TRONDHEIM SAGEN: Earth Shattering

by Andreas Hennen

  "Only now I understand from your eyes that it is all a surprise to you. I was alarmed by the fact that you didn’t reply to my messages. They have vanished, who knows where," Armillus stated this in a severe tone, his ideas clarified by the Kings’ unexpected silence.

  "Forgive me, but regarding the attack on villages or any messages, about these events, no word reached me. I was not aware of any of this!" Godwin, alarmed more than all the others as he had territory that bordered on the plain under cowardly siege. He exclaimed.

  "Not even Trondheim received any news about these events. A hawk can be lost, it happens even if it is unusual, but three messages that vanished into thin air, is extremely strange," commented the Lord of the North seriously and thoughtfully.

  High also joined the chorus of his friends asking curious:

  "Good Armillus, who attacked the villages?"

  The terrifying response came as icy and rapid as a blade aimed at cutting a throat in sleep.

  In this case it is not a question of who, but what!" Armillus spoke seriously, looking the three serious, gloomy men in the face.

  "What do you mean by this?" Godwin asked visibly alarmed.

  "I pray you, tell us all you know without delay!" insisted High immediately.

  "I don't want to be theatrical, I just have no idea what to call the things!" Armillus answered, still marching nervously around the table with his hands behind his back. "The soldiers of High Guard of the Dragon, who came to help a small village north of the plateau, found themselves faced by creatures who incredibly disappeared into shadows. Those impious creatures descended silently from the Mountains of the Great Chain of the Serpent bringing destruction and death with them, to the unprepared villagers who were protected only by a few soldiers of the militia.

  King Armillus stopped for a moment and drank a large gulp of wine from his gilded chalice with shiny emeralds set above the engraving "Ave Imperator!" motto of the four cities of the Steel Ring. The Sovereign of Kitan resumed the story:

  "The soldiers arrived at dawn after a hard march in the hope of saving the people. But they found only entrails scattered in the grass, split skulls and blood everywhere!"

  "Split skulls?"Holaf repeated, noting something strange.

  "You have understood the problem well, my King. The Healers following the army analysed the remains and concluded that the cranial bones had been crushed by bites from animals. The easily visible scratches and holes in the bones were huge, evoking ancient ghostly stories. Of the contents of the skulls, as well as the remains of men, women and children, remained so little on the ground that further investigation was impossible. The doors of the houses were intact and locked well from the inside, but these horrible creatures did not enter in the usual way, but chose to go through the soft straw roof.

  Concluding the macabre story, Armillus, still intent on walking through the room, stood in front of the fireplace, threw a couple of large pieces of wood on the fire with and looked at the three Kings. He affirmed:

  "Nothing so evil had ever been seen, throughout the centuries in the west. You, your fathers, and before that your ancestors, have always shown yourselves capable of stopping all kinds of creatures on the edge of the Empire. But these monsters do not come from beyond our borders, they live in the mountain ranges in areas that have never been violated!"

  "Did the warriors of the High Guard of the Dragon succeed in the feat of shooting down at least one enemy?" Holaf hopefully asked, but the response was disappointing.

  "No, Lord of the North! The soldiers did not find them in the village. They could see them racing to the foothills and they heard their wild cries, their hysterical howls." The old King stopped for a drink. High was pressing in his curiosity. He asked:

  "So they wolves as they howl, or perhaps, dogs?"

  "The description of all the soldiers agreed in only a few details. These beings resemble wolves, but are as large as common bears. Their dark, long, shaggy fur was well visible despite the distance. Their heads, furless and white, stood out in the shadows illuminated by the pallor of the moon." Armillus described the animals, almost impressed by his own description, after which he added: "The soldiers of the High Guard of the Dragon, as Holaf well knows, are all capable men of the north, well trained and heavily armed. Veterans of arduous battles with nerves of steel, yet, that night, those who saw and heard such creatures, returned in a terrible state of confusion, trembling, like leaves!"

