The people of Liol lived at the edge of Great Darkness.  It had not always been that way.

Most of the people in the town could remember when Darkness was far off to the north and never came near Liol.  There were other villages — Moro and Ibicol and Geaze - which now lay abandoned, covered in Darkness.
Over the years the Great Darkness had slid slowly South softly like a dark bank of fog.  To stay in Darkness meant disaster as those foolish enough to try quickly discovered.  “I will best the Darkness,” someone would say — and it was always the last thing anyone heard from them.

So gradually, over time, entire towns and villages moved Southward; staying ahead of Darkness.  As they arrived in Liol, one frightened family posted this strange warning on a sign by the Northbound road:

Only the most unwise enter Darkness without a disguise.

And now as the Great Darkness approached Liol, the people were both angry and frightened.  “When will this stop,” they would say, “must the whole world be covered by Darkness?  And what happens to those who try to stay in Darkness?  We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.  Something must be done!”

Great wizards and warlocks would travel to the edge of darkness and recite dark and awful curses against Darkness.  But like a deep cave, Darkness would swallow up their words without as much as an echo.

One of those who came to Liol was Dub.  Dub was a journeyman wizard 2nd class.  This meant that he had only recently finished his apprenticeship with a master wizard.  With sandy hair that had the tendency to stick out in spikes and a round happy face, Dub did not inspire much awe or respect.  In fact he was often mistaken for a porter or even a farmer.  This was a little embarrassing for Dub but mostly he didn’t mind.

He came to Liol by happenstance.  He was on his way to Millerpond to visit his master and teacher and to take a post-graduate class in medicinal funguses.

As he approached Liol the bright sun was high above and Darkness was only visible if you knew where to look for it.  Dub sat by the side of the road and leaned against a sign post to rest.  As his head tilted back to rest on the post, he became aware of the sign atop the post.  He tried reading it upside down but it came out “Squeezing Winter Silliness with Union Soup” which didn’t make a whole lot of sense.

So Dub leaned farther and farther to the right until his head and body were almost on the ground.  “Darness?”, he mumbled, “what is Darness and why is it Disgusting?”  Puzzled now, he finally stood up and read the sign in it’s fully upright position.

This only made him feel sightly embarrassed and even more puzzled.  “What is Darkness and why do you have to dress up to go there?”, he wondered.  After scratching his head several times which only served to make his hair stick out in further  in every direction, Dub decided to continue on into Liol.  Night was still hours away but he wanted to learn more about this darkness.

If there was night, you might be wondering, then what was the difference between night and darkness?  The night still followed the day but Darkness knew no hour, nor breakfast time, nor mid-day tea, nor afternoon, nor sunset.  No friendly stars twinkled through Darkness, no round ruddy moon could be seen through Darkness.

Darkness absorbed the day and ignored the night and those who had no fear of night still dreaded darkness.

Dub entered the village and stopped before the Inn of the Singing Frogs.  A trio of frogs carved from a wooden plank announced that there were beds and meals to be had within.  Entering the Inn, Dub sidled up to the bar and listened quietly to the conversation around him.

“They say that Darkness is all of the bad things that people have done,” said one, “and the bad deeds are finally coming back to haunt us.”

“No,” said another, “Darkness is another world that is trying to take over our world - it is filled with ghouls and demons and trolls which is why no one ever comes back.  Darkness captures them forever.”

“I saw Addy Simpton go into Darkness last winter,” said an old man in tattered cloths.  “Darkness was at the edge of my farm then - I had a family and a home and livestock.  Addy said that Darkness was nothing to fear and told me that he would prove it.”  The room grew quiet.  Though it was obvious the story was not new, it still got everyone’s attention.

The old man continued, “I watched him walk toward the Darkness at noontime.  He was a big strong man who feared nothing so his stride was quick and confident.  But as he approached the Darkness, the Darkness approached him!  It seemed to reach out an arm and sweep him toward the foggy gloom.  He faded into the Darkness like a shadow crosses the moon at night.

