Practice makes perfect.

And Faolan had much practice to do before he was perfect, and even so he realized that there was a very great chance that never would he be perfect. But he also knew that he had to keep on living, and if that meant practicing with the sword until he fell over with exhaustion, so be it.

Some people laughed at the blacksmith's son as they passed. Most of them had the decency--if you can call it that--to cover their mouths with their hands and turn their heads away, but still a few of them just gaffawed at him as he swung the sword around in the air and tried to chop at the makeshift target he had set up. Yes, yes, it was so funny, wasn't it? His father when alive had been a fantastic blacksmith. Not as great as the dwarves, but a fairly good one for a human. He had mastered weaponry and knew how to use a sword. And now his failure of a son could barely lift it without hurting himself. He did not look forward to the bruises that would cover his body from falling on the ground and whacking himself with the hilt.

Sweat poured down the sides of his face and his shirt clung to his aching body. But once more he glared as imposingly as possible--which proved quite a task seeing his round, youthful face made it look more like a pout--at the log propped up as his target. He had made several chips in it, but hadn't been able to get any really good shots--mostly because every time he lifted the sword and swung it, the momentum knocked him off balance and he fell to the ground. Most of the chips in the log had been on pure accident . . . something he dully admitted to himself.

A sea breeze picked up and swirled his hair around his face, cooling the sweat on his skin. In a matter of an hour, night would fall and the marina would swirl to life with people going to neighboring taverns. Ah, but the boy in the center of the park near the large oak tree would be all alone as he feverishly swung at the random log. And missed. And missed. And missed.

Faolan was sure this is not what his father wanted his son to be like.

He focused his eyes on the log and concentrated on it, thinking. Yes . . . he told himself to pretend that it was she, the one who had killed his family. But he wouldn't let himself concentrate on the details too much; the memories were too fresh in his mind. Without another hesitation, he lunged forward and swiped at the log, chipping off the biggest chunk he had managed so far. A piece the size of his forearm spun away to the side as Faolan fell over onto the ground.

He had a long way to go.

Stupid human wizards. He knew not their magic, so they thought they could whisk non-humans away wherever. Had he been familiar with their magic, he would have crushed the pathetic mortal. As it was, he hadn't known much at all about Arda, let alone the forest in which he'd been. Now he was just outside some city and too close for people not to have noticed him. As a result, there had been much annoyance in the form of screaming and running. Wild flailing seemed to become these pathetic humans. He grabbed one that was really little. She was probably a child. Regardless, he was annoyed now. With his massive hands, he ripped her body in half and shoved the lower half into his mouth, blood spurting everywhere and the screams of a woman nearby hurting his ears. He kicked out as he chewed with his razor-sharp teeth and sent her flying. She collapsed against a tree as he swallowed and then shoved the other half of the girl's bloody, lifeless corpse beneath his trunks into his waiting mouth. Hers was a tender meat and had a good taste, but she'd probably have tasted better after a long roast on a spit. Either way, though, he was hungry and now had the main course to eat. He went over to the woman now lying against the tree and started to eat her.

It was only a few minutes later that he reached the city. Now even more people were running and screaming. They shouldn't be running and screaming; they should be bowing to him! They should be begging him to spare their lives and offering him sacrifices! He was their superior by race, but he was also a king! This was no way to treat a king, especially a demonic king that could rip them apart and eat them without giving it more than a split second's thought! He ignored the annoying humans, though, as they were unimportant. Perhaps he could find something more to eat around here than them.

The ground shook with the weight of his footsteps as he wandered through the city, his height and width (the width including his arms and ears) making it difficult to walk without knocking things aside or stomping on them. He crushed his way around a corner and came upon what looked like some kind of training ground. There was a rather clumsy-looking boy with a sword. He laughed; it was a low, deep, rumbling sound. The boy couldn't possibly fight his own kind, let alone one like him. He was amusing.

Faolan picked himself up and took the sword once more in his hand. He should have listened to his father--he should have learned how to use a sword when his parents had told him to. But now it was far too late! Alas, so foolish was he; all he wanted to do was put his nose into books and read, wasting away the precious daylight hours. And what had they got him? Oh, now he knew the definition of the word "Descry" and he knew what a "pleiad" was; his brain had surpassed that of many of his peers. But he didn't know how to hold a sword.

