Chapter 2

Soldiers, Sanctuary and Sorrow

Shortly after I had started crying again the door opened and the man who had pulled me away from the flames came in holding a plate of food. He set the plate down on the table, sat down beside me and put his arm around.

“ There, there child. You’re safe now, no one can hurt you here.” he said to me, and I believed him. I don’t know how long we just sat there, me crying and him holding me tight. After a while my tears began to slow and when they were at a level that would allow me to hold a conversation he knelt in front of me, dried my eyes and said “ There, that’s better. So, what’s your name little one?”

I sniffed, straitened my back in an attempt to seem strong and looked him in the eyes. “ My name is Kappi sir.”

“ Kappi, now that’s a hero’s name if I ever heard one. My name is Kenna, I’m the captain of the garrison here. Do you know where you are Kappi?”

“ Metaborg?” I guessed and was very shocked when Kenna laughed very heartily.

“ Metaborg? Why do you think we’re there?”

“ I looked out the window. A place this big and grand, where can we be but the capital?” Kenna smiled with genuine affection at my childish naivety.

“ This town is a hovel compared to the great Metaborg. In Metaborg even the smallest buildings are twenty stories high and made from stone so white they can only be crafted from moonlight. There are statues there the size of ten men and the great plaza can hold five thousand people.” He spent the next ten minutes telling me such lies about the capital, everything from the fact that everyone there travels by magic carpet to the tale that it was built by pixies. By the end of his story I had not only stopped crying but I was actually smiling. “ Indeed our humble town is as majestic as a mere hole in the ground compared to the wonders of Metaborg. No little one, this is the town of Vandi.”

Vandi was a small garrison town that was home to about three-thousand civilians and five-hundred soldiers. It was originally built as an outpost to act as an early warning and rapid response post in the event of a surprise attack from Andskota, the empire that lies on Hvitrland’s eastern border. At the time I knew none of this, my parents had taught me little that wasn’t useful for life in Boer. Vandi to me was just a name and a vague notion that it was somewhere south of my farm.

“ Here.” he said, picking up the plate on the table “ I brought you some food.” I took the plate from him and had a look at the meal I had been brought and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food Kenna had given me. There was fresh baked bread, a cut of beef, a slice of ham and some cheese. I had only ever had so much on one plate before for the midwinter feast. “ I know it’s not much but the men ate all the stew and I hadn’t thought to put some to one side until it was all gone.” I would have told him that it was a very good meal by my standards but I think he got the idea without a word from me. Before he had even finished talking I already had a face full of cheese.

“ You can eat in here if you want to be alone, but if you would prefer my lieutenants and I are playing Baka and you’re welcome to join us.” after having made his offer Kenna stood up and opened the door and I decided to follow him out, I couldn’t bare to be alone.

The door led to a large room with a fire blazing in the hearth, there were three men sitting around a table in front of the fire. Kenna pulled out a chair for me, took his seat at the table and introduced the men. “ These are my lieutenants Gron, Dyr and Magr.” Gron was a muscular man with a bald head and a beard so big that I’m sure it had a will of its own. Dyr was a beast of a man, he wasn’t particularly tall but his massive muscles and unruly hair gave the distinct impression that he lived in a cave and had turf wars with bears and won. Magr on the other hand was the thinnest soldier I ever met, compared to the other men in the room he looked like half a man.

