Cedric was the healthiest and largest slave in the village of the Thane of Brynjar. The village, the farm and the valley was also named Brynjar. Cedric had been taken in a raid from the kelti Kingdom of Fendric, which was a breakaway Kingdom from the original three Kingdoms but was still the most raided by the Vyir. The Elder of the village feared Cedric and kept him busy plowing the fields and cutting wood, so he wouldn't have time to plot an escape. He began to learn Vyir from a wandering Vyir Priest and he agreed to receive baptism into the Way of the gods of the Light. The other kelti began to hate him and call him a traitor but he led several more kelti men to the Light. Cedric and his baptised fellows went to the Thane and in perfect Vyir, asked to be manumitted and asked to help the Vyir fight the Orcs. Thane Brynjar was surprised and considered it. "Slave, I can free you but I cannot call you a warrior. We have a ritual of initiation but you are twenty-eight. You are too old to learn and you lack our strength. Do this: Talk with the wandering priest and he will take you in as an adept. Our people need healers and you look like you would make a fine battle-healer." said the Thane. The slave passed over the fifty guilder needed to be freed and the Thane signed a document and Cedric put his mark on the document in front of witnesses. Cedric returned to his small grass hut and packed his meager possessions into a small leather bag and walked down the road to the stone hut of the local priest, who was in the area for the holy day sacrifice. "Hello Cedric." said the Priest. "You were freed? You can help me collect white rams for the sacrifice. I have to sacrifice twelve white rams at the third hour of the afternoon and burn them on an altar to the gods." said the Priest. "They came and told us to do this as an act of obedience and submission to the Will of the Light. Many years ago." said the Priest. "I will do that." said Cedric. He went out and collected twelve white mountain rams, all wild and brought them back to the stone hut of the Priest. "Good, good. You are now an adept. I will teach you how to be a healer." said the Priest.
One day, as Cedric was sent out to collect wild primrose from the sides of the mountains, he was attacked by an Orc. He looked around and picked up a heavy stone and bashed the Orc's brains in. "I am stronger than them? How can that be?" he wondered within himself as he went about to complete his task. He wore the cowl of a Priest and carried no weapon. The Priest saw the blood on his cowl and scolded him. "You are not supposed to engage in warfare!" said the Priest. "I have not yet taken my vows as a master Priest." said Cedric. "Was it a troll?" asked the Priest. "It was an Orc." said Cedric. "Only the Vyir can slay an Orc, unless you have special strength from the gods." said the Priest. "You would do well to keep this to yourself." said the Priest. "The Vyir might try to have you killed for this." warned the Priest.
Cedric was sent out again to collect herbs in the mountains and he was confronted by a troop of Orcs. Cedric quickly etched some runes on a bone and vanished before their eyes. He walked past them as they looked for him. He remained invisible as he finished off the day collecting herbs for his master. When he got back, he saw that his master had been slain and his hut was on fire. "You there! Slave!" said a warrior running towards him. "Who did this?" asked the warrior. "I was out collecting herbs in the mountains, I am an adept of this Priest." said Cedric. "More than likely you killed him and set his hut on fire!" said the Vyir warrior. Cedric rubbed his carved bone and vanished. "Damn!" said the warrior and he ran off to the Hall. Cedric walked for a day and came to an open field were he rested. He could live off the land but he was forever a marked man for a crime he didn't commit. He saw a campfire and went to investigate. It was a group of runaway slaves, all of them bandits. He walked into the camp and introduced himself in kelti. "So they gave you a bad deal too?" asked the bandits. "I was supposed to be freed to but another Thane took me as a slave and held me against my will until I escaped, now I fight these bastards until we can return to our home Kingdom." said Donric, the bandit cheiftan. The others had similar stories. "If we fight them, the Orcs will reclaim this Kingdom and mankind itself might be overrun." remarked Cedric. No-one had much of a comment on it and silence told Cedric to "leave it alone."
The small band of kelti bandits met up with a larger band of kelti bandits and they began to attack Halls and barns all over the region. Cedric healed his kinsmen after the battles but he refused to go against his former masters. He tried to teach the bandits the Way of the Light but they preferred the dark gods and cursed his gods. After trying to convert the men, he gave up and left the bandits. He traveled north and lived in a cave, praying for a sign. "BUILD AN ALTAR" came a voice one night. He quickly built an altar and waited. "COLLECT TWELVE WHITE RAMS" said the voice. He quickly did so and proceeded to do a sacrifice. The local Vyir appeared in their holy clothes and he sprinkled the rams blood on them according to as he was taught. They thanked him and invited him to come live in their village by the Hall. He accepted and began to be the Priest of Thane Bjork.
Thane Bjork's men were executing bandits captured during an anti-bandit campaign and Cedric interceded for the lives of the men. "Spare these remaining men, and I will try to teach them." said Cedric. "Fine, but if they escape you, then we will execute you too." said the Vyir warriors. Cedric gathered the three men, Banric, Bors and Baewic, and taught them the Way of the Light and all three men agreed to be baptised and they became his adepts. Cedric explained a plan that he was coming up with to liberate the kelti. "We will teach those who can be taught and when most of the kelti in this Kingdom are baptised and following the Light, they will ask for manumission and they will be freedmen, and slaves no more." said Cedric. "You'll have to face the Dark Priest." said Bors. "Who?" asked Cedric. "The Dark Priest. He travels to the villages disguised as a Vyir Cleric and he performs the dark sacrament with human blood and he is sowing the seeds of rebellion in his wake." said Bors. "He must be stopped. I will talk with the other Priests." said Cedric. Cedric traveled to the Holds and to the Seat of the High Yarl and talked with the Supreme High Priest. "I understand your concern Cedric. The Dark Priest must be stopped. I will send several Priests with you to Olmsborg. It is believed that the Dark Priest is hiding there." said the Supreme High Priest. The new group traveled to Olmsborg to confront the Dark Priest and after talking with some slaves, they found the location of the next dark sacrament. It was to be held in a cave, deep in the woods. The Priests disguised themselves and went to the cave and saw the Dark Priest with his victim, a helpless cripple. "Die villain!" said Cedric as he appeared and shot a bolt of fire at the Dark Priest. Another Priest ran in to get the cripple out of the way of the battle. The battle lasted an hour as both Priests battled each other with all of their power. Finally, the Dark Priest collapsed, exhausted on the ground and a Vyir warrior delivered the coup de grace and executed the Dark Priest. "Finally! The nemesis of the Light has been defeated." said Bors. For no reason at all, Cedric walked up to the corpse and examined his tattoos. "I bear the same markings. He was of my clan!" said Cedric, shocked. "He was your father" said a ghostly figure. Cedric turned to see his old mentor, as a ghost. "He was also my adept but he turned to the dark gods and he escaped after I tried to kill him." said the ghost. "He had become so obsessed with the liberation of his people that he forsook the Light to do it and made a pact with the dark gods and lost his soul forever." said the ghost. "The gods have blessed your enterprise. Go forth and liberate the kelti who are willing to come to the Light." said the ghost.
Cedric and his adepts traveled all over Vyirlund, preaching the Light to the slaves and made many converts and freed many kelti from slavery, in the spiritual sense and in the physical sense as well.
The End.
No comments:
Post a Comment