S. C. Coleman
The First Valkyrie
The Dawn Bringer
BookRix GmbH & Co. KG
80331 Munich
Map of the Continent
Summary
Where did the Valkyries come from? We know them as avenging angel women. They wore bright armor and rode flying horses into battle. Well, there are many legends about them. Here is one more to add to the valkyrja lore. Working with myth, it is sometimes necessary to take liberties with historical folklore. Ok, ok, you got me. There are a lot of liberties taken with this book. In fact, this story does not take place on Earth; at least not what we know Earth to be. At the turning of an age, this world is struggling to oppose a dark force. The well named Dark Queen Magiya is waging war on the whole continent. If her war continues, then soon there will be only beasts inhabiting the world. A young woman, named Eleesa, begins her journey that will culminate in the showdown of ages. The Kingdom, or Queendom, she comes from is known as Bahl. It just so happens, the Dark Queen Magiya rules the land that Eleesa was born in. Eleesa must escape this place to find her true nature. She must first endure a series of tribulations. During her journey she will face a house filled with snakes, a jealous queen, and a mountain infested by bear men. She will meet a bundle of misfit companions along the way including; Diodo the Writer, Jaco/Marco, and even a venomous snake. Her counter-part, Queen Magiya, is busy waging war on the land. At the right hand of the Queen is a General named Hamo. He is a famous General caught between light and darkness. Will Eleesa survive? Will the Dark Queen take over the world? Will General Hamo find peace? You may not like the answer. The forces of light and dark will fight for the souls of those damned few caught in the middle. Enjoy this account of how the first valkyrja was born.
She was thought to be a foreigner, but after her arrival in Ulsgard, she had found her home. She is none other than the mighty Bjorg. The great mountain god took on the form of a young woman to trick the good people of Ulsgard
-Diodo
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The Pure of Heart
In the sleepy town of Umbria, a light blanket of snow had fallen as the sun set. Upon a snow-capped hill rested a cottage of brick and mortar where an old crone lived and waited on her final day. She was renowned for her generosity to the community in the village below. Although she had little, what she did have was shared with all and her kind words of wisdom helped the villagers through many hard times. Despite the village’s love for her only the street urchins visited often. She had lived in the village all her life and never married nor bore children. Thus, the children of the village she treated as if they were her own. On this cold night, as the snow continued to fall, the old woman dragged herself to an old rocking chair while the village children gathered around the crackling fire. She cleared her throat and began one of her many famous stories in her heavy tongued language.
“Now children, pay attention. Should you fall asleep do not worry, for an ancient guardian will protect you. I will tell you of the Queen of the Mountain and her lightening wardens. Our tale, chronicled by an ancient scholar by the name of Diodo, begins in a time long ago before the great northern snow came. This land once sunny and fertile housed a civilization that rose and fell from power. However, the civilization’s capital, which stood upon this vary ground, was not the greatest wonder of this forgotten age. A great battle for the future of humanity was fought here.” The children’s ears perked up at the sound of violence and a young boy raised his hand.
“Was it greater than Horrick’s fight with Ormund?”
“Yes, even greater. The battle was fought between two armies with thousands of men, but would you like to know the real wonder of this battle?” The old woman leaned forward with a glint in her eye.
“What…?” The children leaned forward and whispered their reply.
“It was fought with the skies and among the gods.”
“How?”
“Listen and I shall tell you.”
***
The town of Numo rested in the northern region of Bahl. The land, once ruled by the Council of Carth, now submitted to the dark queen Magiya and her famous General Hamo. The town held the last temple of the One, an0 old cult from before Bahl. The temple was a beautiful, yet quaint wooden hut bound together by reeds. Its priest, the last of his kind, lived in the temple alone. Thus, upon his 60th year in the hundredth year of Her Majesty Magiya, he was surprised to hear a knock at the door. Upon opening the door one of the villagers stood.
“Juno! You won’t believe what I’ve found!” The young man held a small sack woven from cloth and rope.
“Spit it out! What could be the reason to wake me at such a late hour?”
“I thought you Acolytes were supposed to be gracious…”
“Do you see any Acolytes? I’m simply an old steward. The glorious empire of Magiya saw to that, let her majesty live another hundred years!” The shaky old man raised his hands in reverence and spat on the ground at the same time.
“I found a baby!”
“Congratulations! Now return it to its parents!” The man slammed the wooden door and went to return to his bed. Yet again, a knock came at his door.
“Hear me out. Please…” The young man was kneeling on the threshold when the old man reopened the door.
“Fine! Speak boy!”
“I’m just a poor youth and I leave for service in the empire in a few days’ time. I have no means to care for a young girl.”
“Then return her to her parents as I instructed. I do not have time for this.”
“You don’t understand. She has no parents. I asked throughout all the town and none knew her.”
“Where did you find her?”
“In the wilderness while I was hunting for snakes.”
