The Nordic King opened the monumental bronze-clad wooden door with little effort, but the room appeared empty. Only one of the fifty white marble fireplaces was lit, and not with enough logs to give any heat. The gold chandeliers and burners on the six columns were half-lit. An infinity of almost burnt out candles remained. There were no tablecloths on the long tables and a pitcher, a jug and a plate with leftovers, traces of the nocturnal snack of some nobleman, were on the table.
From the passage, which led to the kitchens, a young servant was seen. She was so involved in her work that she did not notice the mighty knight standing still in the room. The young woman was dressed in blue, wearing heavy, thick rolls of clothing. She was talking to herself and, when she saw the leftovers, she commented out loud:
"Not nobles, but pigs! They can’t even bring a plate back to where they got it from. My dog can fetch a stick, a plate is not so different!" The complaints entertained Holaf who could not help laughing, frightening the poor servant.
"Forgive me, my Lord, I did not mean to offend!" begged the young woman with her heart jumping with fear.
"Why should you apologize? At least I should thank you for giving me a good laugh early in the morning!" the Lord of the North answered amicably, calming the poor servant, who was staring at him, perhaps hypnotised by his ice-coloured eyes.
"Tell me, how long must I wait for breakfast?" the warrior asked.
"Breakfast will be served in two hours, my Lord, as the Emperor commands," the woman answered with a half bow.
"Of course, the Emperor has no reason to get up at dawn, he does not have to ride north to return home!" exclaimed Holaf, who with a nod said goodbye and went out of the room.
Holaf did not notice either the whitish marble floors or the walls, covered with splendid and immense tapestries, works depicting sumptuous meals, embellished with gold inserts and borders filled with precious stones. He did not even glance at the refined workmanship of the tables and the countless thrones in carved wood, covered with gold leaf, with decorative motifs inspired by the constellations. Holaf's head was filled with warlike thoughts and at the time there was no room for such frivolities.
Long Sword, as King Holaf was called in the north, decided to look for the Great Chamberlain to offer his greetings and ask him to offer greetings also to the Emperor. At that moment the last thing King Holaf wanted was to have to think of the comfort of others. There were too many things that had to be done to submit to useless orders.
Just as he was heading to Albion's rooms, fate decreed that he should meet Dicius, the slimy advisor to the Emperor, who did not miss a chance and tried to weasel some information out of the Sovereign, asking:
"Good morning, Lord, are you in a hurry?"
"Good morning to you, Imperial Counsellor, I do not hide the fact that I am in a great hurry!" Holaf answered, roughly. He had no fondness for falsehood, which was Dicius' principal ability.
"What is it tears you away from the warm rooms in such a rush on such an uncomfortable morning?" asked the treacherous counsellor, rubbing his hands together and blocking the warrior’s path.
Holaf put his hands on the counsellor’s shoulders, and moved him forcefully aside. Looking him straight in the eyes he spoke in hard, frank tones:
"If you will allow me, I must pass. You were not invited to the restricted council! And so decisions relating to this meeting are not of your competence, nor should they arouse your interest. Now let me pass or I will be obliged to use force."
Dicius did not reply. He took two steps back and bowed, wishing Holaf a good journey. Holaf wasn't all that stupid. He immediately understood that the first counsellor just wanted to provoke him and not get any information about the meeting, of which he certainly already knew every detail.
Released from the slimy counsellor, the King of the North went even faster, almost running. His heavy body made a lot of noise in the marble corridors. The metallic ringing of the links, buckles and plates, which made up his black armour echoed along the walls. He stopped in front of the door of the Great Chamberlain, knocked, but without thinking, went in before he heard an answering invitation to enter.
