Olympnomachi Book 14: The War Against Macaria & The Greatest Mythological Last Stand Imaginable

And more

It was a generation after the events of the death of Neofytus, Adamantios the King of Vóreileios, after much bitter fighting had unified his troubled lands with the aid of his brothers who by this time wished for war, upon the goddess, in the hopes of laying claim to her necklace. “Brother! Many years in the misty past, our noble and fair ancestors waged many a wars to reclaim the Stjárgamen. Since the reign of our father we hath failed to live up to the great example set by the ancestors we proclaimed himself the most vigorous admirer of. We must rectify this error, at once!”

This as one can discern was a speech full of manly sentiments, and was the greatest desire that lay in Marinos’ heart. For in truth a part of him had never given up the dream of the crown and thought he might yet lay claim to it after his brother’s passing, were he only to excel where none others had. His was also one of the most foolhardy spirits to have ever lived, since the dawn of the first days of the world.

These brave words had much to commend itself, thought the councillors of the King who felt himself become reluctant. No coward, he however was of a wiser nature than his ill-tempered brother.

Queen Zuthra herself being both moderate in judgement, and temperament felt a great dread come over her, at those words and warned all those who stood at attendance before her Kingly husband, when the invitation to war reached his own court. “No Kingdom since men hath walked this land, hast ever proven himself so brave as all of thee!” At her words all present grew thirty times their original girth and size, so proud were they, thence she spoke in a more disquieted voice, her face white with fear, “But I warn thee, only misery, horror and death may await ye thereupon the crimson fields near the ‘Death-Keep’ of Macaria.”

Her words shocked many for they were far bolder ones than any were at all accustomed to, from the ordinarily soft-spoken Queen. Her pale face hardly had time to move them, for Adamantios refused to listen to her.

Privately he thought her words to be spoken against him with some sort of spite behind them. Of a petty nature, he believed for this reason that all were of a like nature, and was thus resolved to resist his former intended with all that he had in him.

Now longing for battle against the goddess more than ever before, Marinos let out a loud bark of laughter, so mocking and sneering that not only Adamantios’ hands gripped the arms of the throne, but Zuthra also. As to the loyal warrior who had accompanied him, to the southern court, Belligereus Gold-Scabbard, he grew hot with anger and might well have struck dead the current heir to the throne for his blatant insult to the Queen.

Ere Adamantios succumbed to the last ploy of his brother, who spoke scornfully, “Are we mice, and women to fear the shadow of a fallen goddess? Will we shudder and hide in this hall, simply out of fear? A shadow that is guilty of the murder of our forefathers, yours included my Queen!”

Upright in an instant, it was he who unsheathed first his sword, with a shout of, “Hearken men of Doria’s finest Kingdom! We shall call upon all of our finest banners, and gods to unseat that wretched false goddess from her cavern!”

The leaguer was lifted, the men poured out of the city of Vóreileia blades high as an ocean of bronze, each one resplendent in their fine armour of the same metal that scintillated and burnt with the light of the twin suns’. Many were the cries and cheers of joy, as they rode along from one vale to another, from field to field across a green land that shone itself with all the fresh emerald light of a great harvest unseen before, for several score years.

An ocean of tears poured forth from the eyes of Zuthra, who wept and sang, for all the time that the men were gone. As regent she ruled well, seeing to the needs of her people, the fair enforcement of the law in spite of the great pain that burnt her heart. Such was her pain that a great number of people whispered and complained, of the folly of their King to depart, so soon upon a war. Gone a year, the King was absent for the birth of the first of his sons by Zuthra, Prince Tryfon whom was her only comfort in the days when her husband was absent.

As to the King and his brothers, they journeyed north-west to assail the southern gate of Roscastrom, the two gathering as they went one of the largest armies in the history of Vóreileios. This army was six thousand strong, with the finest spearmen of the age, with the bronze sea of spears and blades such that all the Kings who heard of them shook with terror.

Macaria though surprised by their arrival sneered, “Pah, mere mortals wish to challenge a god? Verily these men are full of folly and have little room for reason.”

The assault when it began was in the early hours of the morn’ on the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month. The commander though formally Adamantios was in reality in many a ways, Marinos his brother who still thought of himself as the rightful King. He called for all the men to charge and break the gates, with only the third of the brothers, Kandreas to hesitate.

