Chapter 12 Rurick the Conqueror

Empress Boudicca lost a child at its birth and later had a baby girl named Dalia. Alexis came by the palace with treasures and announces that Enki had been bewitched by a unicorn during their trip to Olin Mountains. He remains in the mountains near Sylvania. Alaric then prepares a wedding for his daughter Amalia to a sprite from the Black Forest who was close friends with Gilda’s son Max. Poor Max lost his betrothed mermaid when his sister Toralyn cursed her to die. He cast Toralyn into a mirror and vowed never to marry anyone. Amalia visited to comfort him and found his sprite very agreeable to her. Upon their adulthood ceremony, he is appointed the god of the thunderbirds who jump down clouds during storms and his friend changed into a thunderbird. Upon Amalia’s marriage, she became goddess of fertility and lived in a palace in clouds. The years went by with Eurick’s wife had three more children before their lives would change forever. Lexie grew to become a princess devoted to the priestess Jocelyn and accompanied her to the temples. Eurick was granted to be captain by Alexis with an iron sword and Rurick receives half his profits. Alaric the Great tutored children at the palace and taught little Lexie to control the magic within her crystal. The great god Alano said at her immortality ceremony that she would be a great warrior queen feared by enemies and seduce men with her beauty.

At the height of this prosperity, Rurick decided to invade a rival country across the sea. In the wee hours of the morning, reports spread like wildfire through Illium about the Blythan colony on the Island of Jaymee being attacked by raiders from Helos and the colonists being taken as slaves to the homeland of the savages. The pirates left behind amulets coming from the Helos people with King Mattan’s name as their protector. The High Priest Alaric barged into the Emperor’s private rooms to report the assault to Emperor Rurick. Palace guards stand outside his bed chamber whispering about the woman the emperor is with and not wanting to disturb him. Alaric tears through the crowd of guards and storms into His Majesty’s bed chamber. A maidservant peeks from the fur blanket mortified. She grabs her clothes and rushes out the door to the leers of the guards. A disgruntled emperor asks what his mentor wants so early in the morning. Alaric informed his pupil of the news and gave the emperor a moment to collect his courage. Rurick deeply thought of a response for a moment, then changes subjects.

“You enjoy walking in on me with females and shaming them,” notes Rurick.

“My apologies if my timing was off. I believed the emperor should not be the last person to know very serious reports. Do you really think I care who you bed with?” answers Hadrian.

“My apologies for my irritation at your bad timing. Just do not mention your run ins to Boudicca, it upsets her.” retorts Rurick.

“Rurick, the entire palace knows you bed with almost every woman you meet. Need I remind you of all the women claiming to be carrying your child? I do not believe all of them are lying. Now, are you planning for war while you scorn me?” asks Alaric.

“I am beginning to resent your disrespect towards me. I am the Emperor of Blythe.” begins Rurick. Alaric waves his hand and Rurick freezes into stone.

“Now that I have your full attention, you will listen. I will disrespect you when you deserve it. You behave like an irresponsible imp instead of the reliable sovereign you are expected to be. There is more to ruling an empire than delighting yourself at the expense of other’s suffering. You are expected to command armies and sign treaties. Today, I see you declaring war on Helos and rescuing your subjects there. Your name will mean greatness and courage to future generations. As your devoted mentor, I must warn you of this. When you sail off to combat, make sure to take a good, hard look at your children waving farewell because it will be the last time you see them, in this life or the next.” finishes Alaric and waves his hand to release the freezing spell.

Swiftly humbled, Rurick stares at his mentor as if his heart was broken.

“I will see you later when you call upon me to fight in your war of rescue and conquest, Your Majesty.” asserts Alaric.