But he would learn. Faolan knew that he did not lack much in muscle since his father had made him work in the smithy. It was now all a matter of using those muscles in a coordinated manner whilst holding a giant sharp object. It's not too bad, he told himself, but he knew it was a joke. It was bad. It was really bad. As a matter of fact, he thought he could hear some distant screams of--

The ground started to shake just as Faolan lunged forward and--miracle of miracles!--stabbed the log through the heart. He grapsed the sword with both hands and tried to wrench it out of the log, and he looked up to see what had made the ground tremble beneath his feet. Surely the gods weren't laughing at him, were they? He huffed with effort as he pulled on the sword (he had managed to get it stuck, he realized with annoyance) and his eyes scanned the marina. So far he did not see what could possibly have made the ground shake. Perhaps it was just a giant cart and--oh my gods that was so not a cart! His heart stopped and his eyes grew wide as he looked up to see a giant elephant looming not too far away.

He gulped and his mouth dropped open. With a yank, he managed to free his sword, and he looked up at the elephant. His mind screamed for him to run, but his body had turned to geletin. And now he could see with great clarity the blood staining the monster front, dripping down from its mouth and smudged across its tusks.

Life just kept getting better, didn't it?

Now the fool had managed to get his sword stuck in the log! This only made the elephantine demon laugh harder. He practically doubled over as his eyes closed and he laughed heartily, the deep voice filling the air around him as the others' screaming faded. The crowds dissipated in the wake of the massive barbarian as he made his slow, lumbering way through the port city of Lomedor. He was now at one of the ports here; there was a sign nearby, but he couldn't read and didn't care what it said besides. He was more interested in the fool that was now jerkily removing his sword from the log. He stood up and stared at the elephant demon with his sword raised pathetically. If the kid couldn't even hit a flaming target, how was he supposed to hit a flaming LIVE target?

The kid was more than pathetic: he was weak. It was clear he'd never held a weapon in his life until now. It was even clearer that the kid was terrified. Well, it was clear to Abigor at any rate. Abigor finally (albeit slowly) straightened and his laughter subsided, only to be replaced by a grin hidden by his trunks and his tusks. He looked down at the pathetic weakling, disdain and massive superiority all-too-obvious in his too-big eyes. This one would make a fine addition to his stomach. First, though, he wanted to see if he was useful in other ways. Perhaps he knew all about Arda.

"What is this place?" he asked in a voice that echoed in the eerie silence created by the absence of anyone with half a brain anywhere near him. "What you call it?"

He wasn't stupid, of course. He just didn't know anything about grammar and such, and he knew even less about geography - especially his present geographical position. All he knew for certain was that he was here because of a wizard and he needed to find a way back to the mountains. It was the wizard, after all, that had separated him from his party. Now he had sent him away from the forest, too. He didn't know where he was and he didn't know how to get home.

Home: that was a funny word. He hadn't been home since he'd been banned from the Frozen Lands. Regardless, things were what they were. He'd deal with what was going on now instead of growling about the past.

Faolan couldn't take his eyes off of the elephant thing. Great, now even giant beasts had the nerve to come up and laugh at his pathetic weaponry skills. His face turned bright red as he thought about it; maybe it was sent by the gods. Buuuut then again, would the gods send a blood-smeared elephant giant to come and laugh at him? Well, those gods were pretty bizare.

No time for blasphemy! The elephant now asked Faolan questions, and though his mind raced, he couldn't get any words out of his mouth. Of course he knew where he was! He spent hours sitting with his books which told him that he was in fact in Lomedor in a bizarre and wonderful world Faolan would never be able to see. And just when he got the words out, he realized how silly it was.

"We're in Lo--" he started, but he clamped his lips together and stood there staring at the elephant. Run, Faolan, you idiot! But his body wouldn't move. He gripped the sword firmly in his hands and stared at the elephant.

Abigor's humor was very quickly starting to fade as he looked upon the pitiful human. Not only did he not know how to use a sword any better than an elephantine youngling, he clearly knew next to nothing about the spoken word. He seemed to have completely forgotten how to talk at first, his mouth working in what might have been a silent scream - or perhaps it was just an attempt to get moisture into the mouth, though that seemed highly unlikely. Then again, given the present situation, he wouldn't have been one tiny bit surprised. These humans seemed to be mortified when faced with anything that was bigger and better than they were, after all. In the Frozen Lands, it didn't matter how much bigger or better your enemy was; if they challenged you, you took the fight to them. You never let it get to you. You always took the fight boldly to them, forcing them to fight in a corner - and just when they started to go mad and fight the way any trapped animal did, you set loose your entire army on them. Then they had absolutely no chance to survive - let alone win - whatsoever. It was a dangerous strategy, perhaps, but it had never failed Abigor. This man, however, was no more than an idiot desperately trying to find out how best to react to a simple question.