“ Know how t’play Baka short shit?” asked Dyr, his voice just deep and gravelly as his face would suggest. I just shook my head, I was too busy eating to give an actual reply. So Gron and Dyr engaged in a game and Magr explained the rules as they went. Baka is a fairly simple game involving a deck of Baka cards, a pair of dice and a set of five coloured stones. According to popular folklore Baka was named after its inventor, Emperor Baka of Aldinn, the old empire that encompassed the whole continent. It’s said that he engaged in a ritual of an old religion to communicate with spirits and induce a vision of the future, and when he awoke from the trance instead of announcing his deep new understanding of the future he describe the rules of the game. Although every time the story is told the spirit or god who told him how to play the game changes and many historians claim the ritual in question involved almost exclusively the ingestion of a copious amount of hallucinogens there’s one thing everyone agrees on, Baka is a very fun game. It didn’t take me long to understand the rules, they started letting me play and I even beat them a couple of times, I was quite good at it even then, although looking back on it now I’m fairly sure they let me win. We played for a few hours and the soldiers told me stories from the wars with Sunnan, the kingdom to the south. It was a war that had ended ten years previously but all the men in the room had fought in it, it was the only real war in living memory at the time, of course there were always border raids and small skirmishes between patrols of various kingdoms but there were very few wars. By the time they had ran out of stories and the game began getting tedious it was well past midnight and although I had slept most the afternoon I was very tiered. I went back to the room I had woken up in a few hours before and climbed into bed with fairly high spirits, but as soon as the lights were out and I was on my own, the memories of Boer returned and before long I fell into a deep, nightmare plagued sleep.

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When I awoke the next morning Kenna was in the room on the other side of my door, he was talking to an old man dressed in very fine clothes, and when he looked at me I saw such kindness in his eyes that I thought he had reached such an old age because neither age nor illness had the heart to kill him. “Ah, good morning young man. You must be the mister Kappi I’ve been hearing about.” The warmth in his voice could calm a hurricane and it definitely soothed my wounded soul and made me feel safe. “ Yes, I am sir.”

Kenna pulled out a chair at the table. “ Come sit with us Kappi.” Once I was seated he introduced the old man. “ This is Horskr. He’s the mayor of Vandi and he has come to talk to you.”

Horskr laughed jovially “ Oh Kenna, why be so formal? I’m just and old man, and Kenna’s father as it so happens, but it is indeed you I’ve come to see.” His face darken somewhat and the joy that, only moments before, had seem ever present slipped away. There was an uncomfortable pause in which it was clear that Horskr hated speaking of sad and upsetting things, and so Kenna took over in explaining the mayors purpose.

“ My father has come to talk about what happened at Boer.” and although I had known what was coming, it hit me hard when he said the words and my hand moved unbidden to the spot on my head where the man had hit me with the torch, it still burned when I toughed it and it was clear that it would leave a mark that I would carry for the rest of my life. It is a fitting mark. A scar on my face to match the one on my soul. “ We must send a report of what happened there to the capital and we have to make it as accurate as possible, so we need your help with some things. Some of the men escaped before we got there and there were no identifying marks on the men we killed. No banners or sigils, no equipment that would give away who they were. So I have to ask you to think back and tell us if you saw anything that could tell us where they came from.”

Immediately the man who hit me flash across my mind and I had to struggle very hard not to start crying again. “ Their leader.” I whispered. My voice so quiet it was barely audible. “He had bones woven into his beard and a scar that went form his ear to his eye.” I said, drawing my finger across my face as I described it. “ and his armour was pure black. It had a red dragon on the front, wrapped around a skull.”

Kenna and Horskr looked at each other and Kenna muttered “ Ovnir.” and his farther nodded then looked back at me and explained. “ Ovnir is a mercenary under the employ of Alharor, king of the andskoti. From your description we can be fairly sure it was him that you saw, and it doesn’t surprise me, he has a reputation of being more vile than Barlak’s turds. He’s the one that Alharor sends to do things no half decent person would.” Ovnir, now I had a name to go with the nightmare, and he was someone who had done this before and would probably do it again. I knew then that I would kill him one day. “ We’ll send the report right away, the king must be informed about this. Something must be done.”

After that Horskr left and Kenna took me to the soldiers mess hall for some breakfast. I had never heard so much noise in my life. There was close to five hundred soldiers in the room, more people than I had seen in my whole life combined let alone in one room. I was stunned when we went through the door, the noise hit me like a wall. Shouting, fighting, some of them were even singing, if you can call what soldiers do singing, they sounded more like roaring bears than singing men. We sat with the lieutenants that we had played Baka with the night before. They greeted us cheerfully. They spent most of breakfast talking of things I knew nothing about and telling rude jokes I didn’t understand, but they were kind and made an effort to include me when they could.

