The sudden flash of a lightning bolt cut through the blackness and revealed a white hand desperately grasping onto a flailing rope. Another bolt showed equally desperate people looking to the owner of the hand as they too sought secure purchase amongst themselves as waves from the darkened sea washed over their craft. Bolts further off exposed the silhouettes of other craft against the storm-tossed deep. A great bolt struck a short distance from the distressed ship as the viewer turned towards the forward bow.
From the blazing column of light, all was illuminated. The viewer suddenly saw herself as once fine garments flapped tattered in the howling wind and long red hair was plastered about her face. The sea though surrounded by a shroud of blackness was flooded with a deep blue-green glow!
For an instant, the heavens and seas were linked. While all others screamed and shielded their eyes, the woman saw within the column a vision of a beautiful golden land crowned with a green canopy of strange trees under an impossibly clear sapphire sky! On the shores of that golden land lay a great host of fearsome black warriors brandishing weapons and shields made of what looked to be made of copper-colored light!
The bolt along with the vision instantly disappeared and the after image burned into the woman’s eyes was a far off golden glow on the horizon. Another tempestuous wave rocked the ship nearly tossing the woman overboard save for her strong grip on the rope. Yet once she recovered her footing and looked forward again, the golden glow was still ahead and seemed to draw near.
Over the cries of frantic women and children the woman screamed towards the golden light, “SVENGALD!”
Awaking from the fearsome dream, a single shaft of sunlight pierced the thick canopy of leaves overhead to strike the Priestess’ eye as she lay in the cooling waters of a hidden stream.
Turning from the light the Priestess grumbled, “You and I are going to have a talk about these interruptions of my sleeping intervals.”
Giving a great sigh, the Priestess rose from the pleasantly burbling water to see a great troop of Baboon had taken up around the stream. The Troop Master sitting on a rock near her bowed his head and handed a drying cloth to her.
Smiling, the Priestess took the offering and gently laid her hand on his maned head. “Thanks for watching over me.”
****
Summer was drawing to a close. Soon the vast fields, orchards and vineyards filling the sprawling Valley lands would be harvested. Farm and game animals would be slaughtered and dried in preparation for the parched winter months. It would be a time of hard work ending in feasting for all in the Valley and its connecting lands.
From his lookout point atop the Great Mountain, Chief Svengald could see clearly to the Delta Boundary and all in between.
In the five years since he and his shipwrecked crew hauled themselves here through the desert wastes, the Valley had become his home. Initially honor-bound to put right the transgressions of his men, he was commanded by the great powers of this land to remain and train the transgressors as Mountain Guardians. Now that his commitment had been met, it was unlikely the Chief would voluntarily leave this magical place!
Svengald missed the mountains and fjords of his home. He missed raiding and the rugged lifestyle of his people the Aesir. Yet here in the Valley Realm, he walked and talked amongst the Gods!
He now sat upon the resting place of an Elder Elemental as stalwart guardian of the God’s slumber. His closest friend and comrade-in-arms’ the Valley Knight is husband to the Priestess...goddess, guardian and ruler of this amazing realm. Even his new paramour Okavanga was a Minor Goddess and Shield-Maiden of the Delta Boundary!
From this land, the Chief set out upon journeys in which sagas were sung. One such journey made him the founder of his people the Aesir, pitted him against the younger version of his comrade the Valley Knight in combat and saw him traveling across the divide of time itself to save his men. Nothing in his forty years of life prior to coming to the Valley could compare! The only true regret Chief Svengald carried was leaving his wife Ghilda behind.
The Chief could still see her standing proud upon the longboat as she and his people rushed into the fjord to greet his long lost ship. Yet, there were not to be any tearful embraces or a good scolding at how much he’d worried her with his absence!
The cost of saving his men from the clutches of the Half-Goddess Witch, ‘Aunt’ was that he made no contact with his wife and placed no foot upon his homeland whether dry or wet. That deal was made with the Chief’s adopted nephew ‘Little Fish’s’ adult self known as the ‘Gate Bringer.’
It was through Little Fish’s power the then boy, the Knight and he were able to visit places in the past and future. The Chief still could produce a spontaneous grin at witnessing what the youngster would become and the tremendous power he would one day wield.
Now, his nephew was a young man and somehow learned to use his power to leave the Valley Realm. Two months had passed with no sign of him returning. The only consolation the Chief felt towards ‘Fish’s' disappearance was the knowledge that no matter what perils his nephew would find, they would ‘meet’ again.
