"Ghoul's Garden " by John Jakes(1974) Originally appeared in Flashing Swords #2 (1974). Plot: Brak saves a young dancer, Shana, and a Nestorian monk named Friar Hektor, from a witch's apple, a man-eating tree. Brak destroys the tree by throwing a boulder down its gullet. Shana is fleeing a wizard named Pom, a weird dwarf, who desired her after last performance. he claims he wants to take Shana to a secret magical garden. One night they find a cottage and a pleasant woodcutter named Yan. Brak is suspicious. During a rainstorm Yan reveals himself to be Pom, who zaps Brak and his sword with fire before fleeing with Shana into his magical garden, which is in a piece of cloth. Hektor follows by mistake. Once Brak revives he too goes into the magical garden by stepping on the edge of the cloth. he is armed with only a dagger. Sneaking about the weird pink-skyed garden, Brak hears Friar Hektor beg for his life, agreeing to help Pom find the hiding Shana. Brak is attacked by a metal bird of Pom's creation. He manages to catch it without being pecked by the poisoned beak and rings its neck. A flash of magical fire blinds him. Friar Hektor attacks Brak from behind and the two struggle. Brak, who is being drowned in a pool, has no choice but to stab the man in the head. Shana's scream brings Brak to where Pom is trying to rape her. Brak is so beat up by now he can barely stand but he tries to help her. Pom defeats him easily, and is going to kill him with a magical bolt when Shana tackles him from behind. Brak kills Pom by throwing the dagger. The magical garden world begins to collapse. Brak and Shana look up into the sky to see gigantic faces. These become peasants who are standing in the room where Brak and Shana rematerialize. This sudden appearance scares them off. After sleeping together Shana and Brak go their separate ways, she to Thenngil, he ever-onward to Khurdisan. Monsters Metallic Birds - these creations of the wizard Pom have razor-sharp claws and poisonous beaks. History: One of the last two Brak stories after a five year hiatus. About this time John was making it big with his Kent Family Chronicles and he waved S&S goodbye after 1977. This may not be so tragic when you consider how much less inspired the last two stories are compared to the earlier ones. Jakes was probably glad to move on. Perhaps more interesting than the stories in this book is the cover which was Frank Frazetta's first painting of the Death Dealer, an S&S character he would develop in the 1990s. The Witch's Apple is an obvious homage to Tolkien's Old Man Willow.
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