Finally, though, he did managed to speak a few words. Unfortunately, the sentence was incomplete and he didn't manage to fully name this place. Whatever this place was, Abigor needed to know about it. How could he leave it, after all, if he did not know what he was leaving? For all he knew, he might be on yet another plane of existence. He didn't think so, though. After all, everything looked the same - well, for the most part, anyway. There just seemed to be a lot fewer trees and a lot less snow and ice. There were also a lot of strange-looking buildings that couldn't possibly have been built by elephantines. After all, the doors were far too small!

"What is Lo? Is this place Lo? Is Lo country or city? Speak, puny human!"

All things considered, Faolan thought he was dealing with this quite well. After all, he had not soiled his britches yet, which he was sure many people would do when faced with a giant blood-stained elephant asking for directions. Perhaps if it were just a friendly elephant, Faolan would have gladly have told him where he was, but the sight of the blood unnerved him greatly. (Then there was the little fact that it spoke to him; Faolan had never read about elephants speaking.)

He shook his head at the elephant. "I, um, no speak uh langwahge," he stammered, his eyes shifting nervously back and forth. "I from uh a-nother country." Yes, yes, that was it. He tightened his sweaty grip on the sword and took a step away slowly. "I go now. Um. Water my uh chikenz."

Water my chickens?!? he suppressed a groan at his own stupidity. Couldn't you have at least supplied a flower name? All that knowledge does nothing for you if you can't use it. But he forced a smile on his face and bowed slightly to the giant elephant. Then he took a few steps back, leaving the log on the ground where it was. He moved slowly at first, his large eyes still locked upon the enormous bulk of the elephant. He gulped and then turned and ran. No freaking way was he ever going to outfight that monstrosity. His shoes barely touched the ground as he ran across the grass and towards the cobblestone road.

And then he tripped. The sword flew out of his hand and he quickly rolled over onto his back and propped himself up, looking to see what he tripped over. "Eww," he said, wrinkling his nose. It looked like it had once been a person but was now a squished blob. Faolan turned his horrified eyes up to see the elephant thing, and he quickly scrambled over to gather his sword.

Had he been able to, Abigor would have wrinkled his trunks just as the puny little human had wrinkled his nose. Humor had quickly turned to irritation, true, but now that irritation was growing stronger. This human...were all judged on appearance alone in this world? It was pathetic! Where Abigor came from, one sat and talked with one before judging them. The incident in which he'd been banished had been a rare occurrence. This was ridiculous. He should just give up now and eat this pathetic morsel. Then again, he was so skinny that he'd probably have been far more useful as a toothpick than as any kind of small meal. Besides, Abigor had already eaten one human today. He'd eat more later if he was hungry. Right now, though, all he waned was information.

In three quick steps, his foot rested on the sword and his hand was grasping the back of the puny human's shirt. He lifted the human up and turned him until his other hand grasped the front of the human's shirt. He let go of the human's back and brought him up to his own eye level. His face was quite literally within roughly an inch of the human's terrified visage, his eyes wide as saucers. He growled, his voice leading into his next words as he faced the human.

"Now, listen you."

He shook the human roughly and glared hard at him. That glare was enough to split rocks.

"Me wants to know things. What this city called?! What you name?! Why everyone scared?! I not attacked city - yet!"

He added a particularly harsh glare at the last word. Really, he didn't need to know the human's name. But he wanted to know his name for future reference. He hadn't decided yet if he was going to eat the human or not, but one thing he knew for sure was that he didn't like this human one bit. He'd get what he could out of him and then decide whether or not he was going to eat him. Such a pathetic morsel he was, hardly worth the thought of eating, but he was just irritated enough to do it now.

Faolan's wide eyes grew even wider--if that was any possible--as the elephant approached. The recesses of his mind scanned over the pages and pages of books he had read, but he couldn't recall ever seeing anything about giant elephants that walked on hind legs and wore blood. But the elephant's shadow fell across the young man's body and he tried to scurry away.

However, the elephant had other plans. As he dangled Faolan in the air, the boy could not think about anything except for the fact that he just might wet himself now. His eyes scanned across the blood caked around the elephant's mouth. Its rough, cracked leather skin was but inches from Faolan, and the giant tusk gleamed in the fading evening light.

Faolan gulped. The elephant's wide eyes gleamed so close to him, and he could see his entire face reflected. And crap, he looked freaking scared. Of course, of course. A giant elephant had just picked him up off of the ground; what did he expect?

He opened his mouth, but his tongue was completely parched. He could not even utter a few simple words or squeak out his name. For several long seconds he dangled there, staring into the frightening eye of the beast.

"Lomedor," he finally gasped.

