Happy Easter 2017

    It is no great secret that our Easter holiday draws on many different sources, but the ancient Sondolean culture and its lasting influence has mostly gone unrecognised. Like all early agriculturalists the Sondoleans closely watched the seasons and marked some days with festivals. Mainstream scholars long believed their springtime tradition of painting eggs was meant to celebrate fertility, but Sondolean history tells a more disturbing tale.

    To understand the Sondoleans we must first understand their faith. They believed in reincarnation, and said the noblest souls would be reborn as the great Sukari birds that soared above their mountain homes.

    The Sukari were also believed to act as envoys for the gods. When winter came they left their nests, and fragments of their large dull eggs were collected and examined by seers who used them to predict the future. As one long winter neared its end the mystic Atamarkis had a premonition of disaster. He was not sure how it would unfold, but he said it would arrive with spring and threaten everything his people held dear.

    None took him very seriously, but when the Sukari returned to their nests they laid brightly coloured eggs unlike any seen before. Some Sondoleans found them delightful but when they hatched their feelings changed. The creatures that emerged from the shells were stunted and misshapen things and adult birds rejected them. The Sondoleans tried to care for them but none of them developed properly. When autumn arrived, and the adult birds left, their offspring had grown larger but were no less pitiful, being featherless, blind and unable to fly. When the next nesting season arrived the Sukari failed to return, and although their sickly young could breed, they laid the same garish eggs which spawned the same vile progeny. Despite their other ailments they were extremely fertile. Soon they had to build new nests to accommodate the eggs they laid. The Sondoleans were yet more alarmed when an enormous lagomorphic monster lumbered from the mountain mists and started swallowing the eggs along with any hatchlings unlucky enough to get in its way.

    When the Sondoleans approached the monster they saw a smaller levitating bunny seemed to be controlling it. Angered by its rampage on what had once been sacred ground, they pelted it with spears and stones, but some unseen force deflected them. Then the smaller bunny spoke. “Begone or face my wrath!” he cried. “None of you can stand against the mighty Gorrapockabus or its master Fenal Veed! Should any of you dare to try, you too shall receive my curse, and your own young shall feed my thralls!” The Sondoleans were so frightened they backed off immediately and left the Gorrapockabus to eat its fill of birds and eggs. When the surviving birds laid more the Gorrapockabus came back and devoured them too, though it always left enough to spawn another generation.

    The Sondoleans let it be, for the small bunny, Fenal Veed, was clearly very dangerous. As the years passed they forgot the Sukari had been considered sacred beings and spoke no more of reincarnation. Their faith became more puritanical and less attuned to the natural world. Only Atamarkis cared to remember the Sukari and clung to the hope they would one day return.

    One night he had a vivid dream which he felt he had to share. He saw the Gorrapockabus gorge itself on coloured eggs as it had many times before; but then he saw it leave the mountains and walk across the Ashen Sea until it reached the Well of Bones. It found handholds in the stonework and climbed down into the catacombs that extended from the well. On command from Fenal Veed, it shat out a great pile of apparently undamaged eggs; and a horde of abominations no human eye was meant to see swarmed from the shadows, smashed the shells, and ate the malformed baby birds that twitched feebly within. The monstrous horde increased in number, then poured out of the catacombs to conquer the entire world. Atamarkis was visibly shaken by his ghastly premonition and the people believed it had to be stopped. The bravest Sondolean warriors offered him their services, but Atamarkis turned them down. Although he was not sure why, he felt only Ruki, a mild-mannered potter’s son, could save his people from destruction. Ruki was just as surprised but he agreed to do his best.

    “It won’t be easy,” Atamarkis warned. “Fenal Veed fears no-one apart from Valan Tabnus. You will find him in the Kiva of Secrets. But he will only help if you solve a riddle from Stru, his idiotic half-brother. For this you will need the help of Miff Minko. She lives in the Kiva of Shadows and has the power to read minds. But Miff will only help you if you provide her with a mirror that does not break before her gaze. You can find one in the Kiva of Snakes, assuming the Snake Queen Sileena allows it.”

    “And how do I deal with Sileena?”

    Atamarkis simply smiled. “You shall offer her a mole like the one between your feet.”

    Ruki looked down, saw the mole, and seized it immediately. “Now where do I find these kivas?” he asked.

    “Walk south,” Atarmarkis said, “until you reach the Iron Canyon on the edge of the Ashen Sea. Each kiva is reached by a tunnel hewn into the canyon’s walls. The Kiva of Snakes is the closest and the Kiva of Secrets lies at the canyon’s very end.”

    That night Ruki packed for his journey and he began it the next day. He hiked down from the mountains and skirted the Ashen Sea until he reached the Iron Canyon. Shortly after entering it he saw the first tunnel’s mouth. Three snakes emerged from the darkness within. “Who dares to approach?” they hissed.

    Ruki introduced himself, told the snakes he came in peace, and pulled the mole from his bag. “I have brought this humble offering for the great Sileena,” he said.

