The Adventures of Brandar Odaron
Book 1: The Hidden Continent
Chapter 28 The Fall Of Agereis
By the time of the Fifth War, many Sereghran had come to dwell in the Forest and in the Grasslands east of Kelebros, so that there were small and large farms and ranches, and many villages and townships from Geranost to Magadinos, and from Deunomis to Baerhesperos. And all those people felt safe, since Brandar commanded the largest Army the Sereghran had ever known. And there were significant forces stationed at each of the new Towers all along the Borders and elsewhere. But the Old Towers in Central Arzultaur, such as at Vodurus and Dhwinos and on, were now centers of commerce; some with townships but others as trading-posts, for Brandar had built roads through the Jungle and the Forest to connect the New with the Old Frontiers. And all of the People near the New Borders believed that they could seek haven within the Old defenses should the Durwolc again come against them from the West.
Now, the First Wall of Deunomis established the southern end of Baeren’s Lake as a Fortress, being fashioned much like the Outer Wall at Baertunas, except that it had only one Gate facing east. And while Brandar had named the Territory there Deunomis, High King Strabos had named the Fortress as Vortunas, which simply means “Far Fort”. But the land between Brandar’s Tower and the Gate, all but Dragon’s Den Hill, was filled with the houses of the other Northrons and other Officers, and members of the Warlord’s Company, with some portions for the homes of Officials of the town which had grown up about the Fortress, though most of the town lay east of the Gate and the Lake. And the Hill was ever ringed about day and night by well-armed Soldiers, and therefore remained reserved for Brandar’s Pavilion, which, whenever it was there the People knew that great matters were being discussed within, or that Lords of the Lands were gathered inside for a feast or celebration or ceremony, or all of them. So, whatever was going on would be the talk of the town until the Pavilion was taken down. And upon the Hill’s westward slope, Brandar had erected a great statue in the likeness of his late friend Baeren the Knight, facing the Lake with a hand to his brow, as if seeking for the enemy, but with the other hand upon the hilt of his sword. And though the First Wall of Vortunas had been severely breached during the Third New-Frontier War, Brandar afterwards ordered that it must be replaced with a wall so great and magical that it could never be breached. Hence, by the time of the Fourth War, it was finally completed. And it was indeed a sight to behold.
Tall as the Warlord’s Tower, it stood fifty strides thick along all of its length, from shore to shore. But another great wall was built upon the lakeshore within the arc of this grand wonder, to block enemies crossing the lake upon rafts from entering into the Fortress from the Lake. And there remained only one Gate in its East Face, comprised of two massive iron doors, fifty feet high, and protected by a tremendous portcullis. But upon the outer Faces of the wall were fastened great shields, with the coats of arms of the Lords and Generals, and Knights and Captains, and other Warriors who had fallen in the other three Wars of the New Frontier. Consequently, the People began naming it the “Marsken”, which means “Shield Wall”. And the Wizards Flaven and Palphus and Calaren together placed such powerful and everlasting magicks upon the Marsken that Flaven proudly proclaimed: “This shall stand to the end of the Age.” And it proved to be so.
Brandar dwelt in his Tower with Vearta and their now grown daughters, but the Tower had become known also as the “Tower of Vortunas”. And the People took to referring to what was encompassed by the Marsken as “Inner Deunomis”. Thus, the Tower later became more widely known as “Vortunas at Deunomis”. And that is its name in the Lore of the Sereghran which Brandar brought with him back to Andaria.
It happens that Ergon’s Fortress, Agereis, built close upon the eastern shore of the mouth of Kelebros, had a watchtower of its own wherein dwelt Ergon with his own family. But Ergon now commanded an Armada of ships in which he had a mighty vessel named New Pavanar, while the Northron’s small ship, Wingaron, had been brought there and was being maintained by Ergon’s family. And Ergon had built great piers going out from the beach to nearly a furlong into the ocean, so that his ships could be tied there and boarded or disembarked without longboats. And while ships could not sail up Kelebros, smaller craft could be sailed or rowed up and down the River between the Lake and the Bay, so that Agereis became a right prosperous trading-post. But of course there were numerous boats for fishing and pleasure upon both the River and the Lake, and in all of the waters of the Sea thereabouts. And often the Northrons would take Wingaron sailing for the joy of it, and for “fishing trips”, but ever without their wives and mistresses. Then would they drink their fill and remember their adventures. Yet, their women took it well, for it gave them chances to meet and engage in gossip or to go shopping, and also drink wine without their husbands and consorts being around. And this became a happy routine for all involved, so that none ever complained of it.
