"The Dark Land" by C. L. Moore(1936)

Originally appeared in Weird Tales January 1936.

Plot: Jirel, on death's door from a pike wound, wakes up to find herself in another dimension, that of the dark land of Romne. She meets Pav, the god-king of Romne, who insists she marry him and become his queen. Jirel refuses but his powerful magic threatens to smash her resistance. She begs to be allowed to go into Romne to seek a weapon against him. In his arrogance, he agrees. Jirel sees a mountain and instantly appears there. She comes across a woman who is entirely white like a bleached corpse. This witch is Pav's former lover. The corpse-witch finds out Jirel's predicament and plans to kill her. Jirel stops her by offering to kill Pav. The witch explains how this can be done. Jirel must use her unseen flame which burns around her to smother the ring of blue flame that crowns Pav's head. Pav arrives and the witch flees by spinning herself until she becomes mist. Going back to Pav's castle, Jirel can hear the corpse-witch's instructions. She is to ask Pav for a wedding gown. While he does this Jirel uses her own flame to conquer his, causing the entire world to disappear. The corpse-witch explains that Romne is Pav, so when Jirel destroyed his flame she destroyed the illusion he uses to keep her sane. Now she will see Pav's real form, a fiery mass of energy that comes close to driving her out of her mind. Pav sends Jirel back to her own world in the nick of time.

Monsters:

Pav - the god-king of Romne is a large bearded man with jet-black eyes with no whites and a burning ring of blue flame around his head. He can be as big as a tree or man-sized as he pleases.

The Corpse-witch - a skeletal beauty with fish-white skin and snaky black hair. Her eye sockets are shaded and evil fire burns within them when she uses her magic.

History: The weakest of the Jirel stories, "The Dark Land" is simple in its plot, Jirel meets Pav, meets his rival, learns how to kill him, destroys Pav, rtealizes her mistake and returns home. Unlike the previous tales, it lacks monsters and colorful landscape. It reads almost like a play. The entire point of the story seems to be quite Lovecraftian, glimpsing forces beyond human comprehension.

3

1

2

1