His eyes gleamed with satisfaction as he stared at the tiny, pathetic weakling's ugly human face. Yes, it was ugly. Anything non-elephantine was absolutely hideous to Abigor. The very ground upon which he stood was like a pathetic piece of semi-useful stone. With a bit of melting and reshaping, it could be made into a decent weapon or a part of a decently sized building, but in its present state it was unnatural and useless. So, yes, the human was ugly to him. He was a horrendous blot, nothing more. But his satisfaction stemmed from his sudden ability to form a coherent word. As previously stated, Abigor might have been ignorant, but he most certainly was not stupid.

"Good," he rumbled in that low, deep voice that was so intimidating to these humans. "Now," he continued, "next question. Where this place from big forest? Big forest, lots of trees, people with funny crossbows. They had no cross-shaft, only piece of wood with string and long bolts. Bolts were long as my arm! What they called? And what that forest called? And why those people try to kill me? Why? All I do is walk. Not my fault trees too small and have no brain so can't get out of my way. I am king! They should bow to me! Instead they stand still! They don't bow! But you tell me. Where this place from big forest with little trees?"

That was more than he'd ever said in one sitting before. For him, it was a mouthful and then some. For now, though, it did not matter. All that mattered was getting the info necessary to explore this place. He might let the human go after all. He was too weak and small to be of any real nutritional value, after all - not that Abigor had ever heard such big words before, of course - but then again, he might be tasty. All in all, he was still debating. He was also still waiting for an answer.

The wind blew through the marina and rustled through the trees. Perhaps on any other night it would have been gorgeous. Perhaps it indeed was gorgeous to many other people around Lomedor, many people who were not being dangled multiple feet from the ground by giant blood-stained elephants who had the ability to speak. The wind ruffled Faolan's hair and cooled his sweaty cheek, but right now he did not take careful note of the slight southeasterly seabreeze.

A forest? he thought when the foul animal spoke, its breath putrid and odiforous. Faolan wrinkled his nose slightly as he tried his best to breathe from his mouth, however his actions came to a sudden halt when he found that the elephant's tight grip on his shirt cut off the oxygen supply to his lungs. He reached up and tugged at his collar and after a few desperate moments managed to take a deep breath. After gasping precious air for a moment, he finally processed the elephant's words fully.

Faolan shook his head; he had never been outside of Lomedor and thus did not know about a forest. Okay, maybe that was not all true since he had read about many forests in his books, but right now all information had sloshed out of his head via his ear. As a matter of fact, he thought he could see his pride slink away, too. He blinked and looked back at the monster, seeing his own pathetic self reflected in the large glassy eye once more.

"Don't eat me," he said, his voice no more than a hoarse croak. "I don't know. I--" gasp "--don't know much about--" gasp "--Arda."

Faolan, you liar.

Abigor managed to keep a straight face about that for some time. It was remarkable, really. Anyone else would have been laughing themselves into a coma at the irony of the fact that despite Abigor having just eaten someone, he was being begged by someone not to eat him. Abigor himself had a barely contained grin about to erupt. Finally, after a long period of several arduous seconds, he failed miserably to keep a straight face. His face split into a broad grin made all the more menacing by the massive, razor-sharp tusks and the pair of dual leathery trunks. Then, of course, there were the huge ears riddled at the edges with some two dozen rings apiece, and the massive eyes that suddenly seemed not large enough to fill the head.

Abigor dropped his head and stepped back quickly as he let out a belly laugh that echoed through the seemingly empty streets. He laughed loud and long, even doubling over at the irony with his hands on his knees, as a man ran from his hiding place. He looked even worse off than the man before him, if that was even possible. It was almost a full minute before Abigor was able to stand, albeit slowly. Rising to his full height, his trunks swept from side to side as he grinned down at the pathetic human, shaking his head.

"You..." he said, barely able to keep himself from grinning that evil little grin. Actually, it was quite a massive grin, but still...

"You humans...you is pathetic," was all he could think to say as he looked down at the whimpering mortal. "Perhaps I let you live after all, mortal, if only because you amuse me. Regardless," he said, suddenly all seriousness without the slightest trace of a grin upon his gray leathery face, "you still useful. You no good with sword. Maybe you good with knowing things? You tell me what you know of Lom Ee Door."

He stood waiting.

Faolan watched the monster carefully, his whole body trembling as he kicked his legs in the air, flailing around helplessly. His hands grasped his collar still, his arm just barely touching the giant hand of the monster that held him. Great. Faolan knew that now he was going to die and that there was nothing he could do. How pathetic of a death at the jowels of an anthropomorphic elephant!

