I It was a fortnight and two day afore twelfthtide. Travelling from a far off dawn towards king Arthur’s court, passing through a defile the newly made Argent knight was met by a lady. The lady of the defile stopped the knight and his squire in their travel thus saying; ”Lest you heed me yvis there shall be a full strife betwixt us both.” And there was a strange knight by the lady’s pavilion that blocked the defile, and his cognizance was a sun in splendour he was the knight Parhelion. And thus the knights stood before one other and ready to make their spears shiver upon each other. And yet made they no rancour for the lady of the defile came forth to speak to the trespassing new Argent knight. ”I shall ask of thee, what of earth is eternal. And should you guess correctly, you will be lead through without harm, but if you fail to answer my question, I shall deal with you to my own amusement.” The knight did ponder for this maiden was of great perilous power and of great passing beauty. But the knight made his mind despite the peril of the lady of the defile, anon the knight answered. ”One thing is eternal, and that is not men, nor beast, but fame. And the letter full splendid will be sung of deeds thus done.” She thus prophesied with futures’ bearing; “The glory of you will fade. Moribund the letter of the song that will be sung. There shall be a great undoing, shift betwixt men of land. Ground to dust by chariot time. Not a mark will be left. And you will be made none.” Thus with enchantment soothed the knight was put to sleep in a cavern. The lady made him put to sleep within a grotto of stone under a sapling of an oak. One day and a thousand years a dreaming in amongst the stones the new Argent knight emerged under a stout millennial oak. He gasped sucking in the living breath of life, the spirit of the aether. His sword thus withered as prophesied, non but a handful of vermilion dust. Made a knight of no sword he thus took to questing in this land, this newly made Argent knight. II
In a land estranged yet familiar he took to his questing for it was in the days when scions of gentry grew their own burgs into vast spanning nations. When all kings were caged in parliaments or their withered crowned skulls shone upon the battlements of the walls of the great strange cities.Indeed what was done, the alchemists’ secret broken and given to mutagenic nature of form, allowed these folk to endure their own desires. Oppressing thus one form into another. Changing their own form at whim, and that of substance to their wish. Purloined thus the secret of alchemy, a grievous deed not gone unpunishedThrough breaking of the substance and element, everything could be turned to gold.And thus in this strange matter, unhorsed and unarmed the Argent knight of the crescent was made to traverse and wander. Casting his eye o'er the expanse of the city from the vantage of the knoll, the knight could tell not the length at which the great new city was given end, twas as if it spanned from the edge of the world to the next, and its towers, each built in the Babylonian custom, and with equal vanity.They had spheres of iron into which they trapped hell fire, and with them they made strife o’er far distance. This he spied upon the bank where a fortress grew. And thus they flung these spheres upon each other, until they were both undone or one city remained. And made they were smooth beyond any metal known before the days of the great New City. They had chimneys of great smoke and mist, metallurgic fumes and of mutagens they drove forth. And within these great much of phlogiston was set alight and liberated by the elemental fire. And the great Forest Perilous was all turned to fuel.
III
In need of a sword descending from the hill the first quarter knight Argent entered the house of mercantile commerce. A great hall and in its midmost, in a great crystal bound, was a sword of great quality. He reached his gauntlet forth. Breaking the fine crystal. And held in his hand gaily a gleaming blade, a sword of fine quality. A drop-forged sword of inductive steel. And thus the knight was faced by a wroth band of common men, whom came forth to meet him. The dwellers of the city all dressed gaily and fine for such common birth. ”Who are you, ye men of the city?” "We are the Mercantors, guildmen of the wondrous swords!” Cried the host. Once it was the Ladies whom had the sole right of bequeathing wondrous swords upon errant strangers from the comfort of their towers and lakes. Yet thus upon the great turn of centuries, once the alchemical secret was undone their strength o'er the right was thus snatched away by guile driven guildsmen. Whom took to the market their own made wares. And by beating their sales through their worship of commerce they’ve managed to gain a charter of monopoly upon the creation and disposition of the ensorcelled swords. ”How will you make your payment for this wondrous sword of inductive steel?” Thus the knight spake unto the burghers. ”I was awoken in a cave up in the mountain of the oak, and I descended unto your fair city to seek out the truth of this odd world. And this sword would aid me in my quest” ”Wish you pay with ancient gold, like a woken dreamy Christian then?”
