Of the Home-Coming of the Demons, and how Lord Juss was taught in a Dream whither he must seek for Tidings of his Dear Brother, and how They took counsel at Krothering, and determined of their Expedition to Impland
The First Expedition to Impland is an episode of homecoming and outgoing.
"Midsummer night, ambrosial, starry-kirtled, walked on the sea... Astern, great clouds bridged the gates of day, boiling upwards into crags of wine-dark vapour and burning plumes of sunrise."
"As a lover gazing on his mistress, so gazed Lord Juss on Demonland rising from the sea."
"About cock-crow came a dream unto Lord Juss, standing by his head and touching his eyes so that he seemed to wake and look about the chamber. And he seemed to behold an evil beast all burning as a drake, busy in his chamber, with many heads, the most venomous that ever he the days of his life had seen, and about it its five fawns, like to itself but smaller. It seemed to Juss that in place of his sword there lay a great spear of fair workmanship on the table by his bed; and it seemed to him in his dream that this spear had been his all his life, and was his greatest treasure, and that with it he might accomplish all things and without it scarcely aught to mind."
On page 110, the author extensively displays the architecture of Demonland.
As a British work in English, there must be, and is, an extensive round of discussion before action is taken. In this counsel the most fascinating of the Demon Lords, Brandoch Daha, discusses a meditative vision had among ruins were small things dwelled, particularly the little martlet which escorts the narrative viewer, Lessingham, placing the narrative hand clearly on the pulse of the story. This considered, one can appreciate the story from the author's perspective as an interactive experience, with E. R. Eddison's story line being informed by dreams, waking visions and possibly drug use.
Notes
Caravanserai:
car·a·van·sa·ry.
[ˌkerəˈvansərē]
NOUN
caravanserai (noun)
1. an inn with a central courtyard for travelers in the desert regions of Asia or North Africa.
2. a group of people traveling together; a caravan.
ORIGIN
late 16th cent.: from Persian kārwānsarāy, from kārwān ‘caravan’ + sarāy ‘palace.’
Skulker Jones: A Tale of Dark Deviltry at the End of Caucasian Time
Skulker Jones is the sequel to A Hoodrat Halloween and an urban horror tale of a failed man looking for a final saving grace.
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