When the sun set, I found myself a little clearing where I lit a fire and went to sleep. Later that night I was awakened by a small storm I knew had to come from the wings of a dragon. And so it did. It was the mysterious dragon-lady from the night before.
  - Why haven't you left Dark-Wood yet. Have you lost your way?
  - No, I said
  - I decided to visit the castle of the grand mage, ruler of Dark-Wood.
  - Why? She sounded surprised.
  - Why not? I know someone who lives there. At least I once knew her. I want to pay her a visit; remind her of old times.
  - What if she does not want your visit? What if she doesn't want to be reminded of old times? What if she is happy here?
I thought about that for a while. Then I said:
  - If so, I want to look into her eyes and hear her say so. If she can look int my eyes and say she is happy here, I will vanish from her life. But untill then I have a task here in Dark-Wood.
She stood quite still for a moment. Then she jumped back on the dragon and ordered him to take off. The last thing she ever said to me was:
  - Go back, you idiot! You have nothing to do here. Go back!

In stead of following her advice I walked deeper into the forrest when dawn came. Whenever I came to a place where the path split into two, I followed the darkest of the two. Two days more I spent going deeper into the wood. Sometimes at night I heard maneless beasts howling for my blood, but soon after I heard a roar from a dragon. The mysterious woman watched over me, despite of the harsh words.

When the sun set on the second day, I saw a shimmering light through the trees. I followed the light and came to the foot of a steep hill, on top of which was a castle of jet-black stone. I started to climb the torch-lit pathway to the top. When I reached the gate to the castle, I blew the dark horn that hung there. I did not have to wait very long. Soon the door opened and i stood face to face with an ogre. It's broad mouth with the sharp teeth opened and it called for someone else. I was paralysed with fear. Off course I had heard of ogres, but to stand in front of this seven feet tall creature of overwhelming size was not the same thing as hearing of it.

It took only a few seconds, then a grey-caped man pushed the ogre aside and I found myself looking at an exceptionally hairy human with golden, predator-like eyes. He studied me for a while with these odd eyes, then he opened his mouth and revealed pointed teeth and fangs that caught the firelight.
  - Who are you and what are you doing here?
  - My name is not important, but you can call me Diver. I have travelled far and have now returned to visit an old dear friend of mine.
  - We have not many here, who have left old friends outside Dark-Wood. Who might your friend be?
  - My friend is called Mailena. She was brought to this place some years ago to mary the grand-mage's son.
The varetiger stood quiet for a long time and the ogre beside him was growing impatient, when he finally turned his eyes in my direction again.
  - I do not know whether you may visit queen Mailena. You must in any case first meet the grand-mage and ask him for permission.
  - Can I see him now?
  - Yes, his horrible majesty has just opened court. Follow me!
So, I followed this half-cat through the maze the castle was.
Through narrow corridors and halls like meadows. And everywhere I looked, I saw horrifying creatures and people tormented by them, screaming out their horror and pain. I saw many things during that walk. Things no man in his right mind would ever want to see and which the few who have seen it and returned, would never speak of.

In the centre of all theese horrifying activities, was the grand-mage. Sitting on a throne decorated with bones and sculls he was. Watching the hundreds of odd creatures who had ventured to this castle of all evil. The fire-light was behind him, and all I could see of him was his black cloak and in the even deeper blackness of his hood, two shining red eyes burned their way through my soul.