He feared that as the goddess had not opened the leaguer for her armies to spill out, with none of them foreseeing the great army that swept down from the mountain peaks. The harpies that had been pushed south by the Kingdom of Mackenya, it was not only they who arose to fight for her. The Centaurs of the Dorian Kingdoms had long felt themselves to be wronged by the Dorians, who despised them for their descent from Ixion and for fear of Zeus’s wroth. For the King of Olympos bore a special hatred in his heart for them, with there being tens of thousands of Centaurs in the lands south of the Scarlet-Mountains.

They had been called hither by her, to assist in the defence of her keep, in return for the lands nearest to the mountains that they might build homes for themselves. This was considered generous by these Centaurs, who acclaimed her name in response, for this act of generosity for they had no homes to call their own. This though took place after the battle, with the army of Vóreileios torn asunder thusly, by the Centaurs from behind and the Harpies from overhead. They both struck just as the Dorian army arrived, to demand access to the interior of Roscastrom and the vast treasures therein.

“We hath come hither from faraway Vóreileios, and demand now all the stores that ye hath stolen from the fair people of Doria and Aechea, for all the suffering thou hast heaped upon our ancestors and they who art our subjects.” Bellowed King Adamantios in a mighty voice, his brothers echoing his Kingly statement as they nodded their heads, each one of them convinced that they had frightened her. After the better part of an hour, during which time there was no response from the goddess, the King grew angry- more so than any of his brothers, Marinos included, so that he bellowed for all to hear. “We come not only with a forest of bronze, six thousand strong and each man worth more than the weight of ten-thousand pounds in gold. We come bearing the full-weight and with the full might of Olympos and Zeus the Thunderer behind us!”

His brothers applauded his manly words, each of them approving of his threats against the goddess, who seethed at their words. Wherefore she sent for the monstrous Harpies and her messenger to the Centaurs to arrange for their attacks, within the hour. It is said that when they beheld the full might of the Harpies that flew over the peaks of the mountains and Roscastrom death came with such terror that the great Vóreileios army.

Tragedy struck the royal family at once, as Kandreas, the third of the four Kingly princes fell in the opening minutes of the Harpy attack, his skull torn asunder by their claws. Hewed down before his kin, each one of them was filled with such fury that they threw themselves forth. Fighting alongside all their guards, their friends and their vassals in the hopes of recovering Kandreas’ body where it lay.

Chariots tore men asunder. Horses screamed, as the Vóreileians fought valiantly. Though they had been bewildered, whence the attack first began none could say they fought poorly that day. This was the First Battle of the Red Mountains, and it was mayhap the least bloody, though it did hold tragedies untold.

Such was the fear that overtook the Harpies in turn, after Adamantios retook command alongside his remaining brothers. The trio fought so well, so grandly that men everywhere took heart. It was at that moment though that the Centaurs of the Kyndarii people surged forth. They had remained hidden, per the goddess’s wishes until a great number of men and Harpies had fallen, for she held little love for the latter.

The Kyndarians were as said given much lands, in the valley of the Scarlet-Mountains, with the valley stained red with the blood of men. As the vast majority of the six-thousand brought with King Adamantios were left there. Only seven men returned, with the most notable among them Adamantios, his youngest brother Achillon and the warriors Bellerian and Alcibiades.

Their brother Marinos full of rage at the goddess and his own failures would not leave the field regardless the arguments of his brothers. “The day shall cometh! It must, when she shalt find her castle walls to hath been brought low and the stone turned to dust!” He shouted to them, as he dove forth back into the fighting one last time, axe in hand.

He swung it many a times, thirty in total felling a great many Harpies and Centaurs. It was the Kyndarii chieftain the great Vissarion who struck him dead, by hauberk strike. His blow shattered the mighty eagle helm of Marinos (the winged-helm was reserved only for those of the royal line), from crown to hip.

