The book is about the absolute. What would reality be if you had the opportunity to do whatever you wished, with only one stipulation. The prerequisite that you had to accept responsibility for all of your actions, would it really be any different than the reality you experience now? The story relates the effects of massive rationalizations that befall us all, regardless of the circumstances, it flows from the ridiculous, to the demonic, and asks the one unavoidable question, where am I, and how the hell did I get here? All of the players find themselves rolling the proverbial blind dice, and then making a random, disconnected choice based on serendipity, even the given reality is a juxtaposition between oblivion and the unknown. It’s all about, " The Danger in Being," choices, and the slings and arrows that inevitably follow.

FORDESS

By J. Han

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2011 J. Han
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4567-2605-8

Contents

1. Home and Home Again.........................12. The Danger in Being.........................473. Bogies and Betty's..........................804. Revelations.................................1045. Sides.......................................1346. Chances.....................................1657. More Then One...............................2018. Arizo on the Block..........................2359. Sliding.....................................26810. New Who?...................................30611. Juxtapose..................................34412. Bluff and Circumstance.....................37813. Boooo and Reminisce........................41214. Hunting Wabbits............................44215. Fordess Triumvirate........................45616. Pied.......................................481

Chapter One

Home and Home Again.

"How can this be, why would anyone commit such an insane act," the sail maker was truly perplexed. It was odd enough that a murder occurred, but killing a child. They were so rare on this world, harming one was intolerable. Even more strange was the manner of the death, torn to pieces, half eaten, and the number of assailants had to be at least 20, by the foot prints.

Aplund Bay on the Sea of Fordess. The only place on the entire planet of Fordess that had what would be considered a population. Fordess is a place of existential bliss. And the beings that roam this desolate world rarely tolerate each others presence, except for this one place.

There is just this one small island on the entire planet, the rest is a vast sea where virtually the entire population sails endlessly in skull craft. Skeletal sailing ships that start at about 10 feet, and can be as large as a few hundred. No matter what the size they are designed for just one person, the only time there is more than one aboard would be a woman with child, which is so rare.

This is the world of the Senz solitude, and the pursuit of their meditation is their sole concern. It's not rare for them to couple, hell they fuck every chance they get, it's how they share a meditation, the means to experiencing, and understanding. The rare part is offspring, this is a very cold, and inhospitable place. Children are rarely born, and considered to be a prize, on this world you could easily go your entire existence without ever seeing one.

Perhaps what is stranger still is that the child was killed by a group of Senz, they don't even have a word in their vocabulary to express plural beings, it's an affront to their very order. The sail maker has been on this world since it came to be, and he cannot fathom this circumstance, something must be done, this requires an inquiry.

There are only four of us standing in the muddy flat looking down on the mutilated little child, the old sower studies the three of us, he's going to ask one of us to track down the horde that killed the little one. If you wish to go all you have to do is make eye contact with the old man, Senz never look directly at one another unless it's to couple, or to petition. The other two walk away, either they don't think their skills are up to the task, or it's just a meaningless moment, not worth the bother.

My name is Eleanor I've only been on the planet a short time, but the one who brought me taught me the lore. I bring my gaze directly into the old mans eyes, he looks away at the jumble of prints scattered around the child's body, then looks back at me shakes his head, and says why sacrifice another babe. As soon as we made eye contact the seal was set. Then the sail maker said, " wait,,,,wait there is an old one here, he ported a short time ago. I remember him he is an Au Senz, he might be one of the Marshals. His name is Poquith, yes I think he is one of the old Marshals, he will go."

I said, " I wait for no one, this is my task, you asked, and I accepted. I caught your glance, it's for me to say." He laughed at me, and said, " death comes soon enough in this realm don't go demanding it, let me ask him if he will go, if he says no by all means go and avenge the child, but more important find out why these Senz travel in a pack, most unusual."

The old man walked over a few dunes before I lost sight of him, I wanted to just lite out, and find them before they split up. It was very unusual to find Senz traveling together, normally they are the very soul of solitude. The only value placed in this world is your tale, your song, these beings have been forever, they require absolutely nothing, and they spend their entire existence alone feeding that field of dreams until they're broken. Living a long, long time is not really what you might imagine, it's very lonely, your own end becomes acceptable, but not pointless, let there be weight, let there be consequence, but most of all let it be interesting.

If I go after twenty of my Sei brothers my song will last forever regardless of how I fare, just being involved with such an odd event will insure my legacy. I should just run, some old Marshal of Fordess will never stay with me, and I will have to share my song with him.

"Oh this is taking to long they're getting away," I make sure I say it loud enough to carry over the dunes. Then just as I'm about to head out, a small strangely familiar form appears at the top of the dune. " El is that you," he speaks softly, but I hear every word as if he is whispering in my ear. He knows it's me, he can sense your presence, he is other worldly even by Sei standards.