  - Why have you come here? he whispered.
  - Who are you, who dares enter Gloom Hall, with an pure mind and an open heart?
I looked at him, thinking desperately of what to say. Then I decided to stick with the story I had started out with.
  - I am an old friend to the queen Mailena. Since I happened to be near Dark-Wood I thought...
The grand-mage lifted a glowed hand to silence me, and my voice trailed out in the sudden silence.
  - Spare me your thoughts, he said with a voice, that could freeze flames.
  - The queen Mailena is quite content, where she is now, and she has no wish to meet anyone from the outside world.
I dragged my eyes away from the red dots in his hood, trying to keep my will away from him.
  - I - want - to see - Mailena, I finally got past my clenched teeth.
  - As I have already told you, Mailena wishes to see noone from the outside, he said in an icecold, dreadfully kind voice.
I fought against his will, and had he not relaxed it for a moment, I would have lost.
  - Let Mailena tell me that herself! Then I'll leave, I shouted.
The red eyes pinned me down like a butterfly with the precission of a master-archsman. I could no longer fight him. Then he loosened his grip and smiled. I couldn't see the smile, but I could feel it.
  - Then let Mailena tell him herself, he said and snapped his fingers at a dark elve standing right next to the throne. The elve disappeared shortly and when he came back, the red-glowing eyes shortly glazed and the grand-mage pronnounced the repply.
  - The queen Mailena will honour us with her perscense at tomorrow nights audience.

I spent a rather unrestful day. The screams of the victims subsided, while their torturers slept, but the day-active staff noised about, cleaning and maintaining the castle. Caravans with food and slaves arrived and the ogre and dark-elven guards marched about.

When the sun set, the castle woke to life. I could hear the growls of dragons, who greated the first star, with rattling wings. I heard the Great Horn bid the sun farewell and wellcome the dusk-hour. And with the Great Horn the torturers reawoke and soon after, the Castle was once more filled with the screames of unfortunate travellers and slaves, whose path had crossed that of the grand-mage of Dark-Wood.

The dreadfull varetiger form the last night fetched me in my chamber, roughly an hour after the Great Horn had sounded. When I withdrew from the door, where he suddenly had appeared, he smiled, revealing his fangs.
  - There is no need to fear me - now.
The short pause told me all about his hunger for human blood, and I didn't doubt for a moment that the golden goblet he then put to his lips contained blood, taken from one of the poor prisoners. He put the empty goblet down on the table just inside the door and once more flashed his now red fangs at me.
  - It is time for the audience.
When I didn't react immediately, he grabbed my arm, and I felt his sharp claws penetrate my skin and draw blood. At the very same time, he licked his lipps and totally paralysed with fear I followed his lead to the throne-room.

In the throne-room the grand-mage had already taken his seat and around him were a lot of creatures, trying to attract his attention to the matters they each brougt before him. However, the grand-mage seemed rather preoccupied, and as soon as we entered the hall, he waved away the creatures in front of him and brought the varetiger to his throne with a firm look. The varetiger listened to the mage in absolute silence, while I moved toward the throne. In front of me, the crowd split, so that I unobstructed could approach the grand-mage.

When I reached the foot of the few steps up to the throne, I halted and looked up at the grand-mage, who with an annoyed movement of the hand waved the varetiger, who was still whispering in his invisible ear, away. His glowing red eyes penetrated my soul like a fist in my stomach. I winced, but kept looking at him. Apparently sattisfied, he snapped his fingers at a dark-alf, atanding behind the throne and sent him with a pointing finger to the door in the side of the hall. The constant murmur was silenced by the sound of a huge gong and while the sound trailed off, the huge doors opened soundlessly.

A whisper went across the hall as a lady entered. Her golden-blonde hair was held back by a golden tiara with saphires and she was dressed in a saphire-blue dress in the exact colour of a dragon-rider. By her way of moving, noone could doubt that she was a queen and the crowd split to let her through.

While all the attention was aimed at the queen Mailena, the grand-mage stood and greeted the standing.
  - Welcome my daughter, he whispered with his usually low voice, that forced people to devote their full attention to him, in order to understand him. Mailena curtisied gracefully.
  - My lord, she said in a voice I at once recognised, although the last time I had heard it, it had been muffled by the helmet of a dragon-rider. The mysterious dragon-lady who had advised me to leave Dark-Wook had been Mailena. She had changed dramatically. Where her skin had before been golden, it was now ivory and her eyes were large and tired.

