by Cody W Urban
It finally dawned on his mind with transforming ferocity that he was powerless to accomplish his mission, but it was not unfeasible for the Almighty. In fact, if it was his Creator that brought him through all this, that same Being would carry him to the conclusion. For the first time in a long time he fell to his knees in earnest to beseech the Lord.
“Father. I humbly ask for your guidance,” he said, a bit awkwardly at first. And then as he warmed to the idea of seeking the old lover of his soul that he once devoted his life to, he became more passionate. “For your help, I ask. I find myself under the heavy load of this life and the crushing burden of a seemingly impossible task. So many children are out there in need and my heart is fraught to help them. Namely Pete. Please, protect him. Yet I, one lowly man, can do no such thing...”
Then upon this midnight clear, a wind blew through the window and broke open his shutters. Juno hopped to her feet and scurried out of the room. Ready again to flow down the divine river of destiny, he followed her into the brisk night air. Autumn was waning, and winter loomed on the horizon. Nicholas chased after Juno into the woods under the waxing moonlight. “Juno! Juno come back!”
He knew she was a tame wolf, but a wolf nonetheless and a free spirit from whom he couldn’t dare be parted. Among all his current agonies, that would be a blow he wasn’t sure he could withstand. As he rounded a bush, he found Juno sitting before a tall slender man. She basked in his hand rubbing her fury head. The man stood tall and faced Nicholas and his eyes beheld a sight he had not seen in almost two years.
“Kenalfon!?” asked Nicholas in shock.
“I tend to always find you in a grave crisis in your life, my friend,” he replied kindly.
“Are ye not dead or do my eyes deceive me?”
“Nicholas,” he said benignly. “I was an immortal physical spirit bound to the Earth before. The ability to physically shed corporeality doesn’t hinder immortality. I stand before you now at your most dire moment of need.”
“Kenalfon, I do not know what to do. I have a task far too great to handle,” Nicholas said, assuming he was fully abreast of the details from his ethereal perspective.
“Then all you need is help,” he replied.
“I know that, but all whom I hold dear are taken from me. I feel so… so alone.”
“Nicholas, though no one can go back and make a brand new start, you can start from now and make a brand new ending,” he said and then stepped forward and rested a soft hand on his shoulder, as he had so long ago, and he looked warmly into Nicholas’s eyes and continued. “Now shall come the time foretold. Lo the days hasten on, my son, that ye shall step into the boots of destiny. Remember that and let ye be strengthened and encouraged by it. Do not despair; this task was assigned to you for a reason.”
“But how can I accomplish this? I am just one man.”
“Maybe not one man,” came a voice from behind. Nicholas turned with a start and under the moonlight he saw Tomte. “Now with a host of Elves on your side, mayhaps.” Behind Tomte, Nisse, Munin, Hugin, Boyce, Verean, Azanu, and Ty’Avel approached. Nicholas’s heart skipped, overjoyed at the sight of his beloved Elves.
“My friends!” he gasped. Just when he took a step forward to greet them he looked back toward Kenalfon to find him nowhere in sight. Juno walked from where she sat and then pawed at Tomte to greet him.
“Hello, Juno,” he said to her as he pat her. “Glad to see you are willing to befriend me now.”
“What brought ye here?” Nicholas asked as he walked up and hugged Tomte.
“We knew you needed us,” Tomte said with a chuckle, glad to embrace his old friend.
“Oh, Nicholas!” said Nisse who cut in and took a warm hug from him. “How I have missed you! A vision of you dead set against a vast evil borne upon one who has allied with the Krampus hastened our coming.”
“Aye, yet it is a human’s fight. How would Alaric allow you to venture here?” Nicholas asked.
“Alaric has his thoughts and ways,” said Munin.
“He has shown folly as of late in his philosophies regarding humanity. Now, Völundar, King, has heard of your plight and has allowed us to come in spite of Alaric,” added Hugin.
“Nicholas. You were right,” said Tomte, grabbing his shoulder to look him square in the eyes. “We Elves had abandoned our purpose while you held fast to it.”
“You inspired us to leave our gathering and help you bring joy and peace to the children of men,” said Boyce gaily.
Then Azanu stepped forward and grabbed Nicholas's hand and said softly, “Your words to Alaric were true and ‘tis my honor to contribute to the cause. To align the methods of my hands with the Yule Man.”
“What did ye all have in mind? How would ye help me?” Nicholas asked, reminding himself of the unattainable chore he had set for himself.
“You tell us, Nicholas. We are here to serve you,” said Tomte. “At your word, by your direction, we shall rescue this land and pierce the darkness with light.”
8
From angels bending near the Earth,
To touch their harps of gold.
They got right to work at whittling toys and creating other gifts to make enough for the children of Lycia. While Nicholas was rather proficient at the craft, Elves were masters from hundreds upon hundreds of years of practice and were able to mass-produce quality items. As they filled the back room, Nicholas would head out and purchase the inconspicuous raw materials of wood, string, paints, and cloth from diverse shops so any watching eyes wouldn’t perceive what he was doing. Then he would return and go hard to work to crafting the playthings.