The men of the guild demanded his fealty thus, a guild of wondrous sword makers whom brought forth the wondrous blades. Sigil of their trade proudly displayed as if coat of arms.
”I am a quarter knight Argent, I shall bare no sigil beyond my own.”
”Upon the field you won’t find a knight with a coat of arms. We are but the ones to bear devices, solely to our guilds. Now your squire shall carry a pendant of our guild, and its device. For you will promote of our good deeds, and your fine questing will be made ours.”
And these men of rotundness shook their heads in agreement. And there in the Mercantors made their worship of the golden calf. And under their tongues they had tadpoles all. Thus faced with robbers of his devices and glory, made to square off against the great host. He brast the leading sorcerous sword maker upon the nether stomach, and that was his undoing and all the merchant scattered with the gonfalons of their guilds battered on the ground. And an angel blew its trumpet of a grand victory of the first quarter knight Argent o'er the avaricious host in its full globosity.
IV
Thus travelling away from the halls of the house of mercantile commerce, the Waxing Gibbous knight Argent found his way of the field leading to the great estuary. There by the shore a great many maidens were there bound in dancing, and worshipped they the idol of Tervagant, whom was depicted in feminine form. It’s breast protruding forward, licentious in its bearing. Flesh adorned with jewels. Sneering face of succubean form. And wings of a bat she had upon her back that allowed her flight. And in custom she was liken Moloch, devoured she children in her great snout, however pregnant herself. A temporary god that it was, a perjured deity that ought to be put stop to. ”Who are you of ladies?” Asked the Waxing Gibbous knight. Asked he of the shrews whom in turn were bound by some spell of glamour, lost to their senses. Half mad and dazed they cried out in turn; ”We are of the lady of the cave of the river” He was thus bound to seek out this lady of the river, and inquire of her, this strange custom.Thus gallant on his journey further on foot he came upon a cavern. Before which a maiden of pale hair, in fine dress of white, with a golden comb was brushing her fine golden hair. Which in turn shone as bright as the sun.She made to look upon the hailing knight Argent. ”Methinks you must be a knight of passing good fortune” ”I am fain of meeting you good damosel” He inquired. “I come to thee lady of the river cave to ask of the of the great enchantment put upon the maidens of the bank.”
And thus she welcomed him to her cavern .Of what she had he saw much; In her cave she had a great mound of gold and wealth of all sort which made her unbound by worry. And there was captive man in a hat of a fool, bound to a great saltire. There was the many books of knowledge of which she read, and of sorcery. And a lion tamed. And the knight knew she was not an earthly damosel, but more akin to the Sun Enchantress of the defile. ”These are the daughters of the city which with my glamour bound, dance away the days to glory of Tervagant the devil shrew” ”And what heathen path is that to trod?” ”My sorcery and strength I source from their distraction. And their silent path of good simple deeds. Is to their fathers’ contentment. And bound as offering to my expert ways bestow, from what is made form base, to that of arcane art, thanks sole to the idol” ”Methinks your ways wretched, and shall stand naught such will, nor face such custom” ”I can sense your way good Gibbous knight, and your enchantment too, you’re given but a seldom to see what is to be. Yet it is in my power so I can bind you to my will still” And before the maiden was given option to ensorcell him, the Waxing Gibbous knight Argent was thus come upon this vile enchantress which he struck. It was done so his sword combed through her skull down to her teeth. Thus slain was the melusine, her gown now poured o’er with vermilion streaks, and her enchantment was broken alike her skull. Thus with the common bound man freed and with the melusine slain the knight made his comfort of the cave. Taking from it her golden comb of which she sourced her strength.He inquired of the fool what adventure brought him here.
