Chapter 13 Chaos in the Wind

Iris made a rare appearance to Alaric during the Siege of Tipaza, city of cotton weaving, where Alaric had traded for years to bring Athena fabric for her clothing. She came as an old woman with withered wings. Alaric was shocked at seeing her with snow white hair and crinkled transparent skin. She humbly explains that she arranged a betrothal to a sprite from the Black Forest and her father Andos objected to the groom. He snatched her magic crystal while she slept to make her a mortal.

“Immortal?” Alaric asks.

“No, a mortal. That is why I look 10,000 years old, Alaric. I shall die soon and had to see you one more time.” asserts Iris.

“You are about to die and you enter a war zone to see me. Besides, who will be the goddess of rainbows and help mothers in childbirth?” questions Alaric.

“Amalia is the new marriage, childbirth, and rainbow goddess. My time ends here.” explains Iris. Alaric removes his magic crystal and slips the string over her head.

“You have my magic crystal. It does not have godly powers, but will keep you immortal. I wish my mother never made me immortal. I hate feeling so much sorrow that it pains me to love again because I know eventually I have to say good-bye. Please send me to my beloved Nix.” expresses Alaric.

Touched by his gift, Iris promises golden apples of Idun that will return her youthful appearance and Alaric shall be sent to Nix soon. She flutters away over the mountains. The next morning, Rurick’s encampment is attacked by Tipaza warriors. Alaric is wounded by a sword penetrating his shoulder. Eurick carries him away from the battle. Lying in his tent, he passes out several times to hear laughter coming from a distant world. Alaric feels himself leaving his body behind and embraces the spirit of Nix.

“It is not your time to go, Alaric.” a soft whisper delivers before Nix disappears.

A demon appears and Alaric finds himself walking into a dark tunnel with a small light in the distance. He reaches the afterlife river Styx and is guided across it by Charon and walks by the three-headed dog Helga guarding the border along the river to pat one of its heads. He enters Roanoke Castle and stands in line for his judgment. Many are surprised to see him here and convey their condolences before being led to the Scale of Hato. The phoenix lays a feather upon the scale to weigh the heart of each slain warrior and decides where in the afterlife they shall go. Each soul is given a candle and disappears into the darkness with a demon guiding the way. Isis suddenly declares Alaric shall be judged last as he makes his way to the scale. An immortal losing his mortality deserves careful consideration. After a day of waiting and eating meals with demons, Alaric is ordered to sit on the scale by Isis. Hato meekly lays a feather of truth upon the other side of the scale and declares a good deed towards a god ended his immortality, perhaps the hero should be given another chance to live. Alaric failed to comprehend all this, he gave his crystal to Iris. Isis called upon any holy being to speak on Alaric’s behalf before her judgment.

An evil laughter echoed through the hall and the sky god Andos appeared in a haze of mist with two crystals swinging from his hand. Isis demanded to know the meaning of all this. Andos proudly boasted imprisoning his daughter inside her castle after he stole her crystal. Then disguised as Iris, he tricked Alaric into giving up his own crystal to save her. Then a flash of light struck Andos to cause him to drop the crystals. Alaric looked up to see the mischief god Ryan pointing his golden sword at his great-uncle Andos. Ryan’s wife Echo snatched the crystals to be blown to dust by Andos. The gods fought on, to the amazement of the demons. Ryan shouted how Alaric deserves his immortality back because he showed great love for Iris. He rejected his father squealing to Andos of Amalia’s marriage and helping imprison Iris. Andos defends how much trouble this elf has caused in his family. He also condemns Amalia for marrying a Daxus subject and living in the Black Forest. Spells of lightening, fire, and wind were cast by the foes many times hitting other targets. Alaric eventually found himself hiding under Hato’s wings behind the scale as the spells were swatted aside by their godly weapons. Isis gaped at her demolished great hall from behind her throne and ended the fight with a stone blow to both gods. Still as statues the gods stood in astonishment as Isis guides Alaric to his seat on the scale.

“Since Ryan believes you deserve your life back because of your humble deed towards my niece Iris, I am obliged to send you back to the surface.” speaks Isis. Alaric sits upon the scale again and Hato drops another feather on the other side.

“Your heart is full of pain and full of love. You painfully wish for Nix, but other friendships bound you to the surface.” Alaric slips off the scale to face Isis.

“Here is your crystal brave one. I promise to hand back my niece her crystal. Now go be with your son.” Isis blows faerie dust onto Alaric.