"What a bad-mannered northern goat you are!" Albion exclaimed with all the breath he had in his body. But his voice choked in his throat and it turned into a whistling breath. Albion got up from the table and went to meet King Holaf, saying, "He knocked and didn’t wait for an answer. If I had had sweet a female friend here, instead of chatting with High, what would have happened?" Immediately after saying this, he embraced Holaf and, looking up at him, added: "It is just as well we have you two to protect us all!" He returned to the table with uncertain steps. High was sitting there, enjoying bread with stewed fruit. Albion sat down and said, "Eat Holaf, son of Erling, the journey is hard and long, you won't see jam for many days surely.
Holaf, amused as always by the rough and frank ways of the old man, sat smiling. He took a piece of bread and poured in an abundant amount of jam and began to eat. The Lord of the North, with his mouth full, asked the old Chamberlain:
"Why did you say that we will save you all?"
Albion lifted up his old head, smiled, swallowed, and answered:
"My dear, let's not fool ourselves, a series of horrendous events are on the horizon!"
"And how do you know this? Where do you get your information?" Holaf asked with difficulty, because he had his mouth crammed like a woman's wardrobe.
"I am the Great Chamberlain, it's my job to know everything!" he answered enjoying the moment, and at the same time putting a piece of bread with some fresh cow's cheese into his mouth. When Albion had finished his mouthful, he added: "Moreover, your news has upset the Emperor to the point of calling me as soon as the council was concluded. Dicius and I were present, while the Emperor reported every detail, all the news."
Discovering how Dicius came by the details of the council so easily, directly through the Emperor, annoyed both the Royal Personages greatly. Holaf looked at High and exclaimed:
"What is the point of holding secret meetings if the Emperor then tells everything to Dicius, who will sell the information to the highest bidder?"
The God-Slayer cleaned his mouth with a napkin and commented:
"Can we expect nasty surprises along the way to Midgard?"
"I am not a warrior, but I know one thing: once Dicius is involved you must suspect every possible evil!" Albion spoke in seriously concerned voice to the two Kings.
"Don't darken the day with worries so early in the morning!" cried Holaf, who after a big sip of cow's milk added: "You said it yourself, it is up to us to save everyone and it will certainly not be Dicius who will hinder us or hinder my War Masters!"
The old man opened one eye and tried to answer, but only managed a series of strident breaths. After a cough he managed to express himself:
"You will save them all! As far as I am concerned, I have seen too many horrors and too much ugliness in my long life. I have seen more blood than I would have liked and I would be grateful to the good God if He were to bring me home to Himself, far from here, from this world, before the green tide inexorably takes over the chronicles of our time."
High and Holaf asked almost together, after this statement:
"Green tide, do you say it will be a green tide?"
"I hope not, but I'm afraid it will be!" replied the old man, before coughing heavily with metallic sound a couple of times. He then continued: "My dear ones, you don't have time to stay and listen to this old pessimist, follow the call of the road!"
The two leaders stood up. High embraced the old Chamberlain and said:
"Thank you for everything, look after yourself and turn up the heating, it's warmer at Long Wall than in these damn rooms!"
Holaf shook his hand with cordial affection, then the Kings closed the door behind them and looking at each other, the God-Slayer proposed:
"Let us go and call on Godwin!"
"Yes, if we can be quick! It’s time we departed,"
Holaf answered, excited to return northward to his homeland and to his sweet wife's attentions.
They descended quickly from the main stairs and met Clara, the Emperor's daughter, followed by a group of young and attractive women, all deferent and obedient at the sight of the Kings. Clara stepped aside to make room for the two Generals, who were clearly in a hurry, and so did the handmaids, with a great deal of bowing.
"Good morning, Your Imperial Grace! You are up and about very early this morning!" High exclaimed cordially.
"Good morning to you, Lord of the East!" The royal girl answered.
Holaf hastily greeted the noble girl continued on his way, but he was stopped by High who asked the Emperor's daughter:
"Do you go to the thermal baths early in the morning?"
"Yes!" Clara answered shyly, lowering her head, while her handmaids giggled shyly.
One of the girls approached the princess and quickly whispered in her ear, mysterious but fiery words that made the princess exclaim:
"Stop it now!"