As he vanished I saw him turn to me with fear on his face.  His mouth was open as if he was shouting at me but I heard no sound - Darkness captured even his final words.  He is driven from light into darkness and is banished from the world.”

The inn was as silent as if Darkness had swallowed up all of their words.  The old man sighed, “my family has gone further south towards Neemon but I stayed to watch over my animals.  Now they are all gone - taken by Darkness.”

Dub realized that his mouth was hanging open and quickly closed it.  His first thought was that he should beat a hasty retreat from Liol, putting as much distance as he could between himself and Darkness.  As he left the pub, intent on heading south as quickly as possible, another thought occured to him.

“What if I could sneak into that Darkness . . . maybe bring out something that proved I’d been there.  These folks would think I’m a hero.”  But as often happens it would be fate, not planning, that brought Dub and the Darkness face to face.

Dub hurried along with his thoughts racing along side him until he arrived at Millerpond.  There he approached the crooked old house of his Teacher - the Master Wizard Ooligoth. Dub rang the bell and waited.  And waited.  And then waited some more.

Just when he thought that he had gotten the days wrong, a deep slow voice came through the door.  “Who is that ringing at my door?  I want no visitors today - visitors may come on the first and third day of the week only!  Now, go away!”

Dub thought about doing just that (he was always a bit afraid of Ooligoth) but summoning some courage he called out, “Teacher, it is I, Dub the Apprentice.  We had an appointment to study fungus, remember?”

“Dub the fungus?”, replied his teacher, “I know no one named Fungus.”

“No, master, I am Dub.  I was your student; I have returned at your calling.”  Dub was beginning to feel that he’d have a better chance finding Darkness then getting through to his teacher.

The door to house creaked open halfway and a tall dark shadow seemed to issue forth.  With a suspicious eye, Ooligoth looked Dub up and down and then sideways.  “Oh, so it’s YOU, is it?  Weren’t you supposed to be here next week?” questioned the wizard.  “I don’t seem to remember an appointment now.”

Finally thinking he’d have to sleep in the town square under the open sky, Dub tried one more time, “Teacher, I have traveled many leagues to return to your house.  I have braved the open road and the open sky to get here.  I have even come close to the land of deepest night, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like Darkness.”

At the mention of Darkness, Ooligoth actually stepped out of the doorway and into the street.  He loomed over Dub and with an even deeper voice said, “Darkness?  What, boy, do you know of Darkness?  Get in here now and don’t keep me and the funguses waiting any longer.”

With a slight feeling of dread, Dub passed over the threshold of the wizard’s house.  He followed the old man’s shadow through familar rooms and passageways until he came before a his old room.  Here he had lived for two years as apprentice and, evidently, here he would be again for a time.

“Rest now, Apprentice Dub, for an hour or so and then we will proceed with your training.  I’ve got to find that bag of mushrooms - I remember seeing them here somewhere.”  And with a few more mumbles about funguses, Ooligoth vanished into the maze that was his house.

That evening as they shared a meal, Dub told Ooligoth of his journey and of his encounter with the people of Liol.  He spoke hesitantly and almost apologetically about Darkness; he did not want his master to think him foolish.

Flickers of firelight caused deep shadows on the old Wizard’s face and smoke curled in strange patterns from the pipe held in his hand.  Ooligoth’s words were slow and Dub had to lean forward to catch them, “Only the most unwise enter Darkness without a disguise”.  The words seemed to entwine themselves with the smoke in the air.

Dub sat back with a start; which also startled the old cat sleeping on the hearth.  “Why that is what the sign said outside Liol, Master, what does it mean?”  The Wizard’s eyes gleamed in the firelight, “The Darkness is the work of a thief and a magician named Neg’loom.  He is a thief because he stole a gem of power from me many years ago and he is a magician because he turned the power of the gem toward evil and darkness”.

