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Part 1: Sea-Folk

(1) Armadyl and Ikov walked west along the coast of the sea until they arrived at a string of villages and towns along the shore, belonging to fishermen and sea-faring merchants. When the two entered the easternmost town, the first they encountered, the startled townsfolk immediately proclaimed a feast and a festival to honor their guests. The mayor and the most prominent citizens presented themselves to the god and his servant and gave them gifts, never asking after the purpose of their visit. After some days, the two departed and walked to the next town. Every town and village on the coast had heard of their arrival. At the next settlement, they encountered the same warm welcome, and likewise wherever they went on their westward journey.

(2) They did not stay long in each town, only some days. Upon each departure they requested to be allowed to travel to the next town alone, without an escort. On the road they spoke together and discussed their impressions of the sea-folk. Their presence had excited the sea-folk, but Armadyl and Ikov saw pain and fear in their eyes.

(3) They were the first of the troubled peoples of whom Tumeken spoke, and the two came to recognize something evil at work among them, a spirit in their fears. Slowly they pieced together the story behind it. In the recent years trolls had migrated from mountains far away and had taken up residence in the forests at their northern border. At first, and at random, a troll would charge into a town, killing and destroying as it went, until the people could strike it down. They built defenses, for their towns were not walled. But walls meant little to suicidal trolls. The trolls would hurdle them, make their way around, or charge right through. Meanwhile men and women in the villages suffered and died in the sporadic attacks.

(4) Before long some people in the villages came to see a pattern in the events. Whenever someone committed a particularly selfish act or brought upon himself some secret shame or guilt, a troll would charge. The causes were not publicly known, so it took a long time to recognize the connection. The guilty ones were the first to understand: they beheld the suffering and death they caused, the unintended consequences of their acts, and thus bore an awful burden.

(5) Soon thereafter all came to suspect the causes behind the attacks. Bitterness and suspicion spread among the people; hatred appeared in the hearts of those who had lost their dearest friends and relatives. Although some were identified as responsible for some attacks, the causes of many attacks remained unknown. Each questioned if perhaps he was the one responsible; each felt alone. Guilt gripped them, and despair hung over the villages like the salty air.

(6) In addition to their recent sufferings, Armadyl and Ikov also learned of the government and foreign relations of the sea-folk. They divided themselves into three districts - each a confederation of villages and towns - two in the east and one on the far coast of a penninsula to the west. The last district could not be reached by land, for the neighbors of the sea-folk to the northwest, a violent and inhospitable tribe of Asgarnians, controlled most of the penninsula and prohibited the sea-folk from traveling across Asgarnian land. To the north lay a huge forest, a small part of which was inhabited by the trolls. Most of the forest belonged to a powerful nation of woodsmen, a nation which had become unfriendly to them of late; rumor told that they had accepted new rulers from another world.

(7) By that time Armadyl and Ikov had come through all of the villages of the easternmost district and were just beginning to make their way through the next string of settlements. As they walked together, Ikov said, "Armadyl, let's turn around; let's go back to the first town we entered in the east. We should begin the journey again, but now with a clearer purpose. A spirit haunts these people, and they think it is a spirit of justice which haunts them, which punishes them for their selfishness. We should set forth the truth for them: this is not justice; this is no rule of law, but an enemy to them. We should preach a message of forgiveness and of healing from this evil guilt. We should encourage them in love for the law which unites them, the real laws they have promulgated and by which they have bound themselves together as a people. We should recruit from among them an army of those willing to fight with us, for if we should break the hold this spirit has over them - I don't know how or when or where - we will have to face a fight."

(8) Armadyl agreed with his plan, and the two turned back to the east, bypassing the towns they had visited already, staying as much as they could out of sight. Confusion spread among the sea-folk: their visitors had disappeared on the road; reports told of them seen fleeing to the east; despair deepened in the towns unvisited in the west. But in only a few days, the mood was overturned. Armadyl and Ikov reappeared in the easternmost settlement, no longer as mysterious strangers. They spoke boldly: a message of hope and a call to war. The people were stirred as the news raced across the coast; hope appeared in their hearts.