The horror of this blow was such that all turned back now, and fled the field. Not a single man sought to do battle now with the Kyndrians, save for the warrior Alcibiades the Bronze-Eagle. Renowned for his strength, his valour and his loyalty, it was he who was one of Kandreas’ finest friends and he whom all had feared might most resist Marinos’ ascendancy to the crown for his childhood friend. He alone who had tested himself since infancy in a hundred battles by the time he was twenty and he who alone had courage to leap upon the Centaur to fight him off. Alcibiades was to fight in the rear-guard not only to safe-guard the King, whom he held above all other men now, and whom he held his oath to higher than his own life. The Bronze-Eagle blade in hand, fought to reclaim the corpse of his friend, the eldest of the brothers’ of Adamantios, accompanied only by the greatest of his guards, so that the Centaurs and Harpies were held off for a time. Only for the eagle to make his own escape whence he realised all his men had fallen.

“Go now milord, without you all is lost,” Cried out one valiant warrior, Achaikos whom was the warrior’s pupil in arms. “You must live, to serve the King again!”

The seventh of the survivors, his was the most cheered for of the survivors, as the other six had recounted by the time of his arrival much of his heroics, so grateful were they. Only Avarios, one of the guards begrudged Alcibiades his survival, envying the great renowned he had now won for himself.

King Adamantios though, was full of relief for the return of not only his brother’s corpse, but for the continued survival of the man’s guard. Though, his confidence was after the battle utterly shaken, as he counted the defeat the most humiliating one he had thus far suffered.

Taking notice of this, his Queen sought to comfort him, with it being Alcibiades who hurried to assure his liege, of the ongoing faith they all continued to have in him. “Take heart milord, for it was a goddess ye faced, and one who hast challenged Zeus many a times, thus it shalt take more than simple hauberks and swords to undo her! Mayhap we will require the assistance of all the peoples of Aechea and Doria!”

His noble words comforted the King, who took now newfound confidence and though they had never been true friends before, he declared Alcibiades his truest friend, and honoured him. For which the Bronze-Eagle, took to him, as surely as he had once done to the King’s brother.

As to Adamantios it has been said that where he was reassured and began to once more think of ways to defeat the goddess and avenge their kinsmen, the fourth of the brothers took to a different line of thinking. To him, all appeared lost for he perceived that the goddess had not yet used any of her strength, preferring to rely upon mortals do to her own fighting just as those upon Olympos did.

Wherefore he determined that there was naught to be done, and departed thence for a nearby temple to spend the rest of his days in prayer, contemplation and other such pursuits. Condemning his brother’s desire for revenge as utterly foolhardy, Achillon was scorned for his despair and his refusal to continue to quarrel with the goddess. His words served to anger not only the King now, but the Queen who though she did not support her husband’s vendetta against Macaria, felt him to be right to wish to gain some sort of repayment for the dead from the dark-goddess. “Why dost thou declare thy brothers and King’s efforts vain, when thou didst once struggle for much the same? Should thou not honour his manly deeds and desire for justice, for thy brother? The very fact that the goddess must deal with mortals; offering them land in return for vassal-service suggests she is not so great as the lord of Olympos, and requires assistance to win her wars. This proves to all that, she was vulnerable whereupon we once believed her indomitable!”

Her words were well-received by all, save for the King’s brother who declared them folly and preferred to hold his tongue. He was tempted it is believed, to remind her of how Zeus and others had resorted to mortal assistance many a times, however he knew the cost of shaming Olympos all too well. Instead he left shamed, and humiliated with none to ever take him seriously again, at least not for many, many years.

Adamantios was believed to be vulnerable, for it was thought by the other Kingdoms that his defeat demonstrated his weakness. For this reason, Argyles and Mackenya sought to make common-cause, to conquer to themselves much of his southern and eastern lands. This led to many a years of violence and strife. During which time, Queen Zuthra gave birth to another four of the King’s children, three of whom were sons, with the two elder sons being born one after the other, and named Marinos and Avarios. As to the daughter, she was a fair maid by the name of Andromache, with the last son being named Alcibiades.

In total, King Adamantios now had six children. The eldest of whom, was often left in the company of his mother, the lady Nika, who bore a great deal of anger at the King’s lack of attention. Often she would pray for him, every bit as zealously as Zuthra did, though where that good lady prayed also for Nika’s son’s good health. For she believed that as the boy had come from her husband, just as surely as her own children had, he was an innocent, and from the first moment she had seen him, though he had caused her pain, she had loved him. For it is said that she could never hate anything of her husband.