But then it started to laugh. And laugh. And laugh. And as it laughed so merrily, it dropped Faolan to the ground where he landed like a sack of flour that discovered that gravity did indeed exist. With a grunt he fell face first into a patch of dandelions, and he managed to roll out of the way of the beast as it had its breakdown. Faolan pushed himself to his knees and watched, blood trickling from a cut in his cheek he had acquired from the damn patch of flowers (that obviously carried weaponry now so that it could attack people who happened to fall face-first into its mass). Slowly he wiped the blood away on the back of his sleeve, but he didn't take his frightened eyes away from the elephant for a moment.

Gods, I'm going to die, he thought as he watched it slap its knee in pure joy. Joy at what? No doubt a little entertainment at Faolan's expense, but for the millionth time in his life, he did not care about being the butt-end of the joke. (Not outwardly, of course.) However, unlike the other times when he just wanted acceptance, right now he wanted to flee. Very quickly. He stood to his feet and after several tries managed to actually support his own weight.

"I don't know too much," he insisted as he willed his feet to take a few steps backwards. (He must be able to outrun this thing, right? Right?.) He glanced at the sword laying on the ground near the elephant. Darn it, he needed that. He looked back up at the monster and side-stepped to the sword. "Um, it's big. And, um. We have a library." Okay, so now the world had proof as to why Faolan never actually spoke too much to other people and preferred the superior company of books.

Library? What was a library? Maybe it was something like a Hall. In a Hall, the oldest elephantines kept in their heads all the knowledge of war, politics, religion, history, and so forth that one could imagine. The man referred to the library in reference to knowing about things, so maybe that's precisely what it was: a place where one could know things. Well, whatever he did now, he wasn't about to let his best source of information just get up and leave. He snorted, a look of disdain and immense superiority written all over his face as he watched the pathetic human try to outwit him. He watched as the human slowly but surely made his way for the sword in such a manner as to attempt to make it seem as though that were most certainly not what he was doing - when, in point of blatant fact, it was precisely what he was doing.

"You amuse me still, human. What is Lie Berry? Some kind of Hall? It where elders are kept who know things? It where I get to know things?"

He let the human inch toward the sword. He didn't honestly think he could outrun him - did he? Abigor was well over twelve feet tall. He was over twelve-and-a-half feet tall, in fact. He was not a small mammal. Plus, nothing could stop him when he charged - nothing and no one. That was the same with any elephantine demon, of course. Abigor was no exception, not in any sense of the word. Yet the man thought he, a human half his size (if even that!) could outrun him?! The very idea was exceptionally laughable at the very best!

"Get sword, human. You not leaving till me know what me want to know. Then you maybe leave one way, maybe leave another. We see if I like what you tell."

Indeed, they would see. Would he eat the human, or would he let him escape? If he truly did know a lot about things, he was far more useful alive than in Abigor's belly. But if only knew a little bit about things, his usefulness would be at an end quite abruptly. He hoped he would prove very useful, because he wanted to be smart like others. That brought something else to his mind, too.

"You have no big animals. What you eat here? You eat big fish?"

To most others, that would have been a shark or a very small whale, something that would feed his family (not just him). Elephantine demons, after all, had huge appetites. But that wasn't what was brought to his mind.

"Also, how I talk like you? You talk real different from me. Teach me to talk like you."

Now this elephant's unending parade of words barraged poor Faolan's head as he tried so sneakily to rescue his precious sword. He had almost reached it (but had not bothered to mentally congratulate himself just yet because it seemed that when one was in reach of one's goals tragedy often struck) when the elephant saw what he was doing. Faolan snatched up his sword as the elephant had told him, and he held it tightly in his hands. He didn't know what he would do with it; he could not possibly hurt the beast even if he tried. Why, this little sword would be almost as dangerous as paper cut.

While Faolan tried to think of possible poisons he could use for his sword for later encounters with giant beasts, the monster continued to speak. Libraries and big animals and linguistics--silly for an elephant to discuss.

Yeah, silly, though Faolan distantly. About as silly as this whole scenario can get. He bit his lip as the elephant asked to learn how to speak like Faolan, and honestly the boy couldn't see the point. Speak like a Lomedorian, speak like a giant beast: at the end of the day the figure before him was still a giant elephant from hell. But Faolan found himself slowly nodding his head. "I can teach you," he managed as he watched the monster. He readjusted his sweaty grip on the sword's hilt. "Just some pronouns and negation errors and--" And the monster probably had no idea what he was talking about. Thus, Faolan switched tracks quickly, "But um, yeah the library. It's full of books." Not like he had any idea what was this 'hall' of which the beast spoke. "And these books have information from Lomedor." And the rest of the world, but the beast didn't need to know that.