He bends in a mock bow with his hands clasped and gazing at his pupil’s eyes. Emperor Rurick dresses himself since his valet is sound asleep from his drunkenness from last night’s celebration of the coming of spring. He meets his nobles in his throne room and sits to be introduced to the newest members of the court. A newly appointed commander from the city Tamnais approaches with the news of the attack on the Jaymee colonists. The man pleads for war to rescue the captives and increase alliances to share the burden. Princess Kynthia arranges chambers for the commander and listens to tales of fighting pirates. Messengers are sent out with notices calling for the building of an army to rescue the colonists. More will be needed to defend the empire from outside attack. Much of their shipping is attacked by pirates as well. A gala was held to say farewell to the departing army in one hundred ships. Little Lexie learning to write her name in symbols asked for a story from father Alaric. He chose how his grandparents met that caused a terrible battle between elves and sprites.

“In the days of the roaming wolf packs and spotted panthers, before the grasslands were covered with human farms, lived an elf maiden named Toralyn. She was a beauty with long blonde hair, large ears, crooked nose, and a red cloak that shined in the sun. Her mother Lanie presented her with Toralyn’s first wooden magic wand. Every morning at dawn, the maiden walked down to the river to fetch a bucket of water for her family. It was common knowledge not to cross the Aurora River because the land of the sprites lay beyond the border. Sprites were as mischievous as brownies and flew down from the treetops to attack any encroachers. They all bore copper swords and had fairies as pets. All the mothers speak of sprites taking them away if they disobey their parents. Toralyn believed the sprites were evil until she spied one sharpening his copper knife upon a grinding stone across the river. She thought he was handsome for a sprite with white wings and small facial features. He spoke to her in a foreign tongue and she was bewildered at his friendly smile. She hit the winged man with a spell to hear what he said to her. He returned in kind and hit her with a spell to make her voice speak in sprite. The creature had said ‘Good morning fair maiden, may I have the pleasure of knowing your name.’ She answered with ‘Good morning sprite, my name is Toralyn, may I have the pleasure of hearing your name.’ He responded that his name is Romair. The maiden Toralyn broke all the rules and leaped onto a rock by the falls. Romair also landed on a nearby rock and gave the maiden a starfish from his boot. He keeps it for good fortune.

The mermaids splashed at them and the couple kicked their feet to splash them back. Soaking wet from the mermaids, the couple conversed under a tree on the sprite side of the river. They talked about their villages and Toralyn spoke of the tradition of staying away from sprites. Romair understood why the prohibition of trespassing on sprite land. When Queen Aurora declared war on the griffin king Hades, the elves supported the mermaids and the sprites supported the griffins. When the griffins were cast out of the Olin Mountains, Queen Aurora forgave the sprites of their allegiance to the griffins because sprites never harmed the mermaids they captured. An escaped mermaid captive assured the queen of this. He guessed the elves never forgave the sprites of their allegiance with the griffins. Toralyn soon returned to her home in the valley. She explained her long departure as speaking with a mermaid and showing the lucky starfish. That day on, Toralyn and Romair met at the river falls every morning. One morning he carried his beloved up into the trees and showed her his world in the treetops. Toralyn admitted it would take some time getting used to, but she is capable of adjusting. The day came when the sprite Romair asked for marriage. He gave the elf maiden a marriage contract and a sash made from unicorn hair. She brought her beloved home to the horrified response from her family. Her father chased the lovesick sprite away and forbade his daughter to see the sprite again. No longer allowed to fetch water from the river, she wept for days.

