He did not like the look of Wagwah one little bit. The way he held his hands in front of him, palm to palm, the pinched face with hooded, bulbous eyes and bald head reminded him of a praying mantis getting ready to strike its unsuspecting victim. He gave a pleading glance, which Tobi completely ignored and prodded him in Wagwah's direction.
'Stand still, boy.' Wagwah laid a hand on Gesh's head, closed his eyes and began to chant in an odd, tongue-rolling language.
Gesh felt his brain tingle.
'Ah!' Wagwah flinched suddenly. He shuddered violently and snatched his hand away from Gesh's head as if it had been burned. His knees buckled and he staggered backwards, clutched the edge of the table and breathed in loud rasps. He looked as if he was about to collapse and Tobi dashed to catch hold of him.
'Are you all right, old boy?'
Gesh was shocked. 'What's wrong with him?'
'I don't know.' Tobi bellowed to the servant. 'Bring your master some water, quickly!'
Wagwah drained the jug in a single gulp and wiped his mouth with the back of a trembling hand. His breathing evened out and the colour came back to his face slowly. 'That gave me quite a fright, young fellow,' he said after a while.
'Horrible, wasn't it?'
'That remains to be seen. You must prepare yourself for a shock, Master Dagshi.'
He shot a worried glance in Tobi's direction.
Tobi shrugged.
Wagwah reached across the table and spun the book around that he had been studying. 'Behold the creature of your nightmare!'
It took a couple of seconds to sink in and then it was Gesh's turn to feel the blood drain out of his face, his knees tremble and his heart pound. He gaped in horror at the picture that Wagwah pointed at.
'That's it!' Gesh cried. 'That's the thing that what was chasing me in my nightmare. But I don't understand how...'
'...Nor do I,' said Wagwah. 'Not yet, anyway.'
The picture showed an enormous white snail, its shell riddled with holes. The head part of its glistening, slimy foot was up-turned to expose a wide gaping mouth and rasping tongue. Its front tentacles were spread wide as if seeking the scent of something and just behind them, connected to the tips of two long stalks, were a pair of huge black eyes. Its trail of shiny slime came from a range of dark mountains in the background of the picture.
A dozen Great Roman Snails surrounded the white one. Castle-like fighting platforms were fixed to the tops of their shells and filled with fearsome looking warriors brandishing extremely long spears.
Gesh shuddered at the memory of his nightmare. 'What is it?'
'It's called the Holey Snail,' said Wagwah.
'The Holey Snail?'
'It is a legendary mollusc.'
'How come you have a picture of it right here and now, on the open page of a book on your table?'
'That is a mystery for which I do not have an answer yet. Nor did I know of the creature until I turned this page, Master Dagshi, I can assure you of that. This is indeed more than a twist of fate, and there is more.'
'More?' Gesh asked. What more could there possibly be?
'I suggest you sit down before I tell you.'
Gesh was still recovering from the stand-up shock. What was the next revelation going to be like if he had to sit down for it?
Wagwah gestured towards the chairs around the table and waited until the visitors were seated.
'The Lady Egronia is suffering from a strange malady, the like of which I have never known. I have spent the whole night searching through these ancient books and scrolls for anything that described her symptoms and, more importantly, its cure...'
'And have you!' Gesh interrupted. 'Sorry.'
Wagwah tapped the text below the picture of the snail. 'I have now. The Lady's malady is described here in absolute and accurate detail... and so is the cure...' He hesitated and fixed his gaze on Gesh.
Gesh could not stand the suspense. 'Well, what is it, then, Wagwah?'
'It is a potion prepared from the slime of the legendary Holey Snail, the very thing of your nightmare, Master Dagshi. What's more, and if it does exist, I believe you know where to find it!'
There was utter silence. Periwinkle's jaw sagged and even Tobi Tumbleweed was dumbstruck for once.
'Can you repeat that,' said Gesh in a high-pitched squeak.
'I said that the only cure for the Lady Egronia's malady is a potion prepared from the slime of the Holey Snail and only you can find it.'
'That's what I thought you said.' Gesh rolled his eyes and dropped to the floor like a sack of wet pollen.
So began Gesh Dagshi's quest for the Holey Snail. He is driven by his secret love for Egronia and the rash vow to find the snail at all costs he had felt obliged to make to a distraught Geric Odwin because of his own guilty feelings.
He sets off with Periwinkle Poon, Tobi Tumbleweed, Earl Goodwing and Odo Oakbark. Much to their displeasure Wagwah does not believe that after such a remarkable coincidence his involvement with Gesh was meant to end in Laphelle and he decides to go along. The quest would lead them into the Blue Lands, they make friends and enemies and are pursued by those who were determined to stop him finding a cure for Egronia at all costs - whether the Holey Snail did or did not exist. He knew that if he could crack the far-sight code his task would be made a lot easier, but some believed he knew it all ready and had designs on stealing his staff and wringing the code out of him.
NOTE
The story of Gesh Dagshi is three chapters complete out of an expected ten. June 06.