Chapter 7 The River Nix

They went down to the oracle cave for Dracon’s future told.

“An unnatural death will bring you to power and you search out you half-brother. I see your ambition to reclaim what has been taken from your ancestors. Not all your plans will come to fold, but your name will be loved for many generations. A great king you shall be, dear Dracon.”

“So when are we getting to the Elf War?” asked Homer.

“Patience, you must understand the world before it first. You will tell tales of life before the wars you fight.” replied The Wizard.

“The wars we will fight?” asked Homer.

“Yes, men cannot seem to stop fighting each other so eventually war will come to you.” answered The Wizard. “For some, peace is just space between wars. Now where was I?”

“You just finished the cold harvest.” replied Dracon.

Yes and when everything seems right in the world, everything goes wrong. It all began in the spring. The winters were harsh with blizzards and temperatures so cold animals in the forest frozen to death. Even the honey bees in the trees froze to their honeycombs. Honey from far away places became like gold. They elves shared Alaric’s new plow pulled by Nix’s cattle. The nonstop rain and weird sky signs I mentioned before made it difficult to plant the seeds because floods would cause us to replant. The rain rotted the fruit and berry crops with mold. Mushrooms grew everywhere, even on the grasslands. Lotans and Blythans could not make many hay bales in all that rain so they had to butcher or sell their livestock to the traveling nomads. When harvest of grains came again, the elves had to use fire in the caves to dry the poor harvest. Barley and oats were sustainable, but the wheat and rye suffered with mold. Many people went into convulsions with skin peeling off and died screaming they were bewitched. The elves went hunting for deer, boar, birds, and rabbits. They found the nomads doing well with these rich grasses and plenty of water in the rivers. He managed to sail to see rebuilt Laurel and Litsy with help of migrating elves. Illium was full of treasures and Empress Athena was well pleased of his linen cloth. Emperor Olic admired his dragon skin armor. They visited the Amazons and met the little baby Pippi and Laeos left a knife belonging to his grandfather for her. They had the usual harvest games in celebration of Gilda, the harvest goddess. He hunted and traded along the rivers. Mermaids returned to the sea and they prepared for winter. The New Year celebration was grand and brought fauns from the mountain tops bringing their sheep down to graze in the elf valleys during winter to help fertilize and weed their gardens. They wore masks made from wood to disguise themselves as goblins. They danced to music and lit a bonfire. They carved scary faces in turnips to repel evil spirits visiting the living world since it is one of two when the afterlife guard dog Helga sleeps. The Sorceress peeled apples floating in a tub of water to tell fortunes. She saw a deer in place of a child with Nix. Alaric also had a deer child predicted and wondered if newly pregnant Nix will be cursed by a spell. Again, the winter was cold and harsh with many snowstorms. Again, many animals froze in the snow. Again, Alaric had to bring bees from far away. They made maple syrup and cut wood for bows. The wet spring and summer made fruit harvesting late again. Mushrooms were plentiful and vegetables grew well. Famine began to set into Lotan and Blythe. Wheat growing humans began an envy of the elves hardy barley harvest. Again, animals had to be butchered from low hay yields. As famine endured, farmers began to leave Lotan and Blythe for faraway lands. Kadacian enjoying bountiful harvests traded much produce and grains. Lakes and rivers filled with water for the first time in years making many villages sprout like weeds. Alaric and Alexis gave passage to many to take them to the South Sea islands and coastal kingdoms. The South Sea people seem to start to recover from the bad harvest and floods to take in the famished elves. Kings of the coast enjoyed Alaric’s mushrooms and had had a bountiful harvest of olive oil and wine to trade.