Nika for her own part, prayed thrice daily, for the deaths of all of Zuthra’s children, hating them with all the violence of her being. She was a jealous lady, one who could no more stomach the thought of the man she considered her own, being with another than she could the very continued existence of that rival’s children.

As to the King, once he had ceased the wars with the southern Kingdoms, he sought to make peace with them, calling upon their princes to visit his realm’s frontier castle of Zulkaria. There he feasted with them and spake at length for some time, of the dangers posed by the goddess Macaria, reminding them of the fierce hatred Zeus bore her. Telling them also of the riches that were to be gained by her overthrow, and the certain rewards that were to come from Olympos, he tempted them thusly with these promises and offered many sacrifices to the gods. In this way he secured the attention of Zeus who approved of his actions, and sent down Hermes to speak to all the Kings of Doria and those of Aechea, of his wishes for a newfound alliance between them.

“Ye hath been tasked, with the noblest and holiest of duties, o Kings, by thy lord the King of Olympos. To lay the rebellious one, the great Enemy down and to lay her before his gates with her armies shattered, gates broken and power ravaged is the most worthy offering any true children and servants of the High-King of Olympos could offer him.”

This fine speech on the part of Hermes pleased them, with only the King of Koranthos displeased by it. He had no great love for Zeus or Hermes for that matter, for the former had slain his father when he was but a lad, striking down with lightning when the foolish King had defied the gods. As to the latter, he had stolen away King Alcibian’s wife, the Queen Dallia who had returned from a pilgrimage to a temple of Hermes pregnant with Hermes’s daughter, the princess Hemeria.

For these slights to his honour Alcibian had never forgiven Hermes or Zeus, and though he departed for the war, he did so reluctantly. He was alone in disbelieving of their chances of victory, as all others became utterly convinced of victory. The battle that followed was likewise an unmitigated disaster, as the six Kingdoms of Mackenya, Neméa, Argyles, Minevra, Khoranthia and Voratia, managed to bring together an army of a similar size as the previous one against Macaria.

The armies this time, chose to at the suggestion of King Adamantios, draw out the Kyndarian people farther south from the Red Plains, with the intent of encircling them, with the various armies. The difficulty lay from the very beginning lay in that not all of the Kings liked this plan. Some arrived ere too long, others sooner than they upon the plains. In this manner the battle became a massacre, for the forces of King Adamantios and his allies.

The principal force that was to draw out the Centaurs was smashed, by brave Vissarion’s charge as he fought with such fervour that the Dorians were cowed. The humiliation of his allies caused King Demetios of Argyles to retreat, whilst King Alcibian sought to despite his distaste for Zeus and the goals of the alliance, to still rescue his fellow Kings.

This act of heroism was to earn King Alcibian the respect and admiration of many of his fellow Kings, who found in him ever afterwards a friend of the finest sort. Upon their retreat, they all sought his counsel thereafter in what to do to combat the goddess as she expanded her influence over the lands south of the Scarlet-Mountains. Including amongst her clients the Paretii people, who took the lands to the west of the Red-Plains, and established there a Kingdom under the tyranny of King Xalton I.

Vissarion concerned by these events sought out the wisdom of Alcibian, with the advice of that monarch being to consult with the Oracle of Pythia as well as to slowly rebuild the power of their Kingdoms. He was to seek out new alliances with those to the north of the Roscastrom, such as several of the Illyvrian tribes and Lykia, along with an alliance in Neshia and even with the newly risen Kingdom of Kretia, and to form the first of the Dorian leagues.

Wiser now than he was before the second of the battles of the Red-Plains, Adamantios was to follow this counsel and see his fortunes recover, redoubled and to over the next decade see Doria brought together, alongside Aechea in peace against the dark-goddess. Aechea had over the past centuries been divided between the Ogres of Golgaroth and the Kingdom of Lykia, as the two fought for supremacy.

