Thursday, May 14, 2015

Dreams of Steel - Part 13

I've already been posting daily updates for TWO WEEKS without skipping a day!  (Though I admit I have fudged a couple of the time stamps by a few hours in order to meet the deadline.)  I never actually thought that I would get this far so soon.  Yay!

I present the latest installment.  It does not actually have Mikhon Tiq as promised, but he starts off the next paragraph.  I only had time to do the small section introduction today.  I have coined the new English term "cornigriff" based on the fake Spanish word "cornigrifo."  Also, if any of you have an alternative suggestion for the "Desert of Winks" that doesn't sound awkward, let me know.  I left it as "Desert of Guiños" for now.  Enjoy!


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HERE STARTS THE FOREST OF COROCÍN.
HE WHO LEAVES THE ROAD TO ENTER IT DOES SO AT HIS OWN RISK.
DO NOT BLAME THE GODS FOR YOUR ERRORS.

Before the splintered sign, the young merchant who travels for the first time to the north following the Silk Road scratches his head and asks the veteran why the road, instead of delving into the forest, it deviates to the west to cross the steppes.  Their question is not without reason, as after crossing along the Desert of Guiños and suffering for days through dust storms and the rays of a relentless sun, the dark foliage of Corocín promises a delicious freshness.

"The gods don’t permit it!" answers the veteran, rolling his eyes.

And in whispers he recites the horrors that the forest hides:  wild wolves, bipedal snakes, basilisks, cornigriffs, bloodthirsty witches, nymphs that seduce men to drown in ponds, and, above all, the enormous man-eating creatures known as coruecos.

"But do coruecos still exist?" asks the novice, incredulous, believing that those creatures of his childhood stories are already extinct.

"Why do you think the forest is called so?"

Corocín.  The forest of coruecos.  Full of treasures for those who want and know how to find them, but dangerous for travellers who do not know its paths, and a bit deadly.

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