“ Do you have any plans for the day kid?” asked Magr, the skinny one, when everyone had finished eating. “ No.” I replied with a shake of my head, realising that that day was the first day I could remember that I hadn’t woken up with a list of chores to do. “ Well I don’t have anything to do today either. How about I show you around Vandi?”

“ I’d like that very much, thank you.” I answered with a smile. I’d been hoping that I would get to see the town. We took our plates back to the kitchen and Magr led me outside.

The first place we visited was right outside, the barracks training grounds. Early as it was there were already some soldiers practising their weapon skills. Magr showed me all the training equipment they had and explained what it all was for. The training dummies for the new recruits, made from a wooden cross covered in straw and a few had faces painted on. The archery range with targets set at different distances, from 50 to 300 feet. He finished by showing me the training armoury. All the soldiers had there own weapons that were kept with their owners in the sleeping quarters, but for training there were special weapons. Swords and axes made from wood for the new recruits, who were trained part time from the age of ten, and blunt weapons with padded blades for the more experience warriors. “ Even with the padding you have to be careful with these.” Magr told me “ a good swing and you can still crack some bones.”

When we were done with the barracks Magr took me too the town square. I was amazed at the beauty of the place, I didn’t think it was possible to make such things. Three hundred square feet of stone floor. Using different coloured slabs the stone showed the White Star of Hvitr, centred around a pavilion. The pavilion’s roof was held up buy four pillars carved into the shape of Hvitr’s Maidens. The maidens looked out over the four main points of the star, looking at four statues, one of which was just visible from my room. The statues depicted the Agaeti, the mythical heroes said to have fought at Hvitr’s side during the Heilag, the war in the heavens, during which Hvitr and the Agaeti cast Barlak, god of death and darkness, out of the heavens and into the Void. The statues were ten feet tall and so well sculpted their armour shone and their swords looked like they could cut through steel. It was a glorious sight, I had never imagined that humans were capable of crafting such wondrous beauty. It was my first taste of what the human race could do. I wondered around for about 20 minutes looking at the statues and remembering what Kenna had said, that this place was a hovel compared to the capital, Metaborg, and dreamed of what it must be like. I was sure that he must be lying, we could never make anything better than this, but even if there was the smallest chance in the world that it was true I had to see it. After the town square we visited all the public places of Vandi, the shops and taverns, the wall, gates and guard towers, the river and temple, but through it all I was thinking of the statues and imaging Metaborg. We stopped at the bakery in the early afternoon for some cake, another thing I had never seen before, I was surprised at how sweet it was possible to make something and swore to never eat anything else ever again which made Magr laugh. We sat down on one of the benches that surrounded the town square while we ate.

We talked a little but then his face became quite solemn. “We’re having a Lijos for the people of Boer tonight, do you want to go?” A Lijos is the major funeral rite under Hvitr’s faith. Before a persons soul can reach Hvitr in the Heavens it must pass through the Void. As long as the persons soul doesn’t stray from the Stigr, the path through the void, Hvitr can protect them, neither Barlak nor his fiends can reach them, and no harm can befall them. The trouble is the void is very dark and the Stigr is hard to see, so we perform the Lijos. We lend our souls to the traveller so they can be a light in the darkness, and the travellers do not stray from the path, so we may deliver them safely into Hvitr’s loving embrace. Talk of a Lijos reminded me that they were all dead and made me want to cry. “yes” I mumbled, fighting back the tears. “ I would like that a lot.”

