The Early Days of the Amborian Nation

Introduction

The Early Days of the Amborian Nation is a historical work composed by the scribe and historian Onerema at the end of the Second Eon during the reign of King Nalgan, as part of a national project of scholarly revival. The work exists in several good manuscripts in both the Royal Library as well as the Red Scriptorium, most of which have very little variance between them. In writing his history, Onerema seems owe a debt to a number of sources, some of which he mentions in his text: the work of the early Second Eon annalist Orimak, The Songs of Spears, the Roll of the Chieftains of the Sothbori, The Seven Works of Sencan, and probably a number of older sources to which both he and Orimak allude, but which are now lost to us.

As a popular work, The Early Days of the Amborian Nation was the basis for the pre-history of Norkur’s The Annals of the Kings of Amboria, itself a composite work featuring the writings of various historians with Norkur’s own comments and emendations throughout. The manuscript I used when preparing this text is thus taken from Norkur’s Annals, a fair copy with Norkur’s own comments and emendations interposed in red ink between the black ink of Onerema’s original text, both of which were written out in Norkur’s distinctive hand. Norkur’s comments I have left intact, distinguishing them in brackets ([ ]) and elaborating on some of them in footnotes of my own.

Book I

It is for our children's children to judge whether or not I shall accomplish anything of note by the recounting of these things. Possibly I shall not, for these stories are well-known to all, and have been recounted both in the ancient songs, and in the works of wiser historians than myself, to whom I am indebted. Not for the benefit of the learned, then, but for the children which have yet to be born, I have set down in one book the story of our earliest days, so that the sins of the past might be censured (and therefore not repeated) and the heroes of the past be remembered (and thereby provoke the children of later days to virtue). For this book, I am indebted to those historians with which everyone is already familiar. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that the histories are not as complete as one would hope. For instance, in his account of The First Eon by the Reckoning of the Amborians, Orimak takes little account of the Treian legends which must necessarily form an integral part of our nation's history, as so many of our kings and poets have approved. To dismiss these stories as mere fables, the vain imaginings of foolish poets, is a practice both foolish and conceited, for it severs from the kingdom—and from the hearts and minds of those yet to be born—a nobility which even the lowliest of the Ambori may claim and remember, and so remembering, imitate the virtue of the heavens from which he may ultimately claim his lineage. 

The story of the Amborian nation begins when, as the poets have long held, Lanenomen brought the Treian remnant out of the West to live beside the Sea to which his heirs would one day lend their name. When they arrived, they found that a people already dwelt there, the Sothbori. Of these Sothbori varying accounts are told, some holding that they are a people sprung from the same line as the southern Dalian tribes, while others say that the Sothbori sprung from the Sea itself, and do not owe their descent to any race of men. Orimak takes the second view in his History, but I hold to the first as the more likely. There are many songs which speak of the coming of Orusen to the Sea, leading up a great host from the South, long before Lanenomen made his own march. It is generally held that none among the old Sothbori families have the gift of water-breathing, while many of those with Star blood do. If the Sothbori had sprung from the water, and not from any line of men, how would it be that the Treians, and not themselves, should have carried this gift in their blood? It was believed by some in ancient times that Feihoth the Star married the Outer Sea and by her gave birth to the Treianraal; I suppose the version credited by Orimak and others to have derived from this older story.

The Sothbori themselves were not the first speaking people to dwell beside the Great Inland Sea. Before them there dwelt the Pamboar or Kanboar, the Stone Kings. Of these little remains save for the huge tombs and monuments they left all over the North and West of the Sea (although it is said there are also two great tombs in the Archipelago), and the sacred wells which the devout among the Ambori still tend. Of these wells the most sacred of them is a spring upon the Hill of Orusen in Sencankarr. It is said that Orusen first came to that place, which the last of the Stone-kings guarded against the depredations of a poisonous serpent-folk, because that well was holy, its waters fit for healing and prophesy, by reason of the thing which was done on that hill in ancient times, of which it is not good to write. Orusen slew the serpent, and with his dying breath the last of the Stone Kings charged him with the keeping of the spring.