Her mother tried to cheer her up with an outing to the beach where mermaids sunbathed and dug for turtle eggs. Toralyn spotted Romair high in the treetops watching her. He continued visiting the river every morning hoping she would come. On their return to the mountains, Romair followed them bouncing from tree limb to tree limb. He dropped an eagle pendent in her path and she glanced upwards as she strung it around her neck. She claimed a mermaid must have left it here. She then visited an elf witch and inquired on how to change her father’s mind upon her marriage to a sprite. The witch told her that the pendant she wore sends a signal to the sprites that follow her. Unfortunately, her father will not change his mind. Eventually, Toralyn was allowed to fetch water from the river when she ceased to weep for her sprite. Only this time, Romair was not there. A sprite silently followed her and grabbed her when no creature was looking. He took her up to the mountains trees and explained a witch cast a spell on Romair. Now they cannot find him. He took her back to the path he snatched her from. She prayed to find her love and crossed the river into sprite territory the following morning. She brought a handkerchief full of elf food. She searched all day and finished the last of her food. Toralyn met Romair’s mother searching for her son. She admitted that she tried many spells to find him. She peered at Toralyn’s pendant and tried another. She mixed a love potion and dipped the figure in the cauldron. The figure swirled around and stopped pointing west. The sprites held on to Toralyn as they flew westward. The pendant hummed and shined to finally drop into the forest below. The sprites landed next to a pack of wolves resting after a filling meal. Only the white wolf took notice of the creatures walking by them. Toralyn’s pendant was found hanging from a tree branch dangling in the wind. Toralyn reached to retrieve it and it stung her like a bee. She dropped the figure and Romair appeared. The spell was broken.

Romair brought his bride home to his family and began building a new home, one with a rope ladder. The only problem was her father declaring war on the sprites for kidnapping his daughter. Her brothers also joined the fight and set fire to the sprite side of the mountains. Toralyn used her wand to freeze the fires. She approached her father and brothers with her new husband to announce she was bearing a child. Her brothers returned home and forgave their sister, but her father refused to leave. Romair’s father stepped in claiming to hear how the elf chased off his son when Romair proposed marriage. He pursued the rogue into the bush where Toralyn’s father met the hungry pack of wolves to become a meal. Horrified, Toralyn retrieved what was left of her father and buried his bones in the mountainside. She sang the elf prayers she heard since childhood and lay flowers on his burial mound. Later, her family rejoiced at her giving birth to two daughters, Tatiana and Amalia. Tatiana grew up to marry a sprite and gave us cousin Leander. Amalia grew up to be called The Sorceress and married an elf. They had two daughters, Flax and Gilda, and a son named Alaric.”

“I love that story, father. I will miss your stories when you are away.” says Lexie.

As they set sail, a terrifying earthquake shook the grand city of Illium down to the ground and many feared the god were angry at them. Alaric gazes up at the stars and wonders if Iris is watching him. Before he left, she visited him in the temple and refused to help him in this war of conquest. She claimed Rurick was like Athena and is using this rescue operation as a ploy to take over a country. She would however, take in little Lexie whose magic was too powerful for mere mortals to handle. Alaric planned to leave her with Jocelyn believing the priestess could handle Lexie’s magic abilities. They sailed the seas stooppign for supplies where they could. The next visit is to Ithaca. Rurick rejoiced at gazing upon the capital again. More allies are negotiated. They reach the coast Helos and attack the fishing villages with Rurick’s hundred ships. The invaders move inland of the coastal plains to the foothills of the grand city of King Mattan sitting upon the raised rocks of the Adras Mountains. The city Hadrast was surrounded by walls and slopes of the bedrock. Its nearby harbor could hold two hundred war ships. Rurick decided to raid the olive farms and barley fields before confronting the impending army coming out of those high walls. Rurick stops his march when he reaches an execution ground for peasants outside a forest of palm trees. Vultures flew above in circles as they watched spotted cats feasted upon people tied to stakes. A voice shouted from the top of a tree. The man said they were people who were judged guilty of crimes by the king. Rurick asked how he got here. The man replied he was accused of stealing bread and defended he was hungry. He was a farmer whose land was stolen from him and he came to Hadrast looking for work. Rurick asked who stole his land. Man said the King of Anakia on the other side of the mountains. Rurick asked if he would like the job as his servant. The man agreed to climb down from the tree. The raiders left the cats and vultures to their feast. After months of pillaging, trading with Anakia across the mountains, and meeting troops repelling their raiding, Rurick decided to send some of his soldiers home carrying letters and booty to trade for supplies. The rest settled into camp along a river where a fishing village once was located. They spent the winter trading with Alaric’s merchant contacts and gathering information on the landscape of the area. They used collected wood and traded iron to make more weapons. They collected many Island of Jaymee colonists escaping their masters. Though the pirates they said captured them were safe in the city as mercenaries. Many slaves were given to the king as his share of their spoils.