  "But what has the Emperor done about all this?" asked High fighting between being shocked and sceptical.

  "Between the warm thighs of voluptuous prostitutes, from the Citadel, rumour has it!" the disgusted Armillus answered dryly, without any kind of reverence. Becoming gloomy, the host said something in such a weak voice that it was not heard. The three warriors, in unison asked him to repeat himself because they had not understood.

  "The creatures arrived like shadows from hell, with ferocious tusks and necromancer voices, awakening the dead from their sleep," Armillus was interrupted by High, who ended the sentence in a wavering voice:

  "Railings from the underworld announce the bearer of death who marches on the Emperor's blood!" High shook his head and felt a strange sense of fear.

  "You are reciting from children's fairy tales, stories of werewolves running wild in the dark forests. These fairy tales have been read or narrated to everyone at least once!" Holaf exclaimed. He was not inclined to give weight to such allusions.

  "True, but it's not just a story to terrorize children before they go to bed!" said Armillus, sitting down at the head of the table.

  "What do you mean, King Armillus, explain clearly!" Godwin exclaimed alarmed, being a true expert in stories for children, having read them for all his twenty children. "You suggest there is truth regarding the existence of these hellish animals. Do you think they are real and some hidden force has evoked them?"

  "It would seem so, King of the Kings of the South!" Armillus added with his head down.

  "On the other hand, the stories of the ancients often conceal real events that were difficult to explain, were it not for supernatural fantasies," said Holaf, demoralized, who, getting up, shook his powerful body and finally asked: "What can we do to dispel the mists enveloping these sinister events?"

  "You, if my spies do not lie, have a heavy burden of mysteries to resolve in the north. We'll hunt these beasts, hoping not to fall victim to the proverbial intrusions of Dicius, always ready to intervene, weaving his web around the Emperor!" Armillus answered with the spark of battle in his eyes.

  "Lord of Kitan, call the Military Council of Steel and declare an emergency in the lands of the United Men. In this way you will have power to pass over the Emperor, but above all to lock Dicius up in the darkest and wettest hole, offered by your dungeons!"

  High surprised everyone with this proposal, much more likely to come from the mouth of a Nordic King or a Lord of the South, instead it came from the God-Slayer whose character was much more moderate. Armillus nodded his head pulling strange faces, as he looked from one to another, at each of his three guests. Finally disappointed, after long reflection, the good Armillus asserted:

  "Taking command of the five armies of the Ring of Steel is the exclusive right and honour, of the King of Rost, by virtue of his investiture as Grand Minister of War. Therefore, even though I appreciate and support such a proposal, it stands beyond my power!"

  "It is certain!" Holaf proudly exclaimed. "I know him well, being a man from the north, if you offer him such honour, he will lead you into battle with the blessing of the Emperor," Holaf concluded with a voice vibrant warlike fervour.

  "My brother, you are forgetting about Dicius!" High said, sitting, all rigid and worried, as if repenting of having proposed the action.

  "Dicius? That disgusting one is just an adviser, he should be treated like a cockroach in the dungeons!" exclaimed contemptuous Holaf.

  "You are right, it is our misfortune that the Emperor holds Dicius in his esteem beyond
all measure, and orders nothing without having the approval and favourable comment of that tiny homunculus. In my opinion, Dicius enjoys far too much imperial esteem!" Armillus answered, quaffing a large mouthful of wine and then thumping his golden mug on the table violently, making the metal screech and then saying: "Some very unreliable reports, arrived before my eyes in the past. They insinuated the practice of dark arts by the Great Imperial Counsellor!"

  When they heard this revelation, they all stopped as if frozen, staring at the good Armillus, who excused himself:

  "My Lords, the time was not ripe, nothing else disturbing had yet been revealed, and although Dicius was never a pleasant person to me, I would never have believed such insinuations. Not being accustomed to giving weight to stories without evidence, I took the report to be the work of a drunkard."