“Neg’loom came to me years before you, Dub, and, if the truth be known, he wormed his way into my confidence through my pride.  He praised me and fauned over me and my pride grew with each false compliment.  I began to teach him my runes and spells and potions in the mistaken notion that Neg’loom would use them for good as I had.”

Ooligoth stopped and the silence grew in the darkness until Dub thought his old master had fallen asleep.  As he reached out to touch the old man on the wrist, the Wizard started which caused both Dub and the cat to jump this time.

With the warmth of anger stirring in his voice, Ooligoth continued.  “Neg’loom began to turn my spells and runes around and inside out - where I meant a blessing, he spoke a curse.  Children were sickened and water turned sour and crops did not grow.  Suffering grew throughout the region but I was too blinded by my pride to see the trouble and pain he was causing.”

“When the townspeople came to me to plead for mercy I finally began to see that my pride had come before my fall, and great would that fall be!”  In anger I sought Neg’loom in his room and throughout my house but, knowing his time was short, he had fled North from Millerpond towards Liol.  And much to my increasing anger and shame, I found that he had stolen my most powerful of gems - a huge, gleaming pearl of great price.”

His voice which had risen nearly to a shout now dropped off to a sad whisper.  “This beautiful pearl gave whoever owned it the power of multiplication and magnification.  If you blessed someone that blessing was multiplied.  If the people lived in fear, you had only to speak “Peace!” and peace would cause the fear to leave.

I pursued Neg’loom league after league but his lead was too great for me.  I cried out for him to return the pearl of great price he had stolen.  But Neg’loom had evil in his heart and when he had traveled to a lonely place in the north he brought forth the gleaming pearl from its hiding place and gazed deeply into its center.”

“I am Neg’loom - master of the pearl and of its’ powers.  In my anger and hatred of all things I now steal the light from the lands of men.  I curse the light and in its’ place speak DARKNESS!”

“As he howled these words I was still a league or more off yet, even at that distance, I saw the gleaming pearl change in a twinkling from pure, bright white to an inky blackness that absorbed the light around it.  The Darkness swirled around Neg’loom who howled in evil glee.  The Darkness began to grow and expand and suck the light from the sky.  I was driven back and could not stand against the darkness.  As I fled the Darkness continued to grow and has continued to this day.”

The Wizard paused and the final flashes of the fire on the hearth showed great sorrow on the old man’s face.  “Everyone who goes into darkness is ensnared by it.  Whole families and villages are frozen in Darkness; unable to flee, unable to move, but most horribly aware and conscious of their fate.  I have tried on many occasions to return; to rescue the pearl but the power of darkness is too great for me.  The only recourse is in the rune repeated in writing and in speech, ‘Only the most unwise enter Darkness without a Disguise’.”

“There is a way to approach Neg’loom and free the pearl, returning it to light by stealth and cunning.  But without the right disguise, the one who tries will be captured and held just as all the rest.”

In great weariness and sadness Ooligoth rose and turning to Dub, he spoke, “So now you know of Darkness and of my pride and of my fall and of the pain and suffering I’ve caused.  I will leave you now but rest will not come for me.”  And with those words he left the room.

Later Dub was in his room as well and rest would not come for him; in fact the hair kept standing up on the back of his neck each time heard a board creak or wind whistle in the kitchen chimney.  He thought of all the people captured by Darkness and then thought about the people of Liol who would soon be captured if they did not flee.

It was not until a few hours before dawn that Dub finally dropped into a troubled sleep.  He heard evil laughter as he tried to run from the approaching Darkness.  But he could not run; his legs were like lead weights.  Just when Darkness reached out to grasp him, Dub woke up.  He was trembling and covered in a cold sweat.  The nightmare had seemed so real!

This was the moment that something changed in Dub, emotions welled up in his soul - anger, fear, determination.  He had no idea how, but he would find an answer to free those trapped in darkness.