    The three snakes hissed and drew aside. Inscriptions flared on the tunnel walls and lit the way for Ruki. He found the Snake Queen coiled around an enormous pile of treasure surrounded by her hissing thralls. When he offered her the mole, she said he could take any item from the kiva in return, but for all the gold and precious stones, he could not see a single mirror. Sileena grew impatient and asked him what the problem was. When he asked her if she had a mirror she admitted she had none. Then he looked down at the floor. It was paved with obsidian, and the constant rubbing of snakes’ scales had polished each stone to a mirror-like sheen. Ruki prised up one of these stones, thanked the snakes, and went on his way.

    When Ruki reached the next tunnel no-one emerged to challenge him. As he cautiously entered it a great stone door slid shut behind him, darkening the tunnel and cutting him off from the outside world. Miff Minko’s laughter echoed round him, coming from every direction and none. “You have entered the Kiva of Shadows,” she said, “but how do you expect to leave?”

    “I have brought you a mirror,” said Ruki. At first his words were met with silence; then a row of pale flames rose from cressets on the walls. Miff Minko emerged from the shadows that she had learned to use as doors. “This should be amusing,” she said. “What mirror can withstand my gaze?”

    Ruki reached into his bag and held up the paving stone. Miff Minko examined her reflection and her eyes widened in surprise. “This is a gift indeed!” she cried. “There’s no need to ask for favours; I’ve already read your mind. Only Valan Tabnus can save your people from destruction and he’ll only do so if you answer the riddle his half-brother asks. This should be easy with my help. When you’re in the Kiva of Secrets, I’ll stay hidden in the shadows and whisper the right answer to you.”

    Ruki nodded. “I can’t thank you enough.” Miff Minko offered him her hand, and when he took it he found he could enter the shadow realm. Where dark and light met they formed gateways that led to stranger realms beyond, but Miff Minko was only concerned with the one that brought them to the Kiva of Secrets. Ruki stepped through and approached Valan Tabnus, who sat on an impressive throne. Attendant spirits swarmed around him, and his idiotic half-brother drooled and gibbered at his feet.

    “What brings you here?” asked Valan Tabnus. Ruki described the threat he faced and Valan nodded thoughtfully. “This Fenal Veed may pose a threat, but why should I help your kind?”

    Ruki spoke from the heart. “We deserve your help,” he said, “for we care about the lives of others. If our situations were reversed, we would do our best to help you, feeble though our help would be.”

    Valan smiled. “Such humility. I have not been so amused for a while, and perhaps you can offer more. My half-brother Stru will ask you a riddle. If you answer correctly, I will help – but if you fail, you shall die. Are you prepared to face this test?”

    Ruki nodded. “Yes. I am.”

    Stru wiped drool from his lower lip. “How many cats have you caught?” he asked.

    Ruki listened carefully as Miff whispered from the shadows. “I have caught seven cats,” he said, which was actually a lie, though he doubted such things mattered when dealing with the likes of Stru. For several seconds Stru was silent; then he laughed and clapped his hands. “You have caught seven cats!” he yelled.

    Valan managed to hide his surprise. “Well done,” he said. “You’ll have my help. Behind you sits a wooden chest. It contains a fine-toothed drill, a brass syringe, some lamp oil, a piece of flint and sealing wax. Take these to the Sukari nests, choose an egg, and use the drill to make a small hole in the shell. Fill the syringe with oil and inject it into the egg yolk, then close the hole with sealing wax and wait for the Gorrapockabus. When it swallows the egg, follow it, and once it has gone underground use the flint to light the rest of the oil. Fenal Veed should be destroyed along with his abominations.”

    After thanking Valan, Ruki took the chest and left. Miff Minko stepped out of the shadows which she used to take him home. On returning to his people, Ruki gave them Valan’s instructions, which they followed faithfully. When the Gorrapockabus returned to its underground retreat Ruki lit the lamp oil, and as a small flame rose before him, the ground rumbled ominously and great gouts of fire shot from the well. Screams no human being should hear emanated from the blaze and massive chunks of burning flesh fell like a volcanic rain. Feeling very satisfied, the Sondoleans returned to their homes, only to find Fenal Veed had escaped incineration. “I warned you not to meddle!” he screamed. “You may have delayed my plans, but my powers are as strong as ever! Now face my unbridled rage!”

    The Sondoleans shrank back in fear as the bunny raised his cane – but before he could unleash his curse, something uttered a shrill cry, swept down from the clouds and seized him. The people watched in wonderment as one of the birds they had forgotten tore their nemesis apart. In the days and weeks to come more Sukari returned to their old nesting grounds, and to everyone’s delight, the much duller eggs they laid only contained healthy young. The last of the afflicted birds were humanely put to sleep, but some of their garish eggs were preserved in memory of these troubled times, inspiring many later cultures to claim these symbols as their own!