Tales of Yorn


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Tales of Yorn

by Aedan Dalry

This is a novel written originally in Gaelic, that documents the adventures of Yorn, a young boy raised on one of the Great Plateaus of Yymp in the Mist Sea. As his struggles with issues of adolesence and survival in this isolated and rugged place, he is caught up in the much grander stuggle of the Blood Wars, a massive battle among the Tribal Families living down on the floor of the plains, below the fog.

The adventures of Yorn, along with a girl named Trisha, with whom he has a budding romance, and a Grottoling named Gweldorf, really begin when they meet an Elemenstor named Chak. He is drawn to Yorn because of a magic locket Yorn possesses (given to him by his mother) that could hold the key to the mysteries of the Mist Sea, and the Blood Wars themselves.

Other Characters

Locations

An official English language version is supposed to be released as soon as 2006, but several mostly complete translations have circulated on the internet since 2002.

Excerpt from the internet translation

Chak, an Elemenstor of about twenty, sat in a huge chamber. Torches stood about in tall intricately made iron stands, providing a dim uncertain glow. A huge window let in a soft blue light of the dawn on this gloomy overcast morning. Mountain's tops were shrouded with mist in the distance and thunder rumbled, threatening a storm. Faded tapestries hung from the stone walls.

He sat in the center of the room, on a large elaborate wooden throne, looking at the coin in his hand. A bright glow radiated from all around. The glow intensified. The background was washed away by the light and he found that suddenly he was falling. He was no longer in the chamber. He had transcended. He was floating in a white expanse. He knew not where he was going. The coin knew. It directed his power. He suddenly found himself standing. He was in a dimly lit room. His eyes adjusted and he saw a boy of about sixteen laying, asleep, on a cot on the floor. It was Yorn.

Chak could feel that he was in a farmhouse. He could smell nature all around. He could sense the life and vigor in everything. Yorn had a key around his neck. It was pulsing with light. The pulses of brightness were in perfect synch with the pulses of the coin that the Elemenstor held.

Spoiler

This is the very end of the story... I think it's a pretty good one.

Yorn pulled back on the lever and a bright red crack appeared on the floor. The whole oval room began to split down the middle. The intricate carving were crumbling to dust. The red glow filled the room.

A huge part of the ceiling collapsed down into the raised altar. The sky above shone through. Starlight reached the statue, holding all of the coins. Yorn managed to reach the huge bronze doors right before one of the larger granite columns blocked the exit. He made it down the dark hallway, running as fast as his tired legs would carry him.

A voice in the back of Yorn's mind said that the prophecy had been fulfilled but at this moment, he was beyond caring about that. The absorbing red glow radiated from the Great Hall down each of the vein-like halls that stretched across the valley and beyond, under the plateaus.

He stopped by the hole leading down into the maze tunnels. He peered down inside to see if Gweldorf had remained to see the results. He saw no one. He pause only a moment and then dashed out through the exit archway. When he burst out into sunlight he was virtually blinded. He had spent so long in the dark that the bright blaze forced him to squint and stagger back and support himself along the huge smooth rock surface as he walked along. When his eyes had adjusted he looked out to see the grey valley.

The Fog was being pushed back. Receding up into the plains and fading away. The land was stripped and barren. The soil was lifeless and dry.

Skeletal frames of building and smoldering ashes were all that were left of the great forest surrounding the temple long ago.

Yorn gazed out in despair as he tried to grasp all that was happening. There must have been something he was missing, he thought. To do all this and have it be too late was unfair. Nothing was left alive.

There was no hope. As he sat he realized tha t there was something he had been shutting out of his consciousness. A bird was chirping. Somewhere, a family of sparrows had found place to nest and were singing. Yorn stood up and almost smiled but the weight of his knowledge held him back. He knew what had happened and he would have to use that knowledge to help the survivors. Life was about to begin again. There was hope.

Appendices

The Tales of Yorn contain extensive Appendices that add much to the richness of ELotH:TES. They include:

Appendices G - P.ii have yet to be translated into English by Gaelic-speaking fans.