Zxrem

Zxrem

Part One

Towering only over ants and grass,

Gimlish stands eyelevel with furry hounds.

His green eyes scan over Berk’s city streets,

Seeing only knees atop hills and mounds,

Hearing a mess of footsteps and hoofbeats.

He was even short among his own kind.

Miles above him, posted on a pole,

Is a poster, a plea, a cry for help

From an adventurer with a grand soul,

To travel with queen Alisch toward Grelp.

The street was full, and soon he’s pulled away

The group of men and beasts to the court,

And fill in across from Alisch’s judge.

He sits, overlooking a five toothed orc

With a head rife with of thoughtless brain fudge.

“Grubgrub is the orc here armed with a fork.”

Sitting in manacles he didn’t plea,

He only looked at the judge all alone.

The people are divided in the court.

Some say he couldn’t break a single bone,

Others say he should be banished to Ftourt.

The judge raised his gavel, ready to shun,

Before he could let it drop Gimlish speaks,

“Banish not, this man for he’s not evil.

Possibly driven mad by unfair breaks

Or a fever has heated his head ill.

Give this creature a chance to change, reform”,

Everyone looks at the Gnome on a bench

With held back laughs and cracking huge smiles.

Queen Alisch looks past the orc’s putrid stench,

To speak with the full plate clad Gnome of Fyle.

“Dearest Knight of Pelor the shining God,

You’ve rode such a far way to be so small,

A trip that would take three lunar cycles,

Yet you made it before the start of fall,

And before time to light winter’s candles.

Was it to put your neck out for an orc

Who’s been arrested for armed robbery

 And sits in manacles at this moment?

Does your God afford you such bravery?

And to halt this orc’s convicted descent.”

Gimlish jumps from the bench walks to her.

Unlike other Gnomes, he had no chin hair

And he was slightly shorter than others.

Grubgrub stands up from his conviction chair

And is aimed at by a thousand archers.

Gimlish looks at the queen and pleads to her,

“There is good in this creature, mixed with chaos

I’m sure that his problem is not in his heart,

But that he has a brain full of stained glass.”

Here the gnome finishes, for her to start.

The woman looks down at him, further still.

She orders the release of the orc,

With the bonus he must stay with Gimlish.

She motions the Gnome to the garden work.

She takes his hand and says something bardish.

She leads him through her garden, and smiles.

She kneels down in front of him before flowers,

And looks him in the eyes as Grubgrub comes.

“This is a poem by the well known bard Dirge.

And it goes as such with all his powers:

 

 

 

“Though the tarrasque doth sleep in myth,

And Evax needs no acolyth,

They are governed by Him.

 

He breathes perfume into the air,

And rules land from a humble chair

Meeting every walk in.

 

His fair hand stretches for miles

And the crown breeds love to Niles

King of all Zxrem, Ethan.”

 

 

Gimlish looks at her for just a moment.

“What does this have to do with poor Grubgrub?”

He’s confused, and she can tell from his face.

Smiling she gives his arms a small rub,

“I want you and him to leave for his place.

Let me explain why you will go to Him:

He has been courting me for some time now

And I would like for you to take my word

And I want it sung, given not in bellow

Like that of the song of the yellow bird.”

“And you want me to do this for you, Queen”,

Gimlish asked her with the most confusion,

But he took a bow, accepting his quest.

“When shall we leave, your great benediction?”

He asks looking two times from east to west.

“You will leave as soon as you have a mount.”

With this she claps and Gimlish is taken

He is taken to where he is fitted

With the symbol of her royal token

And the power there that it emitted.

His chest now bears the royal plate armor,

That strapped to his small chest with so much ease,

And protected the heart that beats in chest.

Then rides off without paying city fees,

Assuming he were fit to be the best.

As Gimlish and Grubgrub pass city gates,

Queen Alisch looks toward Zxrem, Ethan’s Kingdom,

and hopes that they make it through Kalshikk forest,

Because the beast Iosa lives aplomb

Under the hunt of Ethan’s royal crest.

“Good luck dear paladin with my Wed-quest.

Beware Iosa, the self-claimed martyr.

He bares scars on his wrists and on his feet,

He claims his father was divine starter,

And that was merely the cause of his defeat”

 

Part Two

“It are in the shadows

And live deep in coves.

We runned and runned away,

But that elf sawed us away.

Iosa, three-eyed elf!

Can see us walks right now,

Though we are miles off

He see and there loudly he scoff.

 

Understands you the problem here, or there?

We cannot goes to that forest Gimlish!

Listens to me little child, runs away!

There are a beast there in forest Kalsh”"

A screech sounds like that of a bird of prey.

On a branch of a tree, lands a raven

And there it cries out more of a language,

Which it caws at the two taking the road.

It continues to caw on down their stage,

It sings his own Shiny Shiny Gold Ode

 

A toll! A toll!

I hears your moneys sing

I hears your silvers ping

I hear your gold ding-ting.

 

My Toll! My Toll!

