Chapter 3

Of Kronor and his madness

Kronor and his men had finished their work on the ships it had been two days since Pailor had ridden east. He began to fill the boats with hundreds of supplies and many hundreds of people. Kronor urged his wife Bethol to take the first ship out of the area but she wouldn't leave him. Kronor headed back to his castle now and noticed his men pointing toward the base of the mountain were the wood area was.

"My lord look!" the men were ordered to call Kronor there king now and lord as he stood beside them.

He never spoke a word but looked to the great lines of fire which were burning the woods and were almost onto the open fields of his land. Kronor headed back to his hall and assembled his supplies and noticed Bethol sitting about the table.

"My love I had a strange vision of my father" Bethol was weeping.

Kronor looked at her angrily and walked over to her he then hit her across the face and looked over her.

"You are weak I told you to board the ships, now go!" he had changed beyond recognition the obsession with the ocean and the lies that Mailock told him were now in full motion.

As Kronor walked toward the courtyard a vision came to him and he fell to his knees and cowered like a child. The vision was that of Kailor but no one knows what he said to Kronor, he left the hall and ran to the ships. Bethol stood and could see a vision of her father who was forbidden to enter these lands but his visions were not. She took a horse from one of the stables and rode north hoping to catch Aulor and the company that went with him. With her went ten men clad in the kings attire they were mighty brave men and loved there queen as they called her now. The bowmen at the river had been fighting through the night trying to move and hide between the trees as they fought along the river, being pushed as they went further and further back to the dock. That morning Kronor ordered the ships to sail with haste as he left what men he could spare to defend the castle to buy his ship enough time to get out of range of the arrows. The bowmen had ran out of bows and decided to head south hoping to avoid the sun tribe, they headed into the deep forests south and were never seen again, many say they were slain by the wood people. The men on the walls trembled with fear now they could see thousands of black figures marching out of the burnt wood area. There were lines and lines of men in black armour and behind them great siege weapons some were broken due to the terrain they had to pass through. The siege weapons range from catapults to rams, men to the flanks rode mighty steeds which were also clad in black attire they were horses but were much bigger. The men screamed and began to weep as a great figure above in the clouds laughed down to them it was the face of Mailock who had betrayed them in his search for the kin of Kailor. The clouds turned black in the lands of moon and darkness crept in swallowing all light. The catapults were now in range and began to bombard the castle shattering stone to ash. Most of the men were killed during this siege the men on the wall managed to take cover behind the walls and survived the onslaught of fire like boulders were where hued toward the castle. As the men peered over the wall they noticed the farms and small villages which were on the outskirts of their land were burning now and a small force of evil men were heading toward the ships which were just sailing off. A great host of men now stormed the castle smashing the great gate with their battering rams and heading into the castle fighting with what men remained. The men battled hard but it was in vain the evil men were better equipped and more experienced, it seemed that they had stormed many castles before but from which land no one knows. The evil men managed to capture a hand full of men and chained them then sent them out of the castle down toward the foot of the mountain were Pertopolis stood laughing at them he seemed less mighty for Pailor had struck him down day before.

"Take them back to the lands of sun to my fortress we have use for stupid men" he laughed again and the men cowered their honour had been shattered.

Kronor looked back and could see the castle was burning and he frowned he then looked forward and smiled.

"Come on faster!" the men began to row faster.

The women and children and a few men began to weep for there beloved land had been utterly destroyed. They sailed for a time until the land behind them had disappeared and they could see before them a great land which shone white. They also noticed great ships were docked around the island. Suddenly above them they noticed the great figure of Mailock cursing them.

"You are forbidden to enter these lands and are forbidden to sail the seas now you must be punished" he laughed as lighting began to strike the sea and great waves crashed about them.

Kronor yelled and cursed his god for he had been deceived and became the Kronor the peoples loved. He quickly headed to the rear of the ship and noticed one of the rear ships was sinking. As he turned a great thud was felt and the ships broke in two he fell back and noticed a great beast roar up out of the ocean it had razor sharp teeth and great sharp spikes for fins it roared. The beat ate the people on board and dived back down into the sea Kronor got to his feet and dived into the water and swam for the nearest ship.

"Stay with me!" he yelled to the survivors who followed they swam with haste but it was in vain the beast began to eat them and the waves began to swallow them.

One ship remained and the men on board began to use there oars as weapons against the creature which had now set its fierce eyes upon there ship. Kronor swam but he saw lighting smash the ship asunder men, women and children were smashed into the sky and crashed into the water. Kronor stopped swimming and thought to himself he wept and felt weak he had let his greed overcome his judgement.

