The Olympnomachi: Book 7: The Fall of Aubälion & Rise of Vauldërion

Yes it gets worse

“My people, will ye choose to continue on through life on thy knees, spilling empty tears and pleading for the mercy of a King who has neither that nor any goodness for that matter in his heart? Certainly, I have heard tell that he has avenged our wrongs, punished our enemies yet when I hath sought peace and friendship with him, he hast refused and continued to insist upon war and death. Lo! We face a great and terrible choice; either to crane out our napes to be slit, or we are to fight him, tear asunder the line of noble Elthaelion the Unifier! Certainly this is a terrible choice, yet what other path hath we to choose from? The once glorious House of Elthaelion, once glorious, once noble hast fallen into madness, savagery and demented cruelty this and their refusal to give us restitution, to end this war means we fight not to end their house out of brutality but out of defence! Therefore, those who may feel themselves too weak, too soft to do what is right let them stay here, let the cowards keep to the walls, or find their way to their knees where they belong! As to the rest of us, those of us of manly vigour, of manly might and of vengeful, and true hearts shalt advance to the Golden-City to tear out those of all those, who hath denied us peace and hath continued to spill the blood of our kinsmen, and to besmirch their honour!” Bellowed Aubälion just before he set whither for greatest High Elven city, determined to put an end to the great line of Elthaelion. Those with him, whether all cheered, keen to at last see the strife ended.

The mightiest of Aubälion’s sons led his army against those of the King, who left his son to rally the south together, in order to gather a second army against the son of Valderian. The result, was that the King never the most able-bodied general, or warrior was slain by the Mighty’s own hands. At first, he intended to desecrate the corpse of his enemy, as he had done to his own kin. However, after he was visited in his tent just outside the city of Caradavlorïa, by Queen Velhaïthual, who fell to her knees to beg him to return the corpse of her husband he changed his mind, out of pity for the queen, who said to him, “Remember thy love for thy wife, fair prince and the goodness she had in her!”

Moved he had the corpse returned, and sued for peace with the prince, whom he determined to see crowned King and to even make peace with the lady Thydalïa. After a life-time of hatred for his half-sister, he sent messengers pleading for her forgiveness. At once she gave it, or at least claimed to and invited him, and his sons to meet with her and her husband, upon his arrival.

Advising against it, Welkion the eldest of Welkior the Foul-Heart’s sons, a loyal lad he sought to protect his liege-lord and cousin from the enemy. Contradicting his father, he was taken aside to be scolded, with the scheming Welkior keen to see Aubälion slain.

It was he who acted as a messenger between his half-sister and the prince, keen to ensure that Aubälion was killed. It was under these circumstances that, Aubälion the Mighty entered the city at the queen dowager’s invitation, arriving in state before the King whom, he knelt before gladly.

The prince raised him up, and made his way to the temple of Freyr to be crowned King of all the Elves, wherefore he and his wife ordered Aubälion to be arrested. Stunned, the Mighty roared with rage, and prepared to fight to his bitter-end, calling upon his sons and cousins to aid him.

It was then that Queen Thydalïa revealed to her half-brother, the Foul-Heart’s role in his wife’s death. The shock and rage of the revelation, led to the only surviving son of Valderian, to turn upon his cousin whom he slew, with his sword Qual'valess, just to say before he perished himself, to the spears of the guards of the King. “Lo! A traitor’s son is always also a traitor, as I ought to have suspected and may all of thy spawn meet the same miserable end!”

His sons perished to a man that day, along with the Foul-Heart, and three of his own sons, all of whom fought against one another, whence their fathers began infighting. The queen dowager, horrified by this act on the part of her son, sought to reason with him. However, he was beyond reason and did only what his bride, whispered to him, with her next whisper being to go after the two sons of Aubälion.

An Elf in the mould of his grandfather, though he lacked the height and physical strength, of the great Aubälion, Vauldërion held his boldness. Full of anger at the passing of his father, it was he who waged a war to topple Klanathror from the throne.

The war went on for a number of years, initially in favour of the King, until Vauldërion sent his cousin Kelvran the Pious west to invite Tigruns and Wolframs into the realm. Armed with Dwarf-forged iron, these warriors brought with them, this terrible metal so feared by Elves, and thus armed turned the tide of battle. Horrified by this sacrilegious act, many Elves turned upon Vauldërion. However, they could not match his new army’s might.

T’was with the assistance of these chieftains, Vauldërion overturned the tide of the war, squashing all resistance between his fort and the capital. Poisoned by the iron, Klanathror was taken into the temple of Freyr to be healed, with Queen Thydalïa pleading with her cousin to show some sort of mercy. To which, he answered by putting the capital to the sword, unwilling to restrain his forces, he allowed them to loot the capital for six days. With the beast-folk making off with the Hámelerii stones, which were dispersed throughout the west, after they departed in that direction, after the sack of Caradavlorïa. Queen dowager Velhaïthual attempted to reason with Vauldërion, yet he full of anger, and under the belief that his father was lured into the trap of Klanathror and Welkior, with her support, had her put to the sword.