Obviously aware of what she had to do, she turned toward me. Her tired eyes met mine and without ever uttering a word, she asked me why I had come. I tried, in the same way, to answer her that I had done it all for her, but I don't know if I got through to her. She then spoke, her voice as tired as her eyes.
  - You have come to see me; here I am.
I tried vainly to wet my dry lipps and answered in the same solemn tone she had used.
  - I have come to ask you if you are happy here.
I began to get the feeling we were carrying out an ancient ritual, whose words had long since lost their meaning to us.
  - As my lord has already told you, I am quite content to be here.
Her eyes asked me not to believe her, but the rest of her face begged me not to see her eyes.
As I stood, wondering what to do next, I felt the grand-mage slowly tugging at my mind. I knew that if I was to do anything, I would have to do it immediately. I reached out and grabbed Mailena's hand.
  - I have come all this way for you. Are you happy here?
Mailena stood still and I could feel that she was under the control of the grand-mage, who impatiently waved his hands to clear the hall of the crowd while he delt with us.

When the huge doors slammed shut behind the last and we were all alone in the enormous hall, he turned all his attention to us and ordered me to let go of Mailena, which I then did. Then he leaned back on his throne and domed his fingers.
  - So you want Mailena, he whispered.
The answer to that was so obvious, I didn't even bother to say it.
  - The prize for her will be huge. Perhaps even greater that you are willing to pay, he said with a glance to Mailena.
  - Then tell me the price and I will see if I will pay it, I said firmly. More firmly than I in fact felt.
  - The price for her, being the only wife my son wants, and her not having given him any children yet is ... well, 1 million gold-pieces.
I could almost hear the laughter in his voice, knowing that I would never be able to pay such a royal sum. Still I raised my head, determined not to give up so easily.
  - I have no money, no land and no other possessions, than what I carry with me. If you are willing to take me in exchange I will stay here in her place.

The grand-mage laughed, loudly and coldly.
  - You? You I would not even trade for the meegrest of my prisoners. No, you are not worth enough to trade with Mailena.
He sat quietly a while, while I waited in silence, run out, as I was of offers to pose him. Then he fixed me with his ruby eyes and spoke.
  - However, I can think of one thing you could take with you from here, which would be as valuable to me as the queen Mailena.
I looked hopefully at him.
  - If you were to take my eyes with you from here, I could see all, which you see, hear all what you hear. That would be of great value to me. But you must know that the transition will take seven days and seven nights and that the pain all the way through will be excrusiating.
I didn't have to think about it for very long. The empty, staring eyes in Mailena's fair face was more than I could take.
  - I accept the deal, I whispered.
  - If you will promise to let Mailena go completely.
The grand-mage promised that and I spent another unrestful day, this time with Mailena at my side, before the transition was to begin.

I can't remember how it actually took place. All I can remember is crazening pain. I screamed and screamed and screamed nonstop, untill my voice could no longer scream. Then I kept on screaming without sound, kept awake for seven days and seven nights by the excrusiating, maddening pain I had taken on me to free Mailena.

At the end of the seventh day the pain slowly subsided, my eyes to a burning sensation and the rest of my body aching, from muscles that had been tense for seven days and seven nights. My voice was gone, and so was my vision, but I could quite clearly hear the grand-mage speak.
  - Now the transition is completed, and you have my eyes. The pain will disappear and you will be able to see through them as I will. When the sun sets, I will send you by dragon to the village from whence you both came. Although I could as easily keep Mailena now, I choose to keep my promise and send her with you. Beside, her popularity has even risen above that of my son, so she is beginning to become a nuisance, he finished mumbling.

