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Dark Companion

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Dark Companion (2005) is an omnibus edition including two SF novels: Dark Piper and Dread Companion. These stories are unrelated except in their mutually dark ambience.

In Dark Piper (1968), Beltane had lost most of its security and technical men during the ten years of the Four Sectors War. Those that remained became even more work focused and pacifistic, especially after the Corfu incident. Now the war has ended, not by victory but mutual exhaustion.

The Beltane population rejoices that their forced separation from the outside worlds will no longer continue. They are looking forward to word of new scientific advances and renewed trade with other planets. The end of the war will surely bring good things to their world.

In this novel, Vere Collis is the son of the former Security Commander on Beltane. On the day that a fifth-rate tramp brings the Beltane survivors back home, Vere recognizes Griss Lugard among the other halt and lame. He was much too thin and had a partially restored face, but Vere recognized his father's former second in command.

Lugard has been given title to Butte Hold and all that it contains in lieu of back pay. The old security hold is probably the sturdiest structure on the planet. Shortly before the war started, Lugard had discovered artifacts in a lava cave nearby. According to his papers, Lugard is assigned responsibility for continuing these studies.

Vere gives Lugard a lift to his new home Their conversation during the journey does not forebode a peaceful future. Lugard discusses the ships and men that have lost their homes and now have no central control to restrain their actions. They talk of pirates and raids upon the central worlds. After seeing Lugard into his hold, Vere leaves with an invitation to return at any time.

In this story, Vere brings the Rovers -- a study group for the younger set -- to visit Butte Hold. Lugard makes them welcome and invites them to return again. The Rovers are very interested in the Hold, but Vere puts a damper on any talk of forerunner treasure.

This story introduces a homeless ship that asks permission to settle on Beltane. Despite Lugard's objections, the ruling council agrees to let the refugees have land in the vacant areas. Then two more homeless ships turn up asking to join their associates.

Lugard invites the Rovers to explore the lava caves on the day that the council has scheduled a full meeting to discuss this request by the new refugees. Vere and the youngster arrive later than expected, but Lugard has a troop carrier ready for their journey. They have entered the cave and are enroute to the old underground shelter when the earth shakes.

Dread Companion (1970) is set in the 25th century After Flight. The Survey Service allowed their space personnel leave to marry and to produce children. After several years, the marriage was break-bonded and the couple went their own ways. Any children from the marriage were raised in a Service creche.

In this novel, Kilda c'Rhyn was born on Chalox. Her father was Rhyn Halcrow, a Survey scout, and her mother was a Forsmanian of a trading family. After three years, the marriage is ceremoniously broken and Rhyn spaces out. Kilda's mother remarries within her clan and Kilda goes to the creche.

Kilda does well in the creche. Unluckily, she takes after her father in her restless nature. She doesn't want to just bear children and raise a family, but to explore new worlds.

Her mentor and sponsor -- Lazk Volk -- finds her a job that will get her off the planet to a less conventional society. She is employed as a house aide for a woman traveling to Dylan to be with her husband. Kilda is to take care of the two young children.

Oomark -- the younger child -- is a typical boy. However, Bartare -- the older sister -- probably has too much influence on the boy. Kilda notes an element of slyness in the girl and hears them talk about a mysterious "She" in their private conversations.

Gentlefem Guska -- the children's mother -- journeys to Dylan in deep sleep. Kilda stays with the children to supervise their activities during the journey. When they reach the spaceport at Tamlin, Commandant Piscov meets them with bad news. Konroy Zobak -- the children's father -- has been killed in a freak accident. But Bartare already knows of the death.

In this story, Kilda finds herself living in a daze for days at a time. She suspects that Bartare is an esper, but forgets to call for an appointment with the parapsychologist. Eventually she breaks out of the daze, but is still unable to talk to any other person about the girl.

Bartare wants to go on a field trip with Oomark's class. Her brother refuses and something bad happens to Griffy, Oomark's fur friend. When Oomark changes his mind, Griffy starts to recover.

On the field trip, Bartare and Oomark slip off and down the hill. When Kilda notices their absence, she follows behind the pair. Kilda finds them striking rocks against red boulders, producing clear tones. When Kilda tries to catch up, she slips and bumps the supply bag against a boulder at the same time as the children strike their boulders. The three tones blend and Kilda falls unconscious.

When Kilda recovers, she finds herself in a gray space filled with bright, colorful geometric figures. Oomark is also there, but he sees normal terrain, plants and insects. When Kilda drinks from a stream, she too starts to see a normal environment.

This work is a precursor to the Witch World series. In the other world or dimension, magic is effective and controlled by the Folk. So, too, is magic a force in the dimension containing the Witch World.

Recommended for Norton fans and for anyone who enjoys tales of strange worlds, struggling youths, and desperate actions.

-Arthur W. Jordin

"Dark Companion" is a reprinting of two novels: Dark Piper and Dread Companion. Both are set in Andre Norton's Forerunner universe, in which humans have been exploring space for so long that they barely remember Earth. Both books take place late in the greater story arc of this universe, but they can be read in any order. (Click on my name to see the list.)

In "Dark Piper," scientists have established a colony on a distant planet, where they can conduct their experiments and ignore the terrible war that is happening in the rest of their galaxy. When the war suddenly ends, a soldier returns home to the colony, full of dire warnings that civilization is about to collapse. Fearing an invasion of marauders from space, he becomes a sort of Pied Piper, befriending some of the children and leading them on a dangerous expedition into an underground tunnel system where, according to rumor, the remains of an alien society have been discovered.

"Dark Piper" is excellent science fiction, engrossing and fast-paced, with admirable characters who behave in an intelligent, believable way. It contains nothing objectionable for young readers, but it does deal with some grim topics. In fact, it seems to have been written for a young-adult audience. I highly recommend it.