“You have no idea how much I have missed you all,” Nicholas said as he worked alongside the others. “I’ve longed to hear the angelic choir of the Blessed Realm. I’ve longed to walk the treetops of Alfheim once more. Have you made a new city?”
“We have actually merged all three realms into a new kingdom further north,” explained Nisse. “You would love it, Nicholas, ‘tis a beautiful snow covered land untouched by man.”
“Knowing the swift expansion of mankind, how long will you keep it hidden?” Nicholas asked.
“That was the motivation for our departure,” replied Tomte. “You see, after the Krampus attacked us, they laid siege to Lower Alfheim until we could muster forces from the King’s domain and rescue the rest of our kin. The Krampus keep close to mankind’s fire.”
“To be near their corruption and wars,” added Ty’Avel gruffly.
“Aye,” replied Tomte. “Knowing they were there in such force, we knew man was expanding perimeters upon us. Betimes we knew we could wait no longer to move further and so we found residence in the mountains of Korvatunuri in the place called Lapland.”
“It is just on the rim of the Arctic Circle,” added Munin.
“Good grief! That must be terribly cold!” Nicholas said with astonishment.
“Aye,” replied Munin. “Yet cold or heat truly matters not for we make the best of all circumstances.”
“Though the warmth of Asia Minor may be tough to leave,” added Hugin.
“I feel we shouldn’t all dwell together and make ourselves so visible but rather keep spread about and hidden,” said Azanu.
“That,” said Tomte, “and be among mankind doing the work we were put on this Earth to do. As you have so passionately reminded us, Nicholas.”
“So, the objective is for you to give one toy to every child in Lycia in one night?” Nisse clarified.
“Not me, necessarily,” Nicholas said. “But the Scarlet Rider. A visage I have among the people to protect my identity.”
“And you give them on the Twenty-Fifth? Which happens to be our Yule?” Tomte said, pushing the hint upon Nicholas that he truly is the Yule Man.
“It was the winter solstice,” Nicholas said.
“What a feat, indeed!” gasped Munin.
“Crafting these toys is but one obstacle and now the easiest, with all us hard-working cheery cohorts,” sai
d Boyce. “How can one Scarlet Rider give these gifts out in one night?” Nicholas could only answer with a grave silence—he hadn’t yet figured it out.
“So, is it clear that there is only one Scarlet Rider?” Nisse questioned with a devious smile. Like opening a window and letting in a cool breeze to a claustrophobic man trapped in a sauna, Nicholas was just given a breath of fresh air in the sudden strikingly fresh proposal Nisse implied. There was no rule that there was one Scarlet Rider.
Before he knew it he was already constructing a brand new plan that just might work; in fact, it had far more feasibility than his previous venture. He gathered the Elves into the stable in the rear of the church and he donned his scarlet suit and met them there during the night. Grabbing Sleipnir by the reigns, he led him out before the group to display him and then Nicholas motioned to both Sleipnir and himself.
“You will each need a reindeer and such a garment as I wear now,” he said. “This is the motif I have designed and the public has given me the title Scarlet Rider. Then you shall travel the route I will devise and retrieve a lump of coal from each child and replace it with a toy. If each one of you becomes this and we start at separate areas of Lycia and then meet together, we shall hoodwink Vasilis. Better yet, delude those with authority over him who will enforce the wager and make him step down.”
“Aye, we will divide the territory and conquer it,” Tomte said with intrepid optimism.
“It would help us further should the citizens work with us,” Nisse added. “If only there were a way to relay messages to the people without the government noticing.”
9
And ever over its Babel sounds,
The blessed angels sing.
“The Scarlet Rider will move swift yet will need the help of the citizens,” Nicholas said to a gathered secret meeting he had summoned among the extended members of his parish. He had sent out bells through Bedros and Matthias and a gathering of his flock came to the circle in the woods, lit by torches in the dead of night. “You need to be ready to receive the gift and pass the coal. When you hear small silver bells, know ye that he comes to town.”
“I heard that he was put in prison!” shouted a dismayed citizen.
“I heard he was executed,” added another.
“My friends, as surely as I stand before you today, I assure you I have seen the Scarlet Rider with my own two eyes,” Nicholas declared. “He rides to rescue you from the tyranny of Vasilis, but needs your help!”
“The Governor’s fist has gripped us ever tighter since the Rider showed up,” said one indignant farmer.
“If he fails, will not our lives grow even darker? We cannot even meet in your church anymore!” shouted another.
“That day is hastening on—the golden age when we can congregate and worship in peace. I assure you, that day is just yonder,” Nicholas guaranteed.
“What if this was just a trick to draw him out and have him killed?” a morose, withered old man posed. “I have heard Vasilis has ordered each town to ring a bell once the Rider has finished his work there and rides off to the next. Does this not mean he will be watching where he goes? Does this not mean he shall be waiting for him—possibly by paid assassins?”
“Hear my words!,” Nicholas declared. “Send forth our bells far and wide and let that carol play for all ears to tell the masses to be ready for this night. And when you hear the bells peal in one town, you shall hear them in another. They will play the anthem of peace on earth and goodwill to men that the evil wrought by Vasilis has come to an end. Even Rome shall one day fall, and we will be free.”
