Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #11 February 2015 | Page 67

drew close, the Troll licked his chops and let fall his
trap and barrelled onto the path brandishing his club.
“Oh!” said the Lady all afeared, and “Oh!” again as the
troll lifted his club, “Please Sir Troll, stay your hand for
I am but a poor traveller.”
“Oh-ho,” said the troll, “you are going in my pot to be
my supper!” and swish-swish down came the club, but
the Lady nimbly stepped out of the way.
“Wait!” she cried and “Oh-ho!” cried the troll as the
club went swish-swish a second time, and a second
time the Lady danced out of the way.
“Stand still!” cried the troll irritably, and the Lady with
a trembling voice said, “Sir troll, spare me but for a
moment and let me sing to you, and after I’ve sung, I
will stand still for you.”
The troll thought about this from every angle and
couldn’t see the harm. “Promise me that you will stand
still after your song and we have a deal,” he said gruffly.
“I promise,” said the Lady.
“Done,” said the Troll who now leaned upon his club.
The Lady sang to the troll a most sorrowful tune which
somehow captured the troll’s loneliness and pitiful life
on the edge of nowhere with no companions save his
club, who he sometimes had a somewhat one-sided
conversation with. At the end of the song, the troll had
tears running down his face, and seeing this, the Lady
wordlessly handed the troll a dainty hanky which was
soon sopping wet.
Upon using the hanky, the troll found that when the
tears were dried away his heart was lighter than it had
ever been. He had no more sadness and no more loneliness, in fact for the first time he found he was happy.
“Oh-ho,” said the troll “Your song has touched my
heart, now stand still as you promised!”
The lady looked upon the troll and placing the hanky
in a bottle said thus, “I am the Lady of All Tears, and
I have your sadness and loneliness, if you slay me you
will have them back, but if you let me live, I will take

them far away, and you will never see them again.” And
the troll saw that this was true and let the Lady go. For
she had a very important meeting to attend.
It is said that the Wandering Road still goes past the
troll’s hidey-hole, and he still occasionally eats lone
travellers, but now he does it in good cheer with a
smile upon his face and never misses company and is
never sad.
***
The Storyteller opens his eyes and sees that the boy
is giving him his full attention and his father is also
listening.
“Where was the Lady going?” the boys asks. “And who
is The Seventh Magpie?”
The storyteller smiles and clambers to his feet. “Those
are other tales, for other times, and it’s up to your
father.”
The Ferryman sees the boy turn to him, and the Storyteller’s smiling face too, and sighs again. “Can we hear
more father? Can we?” the boy says, and the Ferryman
knows he has lost any chance of making a coin until
he has delivered the Storyteller across the lake. “Very
well,” he says to the boy. “It seems we have a deal,” he
says to The Storyteller, who he helps into the boat,
taking his position at the stern and beginning to pole
away from the pier.
The storyteller smiles at the boy, “So, little man, what
do you want to hear? About the Lady of All Tears and
her very important meeting with the Ambassador of
the Fey? Or of the Seventh Magpie and his adventures
on the way to the Inn at the End of the World?”
***
I pause and open my eyes. The Ferryman is a statue at
the stern; he has switched to the paddle, and his arms
describe a circle in the air that pushes us onwards. I
cup my hands and take some water from the lake and
drink deep. I take a couple of steadying breaths. It has
been a long time since I spoke to anyone about my father, or thought about my mentor. There is still plenty
of story to tell though. I close my eyes and continue…
To be continued...

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