Leif Erikson and the Frost Giant

by Mark Philipson

  A vision formed. It took shape and moved away from the wall. Snow covered mountains appeared as if seen from the eyes of an eagle in flight. Then, as if the eagle were descending to the earth, the ground became closer until the vision showed two groups of people facing off on opposite sides of a shallow river. One side was armed with long bows. The other side with spears. The two armies clashed. The warriors armed with bows picked off the approaching tribe as they advanced across the knee-deep water. Soon, the waters of the river ran red with blood. Hundreds of corpses littered the shore and clogged the river.

  Bjarte said, “The First Ones came from a region in northern China thousands of years ago, during what the First Ones call the Age of Stone. In these early days of civilization in China, a warlord known as Kan Zang was the supreme commander of a number of tribes in the southern part of the country.”

  Bjarte said as the vision of the battle paused, “Kan Zang, eager to find slaves to work in the rice fields, led an attack against the people living to the north known as the Kanto. The Kanto suffered a terrible defeat.” Bjarte allowed the vision of the battlefield to fade.

  The next vision showed thousands of people being herded like animals across a snow covered plain. The line of refugees stretched back into a misty horizon.

  “Kan Zang’s idea was to make slaves out of the Kanto to work in the rice fields. The Kanto were hunters and gatherers. They didn’t take well to farming. Kan Zang decided to banish the Kanto from his newly acquired land holdings.”

  Miakmoo’s vision showed the Kanto on the move. Kan Zang’s warriors escorting the Kanto gradually fell away. The Kanto were on their own again. They found some bows left behind by some of Kan Zang’s men. The Kanto copied the bows and built their own powerful versions of the weapons. They hunted their way across the vast Asian continent.

  When the vision showed a mass of Kanto crossing a narrow strip of land Bjarte said, “The nomadic Kanto, according to Carathuk’s memory, crossed the land bridge connecting Asia with the continent we are on now, what we call Vinland.”

  Leif pondered this — if what Bjarte says is true by traveling west one could end up in the east — this would mean the earth is round.

  The vision resumed and showed the Kanto crossing great mountain ranges into vast plains that seemed to go on forever. During this time of migration, the Kanto followed the great wooly mammoth herds on their trek across the fields where the great ice barrier receded. Visions of Kanto hunters loosing arrows and hurling spears at mammoths moved and flickered in the room.

  The next vision showed a group of Kanto hunters killing adult mammoths and leading the very young calves away.

  Bjarte said when this vision paused, “It took over one hundred years of trial and error before the Kanto were able to fully domesticate the mammoths.”

  As if following Bjarte’s words, the vision jumped ahead to show Kanto riders, men and women, atop huge tigers with long teeth driving herds of mammoths with lodges in tow.

  As the mammoths pulled the lodges mounted on rafts of logs the ice they traveled over became furrowed and rutted out.

  “Over the decades the Kanto laid down a system of roads crisscrossing the northern region of Vinland. The Kanto ran out of room to move. They had reached the sea. For the first time in their history the Kanto decided to settle down.”

  The vision jumped forward again. The great ice sheets covering most of the north had receded. A small group of Kanto riders dismounted from the backs of the long-toothed tigers. They peered over the edge of a crater. A shimmering lake lay at the bottom of the crater.

  The vision paused and faded. Bjarte said, “The Kanto had discovered a crater left by a celestial body striking the earth.

  “Over the decades the Kanto returned to what became known as Zorakazon, the Land of the Hidden Lake,” Bjarte said. Visions of Kanto warriors riding tigers down the terraced ledges of the sides of the crater played out in front of the wall.

  The vision jumped ahead. A Kanto stood by the shores of the lake. He reached down and picked up a stone. He held the stone high. The man looked around. Shining stones lined the shore right up to the edge of the crater wall.

  When the vision paused Bjarte said, “The First Ones say the this man’s discovery marked a turning point in the lives and culture of the Kanto. They found the white stones of Zorakazon. The Learned First Ones tell me through Carathuk when the celestial flying rock came from beyond the sky and burned into the layer of air above the earth it turned the ground it carved out into the stones littering the shores of the Hidden Lake.” Bjarte fell silent. The vision paused again.