Give me your shiny gold

Then the trail shall unfold

If you give gold you hold

 

This toll, my toll

You will pay me money

That sweet golden honey

To this bird so funny.

 

Gimlish looks up at the bird, dressed in black feathers,

And questions the talking bird with his eyes.

The bird merely looks on at the child-man,

And sings the song to the next place he flies

From tree to tree, the whim of his wingspan.

Grubgrub scratches his head in confusion,

“Birds talks not, ever saws a talking bird”,

He conjures from his throat, completely lost.

“Bird speak like me; let’s have conversation!

Wills you speaks with me if I pays your cost?”

Gimlish stands on top of a little hill,

And addresses the bird, greedy raven,

“Familiar! Say, to whom you belong to!

Do not fly away you beast so craven

Your answer is now too much overdue!”

The raven lands just outside the forest,

And eyes the little gnome-thing up and down,

“Why do the sun sleep while brothers awake?

Why do the clown bare the crown?

Are it because the emperor are fake?”

As Gimlish attempts to talk with the bird,

The wood gives way to a man who walks out.

His hands are held up the wood around them,

“Nelson, come out, I know you are about

Searching for valuable a shiny gem.”

The man walks closer and closer to them

He’s dressed in a filthy commoners clothes,

And walks blind, tapping a cane on the ground.

He has a noble jaw and a small nose,

And his ears search for any tiny sound.

Not being able to see where he walks

The steps and trips over the small Gimlish

He trips over him, falling to the dirt,

“Boccob why put me in this such anguish

That I cannot see; I am truly hurt.”

Picking himself up off the ground he speaks,

“There’s not a tree here, so there’s no root here

Why have I tripped if there’s not tree planted”,

He hears breathing and clinging of some gear,

“I thought I had antipathy enchanted.”

Gimlish, eye-level with the prone old man,

Looks at him and speaks ever so softly,

“I am Gimlish and my friend orc Grubgrub.

We wish to pass through if you would agree,

So we may reach an inn or an old pub.”

The man is startled for just a moment,

He jumps up, and screams some unknown language

And Gimlish feels himself shrink half his size.

 Inside of a bag is his next image.

And Grubgrub says so wise,

“Gimlish no bad, Gimlish good, Gimlish best.

He are a paladin of great Pelor.

You never puts him in your little bag

Brings him out before you make Grubgrub sore,

And I’s haves to attack you with my dagg-“

At that moment the man raises his hands

A flash of light comes, and Grubgrub is small;

However, still taller than the old man.

Realizing that he is not small at all,

Again; Grubgrubs as tall as a Gnome clan.

The man picks up poor Grubgrub and walks off.

Gimlish is picked up out of the deep bag

His feet slowly make their way to the ground,

And sees Grubgrub bound with his socky gag,

Lying there, unconscious on a low mound.

“I’ve been doing some thinking, little one,

And I’m sure that you cannot be evil,

Nor can you be a bloody black guard.

You’re too small and your voice is far too shrill,

And I think I hurt your oversized ‘tard.

I apologize for my actions, kid,

And I must say that you’ve come a long way here

Into this forest where Iosa sleeps,

Where the danger is definitely clear,

And here where the Cruxic stealthily creeps.

Soon your friend will come to and we will leave,

But for now you must tell me you’re going.”

Gimlish sits down next to the old bearded man

And tells him they go to see the Zxrem king.

To which he replies, “I’ll do what I can”

Hours pass, and the sun sinks under the dirt,

When Grubgrub pushes himself off the soil

“Quickly, posthaste if we stay, death we flirt”

And they ran in fear of utter turmoil.

 

Part Three

It reaches over hills with golden hands.

The city glitters in the bright moonlight

And it sings a soft tender melody,

As it comes into the party’s sight,

And it’s the greatest thing their eyes will see.

Zxrem the kingdom of Ethan A. Thorin

The kingdom of this power and duty,

It engulfs Gimlish, and makes him feel warm.

The power of this city is not beauty.

It is a haven away from all harm.

The gate stands tall and is ornamented

With the figure of a dragon in silver.

The dragon has eyes that are made of sapphires

Glistening like a rolling blue river.

Tantamount to stories of the squires.

 Hissing, the gate opens to let them in,

And Njoerd, the sage leads them through the city,

Through the labyrinth of endless stone walls,

And infinite market activity,

Traveling alleys as narrow as halls.

“Njoerd, Sage, where is it that we are going”,

Gimlish asks the head of their little group,

Who turns to him, “The House of Norona”,

As they pass through a silver giant hoop

Into streets with a mess of ancona.

He points to it, out there in the distance.

It stands taller than other buildings here.

Four onyx ravens perch atop the walls,

And it is obviously very clear,

But all is but a stack of metal spalls.

Closer, the ravens turn their long-beaked heads

And look down on Gimlish, then big Grubgrub

“The masters don’t give shelter to Gnomes.””

“No, no nothing no smaller than a shrub.”