The Chief’s thoughts were interrupted by the waving spears of the pair of young men coming up the Mountain path. It was his fellow Mountain Guardians kinsman Veldgar and the Surrounder, Ascari. They were two of the three youths who by stealing into the Mountain caves to gather the powerful yellow stones, awoke the Mountain God! Only through the intervention of the Priestess was certain disaster avoided and the God returned to his slumber.
As punishment, the three youths and their descendents are bound to guard the Mountain’s slumber and the Chief was commanded by the Priestess to prepare them for the duty. They were now grown men and Senior Guardians come to relieve his watch upon the lookout. This high atop the Mountain, the men spoke in hushed tones lest they reawaken the God.
“Greetings Chief,” said both men at the same time. Svengald gave an obvious nod of his head as was customary of the ‘Elder Guardian.’
What should have been a punishment had become a sacred duty. Youths every Fall after harvest would come from the Valley, the Surround, the Lake Country and the Delta Boundary to prove themselves worthy of enlistment as Mountain Guardians!
Each year, many were turned away and a select few went on to take the training. Even among those few, fewer still managed to surmount the Ordeal and win their spear and shield. With the original three now capable of training and leading the Guardians, the Chief’s role was now more symbolic.
Svengald was seen as an Elder by both the Guardians and the people of the Valley Realm. In many ways, he was more important now than when he ruled from his longhouse in Aesirfjord! It was he who would make final judgments to settle heated issues among the Guardians and held the pleasure of presiding over the week of recruitment in the Fall and the day new Guardians won their Spear and Shield. When it came to judgments made concerning the Mountain, the only voice that could overrule his belonged to the Priestess.
Despite all the Chief had gained, he still had a ‘hole’ left inside him. The Goddess Okavanga was of considerable assistance in filling a large portion with her presence. However, it seemed in this early part of their relationship it was he who filled her emptiness.
Unlike the Priestess, Okavanga was still learning to control her considerable powers and how to limit herself among mortals. During the day, she was a beautiful dark-skinned maiden who could walk on land and stand in the sunlight. At night, she reverted to her true self as an otherworldly water-borne being.
Though far more frightening in her true form, Svengald had grown to appreciate the Minor Goddess’ natural beauty. He did have to remind her occasionally there was no such thing as a ‘playful bite’ while in her natural state. Rows of serrated teeth like those of a shark had him clinging to life and deeper in the Priestess’ debt for bringing him back from the brink!
The Chief knew the real cause for the empty place he felt. He missed his wife Ghilda. Before he leaped from his longboat into the sea at Aesirfjord, Svengald once more extended the Priestess’ invitation to his people. Those willing to brave the perilous journey would find welcome in the Valley Realm.
A sudden shadow crossed the lap of Chief Svengald and as he started to draw his weapon, the calm voice of the Priestess remarked, “I have always enjoyed this view from the Mountain.”
Feeling the hairs on his body refusing to lie down after being startled the Chief replied, “Good morrow Priestess.”
The Chief did not supplicate himself before the Goddess as he well knew in informal settings like this, ‘bowing and scraping’ as she called it annoyed her. The Priestess gently placed a hand on his shoulder and it seemed warm and comforting as that of any woman’s. However from his comrade-in-arms the Valley Knight, tales were spun of the Priestess using bare hands to crush boulders and snapping the backs of Minor Gods!
Despite the look of a beautiful ebon-skinned woman in her prime, it was the Priestess who unquestionably ruled the Valley Realm. She kept the Major Powers the Mountain and River in check and even had Death’s grudging respect! Yet in the face of her terrible might, the Chief sat unafraid for there was no one he respected or trusted more.
“Chief Svengald, perhaps it is time for you to go a Viking once more.”
The pronouncement caught the Aesir off guard.
“Priestess?”
Stern black eyes looked upon the red-haired, former seafarer and then a bright smile followed.
“Oh, so you do not wish to take to the sea once more?”
With hazel eyes shining with child-like excitement the Chief replied, “No! I mean, yes Priestess! I-I wish to take ship once more!”
The Priestess’ smile dimmed to a grin and she spoke more seriously.
“I thought you might. Once more your people need your help.”
The Chief’s bushy red-brown brows lowered as his excitement turned to concern.
“Priestess, what if anything could I do for them after so many years? Surely, the Aesir have forgotten me by now?”
Once more the gentle pat on the shoulder calmed him and the Priestess replied, “So many questions and so many doubts from a man who has seen and done the things you have. Fair enough. Your people are suffering. A great calamity has befallen them and they are in need of help. Your help specifically that is....”
