Jorvik, Capital of the Kingdom of Ederath- 3 years later after resurrection

“Is all well, chamberlain? I received word my father requests my presence,” the Young Prince only seemed slightly wary, more curious on why his duties were cut short to attend his father. Although many knew Prince Lief as the Young Prince it was due more to differ him from his brother, the crown prince, than his actual age. After all, he was already fully grown.

“All is well your Prince Lief, your father awaits you outside his chambers. Please follow me, your highness,” Chamberlain Elmon couldn’t help but show a faint closed-lip grin. It took the prince a moment to realize what it meant to see to his father at that spot in the keep. It wasn’t a matter of state, it was a matter of family.

“I see, Princess Astrid is finally making her appearance. She’ll be quite the troublesome one if she continues to insist on late, dramatic entrances,” he chuckled, “Thank you Elmon.” He dropped the honorifics and titles now that he was in his family home and knew it was a personal matter. Despite appearances, the Chamberlain wouldn’t be offended by it like his distant kin, who were quick to offend in the prince's opinion.

‘It’s not elven nor elvenni, it’s Elvan, Elvanni. Eel-Vahn… EEL-Vahn-Ni. Again, repeat it with me Dur-Rah-Ten...’ Prince Lief couldn’t help but replay his mother’s instructions in his mind and shook his head with a smile at the thought. He had heard that same short lecture multiple times a day before he left on a diplomatic mission to Duratan, the capital of the Elvan, for the first time. To mispronounce the name of their lands, which meant the Mountain Forests, or the name of their people was considered highly vulgar to them. It was a little hypocritical, half of them mispronounced Jorvik but he doubted they had their mothers preaching ‘Yor-vik’ to them.

Although they did have snide, often rude comments addressing his people, they knew better than to use the most vulgar phrases to his face. What little insult was more a result of their lackadaisical attitude and ignorance not of malice. He admittedly wanted to use the mispronunciation intentionally just to see their smug faces turn; Well, he would have if it wasn’t an important matter for both the Elvan and Ederath.

As for Elmon, he was of the Elvanni but wasn’t actually from the Elvan. He was born and grew up in Jorvik and was Ederathan to the bone. He wore clothes that were common in court but even they were of the far more simplistic design favored in Ederath. His Azure and silver tunic made of the finest cotton and adorned embroidery of traditional runes was complex, what made it simple is you could actually move around in them. His trousers were likewise simple and practical. This of course was compared to the kingdoms to the south and west.

The southern kingdoms, whose people called his heathens and barbarians, seemed to favor not only bright colors and elaborate adornments but also strange shapes. Women wearing essentially an upturned basket on their waist to flair out their dress in a rigid form, men wearing normal tunics except the shoulders which were more akin to overstuffed cloth pauldrons. Granted these styles were currently what was trending for the elite. To him, the southern nobles and royals were little better than roosters strutting around showing off their feathers and they were constantly changing the styles to outdo one another. That being said most commoners of the south wore the same tunics and pants that the commoners of the north wore on occasion, mainly because of the cost of higher quality garments.

The north obviously had their style as well.

Tradition Ederathan dress was leather shorts or skirts, knee-length of course to allow movement and either a short-sleeved vest for men or a soft leather chest piece that exposed the shoulders, midriff, and back for the women. Many often wore tunics above the waist with more traditional garments below and some women walked around in only breast wraps above which was considered indecent anywhere other than Ederath. During the cold winters longer pants, woolen shirts, and plenty of fur could be seen.

The Elvan to the west was equally frivolous. They preferred highly decorated ankle-length dresses for both men and women, the only difference between the styles of the genders was often the robes they wore over these sleeveless garments. The men’s robes were often nearly as long as the dress, whereas the women wore more of a tight-fitting coat. The women also tended to have far lower necklines and a tighter fit any time he’d met with them. The commoners clothed themselves in far less decorated versions of the same thing. In fact, the only exception was their warriors, who wore long tunics and pants under their armor. Only a fool would fight in a dress or robe.

“Your Grace, may I present Pri-” Elmon was cut off by a wave of his father's hand as they entered the passage leading to his parents' Chambers.

“Elmon, we’re in the residence,” the King said but wasn’t admonishing the pointy-eared steward, rather simply reminding him, “pour yourself a mead and sit.”

