Rebellion: The change in the wind

[King Avallach]

Just to clarify, this is not a DMC fanfic. It is an original story. It is set in Celtic Britain (Albion.) I hope you like it.

Author's note: please, please, please don't be put off by the seemingly off looking words of Old Britain. With the guides below, you'll find that they're not as hard as they look...

Pronunciation guide and brief glossary of Old English sounds and words

Vowels- Mostly said as in modern English but a few exceptions to this rule do occur:

a: said as in "father"
e: said as in "met" (when long forms an "a" as like in labour)
i: said as in "pin" (when long forms an "e" as in "evil")
o: said as in "gone" (never like in "blown")
u: said as in "pin" (when long forms an "e" as in "evil")
w: said as a literal "double-u" like in "vacuum". (Forms a consonant before vowels like in "wince")
y: said as in "pin" (when long forms an "e" as in "evil") but sometimes forms a "u" as in "mug"

Consonants- mostly said as in modern English but a few exceptions to this rule do occur:

c: said hard like "coal" (never said softly like in "cerebral")
ch: said hard like the Scottish "loch" (never soft like "chug")
dd: said "th" as in "the" (never as in thin)
f: said like a "v" as in the likes of "of"
ff: said as an "f" like in "off"
g: hard as in "gammon"
ll: said in a Welsh sounding "tl" or "hl" on the side of the tongue.
r: trilled
rh: said "hr", large emphasis on the "h"
s: said hard like "side" (never soft as in "devised")
th: said as in "thin" (never like in "the")

Note: not much difference between i, u and y, the differences are pretty incommunicable in writing so let yourself off for pronouncing them the same.

Words that may be unfamiliar to a modern audience:
Ard Ri: High King
Aurochs: extinct, large cow (oxen)
Awen: Fighting spirit
Caer: fortress
Bard: musician/ poet
Cairn: burial chamber
Druid: religious leader of the people.
Pen-y-cat: (lit) chief of battle

 

[King Avallach]

Home

"...Blessed be Mannanan, for he, in his grace, has kept our shores free of the Roman usurpers, word has reached my ears that the heaven's wrath and the indomitable rage of the sea has rendered many vessels headed here wrecked and their passengers taken by the waters and the beasts that dwell within its depths. It seems that their steel armour knows no buoyancy; it is fitting that such cowards should meet such an end. Hiding behind a skin of steel is a cowardice that I hope no warrior here should consider until the life blood of this isle of the mighty is spent. We are brothers and sisters all bonded by unity and strength, from Caer Cythrall to Caer Lundein, for from horizon to horizon, we stand as a proud and mighty people. Alas the Roman Empire is a beast that is quick to replace that which is lost. Whilst Mannanan's blessing is welcome, we must never let it be taken for granted, he also knows it and may withdraw his favour as soon as one infidel starts sowing the seeds of doubt. If that happens we must be prepared for a war that will change the face of Albion as we know it. Lugh sun has kept our lands thriving with more than enough harvest to sustain us as a peoples, for this, we need also to show our thanks, remember one who is truly of this land knows the line between an adequate intake of sustenance and gluttony. Keep these messages close to your hearts, sons and daughters of the isle and go at peace." The druid finished his sermon.

I left with a strange mind. He said that the gods of the weather and of the harvest should be praised, but that they were also wont to withdraw their gifts as soon as either doubt or complacency, the two emotions arguably most commonplace to man, crept in. I was a warrior; I had trained under a mighty pen-y-cat named Aergad. His name meant "strong in battle" and he had shown his names worth in various scenarios and had become known to many as "Aergad the invincible". While strict and dedicated to his graft, perhaps to a fault, he was good humoured and enjoyed his fill of mead as much as the next man and became as much a friend as a tutor in the time I had trained under him. The forms and styles in combat with various weapons were all focused with ending a confrontation as quickly as possible. He was as close as any man could be to being unstoppable with a spear, it was a blur of spins, plunges, butt jabs and various other flurries and feints in his hands and even in the friendly (non- fatal) duels at the academy, his opponent did not know what had hit them until they regained consciousness.