"This way my lord quickly" a man next to Kronor along with others were kept afloat by a piece of wreckage as Kronor climbed atop of it.

They floated until morning, sunlight was shining on them as Kronor awoke to find many of the men had gone. There were three men and he left on the wreckage which had crashed onto the beach. Kronor stood on the beach and it was warm he smiled as did the other men as they walked along the golden beach. They walked for a time and began to climb up the green hills, they managed to climb atop them and found themselves standing on an open green valley with villages and a great golden castle to the north which shone in the sunlight. The men laughed as they could see children playing and laughing in front of them and they seemed different not like normal children they knew. The children had almost webbed feet and hands to match there eyes were wider and were black. There teeth were sharper and much more pointer but they were fair to look upon. The children laughed then ran away toward a small village to the left of Kronor and his men. Kronor's clothes were shred and he was bloody as where his men, they walked now steadily looking to find men and women. They found no other men and women only children as Kronor looked worried he pointed to the great golden castle as they walked with speed toward it. They arrived at the castle and noticed the great golden gates were shut. The men shouted but no one answered they then noticed to the right down the slopes a great host of ships were coming back and great horns were heard from them. After a while a great host of men who also had the same features as there children but looked more like men were marching up the slopes clad in silver and blue shirts and also had dark blue trousers but they only went down to there knees. The men had spears of silver and marched right up to the four men and glared at them up and down.

"Strangers I see" Kronor felt strange they never spoke but he could feel there thoughts in his mind as did the other men "Forgive me you are from distant lands I will speak through mouth I am Figlore of the ocean people you are the first strangers to walk on our lands" they seemed friendly but Kronor didn't trust them he smiled to them false fully, his voice was soothing to hear like a trance as were most from this realm.

"Hail Figlore I am Kronor of the moon tribe we have travelled hard and long our ships were destroyed during a storm and I have lost all my peoples save for three who stand beside me" Figlore sighed and his face turned sad.

"I am sorry for your loss the sea is a dangerous place and I gather you tangled with the great beast of the sea who has no name" Kronor nodded and shuddered thinking of it "Come the women of these lands dwell in the golden castle and do not linger elsewhere you see men are superior in these lands we use our women for mating only" Kronor frowned and he felt Figlore could read his mind so he thought of nothing "I see you think we are not men but we are but given the gift of the ocean we can manipulate it to our will and swim beneath it" Kronor gasped them followed the great host of men who headed through the golden gates into the castle.

They walked through the courtyard were women wore great robes and covered there faces. The courtyard was filled with fountains and beautiful trees and grass, Kronor looked to his men and they knew what he thought. Kronor loved his women and would never treat them lesser he always thought men and women were equal. Many of the other men left the company and headed through different doors as Kronor and his men followed Figlore into a great hall of gold with a great marble blue floor with a symbol of the sea on it. Figlore sat in a high golden chair at the end of the room were five women sat in silver chairs to the sides of Figlore but not as high.

"These are my five wives" he smiled as the women bowed and looked to the ground "Please sit my friends and tell us of your tale" he pointed as women brought four chairs of white as they sat beneath Figlore looking up at him.

Kronor told him everything and Figlore just nodded and sighed he then looked to his men who were gathered in a corner near the door.

"We heard of your troubles during the night and that is why we sailed out this morning and found wreckage we also saw great fires away toward your land" he paused then women brought the four men drinks and food which were server via a white tray of a strange material Kronor had never seen.

"Yes my land is no more a great army has overthrown my kingdom that is why we sailed and hoped to find new land were we could reside in peace" Kronor sighed as Figlore looked at him strangely and knew he was lying.

"An army yes a great army which hailed from the east, but let us not think of war please eat and drink and rest for you are weary" he smiled but it was a false smile.

"But we cannot forget about the army's which run rampant across the lands they will soon set there eyes upon these untouched lands" Kronor stood he seemed more frustrated he wanted to get revenge for he felt shame leaving his kingdom and leading his people to doom.

"Please understand Kronor we are not a war tribe we are peaceful and have always been this way tomorrow you will sail back to the mainland we will give you a ship and help you cross the great ocean but do not return or speak of us" with that the women escorted the men out of the hall and out of the castle were they sat on the green fields looking toward the sea.

Kronor and his men sat for a time they gazed across the wondrous green lands of this island and they felt warm here, but something was missing they felt the ocean tribe were a strange race.