“Of course your Gra… Yes, I think I will,” Elmon caught himself, “One of these days I’ll forget the titles in court, most likely in front of a delegate from Stilyra or Ravenna. Shall I just refer to you as Herold? Ha! wouldn’t that make for quite the talk of the south, they do seem preoccupied with gossip and scandal.”

“Eh, you may as well. After all, they already see us as less than civilized,” The prince said as he gripped his father's forearms and leaned in to touch foreheads together briefly, “it is good to see you father, how is mother?”

“She is quite well, only resting with little Astrid at the moment,” the King said as he smacked his son’s shoulder, “Not the baby of the family anymore!”

“Haven’t been for quite some time,” the prince laughed and stood up straight. He poured himself a tankard of mead and turned toward his father, “Where is the Queen?”

“She’s taken it upon herself to organize the feast, it will be in 5 days,” His father said of his first wife. It was a fairly common arrangement among the upper echelons of Ederath, although the laws allowed the same for the common folk as well.

In the south, they spoke of the depravity of the barbaric northerners, but in reality, the practice was common because it was, well, practical. Although the Elvan was considerably larger and more populous than Ederath, the latter was known for its martial prowess. Keeping the two greatest powers in the Isles on good terms with each other was paramount. Political marriages were common among the human kingdoms of the south but they couldn’t have children with the Elvanni. It was simply an impossibility, as there was no such thing as half-Elvanni. Political marriages required heirs even if love wasn’t an option. As a result, the first wife for the nobility and royal family of Ederath was usually due to politics and status, the second for love and children. That’s not to say his father didn’t love Queen Lyrei and she was just as much a mother to Prince Lief as his birth mother, Queen Katla.

“So, while we wait for your mother to awaken, tell me. How are things in Vanheim? I hear….” His father started going on about various reports he’d received. The King, Prince, and Chamberlain discussed matters of state and gossip, despite the disdainful comments meant as an insult to the southern kingdoms for doing just the same….

*********

Terra, Frontier Village in the Kingdom of Stilyra- 3 years later after resurrection

Jon had grown quite a bit, as all children do. Not just in size, although he was tall for his age, but inability. He learned to walk at a young age, his vocab was growing, and he loved learning new things. As for his twin sister, he was pretty sure his father dropped her on her head when no one was around to see it, either that or she did it to herself with her stubbornness.

For example, while learning to walk, he knew he couldn’t keep his balance well so held onto whatever he could while he tried. Erin would stand up in the middle of the floor, try to take a step, and fall on her face or butt. Sometimes she’d cry but every time, crying or not, she would eventually get up to repeat the same three steps again. Of course, Jon didn’t understand that his mind held a better understanding of planning and risk management thanks to a certain lazy celestial being name Ramiel. Some of the things he’d previously known had already faded due to a less developed mind and just forgetting some things and concepts that existed in the first place.

His life was fairly easy, his da would leave in the mornings with his tools and head into the forest, his ma would stay at home. Sometimes she’d stay inside most of the day but usually, she’d be tending to the vegetable garden or the three silly chickens that Jon loved to chase around. He’d get in trouble for doing it and his ma spanked his butt hard when she saw he had caught one and was holding it by its feet. He still chased them after that but he made sure not to catch them. He couldn’t help but wonder if that’s why Erin had kept falling, did she think it was fun? He didn’t think so considering how often she cried.

On occasion people would stop by to visit his ma, sometimes men, sometimes women, sometimes other kids with their ma or da. They’d have cuts or scrapes and ma would smear a strange liquid made from cow pee on the injury before wrapping it in boiled cloth. He asked what she was doing once and she said it was to make them feel better. She had treated a few of Jon’s own cuts and scrapes the same way before and it didn’t help make him feel better, it smelled and burned when put on a scrape. For some reason, he knew it was more to keep people from getting sick but didn’t completely understand it or why he knew that. He felt he should understand but thinking too much like that made his head hurt and wasn’t very fun.

