Introduction




        Doran sat back on the simple  wooden  steps of his family home
and stared out across the  crimson  lake.  The  sun had half-set and a
gentle breeze blowing off the water caught his long dark hair and blew
it into his eyes. Brushing it out  of  the way he sighed and fixed his
eyes on the flock of birds just visible on the water near the horizon.
What was he going to do about the harvest?  He had to do it but it was
so boring. What about the  wine?  He  had  promised his father that he
would help. What about his  ambitions?  What  ambitions? They had sunk
along  with  Dilys  in  the   spring.   Nothing  really  seemed  worth
bothering about now.
        "Get off your backside!" The remark came from below Doran, and
he looked down  to  see  a  small  robin  sitting  on  the bottom step
squarely looking up at him.  The  wind  must have been playing tricks.
Doran  was  quite  tired.  "I  said  get  off  your  backside  and  do
something." There was no doubt this  time;  he had seen the robin move
its beak.
        "Why are you talking to me,  robin?" he asked, not really sure
what to say. Was he really talking to a robin?
        "You're feeling sorry for  yourself  and  wasting time. Either
tell me why or get  up  and  do  something positive." The robin seemed
quite snappy. Doran thought for a moment and then asked,
        "Do you really want to  know  why  I  am so fed-up?" The robin
nodded. "Ok, come and sit  here  and  I'll  tell you." Without another
word the robin hopped up two  steps  and  sat  down on the edge of the
third, beside the boy with its legs  dangling over the side. It looked
sideways and up at him. Doran took a deep breath and began to tell his
small listener  about   his   birth-betrothal   to   the  blacksmith's
daughter, Dilys, and how  three  months  before  the  intended wedding
she had died in a  boating  accident   while  on  the  lake  with  her
father.  Now everything seemed rather pointless and  unnecessary. Just
a drag. When he had finished the robin sighed a small sigh and said to
him,
        "What you really need is something to do. Ok, she died, but so
what? She's not that dead; I can  go  see  her every day if I want to.
Infact, I ordered her death. She doesn't really mind you know."  Doran
turned  to  the little bird with  sudden anger and realisation. "Yes,"
replied  the  robin to his look, "my  name  is Gorm, ruler of the Gods
of Everything, and ruler of you  as  well.  Dilys' death was a planned
event to prepare you for the  task  for  which you were born. You  are
to  undertake the Quest for  Residence."  Doran could  hardly  believe
what  he  was  hearing.  The  Quest   for Residence was something that
modern villagers dismissed as legend, the great test for an individual
of mind, body and courage whose prize was to become a god.
        "Are you sure that you  have  the  right person?" asked Doran,
beginning to get slightly nervous. The robin, Gorm, replied simply,
        "Yes. Your quest will begin when  you wake tomorrow." He flew
away across the lake into the almost-set sun.