Faolan's eyes shifted around the marina and he realized with a heavy heart that no one was around. Stuck with a psycopath yet again! Damn it, Faolan never got a break. First a girl who decided it would be fantastic to kill his parents for no reason, and now a talking elephant. Faolan wished that he had never wished that exciting things would happen in his life. But as soon as he wished it, he realized how foolish wishing was for if it were not for his wishing his parents would still be alive. And then he realized how foolish his own 'rational' thoughts were, for there was no way that his wishing could possibly have ended in his parents' demise, and now he was simply being stupid when he ought to be running as fast as his legs would take him. After all, his parents wouldn't have wished for him to be a meal, right?

He nodded carefully, pretending to be enthusiastic about this. Just tell him what he wants to hear, he told himself. Then you can get someone to help you get rid of him.

Yeah right. Who had helped him when he was being attacked by his parents' murderess? That's right--no one. So if they did not defend him from a girl with a lust for blood, who would defend him from a giant elephant monster? Probably the same people who defended him before. (Which, mind you, was no one.) I'm on my own, Faolan realized with a little bit of disgust. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath.

"The library is, uh, farther in the city," he told the monster. "It has more answers. In books. About Lomedor. And stuff." He shifted nervously from foot to foot and realized that his sweaty grip on the sword would prove useless should he have to use the weapon.

The man was an idiot. Truly, he was an idiot. He must have been an idiot. After all, what the hell was a book?! Besides that, his now-coherent sentences made even less sense than his incoherent ones had apparently made. Well, they made almost as little sense. But it made no difference, really. The fact that the library lay in a spot further into the city was useful information, but he would first have to get there. Clearly, his coming here was not a good idea. For one thing, how could he get into the library? The buildings here were all far too small for him to fit in through the doorways of them. Besides that, the smallest buildings were about half his height. The tallest ones were several dozen feet taller than him, but he could see through windows that they had other floors. His was not a body made for small, cramped spaces. His was a body made for wide-open tundras where the only law seemed to be that you did what you had to do to survive. True, their society had thrived since long before even the elders could determine, but they were nonetheless survivalists more than anything else. That's what he was doing now, of course. He was surviving. He was adapting to a new environment. But to do that, he had to learn about that environment. So he was learning.

The man before him, however, seemed to know as little about Lomedor as he did about his own name. He still hadn't answered all of his questions. He let most of them go, though. There was no point in asking him why people would be attacking him. Of course they were attacking him; they had probably never seen anything so grand, anything so magnificent, as a king of his stature. He was probably too impressive for words, so they ran for fear that their words would not appease him. Yes, of course; that was it. That had to be it.

He snorted as the man stuttered on, searching for words and clearly not finding them. He picked up his sword and continued speaking, but he held it as though he actually meant to use the thing. Of course, he wouldn't have stood a chance against Abigor. Still, though, it might be humorous to watch him try - especially since his name didn't matter anymore. After all, a name was only useful if the named thing or person had a use. Why bother if they didn't? But he would try one last time before giving up completely.

"It has knowing about only Lomedor? Or it has knowing about other places too? It has knowing about peoples maybe? Maybe it has knowing about history? Maybe it has knowing about other things? And what those strange markings?"

Abigor was now pointing to a sign - something he'd never seen before. Specifically, he was pointing at the words written upon it in a deep red ink. He didn't know what letters were.

Faolan tried to read the messages hidden within the wrinkles on the elephant's face and the secrets it hid in its eyes, but alas it proved useless. The monster was inhuman and Faolan could not determine what it thought about how long the young man would last before he became the monster's meal. And the more he thought, the more he didn't pay attention to what the creature was saying and now--

"What? Uh?" said Faolan, snapping back to the present. Curse his knack for drifting off into the heavens instead of staying on the ground! And the monster now pointed to a sign. "Um, that's a sign," said Faolan rather stupidly, for what else was he supposed to say. He bit his lip and looked at the elephant, wondering if the monster would smack him upside the head and end his pitiful existance here and now for being 'smart' or 'giving him lip' or whatever.

But then Faolan caught on. Yes, his parents always told him that he was a special one. "The boy's got some brains," he once overheard his mother telling his father. "Better than brawn, but not likely to get him far in life in Lomedor." Just thinking about his mother and father (maybe a little guiltily since he knew that he wasn't supposed to be eavesdropping when he heard the exchange between the two) made him blink back tears. He swallowed hard and his eyes focused on the elephant.