“Jon, wanna play?” a familiar voice said. Jon looked up from where he was drawing in the dirt to see his mom pulling weeds in the garden and Erin squatted down looking at a butterfly that had landed near her. The voice was coming from Andrew, who was standing behind him. Next to Andrew was Aethred, they both were carrying sticks and he knew they wanted to pretend to be knights. Not having anything else to do he nodded and hopped up out of the dirt he was sitting in. They were the closest friends he had in the village, Andrew lived in the hovel next to theirs and Aethred’s da worked with Jon’s da.

Jon grabbed a stick and held it like he was a knight or at least how he thought knights held swords. He’d never actually seen one before. Erin had perked up when she realized what the other three were doing, “I play too!” she bluntly yelled.

“You’re a girl, you can't be a knight!” Aethred, who was a bit older than Jon said and quickly snatched up the other sticks they brought. They had no intention of letting her play with them, the extras were for when the three broke the sticks they were using.

“Uh-Huh, ma said!”

“Na-uh,” Andrew threw in, “There’s no girl knights!”

“Jon knows! Ma said!” she had tried to snatch a stick from Aethred but couldn’t pull it out of his hands.

“Children! You keep on and I’ll send you all to get a switch!” Jon’s and three other small faces turned to see his ma staring at them, “give it to her or go on.” she said pointing down the street towards Aethred’s house.

“But.. but… girls can’t fight?” was all he could get out.

“Are you talking back young-un?” Hild stood up and dusted off hands, ma looked only a little mad, Aethred quickly shook his head, “Women of the north fight, they’re knights in Ederath, rangers in the Elvan, tribal warriors in the far north, and across the sea to the south many fight with the legion.”

None of the children really knew if that was true, they were in an out of the way village on a dead-end dirt path. Of the four of them, they’d never gone more than a couple hundred paces beyond the wooden palisade around the village and it wasn’t like Ederathan knights or Elvanni rangers ever came there. There definitely weren’t soldiers and mages marching through to sail off to the mainland to fight monsters with the legion. None of them dared argue against it though, ma was scary when she was mad and yelling, she was very scary when she was mad and not yelling. Aethred gave Erin one of the sticks and they divided into two sides, Jon couldn’t help but feel annoyed that he was teamed with his sister.

A while later, after a handful of bruises, one bloody nose, and a mild tantrum from Aethred they stopped. Erin had whacked Aethred in the face and ended up getting a spanking before Hild took care of Aethreds nose. Luckily for him, the smelly goop couldn’t be smeared up his nose. Jon went back to drawing in the dirt, he was trying to make it look like the monster that he’d seen in a picture.

The book was brought out by a priestess from the temple in Ebrus, she told stories from it and showed the children of the village the pictures. Big lizards with wings that breathed fire, little people with wings that would pull pranks on you, big green people with strange teeth carrying weapons, and weird dog-like things that walked like a person. The latter was what he was trying to draw but he didn’t get to see the picture that well. The woman had told all of them that they were the monsters that the soldiers across the sea were fighting and those same monsters also lived on the island with them to the north.

His da got really mad at that and said some mean things to the priestess before grabbing Jon and Erin and carrying them home. He was mad all night and would occasionally yell mean stuff, in the morning he explained that the woman had lied and there were no monsters like that on the island. Jon believed him mainly because it was his da.

Bwaaaaaaaaah!

The horn could clearly be heard from the entire village, everyone stopped and stared in the direction of where it had come from. All at once everyone started moving again, some walked fast, others ran. Hild started pushing the four children toward the door to the hovel but stopped. A group of men was running towards them, Aethred’s da was carrying someone over his back. The man he was carrying was covered in blood and laying limp across his shoulders. Hild stopped the children and quickly opened the door to let them through. As they passed Jon saw the man’s face, it was his da!

**********

“Fucking bandits!” Magistrate Ellis Barling exclaimed as he tossed the paper on his desk, it was a message to the Duke in Ebrus meant more to notify him of the attack than request aid. Ellis knew the Duke wouldn’t send anyone to help, not after the bandit group had been driven off by woodsmen and hunters who had luckily grouped together to share a midday meal. Even then half the men that had fought were either injured or dead.

His two men-at-arms and a quickly formed militia tracked the surviving bandits down, leading to three more wounded and one more dead, that didn’t include the body of a young woman they found on the way to the bandits camp. Her family had told him that the girl, barely 17 had left to forage mushrooms and herbs. It didn’t take much thought to conclude that she’d been unlucky and stumbled into them in the northern grove. They’d silenced her with an arrow to the throat before she could yell for help, her family took solace in the fact that she’d passed quickly and remained pure.

