Aerillian Book of Winds

[Excerpt from 'A Little Book of Bellodonto Valley', volume 3, pages 637-9]

Excerpt of Tale the 31st
...and so the Wild Man pursued His Pleading Prey across the Land, traveling upriver and down, Cruelly beating His Horse with Whip and Spur until its eyes ran Red with Blood, for This was the Nature of the Weeping Horses of Xand. Finally, His Prey was Cornered in the Village of Nimblewick-on-Etta, whose Bastion of Horticultural Excess was Utterly Destroyed in the most Recent Battle of Phlinders.

"Why," cried He, "do you hunt Me So?"

And the Wild Man answered: "For you have Stolen My Book, Thief, and None escape who steal from Me."

To this His Prey replied: "The Book of Winds belongs to All!" and turned to Flee into the Crowd of Village Folk, but they would Not Let Him Pass, Fearful of the Hunter's Wrath.

"To Me!" the Wild Man cried, His Arms upraised in Supplication, but The Book would Not Come. It had Found a New Master in the Fearful Faramen and, Seeing This, Faramen took on a New Aspect. No Longer would He be Prey to Men of the Wilds beyond the Valley's Edge. Faramen of Mthon took into Himself the Essence of the Winds, for which This Author has been Utterly unable to acquire Adequate Description.

It is Unknown whether the Book's Form was that of a Book at This Time, but Local Legends claim Faramen the Windwalker, with the Book's Potent Aid, summoned a Cyclonic Force to carry His Enemy beyond the Valley's Edge, Never to be Seen again.

Tale the 32nd
A Thirty-Second Tale relates to the origins of this Most Fantastic Book.

Occurring in the City of Aeril in the Year of the Ectogogue's Ascent, a Maiden of Pure Heart is said to have approached the Grand Duquet's Council to seek counsel on a Most Particular Dream. A Moldering Scrap of vellum records Her Words, transcribed by Handsman Hlaatu of Thot's Decline and stored Deep Within the Library of the Crossroads' vaults. In it she says:


 * "I am Chohai of Khet, daughter of the Millman's wife, and I have heard the Word of Esu in a Dream.  In the second hour of the second moon of the second new year's turning, six voices will rise from the waters of the whitened Bellodonto.  Two voices will be of men; two voices will be of women; two voices will be of those between.  Two voices will speak of tides long past; two voices will know the current; two voices will warn of what may come.  From these the spires of Aeril will hold a power born neither of earth nor sky if He Who Knows should choose to die."

The Council, hearing the Maiden's Words, took Heed and strove to Understand the Prophecy of Esu the Undying. For Many Weeks the Millman's Daughter waited, until at Last the Council's Counsel was Decided: they would Consider Her request. It is Unclear whether 'He Who Knows' refers to a Member of that Wisest Assembly or one of the Land's Great Sorcerers, but His Choice and the Sundering of the Most Potent Powers are legend.

Six Powers emerged from the River's edge at the Appointed Time, clothed in Human Flesh and Semblance. Their Words are Lost, but One among Them bore what would become the Book. At that Time, many of the Grand Duquet's Council and Others of the Land strode forth Toward the Shore to hear Them, but the One Power stood aside, His Hand outstretched, and Storms broke from the Skies. In the Flashes of Thunderous Lightnings and pelting Rains, a Man in Dark Attire dove into the Waters to be Swept Away, and to this day, the River's currents remain Treacherous and Cruel when a Storm should swell it, but Only Ever in That Very Spot.

The One Power was never Seen again, but where He Stood the Earth was Scoured as if by Dreadful Winds. It was then that the Maiden Chohai made Known the Windstone which had been given to Her Hand Alone, which Some Texts have claimed gave Rise to the Erroneous Tale of Legru and the One-Armed Queen and This Author most Heartily Disputes, citing the second Bailitwixt Chronicles and Chapter Fourteen and three Quarters of the Summer Songs of Rue.

From that Day forward, Chohai was Aeril's Lady, kept Safely Locked and Out of the Free Air until the Day of her Timely Demise three Decades later during the Siege of Sarundin. Of the Stone thereafter no word is Written, for all Words of Power had been Inked into the Book of Winds, and Aeril's Lady had no need of what had been Her Skin.