So anyway, yes, there is a new story, and no, I'm not ready to start it this week. I learned from Centurion Six that I need a little more cushion. Thus, I'm running another piece out of my archives, but it's one that I think is pretty good. It's also about Modor--the guy from The Stone Priest's Wife--so at least you've got that going for you. And it's a one-and-done.
Enjoy!
The Legend of Tolandias
Once upon a time, a very long time ago, there was a
warrior named Tolandias. Tolandias was a
good man, a noble knight of great virtue and greater ability. And thus he did the things that such men do:
he fought dragons and trolls and bandits and other such general menaces, and in
all ways he served always to protect the people of the Kingdom of Hollgram
And yet, all might have been well were it not for
the fact that Tolandias lived in the Kingdom
of Hollgram
“The people love that fool Tolandias more than they
love me, their rightful king,” Koltrane said to himself one day, “And that is
something I cannot abide. The people
must have none in their hearts ahead of me.
I must send Tolandias away or else destroy him.” Koltrane sat for a moment and pondered, and
at last a wicked thought came to him.
“Perhaps I can do both,” he said at last. And then he laughed an evil laugh for he knew
that soon he would be rid of Tolandias once and for all.
A week passed before the King summoned Tolandias to
his court. The great warrior stood
before his monarch and prostrated himself.
Koltrane smiled. “As you know,
our kingdom is not on the best of terms with the Duchy of Colvaire.” Tolandias nodded his head gravely for he was
well aware of the military situation in the Kingdom. Koltrane continued, “Not many know this, but
things have lately gotten worse. Now
Duke Colvaire is threatening to invade!”
“My God,” Tolandias said in horror.
“Yes. And
that is why we must strike first, before Colvaire's forces are ready.”
Tolandias bowed.
“I understand your majesty. Tell
me what I must do.”
And so it was that two weeks later Tolandias crossed
the border into the Duchy of Colvaire on a secret mission. His was a mission of duplicity: gain the
trust and confidence of the Duke of Colvaire and then, when the time came, open
the gates of the Duke's castle for the waiting armies of Koltrane. Just thinking of it made the wicked king
smile in his empty throne room. He was
rid of Tolandias, and soon he would be master of Colvaire into the
bargain. And if Tolandias were killed
while on his mission? Koltrane would
erect to a statute to the fallen hero and hold a parade. Why he would weep right alongside his
heartbroken people!
And he would once again be first in their hearts.
Elsewhere, Tolandias's mission weighed heavily upon
his heart. But though he did not care to
think deeply about the rightness of his cause, he wanted to obey his king. But it was not easy. On the outside, the Duke of Colvaire seemed a
good man. His court knew of Tolandias's
reputation as a man and as a warrior.
Thus, from the start the men of the court accepted Tolandias as one of
their company. And the women of Colvaire
loved Tolandias at least as much as had the women of Hollgram. One in particular, Eriella the daughter of
the king, caught Tolandias's eye. And
though she was a woman of virtue, they spent many afternoons together strolling
through the Duke's gardens deep in conversation. In time, Tolandias came to know Eriella in a
way in which he had never before known a woman.
At last the great warrior knew true love. And true happiness.
A year and a day passed before King Koltrane brought
his forces to the castle of the Duke of Colvaire. In secret, the King met with his agent, but
where the King expected Tolandias's cooperation, instead his one-time servant
defied him.
“You lied to me, my king!” Tolandias cried. “The men of Colvaire plan no attack upon your
kingdom. They are no threat to our
people at all! You've sent me here on a
mission of conquest for your own purposes, but I will have no part of it. I defy you!
I will not open the gates for you.
Instead, I renounce you and your service and will fight you myself if I
must to defend the good people of this Duchy against your evil rule.”
King Koltrane was not pleased. But he was not entirely surprised
either. He looked upon Tolandias, and
hatred shone in his eyes. “You'll not
stand against me, Tolandias. For too
long have the people loved you best, but no longer. Today you die a traitor! And tomorrow your beloved Duchy of Colvaire
will die with you!”