  "What if it had been Dicius who evoked the bare-headed creatures?" Godwin asked with very severe air.

  "Lord of the South, you are not the only one to come to such a conclusion. I too, after hearing of the events regarding the attacks on the villages, I recalled those reports and evaluated their reliability once again. The fact remains that we do not have any evidence to support what has been written!" Armillus got up and his no longer youthful figure moved to the warmth of the fire. "The worm of doubt corrupted my thoughts for several days. I came to the decision to send a hawk messenger, to disturb the peace of Belial Cerno, the Supreme Inquisitor, in the hope that he might bring light into the darkness, but I have not yet received a reply."

  The three Kings of Kings looked at each other and shivered at the memory of their encounter with that person that each doubted was human.

  "Just this morning, as we were about to leave the Citadel, we met the man who is called Belial. He is a very disturbing personage. That warrior is currently in conference with the Emperor at the High Tower," High said.

  Astonished, Armillus hurried towards the door and flinging it open, shouted loudly:

  "Call me the Master of the Keys!"

  The page waiting outside the room did not answer, but diligently ran down the hallway, his steps ringing. These awkward movements aroused the attention of the third Master of War. He appeared in the corridor just outside the room, where he had been waiting, not very patiently for the Kings.

  Armillus turned to the three guests and gazed wonderingly at them, saying:

  "I can't believe it, Belial can't have passed through my gates and without announcing himself!"

  "Excuse me, good King, but is the advice of that dark individual so important?" Godwin asked, not understanding just what Belial represented.

  "Yes!" Armillus seemed very agitated and he began to walk round and round the table again in the opposite direction to Holaf. King of Kitan had often heard of Belial and explained what he knew of the Inquisitor:

  "Belial is a demonologist, his eyes can see things in which we, though we may be wise and erudite, will see nothing more than chaos. The traces of evil may be dust on an infinite path of gravel, but he has the gift of easily identifying them.

  Holaf turned to Godwin and seeing his disbelief, he turned to him:

  "My friend, I understand that it is difficult to imagine such realities for a man like you, but the every storyteller tells many tales of Belial's gifts. His deeds are everywhere in all the war books. His fame is legendary!"

  "I have heard tell that he is a sorcerer, a survivor from the times of great magic. His powers seem almost infinite. It is said that he can generate flames from his left arm that are so ardent that they melt stone. Legends recount of a hero who was reduced to just a bleeding skull, but he was capable of knocking down titans with the sheer strength of his mind," said High, in the small voice of those who hears such stories and takes them to heart. After a brief pause, the God- Slayer concluded his speech: "A lot has been written and narrated about Belial, how much is true is not clear. The obvious thing to us is the continuous succession of disturbing coincidences, with Belial at the centre. They can be found in the imperial chronicles since the dawn of time!"

  "Perhaps his successors will wear the armour of the bleeding skull, so passing on the myth over the centuries!" said Godwin who was always sceptical of anything that evoked hidden powers. For the soldier, a sincere believer in the One God, no other being could have eternal powers.

  The Master of the Keys knocked, then entered without waiting for an invitation.

  The young man came in. He had curly dark hair, a round face and a physical shape that showed no sign of attention to aesthetics. He was squashed tightly into the usual golden armour and carried two large golden keys, hanging from his belt, next to a slender dagger similar to the one used in the attempt to kill Righteous. The young man carried four heavy tomes, bound in brown leather with large reliefs on the back. He made a shy and shallow bow and without consideration for protocol, then dropped the four tomes on the table. He freed himself from their weight like a longshoreman unloading a sack of grain.

  "Good! You've arrived already," commented the King of Kitan, before attacking the sweaty breathless boy with his curiosity: "Son, this morning did you register the entrance of a certain Belial Cerno?"

  The boy opened one of the four books and looked through it in silently and attentively. He was meticulous in his method. His index finger slowly passed by each name on each page, but after leafing through half the book, he closed it and looked at his King with sorry air, shaking his head not knowing what to say.

