The names, characters, places and events in this book are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. All characters are over the age of 18. Any similarities to real persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
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This story is set within my part of H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands, a vast alternate dimension that can only be entered from this world via dreams. However, you don't need to have read any Lovecraft to hopefully enjoy this tale. For background, my part of Dreamlands loosely resembles my take on Roman North Africa.
"The most merciful thing in the world is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents." H.P. Lovecraft
Listen to me and I will tell you of the old days -- those days long gone, never to return, when jeweled cities still stood by the sparkling seas and the world was in harmony. Yes, I was there. When multitudes lived in the cities of stone where now only lizards bask and the screech-owl cries. I will tell you how horror and chaos came.
In the foothills of the Mountains of Aloadæ is a pool that is fed by melt water from the high peaks. Only the bravest or most foolhardy travel very high into the Mountains of Aloadæ as people fear the voices riding on the winds but the foothills near where men live and farm are usually safe enough. The pool is shaded by willows and tamarisks and on a hot day, it is an idyllic place to relax and seek rest.
Once a week Ardys liked to bathe in the secluded pool. With only her slave-girl maid, Gwen, for company, she would leave the villa on the estate she shared with her husband, Wulmar, take food and walk through the cultivated vineyards and olive groves and fields of sweet-smelling lavender. Soon, they were up in the higher scrubland with the delightful scents of laurel and myrtle and sage filling the air while songbirds rose into the sky protesting their intrusion.
The two girls smiled as they walked through sunny groves of aromatic shrubs and low trees, gradually climbing higher into the foothills and leaving the small stands of oak and beech behind. The path wound upwards until they reached the well-known fork. The main path continued along to the village of Gni-With where a white caryatid pillar stands watch over a well that nobody now dares use. However, a narrow path, little more than a goat-trail led up to the pool.
"Stay here," Ardys told the slave-girl, "And, remember, do not let anyone go up the path to watch me bathe."
"No mistress," the maid said, dipping a curtsey. Gwen handed her mistress one of the baskets containing food and a bottle of watered wine and looked on as her mistress climbed up the rocky path to the pool. After she was out of sight, the maid sat in the shade beneath a cork oak, took out her sewing and sat watch to make sure no-one, especially no man, went up the track beyond to the pond while her mistress was using it.
Meanwhile, Ardys climbed still higher up the track through the dappled sunlight, enjoying the summer's heat bringing out the spicy fragrance of the woody plants all around and the liquid singing of warblers all around. It was such a beautiful place.
Finally, she pushed past a bay tree with its dark, glabrous leaves rattling in the warm breeze and beheld the pool. Water sparkled in the sunlight, sending reflections rippling up over the surrounding rocks. Moving forward, she stepped onto a sun-warmed wide, flat rock. Ardys placed the basket containing her meal onto the stone and lowered the wine bottle into the cool water. Looking around to make sure nobody was about; she slipped off her dress and under slip. Standing completely nude she stretched languorously enjoying the sun's heat on her skin.