Where some amongst the Goldtusks and other traditional Ogres disliked the notion of fighting alongside humans and non-Ogres, the royal family and many clan-leaders favoured war against the dark goddess. Adamantios was initially against any alliance with the Ogres, however the King of Voratia, Nicolaos, reluctantly agreed to the treaty which Alcibian of Koranthos egged him into. The Ogres once brought into the League of Vóreileios, were to prove themselves worthy allies when they poured south across the central walls that separated them from Lykia. The King reluctantly let them pour forth against the Red-Mountains, where they attacked the Harpies that had taken to living on those mountains.

Frightened by the might of the Ogres, and the courage of the Lykian charioteers and warriors, the Harpies fled farther south-west much to their displeasure. This act which was regarded as a great moment of friendship, between men and Ogres served to begin to heal the breach between the two fractious people. Though it carried with it, much disapproval from the gods upon whom Golgaroth depended, as they turned away from the green-skinned people. None were more displeased than Macaria though. Her Harpies had exiled themselves from her Scarlet-Mountains, with the goddess turning now to undermining the pact between the cities and Kingdoms of Doria, starting with the Kingdom of Lacedaemon, which now had to content with her former minions. Though by no means friendly towards Minevra, the greatest of the Dorian cities, the Lacedaemonians fell easily to her false words. She promised them the lands of the Aegelian plains, promised them liberation from the influence of their neighbours, to which they readily agreed to war with their neighbours as they forgot the promised aid that King Menefytus had offered to fight the Harpies with.

The men of Minevra flowed forth from the city in all their splendour, their armour resplendent and brimming with light as that of the twin suns bounced from them and made it appear to all in sundry throughout the lands of Doria that there were thousands of suns. So awe-inspiring, so terrible to behold were they that all who might well have thought ill of Minevra trembled and hid from them. Whereas all those who were friends, of the greatest of Doria’s cities were moved, praised the gods and were to take much heart. The chariots of Minevra, rolled through the fields of Aegelia with a great din which brought to mind thunder of the most terrible sort. Their spears, their bows and their swords and bucklers, shone in the light also though they formed a great, mighty ocean of bronze that might well have frightened even Kronos, and made him pray to them for succour.

The heroes of Minevra poured into the valley, to the north of them. Prepared to fight the Harpies that had infested it, neither King Theodian I nor his sons paid heed to the warnings of the day. For it is said that there were several birds along the journey that had dropped dead, from the heavens all of a sudden and that the army was followed since their departure south-west by a great flock of ravens, so that it appeared to many as though a black-cloud fluttered after the King and his warriors.

What was more was that every one of the high-captains of the army slept poorly for the three nights just before the battle was meant to take place. Each one dreamt that they were devoured by the crows and ravens that trailed after them, all dreamt of fields of blood, of their own deaths. Such was the fear that pervaded their ranks that none felt at ease, from the lowliest of men to the highest born ones. Still they pushed forward, as King Theodian was a man of considerable courage, nobility and honour.

“We hath never before been approached in friendship by the Lacedaemonians, therefore we must endeavour to their rescue!” Shouted the mighty King of the finest city in all of Doria, his passion and majesty such that the hearts of all men who were present there that day flew higher than the peak of Mt-Olympos. “Therefore remember o men of the line of Epimetheus and Pandora, men of Minevra, she of the highest wisdom and majesty on Olympos- that it is not for us, glory or even the majesty of our city that we fight for! But for our brothers; their wives and children, and their homes so that they may enjoy the same comforts as we and may know that the men of Minevra never abandon their comrades, their countrymen and most especially their kin. For all of us of Aechea and Doria, are one peoples; united in faith, in blood and in heart! Therefore, ride now my brothers and sons! For brotherhood!”

Chariots assembled and spears arose, as did arrows wherefore the Harpies did thunder down from the heavens to deliver battle unto the valiant men of Minevra. Never before, or after did Minevra fight so valiantly for the Lacedaemonians, nor were they to ever after endure a betrayal, so great and terrible as they endured that day.

King Menefytus arrived thither that day, in all his glory; his wolf-banner flew high, with thousands of his guards, his people all about him. Though his spears and swords shone brightly, it was a dark light, a terrible thing to behold as the ruler of Lacedaemon held little love or good in his heart that day. He charged forward, with his men all about him arrows flying whither from their bows and spears stabbing from the moment they neared their victims.