Svengald felt his stomach fall into his backside! It had been five years and two months since he’d journeyed to find his lost men. It was during that grand adventure, he and the Valley Knight took the boy Little Fish into the strange netherworld called ‘The Black’. From that dark place, they traveled to his home in Aesirfjord only to find themselves arriving many decades before the Chief and his people were born!
It was Svengald who became the founder of his tribe after throwing down the Vanir Tyrant, Ragmar. After departing Aesirfjord, they journeyed thirteen years into the Valley Knight’s past. Deep within the bowels of the City of Golden Towers, Svengald fought with the Knight’s formidable younger self!
If all that had not been strange enough, he’d stolen a future version of himself from his now lover the Goddess Okavanga! Upon escaping her clutches, the Chief ended up at a seaside feast with the boy Little Fish alongside the powerful ‘Gatebringer’ who was the man he would one day become!
The very prospect of traveling the seas of time once more made the Chief’s head swim. On the other hand, the opportunity to go a Viking again was impossible for him to let pass!
“Will the Knight be traveling with me and how will we get to where and when we are going without young Fish?”
To the Chief’s utter shock it was not the calm dark eyes of the Priestess which stared back at him, but the fiery amber ones of the Goddess within!
“There will be no ‘we’ this time Chief of the Aesir. You alone will undertake this journey. The Valley Knight will have labors of his own to perform. Do you harbor fears of traveling such treacherous seas alone?”
Svengald was stunned. The Knight told him even he rarely spoke to the Goddess though he’d wooed her when hurled thousands of years into the past during their adventure.
Steeling himself with the knowledge the Priestess and the Goddess within were one Svengald replied, “Absolutely! But it was only through the guidance of the Valley Knight I didn’t blunder through and make a ruin of history!”
This time it was the Goddess who smiled as she retorted, “Now that you are experienced in these things, you will know to take care when you journey. You showed good judgment most times and all was as it should be in the end. Even your mistakes had purpose and set into motion things to come....”
The Goddess’ words caught the Chief’s attention.
“Mistakes? You said I made mistakes on that journey Goddess? What mistakes? Have I hurt anyone because of them?”
Before the Chief could ask more, the amber fires faded from her eyes. Sitting beside him, the Priestess looked out over the majestic vista.
“I have watched over the Valley for a very long time Chief. Long ago, all this was a battleground filled with the fires from the Mountain washed over with the power of the River. They had been battling for long ages before I came. Originally, I sought to throw them both down as an entertainment. But the more I fought with them, the more I grew to respect that which they wanted.
My challenge then became to get the Mountain and River to understand what their roles in the scheme of existence were. Doing so was difficult and it became my greatest endeavor. Eventually, I convinced them there was more to gain from not fighting. Now you and I sit atop the Mountain looking out over the land their truce created. My latest challenge is convincing you to take a moment and ponder your place...in the scheme of existence.”
Bewildered the Chief replied sharply, “Me? Priestess, how could I compare to you and the great powers of the Valley? I’m just a man!”
The Priestess wore an expression suggesting she would burst with laughter. Instead, she gave the Chief a pat on the arm and said with confidence, “Without you Chief all this might not exist. Never discount the vital part played when you, my husband and Little Fish went down the Dark Road.”
It was as Chief Svengald remembered when he, the Knight and the youth found themselves offshore from the City of Golden Towers. The Valley Knight realized the gateway conjured by Little Fish had brought them to the Slave Trading City thirteen years in the past! The Knight calmed them by saying, ‘they were exactly where and when they were supposed to be.’
Those words turned out to be absolutely correct for all their actions set in motion things which would come to pass. Svengald felt a shudder swiftly take him as he realized the Priestess was now calling upon him to shape events once more!
“I understand Priestess. When should I be ready to leave?”
That smile crossed the Priestess’ lips once more as she replied, “Soon. I must speak with my husband before you leave. Before day’s end, come to my home and we shall discuss things further.”
The Chief watched the Priestess descend the steep pathway from the lookout post down into the forest covering the Mountain. He knew she could be anywhere she wished in an instant, but preferred to move about as would a mortal woman. It was impossible for him to comprehend why she did things in such a manner while possessing such great and terrible power.
Svengald initially was jealous of his comrade the Valley Knight for having won the heart of a Goddess. He now could lay claim to a similar feat. But the Chief realized Okavanga for all her power as a goddess was but a single campfire beneath the ‘Sun’ of the Priestess! Svengald wondered what his wife would make of all this were she to come to the Valley?”
To be continued....
© 2014 H. Wolfgang Porter. All Rights Reserved.
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