Rhymes and Reason

Eleazar offers an explanation of the mysterious songs

42.

Rhymes and Reasons

 

 

Eleazar sat down next to the three in the back of the wagon and took a deep breath, “That children’s rhyming song commemorated actual events.    Minthoel was the third king of the Faesidhe, and your ancestor, Sir Aedric.   He was known to be a great speaker and had very piercing blue eyes, so the humans nicknamed him ‘Blue Jay’.”

 

“So the Jay in the children’s tale is Minthoel?" Aedric asked, "But why was his place transposed with the Redbird?   Who was he in reality?”

Eleazar cleared his throat and explained, “Each of the birds in that rhyme represent kings - or in the case of the Eagle, an Emperor- and it originally concerned Minthoel’s attempt to defeat the human kings of the petty kingdoms around the Faesidhe kingdom, so he could, in effect, become their overlord."  

"This was over 1,000 years ago, not long after the Southern Empire was established.   The Hawk was Prince Brah-el-lom of the Laayam Principality."

"His Kingdom is very mountainous and hawking was very popular there.   His coat of arms was a hawk sitting atop a snow covered mountain.”

“Minthoel stirred up Brah-el-lom to go up against the Emperor of the Southern Empire - I think it was Donneric II- to try to weaken both of them by fighting each other.   They did go to war against each other, and the Emperor defeated him, making the Principality a subject state of the Empire.”

“While they battled, Minthoel’s army marched against Barlo the Red, who ruled the fiercest clan of barbarians in what is now Northmarch.   At that time they were only a number of large family clans, ruled loosely by the strongest clan, which was Barlo’s ‘Ruerso Aevic’ clan.   ‘Ruerso Aevic’ was their tribal language’s words for ‘Blood wing’, but the word ‘Ruerso’ also carried the meaning of the words ‘Red’ as in blood red, and ‘Aevic’ actually meant ‘feathered wing’ and by association, ‘birds’.   So ‘Ruerso Aevic’ was translated by the Faesidhe as ‘Red Bird’.”

“Minthoel’s Faesidhe army annihilated the human clans and they ruled Northmarch as overlords for several hundred years.  But Minthoel wanted to destroy the power of the Imperial legions, so he made preparations to battle them.”

 

“The Imperial legions, however, came into what is now Northmarch from three different sides and wedged Minthoel’s army in.   The Emperor demanded surrender, but allowed Minthoel to keep the territory he had conquered for the remainder of his life, under the condition it would go back under human control, as a client kingdom of the Southern Empire, upon Minthoel’s death.”

“He had no choice but to agree to it, knowing he would long outlive the Emperor.   But Barlo’s grandson Harol met with the Emperor and he built up a barbarian army in secret, funded and supplied by the Imperial legions.   He planned to turn the land over to the Emperor as a client state, and then assume the title of King.”

“It took Harol over 40 years to build up his army, but they finally did rise up in rebellion and threw the Faesidhe back to the forest.   Harol kept his agreement with the new Emperor and Northmarch was born as a client kingdom of the Southern Empire, set up primarily to act as a buffer state between the Faesidhe and the Southern Empire.   Back then the land was wild and rugged and the barbarians did very little farming, so it wasn’t valuable to the Empire except as a buffer zone.  But now that has all changed, of course.”

 

“So was Harol the ancestor of Haroldris?”   Aedric asked the Duke, starting to piece together a few things.

“Yes, his direct ancestor.   That is where the name Haroldris comes from; ‘Dris’ meant ‘clan’ or ‘son or grandson of’ in the old barbarian tongue.”

 

“So Redburr, as Haroldris’ kinsman, is also a direct descendant of Harol?”

 

“Yes, I guess he would be… interesting.   ‘Redburr’ and the minstrel sang of ‘Redbird’, which sounds very much alike.   The name ‘Redburr’ is one of the old barbarian male names " from the clan of Harol of course.”  

 

“Wait a minute!”  Snoe jumped to her feet in the wagon, excitedly, “The ghostly minstrel changed the Redbird and the Blue Jay around in the rhyme.   If Redbird represents the clan of Redburr, and Blue Jay represents the Faesidhe, then in this shuffled meaning, it sounds like Redburr will ‘drop a rock’ on the head of the Faesidhe King.”

 

“But the Faesidhe are governed by you now, Duke.”   Aedric added, “So either it means Redburr is coming after you -which in fact he is- or maybe it means he will try to destroy any forces you have in the Faesidhe forest that are keeping the peace.   If Redburr had control of the forest, we would not have a place to retreat to if the battle turns against us, and we would lose much of our supplies.   So perhaps the minstrel was warning that Redburr is secretly going to invade the forest.”

 

The Duke considered this with a frown, “They would have to swing around and enter the Faesidhe forest from the south, as most of our troops are around Westmark and in the forest to the Clearing of the Ages.   From the south, an invasion would have better success.”

 

Aedric snapped his finger, “Duke, there also was a bit of the ‘Doom of the Mountain Home’ ballad.   That also deals with Faesidhe, when the dwarves of Forgestone were controlling the northernmost tribes of the barbarians that lived in the mountains north of Northmarch, before the Faesidhe took interest in the lands.   These humans were subjects of the Dwarves, but were actually on good terms with the Faesidhe due to trade.”

“Elolmorin was the father of Minthoel, but unlike his son, he was a peaceful King that actually liked the humans.   So when they rebelled against their Dwarven overlords, the Dwarves went to Elolmorin and asked him to not help the humans.   But the Elves did help, and the humans got free from the Dwarves and settled in what is now Northmarch, living at peace with the Faesidhe, I guess for as long as Elolmorin lived.   When Minthoel took the throne, that all changed.”   

 

“Okay; so if the minstrel’s selection is a message to us, then what does this second part mean for us?”   Mutt asked.