Somehow he slept again and dreamed again.  This dream was markedly different from the first.  In this dream Dub saw a man dressed for battle wearing a bright, plumed helm and carrying a lance.  At the head of the slender lance was a bright crystal point that gleamed with an inner light.  As the warrior approached Darkness it fell back like black fog from the light of the crystal.  Try as he might, Dub could not see who the warrior was and the gleam from the crystal lance head hurt his eyes.  He reached up to shade his eyes and stepped back.  His feet flew out from under him . . . and he awoke to find himself face down on the floor with the sheet wrapped around his ankles.

“Wonderful,” he thought with disgust, “A warrior is what is needed to defeat Darkness and I cannot stay successfully in bed.”  With many a snort and sigh of frustration, Dub managed to dress himself for the day’s activities.

But his mind wandered as Ooligoth droned on about mosswort and bell fungus and how a certain mushroom could cure the vapors.  He daydreamed about striding with confidence into Darkness, of overcoming Neg’loom, of freeing the captives, and, with a blush, of winning the heart of a fair maid.

It was now lunch time but Dub could not eat.  While Ooligoth mumbled his way to the kitchen, Dub went into the yard behind the house.  Here were the beehives that supplied Ooligoth with honey and a large old shed that Dub had climbed during his apprenticeship.  His mood was grim with overtones of helplessness - How could he overcome Darkness.  And yet he remembered his resolve the night before and in the depth of his feeling he reached up with his fist and swung it against the wall of the old shed.

Well, this action had unexpected results.  The first results could have been predicted.  Dub howled in pain and grabbed his now throbbing hand with his good one.  This was accompanied by an impromptu dance of pain around and around in a circle.

The unexpected results could be seen as the door of the shed creaked open spreading a cloud of dust and age.  Dub stopped hopping up and down on one foot as he realized that he had never seen the inside of this shed.

Though his hand stilled pained him, his curiosity throbbed more than his hand.  What was stored here?  He didn’t remember Ooligoth ever refering to it.  He had sat on the roof as a young boy and thrown crab apples at the goats in the next field, but he had never thought to look inside.

Peering in, Dub could see only shadows at first but as his eyes adjusted he saw old trunks and cases stacked as high as the roof line.  Musty old smells assualted his nose and he stubbed a toe to go along with his injured hand.  Lifitng the lid of an old chest he saw many rolled parchments covered in runes.  Rummaging among them he realized that there was a large object in the bottom under the rolls.  Reaching in he pulled the heavy thing out and saw that it was a tarnished old helmet.

With a start, Dub realized he had the beginnings of his disguise!  It wasn’t the beautiful helm of his dream but it would cover up his spikey hair.  As he rose and turned to leave, the top of the chest fell shut pushing it back into a corner.  Something stored in the corner fell forward and added a lump on the head to his injured toe and hurt hand.

Muttering a few choice  bad words under his breath, Dub grabbed the offending item and threw it out the door before him.  Taking the old helmet he walked out of the shed and back into the sunlight.  The item that had thunked him in the head was an old javelin; a long smooth shaft with a dark smooth head attached with thick leather.

Dub’s eyes lit up.  Here was the other piece of his disguise.  He now had a spear and a helmet and, looking down, he saw that there was another parchment inside the helmet.  Pulling it out, Dub sat down and unfolded it.  The writing was faint and smudged but Dub finally made out:

<i>Only the most unwise
enter the Darkness without a disguise.
With helm and lance by his side
the wise seeks the pearl of great price.
On those trapped in Darkness dread sway
a great light will shine on their way
The kingdom of Light will shine forth
on a hero</i>

This was puzzling and exciting at the same time.  Here was a rune and a riddle concerning Darkness!  What did it mean?  Who was this hero?  Dub finally realized that it didn’t really matter.  If he was to follow through with his plan he would have to figure it out as he went.

Hiding the lance and helmet behind the shed, Dub returned to the house.  He spent the rest of the day pretending that nothing out of the ordinary had happened.  This pretending took the form of loud whistling whenever Ooligoth looked at him.

After a half-hearted attempt to eat his evening meal, Dub continued his acting by producing numerous large yawns.  Finally he excused himself and went to his room.