Such was the shock and horror of the Minevrians at this sore betrayal that the few survivors wept endless tears, as they fled. Amongst them, was the King’s good-brother, the youngest brother of Queen Nemeléa who being no older than twenty years, swore a terrible oath that day. He swore upon Athene’s name, upon her Aegis and upon Zeus himself to never accept peace with the Lacedaemonians for this misdeed. Wherefore he fled over the hills, for his homeland where he brought hither the news of what their former friends had done.

Such was the mourning, the tears that flowed from all the faces in the city-forum, in the palace and in all the streets and taverns and homes that the city itself was as one swept by high-tide. Thence they ceased their mourning and began to panic, for all the princes of the blood royal, of the great line of Theodian had perished. King Theodian had brought with him, all four of his mighty sons for they were the noblest and mightiest of the city’s warriors and wrestlers, therefore none had questioned his decision.

“Where shall we turn now?” Cried the many, panicked and stricken for they knew themselves to be barren without a King, “Who will lead us? Guide us, in the war against Lacedaemon?”

It was none other than Dauíd, nephew of Theodian I who intervened for them, reminding them of the great deeds of their ancestors, of how they built the city of Minevria. He spake to them thence, also of the greatness they were to achieve and of the vengeance that would surely be theirs, “Remember my sons’, my brothers’ that every stone, every rock and every wall of Minevra was established when the world was still young. At a time when the gods themselves wert new to these lands, a time when our people still dreamed of exploration and conquest of the likes none of us can imagine today! We are their sons’, their heirs! Great wert our fathers, and mighty also so that how will we face them in the next life if we come to them shamed and humiliated? What of our women-folk? And our sons’ and daughters’? Are they to face the shame and dishonour of hearing of how we turned back before the enemy? No, I say; there may well come a day when we Dorians turn back, when we take flight before an enemy but that is not this day, we will perish here if we must, hereupon the red-fields men shalt someday walk these fields and say; ‘that was not the day Doria surrendered, it was the day she mastered herself, she made a stand!’ Lo! Let it be the goddess who trembles on this day, for this is the day she trembles, she fears! This is our moment of glory, not surrender! So let us charge now, charge and perish in glory, not shame! All arrows and blades will find our chests and faces, not our rears or backs!”

Unaware of the terrible anger that had gripped the men of Minevria; the men of Lacedaemon sent a delegation to demand the submission and tribute from their ‘defeated’ enemies, whom they claimed had invaded their lands without permission. The delegation never returned to Lacedaemon, each of its members was beheaded by the furious Dauíd, who was to wage a long war against the Kingdom of Lacedaemon.

As to the northerners, they were to rally together all the other Kingdoms, against the goddess Macaria who sent a human messenger by the name of Tobias, to request that Dauíd cease his wars against her. Though she offered no wergild, no repayment for all that he and his people had lost to her, offering only peace. “I would have us be if not friends then, acquaintances. I would also prefer that as I am kin to thy gods that thou build to me a great temple, one greater than all those dedicated within thy lands to Olympos, saving only those dedicated to Hera and Zeus.”

This was a trick on her part, as she thought that should she plant some sort of seeds of her worship in the lands of the men of Doria, it might be all the easier to turn them away from the old gods. Seeing through this, the Queen Zuthra it was who sneered at her words and even went so far as to mock her, for her lack of promises.

“Are we to kneel for naught? To pay homage to one who hast butchered our brethren, humiliated our men-folk and to endure thraldom under? Nay, we shalt not endure thy rule,” She howled at the guest, with her husband echoing her words.

In response to this, the messenger of the dark-goddess withdrew displeased aware that his mistress would not take the threats of the ruler of Vóreileios well. Though she slew him not, and preferred to reserve her fury for Menefytus, whom she swore to bring low along with his bride, Macaria waited still for the King to gather to his banner the many Kings of Doria and Aechea once again.

This time though, to undermine the rule of Golgaroth, she sent her messenger there next, where he warned of the fury of the goddess who had once favoured the Ogres more than any other mortals. To which King Dulvan III, the Ogre-ruler laughed and sneered, for he was of a brash nature and had long forgotten the oaths of his forefathers to never take up the worship of Golgroc/Ve’s enemies, for he greatly loved Ares the war-god.