Rurick decided to take a few ships to the mysterious land of Titania where no humans have settled. Elves live there and ships come every year trade. They head northeast for nearly a month stopping at islands to trade or raid. There were no elves to be found. Alaric said they were to the east of the coastal mountians hunting migrating animals in the grasslands. They make camp and gather whatever supplies they can. Many tales of giants called Titans who live in the ice covered mountain forests. Elf history says Titans used to live in Lotan during the first world and elves gathered food they dropped from the trees. The second world of ice saw the the Titans move away to better land. Then the third world humans made war on them and they vanished into the the Ice Mountains on the east border of the Dark Mountians. Few dared to tread past the shore into the unknown and unmapped Ice Mountains. Elves say there are short grasslands full of large grass grazers and terrible predators like large swine, large birds, large cats, and wolves that stake out territory. The griffins expelled by mermaid Aurora made their home here. Once elves learned to grow their own food did Titans capture anyone who could grow food. Humans who get shipwrecked here get enslaved. Titans are the size of trees and compare humans to dogs. Rurick longed to see these mythical mountains before he died in battle as prophesized. Alaric tried to warn him of the Witch of Titania who is rumored of taking the form of a white wolf to enchant beings into her servitude after his Aunt Tatiana banished her. On the second day, Alaric felt a strange presence he could not explain. Next, a white wolf perched upon a rock overlooking the encampment.

“The Witch of Titania draws near,” announces Alaric. “I can feel her looking at us.”

The soldiers glance at the forest to see the white wolf had disappeared. That very evening, Alaric followed the snapping of twigs and leaves outside the tents.

“Hello Alaric, wizard from my homeland, why do you dwell here?” asks a sweet female voice coming from the darkness.

“My pupil wished to gaze upon the Ice Mountains of Titania before he dies.” he replies.

“Ah, I see. He will not return from his war so he must look at us now.” realizes the witch.

“Yes, Mistress of Titania. He knows he will not come back to his family, but forever be remembered. The gods are strange in forging our fates.” responds Alaric.

“That they are.” articulates the white wolf. “I see the strong one will fall under enchantment of a woman and steer him away from his current objective.”

“Yes, but we are not telling him tonight, witch.” retorts Alaric.

“Whatever you say, Master Alaric.” finishes the white wolf.

“By the way, they know you are here and will find you tomorrow. I would be running away if I were you.”

The animal disappears into the darkness. A loud roar is heard from the mountains and thunderbirds jump down from the sky. Rain begins to pour, putting out the campfires. Petrie raises the sun as the downpour ceases. The visiting creatures feel tremors in the sand. Captives of the Titans tremble in fear and race to the boats. A few guards hold them down as the rest pull down the tents and toss the supplies into the ships. Alaric is sure to be the last to leave the beach as heads of the Titans appear. The ships are pushed away from the sand in the nick of time. Alaric inspects the beach and picks up a few dropped items. Rurick cries out for his mentor and Alaric swims out to the ships. The Titans reach the shore and stomp into the waves. They let out a disgruntled roar and the white wolf is seen resting on a ledge. Rurick pulls up his mentor and scolds him for frightening him.

“You are speaking to a wizard, Your Majesty.” asserts Alaric.

