Mr. Dove and the Pipes of Creation

[davedove]

Scene 13


My head throbbed as I regained my senses. Unfortunately what met my senses wasn’t pleasant. The cold stone floor beneath me felt filthy and a stench of decay filled my nostrils.

As I tried to push myself up, a wave of dizziness swept over me and I collapsed back to the floor with a moan.

I heard movement and a pair of hands helped me sit up. “Easy there,” said a familiar man’s voice.

“Thanks,” I said to him. “They hit me pretty hard but I think I’ll be okay.”

“Commander Dove?” the voice said in shock. “What are you doing here?”

My eyes were slowly becoming accustomed to the sparse light in the room. I turned to face the man who had helped me. In the dim light he looked remarkably similar to the Steve Ashton I knew. It seems I had found the Wizard.

“Looking for you,” I replied, “But it looks like we’re both in a bit of trouble. And by the way, it’s not Commander Dove, just plain Mister Dove, but you can call me Dave.”

“Then you are the Mister Dove I was told to find. Captain Pleater never mentioned you would look so much like my ship’s Security Officer. Are you related, brothers perhaps?”

“No, I’m not a brother exactly. I’m the same man, but I’m from another dimension.”

“Another dimension? Like one of the alternate realms of creation the fiction writers describe?”

“Exactly like that,” I replied. I looked around my surroundings. We were in a large stone room with a single, heavy door. The bars of the door’s small window a faint light came in, probably from a torch or lantern outside. “Where are we?” I asked.

“In my dungeon,” said a weak voice from the shadows of the room. As I watched, a man crawled towards us. Although they were now dirty and torn, his clothes seemed to be well made and fairly luxurious.

“And who are you?” I asked.

“Oh, forgive me, David,” said the Wizard. “Mr. Dove, allow me to introduce Lord Swill.”

[davedove]

Scene 14


“Lord Swill?” I asked, “The Lord Swill who runs this village.”

The man shook his head sadly. “Yes, I am that man, or at least I was until that interloper arrived a few weeks ago.”

“Do you mean your nephew?”

“Nephew!” he spat out in disgust. “That man is no more my nephew than you are.”

“Then how is it that he’s running things now. He claims he’s working for you.”

“And behaving like a tyrant, yes, I know. Steven here has told me what the villagers have been saying. As I said, he arrived only a few weeks ago and asked for an audience. I try to accommodate all such requests and I granted his. Shortly after that I found myself here in the dungeon.”

“But how, what happened to all your men?”

“I don’t know; somehow he has gained control of them, or at least my inner council.”

“Controlling them, how?”

“Again, I don’t know. They seemed to follow his orders willingly. But when I looked at them, they didn’t seem the same. I believe he has bewitched them.”

“Bewitched? What do you mean?”

“Magic!” he declared, “Or sorcery, wizardry, whatever you want to call it.”

That made some sense, I thought to myself. This world was following a fantasy format, and thus magic would be a part of the setting.

“And he’s kept you down here since then?” I asked.

“Yes, a few times he has come down to question me, but usually I only see the guard who brings me a few meager scraps for a meal.”

“So, do you think Steven and I are in for the same fate?”

A shadow moved across the floor and a familiar voice came through the bars. “You will meet your fate soon enough, Mr. Dove. You will both be hung in the middle of town tomorrow morning.”

I slowly turned to face the door, but I had a good idea who I would see. There were slight differences in the lines on the face, but there was no mistaking the flowing blond hair.

Our captor was this world’s Grant.

[wildrover]

Moar! Moar!

...You have my attention ...