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Part 7: Hills

(1) Within a few days of their return, Armadyl and Ikov set out with their company to explore the hill country. It was still the middle of winter, but there the army had plentiful access to cold, running streams of water and the shelter of the wooded hills. Their rations of dried meat and bread were low. They walked west, and within a few days they spotted smoke on the horizon and soon found a walled village built upon a hill. The villagers welcomed them and provided them with food and wool. After dinner together, the army withdrew from the small village to pitch camp outside its walls, while Armadyl and Ikov remained to speak with the village leaders.

(2) They identified themselves as Fremennik, hunters and mariners from the coasts west of the ice-capped mountains. Decades before some of them had migrated east over the mountains and had established a few villages upon the thick sheets of ice extending into the northern sea and half a dozen more among the hills. Others had continued along the northern coast, but nothing had been heard from them for several years; anyone who went to contact those Fremennik never returned. For those who had not continued to the coast, their journey had been met with disappointment, for neither the glacial plains nor the hill country provided ample fish or game, and the Fremennik were loathe to journey inland and leave the sea. Instead they longed to return to the west.

(3) But, for the Fremennik in the hills, their way was blocked, as well as their communication with the villages upon the glacial plains. One of their seers who had journeyed with them from the west had gone mad and moved into the mountains. Long before, he had been ousted from among the seers in the west but was welcomed by the pioneers traveling east. After settling with them he lived a lonesome life, often wandering into the mountains and remaining there for days at a time. When the elders discussed returning to the west, he always objected and counseled that they stay in the east. Finally, a few years before, once the Fremennik of all the villages among the hills and on the glacial plains were determined to return to their ancient home, he fled into the mountains for good.

(4) There he haunted the mountain pass, killing anyone who attempted to traverse it. Occasionally he came down from the mountains and struck down anyone he found outside his village in the night. He also appeared in the dreams of the villagers, hooded and cloaked, carrying a large, green, flat, and rectangular blade, which he dragged on the earth behind him. For years the Fremennik lived in fear, cut off from their brethren in the east, those upon the glacial plains to the northwest, and their ancient homeland in the west. But their seers had foretold that a hero would come to lead them through the mountains, and they hoped that they had found their heroes in Armadyl and Ikov.

(5) Armadyl and Ikov told them of the awful fate of the Fremennik who went east, and then of their whole journey from the Kharidian, and that they faced in the hill country the last spirit Tumeken had sent them to quell. The two promised the Fremennik that after cleansing the land they would lead them to their homeland in the west. Then Armadyl and Ikov returned to their camp to sleep.

(6) On the next day, the Fremennik elders ordered the villagers to pack their belongings for the journey west. They built wagons to carry supplies and dispatched messengers to the other villages so that they could also prepare to leave. When the villagers were ready, Armadyl, Ikov, and their company marched to the next village, with the Fremennik pioneers in tow. For two weeks, they gathered together the Fremennik with their wagons from all their six villages, and they set out together toward the mountain pass between the hill country and the glacial plains. Spring would soon arrive in the lands to the south, but not for months more in the far north.

(7) One day on the march, Ikov spoke to Armadyl, "Every night I see the seer from the mountains. He appears just as the Fremennik described: hooded and cloaked, and dragging behind him a large, green blade. It seems like an illusion: He stands fifty paces away, always just outside our camp, but when I walk toward him he remains fifty paces away. Sometimes he comes closer to me, but I cannot move any closer to him. He appears in my dreams too, and I hear that the soldiers and Fremennik have also seen him in their dreams in the last days." Ikov paused. "He seeks to discourage us. I can feel a spirit in him that has settled across the hill country and in his mountain, a bitter and envious spirit that would make the Fremennik suffer forever in the barren hills. I have seen the cave where he lives, where I will have to enter alone to slay him."

(8) A day later, when they were very close to the mountain pass, Armadyl stopped the column of soldiers and pioneers behind him. He spoke thus: "To the south I can see a hill, and upon its top, even in the bitterest cold of winter, grows a bush of roses, unseasonally in bloom. Take heart, all of you, from this omen. For you soldiers, your long journey has almost come to its end; Tumeken's command to bring justice to these lands is almost fulfilled. For you Fremennik, a new life with your kin lies ahead of you where you will again enjoy plenty and peace. Today we will pitch our camp before the base of the mountain, and tomorrow we will cross through the pass. We will leave early, hours before the dawn, so that we might bid Ikov farewell at the cave of the seer and make it through the pass before the evening tomorrow. There we will wait for Ikov to return to us victorious."