[Of these serpent-folk, precious little is known. The poet of The Lay of the Sons of Nanalon writes that they were an ancient folk who dwelt in the world before the coming of mankind, and that for some great sin they had been imprisoned beneath the world by the wrath of Heaven, but had subsequently broken out when the Great Chasm had been broken by the fall of Vishnarr and the Stars who took his part.][1]

So the Sothbori continued until Lanenomen came with his host out of the West. Some contend that this was after many Eons, while others note that even so great a hero as Orusen could not have lived so long. However that may be, Orusen was old and full of years at that time, and it liked him little that his people should be lorded over by the Treianraal, which he saw should soon be, for they were tall and lordly, and greater in skill and craft than his own folk. Therefore, he made Lanenomen swear an oath of peace and friendship, that the Treianraal would not transgress the borders of the forest or the boundaries of the Sacred Hill. Lanenomen swore the oath gladly, and tokens were given on both sides. The tokens of the oath—uncut gems of amber and ancient arm rings—may still be seen in the treasury of the house of the Queen's Pool in Sencankarr, and it is said (however unlikely it may seem) that they were preserved throughout the Dark Years as the double heirlooms of Lanenomen and Orusen's houses after the two were joined in marriage. After the oaths were sworn, Orusen led the Treianraal to the Kefnera (such they were still called in those days). There, upon the peaks of those seven great hills, Lanenomen founded a new homeland for his people. Many songs recall those Seven Cities, their wonders and marvels. The names and fashion of each city, together with the names of their lords, were these:

Lanenkarr, whose king was Lanenomen, and he was the High King of all the Treianraal. There he sat and dealt justice among the Sons of Feihoth.

Yalethkarr was set at the entrance to the seven hills, a strong city, bulwark of the Treianraal, and there was set within a high and strong tower of guard. Yaleth, the Spear-Maiden, was its queen.

Sothalkarr stood highest of the Seven Cities, on the crown of the highest hill where no tree grew, save one. Therefore its king, Lasuyar, caused trees of stone to be carved, which rivaled the beauty of living trees.

Palgeimor was built as a harbor of great trade. Some say this was the cause of its name, though the Poet says it came rather from the gems of amber which were strewn about the shores of the Sea in those days. Its king was called Neratson.

Feyoreis was built in memory of the great seat of the ancient kings of Feihoth. Feiral was its king, and he was second only to Lanenomen in majesty.

Yithalbkarr was built with great towers of jade, and glittered with stones and gems as green as the pleasant hilltops and valleys of the Seven Hills. Its king was Onerema, who was a great artificer and devicer. 

Kheithlakarr was built as northernmost of the Seven Cities, and it was the last to fall when the Treian exiles fell at last under Orkon's sway. Tsuperal was its king.

Lanenomen was mindful of the oath with the Sothbori, and ever friendship was observed between those people. It was in that manner that Lanenomen came to love Alyeitalya, daughter of Orusen. The maiden was fair, and all called her the Swanfoot. Lanenomen saw her first when he came with an embassage to the Sothbori after the Seven Cities had been founded. He loved her greatly, and gave many gifts unto her, and caused it to be known to Orusen that he desired his daughter for a wife. But not all of the Treian lords approved the match, and one, whose name was Narlas, counselled Lanenomen to cool his love, and to take instead to wife one of the daughters of his own people. But Lanenomen said unto Narlas:

"Mankind short-lived, born to sorrow, yet have learned the way of wisdom, yet have learned to keep their vigils. Do not anger happy heaven, do not seek to rule others. What, has long life blessed the Treians? Have we mastered all our fates? Why then were we exiled? Why then do we have such sorrow? Why then is the outer ocean denied us?"