The second novel, "Dread Companion," is a creepy story about a governess named Kilda, who senses something sinister about the two children in her care. Eventually she realizes that one of the kids has an invisible friend, a powerful and malevolent entity who has plans for the child. Kilda accompanies the kids and their mother to a remote planet, where the invisible entity makes its move to claim the child for its own purposes. Scary and bizarre adventures ensue as Kilda tries to protect her young charges and escape from a world that is unimaginably alien.

I must admit that I didn't enjoy "Dread Companion" as much as "Dark Piper," because the alien scenes were so bizarre that it was sometimes hard to figure out what was going on. Nevertheless, if you want to learn more about the mystery of the Forerunners, you should definitely read this book.

These two novels in one volume are well crafted and highly enjoyable, classic Andre Norton. The first of the two, Dark Piper, is particularly
notable for a richness of texture, fast flowing action, and almost eerie
settings on the surface of the planet Beltane as well as below, in a series of caverns. Well worth a read and a reread, fine storytelling!

Norton's DARK COMPANION is vintage Norton writing at her best. It combines two of her classics - DARK PIPER and DREAD COMPANION - under one cover and tells of two very different heroes who battle evil in alien worlds.

Classic period Norton, both stories reflect the mood of the "Cold War" era though they were both enjoyable to reread after these many years and stand on there own.

If you're the kind of person who likes reading Umberto Eco and watching French films, you might like this. Otherwise, happy slogging. Trying to read & enjoy this book is like trying to play chess blindfolded without anyone telling you the rules - some people can do it, but whether you're one of them is another matter entirely.

The first story, Dark Piper, isn't too bad. The second story, Dread Companion, can be read entirely separately from the first, which is actually not a point in its favour. It would be a much better story if its middle 80% was chopped out and the story continued from where it ends.

Two of the late Andre Norton's novels "Dark Piper" and "Dread Companion" have been reissued under a single title: "Dark Companion."

"Dark Piper" was first published in 1968 and is one of the few `post Apocalypse' science fiction novels of Lifetime Grand Master of Fantasy, Andre Norton, who passed away on March 17, 2005 after a long and extremely fruitful career. Her first novel, "The Prince Commands" was published in 1934, and her last, "Three Hands for Scorpio" in 2005. Her magically detailed world-building skills and upright, against-all-odds characters will be sorely missed.

"Dark Piper" features her usual cast of likeable, self-reliant young men and women, who have to fight both inscrutable, powerful aliens and the evil mercenaries who attempted to erase all other human life on Beltane. There are hints of Norton's Forerunners, the mysterious beings who preceded humans into space, but this novel is mainly one of survival after the near-destruction of the Beltane colony.

Vere Collis, a young man from a military family, narrates in first-person the near obliteration of Beltane, a very remote Terran outpost whose human colonists were mainly scientists. As the Terran Confederation gradually disintegrates under the burden of interstellar wars, Beltane becomes more and more isolated--an easy target for mercenary soldiers who still possess the ships to travel between stars. Retired Sector-Captain Griss Lugard attempts to warn the colonists of impending danger. When this fails, he leads a group of youngsters (including the narrator, Vere Collis) deep underground before a series of explosions seals them from all contact with the outer world.

Vere and his friends must return to the surface, in spite of monsters who have adapted to life underground. That which awaits them among the silent ruins of their home is even more soul-shattering.

This is another fantastically populated universe, created by one of the most underrated fantasy/science fiction writers of our time. It is more darkly themed than most of Norton's science fiction, and will never be my favorite of her novels. However, "Dark Piper" is a must-read for fans.

"Dread Companion" begins and ends in a future where humanity had long ago reached the stars and scattered itself across thousands of planets. Terra itself is nothing but a half-remembered legend of origin.

Norton combines a theory of parallel universes with themes from folklore to create her story of a changeling who drags her brother and governess out of the twenty-fifth century AF (After Flight) and into the world of Faerie.

It's an odd amalgamation, but I think it works well because her story is anchored by the governess, Kilda and her brave attempts to rescue her charges. Almost as soon as she meets the children, Kilda realizes that the girl Bartare has some kind of unnatural hold over her younger brother, Oomark. The governess does everything she can to solve the mystery of Bartare's invisible `Dread Companion'---invisible that is, until Kilda and her charges are yanked into Faerie.

Kilda has to drink the water of Faerie before she can even see properly. The boy Oomark stays with her, but eats freely of alien fruit. When Kilda finally regains her normal vision, Oomark has begun a physical transformation into a creature of hooves and horns---a faun. Kilda must now struggle to stay human, locate a gate back to the sane world of the 25th century, keep Oomark by her side, and find Bartare who has gone to join the Dread Companion she believes to be her true mother.

"Dread Companion" was originally published in 1970, sandwiched between the Witch World novels, "Sorceress of the Witch World" (1968) and "The Crystal Gryphon" (1972), as well as many other works by this prolific author. Norton fans will discern several common elements between her excellent Witch World fantasy series and this stand-alone SF novel. Examples: there are nurturing trees that are havens from evil hound- and vulture-like creatures; and Bartare's kidnapper turns out to be a Great One of the Light---not that it matters so unhuman is She.

In "Dread Companion," you will read some of the best descriptions of Faerie ever written, even though this book is officially classified as science fiction.

Norton has written of a place that is wondrous, terrible, and truly alien.

This book is darker that the normal A. Norton. It does expose some ideas about parallel universes and how the things we love can be or own worst enemy.
Well written, it is dark . but thought provoking. Good for the reader familiar with "Norton".