By the coming of the War, many of the Emissaries’ sons and daughters were grown and healthy, and had been trained in the Army, including the women, among whom were all three of Brandar’s daughters, though his son had not yet been conceived. And as the People had named the Seven Northrons as Newcomers, they took to calling their progeny the “Newcomers’ Kith”, though these proud individuals mostly hated the name “Kith”; deeming it beneath their station as high-born Sereghran.
Then the sons of the Northrons, even the very young, were referred to as the “Princes of Deunomis”, while the daughters were named the “Royal Dames”. Yet, both Prince and Dame were trained as Knights of the Realm, though the Sereghran had never before known women as Knights, while there had been a few Warrior Maidens in their history. This came about because Brandar insisted that his daughters must be taught how to defend themselves properly. Consequently, upon hearing of this new change in tradition, many Sereghran women made their way to the Frontier to sign up with the Armies; sometimes escaping abusive parents or husbands. And one there was who said to Brandar: “Thank you, Lord. A great chain of bondage have you cut from our ankles.” Then Brandar issued a decree throughout the Lands that any able-bodied individual, be they male or female, may come and join with his Armies. And thus were his forces made more like the traditions of the Northrons than of the Sereghran. But as this became a source of contention among the folk of the Three Kingdoms, both Aetas and Strabos issued their own decrees, stating that Brandar had every right to order his Lands in any manner he chose, as long as he was loyal to the wider Realm, and so held Strabos his liege. Then did the People thereafter largely take the situation in stride.
When the Sereghran began to collect in the South, thinking of Expansion into the Wood, many Frontier Soldiers withdrew from the Armies to join with the Brigadiers who were mustering near the Highlands. And in this way Brandar lost critical strength in the northern reaches of the Forest. But there was nothing he could do to stop them, for he had no authority over the People’s Brigades if they were not willing to submit to his rule, and the great dream of the Sereghran is that their Lands should encompass the whole of the Hidden Continent. Indeed, the Lords who supported the Brigades proudly proclaimed themselves “Expansionists”. And while Brandar sympathized with that lofty goal, he considered such a venture a foolhardy endeavor, for the Brigadiers had no way of knowing the strength of the enemy in the Highlands and the Mountains. Yet, many there were who sought greedily to claim large parcels of the Woodlands for themselves. So it was that many former Soldiers who had moved to the South came to rue the day that they took their leave of the Armies and joined with the Expansionists.
Upon a calm and sunny day forty-four days into the forty-fourth year since the Fourth War of the New Frontier, a tremendous earthquake occurred, seemingly coming from the Demon’s Darkness, and which shook the whole of the Continent. And so strong was the quake in the North that the three Towers of Kelebros closest to the Deel were thrown down, killing not a few Soldiers within and around those Towers. But as the quake died away a current off the coast at Agereis drew ships towards that portion of the Deel which lay on the sea. And as the first of those ships were about to reach it, the current suddenly reversed, at which a huge wave came roaring from the Deel as it were some kind of monster in the form of a foaming mass of water with a mind of its own, bent upon destruction. Furthermore, riding upon this great wave were Elementals in the form of waterspouts, howling with voices like the sounds of the winds in a typhoon.
Completely destroyed was a third of Ergon’s Armada, and drowned were all the Mariners aboard those hapless ships. Yet, Ergon’s ship New Pavanar and similar large vessels were carried east over the ocean, though Ergon was not aboard at that time. And while those ships were overturned, with all of their masts broken off, New Pavanar and two of her sister ships were not sunk by the wave.
