Llahal and Lahal!

In my dreams I have always thought that the saga of Dray Prescot on Kregen might be true. It comes across to me so lively, that it can't be only fiction, surely; can it? Now, as you will hear, I am sure those hopeful dreams have real substance. Do you want to know why? Listen to what happened to me yesterday!

Walking through a flea-market, where many old things are offered for sale, I came to a market stall upon which and amongst many other unwanted and discarded things a small wooden chest lay with the lid open wide. My inquisitive nature piqued, I took a closer look. A sign saying: "Found in an old shipwreck," caught my critical eye. Engrossed, I delved deep with an eager hand amongst the contents. Inside, buried beneath a pile of jumbled mouldy old artefacts was what felt to me like a sizeable packet or parcel. I took hold and pulled it out. Sure enough, an old leather document case, ripped, and in a bad state of repair containing clearly a stack of hand-written, foxed manuscripts, curling and brown at the edges and bound with a leather boot-lace met my astonished gaze. Pleasantly surprised and much intrigued, I picked up the chest, put it under my arm, and took out my purse. This was something that called out: "buy me!"

So I did.

Once back home, I investigated very curiously what I had discovered. And perhaps, foolishly purchased. Cautiously I removed the delicate moulding bundle of papers from the decaying case, which was held together in reality by that solitary leather string. To my surprise, out fell a short letter and a cassette as well. I immediately attempted to read the letter, which was written in ink and in what appeared to be a rather antiquated form of English script. A part of the ink had been washed away, and what remained was difficult to decipher. It concerned something about a man by the name of Dan Frazer, and that the author of this letter had to go back soon to Kr... There was a part wiped out. It also explained that this was the story concerning a woman friend of the author's and that she had related it to him as they had been imprisoned in .... They had been allowed to make a record of the story and were hoping that it would eventually make its way to this Dan Frazer. Whoever those prisoners may have been, and wherever they might be, they didn't call for help, they merely wished that the story reached its intended destination. They were sure, so I read, that they would escape from the prison unaided.

In a hurry I put the cassette into my recorder and listened to the story. A woman's voice held my full attention until the tape finally stopped running and the 'click' as it stopped snapped me back to my senses. Amazingly, I am sure this account is a part of a true Kregen story. But regretfully, there was only the beginning of the story on this tape. The voice of the woman narrator sounded a bit strange, as if she was not used to the language she was speaking. This is not, I am convinced, her own story, but that of someone else, someone perhaps very dear to her.

I then tried to read the manuscript but I couldn't, simply because it was written, unlike the letter, in a language and in symbols and characters completely unknown to me. To this day, I am still trying to find someone who is able to understand what that old manuscript means.

I sent you this tape, so you can hear it by yourself.

Remberee

Gilian