David Eddings - The Dreamers 01 - The Elder gods

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Voyager

DAVID AND LEIGH EDDINGS

THE ELDER GODS

Book One of The Dreamers

HarperCollmsPublishers

Voyager An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

www.voyager-books.com

Published by Voyager 2003 135798642

The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 000 715758 4

Typeset in Janson Text by Palimpsest Book Production Limited, Polmont,

Stirlingshire

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives pic

retrieval system, or transmitted,

in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior

permission of the publishers.

PREFACE

The Land of Dhrall, if we are to believe the sometimes fanciful legends

of the region, has existed in its present location since the beginning of

time. Father Earth is unstable, and other continents move hither and yon

across the face of Mother Sea, wandering, ever wandering, in search of

new places in which to abide. But the Land of Dhrall, we are told, was

firmly anchored to its present location by the will of the gods of Dhrall,

and it shall remain ever so until the end of the world.

Now, from whence this world came - and why - is far beyond human

comprehension. But the legends of Dhrall maintain that it is the work of

ancient gods, and the making of it was a task so enormous that the gods,

immortal and omnipotent though they be, oft-times wearied of their labor.

Now there were younger gods abroad in the land at this time, and great

was their pity for their exhausted elders, and they urged their kin to rest

while they themselves took up the burden of creation. And grateful

beyond measure were the old ones, for they had labored well-nigh unto

death. And so they slept while creation continued uninterrupted in the

hands of the younger gods.

Excerpted from ‘The Land of Dhrall,’ a study by the Comparative Theology Department

of the University of Kaldacin.

So it was that the elder gods slept for twenty-five eons and then they awoke, refreshed and ready to

resume their eternal task; and when they awoke, their younger counterparts were well ready to relinquish the

task and go to their rest.

And mountains rose up from out of the earth and were worn down by weather and time. And Mother Sea

brought forth life in many forms, and some of the creatures of Mother Sea came up upon the dry face of

Father Earth in search of a dwelling place. And time and place altered them there upon the face of Father

Earth, and many were those alterations. Forms not seen before emerged, and older forms died out as the

creatures blindly groped for fulfillment.

Now the gods of the Land of Dhrall chose not to interfere in the growth and development of the creatures

of their Domains, for they wisely concluded that the creatures should follow their own course in response to

the world around them. For truly, the world is in a constant state of flux, and a creature suitable for one era

may well not survive in another, and the gods had come to realize that change must be a response to the

world rather than some divine preconception.

And constant time continued her stately march toward an end that none could know, and the cycles of

labor and rest among the gods continued even as Mother Sea and Father Earth watched, but said nothing.

Now the gods of the land of Dhrall have divided the land, and each, younger or elder, holds dominion

over a certain portion of the land. There remains, however, a vast Wasteland in the center that is not part of

any of the four Domains, be they East or West, North or South, for the Wasteland of Dhrall is barren and

without beauty. There is life there, however, but the life-forms of the Wasteland are unlike those of the rest

of the Land of Dhrall. The legends of Dhrall maintain that the life-forms of the Wasteland are the creations

of That-Called-the-Vlagh.

The legends of Dhrall are uncertain as to the origins of the Vlagh. Some maintain that it is no more than

a nightmare which one of the early gods experienced during that first long sleep. Other legends contend that

the Vlagh is vastly older than the gods whose forms resemble those of humans, and that it was the lord of

stinging insects and venomous reptiles which have long since vanished from the faces of Mother Sea and

Father Earth. All legends of Dhrall agree on one point, however. That-Called-the-Vlagh was too impatient to

give the creatures which served it sufficient time to follow the slow, natural process of development and

alteration favored by the true gods of Dhrall, but rather it chose to manipulate their development so that they

might better serve it.

And it came to the Vlagh that its servants might be of greater value if they were not all the same, for a

creature designed for one task and one only would be far more efficient than a more generalized creature.