Our hero wakes up to feel agony in his shoulder. He coughs in his bed and Eurick grabs his father’s hands. Alaric opens his eyes to see Iris as beautiful as ever and Eurick above him. He is given a cup of water by Iris as Eurick relays his worries over his father’s missing crystal. Iris shushes Eurick by saying his father needs rest. Prince Kermit who arrived a month before asks how grandfather is healing. Alaric confides to them of going to the afterlife and seeing Nix telling him it was not his time to go. Iris consoles Alaric into believing it was all a bad dream because his crystal is right here in her hand. They leave Alaric to sleep the rest of the night and next day. Days later healing with care from Iris, Alaric is awarded a new shield by Rurick. Alaric humbly accepts the honor and seeks out Iris. He finds her alone in his tent. They eat a meal beside a campfire. Alaric tries to tell Iris he is unsure his dream into the afterlife was all his imagination. Iris persuades it was all a dream and she came to visit him, even though she had not in years. She defends that she had to inform him that Amalia had twins, a boy and a girl. Nonetheless, Alaric kisses her and lays his head on her lap. She taps her love with her wings and wraps her arm across his chest. Alaric then sits ups to kiss Iris again and holds her more tightly to guide her into his tent. After making a spectacle of himself, he falls asleep in her arms. He awakes to see her gazing up at the stars before daybreak.

“It is nice to see you again,” he comments. “Were those kisses last night a dream too?”

“I must leave you now. I am sorry for staying away for so long.”

They watch the sun come up out of the horizon and say goodbye before the soldiers stir around the camp.

“I shall visit again someday, Alaric.” speaks Iris and spreads her wings.

The King of Anakia finally surrendered in Rurick’s tenth year away from home and vowed to pay tribute to Hadrast. It was also the year of the two moons. A moon horse had gotten loose and galloped across the sky for several days to been seen by many cultures. It arrived just as the King of Anakia surrendered and everyone knew a great leader was about to perish. Riding to Queen Elessa and his growing son learning to command horses, Rurick crossed a river bridge in his chariot when arrows flew like a swarm of birds. Rurick’s horse jerked the chariot and turned it over falling into the water. The horses struggled to swim in the rapids and made it back ashore without a harness. Rurick was found downstream with three arrows in his armor and believed to have died before drowning in the water. The army charged the assailants and showed no mercy. Alaric the Great broke the news to Queen Elessa who wept bitter tears. Prince Nafusi observed his dead father lying in a wood coffin covered armor and flowers. Linos said his half-brother would always be welcome in his home. In time, the daughter of Elessa by her husband Mattan would be crowned queen and her husband made king. Prince Nafusi would never become a King of Hadrast, but form his own colony to become King of Onoba on the North Sea coast. Prince Linos sailed to Onoba every year to share stories with his half-brother. Queen Elessa also took an interest in young Prince Linos and told him a tale of her ancestors coming here:

My great-grandmother Elessa was a princess of Hazor to the east next to the topless mountains and Ugarit to the south. Her father died in battle making her and her brother co-rulers. Her brother was young at the time so she ruled Hazor alone as regent. Then the boy king grew to be a man and exiled his regent sister. She took from the treasury several chests of gold and silver coins. Her brother sent soldiers to retrieve the treasure. She boarded a ship and threatened to dump the treasure into the sea if the soldiers attacked her. Not wanting to receive the wrath of the king, the soldiers came with her to set up a new colony. She convinced a tribal chief in Helos to allow land for them in return for her marriage to a member of his tribe. She arranged to toss an apple in the air and the one who hits it with their arrow would win her hand. Several men missed when the youngest son of the chief took his turn. His arrow met the apple in the air and she married him. It was tradition after that for princesses to marry into the local nomadic tribe. The current Queen Elessa chose Mattan after her father said that she was in such great mourning for her dead mother that he promised Elessa’s hand to the one who made her laugh. Mattan played a harp singing a love song and she thought his wish so ridiculous that she laughed. He was a good father to their three daughters and courageous king to his people.