Relieved, Rurick passes the feeling. The camp is still present when they return. Nomadic tribes riding short hair, single hump camels came by to trade with the raiders. Tribes from the mountain cities came to trade riding large gray elephants that frightened the horses and the men. Rurick noticed smaller elephants the size of a horse were following the large beasts also carrying trade goods. A merchant said they use males for war and females for caravans. Rurick thought it odd these people they had been raiding would come to trade with them. Alaric said not to enjoy it too much because these traders are gathering information to fight them next spring. Once the harvest ends, the trading continues on like after the spring planting. An emissary from King Mattan arrived riding upon a huge elephant beast as they celebrated the winter solstice. Rurick exchanged pleasantries and laid out hs objective to rescue his people. The emissary assured the pirates are not under the control the king’s control, he supports trade with many sailing merchants. Rurick assured he will continue to patrol the coast looking for pirates. When the Blythan ships returned in the spring, they got a surprise, Empress Boudicca made allies with their neighbors to send more ships. King Dylan sends a hundred of his ships to help the cause. Pirates have raided his shipping for years. Queen Kia arrived to aid in commanding his armies with Rurick’s friend High Priest Vim. She had won battles against pirates raiding along the coast. She stated her husband King Xerxes can rule by himself. He also gains a hundred ships from Queen Deborah IV of Kadacia since pirates keep raiding her islands. Prince Hector is appointed commander of the Kadacian warriors. The three hundred ships make their way to the capital city Hadrast to prepare for a seige. Months go by and Kia realizes she is pregnant. She refuses to leave her post, but Rurick sends her to a coastal city Brysa in Anakia to give birth to his son Linos. She takes the shieldmaidens with her and stays at a trade partner’s house. She quickly returns to battle with her baby sleeping in her tent tended by Vim the following summer. Her daughter Tatiana arrives during the Seige of Hadrast to join the army and takes care of her brother. The citadel outside the city was surrounded first and camps made. Ships out to sea tried to prevent relief coming into their harbor. After a year trying to breach the walls of the citadel Brysa, Rurick received a gift from the king. A rolled carpet with gold threads and beads sewn in patterns arrived being carried by three servants. As the servants unrolled the fabric, a woman appeared.

The man Rurick saved from the leopards collapses to his knees crying in surprise the woman was “Her Majesty Queen Elessa”. Rurick was quite flattered at this visitor. The queen demanded the Helos servant to bend down so she may sit upon him since this poorly mannered monarch failed to offer her a chair. Queen Elessa explains her husband sent her to negotiate a peace treaty. He can offer jewels, gold, and pearls to appease his raiding appetite. Rurick wanted the pirates the king gives protects within his city and the end of attacks against his colonies. Queen Elessa can not do that, the pirates make her city rich and excellent mercenaries against their encroaching neighbor. Rurick assured there would be no peace between them. She also asked if he could be hired to do some damage to the Kingdom of Anakia who keep invading on her border and displacing her people. This seige is making the king more aggressive and watch towers have seen the armies on the horizon. He will have to fight the King of Anakia for Hadrast. Rurick will need time to consider the move. Since it was late in the evening, Queen Elessa requested lodging until the morning, the best tent in the camp. Rurick offered his tent to protect her from any unruly soldiers. She demanded a handmaiden to undress her for slumber. Rurick had no shieldmaidens to help her. Kia was in Ithaca at the time. He offered his service to make her comfortable. Rurick obeyed all her commands getting her wine to help her sleep. He combed her hair and set her jewels on his desk. Her final demand was a companion to keep her warm on this cold night. He prepared to go to sleep and she exclaimed that he is human after all. She ran her fingers through his hair and softly observed a woman had deeply wounded him.

She recited the tale of the founding of the city as he gazed into her eyes. A Hazorite princess fleeing her brother set out to rule without her as co-ruler came here to marry one of the local tribesmen. Her husband was from that nomadic tribe and married her to be made king. He also came with his brother to act as general of the citadel protecting the city. As such, she vowed if he would agree to an alliance to fight King of Anakia, she was prepared to give him a child for her only son died from fever shortly before his arrival. Rurick agreed to leave Hadrast after his wizard affirmed the child belonged to him. The following morning, the opposing sides met at the gate of the citadel. The Wizard predicted her son would be great conqueror like his father. Queen Elessa demanded a chariot and Rurick drove it to her husband sitting upon an elephant. The kings agreed to a truce and Rurick’s army would depart for the encroaching army. The king’s brother, Prince Jadu will lead the Helos army in a joint mission. King Mattan welcomed a delegation to a meal in his palace so they may plan out strategy. The afternoon came and the delegation arrived at the Hadrast harbor gate. They were guided to the palace main hall where guests of distinction awaited them. Once the meal was served, the king rose and demanded the man responsible for impregnating his wife. The magician of the court announced a child with foreign marks will be born from the queen. Rurick also rose to declare his wife had no objection to his company. Insulted, Mattan demanded the redemption of his wife’s honor. Rurick agreed to the combat tomorrow morning at the citadel gate. The winner gains the queen and rules the city.

