Prince Ombra
by Roderick MacLeish

Recommended by Lady Sylkie

Genre: Fantasy

Tor Books, New York, 1982
 

It is said--and it is true--that just before we are born, a cavern angel holds his finger to our mouths and whispers, "Hush! Don't tell what you know."

This is why we have a cleft in our upper lips and remember nothing of where we came from.

Toward the end of the last century--in 1978 to be precise--a smooth-lipped boy appeared in the world.

He grew up in an ominous time. People had lost the power of belief. Plagues of the spirit swept the world; shapeless anxieties spread like fever, self-hatred was rampant, love was bitterly denounced because it wasn't perfect. Evidence of madness glittered everywhere. The workshops of great nations forged weapons that would destroy the societies thatused them. Acid rained from the skies. Rivers putrefied. In some places the are was unbreathable. Hucksters sold God on television, and religions were made out of economic theories that didn't work. Tyrants brutalized the people in the name of the people. The new prophets of freedom preached doctrines of selfishness. Knowledge raced far ahead of wisdom. Mankind worshiped facts, but facts couldn't explain the misfortunes that counterweight the blessings of human life. There were machines that could think, and people numbed their minds to keep themselves from thinking. In their deepest dreams men stood within stone circles and saw a darkness darker than dark.

Such epochs of desolation had cursed human history a thousand times before. And, each time, a smooth-lipped mortal was born. These men lived strange, obsessed lives. Some of them lie buried in great mausoleums. Others rotted on the hangman's tree. Some will be remembered forever. Other disappeared into dust and oblivion.

When the time of dementia and sorrow came to the late twentieth century, Bentley Ellicott was born with a twisted leg in Stonehaven on the northern coast. Why he was created as a cripple, why he appeared in a peaceful place far from the world's worst torments, will remain mysteries forever. Bentley Ellicott himself was the only person in the world who knew the purpose of his life. It was a secret. He didn't tell anybody until he was eight years old.

Bentley Ellicott, in spite of his crippled leg, dead mother and distant father, appeared to be a normal, happy child. He is a bright boy who loves school and baseball, and generally revels in his childhood. This is because Bentley knows the purpose of his life. He can remember the beautiful place of perpetual childhood from which he came and to which he will return when his life is over. He also knows that all the great heroes of history were grownups, so he has time to enjoy his childhood.

Then, in the autumn before his ninth birthday, things begin to change. A feeling of oppression sweeps over the tiny town of Stonehaven, and Bentley's heart tells him that the time for waiting is over. Bentley knows that Ombra, the Lord of Nightmares is coming to do battle with him, since he is what is known as the hero of the borrowed heart. Throughout history, Ombra has always appeared to the hero in the form of his greatest fear, so Bentley sets out to discover what his fear might be.

As an eight year old boy, the scariest thing he can think of is getting hit by a truck, so he begins to spend his mornings before school by the highway, standing a little closer every day as the big trucks go by. One day, Bentley stands too close, and the driver panics and goes off the highway, turning over his truck. The chief of police decides Bentley is crazy, and demands his father take him to a child psychologist.

Bentley doesn't want to tell Dr Kreistein his secret, but the psychologist draws it out of him anyway. When Bentley begins to speak to him in his native German, the doctor begins to believe in spite of himself. Bentley reminds him that he has met Ombra before, in Germany; heard his screeching voice on the radio, seen millions of ecstatic young men in uniforms hearkening to his call. Bentley knows that it was because of Ombra that Dr Kreistein's sister died. Bentley takes the doctor on as his teacher, and they begin to search for Bentley's fear together.

Then there's Sally, a little girl with a speech impediment who no one understood at all until Bentley came along. Bentley listens to her beautiful language and can tell people what she is saying. The two become fast friends. But Sally is in danger, as is everyone close to Bentley, as Ombra begins to infect the people of Stonehaven with his evil. Ombra taunts Bentley, promising to fix his leg, if he will only give up their quarrel. Bentley refuses, as things begin to spiral out of control.

And now for the old horror movie sell:  What form will Prince Ombra take? Will Bentley be able to defeat him and save his friends, his town, the world? Find out in Prince Ombra, coming soon to a used book store near you!

(Ed note- this book is available from Amazon in a 1994 paperback edition.)

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