“Father, why would they attack here? We ‘ave no money and I don’t think they could take the walls?” Ellis looked down at his boy, Leofrith. He was a good kid and one day would lead the small village. Ellis couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride, other children around his son’s age of 6 years were out playing with dirt clumps or hitting each other with sticks while Leofrith tried to learn what he needed to know to rule one day as a proper heir should. “Why don’t you guess? I can’t know what those bastards were really up to, dead men aren’t known to share their secrets, but I have an idea.”

“Hmmm… Maybe it was an accident, they didn’t mean to attack us but fought when they saw our people in the woods,” Leofrith smiled but dropped it as Ellis started shaking his head.

“Some were branded as fugitives and slaves, I doubt they would have come so close to Terra with those marks. Escaped slaves will end up back into slavery or executed if they’d attacked any freemen and the fugitives brand was one of exile from Stilyra. Any man can kill them if they’re caught within the kingdom and get a reward for it. No, I doubt they didn’t know,” Ellis pointed out to his son. He watched as his heir quietly thought, trying to think of a new reason. Ellis saw him light up but then drop his brows again in thought a moment later ‘Good, the boy is criticizing his own ideas, trying to find the right one rather than pointlessly blurt out every thought'. Ellis decided to give him a hint, “They didn’t have the numbers to take the village either, you’re right about that. So what else is there? What isn’t protected by our walls?”

“They were going to steal food!” Leofrith yelled out.

“That’d be my guess, they didn’t have much to eat in their camp, and half of them stayed there while half set out towards the village. They were scouting us to see what they could take,” Ellis patted his son on the head, “It’s fortunate that the hunters had joined the woodsmen after checking their traps today but it’s a shame we had to lose four strong men and the young lass.”

“Well a shame we lost the girl and three of the men,” Ellis’ wife Eva had joined them in the study. Their home was the only 2 story building in the village and one of the only ones with more than one room. Although plans were already in the works to build a proper manor on the site of their Estate. Most commoners lived in circular, single-room huts. Behind Eva was their young daughter Jaesmin, she had another red mark on her cheek. He didn’t know for sure but would easily put money on Eva punishing the girl for saying something she’d deemed blasphemous. Ellis thought his wife was overly zealous but he didn’t feel like getting into an argument over her desires for their only daughter to join the temple again.

“Eva I know you don’t like the heathen family but the loss of a strong back is still a loss,” Ellis flatly stated. He really didn’t’ care if they worshiped the southern gods whose devote preached about salvation and mercy while still carrying out harsh and swift punishment to all acts they felt unholy. Nor if they worshiped the gods they followed in Ederath; rot in darkness if you die after a pointless life, get drunk every night with the gods if you died in combat, endless meadows, or some crap if you did something worthwhile in your life and died peacefully. Hells, he didn’t even care if they were light worshipers like the stuck-up, pointy-eared bastards to the west. As long as they did their work, paid their tax, and didn’t cause problems.

“They say northerners are twice as strong as us here in the south but we know that’s not true. They’re usually bigger and a little stronger but not as strong as two!” she laughed like the notion of being that strong were the most ridiculous of jokes, “yet I can surely say those barbarians are only half as sharp as we are.”

“I can only agree with that,” Ellis said halfheartedly smiling and embraced her. He didn’t agree with the second half of her comment but he had too much to do, families that wanted answers, patrols to set in the event some bandits escaped, a messenger to appoint to bring word to the Duke; the hunter he usually used took an arrow to the thigh and wouldn’t be making the trip to the closest messenger’s guild in Everton. He pulled back from the embrace and noticed his wife staring out the open window. He glanced out the window and could see the glow of a bonfire outside the walls. He knew it was a funeral pyre and that only one family in Terra would burn their dead rather than bury them.

“Oh look, the heathens are whispering to the flames like madmen. Guard! Guard!” She turned and yelled out with a grin on her face. Jaesmin quickly moved around to stand behind her mother again with her hands clasped in front of her, looking at the floor, a man-at-arms walked up and bowed to Eva. He couldn’t even greet her before she continued, “Those heathens have lit a fire beyond the palisade, I fear it’s too close and risks the village. Gather some men and put it out, forcefully if you must.”