The message went through the network of the bells to every city and town of Lycia. People all around were instructed to be as ready as possible the night the Rider would traverse the nation bearing his gifts. Now it was less than a week from the twenty-fifth and he was only just over half the quota of the needed toys. He even enlisted Matthias and Bedros to help them. After explaining to them the whole situation, they gladly went along with it. Somehow they never doubted Nicholas and felt God’s will in all his works. Surprisingly, they weren’t even bewildered at the meeting with the Elves.
While the workers labored inside, he noticed that Tomte, Hugin, and Ty’Avel were missing. When he found them they were in the stable working on a carriage. “What is this?” Nicholas asked. “Much devotion I need to making the crafts!”
“Aye, Nicholas,” Tomte said as he fastened a wheel onto the axle Ty’Avel held up by his own brute strength. “Now, when you have retrieved all the coal, filled and heavy laden your sacks will be. A burden on your shoulders and your steed. Hugin, this was your idea, tell him.” Once the wheel was on, Ty’Avel dropped the heavy cart with a thud.
“Very well,” Hugin nodded with a pleased smile at the acknowledgment of his work. “When all riders are done, let us load this carriage and have all our deer pull the load. Then the swifter your travel shall be. Like an arrow you will pierce the heart of the corrupt oppressor.”
It was a brilliant idea. With his priests added to the manufacturing force, these three were able to make the carriage. Nisse, Verean, and Azanu traveled up north a few days earlier and then returned on the twenty-second, riding reindeers and steering five others on leads.
“I do not believe my eyes!” Nicholas said in astonishment. “You traveled far and fast and returned with exactly enough animals!”
“Did ye expect any less?” Verean asked with a proud and mockingly offended voice. “We are Elves.”
Nicholas stepped forward and greeted a reindeer and it pulled back from him with a snort. “Will they be tame and ride well?”
“As she said,” Nisse replied, “We are Elves.”
That was all that was needed to be said. The Elves, through their herbal remedies and beguiling ways, were able to tame and train even the trees of the forest. It wasn’t much of a task to train eight reindeer to obey the commands of their riders and it wasn’t long until they were ready. But as the sun set on the twenty-third, they found an unparalleled dreadful sight.
“Snow!” shouted Boyce to the group of laborers finishing the final few toys. “Come quickly! Snow has fallen upon the land of Lycia! What a fabulous spectacle!”
Everyone went outside and sure enough there was already a white blanket forming under the falling white flakes. While the people of Lycia were familiar with snow—on their highest mountain peaks they would see it from time to time—it had never fallen upon their warm Mediterranean land.
“What a strange tiding to greet my eyes in my snowless homeland,” Nicholas marveled.
“It never snows down here?” Nisse asked, reinstating what Nicholas had affirmed. “Then this is from a supernatural source.”
“Verily the work of Vasilis,” Azanu pointed out.
“How could a mortal man work this?” Nicholas asked.
“He is in league with the Krampus, Nicholas,” Tomte explained. “We have seen how he has worked this through our vision. Nicholas, I must tell you of what we beheld in our vision: a grave creature named Ru’Kas. He is the hybrid son of a Krampus and a human. The wretch is the bridge between the two worlds, man and earth-bound demon, Vasilis and Krampus. Over the years Ru’Kas has become very powerful—a mighty king of sorts to the savage creatures.”
“I may have met him before,” Nicholas said in revelation recalling the shrouded Krampus that simply would not die. “A terrible foe was he. My life was nearly lost at his hands. But I do not fear him. We have two more days until the time to ride forth and, God willing, nothing will stop us.”
“Aye,” said Tomte. “We will bring peace to this people.”
“Alas! The snow is bothersome! This is all the more difficult, most of all for the carriage!” Nicholas said, having turned and gazed upon the whitening horizon. The white was like a growing wall, a rising mountain of devastating challenge before him. Nicholas had his team and the motivation to accomplish a massive task, and yet he had no idea how he would cope with the freak weather.
Chapter Thirteen
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
And in despair I bowed my head,
“There is no peace on Earth,” I said.
“Nicholas, how do I look?” asked Nisse standing in his doorway dressed as a Scarlet Rider. Somehow, the cloak naturally hung over her in a cute fashion—she was simply a pretty girl Elf. No matter what she did to appear as the rough and tough Rider, her feminine physique couldn’t hide. Nicholas just finished putting on his cloak, grabbed his sword, and looked at Nysa’s ribbon. He was not in the mood to answer Nisse’s question for the heavy thoughts weighing down his mind.
“The vision that brought ye to me,” Nicholas said slowly and paused, searching for the words. “In this vision, was there any sign of Nysa?”
“The love robbed from you?” Nisse asked. Nicholas nodded but didn’t meet her eyes. She sighed and replied, “Nay. I did not behold her in the apparitions before me.”
Nicholas looked up at her and swallowed his heavy feelings. “You look somewhat like me,” he said gazing upon her red robe. “Save for the lacking beard.”
Nisse chuckled and went over to him to straighten his sash and belt. “Because I did not see her does not mean she isn’t in your future, Nicholas. We saw an enchanting future for you, however.”