So horrifically did he comport himself that, his cousin Kelvran the last of the sons of Pelunion, being amongst the attackers fled south, to never return there. The prince Vauldërion saw to burning down the temple and great library dedicated to Freyr and Freyja. This last act so grossly offended many of the Elves that, his Elvish troops turned upon him, after the flames had abated.

Once the foreigners gone, Vauldërion attempted to lay claim to the throne, but no noble was prepared to accept him, with the Elf quarrelling fiercely with them. The throne was his by right, he argued with only his ‘uncle’ Kelvran the Pious eventually succeeding, in mediating between the various factions. Vauldërion in time was dissuaded from seizing the throne for himself, with the consolation of being offered the Stjárgamen for himself. Only for all concerned to be shocked, and indignant by the discovery that the star-gem was missing, having been stolen away by the heir of house Acathorlà, the heir making as far east as Lektlarïo before he was stopped. Unwilling to risk the conqueror’s wroth, the locals had had the noble killed, and his stone put in a box, to be sent back to the capital.

Pleased to have it returned to him, prince Vauldërion was thus passed over for his younger brother Maldthior, who claimed the throne reluctantly. Being the third of Aubälion’s surviving sons, he had stayed in Taeskalla, to keep to his studies, having no great desire to become a monarch or to wage war. Appalled when he had heard, of his brother’s scorching of the ancient libraries, of Caradavlorïa, he had disowned his brother’s misdeeds. A historian and scholar, he had by the time of the death of his father, already written a theogony of his people, along with a history of the house of Elhaelion.

Vauldërion for his part was present for the coronation, of his reluctant younger brother, who threw himself into the rebuilding of the capital. He departed after a year in the capital, for the fortress of Taeskalla, whereat he swore to never leave ever again. The Stjárgamen being brought with him, by several of his followers, with his comrade in arms, Akleion the Tigrun as enchanted as so many others had been, by the star-gem.

Vauldërion arrived in Taeskalla, where he was received by his brother Alderius, the second of Aubälion’s surviving sons he had taken the news of his younger brother being favoured for the throne poorly. A quarrel followed, one that left the two bitterly divided.

Much pain might have been avoided, had they behaved in a more brotherly manner for Akleion seeing their discontent, and longing for the star-gem, encouraged Alderius to turn upon his brother, the result being that the newly returned commander was home for but a year, before he was slain on a hunt by his brother, and a group of their friends.

Whilst they were out, Akleion snuck into his chief’s quarters, and being one of the only Tigruns to have stayed in the Elf-lands, he drew little suspicion on his way out. Alderius returned shortly after his flight west, to discover the Stjárgamen missing. Outraged, Alderius swore to give chase forthwith, for to his mind the gem was likewise his.

Forbidden from departing, by his considerably more restrained brother, Audrälior, Dinalias refused to heed his commands or efforts to imprison him, for the death of their oldest brother. Dinalias had the support of Welkvöl, the youngest of Thelnarias’s sons, a stalwart Elf, and warrior; he agreed to assist Dinalias, only due to his own desire for the Stjárgamen.

Of a nobler nature than his uncles or grandfather, Lodthörn son of Welkior followed after Dinalias, if only to use him to reclaim the star-gem, in order to then give it over, to the gods as his uncle Kelvran had always wished. Unfortunately, for all involved, he was mistrusted by the two sons of Aubälion, along with Kelvran himself. Giving chase after them, in the hopes of aiding the heroes, Lodthörn had had against the wishes of all in his youth, had relations with many a Wilder-Elf tribes outside of the borders of the Kingdom, and had even wed a Green-Elf before losing his wife to child-birth, and thus took with him on his quest, his twin children Vilnögr his mighty son and his magnificent daughter Welthära the Fair.

Vilnögr was Lodthörn’s son, and known to be the fiercest Elf in combat, since Aubälion the Mighty, and it was he whom King Maldthior wished to give the sword Qual'valess to, once it was reclaimed. He was however dissuaded by his younger sister, Qualleria who mistrusted, their cousin. As to Welthära, she was said to be the fairest Elf-maiden since that great beauty Tiklanaial of legend. Save where her ancestress, had been as the sun and the moon, Welthära was as a spider or the darkness of night; devouring all before her.

Their mother had been the Elf-maiden Thrungalieth, of the tribe of the Thelerii, who had kept contact with the lands of the High-Elves, in marked contrast, to most other green-Elves. With the lady Thrungalieth having passed away shortly after the birth of her children, so that Lodthörn had poured all his love into raising them, for he like most Elves refused to remarry, after the passing of his bride.