This he said to signify that it was better if the Treianraal would intermarry with the Sothbori; but for Narlas the rebuke had a bitter taste, for he alone of his father's house had followed Lanenomen, and all the rest had perished in the downfall of that island. So Narlas brooded upon the wrong imagined, and did not forget it. So Lanenomen wooed Alyeitalya. At first Orusen was not consenting to the match, for he said:

"Truly this Lanenomen is masterful, and his people very great, and more long-lived and skillful in craft than the people of the Sothbori. Therefore, such an alliance would spell the ruin of the Sothbori people, for we would soon forget our ancient rites and lineage, and become only the servants of the Treianraal."

But Lanenomen paid court with many costly gifts, and moreover the maiden Alyeitalya loved him, for he was fair, and his eyes keen, and there shone brightly in them still the light of those Western stars which had followed Feihoth long ago. So at last Orusen, who was unwilling to deny his daughter any joy, approved the match. And Lanenomen took to wife Alyeitalya, daughter of Orusen, on a hilltop purple with soft heather overlooking the Northern shores of the Sea, and that place is called still the Keif-Aleital, the Hill of Alyeitalya, and it is sacred to the memory of the Ambori. It is said that this place was chosen for the wedding because it stood at a middle point between the two kingdoms, and therefore neither of them would incur a disadvantage on the other. The Treianraal came with but few lords, for it was ever their custom to celebrate such matters privately, among a single family or clan. But the Sothbori came with a great host of many people, for the marriage of their fair and beloved princess was a matter of great importance, and the whole nation marked it. After the hands of the two were joined upon the hilltop, Orusen gave his blessing, and prayed the blessing of Heaven upon the couple, reminding Lanenomen of the oaths of friendship he had sworn, and binding him by still-stronger oaths to protect the Sacred Hill as the Stone Kings had long ago commanded. Then the wedding feast was laid out, and Lanenomen took Alyeitalya unto his tent, and thirty days of revelry were begun. But anger still festered in Narlas's heart, and bitterness grew like a gall within him. And when the seventh day of the feast was come, Narlas, being full of wine, railed against the Sothbori, taunting them and saying:

"Cheaply the Sothbori buy our friendship. For but one dirty forest maiden, your kings will ever after call Lanenomen father."

But the chiefs of the Sothbori cast the insult back in his teeth, saying:

"Not so, lord, but mayhap the line of your kings will be ennobled by the blood of pious Orusen, for I have not heard that the Treianraal have lately much merited the favor of heaven."

At this Narlas's blood boiled hot within him, and he drew a short sword which he had hidden under his robe, and struck down two of the Sothbori lords. Then the other Sothbori lords arose in anger, and taking knives from the table, fell upon Narlas and slew him. There went up a cry of "Foes! Enemies in the camp!" and many of the more brash on both parts looked to arms, and many were slain. But the Treianraal were badly outnumbered, and though their valor was great they were at last overborne. Then they fled the hill of the wedding, and crossing over the Cheyth came at last to their own country. And Lanenomen was sore at heart, for although he had taken no part in the fighting, he had been obliged to flee with his folk, taking his new bride with him. But Orusen was killed in the fighting, slain as some say by an erring Sothbori arrow; but the Poet recounts that he was slain by the Treianraal in their first assault. And though they were victorious in the field, the Sothbori were filled with great sorrow, for they had lost many of their folk, and their lord was dead, and his heir the captive bride (so they reckoned) of their foe. They returned with great mourning to their forest, and for many days the sacred pool lay still, for there was none who could tend it.

The Poet has told of Gasojean, how he was a great king of the Kodihan, the race of the Giants. Now these Kodihan had been, so the southern men say, the first and fairest of the men of ancient times.