The Blythan warriors returned home in their hundred ships bringing the coffin of Emperor Rurick the Conqueror. Queen Kia attended his burial in Illium before returning to Akaiyah. Vim returned with her. Gazing upon the emperor in his armor and weapons from Alaric, Linos asked if this man gave him more siblings he didn’t know about. Alaric spoke the truth to include his half-sisters Tatiana and Kaitlyn. After the funeral, Kaitlyn arrived with a letter from her mother Pippi who had died. Pippi had written asking her uncle to train Kaitlyn to be a shaman with him when he returned. Grand Prince Dion and Crown Prince Rodric enjoyed Kaitlyn’s company as did Princess Dalia. Prince Eurick comes to his family quarters to find his wife and younger children had died from scarlet fever that hit the city a few months before. His son Dymas was the only one spared and Empress Boudicca moved him and Lexie into the royal nursery. Prince Kermit mourned his sister Lavendar, stepmother, and half-siblings. He tells his father and Dymas that Jocelyn always treated him with kindness. Princess Annica then lived in the Temple of Aphrodite and completed her priestess ceremony to choose a husband while he was away. Alaric guided a ship on the way to Illium to visit his daughter Kynthia in Tamnais. Her husband was Darius, son of Commander of Tamnais who Kynthia welcomed when he relayed news of attacks on his city by Helos pirates. They had two daughters and a son who adored listening to their grandfather’s stories of Anakia and Queen Elessa.

Queen Kia returned to Akaiyah to a proud husband who declared he betrothed his stepdaughter Tatiana to wealthy merchant in Laurel. Tatiana had a grand wedding in Akaiyah and soon sets up shop in her new home. Kia entertains their daughters Sophia and Dinah with stories of Anakia and Queen Elessa of Hadrast and King Jadu of Brysa. She also told them stories of Hazor that sits to the south of Titania with topless mountains blocking any human passage to Titania. They are so tall, birds do not fly in them and it is believed they touch the sky. To reach the unknown lands to the east, the South Sea people have to go through Hazor, Ugarit, and Sheba to the south. In the eastern lands, there are tales of great kings and empires always fighting over power. The once mighty Hazor and Ugarit now pay tribute to an eastern emperor. Elves of Avaris come here for great iron weapons and blue lapis from the eastern mountians. The Blythan princesses enjoy having a little brother that King Xerxes takes in his stepson as his own. Empress Boudicca went into hysterics when Rurick’s coffin reached the palace. She collapsed at the gate and remained in seclusion during the funeral. She stayed in a trance for days. Dion took over her duties and prepared for his coronation. Eurick was appointed her guard and drove her chariot to the Temple of Athena to watch her son be crowned emperor. She would sit in the garden in silence. One day during her bath, she fell over into a seizure and the handmaidens cried she had been possessed by a demon. Eurick removed her from her bath to lay her on her bed. The handmaidens dried her with towels when the shaking ceased. She opened her eyes and looked astonished to see Eurick. Her handmaidens placed a clean night dress on and finished rinsing her soapy hair in a bowl of water. Eurick was given dry clothes and tried to speak to Boudicca more aware of her surroundings. She gazed at him in awe, but no words came forth.

Her grief was deep and when the shock wore off, she asked if she was going to be returned to her father now she was no longer an Empress. Eurick assured her that her son would never banish his mother and she was still an empress until Dion married Persephone of Kadacia. He went further to say King Dylan had written to set up moving Prince Rodric to Kamala to be anointed as Crown Prince by the goddess, Lady of the Lake, who always decides on who will be King of Lotan. The war with Anakia was over and it was time Rodric came to prepare for his role. Boudicca wished to accompany her son to Lotan and see her father again. After retiring into his suite for the night since he was not needed to guard her, Boudicca came into his bed chamber not wishing to be alone. He comforted her and assured her she was going to be alright. Rumors began to fly of Eurick sleeping in the Empress’s bed chamber. Eurick simply answered he must obey the empress in her time of mourning. Once the statue of Rurick was placed on his crypt, Alaric came to place flowers on his pupil’s grave. He lit a candle and prayed for his soul.

“I knew you would come. Do you want your armor back? I have no need for a magic helmet anymore. The afterlife is not what I thought it would be. Please take care of my family, even if they don’t always appreciate it.” said Rurick’s ghost.

“I will do my best to take care of them,” replied Alaric.

