Above the clouds
Emperor Ang entered the room, hesitating for a moment in front of the door, afraid of what he will find inside.
“Am I adopted?” There he was the source of a good part of his troubles, his eldest son. The son named after him, who crushed his hopes when he went crazy. The son who had his broad forehead and a large nose, his dark hair and cunning eyes, the only thing he inherited from his wife was love for food. He had no idea where his fat son got the idea about the fog coming to kill them all. At first he thought those were just youthful fantasies, but when his son went around the city urging people to leave, he had to lock him away. He couldn’t afford a panic among the commoners, not now…
“Not yet, no one wanted you. The exorcist assigned to your case informed me he cured you of your madness. Should I assume his report was false?”
“Don’t you want to hear why I’m too smart to be your son?”
“Enlighten me.”
“Your dreams about moving our borders to the shores of the southern sea fell apart when Loperian oneiromancers introduced this new weapon they call gun. One bloody battle after another we are entering the third year of the war with no real progress made. Now, for the past century tribes of Trokezi cross that big mountain range on the east to harass our borderlands, only this time there’s no one to stop them. Look through the window, the city is flooded with refugees from the Mark! It’s anyone’s guess which province is next. With our armies locked in Loperi you have no solution.”
“You do?”
“Make me the duke of the Mark and I’ll marry the grand chief’s daughter. With the new alliance established with Trokezi, we can grant them passage to the rich Loperi lands and saturate their thirst for pillaging. You will also release my brothers locked for conspiring against you, earlier this year, and put them under my command. In return, I’ll give up my claims as the crown prince. At last, you can choose a more suitable successor.”
“But, the unknown disease disfigured the girl in her cradle, you saw her during the negotiations, besides she’s well below your status.”
“The status of the fool?” He grabbed his barrel belly in the eruption of laughter. “Besides, I like her eyes, and hair, her curvy serving wenches.”
“Why? I doubt you suddenly developed fondness for your old father.”
“The mountain range they are crossing is well above the clouds and my hopes are it will rise above the fog.”
The weapon forged of love
Fly on my words, like a falcon on the wind, till everything you can see is a vast expanse of snow, which melts under your fingers. And know that every snowflake used to be a tear. There is that much sorrow in the world.
Fly in the land in which every night dying Day Star leaves hills in one place, just to find them elsewhere when she is born again in the morning.
Let me tell you the story of the nation that dwelled there. The nation carried by the same winds as the hills. The hills of snow that will never stop, till world exists.
They were Hozs, and a glorious and old king ruled over them. He had a daughter so fair she even made the Day Star shy, and to hide its blushing face behind the clouds.
The king had big plans to marry her to a rich leader of the northern tribes. But the girl was in love with a poor warrior serving at the court.
The king arranged the wedding, regardless of her wishes. When the news reached him, the poor warrior hanged himself. In sorrow, the young girl took his body and buried it in the mountains. For three days and three nights she rang the knell accusing her father of murder, begging the heavens to hear her accusations.
After a while wedding party came to take her to her groom’s house. They made a camp on the road in the mountain to spend a night. When morning had come all, but the bride, were slain.
She went back to her father’s house. At every corner you could hear rumors that a young girl had vampired her dead lover using witchcraft. The king locked his daughter in the small house in the garden not allowing her to meet anyone.
What is done can’t be undone. The vampire killed people and cattle all over the kingdom. Forests froze and withered under the influence of the unholy spirit. Matasarts that were feeding on the leaves were gone. With no animals to hunt, Hozs starved to death. The rogues from the neighboring nation of Surs ruled the roads.
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Surs, same as Hozs were hunters, and likewise starved. To ease starvation and escape certain death, they turned to robbery. The most notorious thug leader was Ulan the Snow Falcon. He was the son of Sur king.
The Hoz king had sent forty warriors against the vampire. He had sent only the best warriors, who had formed such a bond with their weapons that it had almost grown into their hands. The vampire killed them all.
The fear spread like a contagion through the nation. It was bigger than the fear of the king, bigger than the fear of the law. Rumors were that it was punishment for the king’s evil deeds. A dangerous whisper splashed the masses like a tide.
The king offered great rewards to the one who kills the vampire and find the matasarts. He offered hills of gold, herds of dogs, even half of his kingdom, but no one dared to accept. At the end, desperate, he promised to fulfill every wish. A single beggar stood in front of him, which puzzled the king.
After giving it a long thought, he asked, “What draws you to the death? When I offered gold, dogs and rule, you were silent same as the others. What is worse than you hunger and poverty?”