“No, stand down!” Ellis stopped the guard and let out a sigh before he could leave, “You will do no such thing, the man died protecting this village. If they wish to burn him, so be it. It’s plenty distant from what I can see.”

The guard acknowledged the order with a bow before moving back from the doorway. One look at his wife told him it was going to be a long night, he snapped his fingers at the guard and pointed at the two children in the room. The guard escorted them out, he didn’t need any more instruction than that. Once the children were gone Ellis turned to his wife as she closed the door to his study, a look of anger across her face.

‘Here comes the half-night of religious lecture about how the gods only allow the monsters to flourish because we tolerate heathens within our borders and the south need only to recall their soldiers from the legion and wipe out Ederath and the Elvan to bring order to the world. Thus showing pure devotion to the gods and in turn, the divine beings will drop from the heavens and rise from the hells to bring balance to Erda. Probably with some ‘how dare you!’ and ‘my father will hear of this’ blah blah blah’. It was something he’d heard plenty of times before. He envied commoners on nights like that, to marry for love, lust, even simple boredom or lack of options sounded far more fulfilling than being forced into marriage with a tyrant because his father wanted a better trade deal with her father. Hells, even the northerners had the benefit of taking a second wife of their own choosing if they were forced into the first.

**********

“What do we say ma?” Jon asked sitting on his mother's lap alongside Erin. A pile of wood a few feet high laid about 15 feet away burned with what remained of Hallad Olafson, his father.

“Well sweetheart, when we burn your da’s body that’s when his soul goes to whatever afterlife the gods deem fit for him. Do you know what a soul is?” Jon nodded while Erin held a moment before shaking her head, “Well, it’s the part of you that makes you, you!” Hild bopped Erin on the nose, who giggled slightly despite the tears wetting her cheeks.

“Where’s da’s soul?” Erin asked, “did it die too?”

“Nooo, no, no. Souls can’t die, they live on forever and ever,” Hild squeezed her babies and gave them each a kiss on the head, “and where they go is different. It depends on if you’re tough or smart.” She squeezed Jon’s bicep, making him flex just like his da had shown him. She also poked Erin in the head, making her giggle again, “You’re da died trying to help others and save them from bad men, that means he gets to go to the greatest place of all.”

“Where? Where?” Jon and Erin voiced out in unison.

“That means he gets to go to where the gods live and stay with them forever,” she smiled, raising her eyebrows to the two young children for effect, “He’ll get to eat whatever he wants and talk with the gods, knights, and hero’s too.” The two young ones seemed in awe that their dad got to talk to gods and heroes. They sat looking at the flames a moment longer.

“The fire, the fire,” Erin brought them back to the original topic, Hild poked her on the forehead again.

“See, smart,” Hild looked on proudly before continuing, “before your da goes to the gods he has to wait till his bodies gone, which means his soul is right there in the fire. He’s watching you right now.” Two sets of eyes snapped to the fire expecting to see their father sitting there cross-legged on the ground like when he played with them.

“You can’t see him but if you talk, he’ll hear you. The gods do this so you can say goodbye and promise to be two brave, smart, and strong little ones before he leaves.

“Can I go too?” Jon asked looking up at his mother, Erin sat next to him staring at the flames whispering.

“Not for a very, very long time. You’ve got to be big and have your own kids before that,” Hild wasn’t worried that Jon would jump in the fire, but tears slipped past at the thought. Losing Hallad was already enough, just the thought of her babies one day going also, sent her over the edge for but a moment. She needed this to be a happy occasion for her little ones.

‘It is a happy occasion, you died well my beautiful Hallad. One day, when the children are well grown I’ll find a way worthy enough to join you, my love. Until then I’ll watch over the beautiful children we made, give them a good home and all the love I can muster.’ Another tear slipped down her cheek, Jon and Erin were sitting in her lap talking to their father, sometimes taking turns, while at others trying to talk over one another. Hild didn’t bother to tell them the dead did not need the spoken word, thoughts could traverse the flames to the other side as well. ‘I promise you, they’ll make you proud.’