Mattan offered the choice of a champion for the young king. Rurick replied the king’s champion will appear on schedule. In the camp, Rurick held council to determine what will occur if he should die the next morning. He would never ask a champion to die on his behalf. After the council, Rurick received visitors in his tent and he is given Alaric’s magic helmet and sword. Eurick gives him his shiny armor. He faced his foe convinced Alaric’s prediction of him dying in battle was about to come true. He saw the sunrise that predicted a death of a great ruler. But his death was not to be today. Rurick swings at his opponent’s head and Mattan dodges. He strikes back hard with a vengeance until Rurick falls over. His pride damaged from being on the defensive, Rurick jumps up and projects his shield at his opponent. Surprised, Mattan steps back to absorb the hit against his armor. Rurick’s sword comes next. Iris appeared to encourage the exhausted warrior emperor. Mattan soon finds himself on the defensive and takes a few steps back behind his shield. Rurick chips Mattan’s shield and gains confidence. Angered at his damaged shield, Mattan attacks with all his strength. The warriors grow weary eventually and fear entered the invading army when Rurick dropped his sword when Mattan cut his shoulder.

Covered in sweat, Mattan chuckles as Rurick dives for his weapon to kick dirt at the young warrior’s face. Rurick determined not to back down, remains still on the ground as the king comes closer. He then suddenly springs up, leaving his shield on the grass, hit’s the king’s armor with his sword, nicks his exposed elbow to make him lower his shield, and stabs him with his hidden dagger right through the king’s neck. He picks up his shield off the ground and raises his dagger in victory. He removed his helmet to hear the screams of Elessa and wondered if she lost their child. The soldiers carried away the king upon his shield. During Rurick’s slumber, a whisper awoke him. Soon he felt someone moving around in his tent. The moonlight shining in from the night air reflected off a weapon and leaped out of his bed to attack the intruder. The intruder stabbed his shoulder and Rurick punched at the phantom that dropped the dagger. Rurick hurled the dagger at the panting intruder to hear a thump hit the ground. He lit an olive oil lamp to find his servant that he rescued from the leopards. Shocked, he called for his soldiers to remove the assassin. They searched his belongings to discover a letter written by the General of Citadel, to murder the foreign king to receive a house from the new king. Elessa had written to Rurick explaining that she bore him no ill will since Mattan was simply redeeming her honor. She chose to remain in seclusion until the birth of their child and gave the title of king to Mattan’s brother, General Jadu. She assured Jadu was enjoying his new post. Rurick snuck into her seclusion chamber as she wept for her husband’s death. He spent one more night with her alone before leaving. Rurick set out for the encroaching army reaching the end of the foothills. His first battle pushed back the invading army into the mountains. King Jadu was impressed with this young emperor. His ships remained on the coast leaving with booty and returning with supplies. His second year away from home, he settled into winter quarters near storage caves while the natives harvested their crops and heard news of the birth of a prince to Queen Elessa. Kia and Tatiana returned from Ithaca to stay behind as ambassador. Kia wrote that Linos is quite fond of his half-brother. The years of war go by and Kia’s son Linos grows bigger to become a valet to Rurick. Alaric educates the boy and Eurick tells him stories of the motherland. The army continues to repel the invaders and Rurick begins to watch cities fall. During one spring news comes of a battle where King Jadu was killed by an arrow causing wound sickness. Rurick takes the reins to lead the fallen king’s army into victory over the King of Anakia.