To achieve that end, the Vlagh periodically enveloped itself in a woven cocoon in its dark nest in the

center of the Wasteland, and when it emerged from its cocoon, it was a creature of an entirely different

aspect than it had been before. Then it tested the capabilities of its new form to determine its ‘ability to

perform its specific task, noting its strengths and weaknesses.

And then once again it enclosed itself in the cocoon, and when it emerged once more, the weaknesses

were no longer there and the strengths had been enhanced.

Thus by experimentation, That-Called-the-Vlagh altered and modified its own form to develop a highly

specific creature. And once it was satisfied, it reproduced that creature by the thousands so that it would have

servants enough to achieve its ultimate goal.

Then That-Called-the-Vlagh returned to its nest and began again, creating yet another form for yet

another specific task.

And so it is that all of the varied creatures which emerge from the cocoon of the Vlagh are not the

creatures of the Domains of the true gods of Dhrall, but rather are strange combinations, part insect, part

reptile, part warm-blooded animal, and each of these variations has a specific task in its service to the ruler

of the Wasteland.

The one and only characteristic the creatures of the Wasteland share is an obsessive need to expand the

Domain of the ruler of the Wasteland until the entirety of the Land of Dhrall lies in its grasp. For truly, That-

Called-the-Vlagh hungers ultimately to rule the world.

And the Vlagh sent forth many of its creatures to intrude themselves into the Domains of the true gods of

Dhrall, and carried those intruders back to the Vlagh everything which they had observed. And the Vlagh

considered each tiny nibble of truth which its servants brought to it, and after eons uncounted, it perceived a

flaw during the transfer of power and authority from one generation of gods unto the next.

For truly, the elder gods grew weary and forgetful as they longed for sleep; and the younger gods were

yet only half awake.

And the spirit of the Vlagh was filled with evil joy at this revelation. And laid it then its plans and

marshaled its servants in preparation for a war whereby it could surely destroy the true gods of Dhrall. And

there in the Wasteland it dreamed of the day when it would come to rule the entirety of the Land of Dhrall.

And once Dhrall lay securely in its grasp, it could reach forth and claim other lands as well, and all in good

time would it come to possess the world. And all creatures great and small would bow down before it, and it

would assume its rightful place as ruler of all the world, and its reign would last forever and ever, and all

power would lie in its hands.

And the spirit of the Vlagh rejoiced.

Now Mother Sea and Father Earth paid scant heed to the antics of any gods of any lands, and neither did

they sleep, for to them fell the task of maintaining the life of the creatures of earth and sea, and woe to him,

human or divine, who threatens the perpetuation of life. For gentle though they may appear, Mother Sea and

Father Earth have disasters beyond imagining at their disposal, should such appear necessary for the

continuation of life.

Now it came to pass long ago in the Domain of the North that a half-mad hermit had a vision of that

which would one day become reality, and in that vision he saw sleeping children whose dreams could thwart

the designs of That-Called-the-Vlagh, for the dreams could command, and Mother Sea and Father Earth

could not disobey the commands of the Dreamers.

And most men of the Land of Dhrall scoffed at the vision of the hermit, for his madness was clearly

evident. But the Gods of East and West, North and South, scoffed not, for the hermit’s vision resounded

deep within their souls, and they knew it to be true. And troubled were the true gods of the Land of Dhrall,

for they knew in their hearts that the arrival of the Dreamers would change all the world, and nothing

thereafter would ever be the same again.

And the eons, as eons must, plodded on toward an uncertain future, and the younger gods grew older,

and the cycle of their ascendency neared its conclusion.

And it is here that our story begins.

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VoyagerDAVIDANDLEIGHEDDINGSTHEELDERGODSBookOneofTheDreamersHarperCollmsPublishersVoyagerAnImprintofHarperCollinsPublishers77-85FulhamPalaceRoad,Hammersmith,LondonW68JBwww.voyager-books.comPublishedbyVoyager2003135798642Copyright©DavidandLeighEddings2003TheAuthorassertsthemoralrighttobeidentifiedasth...

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