The handmaiden moved away from her Lady. She was dressed in gorgeous red silk with golden embroidery. She moved towards Holaf, who was waiting apprehensively, as he knew they would be delayed by the courtly behaviour and good manners of High.
"My Lord!" said the girl, but she stopped, almost frightened by the expression on the Long Sword’s face. He noticed the fear of the girl and exclaimed:
"I didn’t mean to silence you or even to frighten you, please go on with what you wanted to tell me!"
At the invitation of the King, the young woman dressed in red approached the warrior differently, followed by the malicious and mischievous eyes of the other ladies.
"My Lord, one day soon we would like to have the honour of meeting your valiant children. Why do you never bring them to court?" the young woman asked.
"My children look after the affairs of our house and therefore of the Kingdom, while I am far away. For this reason they never come with me," the Lord of the North answered with a certain pride.
"Wouldn’t it be possible to organize a nice walk in the High Woods one day?" asked another Lady with a long and billowing yellow and blue dress.
The princess turned red and looked embarrassed:
"What can I say? My maids, is this the way to behave! You shame me in front of my guests!"
"There's no shame in the polite questions of your ladies, my princess," High answered, using all of his considerable charm. Holaf tried to turn around and leave, but his arm was grabbed by the impudent girl who ventured:
"King Holaf, promise our princess to introduce us to your beautiful children. I beg you!" In saying this, the Lady came so close that she forced this rough man of the north to step back.
Holaf was struck by so much insistence and responded:
"When everything is settled, I will talk about it with my wife and we will see what can be done," he turned to the Emperor's daughter. Only then did he notice her long and wavy blond hair, her light brown eyes and fleshy lips, her smooth and well cared for skin, as well as her well developed breasts. The scent of some inviting floral essence enveloped the group of young girls, who were hardly more than children. At those times, life was short and women were forced to grow up quickly.
Long Sword liked the young princess's cordial and respectful ways, as well as her well-groomed and noble appearance. Holaf came closer and said in the gentle voice of a good father:
"Your Majesty, I promise you that as soon as I have solved all this, I will introduce you to my three eldest children." He looked at his friend and nodded his head decisively and walked on. The God-Slayer bowed cordially to the princess and to the chattering maidens, and ran after Holaf.
"I can’t believe it!!" exclaimed High incredulous. Holaf looked at him and said:
"I'm afraid I don't understand you. Are you surprised at the promise made to the princess?"
"No, that was certainly a good and fair thing," answered High, pleased that his speeches about marrying off Holaf’s children had had some effect.
"So what is the problem?" asked curious Holaf, not thinking there was anything strange in his behaviour.
"I've seen you face a group of horrendous barbarians from the East, all armed with swords, spades and sledgehammers, ready to strike. I saw you on the rocks of Gott Hammer fighting on the bare sharp rocks, lashed by winds, strong enough to blow you away, and scourged by the icy waves of the Nordic Strait. You have fought with your mighty sword and shield with your wolf skin shaken by the wind, repelling the barbarian invaders without ceding a single step. I've never seen you retreat in the face of anything, but today because of a mischievous little girl, though very pretty, to be honest, you retreated hastily to avoid contact!" High was happy to tease his friend.
The God-Slayer punched Holaf's shoulder lightly. Holaf smiled, shaking his head and stated:
"First of all, you have forgotten the sea foam, which shooting up from the rocks flew in my eyes, burning them terribly. Then I have to thank you, as your story shows that you are ready to set up a statue on the wall of the heroes in the Great Hall of the High Tower.
I would like to tell you that I slipped on the marble steps, or that the enemy forces won. The truth is I never expected them to come so close," he stopped a moment smiling foxily and added: "If my Queen had been there, now the princess would have one less handmaid!"
.