From there it was a matter of waiting till Ooligoth made his way to his chamber; then Dub sprang into action.  The springing only got him as far as the door which took this occasion to squeak loudly.  Freezing in the passageway, Dub could hardly breath as he waited for Ooligoth to come storming from his room but it didn’t happen.

Making his way into the yard, Dub retrieved the lance and helmet.  He had already tucked the parchment with the runes into his pocket.  The night was clear and a full moon shown in the sky lighting the roadway before him.  He headed back up the road towards Liol and with each step his courage waned.  “What a foolish thing to do,” he told himself, but something within drove him forward.  He encouraged himself with thoughts of freeing the people trapped in Darkness.

So wrapped up in this train of thought was he that it was a complete surprise when the moon winked out suddenly and the night became very dark indeed.  There in the middle distance before him was the edge of Darkness.  And this was not the friendly darkness of the clear, moonlit night.  This Darkness was deep and inky and textured and it writhed like a dense living fog.

At this point Dub almost panicked.  At this point his courage almost failed.  At this point he almost turned and ran.  At this point fate stepped in to give Dub a push into his destiny.  Turning to run for his life, Dub took only long enough to slap the helmet on his head and grab the lance.  His first step, however, ran his bruised toe directly into a rock sending pain shooting through his foot.  The pain sent Dub reeling straight backwards and, with a shock, straight into the edge of Darkness!

The world vanished before him but he hurt too much to realize it yet.  His next misstep was to hook the end of the lance on a branch of a tree which whirled him around the other way.  This was one spin too many for him and the next thing he knew he was sitting on the ground with the helmet over one eye and the lance across his knees.

It took several minutes for the ringing in his ears and the throbbing in his foot to even think about subsiding.  As they finally did it began to dawn on him that his situation had gone from bad to worse.  It was as dark as the inside of a sack at midnight.  He could not see the proverbial hand in front of his face and with a jolt Dub realized he was in Darkness.

His heart hammered in his chest as he looked this way and that but could see nothing.  He dropped his head into his hands and began to weep.  Fortunately for Dub and for those trapped in Darkness the weeping did not last long.  For one thing he realized that he was not frozen or trapped.  He could move, he could stand up, which he did.  He used the lance to steady himself and discovered something else.

There was a faint glow eminating from the long pointed head of the lance.  And at that point in his adventure even a faint glimmer was enough to give him hope.  The light wasn’t much but, as his eyes adjusted, he realized that he could see about him just a bit.  He reached up to remove the helmet and quickly found that to be a dreadful mistake.

With the helmet removed, cold gripped him to his core.  Not the cold of winter but the cold of deepest darkness.  He stiffened and found it more difficult to move by the moment.  With a desperate spasm of his muscles he managed to place the helmet again on his head.  Instantly the coldness and stiffness subsided and he could move again.  This turn of events necessitated a few minutes seated on the ground shaking like a leaf.

But then he realized that the helmet had saved him from the fate of others who had been trapped darkness.  It might not be much of a disguise but it seemed to be working!  Dragging himself upright again he held the lance above his head.  Either the light was brighter or his eyes had adjusted for he could now see several feet around him.  The land was frozen but not with frost or snow.

Nothing moved, there was no sound and the Darkness was very very complete. As he turned this way and that seeking a direction to escape the Darkness, Dub noticed that in one direction the light brightened slightly.  Like a compass needle pointing north, the sharp point of the lance seemed to point to some strange north of its own.  He didn’t know what else to do so with a deep sigh Dub set off in the direction where the lance was brightest.

Darkness meanwhile seemed to try to enfold him, to stop him, to fasten his feet to the ground.  It was in this frightening moment that Dub got his next shock.  Something appeared in the light of the lance.  Something?  Or someone?  With a gasp of disbelief Dub came across a family frozen in flight.  A large man carried a baby girl and held the hand of a woman who must be his wife.  Her hand was frozen to the hand of a young boy behind her.  They had been running; seeking escape from Darkness when it overtook them and froze them in place.