  Thirty-three

  Secret of the Stone

  THE vision continued. Another bird’s eye view showed Kanto engineers guiding mammoths on the shores of an island in the middle of the Hidden Lake. Time seemed to go by faster. The wooden pillars reached up. Kanto and beasts of burden sped around the vision until their movements became a solid blur of motion. In a few moments, bridges spanned the mouth of the crater.

  Scaffolding grew up the sides of the wall.

  Narrow buildings took shape on the shore near the crater wall.

  Mammoths, dark blurs on the vision, moved around the rim and at the floor of the crater.

  The narrow buildings rose up and down the face of the wall.

  Bjarte looked up at the vision holding still. “The wave of accelerated construction began when the Kanto discovered the use of the wheel. Gears and pulleys followed.” Bjarte went on, “Three thousand years has passed since the Kanto tribe was banished from their own land. The First Ones have called this period of time the Age of Darkness. The Age of Light is next.”

  The vision resumed at normal speed. It showed a Kanto standing on the shore of the Center Land, the island in the middle of the Hidden Lake. He bent down to inspect the footing of one of the massive support beams that towered to the rim of the crater.

  “The man you see before you is named Sorako,” Bjarte said when the vision paused. “He is a member of an elite group of engineers. He is about to make an important discovery.”

  Just as Bjarte finished speaking the vision resumed. Sorako stood up. He put something in a leather pouch.

  The next part of the vision showed Sorako standing alone. An array of hand tools hung from wooden pegs on the vision as it was thrown on the walls of the room in the Ice Tower.

  Sorako removed the stone from the pouch. He held it up. Sunlight, streaming through the skylight, illuminated the stone.

  The vision moved in closer. Glistening patterns of light revolved and swirled at the core of the stone.

  The vision backed away. Sorako closed his fist around the stone. Rays of light leaked through his fingers. He set the stone on a table. Sorako rubbed his palm.

  “Sorako has just discovered the water that lives at the core of the white stone. The Age of Light begins now.”

  The vision showed Sorako building a simple tool — a system of gears that caused an obsidian shaft to rotate.

  The vision gained speed. The disc of the sun flew halfway across the skylight in seconds as Sorako turned the wheels of the drill with blinding speed.

  Sorako stopped working. The vision slowed. Sorako walked outside. Smoke rose from the roof of his workshop. The smoke billowed. Flames crackled up out of the skylight. By the time the fire had been put down the workshop had burned to the ground.

  The vision jumped ahead. Sorako looked through the smoldering embers of the workshop. The fire had burned with a heat so intense, materials made from hardened obsidian had melted and re-cooled into piles of hot glass.

  Sorako found one thing still intact in the ruins of the workshop: the white stone he’d found on Center Land.

  As the vision paused Bjarte said, “The next thing you see is considered by the learned First Ones to be the birth of the wonders you see around you.”

  When the vision resumed it showed Sorako walking across snow covered ground. He entered another workshop. He opened a wooden box. Ins
ide the box were three things: the original white stone Sorako had removed from Center Land, a shaft cut from white stone, and a piece of flattened out white stone.

  During a pause Bjarte said, “Sorako has decided to keep the white stone out of direct sunlight. He spent a year cutting the crude hammer and drilling tools by hand.”

  The vision picked up again. It showed Sorako lifting the hammer stone and tapping the drill bit.

  The white stone cracked like an egg. Swirling liquid poured out of the core. It spread out across the table. Sorako stood and backed away as the liquid poured over the sides of the table.

  The vision jumped forward in time. It showed Sorako as an old man. He lay on a straw bed. His wife and family gathered around him. Days and nights passed. People came and went. Sorako did not stir. He drank only small sips of water. He ate no food. Sorako was dying.

  Sunlight beat down through the skylight. It heated up the white stone on the necklace Sorako wore. Energy flowing from the core of the stone on the necklace worked its way into Sorako’s weakening heart. “I’m not ready to die yet,” he said to his startled mate.