(9) In the coming weeks, Armadyl and Ikov moved quickly through the towns. They spoke in two settlements each day, and every day more of the sea-folk left their towns and villages to accompany Armadyl and Ikov. Each town gratefully supplied their growing army and added to their number. Soon Armadyl divided them into companies of one hundred and instructed them in drills and discipline. Armadyl and Ikov camped with their soldiers outside a village each night, ate with them, and encouraged them often. The two also met alone to speak frequently. One night, Armadyl said to Ikov, "It's important for us to keep this in mind: our presence here has brought a lot of excitement to this people, but there will remain much more work for them to undertake after we have left if they are to recover as a nation. They have many hurts to heal, and we are only passing through these lands, to aid them in that process." Ikov agreed and thanked Armadyl for his constant counsel.

(10) By the time Armadyl and Ikov had gone through the central district and had reached the border of Asgarnian lands, they had with them a force of several hundred. And it was reported that some hundred more had gathered in the western district and awaited their arrival there. Assembling the army before him, Armadyl announced: "We have the force we need to cross the Asgarnian land without trouble and to join your fellow sea-folk in the west. The hold of the enemy spirit weakens; Ikov and I can feel it every day. But we do not yet know where and how the spirit will attack. So now I ask you for your patience: we must wait, in camp and prepared for war, until the way forward becomes clear. Your brethren in the west must remain in place also; we will send them orders by sea, and we will call upon them at the proper time. For now, we must wait with patience."

(11) Many were perplexed at the words of Armadyl - for few understand warfare against the spirits of the world: it involves much waiting and watching. But Armadyl and Ikov encouraged them, and the army of the sea-folk waited with patience. The companies to the west likewise sustained their hope and waited for Armadyl's command. For four weeks, they practiced their drills at camp.

(12) One day a report spread among the troops: the Asgarnians feared the armies of the sea-folk stationed near their borders; expecting an invasion, many had begun to move away from the penninsula dividing the central and western districts of the sea-folk and into the fields to the north. Excitement spread. Armadyl and Ikov heard the cheers among the camp and immediately sought its cause. Upon hearing the report, insight struck them both. "This is a distraction," said Ikov, "the spirit will attack soon. I have had a vision of a place I have never seen: a small lake lies north of a town in the western district; it will reveal itself there." "I have had the same vision," said Armadyl, "Let's move now."

(13) The two ordered the troops to prepare to march, and immediately they set out across the tribal land to the western district. Messengers were sent ahead to order the second army to meet at the same location. Armadyl and Ikov led the march through the night, and early the next day they arrived before the small lake both of them had seen. The second army joined their ranks. Then the two leaders commanded the troops to wait and to watch.

(14) After a short while, a cold wind began to blow, which steadily increased in strength. Soon the wind howled, and the trees began to bend. It became wilder, rushing from every direction. At last the wind itself appeared to gather together above the center of the lake. There a ghostly figure took shape, shifting in its form: at times a woman and at others a many-headed serpent. She stared at the army arrayed before her and the man and the god at its front, and then she shrieked - the sound of a thousand howling winds. She disappeared, and a man among the troops screamed and spasmed, falling to the ground. And then another soldier did the same. And then another. In seconds, each was dead. The spirit passed from victim to victim, possessing and killing at random, invisible, unpredictable, and unstoppable.

(15) Recognizing what was happening, Ikov spoke aloud to his troops: "Soldiers of the sea-folk, hold fast! This spirit seeks entrance into your heart. Do not fear; do not surrender your hope. She seeks entrance just as she did before: through fears, through guilt, through despair. Though your countrymen die before your eyes, do not waver in your hope - the hope which brought you here and which promises you freedom in the days to come! She has revealed herself because her reign has come to its end. Hold fast! Hope!"

(16) Armadyl, Ikov, and many of the leaders among the troops spoke likewise to encourage each other. All the while, the bloodless slaughter continued. For fleeting moments Ikov could feel the spirit's scrutiny pressing upon his mind, searching for a weakness. Every few minutes she would appear above them or behind them and shriek again to shake their courage. But many held firm. Soon it became apparent that she struggled to find hearts she could possess. For three quarters of an hour, the army of the sea-folk endured. Hundreds succumbed and died, but most did not. At last she appeared above the lake again, shrieked one final time, and dissipated before them like a mist. The battle was won, and the sea-folk were freed.

(17) In the coming days, great care was taken to send to their homes the bodies of the dead. No festivals were held, but each town would arrange to honor their dead and their survivors. Most of the remaining troops returned to their homes, exhausted but ready to live again with hope. And Armadyl and Ikov prepared to depart. Before their departure, about fifty soliders of the sea-folk approached them and asked to accompany them on their journey; they agreed. Armadyl and Ikov were among the sea-folk for about four months.