“Do not judge people by their looks. There is only one thing better than having a cape of invisibility. It is to be seen but not noticed.
“My wish is not only greater than hunger or poverty. It is also greater than my fear of death. When I reveal my identity you will hang me at the gates of your city. And by the end of the day I will be food for the worms and birds.
“It will happen because I couldn’t stop my mouths from running. If I haven’t spoken, my heart would jump out of my chest to tell it.
“I am the rogue known as the Snow Falcon. I came into your castle to find out where you hide your treasures, so I could rob you later. There in your garden, I discovered your greatest treasure. It made me forget your gold and btaris; my brethren and friends; my father and promised crown.
“I saw her for just a moment in the garden of your palace. With one gaze, she petrified me on the spot. Everything I used to be, and used to own belongs to her now. I sought to kill her for the slow death, she had sentenced us all to suffer, but her blushing face hidden in the shadows had broken my iron heart. The warrior can fight without the iron in his hands, but what should he do without the iron in his heart? They say the love is beautiful. I never loved before, but now I know – the love is a curse.” Ulan smirked. “Weeks had passed and I still wait in hope to see her again. My honor was rock-solid. An auburn flower from your garden turned it to dust for the first wind to carry away. You can kill me now.”
“The king without a kingdom can’t enforce the law. Try your luck with the vampire. If you die, consider yourself punished according to our law. If you prevail, consider your debts paid and I will owe you the hand of my daughter and half of my kingdom.”
Snow Falcon went into the snowy desert. He walked for two days tormented by cold. His knees were shaking with hunger and his lips cracked with thirst. On a third day the vampire appeared in front of him, laughing.
He asked, “What do you seek?”
“I am not asking anything for myself. I only ask to know where the matasarts are, so my people don’t die of hunger.”
The vampire’s laughter rang out like a thunder, echoing in the surrounding mountains for a long time.
He said, “I know who you are. You are asking salvation for the people you killed and robbed till yesterday? You can’t trick me. I should crush you like a bug, but we could have some fun. I am bored, no one wants to come out and play. They are hiding in their little holes, like little gray mice. I will answer your question if you give me something in return. Give me the eyes of your loved one, the arrow of destiny which pierced your heart.”
Ulan looked at the vampire and there was no fear in his eyes.
“I can’t. A single tear from her eyes would make all matasart meat bitter. I would hate anyone who eats tears of the one I love.”
“My next offer is a whole world. You will rule above all nations as an emperor. Kings of the people will bow before you.”
Ulan looked at the vampire and there was no fear in his eyes.
“I can’t. As I caught a glimpse of those eyes, I gazed beyond this world, and saw the lights of the distant stars. The world without her wouldn’t have any value. I would be tortured every night, having to look at lights I had lost.”
“My final offer, in exchange for her eyes: I offer you life. For the life is the most valuable thing in the world.”
Ulan looked at the vampire and there was no fear in his eyes.
“I can’t. With those eyes you will take my heart. And what is a man without a heart? He is nothing more than an apparition which roams the deserts of this world. Just like you.”
The vampire stared into the eyes of a young man, then deeper behind the eyes and into the soul. Something crushed inside of him and he released a long moan. The mighty vampire fell on his knees, weeping.
“I have killed forty warriors. I broke the steel weapons like the storm breaks whispering prayers of dying sailors. Now, I lay defeated under your feet. In my game, I was the only winner. If you would accept my first two offers, I would take your life, taking the gifts along. If you would accept my third offer, you would become a vampire, like me. To give life I have to take it first. Those who are deceived die easy.
“Your weapon was stronger. Something in your eyes made me remember that I used to love. The love was denied to me, and my feelings festered, becoming hatred. I refused to embrace death as a part of life. I will remain trapped in this world, to wander the whole eternity. Can you please release me from this world? You will find my grave under the lonesome oak near the top of the mountain. Pierce my heart with a hawthorn stake to give me the final rest.”
“I’ll do it.”
“How can I ever repay you?”
“Tell me where the matasarts are.”
“You will find matasarts by following paths of your ancestors. When you reach the land in the ocean, you will be at the end of your journey.”
The vampire disappeared into a vortex of snow, never to be seen again. Snow Falcon went back to Hoz king, to tell him they should follow the eastern wind. The same wind, their ancestors followed when they escaped to the Land of Moving Hills. The two nations migrated to the west after the rich wedding which lasted for seven days. When he was offered half of the kingdom, Ulan refused, saying the only thing he’s good at is to lead an army. The old king made him a War King and gave him the highest authority during the war. The rule during peaceful times was left to him - the Peace King. Their descendants carry the same tittles till this day.