”Yestr’een whan with fellows of my home I did find some peace in carousal. And in that I was wagered for to disturb this cavern” The common man of the New City made a gleaming fool. ”I was ought make my wife of her, not slay her” ”Make a wife of a beast?” The Waxing Gibbous knight Argent let the common fool speak. ”This is our custom. She’s of those youths made slaves. Those that make their way to her cavern, to source of her power and knowledge” And the common man recounted of the story how he was himself made to venture into the cavern. Of how to make a melusine his wife. ”And how was world so made?” ”Through poisoned word, and treachery of the alchemist whom taught the common man the secret of alchemy. And all of that done in a jest” And despite of the lack of provisions and no noble custom, the Waxing Gibbous knight in need made the prankster his squire, despite him being of the great New City. And he thus, though born of this new strange city republic he was thus made squire. V
He’s entered the Tower of Caduceus to witness the maidens there, a convent of women in white. The tower was full of healers who in their munificence took to all men and of women who were in want of aid. And administered panacea which healed their frames full well. Yet not all was good for every drop of the elixir they had to pay for, and thus grew many into servitude and slavery. Thus the full knight Argent made his point to heal his wounded man. Healed by this medicinal dew he returned to form.
”How will you make your payment?” Asked the healing ladies of the tower of Caduceus. And in turn he gave unto them a comb of gold. And the ladies were made passing glad. And full proud was he that he did good deeds still in this estranged land.
VI
He thus entered the Suburbis. Wagon as great as a dwelling was carrying the great midden of offals produced by the city. Rat swarmed in vermin pits. The fly was a cloud. The commoners demanded passage for their heaving cart. A tower of rats.
Sunken favela of ramshackled hovels, sunken and in filth drowned. The few poor skimming the gutters for vermin of which flesh they’d eat. A slum as far as the horizon. Its walls all made of grime.He thus entered the part of the city bound by the state of putrefaction .And yet he was come upon a great gibbering host of folk in tattered garb. “We are the people of the lesser town, of which they’ve forgotten”
To which the merry grinning squire would be quick to explain the nature of his New City.
”A good city is of a constant becoming, like the matter of Rebus. It is a natural state, of putrefaction. Nature of becoming and balanced yliaster. It is a city of a tyrant that is in state of purification. And which dreads the smallest speck of mud upon its banners”
Explained the jester well.And in the nigh river was borne alkahest and so it was made putrid, and a fine film of rebis flowed upon the waters. And materia prima littered the banks of the estuary in a formless mass. And the state of undoing and of making turned them passing wretched.They made their way past Salax Taberna wherein the townsfolk took to their pleasures as they found fit. And merry and content they were in their freedom.And in the dwellers of the slum were all the strange men of Munigre and Malprose, the akephaloi, the androgynes, giants, woodwose, cynocephali, sciapod, the dragons and cyclop. And tried they to habituate them the burghers and mayors to their custom. Yet all they did was war unto each other and the people of the city, preying upon their tenderness. They were brought here when adventurous folk begun to visit the World’s Edge, their homeland. And it was mapped and given names all. And for as a benefaction they were given quarters in this place. The akephaloi lived separate and had they a wall within their own city, and a militia with cudgels of their own, all raised from their own people. Travelled through the maze of disordered huts thus the Waning Gibbous knight Argent was made enter unto a bridge of stone.
”Thou shalt not make pass through my regions” Uttered a beast of strange proportion, a headless man with a face in his chest. All outfitted to war in strange fashion and in his hand he carried a curved sword of two points. And he had a cone targe of a spike. A cudgel at his belt.
”For you to pass I demand of thee to take off thine helm, as in mine custom it is of offence”
Waning knight was of no wish to pander to the bestial guard.
”I shall not heed your command creature, for you are in no authority to me.”
”I am the authority of this plane, and you shall do as I obey thee”
Thus the knight without the wish made to leave.
”I’ll have the helm of thee removed for ever if need there be, I shall make of it a trophy upon this bridge to the great glory of my city.”
