Some good news!
Yesterday I received the wonderful news that my short story, "A Dragon's Freedom" will be published in The Cross and Cosmos in October 2010! The story is set in the world of Airthai and tells the tale of Nasja, a Dragon Guardian, and Skáhag, one of the dragons of the Southern Lands. I will paste a link here as soon as it's published – and some information on how Nasja and, especially, Skáhag fit into the bigger picture of Airthai.
Digging in the dirt
A few days ago I attended one of the Archaeological Society of South Africa's lectures. This lecture was about the Vikings – piquing my interest, of course, and the invitation to the lecture luckily sent to me by my study leader.
At one time during the lecture the talk turned to the Battle of Stamford Bridge and the legend (which may or may not be true) about the lone Viking on the bridge… This made me remember a poem I had written a couple of years ago about the man that was "sent to the bridge" alone to fight while the other soldiers ready their armour and weapons.
I wanted the man to be brave and heroic where he fought alone, but instead of thinking of Valhalla and becoming one of the Einherjar, he was thinking about the family he has left behind.
Send me to the bridge
Send me to the bridge
While the men their weapons gather
Send me to the bridge
With the war-host marching hither.
The wood of spears that flow like a river
Flows to me where I stand above the water.
The wood of spears alight in the sun
And blinds me where I stand above the water.
To the bridge we have come,
Our days weary with the sun of an unknown land
For our king we came across the sea
To meet our doom in an unknown land.
Send me to stand upon the bridge
While the others their weapons ready,
Let the sword of fate send each
Man to his doom upon the bridge.
My brother is waiting behind me,
My mother is at home,
My wife and only daughter left behind
And I am left to meet my doom.
Send me to the bridge to fall
Upon the wood so dark and cold
And let me gaze upon the river
And the faces of those that I take with me.
Carry me from the bridge.
Nameless I have fallen,
Bury me unmarked and unknown
Nameless known I will be still,
Nameless known while ages pass,
Nameless known after my bones be dust.
For more information about the battle, you can visit http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_stamford.html
The Magic and Talent of Airthai
As seen in the creation-story of Airthai, the Creator gave Talent to all the persons and races. Though this Talent is later, after the Diminishing, sometimes seen as being the same as magic, it is not so. The Talent is power given freely by the Creator and was given to be used for good.
The actions of the Lewjan, however, brought the use of Magic into the world of Airthai. They fed on the Shadow Power, twisting their Talent until it was so full of malice that they could do no good with it anymore. This power used only twisted Talents and mortals called upon the Betrayers and their demons to grant them the power to use magic. This gave the bearer more power than the Creator in His wisdom gave to mortals. This power was not used for good, but to bring more Shadow into the world.
In this age of the world great wars were fought as people found how to make weapons to hurt and kill each other. This was before the Sundering of the Lands. It is said that, after the Sundering, the people on the Great Continent broke and burned all the great siege machines that had been built before, hoping that the knowledge to build them and use them would die along with them. These machines would not be seen again for two ages of the world.
The Creator saw what the power was doing to the people of Airthai and decided not to give so much Talent to all people, but only give the full power of the Talent to a few. These few were born to different families, poor and rich, and many became Ahma – People of the Spirit – and were endowed with great healing power and great power over the Shadow.
But the Great Continent was not totally devoid of Lewjan, just as the Sundered Lands were not completely devoid of those that had not betrayed their Creator. On the Great Continent, in the Southern Lands, the great House of the Khallahna (Followers of the Spirit) was formed. They kept the good knowledge alive and the few remnants of books remaining on the Betrayers they kept secret, fearing that they might one day again have to fight them and then they would have to know how to fight them.
Unfortunately, some of the Khallahna that read these remnants found their hearts changed and yearned for the power they saw in the Lewjan and their followers. In secret, they formed a society inside the Khallahna that betrayed the Creator and became Shadow Followers. These Shadow Followers were helped in their fall by the Werlea that had remained in the Southern Lands. These Werlea were Shadow Lords, but were created as mortals, not as immortal Airus.
The Tearing of the Khallahna
It was at the Battle of the Black Field that the Shadow Followers of the Khallahna made themselves known. A war then broke out between the different factions of the Khallahna. They fought on the battlefield and at their towers. Soon the Shadow Followers became known as the Khalvér, which means Follower of the Shadow, and the others became known as the Khalné, which means Followers of the Light.
After a truce was reached, the Khalné thought that they could turn the Khalvér away from their ways, back to the Creator, and they gave one of the three towers that belonged to the Khallahna to the Khalvér, while they kept one and shared the middle one. The folly in this was soon realised, but by then it was too late and they stood again on the brink of war. But that is another story…
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