Rebuilt Laurel and Litsy colonies collapsed and the people returned to Ithaca. Humans further inland came to the coast looking for better prospects and occupied the empty buildings. Alexis remained in Laurel and continued their business, but their Litsy shop he sold to a Blythan villager. Half of Kara was smashed to pieces by the sea wave and was rebuilt by the city king. His business partners used the profits to rebuild their shop and he sold his share of the business to them so he could focus his attention to the Illium shop. Soon part-humans were forcefully exiled out of human towns. A new town of werewolves between Whitefield and Leesville was founded by them and named Sylvania. It set along the hills and he traded for reed mats to cover his floor. Hariem the werewolf became his friend and trading partner. Then that summer came an enemy that came that no being could conquer as Alaric was sailing the seas: a plague of scarlet fever. Half the children of Leesville died from the anger of the gods. Brightsburg fell into dark times after Chief Cossus the Dragonslayer died of the fever. Laeos buried his father in a grand mound so he could always find it. Enough have died that year to create a mound in the shape of an otter. Nix could not attend the funeral for fear of her child and listened to Alaric recite how grand a funeral it was. Laeos’s son Andan was also sick so he failed to seize control of the new chief being considered. Alaric returned for the funeral of Cossus to give him an ice bath to break the fever. The town chose during the funeral games that his cousin Modred should wear the honor as chief. First thing he did was sacrifice slaves to beg the gods to cure this pestilence. Merchant nomads had stopped coming and kept their distance when traveling. More people were killed around Lotan and Blythe accused of using witchcraft to curse the people with plague. Rumors grew of elves in the mountains lived quite well trading all over the rivers and with mermaids with their barley resistant of the rain. Resentments bloomed into anger and anger flourished into hatred of the elves. Alaric arrived home from a trip from Laurel to find a mass funeral for children. Elves bury their loved in the ground with flowers and bowls of offerings. Finally they set a circle of stones to mark the grave. The Sorceress was busy making willow bark tea and giving ice baths, but wasn’t stronger than the banshees taking their souls. The hunt commenced as the smoking of meats and leather. The harvest games went on and Alaric won an iron dagger in the sword fighting contest. Who knew that when Alaric made a journey to Whitefield to sell willow bark tea and other healing herbs that he would watch his love die in his arms.

Out of the dust of chaos rose a powerful leader in Brightsburg who elves learn to fear. His war drums beat loud into the dead of night. He prays to the war god Eris in his temple. Goats, pigs, and humans accused of witchcraft are sacrificed to win favor in battle. Horns declare the coming of a greater firestorm than even the fire god Devon could ever unleash. The growing army of the Modred swept through nearby elf villages with a fury never seen before by the oldest elf. Store houses raided, elves slaughtered everywhere, and homes burned down were committed by this enraged army. A few elf children ran from Oakleigh to Leesville The Sorceress changed Nix into a deer to send out the alarm. Nix the deer came inside the Whitefield temple with a human arrow in her shoulder. The priestess removed the arrow. A crowd circled the temple and began to pray for the deer with an amulet around its neck. Alaric understood the squeaks she made and ordered the elves to prepare for battle. Alaric assisted in the delivery of her baby that came out with an elf body, but with a deer’s head, tail and hooves. He held his son and named him after his great-grandfather, Euric the Great who was the first learn to make things out of metals. He had his adult ceremony at his shrine in the temple. Nix soon died after the birth of her lying in Alaric’s arms. After she died, she transformed back into her human self and he knew the caster of the deer spell had died. The Chief of Whitefield ordered everyone to the stone wall at the edge of town to hold back the river floods. Ogres were rallied with shields and spears. Elves gathered all hunting weapons and grabbed their leather shields. Humans were ready on horseback with leather shields on their shoulders. Their treasures were buried deep into the ground. Every villager able to fight was armed to the teeth for the impending battle. Children too young to fight were carried to the swamps by the pregnant women. Alaric joined the wall bowmen. The approaching smell of fear crept into their hearts as they waited for the war party to kill them all. Modred’s horsemen encroached preparing for a charge. The chief fires a warning shot that hit a horseman’s shoulder. The horses begin to charge towards the wall.

“There is no time for fear! You must fight for your life or your family be cut to ribbons!” shouts The Chief.

The villagers hurl stones from sling shots, toss spears, and shoot arrows into the wave of rage. The human horsemen charged with battle axes to slow down the charge. The Lotan horsemen jump over the wall and set fire to the village. Alaric noticed wagons off in the distance and ran towards them. He fired arrows at the horses and set the wagons in motion. No men holding the reins so the horse took off to the west. After ravaging the village looking for spoils, the horsemen left to chase their cargo wagons. Alaric the Great was deemed a hero and given a medal of valor from the chief. The harvest in the storage houses was saved. Alaric walked back home with Nix’s body to Sylvania that was torched and Hariem tied to a tree. He cried how his children were killed and there was nothing he could do to save them. All their wheat was taken away in wagons and they will have nothing to eat this winter. Alaric introduced his son to the werewolf and asked to join him in Leesville. He found his home destroyed and his parents dead. He didn’t even get the chance to say good-bye. He found most of the stored food still in the caves guarded by the fauns. They said the horsemen ran through the village grabbing whatever they could from the open storage pits before they were chased out. The children were taken up Glacier Mountain after an Oakleigh child came to warn them and now staying with the temple priestess. The Oakleigh village on the edge of the mountains wasn’t so lucky. All of those elves were killed and humans took off with their harvest. He walked up to the Temple of Eris on Glacier Mountain and introduced Hariem to the priestess, his sprite aunt Tatiana. Alaric and Hariem had Nix buried in the river with help from the mermaids and built a rock shrine of her heroism to Whitefield. Treynor left a hand full of daises on her shrine in grief losing his foster mother he adored. Thereafter, the surviving elves renamed it, The River Nix. Alaric then took Hariem and Treynor into forbidden caves of stone crypts covered in enchantments. Alaric said they held vicious spirits that were entombed after a battle with the elves. He instructed Treynor in magic as he removed the enchantments to open a tomb. He asked Hariem to help move the lid. Hariem jumped at the sight of a pasty white man with red lips. Black eyes opened and looked around as he sat up.