[Still others hold that the Kodihan were once of the blood of the Treianraal, because the tongue of the Kodihan is most like that which the Sons of Feihoth spoke when they walked upon the earth, and not in any way similar to the Dalian tongue of the Southern men. This is by no means generally agreed, although the opinion is held to be true among the Loremasters of Sencankarr.][2]

But they had fallen under the sway of Orkon in ancient times and proved easily swayed by his promises of power. They had served him until the might of Feihoth of old had driven Vishnarr back into the Islands of Shadow, and then after a bitter struggle the Kodihan were subjected to the kings of Feihoth and made to pay them tribute. It was for this reason, and because Lanenomen had twice bested Gasojean—once in a game of riddles in the depths of the earth, and once on the field of battle—that Gasojean had long waited for some way to repay Lanenomen. When Gasojean heard of the wedding-slaughter, and the falling out between the Sothbori and the Treianraal, he took heart and gathered his forces, saying:

"Too long we have let these naked savages, the Sothbori, run wild and free among the Forest—and too long have they kept the Sacred Hill for their own. While they are leaderless and divided, let us fall upon them. For the ties of blood which he now owes them, and as atonement for the wedding-slaughter, Lanenomen's honor will require him to give them aid. Then he will issue forth from his mountain fastness, and we, our valor being the greater, shall prevail against him."

So Gasojean marshalled his forces and marched against the Sothbori, and drove them before him until he came to the Sacred Hill of Orusen, where the Sothbori more stoutly resisted him. Then the cypress trees of the sacred grove were watered with the blood of men and giants, and the sacred well itself was polluted. But just at the moment when it seemed the Sothbori were about to be driven back from the Hill, the sound of horns was heard blowing in the wood, and Lanenomen appeared at the head of a great host. The battle was long, and many were slain that day.

[Some hold that Narlas was slain at the wedding slaughter, but the later poet of The Songs of Spears holds that he survived that day, and redeemed himself in the battle with the Kodihan, when he raged hotly against them and slew the sons of Gasojean, until at last he was crushed by a boulder one of the giants hurled.][3]

At last, Lanenomen met Gasojean in battle for the second time, and slew him before the well. The remaining Kodihan fled, and being without a king or leader, their army was soon pursued and destroyed. Only a handful, it is said, returned to the west to speak with terror of the wrath of the host of the remnant of Starland. Then the wedding-slaughter was forgiven, and Alyeitalya came, and with her song she hallowed the Hill again, and cleansed the sacred well. Afterwards the sons and daughters of Lanenomen and Alyeitalya were held to be kings and queens of both kindreds, and because the blood of Orusen had been mingled with that of Starland, there were many other such alliances made, and the two peoples gradually became one. It was at this time they first began to call themselves the Ambori, the Children of the Water. This may be, as some have suggested, a memory of the ancient belief mentioned above, that the Treianraal owed their descent to the Sea herself. More likely, however, it serves as a reminder that the Treianraal and the Sothbori were united by the inland sea (which now they called the Sea of Ambori), and to it owed both their sustenance and their prosperity. In those days, it is said, the Sea was yet clear and unpolluted by any evil, and those in whom the blood of Starland still ran strong could breathe the water as though it were air, and no harm would come to them. In this way, the Ambori dwelt for many generations in peace, and had great commerce and trade with the lands of the South. But all the records of those days, and the names and deeds of their kings, are now forgotten by reason of what came after. Seven kings, it is said, reigned from Lanenomen until the coming of Orkon, yet their names are not remembered, for their years were years of peace, and there were few songs sung of them. In the Amborian Wood there were twenty chiefs of the Sothbori, it is said, and their names are remembered only in fragmentary songs, for much of the lore of the old world was lost during the Dark Years, and only by some happy fortune or will of Heaven are the stories and names of Feihoth of Old and of Lanenomen preserved.