Thus the akephaloi of Munigre took to charge the knight, and met they in the midstway of the bridge, in the midstway of the town, and clashed. They’ve made passing sore strokes upon each other, Waning Gibbous knight suffered a buffet on the helm and like wise made the Munigre beast shake its plate, yet it was the waning gibbous knight Argent that made to prevail and fell his opponent. He thus cleft the beast to the navel. Or rather he cleft it through the skull to its teeth. And the Argent knight doth marvelled at the wound of the beast for and such was the peculiar nature of this new land, that the knight could not even be sure if he had cleft the bestial foe to the navel or was it rather cleft to the teeth, or in was it done some twinned way. And thus the waning gibbous knight Argent and his squire made their path o’er the bridge of the city, o’er the Wretched River.
VII
And the wisdom was there in great quantity, in a book-mill where wisdom was pressed through the cranking of a shaft by a host of common born folk.Fell into the wooden gears was a man, whom the machine devoured, and all came to halt.And there were great many more cities like this. For this city was a member to a league, a republic that joined such great cities to common cause and defence. As they rested their pavilion upon a hillock and laid down in the grass during the warm night they spoke.And as they both lay admiring the stars the last quarter knight Argent knight and his squire. The knight was told of that they desired they to put Republics in between the stars and other heavenly spheres, and that was in their purpose. At present works were made to open a shaft to hell, for to use it’s warmth to heat their homes, and for the hateful tempest of Satan’s wings to propel the turning of their great wheels and propelling of their mills. ”Great in skill are your grand sorcerous artificers but they lack in modesty." And then again he asked. ”How close presume you to the matter of the Apocalypse those fervent times bode?” To which the merry fool reputed. ”As thin as through a chrisom cloth we can taste the End of Days. But in the secret of Trismegistos we can attempt to undo even the undoing, for that is our custom” And for that knowledge the knight was tired, but he could not sleep, that being an aspect of his enchantment. The land seeped of him strength and he knew he had not much in him before the enchantment would break.And he came to the conclusion that what makes all these men so bound by their notions, is a dearth of good tyrants and not the city’s wisdom. VIII
And the winged principality frowned its pale beautiful face and its lean limbs shook violently as it cried out o’er the morn. Anon upon the hill the knight by his pavilion was met by a great illustrious party and at its front was a herald bound in the device of the city. An ensign of a verdant and ore upon which a winged archai with a spear of sable iron rested its fingers in a blessing. It wore a verdant laurel and was outfitted to war in a harness. ”I hail thee knight, I come to parley with you on behalf of my lord the mayor. He wishes to make a meeting of you” In the midst of the party the squire of Waning Crescent Knight Argent had his company, thus in believing the right passing honest he joined their company. Begging full well pardon the servants made their way about the knight, saying tis not possible of them to shew the knight in, were he to carry his blade by him. For that be an affront to the majesty of the seat. Amidst the city confines only the knaves of the city guard had the right to bear arms, and only when the right mood struck, for such shows of power were not seen as right. But before the hall of the mayoral council, the knight was given to be stopped. For to show the honour of the palace of the council mayor he was to be rid of his blade for safe keeping. He gave up his sword of Inductive Steel. And on he was led, to the palace of the city. The mayor met him under the ensigns of the city. And from his throne he said unto him that he was found guilty of murdering three peers. And for that he was brought here. And for slaying of those equals, he would be put to the death in the river of the city. And the main witness was his own squire fool. He protested calling forth the duties of hosts and of how he was welcomed here under parley. Yet the mayor found in the power of the city to cease the knight.And thus the Sword of the Inductive steel was put before him on a dais. ”Be this not the sword you slew the master of the guild with, and the one you stole from the hall of commerce?” "It is as you say” The knight had no qualm with that misadventure. And thus the golden comb was put forth and the mayor asked of the Waning Knight. ”This be not the gold comb of the lady of the cavern of the river?” "I slew that enchantress, for all the wrong her kind wrought me, I was full wroth" ”You slew a knave to the city guard on the midstway bridge?” "So I testify” And thus said the jester-squire. And there were none upon the base born throng to speak up for the cause of the knight, and with the plea for a divine judgement in combat was thus the last of the laws known broke by the scions of gentry. The herald wearing a cognizance of the city in a fine display of pageantry read from a scroll the sentence of the city. Put inside of a cage, made look unto a setting sun, the Waning Crescent knight was drowned in the current of the river. And that was the end of the Waning Crescent knight Argent.