  Bjarte said at the vision pause, “This is when the first mental contact with the water at the core of the white stone is established.”

  When the vision began again it showed Sorako standing on a platform. He poured water from a pierced stone onto the stone beach of Center Land.

  A sheet of ice grew outward from where the water splashed to the ground. The island of white stones became covered in a block of ice in the blinking of an eye.

  Sorako stepped onto the ice. He removed his boots. He poured one drop of liquid onto the ice. He set the palm of his hand on the spot where the drop had bored into the ice. Sorako rose to his feet slowly. A column of ice rose out of the floor and followed his hand. The upright piece widened as it grew beyond Sorako’s reach. It continued building itself as it spiraled around the support tower and stopped at the rim of the crater.

  The vision paused. “Sorako only lived a few more days after this incident. Before he died he passed on the secrets of the water at the core of the white stone to his young granddaughter, Bankaroo.”

  Thirty-four

  The Time of First Ones

  THE vision went on to show an infant becoming a child. The child becoming a young adult. The young adult becoming a full grown woman in a matter of moments.

  The vision slowed then expanded to show Bankaroo, granddaughter of Sorako, standing alone in a room. Glass beakers lined a table in the center of the room. A series of tubular containers, connected by and array of flexible hoses, sat atop a shelf.

  Bankaroo set a small tablet on the table. Pressing her temples hard with her thumbs, Bankaroo concentrated. The tablet grew three times its size then stopped as Bankaroo released the pressure on her temples.

  Bankaroo glanced over at a thin tablet mounted on the wall. A series of mathematical formulas had been etched onto the surface of the tablet. Bankaroo focused on the equations. She set a white stone stylus on the tablet on the table. Bankaroo began etching at the top. When she reached the bottom of the tablet and had no more room left, Bankaroo directed her concentration on the lower end of the tablet. It expanded to accept more etching.

  Bankaroo finished writing the formula.

  The vision paused. Bjarte said, “This part of the vision speaks for itself. Bankaroo, armed with the secret of the white stone, is beginning to find the key to unlock the powers within.”

  The vision picked up again. It jumped forward. Bankaroo stood over a table. She stared at an object on the table: a model of one of the power cylinders found throughout the Ice Tower. Bankaroo turned the cylinder over. She opened a small door. She peered inside. A system of blocks and gears packed the compartment. Bankaroo set a lens over one eye. Using a set of curved pins, she adjusted the placement of every piece.

  Bankaroo removed the lens from her head and swung the access door to the model cylinder closed. Standing up straight, Bankaroo twisted a dial on the side of the cylinder. A flame shot out of a slot in the top of the cylinder. The flame glowed red at the core, then feathered out to yellow. Soot drifted off the tips of the flickering flames.

  Another twist of the dial set the flame to a white core, merged into bright yellow to gradually fade into shades of orange and red. The flame burned steady with no flickering at the tips or soot rising.

  Bankaroo made some notes. She adjusted the dial. Now, the flame burned white at the core, fading into blue. It ended in purple.

  Bankaroo added more notes to the tablet. One more adjustment of the dial and the core of the flame turned into a deep blue color. The blued faded into shades of white fading into light blue. The light blue merged into a deep purple. The flame rose like an elongated spear tip.

  Bankaroo looked at the dial. There was one increment left. She pressed her temples and concentrated. She aligned the dial. The final flame appeared. A black point rose from the core then merged into a blue sphere ending in a white glow.

  When the vision paused Bjarte said, “Bankaroo has just unleashed the power of the water of flame. From basic fire on the first setting to the purest flame on the last.”

  The vision started up again and jumped forward. Bankaroo held a tablet between both hands. She stood before a massive cylinder. She looked up from the sketch on the face of the tablet.

  Bankaroo set her thumbs on her temples and pressed hard. From inside the master cylinder, a feint hum grew into a steady drone.