“Hello, my name is Alaric the Great. Dear vampire, I have a job for you.”

The vampire rose up and flinched at Hariem’s amulet. He sniffed the air and admired Alaric crystal spurting a green flame.

“Do you accept me as your master?” asked Alaric.

The vampire nodded as he got down and began to stretch his legs walking the cave floor.

“Pray tell me your name,” requested Alaric.

“My name is Balor, Master Alaric the Great.” answered the vampire.

“Balor, your mission is to go to the town of Brightsburg. You may give the kiss of death to any human, but not anyone with elf blood. The werewolf Hariem will come with you and you are not to kill him either. You understand your mission?”

“Yes, master. It will be done.” replied Balor.

The creatures turned into wolves and went out into the violet twilight.

“So you are the one who released the vampires during the Elf War that still return to the caves at dawn,” observed Dracon.

“I released one. The war god Eris released the others as soldiers prayed for aid to destroy their enemies.” responded The Wizard.

He helped bury the slaughtered elves and place rock circles over graves. The torrential rain washed away some of the dirt revealing hands and feet creeping up the soil. He sat at a campfire in the ruins of his home with Treynor. He arranged his prayer stones in a circle and covered his and Treynor’s faces with ashes in mourning. He prayed to the gods to send him help in his anguish. Iris appeared. Alaric was not happy to see her. Iris came to her friend to be pushed away by his grief and anger. Alaric insisted that she plotted to hurt his love so she could have him for herself. She was appalled at the suspicions and defended she had no part in the bad weather or the battles. She demands to know why he distrusts her so unexpectedly.

“You always have an ulterior motive for anything thing you do,” stated Alaric. “There has to be a reward for you in order for you to help me. Searching for the Cup of Hades, you wanted to see Eris and knew Nix would steal the magical cup. That is why you did not help me undo Maya’s curse.”

“How dare you presume my intentions. I came to comfort you, my friend. If you do not want, then you shall not have it.” declared Iris before vanishing.

Soon he hears a soft whisper in the night air.

“Love is patient, Love is kind

Love is humble and generous

Love is calm and encouraging

Love never keeps score

Nor does Love hurt

Love is gentle, Love is honest

Love is hopeful and strong

Love protects and trusts

Love never accuses

Nor does Love ever end.”

Iris reappears to claim Alaric is forgiven since he is overcome with grief. She declares that she would do anything in her power to bring Nix back. Though, it is not her decision to make. Nix must ask to come back to life first. She admits feeling great love for Alaric and would never cause him pain. Alaric apologies for his accusation. He asks Iris what he does now. “Have you no intelligence in that elf head of yours? You ally yourself to their enemy. One with a great army to defeat these ravaging humans.” answered Iris. “But first, you will mourn your family at my palace, before you unleashed anymore vicious creatures.”

Alaric and Treynor spent the next four days in majestic Nakia weeping in the guest bed chamber. Sprites served his every need and tended his arrow wounds. He saw from the clouds that other human villages were attacked and wagons will filled with booty to be hauled away. After the four days, Iris washed off his ashes and had his armor polished. She promised to take care of Treynor and take him to be made immortal, per Alexis’s wishes. Treynor understood Alexis’s wife would not allow him to live with his father and half-brother, but would have to accept any apprentice on his ships. She offered to take care of Eurick too, but Alaric needed him to show to the ally he was visiting. She sent Alaric home to conjure up the powerful leader: Queen Aurora. He burns incense in the elf temple with a mural of Queen Aurora fighting King Hades. He pours prayer oil into the River Nix and summons mermaid to the surface. In a moment, the famous queen arises from the riverbed. Surprised at the summons, she observes her hands and feels for her hair. She spots Alaric looking up at her.

“Are you the one who summoned my soul?” asks the Queen.

“Yes, your holiness. I called you to help plan a strategy for war. You defeated griffins murdering your subjects. Humans are now destroying anything un-human. We all need your guidance, your holiness.” answers Alaric.

“I see, master elf. May I rest from the long journey from the Happy Sea first?” beckons Aurora.