“I don’t care about what you had for dinner. Tell me of the circumstances where you found her man!” Flustered, the young man got to his feet and fumbled over his words in answer.
“She, she…she was naked under a tree. Crying! I couldn’t just leave her there!” Tears began to well in the young man’s eyes. The old man thought of how short this young man’s military career would be.
“Calm down man. Calm down.”
“It was when the sun was setting, and a ray of light struck the tree at such an angle so that the child seemed to glow. It was the strangest thing that I have ever seen with these two eyes. Shadow should have been cast upon the area that she lay. Yet, the sunlight almost seemed to bend around the tree and cover her like a blanket.”
“I think you spent too long in the desert boy. Give her to me.” The young man eagerly gave the child to the old man. He opened the sack and looked upon the face of the baby. She was sleeping quietly as if she had no need for breath. The young man saw something then pass over the grumpy old man’s face. He had never seen this look on the old priest ever since the priest fled to the town in exile. The man’s eyes widened and twinkled for a second. It was the same look that his mother showed him when he pretended to be asleep. Without another word, the old man slammed the wooden door in the young villager’s face. So, the story of Eleesa the Great would begin.
***
In the hundred and twelfth year of the age of Her Majesty Magiya, the empire of Bahl had stretched nearly to the edge of the continent. Only three Kingdoms remained to contest her power. The seafaring cities of Furdvik and Ulsgard lay to the west on the island of Yilia. The cities would send many raiding parties to ravage the continental coast in the past. The infamous Gugre Dragre (Lightening Wardens in the language of Yilia) were all but forgotten. The island was unknown to the main continent, but that was about to change. To the south lay the stronghold of Timujri, from the kingdom of the Magu
yari. To the west lay the wildlands of Makai where none dared to enter before. The queen purged any religions from Bahl and conquered the land. However, she over looked the temple of the One in Numo. In fact, this would prove to be the greatest mistake the empire would make. Upon the sixteenth year of Eleesa of Numo, her guardian Juno of Yahcar was on his death bed.
“Let me get the healer. Please…” The young girl’s black hair fell around Juno’s chest as she cried into his tattered robes. The old man was blind now and his voice failed him, but his stubbornness had not weakened. She felt him grunt and shake his head. She brushed his wrinkled cheeks with her own lively ones. His heart had softened over the years with her. His feeble arm dangled over her shoulder in a weak hug. “Why must you be so stubborn, Juno? I don’t care what you say, you’re the
only father that I have ever had. I can’t let you go. I’ll be alone.” With the last vestige of strength, the old man raised her chin with a finger. She looked into his old sightless eyes and he smiled. He then pointed to the ceiling and breathed his last. Eleesa collapsed into sobs until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw a boy standing there. The dirt on his cheeks, coupled with his long dark hair and gray eyes, gave him a wild look. She wiped her watery eyes to see the boy better and realized they must have been the same age. He held out a hand and lifted her to her feet.
“Why do you cry?”
“My friend…my father has died.”
“Is death sad?” The boy smiled comfortingly and laid a hand on her shoulder.
“You are a strange boy.”
“And you are a strange girl to me.”
“What are you doing here? We have nothing to offer you.”
“It is not what you can offer me but what I can offer to you. Rumors of the most beautiful girl in the empire circulate the town but no one believes them. I had to see for myself.”
“I wouldn’t know anything about that. I only know of the portraits in my book.” The girl blushed and looked at the ground. She was suddenly aware that she was talking to a boy.
“Come young maiden. Let me show you the world then.”
“Oh, I cannot. Juno says I must never leave the sanctuary. He says the world is a dark place and I know nothing of the hatred of men.”
“He is not wrong but there is also love in the world, if you know where to find it.”
“I cannot.”
“I will remain here with you then young maiden.” The two sat down crossed legged but the young girl kept her gaze fixed on the floor.
“You are the one who healed Lenu of his blindness. Although, the town dismissed it as a temporary sickness. Why did you not then heal Juno?”
“I tried.” Eleesa collapsed into sobs once more and the boy returned his hand to her shoulder. The two remained that way until she had no more tears and fell asleep. The boy then got up. He lay the tapestry on the wall over her as he could find no blankets. In fact, no beds were to be found in the house. The boy explored the three-room temple and realized just how poor the man had been. None of the splendor of the temple remained save for a single silver star in the center of the holy room. The boy examined the shiny small silver star which shone brightly, despite the dusty room around it. The old man probably polished it until he could no longer, the boy thought to himself. The star might have once belonged to an amulet that the man wore. The boy sat and pondered why the man had simply laid the star in the center of the dusty room. After becoming bored with the muse, the boy left it where it lay and entered Eleesa’s room. What a miserable life that she lived. A single candle rested on the ground beside a shape in the floor’s dusty blanket. The shape was Eleesa’s and the boy decided it was where she slept. She spoke of books but in fact there was only one that lay in the corner. A tome outlawed by the empire, the book bore the title The Origin of The One. He sat down next to the candle and opened the dusty book to the first chapter; The Three Sisters.