Holding the lance closer, Dub realized in horror that their eyes were still alive.  They could not move but they lived!  He reached out to take hold of the man’s arm but he might as well have tried to move a tree trunk.  The eyes of the man and his wife pleaded with Dub to help them but there was nothing he could do.

He spoke.  “I do not know how but I will free you from your prison - but take hope, I will not fail you.”  And with that he looked again to see where the lance shone the brightest for now he knew that the lance was not leading him out of Darkness but deeper into the deepest Dark.

As he walked now he thought desperately about how he could find the pearl of great price.  So deep was his thinking that he almost walked into the next group of captives.  A small cart pulled by a pony was frozen in time.  The driver was an old man leaning forward to urge the pony on.  Seated next to him on the seat of the cart was a young maiden.  Dub thought he had frozen again himself; so beautiful was she that the breath caught in his throat.  Her hair was flaxen and caught in ringlets around her face.  She was looking forward as if she saw salvation with her arm upraised and her hand pointing the way to light and freedom!

But Darkness had stolen the freedom from her at the last moment.  Even now Darkness seemed to try and cover her and clutch at her and keep her from being seen.  Dub’s heart was lost in an instant but as his heart was lost, his determination to free her and the others grew into a mighty white hot surge of emotion throughout his being and into his very soul.

As he stood there he found that he was no longer afraid.  The people trapped in Darkness would see light again.  Dub stood tall now and raised the lance aloft.  In response the light brightened in that direction.  With a final look at the old man and the beautiful maiden, Dub set off again.  Avoiding groves of trees and piles of dark rock and frozen groups of people, Dub made his way deeper into Darkness.

But now a sound reached his ears.  The sound was faint but even at this distance it sent shivers up his spine.  As he moved towards the sound, the light from the lance seemed to dim but in reality it was a small fire up ahead that made more light than the lance.  Peering around a rock Dub saw a fearful sight.

Around this fire danced a wild-haired figure; it was none other than Neg’loom the black wizard.  The fire burned fitfully but in its light Dub could see a circle of people frozen in positions that seemed to indicate great pain.  But no one moved or made a sound.  Only the light from the fire gleaming in their eyes showed that they were alive.  Alive and suffering.

But worst of all, floating above the fire’s light was a gleaming black orb.  It twisted and spun and sent off great waves of darkness in all directions.  As it spun, Neg’loom sang:

<i>King of Darkness and King of Pain,
I hold my subjects in thrall.
Darkness deeper than any night
hides the light - from souls appalled.

Those who serve me ring my throne
frozen but living are they.
The world will be mine in darkness sublime
and none will again see the day.</i>

Many thoughts ran through Dub’s mind as he watched.  Part of him was afraid again.  But a larger part was remembering the people of Liol and Millerpond who would soon be consumed by Darkness.  He thought of the villagers in the pub, he thought of Ooligoth his teacher.  But most of all he thought of the beautiful maiden frozen in unrelenting torment in the darkness.

He knew must do something and tried to formulate a plan.  He would creep as close to Neg’loom as he could and then rush him with the lance, knock him to the ground and then grab the pearl and run; escaping till he could figure out how to return it from dark to light.

Well, by this time we all should know that Dub’s plan didn’t work out quite like he hoped it would.  Creeping out from behind the rock, Dub began moving the last yards between himself and Neg’loom.  But immediately the black wizard whirled around and held Dub in his gaze and upraised hand.

“Soooo,” the voice hissed, “you think to steal my dark orb?  To lift my Darkness?  Not so easy a task, my young fool.  All my captives I have held in sway; do you not think I cannot hold you too?”

Dub felt cold and fear along his arms moving into his chest.  He gasped for air as the black wizard struggled to hold and freeze him.