Alaric offers fish and mead to the Queen. She flicks her tail as she eats. She was enthralled from drinking mead. Aurora inquires what assistance he was expecting to hear from her holiness. Alaric answers that he lacks strategy skills to lead a vast army across the mountains to attack Brightsburg. He did not lead anyone during Battle of Whitefield, just scared a bunch of unattended horses. Queen Aurora informed the elf that he needs his own followers and muster charisma to fight against this army, as the Chief of Whitefield did. He also needs spies and scouts to know what his enemy is doing. He needs supply trains to support his army and weapons to keep fighting. Alaric ponders Queen Aurora’s advice after she returns to the afterlife. Alaric decided to ask Hariem to be his spy and Alexis to scout. Balor could only spy at night. In addition, they all speak languages that humans would not understand. He pays a visit to his sprite relatives across Aurora Falls to enlist their help, if he can convince a great army to come and save them. Alaric doubts Lotan is organized enough to suppress their own subjects. He doubts Kadacia would care for events that occur outside their realm. Blythe has a peace treaty and Lotan has broken it so Gilda would be on their side. Trolls and centaurs are masters of metals, thus being nonhuman might be Alaric’s advantage in weapon supplies. Now, he had alliances to make. Alexis vowed his support in the war. The trolls, fauns, and centaurs stashed weapons in the caves promising to guard them. Last of all, Alaric builds a new boat to make an alliance with trading partners who surely will reject his proposition to fight Brightsburg. Everyone says he is crazy cause the grasslands fail to hold many resources to want to control. Determined by criticism, Alaric builds his boat piece by piece. His sprite relatives made paddles for his journey. Brownies bring him potions. Pixies give him fairy dust. Iris gives a golden sail that no storm could tear. Treasures of the Olin Mountains are tied down. After many days, Alaric adds the final touches, a rudder and his newborn son. As he ties the sail down, an old friend pays a social call. Alaric ignores him. He twists his golden sail avoided his gaze. Laeos holding a weak Andan next tries to explain that the massacres were not under his control. He has been bound to his home until a vampire and werewolf appeared whereas he was forced to leave on his horse. Alaric at last glared at him and Laeos stopped squeaking. He next thought of how to get Alaric to talk to him for a moment before continuing.

“I’m sorry you lost your village, but I lost my sister too.” That worked.

“You are sorry?” questions the hero as he peeks out from the sail. “Your friends, your family, burned our houses, stole our grain, and massacred everybody they could and you’re sorry! My parents are dead! My wife is dead! My son looks like a deer! My home is in ruins, my boats are ashes, and I’m left with nothing! What do you like me to say to you, Laeos!”

“Alaric, you do not understand how cruel our famine was. The scarlet fever wiped out half the village and my father. Modred saw you were still trading with grain from Kadacia and had little to trade back. And now my sister is gone.” explains Laeos. Alaric lifted an eyebrow to that observation. “Modred came back with food for us and then saw the carnage from those vile creatures that came while he was away.

“You are correct, Laeos. I do not understand how you defend these people.” observes Alaric.

“We were desperate for food and medicine,” answers Laeos.

“We had a poor harvest too with all the flooding and had to plant our seeds twice. Half the village children died in the scarlet fever. We have suffered from this cold weather as much as you.”

Laeos stiffens his lip and turns away.

“Did you see my son? I named him after my great-grandfather Euric.” blurts out our hero.

“Yes I did. Tatiana let me see him. Hariem said Nix tried to warn Whitefield and died in the temple. He also said you are plotting an alliance with Illium. I wish you luck. Perhaps, if you persuade the Blythan emperor to break the treaty with Lotan, I could be your scout. I know this land as well as you.” offered Laeos.

“Those are acceptable terms to me, dear brother-in-law. I recommend you stay with my sprite cousin Leander until my return.” asks Alaric.

“I swear to it. Where is Leander?” begs Hariem. Alaric makes a strange call and Balor arrives.

“Take Laeos to Leander’s tree house,” orders Alaric.

“I know everyone will learn your name soon.” finished Laeos before following the Balor.

Alaric the Fool set sail on the evening tide on the Narva coast. Eurick sleeps in a basket under the stars. Mermaids splash around in the waves making a sail unnecessary. In addition, mermaids catch shellfish for Alaric. Sitting at the rudder, our hero steers along the coast to Illium to the south. Closer and closer the boat slips toward Illium following the coastal current and fewer mermaids surface. He knew he was close to the Blythe capital when the mermaids stopped resurfacing completely. A large cargo ship came by and Alaric guessed it was from Vinland. From a distance, Alaric could see the fire of the lighthouse on the horizon. His destination approaches. By morning, the guard towers of Illium welcome the elf.