The old man, and Poe quickly overtake me as I start to jog up the path, he left me long ago, and I don't need a reunion. The old sail maker tells me to stop, " this isn't some tale of quest I don't care about the child, I wont to know why these Sei are joined, this is Fordess the alter of Diem, and Aplund it is a sacrilege to gather, unless a war is eminent, find out what is happening."

I glance over at Poe, I haven't seen him in so long. Still the same, he seems so small, and fragile, but of coarse nothing could be further from the truth. He dresses so simply, just a dark grey tunic, and loose pants with simple boots. No armor, no weapons, just a black scarf wrapped around his head draping down over his shoulder. After realizing that the head cover completely covers his face, I guess I sense him as well.

"El, it's been so very long, I knew you would eventually find your way to Fordess, I've been waiting, I felt your presence, that's why I came ashore, let me follow after you, let me see you work," Poe wasn't much of a talker, that was a speech for him. " How can I take you with me, this is no place for solace, if we leave together someone will come looking for us."

"No one comes looking for me little one, no one," then he turned, and began to follow the herd of prints heading away from the shore, and leading up into the foothills. It's not what I had planned when I hitched a ride to Fordess, it's impossible to get here if you've never been here before, but any true Senz must make the pilgrimage. You must find a sailor of the great reality to show you the way. Your passage is your sex, the meditation that prepares you for your fate. I never thought I would ever cross paths with Poe again, after all the chances of ever meeting anyone again after traveling such a great distance of reality are damn near impossible. Every time you go from one place to another you are completely alone, it's unavoidable the only absolute, you can only progress, what ever was no longer exists, and you can't go somewhere that doesn't exist, no one can do that, " Hmmm,," I thought, "I can't imagine the speed I traveled to reach this place, being just a passenger, but a millennium must have passed in the reality, and he says he has been waiting, waiting for what, I have been for some great time now, and as they say, time waits for no one."

Moments pass, I must have heard Poe relate that phrase to damn near every circumstance one could imagine. Moments pass, the great imperative, the one inescapable aspect of life that touches us all, play your hand, he would say, play your hand.

As I reached the top of the hill it bled out onto a large plain. I couldn't even see Poe anymore he was so far ahead. Why did he have such an interest in me, or did he, it was probably just the quest. Poe liked to set things right, anybody who ever traveled with him knew he had a bent for justice, an acronym for vengeance in his mind.

He didn't need me for this action, I dropped my head, and wandered over towards a few scrub trees at the edge of the bluff. Then sat down in the grass, the warrior who brought me to this place wasn't particularly powerful, but he definitely knew how to relate. His skills at the meditation were formidable, he didn't have great power to share, but damn he could lay. I really knew how to receive, now I needed a passer.

Understanding the gift was beyond me, but like all Senz I had the ability to extend my being beyond my self, but even after all the time we had spent together I was limited to emitting my power solely through my weapon. That's why I made the long trek to Fordess. My sword, my armor, they are made of the dead wood that gathers on the wetlands, and shore of the great sea. There are those who shape the appendages of conflict just to practice their craft, you search the shore, and swamp until you find discarded implements that suit you. I suppose my trial will come, but, "patience my ass, I want to kill something." I love that strip.

"Ah shit," maybe a bit of practice. Looking out over the vast field as it flows back towards the woods at the far edge of the clearing, I concentrate on the grass that stands before me, I can feel the power well within my body like a storm on the sea, but no matter how hard I try to release my fury it barely bends the grass a few feet away, "damn." Ah that's just pathetic, I squirm in my seat, and set my whole being to my will, and I can barely stir tea.

Then suddenly the grass begins to undulate, and move like a wave towards the beach. Wave after wave rolling across the plain, and then crashing into the woods bending the trees like canvas at full song. I lean my head back to see Poe standing over me, no gesture, no evidence of even the slightest effort, but a storm on a sea of grass none the less. " Come on damn it, we have to see," he says. " We have to find them before they separate or we will never know." How can it be so easy for him to make this sea roil, I will know this trick before we are done old man, I promise I will be Nuieve, your Lady of the Lake, and I will hole you up my little Merlin, I will hold you, I will be the wind.

This time he slowly begins to walk back towards the path into the hills, and I quickly get up don my helmet, and follow after him, he is the teacher for now, " but be careful what you ask for old man, you may get it."

Damn I feel like Micky Mouse in the Sorcerers Apprentice, where's my mop, and bucket? He is impossible to keep up with, but he realizes I'm falling behind again, and sets a knew pace just slightly faster than I'm capable of sustaining, so he can push me right to the limit.

We continue to travel for some considerable time, and I'm completely exhausted. The hills quickly become mountains. It must have something to do with Fordess, I have never been so tired so quickly, I have to get him to rest.

Ah perfect, we come upon a still lake, dark, and deep. He is well ahead of me, so I strip off my armor, and tunic. Then wade into the pool. As he approaches I bend over, and do my best September Morn pose. He shakes his head, and says, " they're going to get away."