In desperation Dub gathered all that was left of his strength and determination and with a cry charged forward with the lance held in both hands.  As he ran the light from the lance began to pulsate and throb casting great hideous shadows among the captive throng.  But as he came within a few yards of Neg’loom - Dub did that for which Dub was now somewhat famous.  His toe, his already bruised and battered toe, smacked into a rock on the path and, with a howl of pain, he threw both hands forward as he fell.  The helmet flew off his head and the freezing effect of Darkness began to grip his body.

The lance took off like a bolt from a crossbow.  Neg’loom threw up his hands to ward off the needle sharp point but the lance did not strike Neg’loom.  Flying free, light now pulsing from the tip, the lance flew straight and true directly into the center of the pearl!

An explosion of light greeted the impact of lance and pearl, streams of lightning and showers of sparks flew off in every direction.  Neg’loom gave a great cry of despair and leaped for the pearl but at that moment the effect of the lance defeated the Darkness of the pearl and bright rays of dazzling light shot from the pearl in every direction.  The cry of despair became a scream of agony as the black wizard was engulfed in the streams of light.  Everywhere the light touched him began to smoke and with a final twist of pain and agony the author of Darkness exploded!

Darkness began to flee from the light - the light from the pearl shown in the Darkness and the Darkness could not withstand it.  Wind like a hurricane swirled round and round the ring of frozen souls and the light from the pearl reached out even to the sky above.  With a final pulse of light, the pearl dropped to the ground as the glorious sunshine poured in.

As the light of the sun found its way back to the earth that light touched each person like a warm loving hand.  The people who had been frozen in Darkness had seen a great light and the light freed them from their prison and torture.

Each man and woman and child began to stretch and cry and reach eager hands up to the sun above as it drove the pain from their bodies.  They began to dance about and hug each other or sit on the ground in amazement.

But what of Dub?  In the joyous confusion of the moment, Dub was no where to be seen.  The people began to look around for their savior.  The drew back to see Dub seated on the ground rubbing his oft-injured toe and looking somewhat dazed.  The people set up a cheering and shouting that added to Dub’s discomfort.  He had only defeated Darkness through clumsiness.  How could he face them?

The freed population of Darkness knew nothing of this - they ran to him holding out their hands to bless him or kiss his hand.  Silently Dub walked through the crowd, stopping to pick up his helmet and the lance that had saved them.  He then stood over the pearl and realized what a great price had been paid.  Leaning down he grasped the now glowing orb and held it above.

“People once trapped in Darkness,” he called out in a loud voice, “if it be asked of you how your salvation came about today then say this - the people who walked in Darkness have seen a great light and the glory of the orb has saved them.  It was not by might or by skill or by wisdom you were saved this day but by grace and the light from above.”

With those words Dub placed the pearl in his pack and turned to go.  But someone in the crowd called out, “Long live the Man of the Lance who conquered Darkness!”

And the crowd picked up the cry as they hoisted him to their shoulders.  “Long live Lance!  Long live Lance!”  Carrying him so they began the trek back toward the towns they had left.  More and more people joined them until the mass of people could be heard for many miles.  As they approached the former edge of Darkness, they let him down from their shoulders.  Ahead the people of Liol had run to see what had happened.  Fathers and Mothers ran forward to hold the children they had lost.  Brothers separated by Darkness reunited.  Husbands and wives held each other tight.

In the confusion, Dub stook off to the side.  He started as a hand touched his arm.  He turned to see the beautiful maiden with the flaxen curls standing next to him.  “Good Sir,” she said in a soft voice, “to whom do I owe my gratitude for freeing my father and I?”

Her eyes sought his and they were the color of the summer sky.  “Er, ah, well, my name is Du . . “  He stopped.  He thought.  He smiled, “Fair lady, I am called Lance”.

The hero business is an exciting one but for Lance he had had enough of being a hero.  Today in Liol you’ll find an apothocary and part time wizard living with his wife and children.  And each day as the sun begins to set in the West, Lance removes a cloth of velvet from a stand and on that stand is a softly glowing pearl of great price.  And all who see it remember that Light is stronger than Darkness.