The helmet and armor belonging to Alaric materialized upon the statue. Alaric took back his gift. Alaric bid farewell to Rurick’s ghost and returned to the palace. One of the first orders of business for the newly crowned emperor was to send Eurick to Kadacia to report on the health and education of Kazaria Persephone. On the ship to Kadacia, he thought the sailors behaved strange. He found the letter from the emperor declaring Eurick was banished from Blythe and the transfer of Persephone to Prince Rodric on his way to Lotan. At the end, he offered a reward if Eurick failed to arrive in Kamala. He took the letter and jumped off the ship to swim ashore. He burned the letter upon the sand and walked to the nearest fishing village. He said he was an emissary whose ship was attacked by pirates. He was to inspect the Kazaria Persephone on behalf of Emperor Dion. He was guided by a troop from Larissa to the summer palace inland to meet the royal family. He informed them that the emperor intended to marry a pupil of his father and he was to transfer the betrothal to Crown Prince Rodric. He is informed the Queen Deborah IV had died the year before and her daughter Queen Anamosa would be the one negotiating the marriage of her niece Persephone. She will send to Lotan her son-in-law to inspect this Rodric before signing a new treaty. As Eurick fished in the Anasazi River later in the day, he met the son-in-law’s daughter Simone picking flowers with her cousins. He bowed before Kazaria Simone to address her like a queen. Simone asked if he was a wizard. He gladly assured that he was the son of a wizard who taught him well. She then asked what he thought of Persephone. He replied he saw her as Queen of Lotan with a son and daughter. Upon hearing this news, Anamosa requested an omen ceremony. Eurick sought out the magical potion ingredients. The evening of his departure he made his prophesy written down from a scribe.

“Upon the marriage of Lotan and Kadacia, times of trouble arrive. A path of blood is carved in the Blythan family and survivors beg for refuge from their ancient enemy. This common thread will lead to war and remove the crown of the wicked queen. A time for prosperity. But, what to wonder of the children of this union. The heir dies young. The daughter is given the crown to rule as her husband fights in war. The goddess of destiny demands this union to take place. In the blood of Persephone and Rodric lies a future emperor holding Blythe, Lotan, and Kadacia under one banner.”

Anamosa allows the betrothal contract to be written and her son-in-law to negotiate it with King Dylan. Given the bride and groom’s ages, the ceremony will take place in three years. They leave the next day traveling through the flowering grasses of the dessert. Eurick then guided the prince to through the Amazon Valley to find a pregnant Kaitlyn. Alaric sent her away after discovering she was pregnant. Dion begged her to marry him, but she refused when she found out they are both children of Rurick. She returned in shame and prayed the child would be a girl. He traveled on through Lotan to Kamala and found Boudicca pregnant. That would answer why Emperor Dion banished him and sought his murder. Kermit’s new wife tended Her Majesty as her Mistress of the Robes. He embraced his son Dymas who was the valet to Crown Prince Rodric. The son-in-law of Queen Anamosa approved of Rodric showing off his soldier skills and negotiated a betrothal agreement with King Dylan. Eurick married Empress Boudicca in the Temple of Ishtar. His friends Athar, Treynor, and Enki arrived to serve as bridegrooms. His father used a magic mirror to attend the wedding with Lexie. Iris arrived after the ceremony to present her gift of a silver mirror. His aunts Gilda and Lixi also presented gifts of tableware after the ceremony. Lixi gave gold goblets. Gilda gave gold plates. Upon their wedding, Boudicca made a startling confession. The reason she chose Eurick was because he was so much like Rurick, they even kissed the same way. Eurick observed that it was Rurick who taught how to charm a woman. Soon after the birth of Prince Theron did they hear news that Emperor Dion had married a maidservant and crowned her empress. Soon after, Prince Tristan of Adea dies leaving his crown to Prince Hector. Then a darkness entered Blythe no magician to eradicate.

“Is that when you were banished and Boudicca reunited Lotan to invade Blythe when my father was a boy?” asked Dracon.

“I remember those stories. My father said the towns stopped tribute to Blythe and switched it to Lotan when Boudicca invaded the foothills.” replied Homer. “Yes. Now I need to prepare the iron for molding. Get some buckets of water to put out the fire pit. Then we will dig up what iron we have found. I will continue tonight.” answered Alaric. The pupils spent the day hammering and heating the iron into tools and weapons. As night fell, they relaxed by the camp fire as Ishtar and Cassandra prepared a meal. Soon they had visitors to feed. Alexis arrived with twenty boats full of furs, stones, apple cider, and metal ores for Alaric to melt down. As they rested during the evening meal, the stories continued until it was time to retire into sleep. The next morning, unicorns Kalulah and Enki came down from the mountian to join the trading expedition. Homer discovered Enki and hurled a stone at the animal believing it was goddess looking for a lover. Enki suddenly altered his appearance into an elf to demand that Homer stop throwing rocks at him. Homer swiftly apologized. Dracon bumped into Lexie while getting water. At first notice of the beautiful woman walking along the riverbank, he believed she was her Aunt Gilda. Intrigued, she answered she was not Gilda. She inquired who he was. He gladly explained he was Grand Prince Dracon who was visiting The Oracle of Nix. She tilted her head and simply declared they would cross paths many more times. Then she changed into a dove to fly into the forest. The Wizard said his daughter is not easily intrigued and believed she saw their future of crossing paths.