"The books in the library look like that," he explained carefully so as to not offend the beast. "They uh have those markings--letters--on them. The letters in a pattern tell about Lomedor. And maybe other stuff, too, but I don't really know because my encyclopedia isn't complete. Erm. I haven't read all of the books in the library." He looked innocently at the monster. Hopefully.

Aha! So the man did know a thing or two. He said that he had not read all of the books in the library. That was okay, except that it implied something further: he obviously read a lot. He didn't know what an inner-cai-pedic was, but he did know that the man clearly knew more than he was letting. He knew far more than he was letting on, if he had half a brain and knew how to use a tenth of that. Abigor's eyes narrowed. His irritation was being kept to a steady simmer at this point. What anger he'd had moments before had now boiled down until it was just a bit of frustration at knowing anything about this place that he was in or the people around him.

But the fact that the man had read some of these "books" meant that he could teach him how to read them as well. Perhaps he was still useful after all. Perhaps he wasn't. But Abigor would see one way or the other. He would learn if this man was to be used or eaten - or if he was to be use and then eaten.

"Sign," he repeated slowly. "Let-ters. Okay. You tell me, then. You tell me how to know let-ters and talk like you. You show me library and you bring me books. You show me how to know sign and how to know books."

He said this all, of course, as though it were a given, and for him perhaps it was. Abigor was a king. He was not an elder, true, and he was now very far from his people, but he was still a king. He would be recognized as such upon his return to the encampment they had made in the Ered Annon Mountains. He was used to ruling over people, to commanding them and getting what he wanted. What he wanted right now was to learn, though he didn't yet know the word "learn".

"Also," he said, suddenly remembering something, "where I can get coffee? Real hot coffee. I like coffee strong like gorilla."

That was the phrase the human he'd met before had used. It was as strong as a gorilla - so strong that no human would ever drink it.

"So strong no human drinks it."

Faolan listened to the elephant (something he would no doubt look back upon and find silly--that is, if there was a future for him) and nodded slowly as he absorbed the words, his brain a sponge.

Aaaaaand evidently the monster wanted Faolan to teach him. Faolan bit his lip and after a moment realized that he had drawn blood. He licked it off carefully before the monster could see it (for who knew what would happen if he saw blood; maybe that's what happened with the last victim) and gripped the sword in his hand.

"You, um, want me to go get you books from the library?" asked Faolan, who realized that he did not have a library card. Usually he snuck away and read the books inside the library for he did not want to bring the books home and damage them lest he be forced to sell his soul to the library to make up for the loss. Nodding slowly, he said, "Why don't you come with me? Then we can, erm, get some really strong coffee on the way." Though Faolan really had no idea where to find gorilla-strong coffee (for he did not drink much coffee anyhow).

Of course. Why hadn't he thought of that? He could just go with him. But he might not fit inside the library, though. If they had big doors, maybe he could fit in if he squatted. But then again, maybe he couldn't. Even if he got inside, how was he supposed to learn to read? After all, he doubted he could move around much in buildings not meant for twelve- to fifteen-foot-tall elephantine demons. Regardless, it was a good idea and he might be able to get some good gorilla-strong coffee besides. He hoped they had more here than they did in the wagon the humans had brought to the elephantine demons' settlement. That had been gone inside of a week. Supposedly, they'd had enough for a month's supply - but that was taking into account humans and similarly-sized peoples and creatures drinking the stuff.

Finally, after a few moments of thought, Abigor decided to go along with it. There seemed to be no threat even when there was one, but now there seemed to be even less of a threat. He nodded curtly and motioned for the man to lead onward, waving with one great hand in a general direction. He didn't know where the library was, of course, so he couldn't gesture specifically.

As he followed the human, night began to fall. As it fell, the demon's eyes adjusted swiftly. Everything took on a slightly greenish tinge and his vision was actually heightened in some ways. Indeed, dusk and dawn were the worst parts for the elephantine demons; the light was dim enough during these times that they needed their night vision to see, but it wasn't quite dim enough for their nocturnal vision to kick in. As a result, they were kind of stuck when it came to details. Fortunately, though, night was now coming on quickly as the pair walked through the city of Lomedor, Abigor's footsteps shaking the ground the whole way.

Faolan had wanted to kick himself. He should have just left the elephant where he was and then run off screaming for help. Even if people were not happy to help him, the monster did pose a threat to their town. And their livestock. Thus, Faolan would have been better off leaving the elephant behind.

But no, he said to himself bitterly. You had to be stupid. He let out a sigh which he quickly covered up by turning away from the beast and taking a few steps off the grassy park and onto the cobblestone streets. Already he could hear festive music pour in from the bars along the seaside as the waves lapped against the rocky seashore.