Chapter 5
The Citadel
They reached Titan's gigantic drawbridge. It was enormous, but so well designed that it took only four men manoeuvre it from its position in the wall. The entrance was defended by a tower of the same stature as the rest of the castle. A series of three drawbridges defended the gallery that ran through the tower. Three bridges connected the inner bank of the parade ground to the opposite bank, which gave access to the Citadel.
The first was located in front of the path to the gallery and consisted of a single huge sheet of steel, forged by the titans, hinged along two-thirds of its length. This metal sheet, when closed, blocked the opening right down to the bottom of the moat. The third bridge, similar to the first, but shorter and hinged at its base, was inside the walls and tipped over towards the first, creating a walkway over the artificial curve of the moat that flooded the tunnel. The second bridge was made of solid wood and was in the middle of the tunnel, connecting the third bridge to the first. Unlike the other two, this was for defence and could be raised towards the vaulted ceiling, disappearing, covered by a long steel door with slits to allow soldiers to shoot of any enemies who arrived, however unlikely that may be.
Godwin was waiting for his peers to offer them final greetings. He stood next to his beautiful steed. The animal was impatient and pawed the ground vigorously.
"I would like to offer you my greetings, before embarking on the road to the Aureo manor," Godwin said relieved after the long wait.
"Certainly, we also wanted to say farewell to you, dear Godwin," High answered with great cordiality.
Holaf came forward and gave his forearm to the Lord of the South, who grasped it strongly and decisively. Long Sword, embarrassed, asked:
"Could I ask you a personal favour?"
The Righteous answered without delay:
"Certainly, my friend, anything you wish!"
"Would it be possible for you to have my two girls as guests in your castle in the south? Also my wife if I can persuade her?"
"But of course!" Godwin immediately exclaimed, clearly delighted. He added, "It will be a true honour to have the Queen of the North and the two princesses as guests in my fortress. I will send my men of the Holy Army halfway in order to release your escort. That way they can return as soon as possible to the place where they are needed most."
"I don't have words enough to thank you, you don't know how much this news reassures me!" Holaf exclaimed. He was greatly relieved to have resolved the fate of his women.
The three set out across the drawbridges along the entrance gallery. It was built, l
ike all of Titan, of huge blocks of dark stone, which made the long tunnel seem cavernous and gloomy. High smiled, absorbed in his thoughts, attracting the attention of Holaf, who curiously asked why he was so cheerful:
"My brother, what makes you smile so much? Share your good mood with us!"
"Oh! Nothing important, I just thought of Grigor. Once he gets out of bed, is going to be quite annoyed that we failed to offer our formal farewells!"
The Lord of the North answered delightedly.
"You are absolutely right, my brother, I had totally forgotten! For once I didn't ignore him on purpose! I almost feel guilty."
"My friends, don't feel too bad, there's no reason for it. Sire Grigor didn't seem all that sad early this morning, when I passed by to say farewell before leaving. I remember well that he did not mention you," Godwin informed them in his monotonous tone and coarse voice.
"You are well ahead of us this time!" exclaimed High surprised.
"Naturally, what with good old Albion and the accidental courtesies on the stairs with Princess Clara, it is amazing that you didn’t awaken the Emperor too!
Holaf interrupted them, drawn to a sight that interested him more. A strange and disturbing figure appeared before the three Royal men, who were still sleepy but in a cheerful mood. The being was remarkably tall and wide, even a bit taller than Holaf himself. He was totally covered by a long, wide black tunic of heavy fabric. The wide hood, lowered to his eyes, gave a glimpse of a helmet, which looked like a skull, but of a disturbing colour. A series of precise stains in various shades of red and brown realistically simulated a recently skinned head, so much so, that detailed decoration made it look like fresh blood. The tunic jerked with every step, revealing a chest covered in heavy armour. The body armour, at least for the visible part, was black, not burnished but lacquered, covered with twisted motifs, which were difficult to understand, given the limited portion exposed.
TRONDHEIM SAGEN: Earth Shattering Page 7