(9) Ikov slept deeply that night. By then the seer stood only a few paces from him in his dreams, silently; but Ikov was not moved by fear. He woke with the rest of the company early in the morning, long before dawn. Armadyl and the army escorted him to the side of the mountain south of the pass. There he beheld hidden in shadow a massive hole in the wall of rock, perfectly circular, revealing a tunnel of the same shape and size leading gently downward beneath the range of mountains and into impenetrable darkness. It belonged to an enormous wyrm in ages past.

(10) (c)Ikov took leave of his god and his troops, and without torch or lantern walked into the perfect darkness of the tunnel. He would not need a light, for the path was perfectly smooth; no obstacles lay in his way. He walked in the darkness for hours, feeling for the spirit living there; he felt its bitterness and its hate and its presence a long way off. The light of day made no difference in the tunnel; its entrance lay hidden in shadow; Ikov could only see a speck of light when he turned to look behind him.

(11) After walking in silence for more than half a day, Ikov saw before him the glowing embers of an extinguished fire. He reached into his bag and drew out a scrap of wool which he lit upon the hot embers. In the flash of light, he saw that the place was once inhabited: there was a bed of foliage, some wood, a rock of the right size and shape to serve as a chair, and another rock upon which was scattered the remains of food, all in the middle of the empty tunnel. He knew that no one lived there any longer, that the spirit had lit the embers in a perverse gesture of welcome. Ikov accepted the gesture, and laid down upon the bed to sleep. He soon woke, ate from the rations in his bag, and continued his walk down the tunnel through the night.

(12) For another day, Ikov walked in total darkness, always straight and gently downward. He stopped to eat again only once. All the while, he saw in his mind's eye the hooded figure walking beside him, and he could hear the flat blade dragging against the stony ground. But he knew it was just in his mind; the spirit waited for him at a deeper point. So he continued to walk. As he walked, Ikov felt lonely, more alone than he had ever felt, alone in complete darkness, deep beneath jagged mountains in unexplored regions of the earth. At times the image of the seer walking beside him seemed to comfort him, to offer him companionship and strength. But Ikov did not accept the invitations of the spirit. His determination numbed him to any feelings of warmth.

(13) After some further hours, Ikov could feel the presence of the spirit close to him, but he could not tell how close. Though he could see nothing, he could still sense what he might have seen: the body stood somewhere before him; it had no life in it; the flesh had been decaying for years; only fungal growths clung to the inner folds of its cloak; a spirit forced it to stand upright and through it held onto presence in the world. Ikov continued to walk. He could feel the two-sided spirit: bitterness and hate, and warmth and welcome. The sentiments persisted anxiously side by side, and grew steadily in intensity. Ikov drew his sword and continued to walk, resolved to destroy the spirit and its invitations and its contradictions. In moments the feelings reached their utmost intensity; the hooded image breathed against his neck; the imagined clinking of the blade pounded in his ears.

(14) Then Ikov heard a sound in the silent darkness, the fleeting clink of metal lifted from stone, and in that instant he swa(n)g his sword with all his might. In that great sweep, he felt it enter flesh through the crack of a collar bone and exit through the snap of a hip. He heard the undead corpse suspended before him collapse to the ground in two large pieces. The spirit was gone, and all about him was still. He heard only his heart and his breath. He breathed deeply and closed his eyes. After a minute, he opened them, and he saw the faintest light. Up ahead, on the right, appeared a wide crack in the tunnel wall, through which shown the light of stars.

(15) For another day, Ikov climbed out of a deep crevice above the tunnel and up the adjacent wall of rock. As the sun set over mountaintops in the west, he pulled himself atop a high plateau. Two miles from him, he beheld the camp of his army and the Fremennik, distinctly visible upon the snowy plain, which glowed in the waning light. He arrived late in the evening, and all rejoiced at his return, but celebration was delayed until the morning, and he slept.

(16) Ikov arose early in the morning, hours before dawn, and walked outside the camp. He stood near two watchmen, who were gladdened by his company. Armadyl also arose and came to meet Ikov. The god watched him standing near the sentinels and looking at the sky, studying the stars. "What do you see?" he asked.