“Bah, and what will the goddess do? Will she cometh hither to Golgaroth to challenge me, to combat? Will she strike me with a thunderbolt? Nay, she will not for she is weak- I daresay I am far mightier than she, as art our new gods.” Dulvan taunted the King, his laugh booming down the great bronze-gold halls of Golgaroth, that shone with the light of the suns so that it was as though all present were in the halls atop Mt-Olympos themselves.

All agreed with the King’s judgement, all nodded and celebrated his wisdom, for they had long ago tired of the endless quarrels with Lykia. Only the lord of Nalvorn, the nephew of the King remained doubtful, along with the lords of the Goldtusks, and the King’s heir. Galgren was prince of Golgaroth, and lord of Arenia, he knew what others did not, knew that the Olympian gods were fickle and little better than the demons that the Ogres had once revered. Suspicious of them, as he was of the Illyvrians whom his father and the King of Lykia had included in the ‘Alliance of Vóreileios’, he warned his sire of the dangers of this alliance, for which he was ordered from the King’s halls.

It was not long before he broke the leaguer of Arenia, called forth his banners, his men, and all others able to carry sword and buckler to his side. A thousand banners, of blue, green, red, black, white, orange and all the other colours (saving purple for that was not utilised in that age by Ogres or any peoples of Doria or Aechea, for it was reserved for Zeus), were raised high to convey to all the mightiness of Golgaroth. It is said that the roar that echoed down the plains of Scarlet-Plains as the might of Arenia and Golgaroth ran and galloped whither to Lykia, made the heavens, sea and mountains tremble and shake, so great were the numbers of the assembled warriors of the Kingdom of Malkeiran.

Joined by the full might of Lykia, under the command of King Alcibian of Khoranthos, and all his assembled vassals, the once-enemies swore a mighty oath the moment they met in the Aegelian Fields. They swore from then on to never favour one another’s enemies, agreed to share foes and to always side together against the enemies of Olympos.

Such was the fury of the goddess when she heard of the oath that, she swore to destroy the whole of the house of Lykia and that of Vóreileios for having once again formed an alliance against her. The insults of Queen Zuthra, and of King Adamantios, went not unheeded by the goddess, who called forth to her presence the demon Alestair, a terrible being once the servant of Ultorvak. Quite how the two met is unknown, though what is known is that the goddess promised her great wealth, if she would assist her in bringing ruin to the Kingdom of Vóreileios.

Where the men of Golgaroth and Lykia were united against the Kingdom of Roscastrom, the Illyvrians were divided though many did come when the Alliance of Aegelia called for them. They were not alone in feeling divided, for the tribes to the south of Illyvria, those to the west of Doria, were Tigruns and Wolframs. The cat-men and wolf-men, bred long ago from the blood of Féavonoé and Sehkmet respectively, whom were in those days as fractious as they were violent. Not a day passed without there being blood spilled by the Liotarii tribe or Lýkoii clan, with their chieftains feared and reviled through all of Doria.

The Mackenyians in particular hated them, for the many incursions into their lands, with King Dulvan refusing to join the league regardless how often Galgren pled the importance of uniting all the people of Doria and Aechea.

“You must be the one to win the loyalty and alliance of the kingdoms of Doria and Aechia,” Nika Queen of Mackenya told her son, the now full-grown.

Though he had his father’s temper, and was of a similar physical disposition Evangelos was different-natured. He was steely and unforgiving as his grandfather and mother, the long dissociation from his sire had bred both a desire to please and a great deal of bitterness in him. One shared by his beloved mother, who though she would not permit him to know his brothers wished for his father to acknowledge him.

Accompanied by few retainers and the chief-most guards of his grandfather Belgaeus, who numbered near to a dozen men- none of whom were near as loyal as Nikolaos Strongspear. It was he who led the prince through the wilderness between the lands of Vóreileios and those of Mackenya, then later from there to the western lands of the beastmen.

They stayed there for some time, coming to know the land and fighting along their host’s borders alongside him, against the Kyndarians who had begun to expand their own state at the expense of Mackenya. In time, Evangelos grew to become the most beloved of all men in the lands of Mackenya, which is as all know a mountainous and difficult place to live in. There is little in the way of civilised comportment in the eyes of those to the north and south of them, with this sense of disgust on the part of their neighbours, far worse in that age than in latter-day ones.