With that, the king's assassins fell upon Tolandias
in a great heap. Tolandias fought and
fought, but he could overcome neither their poisoned blades nor their weight of
numbers. Tolandias fell unmourned on a
field far from his home and far from his beloved Eriella.
In death he descended to the Court of Atul-Anarkis,
the God of Fire.
“And what have we here?” asked the Fire God when he
noticed the arrival of Tolandias’s spirit.
“We don’t often get men of virtue in the House of Fire. What have you done, little man, that has
brought your soul here for torment?”
Honorable even in death, Tolandias bowed. “I am a betrayer,” he admitted. “I sought to betray a good man but instead
betrayed my king. And I have likely
caused the deaths of thousands as well, including that of my one true
love.” Tolandias looked into the Fire
God’s eyes and accepted his fate. “Cast
me into the Fire, my Lord. I deserve
it.”
Atul-Anarkis wanted nothing more than to do just
that, but he could see at once that Tolandias’s spirit would not burn. The knight was too noble. Tolandias would have to be corrupted before
he could be consumed.
The Fire God thought for a moment, and then he got
up from his throne and put his arm around Tolandias’s shoulders. In a soothing voice he said, “I think that I
like you, Tolandias. It has been long
since I met a man of your character. I
can see that you’d not be here but for the machinations of lesser men.” All of this was true, and so the Fire God
continued, “I must punish you somehow, but I’ll not cast you into the Fire
yet. Instead, I shall make you as an
aspect of myself.”
With that, Atul-Anarkis turned and drew his
sword. Tolandias fell to one knee. The Fire God touched his sword to each of the
warrior’s shoulders, saying, “I hereby rename thee Tolandias the Deceiver,
Harbinger of the Court of Fire.
Henceforth, it shall be your job to welcome the newly damned to my
House. You will be the Liar, ensuring
that the damned go unsuspecting into the Fires of Judgment.”
Tolandias blanched at this fearsome decree, but he
accepted it stoically and without comment.
And he set about his duties that very hour. His noble spirit at first recoiled from the
lies he told the newly damned, but as an aspect of Atul-Anarkis, Tolandias
could see the evil in their souls. He
knew that the damned deserved their fate.
In time, the once noble knight came to take a perverse pleasure in the
terror of the tormented.
Atul-Anarkis saw this and was pleased.
In this way passed another year and a day, until at
last King Koltrane himself came in death to the Court of Fire.
Tolandias saw Koltrane’s terror and smiled inwardly
while outwardly making his face a mask of sympathy and understanding. He bowed.
“My king,” he said, “I see that you are afraid, but please, have no fear
here. Atul-Anarkis is a just God. He is misunderstood in the World Above, but
here you will find only the gentle embrace of one who understands how you
suffered in life.”
“B-b-but,” began Koltrane, “I have heard--”
“You have heard lies, Your Highness, and nothing
more,” said Tolandias. He looked
earnestly at his former ruler. “You have
nothing to fear here, I assure you.”
Koltrane heard these words and knew the reputation
of the man saying them, and he was at last reassured. He embraced Tolandias as a brother. “Thank you, my friend. And thank you for meeting me today.”
“I would not have missed it,” Tolandias
replied. “Now please, if you’ll come
this way…”
Tolandias escorted his former king along a long
corridor and up to the heavy door to which he had delivered so many others over
the course of the past year. The fires
burned especially hot, he thought, as he opened the final door at last for his
very own killer. Kotrane’s eyes grew
wide when he realized the truth. The
former king screamed, but it was too late.
With a shove Tolandias threw Koltrane into the Fire. And for the first time ever, Tolandias knew
no guilt over the betrayal.
Atul-Anarkis watched this with great
satisfaction. “He is almost ready,” he
thought to himself, “I have only to push him a little farther, and then he will
burn!” Thus, later that day, the Fire
God called Tolandias to his throne room for a private meeting. He again placed his arm around the warrior’s
shoulders and said, “You have done well for me, my Harbinger, and I am proud of
you.” Then the two of them looked down
into the Fire. They saw at once the
place where Koltrane suffered for his sins.