Wingaron, however, was lifted up by yet another wave from the north, a low but steadily-moving hill of water that bore Wingaron away and then set it gently a good distance inland; much to the amazement of survivors who witnessed this most strange of events. And none could explain it, except to say that the Gods must have saved the Northron’s ship from destruction that day. Yet, terrible was the demise of so many other ships at Agereis. And the Coastlands were not spared, as the wave moved up and over the lands, destroying everything to as far as three leagues inland, and which covered three-hundred leagues of coastline. And Ergon, seeing the coming of the wave from his Tower, feared that it may topple the Tower itself, so tremendous was the wave. And as the great wall of water approached, he ushered his family, and as many Mariners ashore as he could manage, to the top of the Tower and thus saved them, as the Tower held fast, though it was engulfed to a depth of more than two-thirds of its height.
Less fortunate was Stanon at Geranost, as he was not in his own Tower and was taken with his fleet when the wave sped across the Bay and rose up to slay every living soul in its path. And while the Tower there also stood fast, even submerged to its turret, many another structure thereabouts was destroyed.
Great were the numbers of Mariners at sea and ashore, and of Garrison Soldiers and Brigadiers drowned in the swirling waters. Then untold numbers of farmers and herdsmen, and townsfolk and villagers, and fishermen upon the Coast, and others in the Grasslands were to get washed away by the wave, or perished in the flood-waters, with many who survived getting caught in lakes of sucking mud or in perilous mud-flows, or dragged thereafter towards the sea by the swift and staggering outflow. And thus did the Coastlands remain strewn with the bodies of both animals and Sereghran long after the waters had receded. And in the remaining few weeks, the rotting corpses attracted so many vermin and beasts that these also presented an added threat to those who had survived to then. Of course, crops within range of the flood were ruined, while fresh water sources were poisoned by the decaying dead so that many survivors were sickened, or otherwise thirsted or starved to their deaths.
The giant wave created so much flooding and came ashore with such force that Kelebros flowed backwards and burst violently from his banks. Then Baeren’s Lake swelled so out of bounds that the streets of Deunomis were for a time knee-deep in filthy water, which went immediately beneath the Gate and flooded the inner grounds behind the Marsken, whereupon many dwellings therein had their lower rooms drenched.
Here, it must be said that, shortly before the water emerged from the Lake, Ergon used his Aefarin to call upon Brandar and described to him what occurred even as it was happening. Then Brandar called Stanon and beheld a terrible sight, which he would never forget to the end of his days. For Stanon turned his Aefarin so that Brandar beheld there the coming of the wave, like some nightmarish horizon-wide, mountain-high blue-green and white-foaming cliffside, moving swift and unstoppably to fall upon the viewer. Then was there nothing to see, as Stanon, undergoing a horrible death, let loose his Aefarin so that the gift sank to the bottom of the ocean, never to be found again. But users of remaining Aefari could, if they wished, later call upon that device, ever resting beneath the waves, and behold the realms of the deeps. And at whiles, when a storm would churn the waters or currents were just so, and the Aefarin resting there turned a certain way, then could bones of dead men be seen through it strewn upon the bottom of the sea.
Just as the wave was falling upon Admiral Stanon, a mighty thundering issued from the Darkness behind the Deel, and rolled swiftly across all of the Lands, after which terrible storms came suddenly from the Deel and out of the North from over the sea, and eastwards from the Highlands, and up from the Great Southern Wood, all with giant whirlwinds and deadly lightening, together with fist-sized hail then torrential rains. Yet, beneath the storm-clouds came untold ranks of Durwolc, themselves perishing from the raging winds and awful lightening and the devastating hail. But so vast were their numbers that their storm-slain were reckoned but of small account. And across all of the New Frontier, north to south, the enemy overwhelmed the Sereghran; showing no mercy and entering into the Lands unhindered in many places, and therefore sacking and then destroying many of the Warlord’s new Towers.
In the far North upon the sea came once again the Leviathan which Aetas had wounded in the First War not a hundred years past. And so forceful was the Leviathan that it smote upon the ships of Agereis which had survived the wave, and like a wholly mad serpentine God from the most ancient legends of the Elves. But with it the Leviathan brought Sea-Serpents and many-legged monsters and other creatures of the Deeps, many of which were known from before but others there were which the Mariners had never yet seen. And from the water’s edge swarmed countless things of various sorts, among them those spider-like abominations with their poisonous spines, and hordes of Holgygros, and great gatherings of other horrible denizens of the sea. But all of these came so swiftly and densely, and so unending, that they covered the Coastlands for league upon league east and west of the mouth of Kelebros, moving steadily inland against the receding floodwaters. Thus, Sereghran who had not yet been killed by the wave or the flood or by other means were now set upon and devoured by these most ravenous and evil of monsters. And there was nothing that could be done to save them.
