Heir to the Empire

44. The Fæordic - Loldirr

Loldirr started to rip off the tincture carefully. The pain was uncomfortable, but the bleeding had stopped. Her fingers followed the chasm on her cheek to just underneath her eye left by the blade of the Shadow. She felt hollow inside, never before had the thought of her beauty been of importance until this moment.

"Where did you get that?" the man inquired.

"I fought with a Death Wraith. I barely survived." Loldirr responded, her voice disheartened.

The man chuckled as he looked at her, "A Death Wraith? Stories we tell our children to keep them under control. Tell me the truth girl."

"Stories are derived from truth, Hrok Thjodoflsson, " the Seer reprimanded, "what she speaks is true."

Hrok's face seemed to switch from disdain to mild mystery as the Seer made her comment. He even turned his body towards Loldirr for the first time and looked at her directly in the eye. "You speak truth? Tell me of this Death Wraith?" he asked.

Loldirr looked towards the fire and breathed in, feeling the power that crackled beneath it. "Apparently, he was once Sir Wendon Pykeston, a huge man who holds this two-handed sword."

"I know of Sir Pykeston. A man with no honour who killed many of my fellow tribesmen, " Hrok explained, "No one in the north mourned his death. Yet you say he lives once more?"

Loldirr shook her head, her fingers still tracing the scar, "He's not alive, yet he's not dead. It's difficult to explain. I pierced his armour, a solid cut to the gut, but there was no blood, and he shrugged it off as if it was nothing. He was in his armour as I set it on fire, yet he continued as a man possessed."

Hrok's dark brown eyes continued focusing on the young woman in front of him, totally fascinated by her story. "To survive a battle with Sir Pykeston is not something to take lightly, to strike a blow is impressive. I'm intrigued by you, young lady. Yet how did you set him on fire? The blizzard that you came through would be impossible to create a flame."

Loldirr hesitated as she looked at him. Her eyes flitted from his to the fire in front of her. Could she risk telling this man of her powers, this man that she did not know? Her task was to create an alliance with a people she knew very little about, and as she turned towards the Seer who was mixing a pot of stew, there was a realisation that she may be considered dangerous by her newfound peers.

Without looking, the Seer intervened, "Show him your powers, young girl."

Loldirr raised her hand and allowed the flames to flicker around her hand. It flowed around her fingertips like wind, before returning to the crackling fire in the centre.

Hrok looked on in astonishment. Behind his bushy mess of a beard, his whitened teeth could be seen as a chuckled bellowed from his stomach. "You're one of them, one of the Sorcerers of the Elements. I've heard stories of such, but to meet one? Unbelievable."

"And this is why you were called before the rest of the Warlords. For you will not answer her request with the same scepticism as the others." the Seer casually responded.

"Request?"

"Tell him, girl, " the Seer replied.

"I've come here to request the support of the Fæordic tribes, to come with me to Ravenscourt and to fight the forces of Lionmane that are on their way to attack them," Loldirr explained.

Hrok nodded yet did not respond. His smile, though, had not disappeared and he was now thoroughly interested in everything that Loldirr was saying.

"How do you know so much about me?" Loldirr asked, turning her head towards the Seer.

The Seer chuckled, sprinkling some small leaves into the stew before taking a spoon and drinking from it. "I am a Seer; my purpose is to know. Every life and every death creates an echo in the Earth. When life is created, the Earth rejoices, when a life is extinguished, the Earth weeps. I hear it's weeping as well as it's laughter. Yet, occasionally, a life causes such a distinguished echo that the earth is compelled to tell me of their journey."

The Seer continued, "I felt your anguish when your guardian Lord Edric died, your sorrow as the boy Billingslea was slain by Sir Pykeston. Your joy and frustration as you were saved by the enigmatic Etheslton, your confusion and peace as you met Erdudvyl. The Earth rejoiced as you embraced your powers at Lionmane, and screamed as you received the scar that irritates you now. I know your life, young Loldirr, even as you came screaming into the world. I watched as Lord Edric risked everything, his title, his land, his family, to whisk you away from those who meant to do you harm. No life follows a specific path, yet the Earth does what it can to guide us in the right direction. You have listened and have answered, and as a result, the Earth has brought you here this day."

Hrok nodded as the Seer explained, his conviction in the words was apparent as he spoke. "Loldirr, daughter of Fenrirr, your destiny has brought you here today, and I am pleased to be the one to greet you."

The information that was being thrown at Loldirr was intense. Her thoughts of destiny somewhat differed from the other two people in the hut, but one valuable piece of information made her feel numb inside and seemed to drown out all other thoughts.

As tears started to fill her eyes, Loldirr's voiced cracked as the words fell from her mouth, "My father's name was Fenrirr?"

Confusion plastered itself onto Hrok's face, while the Seer, for the first time, turned her head towards the sound of Loldirr's broken voice.

"Oh my dear child, " the Seer replied, "had no one spoken of his name before?"

Loldirr tried to speak, but only sobs escaped her lips. The sting as tears mixed with her deep cut on her cheek was nothing compared to the pain she felt in her heart. Yet alongside the pain, it fought valiantly with joy. To know something of her father, however little, made her feel just a little bit closer to him.

"Emperor Fenrirr and your mother, Queen Renate were rulers of integrity and honour, " Hrok explained, a small smile pushed through his beard, "the Fæordic tribes have always been divided until we were subjugated by, what they call, the northern expansion. Yet, we did not feel subjugated, for the ten winters under their rule, we were more prosperous and united than we have ever been before, or since. They achieved peace in the frigid north that was unheard of and deemed impossible to achieve. Be proud of the name Aex-Igh, for many in this world speak its name with reverence."

Emperor Fenrirr, and Queen Renate. Loldirr's mother and father. Such beautiful names, for what she could only imagine were beautiful people.

The longer she dwelled, the more Loldirr's face turned to thunder, "So if they were so revered, then why were they assassinated?"

The bitterness of her voice seemed to echo in the room. The pertinence of the question seemed to linger like a bad smell.

"Emperor Arnaud III plan was ruthless and efficient. Within one night, he moved from being one of the five kings of Isovine to eliminating the other four kings along with the Emperor and his family, " Hrok explained, "his move to power felt..."

"Unnatural!" the Seer interrupted. "A pact was made between the living and the dead to gain absolute power. An agreement which was destined to fail the moment Lord Edric whisked you away from your would-be assassin's."

Pieces started to fit together in Loldirr's mind. Emperor Arnaud, her family and the Necromancer were all connected like a spiders web, intricately weaved together that had her trapped in the middle. Who could coordinate the assassination of the most powerful men and women of the empire so efficiently, and in the space of one night? From her encounter with the Emperor, he did not appear to have the temperance or intelligence to plan and execute something so flawlessly unless he had the help of creatures that could perform the unnatural. The Death Wraiths.

"There it is, that realisation is now setting in, " the Seer whispered, her toothless smile felt unnerving as it grew, "he fears you, the Lord of the Dead, he senses your power but also your potential. If an Aex-Igh sits on the throne of Isovine then all of humanity could be united, if a Sorceress of the Elements sits on the Isovine throne, then the whole world could be united, and tonight, it starts here. Tonight you must unite the Fæordic tribes and achieve what only your parents have achieved once before. Success tonight will begin the restoration of your land, and with that restoration, the true war between the living and the dead will have begun."