“I think you’ve learned at last that being my Harbinger is not without
its perks.”
“It is true, my Lord,” Tolandias replied. “I cannot help but take pleasure in that
one’s suffering.”
“Yes, I’d noticed,” Atul-Anarkis said, “And it is
for that reason that I’ve called you here today. I have decided to grant you a boon.”
“Highness?”
“Ask me anything, Tolandias, and if it is in my
power, I shall grant it.”
Tolandias thought for only a moment. “Eriella, my Lord. I would like to see my beloved again, if it’s
possible. Even if it is only for a
single day.”
Atul-Anarkis smiled.
“Very well. I grant you a day of
life in which to go and find your one true love. But what will you say to her? Have you thought about it?”
“I have thought of little else, my Lord,” Tolandias
replied. “Am I not now the
Deceiver? Surely I will think of
something.”
Atul-Anarkis heard this, and his smile grew. “Excellent,” he said.
Sunset that evening found Tolandias standing again
as a living man in the garden
of Duke Colvaire
Then reality intruded upon their happiness.
“Oh Tolandias, where have you been? I thought I would go mad without you. I thought--”
“You thought I was dead.”
She nodded.
He started to speak, but she beat him to it. “If I’d but known…” she began, but then she
trailed off. At length she continued,
“I’m to be married in the morning. But I
can call it off! Or we can run away
together!”
Tolandias broke the embrace. He realized at last that, much as he might
have liked to, he could not lie to the one woman he had ever truly loved. He bowed his head. “No,” he said, “I should go. And you should marry. For, you see, you were right. I am dead.
“I was condemned to the Fire, but Atul-Anarkis has
granted me a boon for my service. And so
I am come to see you today. But as much as I might wish to say otherwise, I
shall be gone on the morrow. The Court
of Fire will not long allow my absence.
Still, though I am a damned thing, I am yet enough of the good man that
I was to know that I cannot now take you under false pretenses. There is no future for us, Eriella. I shall not make false promises to the
contrary.”
A tear ran down Eriella’s face, but even as it did,
she made a decision. She looked into
Tolandias’s eyes and said, “You are a good man, my love, and you have always
been one. And though you’ve come twice
to deceive me, you’ve yet to break my trust.
For that and for everything else, I love you. And though tomorrow you shall belong again to
the God of Fire and I shall belong to the house of another man, tonight we
belong to each other. So come. I would know the touch of my one true love
before I know the touch of him who will be my husband.”
Tolandias returned the Court of Fire the next
morning deeply troubled. He found
Atul-Anarkis deep in thought as well.
For many long moments, the Fire God took no notice of his Harbinger, but
after some time had passed, Atul-Anarkis spoke.
“My dear Tolandias,” he said, “You’ll never fit in here, will you?”
Tolandias bowed his head. “No, my Lord.
I fear that I will not.”
“And yet now we are stuck with each other for
eternity, no?” Atul-Anarkis sighed a
heavy sigh. “Very well then,” he said
after another moment, and he again drew his sword. “I can see that you will never truly be the
Deceiver that I had hoped you would become.
I therefore re-christen you with a new name and as a new aspect of my
divine self. Henceforth, you shall be
The Modor, my Heart of Righteous Fury.
You shall be the aspect of my rightful vengeance upon evildoers in the
World Above. And if you serve me well,
then I shall grant you your boon once every half-year. You may visit your wife and your son for one
day and one night at the coming of every solstice.
“What say you?”
“But, my Lord, I have no wife--”
“But you do.
Observe.” And with that,
Atul-Anarkis waived his hand in front of his crystalline mirror. The image of a woman heavy with child came
into view. It was Eriella. The Fire God looked at Tolandias. “This is how she will look a half-year from
now. And she will know that the child is
yours.”
“But--”
“Her child has infernal blood. The signs will be unmistakable. She will renounce her false marriage and flee
her father’s kingdom. She will have need
of you. And she will name her son for
his father.
“So now… Do you agree to my terms, or shall I
torment you after all?”
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