  Bankaroo adjusted the dial on the master cylinder. Water, culled from the core of white stones, flowed through a system of transparent pipes spanning the tower from bottom to top. The pipes fed into full-sized cylinders set at evenly spaced intervals.

  A steady flame poured out of the cylinders. Bankaroo dialed in the flame, illuminating the tower in a warm light. She made some finer adjustments. The light filling the tower became brighter from a flame tipped with blue and white.

  The vision paused. “Bankaroo has harnessed the energy at the core of the water of flame,” Bjarte said.

  When the vision picked up again, Bankaroo was an old woman. She lay on a bed surrounded by her children and grandchildren. She closed her eyes. As she fell into unconsciousness, the vision entered her thoughts and showed a vision of them. Bankaroo’s voice whispered: “Sorako, grandfather, I’ve carried out your wish. The secret of the white stone will die with me.”

  Bankaroo’s thoughts, the vision within a vision, faded. The next vision showed Bankaroo’s remains being burned on a funeral pyre made from white stone. Fountains of clean blue flame engulfed the corpse and burned in into cinders in moments.

  “The time of the First Ones begins now,” Bjarte said as the vision jumped ahead. It showed the Ice Tower looking as it does now.

  The vision jumped ahead again. It showed the Ice Tower as it looked today. Members of the Kanto, dressed in hooded robes sat around a long table. The man at the head of the table signed his name to a tablet that had been pressed to the size of vellum.

  The man spoke: “This document decrees that the Kanto will be forever known as the First Ones. All restrictions facing the scientific community will be lifted. A new age of discovery is upon us.”

  The vision jumped ahead again. Surgeons, wearing the robes of the elite scientific community huddled over two tables. A First One, holding an ignited stylus, traced the blue flame around a line drawn on the neck of a Beothuk tribesman. Wires, embedded in the scalp of the man, led to a power cylinder. The flame burned through flesh and muscle and dissolved the spinal cord. The scientist lifted the head and handed it to another scientist standing at the other table. The scientist set the head on the body of a white bear cub.

  Thirty-five

  Carathuk’s Demand

  BJARTE said as the vision was about to resume, “The following images depict the long struggle by the First Ones to build a new species through vivisection. If you’re squeamish I suggest you look away.”

  Leif couldn’t understand w
hy Bjarte said this. Vikings were not squeamish by nature and the Beothuk lived a life carved out of the wilderness. If anybody will become uneasy at the sight of blood it would be the monk, Leif thought.

  The vision resumed to show more attempts to cross members of the Beothuk with white bears. Countless attempts flew by as the vision sped through the images. Surgeons cut flesh and fused heads to torsos. Rivers of blood flowed into drains built into surgery tables.

  Visions of men and women surgically crossed with white bears appeared for a few seconds then flashed into the next ones.

  All of the early attempts at creating a cross between man and bear ended in the deaths of both subjects.

  Later attempts showed victims of vivisection living for a short time after surgery.

  The vision paused. “The First Ones attempt to create a new breed continued like this for decades. It was only after a century of failure did they achieve success,” Bjarte said.

  The vision picked up again. It jumped ahead. It showed a Beothuk tribesman being laying prone on a table. “The man’s name is Carathuk,” Bjarte said.

  A First One placed a circular device over Carathuk and the white bear on the next table. Another First One stood in front of a cylinder in the corner of the surgery room. The flame coming from the top of the cylinder burned blue.

  “The First Ones have inadvertently discovered Bankaroo’s long held secret. Extreme concentration on the water of flame on the final adjustment will reduce the attraction from the core of the earth to almost nothing. The properties of the blue fire under these conditions will be enhanced a hundredfold.”

  Light from the blue flame reflected off the discs hovering over Carathuk and the white bear. The First One standing next to Carathuk adjusted a dial mounted on the rim of the disc. Rays of light expanded, bathing Carathuk in a blue glow.

  The First One twisted the dial again. Carathuk, engulfed in bright, blue light, could no longer be seen.

  The vision sped up. It showed Carathuk being exposed to the blue light again and again. Bursting blue light filled the room like lightning flashing across the sky.