Our duty was first and foremost to protect the lands of Albion and her ruler, that was Arzhur, (who had become known as Arthur to some ignorant foreigners). Lord Arzhur was a man who lived up to his namesake of being "The bear prince". He was a liege with a healthy appetite, and a taste for adventure wherever opportunity showed, he was skilled with a longsword sword but his skills with one were pretty lacklustre compared to Aergad's abilities with a spear. Both of them were from the Breton routes of Albion, I, however was of Gaelic descent, Caedmon, supposedly "The wise warrior". I had earned that reputation for my abilities to keep my ability to keep focused, calm and able analyse the situation, regardless of how dire the situation seemed. In battle, I favoured a claymore, nothing overly elaborate, just something to attack my opponent out of their range with enough stopping power to knock over a damned aurochs.

A warrior's life was good, good food, drink, lots of honour, glory and, at home a lot of good looking women were always around us to... tend to our respective needs. That we had to kill a few wild beasts here and there and send off any invaders with their tails between their legs seemed a small price to pay. We were, of course, aware of the chance that it maybe ourselves on the receiving end of a sword but seeing as we all have to die sooner or later, we may as well die for something worthwhile, while reaping the pleasures of life that our statuses allocated us. I wore a torc of bronze, a sign of my fealty in battle. The silver and gold torcs above it were ascribed only to princes and high kings. Then, at the end of the day, I looked to the setting of the sun, over the horizon as it sunk in the distance and with it's last desperate spark, flashed a wondrous green, only, as ever before, to be replaced by a star-clad, cloudless, majestic night sky. Getting back to my home, I gulped down a last half flagon of mead, lay down and my heavy eyelids closed themselves.

 

[Zany Blac]

I hope your continuing this because i cant wait to read more

 

[King Avallach]

Preparation I

The rains came the next day. It was cold but nothing that we had not faced before. I went to the druid and asked "Why have the rains come, it is still the season of the sun." The druid looked at me, his face grey and his eyes sterner than ever before that I had seen him. He spat on the floor and spoke the following "Mannanan is telling us that the abhorred Romans seek to destroy us, our way of life. Those they do not kill will either be made into slaves for their cause or indoctrinated with their heretical beliefs. Their beliefs and gods are wholly false and this cannot be allowed. For the glory of Mananan and that of the isle, we will have to do battle with them. I hope you are a man of honour."
This last statement surprised me, I replied: "On my life, I am. If, Lugh forbid, I was to be the last of us standing, I would still be cleaving Roman heads from Roman shoulders until either all of them or I were dead."
"Good, however, remember; prudence before punishment, vitality before violence. Keep your thoughts not on destroying your enemy, but what it is you are fighting to protect. The people around you are your strength, you are the sword and the shield, they are the warrior itself, the arms, the legs, the mind, the heart and the spirit. Do not let this knowledge bypass you or you will become ultimately hollow and weak."
"I thank you for your concern. How long before they arrive?"
"Not clear, I'm afraid, keep your perception about you and you will feel their evil as it turns to us. May Mannanan preserve you when the time comes."

I nodded and turned to leave.
"Caedmon!" The druid called
"Yes?" I turned around to face him again
"The enemy is not an animal, it is a demon cursed to destroy or be destroyed, you would be a fool to underestimate its tenacity, show no mercy, regardless of what your conscience tells you. You cannot win through half measures. In the end, only the strongest and the most ruthless will remain standing."
"Then what separates us from them?" I wondered aloud
"Honour, that we are not the invading peoples, we do not show the hypocrisy that they revel in, claiming to be civilised yet engaging in the most barbaric heathen practices. Our ways have not been twisted by the years and corrupted beyond all recollection of what principles they were based on, theirs have and furthermore We aren't afraid to die, their armour shows that they are and as such it is easy to see that they have little faith in their false gods." The words were stern but spoken with a gentleness that reflected the longevity and wisdom of the druid.

