"Return From The Forbidden Island" by Harriett L Randall

Return From The Forbidden Island

Your name is Rashius (ray-she-us), a great adventurer from the land of Bethica, off the Great Waters of Kai (Ki); you and your men have just returned from the forbidden island of Gorr….an island so terrible that along with a skull and crossbones beside its name on the map, is placed also at the bottom of the map, a quick exit strategy for all poor souls who may mistakenly wander into its demonic waters. You and your world famous fighting men are the only ones ever to escape from there. It’s been a long long dangerous adventure for you and your men; you lost many courageous ones in the battle, and many more were badly wounded; but the battle was won and now your ship is loaded down with enough treasure to build your own kingdom and make every one of your fighting men…his own king. Your men can’t wait to see their families–their women; and you can’t wait to put your tired and sore arms around The Lady Diarah (Die-a- ra), your wife of ten years and mother of your sons Tamacus and Pius (Pie-us). But something is wrong. As you enter your home port, you encounter a foul odor from the air. That same air of so many years of cheering women and children and crowds singing and rose peddles raining from the sky to greet you and your men on every return. But now…something seems terribly wrong. Your men notice it too, and they stare into the blank spaces on the shore that should be crowded with a welcoming presence.

As the ship pulls further into shore, the stench gets stronger and stronger, until most of your men are hung over the sides of the ship vomiting into the blue waters–their eyes bulging; the food and wine they ingested while celebrating, now stains all sides of your ship. Your ship reaches the shore, but the sea doesn’t end there; there’s another sea–a sea of dead bodies occupying the spaces of the soldiers who guarded the city; the merchants who provided the goods for the city, the midwives, the builders, the farmers, whole families-all seem part of this vast sea of the dead. Your men stand like zombies, not thinking–not moving. You stand; the icy fingers of fear grip you, and your stomach hardens, like a buried stone.

With you in the lead, one-by-one your men stumble from the ship, like drunken sailors they sometimes were. They are barely able to keep from stepping on the dead bodies as they search the milky colored faces, hoping their love-ones are not among them. Suddenly, movement among the corpses; and a whispery voice calls from the shadows; it is the sorceress, Madina. Blood pours from her ears, nose and mouth. She is barely alive; and as you and some of your men lean in to hear, she pulls you hard against her bloody lips and spitting blood against your cheek, says in a harsh whisper, “Take it back. Lift this curse from Bethica, old courageous one.”  The men shout, "Our women! Our children! Where are they?”

“They are not all dead…not yet,” speaks the old woman. “There is a sacred piece among all that you have stolen. Find it, and take it back to them; or you’ll never see your families again.” "What is this piece?” you shout at her. The old witch struggles to talk. “Your return will not be easy, Great One. The Gorrians are angry–they wait for you,” “But the sacred piece …what is it?” You yell again. But a gush of air that leaves her body is her only response. You grab her up in the collar and scream her name. But she is still–her colorless eyes wide open, staring up into the sky, as if she’s seen the faces of a thousand demons. Then a scroll rolls out of her dead hand and on it, the answers that you seek. You and your men muscle up strength, repair the ship and take off for the dark dark journey…back to the forbidden Island of Gorr ..........