When I heard the Great Horn, I was taken to a dragon, where I could hear Mailena talk quietly to me. She comforted me while we flew, and it was her care for me, that got us into the eldest's house. We spent the next tow weeks in the village while my eyes healed and Mailena got used to sleeping at night again. Then we moved on. I could see again, and I felt from time to time how the grand-mage took over my eyes. When we reached Dark-Bridge we were overtaken by a messenger, whom we later met at an inn. He told us that the grand-mage had burnt down the village and killed all in it, and that he continued to move along the exact route we had taken. We were heading toward the capital, but when we heard theese news, I understood that the grand-mage had used my eyes to plan is invasion, and we very quickly turned up, into the hills that led to these mountains. We found this desolate castle when winter had almost caught up with us, and since I heard the story of the messenger, I have worn a piece of cloth over my eyes, so that they would not see anything the grand-mage can use.

The old man leaned back in his chair, stroking the woman softly over her hair. She had sat quietly besides his chair during most of the story, but in the last part, tears had started to flow from her eyes and she was crying softly.

Even here, the man continued, I wear the cloth to avoid that my eyes by chance should fall on something the grand-mage can use. As you know, the king fought down the uproar the grand-mage had caused and sent him fleeing back to Dark-Wood, where not even the bravest of the king's knights dare follow him.

He turned his attention all-together from the story to comfort the woman beside him, and as he stroked her hair it slided back from her ears, which were pointed. As I noticed that, I heard him softly ask her to leave the room. She stood and left at once. He turned his face toward me and sighed.
  - Yes, she is Mailena. The years have aged her far more that most elvens ever do. For a while she was determined to kill herself, because she was the cause of all that pain I had gone through and for the voluntary blindness I suffer. She is still young, meassured by elven standards, and she should not be caught up here, with an old, blind man like me. But she refuses to leave, and helps me in any way she can. I must admit that the thought of suicide has crossed my mind from time to time, but I think there has to be a reason for all of this, and that suicide would make it all pointless.

He bent his head and thoughtfully toyed with his stick for a while. Then he said, as uttering his own thoughts only to himself.
  - The price HE sat on her freedom was greater that I had ever thought possible. But then again, he is the ruler of all evil.

The old man had ended his story and asked me quietly to lead him to the door, where Mailena waited for him. I helped him in silence and bade them both good night, when we reached the hall. The next morning he called me to his chamber, which was as gloomy as the rest of the castle. He told me that he had enjoyed my stories and regretted that he had nothing to pay me with. I thanked him for the kind thought and said, that the story he had told me, was all the pay I could ever want.

Knowing that this brief meeting in his chamber meant the end of my stay in the castle, I packed my things, fetched my horse in the stable and saddled it. As I rode through the hanging gates, I looked back and saw Mailena and the blind man standing in one of the windows. In that very moment, the cloth before his eyes fell down, and although he quickly covered them with his hands, I had just time to see two, red, glowing pinpoints.

As you can all understand, I never again returned to this eerie place. Several years later, however, when I was in Blue-Waters, I asked one of the clercks who lived in the deserted castle. He told me that an old, blind man, who called himself Diver had lived there for some five years, but that he then had disappeared without a trace.

Later that night I spoke with a merchant who travelled a lot in the Thunder Mountains, and he told me that a crazy, hairy, wild man wnadered about in the highest part of the mountains. There were not many who had gotten close to him, and lived to tell of it, but those who had, had said that he had glowing, red eyes.

I immagine the grand-mage had gotten tired of looking at a piece of cloth all the time and that, in the following struggle for control, he had killed Mailena and the dwarf. I suppose that Diver, crazed by the fight between wills, had fled to the highest part of the mountains in the hope that there he could keep the grand-mage from seeing anything he might use.

This was the story of Diver and Mailena. It is not about love or about great and heroic deeds, but it is about the frightened men who do corrageous things, despite of their fear. It is not about glamorous dragonhunts or troll-slaying. Instead it is a story about the sence of honour that can lie also in those not noble of birth. It is not a story with a happy ending, but it is of pain and fight and fear, the things every human life is full of. Therefore it is a story worth telling.