"Caedmon...! There you are. Where have you been of late?" It was my wife Aourgen who spoke.
"My love, you know I wouldn't have been so long removed from the sight of your beauty, had it not been absolutely necessary." I replied.
"Be that as it may, you have been gone a long time." She responded, a slight curtness in her voice.
I nodded slowly and said. "Well I am home now and glad of it. The hunt for the Ard Ri's banquet was not an easy hunt. After it was no less mentally exhausting with the druidic sermon and whatnot. I will return home very soon with a meal worthy of us, you obtain a few honeyed ales and we will have our own little banquet, after which I'll attend to your every need for every waking moment that I'm here."
"That sounds a mighty fine proposition to me." She said.
"Go then, and await my return from the hunt." I replied.
I saw Aourgen disappear from sight and prepared my claymore before heading into the nearby woods which were teeming with all sorts of animals worthy of the hunt. I also had sufficient materials and bait to set a few traps for game that would not be easy to strike with such a weapon. With a sigh and a prayer for a catch truly worthy of Aougen, I entered, not knowing what fortune awaited me in the labyrinthine depths of the woods.

 

[Zany Blac]

This is shaping up into a great story, you certainly know what you are doing Rep+ for you Phantarch

 

[King Avallach]

Thanks, I'm writing the next chapter now, I have a hundred ideas so I'm trying to cull all the ones that I don't need or that will happen later. I want this to read like a good book so I'm not going to hurry through it, but trust me. I intend to keep it as high quality a read as I can possibly manage.

 

[Zany Blac]

Take your time, i wouldnt want you to rush either, to me this is like reading a great book. cant wait to see how the hunt turns out

 

[King Avallach]

The hunt

In the woods, the air was very close. It was very warm but also quite dank; such humidity was never an ally on such a hunt. I prepped a couple of traps that would lynch any careless rabbit that happened to take the bait I placed. Traps set and ready, I proceeded a little further into the woods when I suddenly heard hoof steps. I smiled to myself, thinking what I could hear in the distance, if it was what I thought it was, then we could eat well for at least three or four days.

I closed in on my quarry with stealth and speed in equal measure. Cautiously drawing my sword whilst hidden behind a giant oak, I listened to the breathing patterns of what maybe the next meal for better part of a week. It was relaxed, it didn't hear, see, nor suspect anything that struck it as being far from ordinary. Then, with the swiftness of a fox and the precision a falcon, I buried my blade into its hind legs. Now crippled, the large cow was not going anywhere fast. I then turned my attention to its gigantic horned head, to which I administered the fatal blow. It let out an unearthly gravelly sound before falling forwards, the beast suffered involuntary spasms for maybe half a moment before laying still.

The grass around it became hued a dark violet. I thought it unusual to say the least. As then another identical cow was standing before me and with it, two calves. The cow then spoke, it was not its own voice, it was either a god or a demon talking through it. It said the following: "You take that which you cannot replace when you take a life. You have killed me and now my children will not survive. Think you, of those many men you kill in order to defend your homeland. Taking a life maybe, at times, a thing of necessity, but it is never a thing of honour. I sense in you that you kill because you are afraid."

"That is a lie!" I shouted

"No, it is not, you killed me by stealth, you were afraid to fight my physical vessel and rightly so. However, your cowardice runs much deeper, you fight and take lives because you are afraid of losing your home and your spouse and feel that killing is the only way to prevent such loss. Am I not correct in this?"

The question was rhetorical, this being knew that I could not answer.

"What are you?" I asked.

"My name is Annwyn, Deity and master of the otherworld. Yet it is for Lord Bres that I speak."

"The god of agriculture and fertility?" I asked.

"Yes, he is displeased with the lives that are taken so freely by your peoples and yet you do not pay proper the proper respect either to him nor to the beasts you have slain. Thus until you have consumed this creature for all it's worth, you shall have a bounteous growth of food, but after it has been consumed, you shall complete a task. Otherwise, in the coming months, the fortunes of your people would have never been so ill, the food will grow poor, it will make your people sick, and they shall starve if you don't complete the task set for you."

"What manner of task?" I asked.

"Nothing too perilous for a warrior of your repute, yet you will need to have the wisdom to see where, and in what folly lies. I will visit you in the future with further details. Be sure not to miss one word, for one word can be all it takes to change the courses of both the manifest and the otherworld."

"You speak in riddles, tell me plainly what it is I need to do."

"Ah, but that is the first part of the test. If you can decipher the true meaning of my words then your future is promising. If not, for a vision of your own people, you need not look farther than this poor animal's carcass. Keep alert, the signs will be grand, what they portend, you already know, look for the most apt signs, follow them to your task."