Part 2: Asgarnians

(1) From the western district of the sea-folk, Armadyl, Ikov, and their company traveled east into the central fields of the penninsula abandoned by the Asgarnian tribe. There they pitched camp. Armadyl and Ikov took counsel with their soldiers to learn what they could of the tribe. The Asgarnians were a violent people, proud and prone to anger, divided among themselves into dozens of fiefs. Each fief-lord defended his land and his serfs jealously - unless a large army of sea-folk camped on his border. The lords cooperated only for their common defense. Otherwise they were hostile towards each other. And those among them without the protection of a fief-lord and his contingent of serfs enjoyed no safety among them at all.

(2) By that time the lords of the southern fiefs had retreated to the north, along with their households and serfs, in order to take counsel with the rest of their kin. The liberation of the sea-folk had troubled them. The Asgarnians feared that the sea-folk would take control of the southern penninsula, for the sea-folk had long desired free travel across the land between the central and western districts. Also, the message of hope, forgiveness, justice, and law promulgated by the people, preached by Armadyl and Ikov, had spread among their own population, and they feared uprisings from the serfs and their landless kin. Already - and even despite the oncoming winter - the Asgarnians intended to march against Armadyl, Ikov, and their small company, but their pride and mutual suspicion impeded their organization and slowed their plans.

(3) After their account, Armadyl asked, "What good is there to be found among this arrogant people?" In their response, all the sea-folk were agreed. The Asgarnians were a noble people, an admirable people, independent and strong. Only in the past years had the relations among fief-lords, serfs, and others who lived in small, walled villages begun to sour. Only in the past years were the fields of the penninsula closed to travelers. Never before had there been threats of uprisings; never before had they known such resentment there.

(4) Ikov spoke: "There seem to be many spirits at work in this land, for only many spirits together render a people so noble. But it seems one has gotten the upper hand of late, a spirit of anger and of division. Yet we have learned that our message of law and of justice has found a place in their hearts. So this people is not corrupt. Therefore, we should not make them our enemy but only the spirit that haunts them."

(5) Armadyl and the whole company of sea-folk agreed. Ikov continued, "They are prepared to march against us in war. But they are slow, impeded by their pride. Let us take this opportunity to dispatch messengers throughout their villages and fiefs. Let us recruit to our cause all willing to join us. Let us make a charade of war, but not engage in battle. We are small and disciplined, while they are many and divided, and we have many of this land already on our side. We'll skirmish and retreat, deceive them of our plans, threaten from the east and appear in the west, surround them, tire them, and deprive those who stand against us of their friends and serfs."

(6) Again Armadyl and the whole company agreed. Half the company, Armadyl and Ikov sent out among the Asgarnians to muster recruits and to create the appearance of war. The other half marched north under the direction of Armadyl and Ikov to seek out a defensible location. They found a hill with rocky outcrops and surrounded by fields, providing excellent visibility. There they built a fort.

(7) In the following days, hundreds came to join the cause, mostly serfs and village dwellers. They were not well-armed, but they brought a constant stream of news and promises of support from their villages. Armadyl oversaw their military training; he organized raiding parties to seek out supplies from among the nearby abandoned fiefs and their strongholds. Ikov dispatched messengers to spread false rumors of their numbers and plans.

(8) Bad news also came. Several of their messengers were captured in the northern fiefs, tortured, and hung in public places, as a warning to potential rebels. Serfs suspected of sympathizing with the invaders were also executed. Villages were sacked or seized, and draconian curfews enforced throughout the north. Anger grew in the hearts of the troops. Armadyl and Ikov recognized their anger, and constantly turned the attention of the troops to their fellowship and their hope for a just future.

(9) Within weeks Armadyl and Ikov commanded a force of many hundreds: the soldiers were well disciplined and well fed; the villages closest to them and their foraging parties provided ample supplies; sea-folk and Asgarnian rebels lived and trained together; morale was high among them. And then news came that the Asgarnians had settled their petty feuds and were marching south with a force of more than a thousand; they were not newly trained serfs but included among them dozens of battle-hardened fief-lords and hundreds more of their class. To meet them on open terrain could only end in defeat.