It was under these circumstances that Prince Evangelos succeeded in winning over the lords and King of Mackenya to the Alliance of Vóreileios, where all others had failed. His charm and strength of character such that all men in that place and time, could not but love and esteem themselves by him, or seek to emulate his example. He became as a Mackenyian it is said, and in time came to dress in the rough-furs and wool preferred by those people, than in the fine silk of his countrymen.

Seeing this transformation, in one who had upon his arrival hardly regarded them at all, also moved the Mackenyians to think better of the people of Vóreileios, where the prince had hardly been missed. It was thence that the King sent messengers whither to the north-eastern Kingdom to inform them of his interest in making peace with them.

Astride his great steed Aethon, the finest horse in all of Doria who was a direct descendant of Ares’s own mount. Twice- nay thrice the swiftness of other war-steeds, Aethon carried Adamantios himself aloft through the Aireian woods just outside of the city of Vóreileios where they found him on a hunt. The beast they scored with twelve-score spear-blows was one of the great-lions that strode the land of Vóreileios in those days.

Hearing of the great deeds of his eldest startled Adamantios, who had not met his son in years, so that a great yearning overtook him- he wished thence to behold and meet the youth, to see with his own eyes the man whom [nom] spake so brightly of. Observing this great change in her husband, Zuthra became anxious and disapproving for she bore still the anger and resentment of a lifetime ago, when Nika had humiliated her wrongly for her love for Adamantios.

“He should never hath gone whither to Mackenya,” She said to the lord of all Vóreileios, having as always departed upon the hunt with him, to observe him in all his majesty. “He hast rebel’d against thy authority.”

These words discomfited the King, who misliked them though he said no such thing with the ambassador of Mackenya swift to defend the King’s son. Amazed at this complaint by the Queen, for the messenger was a man who had not known prior to his arrival there that prince Evangelos was born from the union of the King with a woman other than the Queen. His words though, hardly moved the chief-most lady of Vóreileios to pity for her rival’s child.

The King for his own part, was then too attached to the alliance so that he paid no heed to his wife, and praised the efforts of his son. Efforts that he claimed vastly outpaced the successes of those who were friends of Zuthra, which served only to anger her all the more. This newfound division between the two was brought to the ears by several of the attendants of the couple, of Nika and her father, both of whom celebrated with a majestic feast.

The joy of the two was swiftly despoiled by the news that the prince was to depart from the safety of Mackenya’s court, for the west, where the Tigrun and Wolframs lived. Believed to be cannibals of the worst sort, such was the distress that overcame Nika that she fell into a swoon, whereas her brothers and father bellowed for their armies. They longed to march upon Mackenya in the hopes to punish that King for allowing Evangelos to depart westwards.

However they were brought to a great halt by King Adamantios, who learnt of their intentions to march south-west, and intervened with a fury. He imprisoned Nika’s brothers and father, so that the lady Nika hurried whither to his halls to plead for their lives and freedom. There she was faced by the full-majesty of Queen Zuthra, who though still resentful of Belgaeus’s daughter wished for her kinsmen freedom, though she did wish their lands diminished. Taking her counsel to heart, and moved by the supplications of Nika he assented to restore them to their prior status, though with half the land, for their foolish behaviour that had near destroyed his great League.

As to prince Evangelos, it was he who forged the great alliance of the Wolfram and Tigrun tribes, fighting their wars and partaking in their tragedies and glories for three years. Once he had returned to the court of King Adamantios, he left Adelkeion of the Liotarii as King and Vulfarion King of the Lýkoii and the two bound by sacred oath to one another. The two swore to ever after be brothers, and to shield one another from harm, to harm the enemies of the other though they were loath to do this.

It is said that upon his return to Mackenya that Evangelos, discovered his father’s messengers demanding his return to Vóreileios. To which he refused to leave, for the north unless his father came for him in person, this resulted in King repeating this condition. One that he hoped to use to capture his ally, to ransom him back to his state, for a greater role in the Alliance. Infuriated by this, Adamantios chose rather to disown his son and proclaim his eldest by Zuthra his eldest.

*****

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