(17) "Today is my twenty-third birthday," said Ikov. Armadyl studied him, amazed, recognizing his youth once more. The watchmen were likewise amazed to hear his age. The four stood together in silence. Later that day Armadyl, Ikov, their army, and the Fremennik migrants feasted together upon the snowy plateau. The troubles of many lands had been quelled, and they had a new journey ahead of them. It had been only two weeks since they'd begun their tre(c)k through the hill country.

Part 8: Transitions

(1) From their camp on the snow-covered plateau, in the last weeks of winter, Armadyl, Ikov, their army, and the Fremennik pioneers traveled to each of the three Fremennik villages upon the glacial plains. Many of the Fremennik pioneers had already abandoned the villages to return to their homeland in the west, but some had remained, to wait for their kin from the hill country. Then all of the surviving Fremennik who remained in the east were united again, and all together they came down from the frozen mountains into their ancestral lands.

(2) On the first day of spring, the Fremennik of the west beheld a great host coming down from the mountains. They prepared for battle. But their scouts soon reported that the host included over a thousand of their kin. They followed an army of about three hundred soldiers, severe in their demeanor, of mixed ancestry, all from nations far to the southeast. At the head of the army marched an eagle-like creature - unmistakably a god - and a man who had the appearance of a hero, the champion of the multitude. The Fremennik welcomed their guests and their homecoming kin. For an entire week they held a feast and festival grander than any in their memory. Throughout the spring, Armadyl and Ikov dwelt among the Fremennik, spoke often with their leaders, hunted with them, and enjoyed the company of so noble and blessed a people.

(3) After a time, Armadyl and Ikov assembled their army, and Armadyl addressed them thus: "Soldiers of sea-folk, Asgarnians, and woodsmen - my friends - you have accompanied Ikov and me through an incredible journey, and you have aided us in the fulfillment of a glorious task, to bring freedom and justice to your homelands and to the troubled regions of the northern steppes. For centuries bards will recall your quest, and forever you will have my gratitude and my friendship, for your courage and your sacrifice. Now the task is finished, and we find ourselves in a distant land, among a noble people. But Ikov and I cannot settle here; we have a further task ahead of us, but on this journey we must embark alone. So now I invite you, our friends, to consider: will you settle here among the Fremennik and share henceforth in their ways, or will you return to your homelands beyond the mountains? I have spoken with the Fremennik chiefs, and they have agreed to sail anyone home who so chooses, when the winds are right, and even more eagerly agreed to accept into their halls any of you hardened warriors who chooses to stay."

(4) Nearly the entire company elected to remain among the Fremennik. Another feast was held, at which the company blessed and thanked their god and their hero Ikov, and gifts were exchanged between the soldiers and their Fremennik hosts, as well as solemn oaths of friendship. Armadyl and Ikov again thanked their troops and their hosts and bade them all farewell. Early the next morning, after three months among the Fremennik, they set out for the lands to the south.

(5) Armadyl and Ikov walked alone again, just as they had when they set out from Al-Kharid almost two years before. They spoke less frequently than then, but their friendship was mature, founded upon the journey they had shared. They traveled for about a month, first south until they crossed a river, then along a stretch of land amidst several large lakes, and then southwest through forests and fields. They encountered no one in the wilderness, until one day they saw ahead of them in the plain a camp of men and gnomes. As they approached, the men and gnomes came out to meet them and to present themselves to the man and god: they were the gnomish royal court and the human lords and ladies of an entire nation. The nobles explained that they had heard all about the journey of Armadyl and Ikov, that the god and hero had just crossed their northeastern border, and that the nation waited to assemble before them at the capital city, located to the southwest on the banks of a great river running from north to south through all the land.

(6) The nobles ordered some of their retinue to remain where they were to construct a monument to the advent of the god and hero. The rest accompanied Armadyl and Ikov through the towns and villages on the way to the capital city. They were met with celebration in every place they went. After a week, they arrived at the capital, and the palace and court which had been built for them there, where tens of thousands of men and women, as well as gnomish envoys and dwarven ambassadors, assembled. There the men and women pledged their allegiance to Armadyl, their new god, and to Ikov as their human lord. Then followed ten days of festival and feast.