 

They all thought for a few moments, until Duke Eleazar finally spoke, “I think in this case, the Dwarves represent Redburr - he’s probably trying to persuade the Faesidhe to turn us over to him-  maybe by threatening them with an imperial invasion unless the Faesidhe fight against us.   He’s probably hoping that there still is resentment of Westmark’s control of the Faesidhe people and the forest.”

 

“That could work, Duke, if he could stir up those Faesidhe who are bitter - like I was toward you only a week ago- then we would have an enemy to our west, south and east.”

 

“So were the two songs a warning for us to make sure we don’t lose the support of the Faesidhe?”   Snoe asked.

“It sounds logical to me.”   Duke Dullerm replied, and Aedric and Mutt nodded their agreement.

“So what do we do, dad?”   The albino girl asked her father.

 

The Duke thought for a long moment, scratching his chin as he pondered.   Finally he turned to Aedric, “I need someone who understands the Faesidhe and knows of their land.  I suspect there could be spies even in our caravan of wagons, which would know if I were to send a delegation ahead to meet with the Faesidhe.”

“I could go to them.”  Aedric immediately volunteered.

“Yes, but it could be very dangerous, if the spies saw you fighting along side us.”

 

“But if I was stopped by the spies, would they question a son of the King, who still hated those who killed his father?   I would say that I escaped from you as you were retreating from King’s Reach, then rode to my people, hoping to stir them up into rebellion now that the Queen was dead and the Kingdom in chaos.   I would claim that your current situation leaves your forces vulnerable and that I sought to lead a rebellion of my people and break free from Westmark.”

“They of course would want that, for that would help their plan, and then later they would double-cross the Faesidhe and come against us as well.   But they’d welcome me, if I told them I would help them stir up the Faesidhe against you.   They would think I would have an axe to grind against you.”

Duke Dullerm nodded, but his eyes seemed troubled.

“Duke?”  Aedric spoke, “Are you suspicious of me?”

 

Eleazar smiled, “I’d be foolish not to be, Aedric, as this would be almost exactly what you had hoped for a week ago.  You would have assistance now to do it, too.   But, I also sense in you something that I didn’t sense a week ago - goodness.   A Paladin can sense this, and I know that Yesh has placed upon you the blessings of a Paladin.   So, believe it or not, though common sense warns me, I am going to instead completely trust you."

"Young man, you have within your hands now the power to completely upset the balance of things in the world by the decisions that you make.   If you are ever tempted to leave behind your vows and embrace your father’s ways, please remember that thousands of people will be affected by what you decide.”

 

Aedric nodded, “I understand, sir.   I have made a vow before Yesh that I will serve you, and I will keep that vow.   I know without a doubt that even if I were to lead a rebellion against you that sooner or later, Redburr or the Emperor would turn against the Faesidhe and kill us all.   You have shown kindness to the Faesidhe and to me.   I’ve only realized this recently, but it has changed the way I look at things.”

“I am very glad of that, Sir Aedric.   I want you to try to convince the Faesidhe of Redburr’s true purpose.   I know it is our territory,  but we don’t know if perhaps Redburr’s spies have already stirred up rebellion there that is just waiting for a chance to act.   So keep your alibi ready.   You’ll have to ride alone, to make it seem believable, of course.”

Snoe looked up in surprise, “Dad, let me go with him.”

Eleazar looked incredulously at her, “Absolutely not!”

“But-“

“Snoe, he needs to pull this off - if you were to go with him, it would look really suspicious.   They will probably know who you are.   You may not look like a Drow,  but you can’t quite pass for just an albino elf either.”

“But I could go as a representative of you - to drive home his point.”

“Snoe, a spy would figure out who you were quickly if we were captured.”  Aedric added.

“Well, I could be your prisoner!   You could have kidnapped me and were bringing me back as a hostage so my father would be loath to attack the rebels.   A spy might believe that!”

“Maybe, but it would be far too dangerous.”  Aedric responded, and the Duke nodded in agreement.

 

Snoe looked at both men in frustration, crossed her arms in front of her and sat back against the side of the wagon with an annoyed exhale of breath.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but it would also probably kill your mother if you were to leave with him.   Remember, she’s still grieving your sisters.   Aedric needs to travel lightly and quickly for his cover story to work, if he is captured and questioned.”

“When do you want me to leave?”  The Elf asked Duke Eleazar.

“I’d say the sooner the better, before any spies can figure out our plan.   The royal treasury had several suits of Elven chainmail that would likely fit you.   I’ll have some sent down here to this wagon, along with some weapons.   Your horse is hitched to a wagon several places back, along with several other warhorses.   I’ll have him secretly saddled and provisions placed in the saddlebags.”

 

“I’ll leave tonight - late when most are asleep, if that meets with your approval.”

“Fine - Aedric, this could be a dangerous gambit, but if we keep the loyalty of the Faesidhe, it will greatly help our chances.”

“I will try my best to insure that, sir.”

Eleazar got to his feet, “I know you will.   Get some rest, and I will set this plan into motion.   I won’t meet with you again before you leave, to lessen the chances of a spy seeing something.   May Yesh guide you, and thank you, young man, for your bravery.”

 

The half-Drow duke nodded to Mutt and smiled at his pouting daughter, then threw his cloak’s hood over his head and crawled out of the back of the wagon.   A moment later he had mounted his horse and disappeared into the rain.

Reviews

[Elina]

"They would think I would have an axe to grid against you.” I think you were wanting "grind" here. ?
"...assistance now to do it too." You're missing a comma between "it" and "too."
"...that I didn’t sense a week ago = goodness." I think a semicolon or "--" would work better here than "=" Maybe it was just a typo, though. ?
"...kidnapped me and was bringing me back..." You'll want to change "was" to "were."