Next, out of the Darkness flew huge flocks of winged creatures which came both east and south to assail the Sereghran upon both land and sea, and at the Towers and Fortresses, and in the Grasslands and the Forest; going as far as Baertunas. But from the Deel poured yet more of the Durwolc, as if there were no end to them. And with them were Giants and Dragons, and Demons and Devils, and all manner of other monsters and beasts. But here too were creatures which the Sereghran had never seen before, and for which they have no ready names, and of which, to this day, they have no ready means of describing them faithfully.
Hard pressed was Ergon atop his Tower at fending off the flying creatures. And, even as he fought, he beheld with shock the destruction all around; kenning that those within the Tower were no match for the enemy there amassed. Therefore, waiting until the floodwaters had gone down enough for an escape from the Tower to be possible, he gave weapons to his family, even the smallest child, and to his servants, and led them down and out upon the enemy-infested grounds; ordering the Mariners with him to form a ring about his family and his servants, as the Mariners each held mighty magical swords. And gathering to himself also any survivors he came across, which were few, remaining alive due to their having some magical weapon or device, else being Mages, Ergon, by the powers of his own enchanted sword hacked a way to the nearest pier and with those Mariners and Mages made it safe for a time. Then Mariners and Mages from the ships that had not been sunk and were yet tied to that pier disembarked and came to him. But those aboard ships tied to other piers could not be saved.
Thus, Ergon ordered those now with him to make their way south with the women and children in the center, while he guarded their rear. Yet, as he was about to set foot upon land, fighting all the way, he and twenty of his Mariners were separated from the rest, and there he did battle not knowing what was happening to his family.
Valiant indeed was that stand. And Ergon saved his family thereby, though he knew it not, for the enemy were intent upon Ergon and the Mariners yet standing on the pier, while the Mariners and Mages protecting his family made good an escape, due to the enemy’s numbers lessening southwards, though they made it to the muddy Grasslands with but one living servant and a mere five Mariners. But other Mariners and a handful of Brigadiers that had somehow survived at Agereis were also saved by Ergon, as the enemy turned all of their attention to him; giving those men their own chance to flee, else these too would have fallen.
Ergon held the pier until the Leviathan and its Serpents and many of the flying creatures, and numerous monsters upon land which had emerged from the Deel together with a great Basilisk, assailed the men on that pier and then destroyed all of the other piers and the remaining ships, and the Tower, and all other structures that remained near the shore. And within days the monsters upon land drove very far inland, invading the Grasslands southward, as Holgygros made their way up Kelebros and an army of Durwolc marched southeast, intent upon besieging the nearest Towers of the Old Frontier.
So ended Ergon of Agereis, Admiral of the Fourth Navy of Arzultaur, Hero of the Realm of Aetas and Savior of the Seven Northron Emissaries. And so ended Ergon’s Armada with Agereis and its Tower. But so also perished the good Admiral Stanon at Geranost, with nearly all of its folk. Yet, at the least, Ergon’s family had been saved.
By a strange quirk of fate, one Company of the Men of Geranost had also been spared, having been away on patrol when the great wave had crashed down upon their homes. And going stealthily around the floodwaters while avoiding many monsters upon land and hiding from Durwolc hordes, they fled into the Jungle without being captured, but then rode south and later east and came at last to Baertunas, where also Ergon’s sad and weary family would later arrive. But that Company afterwards took such vengeance upon the enemy that Modeus, at length, put a great price upon their heads.
Thus were Agereis and Geranost taken by the enemy in the beginning of the Fifth War of the New Frontier. And this event is named the “Fall of Agereis” and also the “Demise of Ergon and Stanon”, and other names besides. But it is also viewed as one of the most devastating and sorrowful events in all Sereghran lore.