“Njoerd better find something in his huge dome.”

The old sage stops and looks at the stone birds

“Hush up, or I’ll turn you to filthy mud”

The birds look forward on hearing these words,

And the door slams open with a giant thud.

An older man inside opens his arms,

“The Seagull! He has come back to the Nest

I never thought I’d see this bright day come

When you would abandon your green forest

And come back to drink some of my, my rum.”

This older man is missing his left eye,

And the other is blue as the blue sky

Njoerd looks at this man and replies to him,

“The Raven! Ygg what of your dream to fly?

It seems here that you have lost that high whim.”

Ygg, standing in blue as they approach him

“The White Owl and the Eagle are in

They are sitting in the main dining room

Hurry up because food growing thin.

I’m afraid the Swallow has met his tomb.”

The sages sit drinking at the table,

As Gimlish tries to mount a too-tall stool,

And Grubgrub ducks under the short ceiling.

The sages take oaths to their magic school

They then start to stand up and start singing

 

“We are the powers that council the king

The hammer, the sword, the eye and the ring

The Seagull builds his city on the shore

Raven informs him of all news and more

The Eagle controls where his forces move

The Owl forges what his treasures prove

 

So we used to be those very powers

That counseled Ethan, the mightiest king

Then that beast came from out of the sea

And leads the king by a malicious string

So that this place is no longer as free.

Aurgelmir is a scourge to our kingdom

The half-giant that councils our Ethan

And fills his ears full of half-giant lies”

Ygg says that he is not Aurgelmir’s fan

But The Nest cannot do much since his rise.

As Ygg and Njoerd stand up and walk away,

The front door slams open and troops swarm in

Standing behind them is a half-giant.

“Seize them all, rip this house out from within

I want to see every roach, every ant.”

Cuffing everyone, including Gimlish,

The soldiers lead them to the street corner

And places everyone of them face down

Looking at Grubgrub, “Who’s the foreigner”,

Then looking to Gimlish, “Hey whose the clown”

Aurgelmir walks down the front steps, sneering.

 “They are more insects that follow the old

They stalk the earth looking like romantics

They are nothing more than dirt to behold.

Then these”, looking to Njoerd, “alcoholics.

I want them all thrown into the prison,

We will hold a trial for them later.

Take them to the deepest cell that we have.

“Aurgelmir the chronic masturbator”,

States one wizard and they let out a laugh.

 

Part Four

Moonlight shines through the big metal cell bars,

and a beam of light falls on poor Grubgrub,

as he draws little pictures in the dirt.

Gimlish asks, “Is that a little bear cub?”

Grubgrub replies, “No, it’s the giant Surt.”

“Shh Grubgrub we never speak of that one…”

Says Gimlish chained to the opposite wall.

 Njoerd’s eyes widen and he kicks the drawing

His eyes look at Grubgrub to Gimlish they fall,

Outside the birds perch and begin crowing.

 

“Deep in Bergel

The giants reign

Where the lands scared blood stain.

Surt holds fire

And threatens all

That live after Fylfäll.

His armies march

Through the oceans

Down to the Hridtians.

He will conquer

The elven kings

And the forests that sing.

He will destroy

The dwarven hills

Leaving bodies he kills.

He will create

Giant kingdoms

And give out Surt sermons…”

 

His footsteps echo down the stone stairwell.

He laughs as he walks down the stairs to them,

And glances at them with all his malice.

After Njoerd had recited his poem.

In him they could see complete avarice.

Stepping over to the cage of their cell

He looks through the bars at them wildly,

“G’morning radical scum, want out yet?

Why on Aia do you smell horribly?

Have you forgotten to get yourself wet?”

He snickers and continues to converse,

“Do you want out of this cell little one?

Or you there, giant, smelly, oaf Grugrub.

I can tell how to make this undone,

And get you back to your smoke swelling pub”,

When he says this he looks at the sage, Njoerd.

Gimlish stands up and goes to draw his sword

He tries to pull sheath, and pulls his belt off,

Then his pants fall to the floor of the cell.

He looks down, blushing he lets out a cough

He gives them instructions in a nutshell.

Aurgelmir tells them that they must travel

To the far farthest reaches of Aia,

To the valley land of Svarthofdi

And they are to cross the frosty Kolga

With the boat captained by Värthrem Kolgi.

Aurgelmir states that he has chosen him

Because he is the best that sailed Kolga

And he has been preparing for this, years

Because his ship is pulled by an Orca

In which, Aurgelmir has no real fears.

They are released and lead to the small ship

It is long and slender with smoothed from one piece

And seemed to be draped with blankets gold

Suddenly Gimlish felt complete real peace

From the fear of Kolga mythical cold.

The board the ship from the port and gaze her

Smiling the captain steps abord, then.

He has patches of hair and missing teeth

He is missing pieces of his pale skin

And he carries no weapon or a sheath.

He looks to him and talks without a tongue,

“ ‘Is iz my ship an’ her ‘ame iz Yürsae”…