  "How is this possible?" exclaimed King Armillus. He pointed at the three Kings at the table and shouted: "The King of the Kings here present met a man at Titan, named Belial Cerno. Are you suggesting that they are lying?"

  The boy raised his hands and made a gesture of defeat, shaking his head at the same time. Holaf, seeing the young man's difficulty, sensed that his obstinate silence was caused, not by incompetence, but because he was a mute. Holaf came to his aid asking roughly, as usual:

  "Young man, let's talk about a very tall man, wearing an armour covered with skulls. He is the sort of person who gives you the shivers and his voice would make the North Sea freeze. He is called Belial, have you seen him?

  The boy immediately nodded with his head, reopening his book, quickly turned through the pages until he pointed his finger next to some writing in archaic characters, which was incomprehensible to the Sovereigns. Despite Armillus' efforts to decipher these symbols, he could not understand them at all, so he asked:

  "Would any of the Lords be able to solve the riddle of this inscription?"

  No one could answer that question, only Holaf joking as usual:

  "It could be his name!" but the bad joke had no effect.

  "Maybe Belial will call on you as soon as he finishes his business at Titan!" Godwin hypothesised.

  "It’s possible, Lord of the South!" High exclaimed after thinking a moment.

  Armillus, after having studied the nervous, pointy writing carefully thanked the young Master of Keys and dismissed him. Immediately after the boy left he exclaimed:

  "Very well, my nobles, I don't wish to keep you here any longer. You all have long hard days of marching before you to reach your destinations and your families!"

  Armillus was the first to stand up, but this time it was Holaf who, against his will, detained the group:

  "My kind King, I must ask you a question that was recently revealed as important. It occurred to us only while Sire Godwin was being medicated." Long Sword stopped to think of how it would be possible to explain the thorny problem of Tyra, without further upsetting the good Armillus, but he urged Holaf to continue:

  "Take courage, King of the North, be as frank as you usually are!"

  Then the Long Sword looked him straight in the eye and explained the problem clearly:

  "I met Tyra, the young daughter of Grigor, Lord of the South In winter, and she told me she longed to leave for the North."

  Armillus was surprised by this and asked curiously:

  "Why did the young princess express
her will to you and not to me?"

  "Perhaps out of reverential fear for her kind host," Godwin suggested, intervening to help Holaf who was clearly having diplomatic problems.

  "I don't see the problem, I'll have her accompanied by a large squad of my soldiers, wherever the young woman wants to go!" proposed the good Armillus minimizing the problem.

  "My King, I will be stopping in South Winter along my way home; moreover, the princess is a friend of my Sigrid. I do not want to offend you, but I would like to escort her myself!" Holaf replied.

  "No, of course, but I have to find a woman to accompany her and take care of the needs of a young woman. It is not correct for rough warriors to undertake these tasks!" exclaimed the master of the Tartaros.

  "You are right, my King. The princess asked to have the company of an elderly Lady, with whom, during her stay at Tartaros she has formed a strong bond," the warrior replied, but the good Armillus seemed almost resentful of all this planning and asked:

  "My Lord, have complaints come to your ears about the treatment that the princess has received here?"

  Holaf stated firmly:

  "No, my King, your hospitality has been impeccable.

  "And so, if you can tell me, what has lead to the sudden departure of Princess Tyra? I am still the King of the Tartaros, I would like to know exactly what is happening within my domain!" insisted Armillus in firm voice.

  Holaf looked at High, who, unaware of the facts, couldn't intervene and come to his aid. He also looked at Godwin, but Righteous preferred not to speak, and an embarrassing silence fell on the company.

  "Lord of the North, what does this silence mean?" Armillus asked before stating his noble title again. "I'm still a King of the Empire, and it's not right for you to delay in informing me, leaving me unaware of events that have taken place in my castle!