Three women grew from the earth.
From three women came three men.
The first entered the wind with her child to escape the others.
The second was slain for jealousy and returned to the earth.
The third, and most beautiful, hid her face in shame.
Thus, the children of Earth’s daughters lived.
The first child traveled the oceans and islands on the wind.
The second traveled the land but slower than his brother wind.
The third was hardly seen as he tended to his mother in her seclusion.
One day each child, having grown bored, sought out father earth.
Father earth was sleeping and thus gave each a power that they might go away.
The first child was lonely in the sky and wanted someone to travel with.
From this desire, the wind child crafted a mate in the likeness of brother darkness’s mother.
Enraged, brother darkness filled the sky with blackness, so he might blind his brother wind.
The first child, jealous of brother wind, built creatures so he might catch brother wind and kill him.
The third child, bound to the earth, failed and failed until all the land was covered in creatures.
The mate of the wind child bore children, but the child of the wind could not see and so he died in despair.
The dark child’s heart sought to blind his last brother, but the wife of brother wind sensed this.
So, it came that the wind’s mate put a light in the sky to protect the third brother.
The child of the earth, seeking revenge, rode his creatures against the brother of darkness.
Upon seeing this destruction, the wind’s mate cried and woke the Earth.
The Earth rose and shook. All stood still.
Seeking peace, the Earth gave mates to the two remaining brothers.
More sons and daughters arose, and more beasts were created.
Brother darkness however could not be comforted and blinded his last brother.
The third child, unable to see his creations, died in despair.
The children of the third child mounted their creatures and sought out his brother of darkness.
Enraged, the children of the wind sought out brother darkness also.
No longer able to hide, the child of darkness threw himself into the sea.
Brother darkness traveled below the waves until he saw the wind’s mate.
He tried to blind her, but she cried and suddenly the sky lit up.
Then, the child of darkness tried to hide. So, he dove deeper and deeper until he was lost.
A voice came from the sky stating that the light would return if darkness did.
Soon the children of darkness and of the wind quarreled and began to kill each other.
Thus, the light returned and took them with him save for a few chosen to carry on the story.
The children of the beasts left only a portion of the land to the children of darkness.
For the children of the wind they gave a portion as well but broke it from the rest.
Separated, the children of the brothers of wind and darkness quarreled no longer.
Eleesa awoke to total darkness and she sought out the boy. He was asleep in her room with her book opened. She gasped in fright, for her master always told her the book was sacred, and he woke. She fled from the room and left out the front door. She ran to the east until the town was hidden behind dunes of sand.
The Harbinger of Night
The great fortress of Timujri stood tall and defiant. Its walls stretched three stories towards the sky. Furthermore, the fortress was placed atop a jagged hill. The fortress was only accessible through a narrow dirt causeway. The causeway connected to a mountain slope directly across from the fortress, which had been blown prior to their enemy’s arrival. Timujri was also surrounded by deep ravines and the trees had been cut down around the perimeter. Timujri guarded the only northern pass through the Gurkorta Mountains, protecting the hills and plains of the Maguyari Kingdom. The fortress had defied count
less invaders and had not been breached for more than a hundred years. Tumjri itself was small. It could only support up to two hundred and sixty occupants. Due to this, only Maguyari military units were stationed there. Tumjri also housed the largest collection of Maguyari elite lancers, which totaled seventy. Lightly armored, the lancers were covered from head to toe in hardened leather with iron and bronze plates. Underneath they wore fur and felt tunics. Masked iron helmets with a long golden spire adorned their heads. These lancers were called the Aravut.
The forces of Queen Magiya speckled the surrounding forests with their dark presence. Each of the Bahl foot soldiers painted themselves a deep blue. The Bahl cavalry sported iron chainmail that was painted onyx black. All the Bahl warriors protected their heads with round helmets, made of studded leather and dripping masks of chainmail. The legendary Bahl general Hamo stood at the head of the dark force. He dismounted from his white stallion. The Bahl heavy cavalry approached as they weaved their way through the rows of slingers.
***
“They are challenging us general.” Hamo’s adjuvat whispered into Hamo’s ear as they both dismounted.
“I know that,” Hamo snapped. “General Hasdrubol what are your thoughts?”
“I believe that our cavalry is superior to the Aravut. Our horse are chargers outfitted with the best armor. They have light armored horses, and none have bows. We can easily defeat them in a straight up fight General.” General Hasdrubol, the cavalry general, haughtily stroked his curly black beard.
“While I have seen your prowess in the east, General, I pose this question to you. Have you ever defeated an Aravut unit in a straight up fight?” General Hamo removed his black iron helmet and ran a hand over his long black curls. The light of the full moon showed his falsely young features. In fact, Hamo appeared to be in his early thirties but had lived into his early fifties.
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