And so it was that a new hunt began: a hunt for redemption.

 

[Zany Blac]

Wow awesome chapter dude, i neva thought there wud be any spiritual beings in this story but i lyk the sudden unexpected talking cow lol... continue the gud work

 

[King Avallach]

Wow awesome chapter dude, i neva thought there wud be any spiritual beings in this story but i lyk the sudden unexpected talking cow lol... continue the gud work

Thanks, I like fantasy and supernatural fiction. I also like historical fiction and so where possible, combining the two often yields a decent result IMO. Writing up the next chapter but it needs a lot of refinement before I post it.

 

[Trish67]

Hey this is pretty cool!!!

 

[King Avallach]

^Thanks here's the next chapter.

The departure

I obliged to do that which I was bid. I hauled the carcass back to the village. I told Aourgen what had happened. I could tell that it hurt her, but she accepted it with an icy dignity. She told me to relax before I set off for a while yet. She bowed her head, which I raised gently with my right hand, before holding her in a loving embrace. I could tell that she was halfway to tears, as was I; for it seemed that every time I returned home, I was whisked away all too soon by forces too numerous to name, the most irritating one of which, was necessity.

Aourgan was one who should not have had to face the toll of these times. A flower amidst flames, she was seemingly destined to stand, and I, the water of the ocean. However, it seemed that just as such, a force over my head was fanning the flames. I lay helpless, no matter how far I crashed forward, there was always a point that I could not break past. I loosened the embrace and softly kissed her. We then prepared and ate as much as we could of my kill with the herbs, spices and vegetables that Aourgan had gathered. I can't remember having eaten so well in a very long time. Later we broke our bodies' respective fasts of each other, sating all manner of primal passion. We spent a while talking about what had happened to each of us in our time apart, albeit that it was only a few months, it might as well have been a few decades for all we were both concerned.

Night came on and a silver moon shone down on our village from over the woods. Suspecting that this would be the first lead on my tasks, I packed all of what I considered possibly essential for the task awaiting me and strapped my claymore to my back. I soon arrived at the woods, the moonlight dusted each of the dewy boughs as the dew itself was rendered iridescent, providing a grand, shimmering array of colours through the otherwise deadened wood. 'Deadened' would prove an even more apt description as I drew closer to the place that I had killed the Aurochs. I smelled a noxious, sweet but rotten odour which I knew to be of decaying flesh. I looked at what was emitting the stench and I could not believe my eyes. I could not see the ground for all the human corpses that were upon it. I examined a few, from what I could gather, they had all been starved. They weren't dehydrated though so I suspected that it was the work of one of the spirits watching over the wood.

The message was grotesquely clear, first task I'd be entrusted with would result in death on a massive scale; those not killed by the blade would languish and starve. I could not see as to why and what good could come of it but the fate that I'd been threatened with overrode my compassion. I emerged from the wood some time later and I went directly to see the druid.

After telling him a somewhat briefer account of what I have recorded here since he and I last encountered one another, he held his head up in thought, paused and then said "So, you are sure that their highnesses Bres and Annwyn have appointed a task of assured large scale loss of life."
"Yes, I don't know who, how or why but lives will be lost in my endeavour whether by my blade or by others or by other means but I can already feel the blood on my hands. However, you should know that I care not; a chance for complete redemption does not occur every day and I'll do everything in my power to secure it."
"That is good, Caedmon, just be cautious. Since the Gods are demanding their death, they are likely deadly or powerful enough with their rhetoric to twist and warp the minds of all but those with the strongest will."
"Alright, I will be careful. You too though, I feel uneasy about this, as if there's something that is going to change dramatically, whether I succeed or not."
"Very well, I will heed your caution, but now it is time for you to follow your calling. Gods willing, you'll succeed. I doubt very much that they'd sabotage your chances on the quest that they appointed you."

"My thanks for your words, I'll leave very soon." I told him.
"Farewell then Caedmon, may your departure be swift and your return doubly so!"

I nodded then prepared a boat for where I knew I'd be sure to find that which I'd been bid to find... Rome.