Faolan shivered as a breeze blew against his skin, and he longed for human companionship in this time of utmost insanity. The elephant lumbered along behind him as he led him through the streets in plain view of everyone. A few people watched them and some of them screamed and ran away, but no one came with help. Fantastic, Faolan realized. Exactly what he needed. He looked dejectedly at the fleeting form of a man as the coward slipped inside of a house; after a moment, his timid face appeared in the window. Faolan let out a sigh and turned his attention to leading the animal through the streets.

Only a few people remained on the streets now. Whether that was because people were simply evading the lightless nocturnal hours from deep within the relatively safe-seeming confines of taverns or their own homes, or whether it was because of the horrendous sight of a twelve-foot-plus-tall elephantine demon king coming down the street was highly debatable. Regardless of the reason, though, the few people they did see did not stick around long enough to be caught in the creature's rumbling, earth-shaking path. Abigor eyed them idly as he followed the human to the library, not really caring what they thought of him or where they went after fleeing from him in relative terror or even who they were. He rolled his eyes at one point and shook his head, disgusted at such ridiculous displays. At one point, though, he noticed someone staring at him. It was a small child. He grabbed her up and the woman running out behind her screamed. He grabbed her up too. Needless to say, their screams were soon quieted - permanently.

The man before him, though he could not possibly have seen what was going on with his back turned to Abigor, could almost certainly guess what had happened. Abigor himself wiped blood from around his mouth and sucked it from his fingers. The child seemed particularly fresh, but the woman had a better flavour to her deep-down. Even so, they both would have been better roasted on a spit.

Abigor, of course, could hardly care what the human leading him to the library thought about the entire matter. All the human needed to know was that he was going to teach Abigor what he wanted to know. He didn't need to trouble himself with his present "master's" meals. He also didn't need to trouble himself about the people that were fleeing in terror, making their annoying little screaming noises, and peeping at him from behind curtains and through lamplit windows. The yellow light shed by them quickly became the only light, for clouds hid the moon and stars. There were no moon and stars in the Frozen Lands - only an endless gray-green sky - but Abigor had seen the moon and stars here in Arda in nights previous. They were an interesting thing. He wondered where they had gone tonight, but only briefly, for he quickly refocused his attention back on the human before him.

Faolan walked along, the earth shaking from behind him. He quickened his pace to hurry to the library, though it occured to him that it might be locked for the night. And then what would he do? But his thought about getting to the library in time were interrupted by a few squelched cries and the sound of--

Faolan looked over his shoulder and saw the last bit of a human slide into the elephant's mouth. A look of horror and disgust walked over Faolan's face. No. This had to stop now. But Faolan, when he realized that the monster had finished and there was nothing to save the people now, kept walking.

[exit to library]

The human did happen to look over his shoulder when Abigor ate the people, but he did nothing more than put a look up on his face of utter revulsion and disgust. This prompted Abigor to chuckle darkly as he sneered down at the human. In his society, those that passed on were eaten and their jewelry went to the youngest of the family. That member of the family could then keep it, pass it on to other members of the family as they saw fit, or sell it to other families within the clan. Whatever the decision, though, the tusks were taken and mounted as a means of preserving familial history. Once they were placed upon the building of a tomb, wherein the bones (excluding the teeth, which were used to make other jewelry) were buried, the place was left alone. Every year, an elephant was burned alive - usually a newborn - in order to act as a sacrifice that kept the spirit from returning to the Frozen Lands.

This, of course, was only one of many sets of beliefs held by the elephantine demons of the Frozen Lands. There were countless others, but they were all part of a massive system of religious beliefs stemming from Ikor-knew-where (Ikor being an ancient that was said to be more intelligent and knowledgable than any other elephantine demon through the history of the clan or the many millennia of history before the clan's dominion). All Abigor knew was that said beliefs had existed for as long as anyone alive today could remember. Supposedly, they had been passed down along with countless tales of war and other such things through the history of the elephantine demons.

These thoughts were only fleeting, though, as Abigor finally reached the street where the massive library stood. So that was it, then: that building was the library wherein the books of knowledge were contained, countless tomes and volumes of lore and history and many other things as well. Therein, he would learn of Arda - and, hopefully, he would also learn of the rest of the world from within those sleek marble and oak walls. Of course, he didn't know the materials as marble and oak; it simply looked like tree-wrought buildings to him, or perhaps really odd stone structures. Either way, though, that had to be his ultimate destination. Sure enough, his guide led him there. He was relieved to find that it was almost as massive inside as it was outside, and that the doors accomodated him well enough indeed. He followed the guide in...