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The temple at Vandi is quite small for a town its size. The temple is a spherical building that can hold about three-hundred people, although it can only take two-hundred and fifty comfortably. From the outside it looks like a simple dome, no decorations at all, but the inside is majestic. The floor hollows out and makes it a true sphere, the bottom half is large steps that go all around the temple like an amphitheatre where people stand, or sit if few enough are in attendance, centred on a Lijos stone, a key element in the ceremony. The stone is about four feet high, a white stone that looks like frozen fire. The Lijos stones are said to be rays for the White Star that Hvitr bestowed on humanity to light our way in the dark. The ceiling is dominated by a sculpture of Hvitr herself. Starting at the waist at the bottom of the wall opposite the door, she rises up, her hands outstretched to a circuler window in the centre of the roof and her four spread wings envelope the rest of the room, all of them touching at the entrance.

The temple was full on the night of the Lijos for the people of Boer, most of the garrison had come. I never found out whether they came voluntarily or whether Kenna and his lieutenants made them come, I chose to believe that both options were true, that they were all kind enough to come of their own free will but Kenna also cared enough to make them come, so I wouldn’t feel alone. I had never been to a Lijos before so I didn’t really know what to expect. While we waited for the priest, the soldiers talked among themselves but I just stared at the Lijos stone wondering, hoping, that where ever they were, my family was happy and safe. Then the priest and two acolytes entered and walked down the the stone. When they reached the bottom of the stairs they stopped, staying on the side of the stone nearest the entrance, facing towards the sculpture of Hvitr. All talk had ceased the moment the priests entered and we stood in silence waiting for the ceremony to begin. The two acolytes knelt down either side of the priest and spread their arms wide, the priest took a step closer to the stone and raised his arms above his head, emulating the statue he has facing, and began to chant in the old language. Shortly after he began the acolytes joined in and what had been a monotonous chant began a heavenly harmony, echoing around the spherical room. After a few minutes the stone began to glow, small flickers of light at first like moon light dancing on a lake on a windy night. The light got brighter, old embers burning a new. It kept getting brighter until it shone like the star it was once a part of. When the flickering stopped and the light was strong and stable, the priest stopped his chanting and addressed the gathering, although it was difficult to make out his words for the acolytes continued their song. “ It is time. Let Hvitr’s light into your souls so that both may be stronger. Cast yourselves into the stone and feed the light. Let us light the way for the people of Boer.” after a moment, as one by one the people in the temple gave their strength to the light, the stone shone brighter and brighter. I felt nothing at first, and then I felt a warmth pushing against me. It was not a physical warmth like that of a flame, more like the warmth you feel when you think of some one you love. This warmth kept pushing against my soul and I didn’t know what to do. Something must have shown on my face, for Kenna bent down and whispered in my ear “ Let it in little one.” So I did. It wasn’t easy, having never done it before, but I managed to open myself up enough to let the warmth inside and it rushed in like a flood. The warmth felt so good that, even though this was a sad occasion and I should have been miserable, I had never felt happier.

“ What is this?” I asked Kenna, my voice barely louder than a breath.

“ It’s Hvitr’s love. Her love for you, your family and every creature in this world. That’s why it feels so good. It’s the love of a god.”

The priest had rejoined the acolytes in their chanting and when everyone had joined with the light their chant changed and the light erupted from the stone and sent a beam up and out through the window in the centre of the ceiling. The beam of light shot up into the sky and through the clouds. The Rays of Lijos can be seen from miles away, they seam to go on for ever, farther than eye can see. According to the priests they shine past the clouds and through the Void, lighting up the Stigr, go on up in to the heavens and rejoin the White Star from which the stones fell. The rest of the ceremony lasted about an hour. The priests chanted and the rest of us gazed at the light and waited until eventually the head priest declared that the souls from Boer had traversed the void and made it into Hvitr’s arms. The chanting stopped, the light dimmed and faded, and those of us in attendance began to leave. It had been a long day, filled with discovery and wonder. I was still filled with the warmth and happiness of Hvitr’s touch that I slept soundly that night with no nightmares tormenting me.

Next Chapter: Love, Hate and Brotherhood