Why even try to lie to him, "I'm beat Poe, I guess I'm just not use to this place yet, I can't take another step." "Don't you have something else you want to teach me?" He just laughs, and then removes his stuff, and wades into the water after me, his form is so small, but it's like he was carved out of Italian marble. Every muscle lithe, and taught like a dancer, when he moved he was a blur, a deadly dance of death. But there was no death in his eyes at this moment, he curved his arm around my waist, and slipped his other hand to my chin, and then a soft caress of my cheek, he hasn't kissed my lips in an age, but I remember it well as my whole body begins to wreath within his grasp, I guess he's going to teach me another lesson, but I must join him, I have to play my part. The meditation only has real value if both partners delve deep into their souls, and become one. Then they can share the power of their being, without this lesson I wont survive the quest.

He doesn't bother to scold or complain, I'm just about the same size as he is, but he handles me like a toy. It's not like the last time we joined, I can feel his power as he holds me with just the fingers of one hand at the small of my back. I don't imagine he really needs to touch me at all, he envelopes me in a field of sensory bliss, there is no false sense of emotion or need, it's an odd combination of understanding, and pure physical lust. I can feel my whole body, my whole being succumb like he is going to squeeze my very life source from me, then he enters me, and it's like I'm just going to explode. All the gathering force emitting like a plasma field around us, he slows me down, and as I exaggerate each wild movement, and slowly conform to a hard grinding pulse, it becomes so clear. The rhythm, our body's soon wreathed like snakes, or mythical dragons. I thought he would have to drag the passion from my breast, but it just flowed. The secret was simple I guess, just like an old Blues tune, "you just have to know how."

"Ridyer, Ridyer stop, stop for a moment, just stop, this is pointless, who are we running from, even if someone does come after us they can't take on twenty Sei," Pine was a second for Ridyer, he was asked to accompany a group of Senz to the bay to end a child hiding there. Even the thought of a group of Senz was exceedingly distasteful for the weary band, they didn't run together unless there was a war afoot, and killing a child, tearing it's flesh, and eating the defenseless thing, this was to much.

"Pine keep moving we must reach the ancient Keep before the Marshal overtakes us, he will end us all before the plan unfolds," Ridyer was just as disgusted by the monstrous play as the rest of the Sei, but it had a larger purpose for a greater stage. He would play his part.

There was no war, at least not yet. This upheaval was created to set the tide in motion. To involve the Au Senz, the Marshal of Fordess, Du Poquith, the Pass of the Fordess Triumvirate. Besides a million other names that he has acquired on countless worlds from the beginning of time, they all seem to mean death in one form, or another, how appropriate.

"Poe is stalking us, you deliberately placed us all at deaths door," Pine moaned. An adventure with a troop was so unusual, these Senz had never experienced warfare, except for Ridyer. He was an ancient Senz, and he knew what it was like to be on a battlefield with millions of Sei warriors fighting in an endless spiral of death. But Pine, and the rest of the little horde joined the hunt because Ridyer asked them to follow him, only a great warrior could make such a request, and be taken seriously. The existential state of being that the Senz embrace is so pervasive that it's overwhelming for them to even consider being part of a whole. Ridyer brought them together, but after the short sortie, and it's dubious purpose the group was already drifting apart.

These Sei on Fordess have never experienced a war. The last battle was so long ago that only a few combatants from that time still exist. But there are many songs, and sagas of the old ways that they are all comfortable with the concepts, just not the practice.

Beyond joining with another Senz for a meditation it's possible that they may never have had any contact with another Sei. The Senz are like old Grisly Bears if they come across another bear they either fuck, or fight, they become annoyed, and repulsed by the very thought of commune.

"Ridyer," Pine has already reached a decidedly sarcastic tone, "Ridyer, several of the Sei have already wandered off, how do you think you're going to hold these warriors together?"

"Stop annoying me with these minor events," Ridyer complains, "why do you think I brought so many Sei for such a simple task, the more they become disheartened, and disburse the harder it will be for the Marshal to overtake us before we reach the Keep."

Pine's retort, "well, you've never seen fit to include me in your plans, I suppose I'm just a bit more fodder to aid in your escape." "Perhaps you are," Ridyer laughs, and then turns to survey his intrepid troop, " hell I'm surprised they held together as long as they did, when I slaughtered the child I thought most of them would have left me in disgust, I even considered that I might have to kill a few who might take serious umbrage at even being connected to such an event."

"Stay with me or wander off Pine, but there is one at the Keep who may be able to take Poquith, we are the cheese, and we must spring the trap before we are gobbled up, our only chance is to stay ahead of Death until we arrive, the one great imperative of all war, run you stupid bastard, run!"

Pine knew it was to late to extricate himself from this fowl nightmare, there would be a song alright, but it would be vile, and unrelenting. He decided to prepare himself for the other Senz meditation, there are only two, fuck, or fight. Several of the Sei ran after Ridyer, some just began to walk away, and some stayed along side Pine, the confusion was palpable. They knew they were done, but at least a true battle, and then die at the hands of a master of death, Du Poquith.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from FORDESSby J. Han Copyright © 2011 by J. Han. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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