Book II

It was in those days that Vishnarr began to try his power once again, and, seeing that there were none left in the North of the world who might oppose him—for the fleets of Feihoth were all sunk beneath the waves, and the strength of the Dalian tribes sapped by long civil wars—he loosed his captains, and they carried all before him. The Aaran and Oornan kingdoms of old he put under the yoke, and moved his seat to the very Marches of the North. The might of Starland of old he had not forgotten, for many long years before, Neras the Prince had come against him with a great fleet and utterly destroyed all his host. Fearful lest the remnant of Feihoth's children should defeat him once again, he sent his chief lieutenant and servant, Orkon, to bring the Ambori under subjection. But Orkon was cunning, and desired not just the defeat of his enemies, but a kingdom of his own.

[For after King Noldu had driven him from the Enchanter's Wood, Orkon had wandered long in the waste places of the West, or else marched as the captain of Vishnarr in his wars in the South. But he had not forgotten the grudge he owed Lanenomen, and long he had brooded on his vengeance ere ever Vishnarr sent him Northward.][4]

So Orkon came first as a giver of gifts, and the Ambori called him Parbeas, the Generous, and at first he offered them the great lore and craft of the Stars. And this they greatly desired, for in the long years since Feihoth came down out of the Western sky, the lore and craft of the Treianraal had slowly dwindled, and much had been lost in the destruction of Feihoth's Isle. But afterwards, once they trusted him, Orkon offered them new gifts: the making of spells and the weaving of powerful magics by which they might cheat death. Of this many were desirous, for the blood of Starland had gradually begun to wane, and the lifespan of the Ambori was now very nearly what it is in current times. Five kings of the Kefnera—the lords of Yalethkarr, Feoreis, Lanenkarr, and Palgeimor—made secret alliance with Orkon, trading their loyalty and honor for the power that he offered. So it was that ere the Ambori were aware of him, Orkon had taken those three cities, and from them he sent his monsters by secret and unguarded paths—for the Ambori had never had any need to guard against their own people—to capture each of the other cities. It was already too late when the alarm was raised, and the garrisons fell before the fearsome monsters under Orkon's command. Those were the first of the Nalshbori which the Amborians had ever met since Lanenomen came to the Sea, and they were terrible in their onset.

[Of this people Nalshbori, it may be said that it is held by the loremasters that they were of a people or peoples which Vishnarr conquered long ago in the Southern Isles and bent to his will. Under such evil, they became creatures of horror. But since, in all our long wars with that folk, it has been observed that they are not all of the same kind, it is my belief that the Nalshbori are not in fact of one kind, but represent many kindreds which have fallen under the sway of the fallen Star. Therefore, when lust for power and love of dominion corrupt, as they corrupted the five kings of the Kefnera, then each being will take a form which best resembles the malice which has taken root in its heart. Of the commanders of the Nalshbori, such as Orkon or Gorgara, it is though that they are not themselves Nalshbori, but rather Stars greater and lesser who, desiring power, were involved in Vishnarr's fall.][5]

The first names of those traitor kings have been expunged from all memory, but the Ambori still recall the names they bore in after days: Iraken, Orat the Terrible, Snamoel the Fat, and the two brothers, once lords of Palgeimor, Teitgal and Tetklet. By their treachery, the Ambori were sold into slavery. But they themselves became mighty lords among the Nalshbori. Some of the Ambori, seeing Orkon's power and that none might resist him, chose to serve Orkon, and became lost to their folk. But most of the Ambori resisted, so that at last they were all made to work deep mines beneath the Kefnera. This Orkon demanded hoping thereby to break their spirit, but also because those hills were rich in many precious metals and gems, the most precious of which was the Hurpalb. This metal the Treianraal had first found when they came to the Kefnera, and they named it Ice-Steel, for it shone blue and clear like ice, and it was cold to the touch. Of the Hurpalb could be forged a substance more strong and supple than any earthly steel, and if the art of the maker were great enough, the blade or ring wrought in such a way would have a mind and—so it is said—a breath and voice of their own. In after days, the greatest treasures of the king's house in Sencankarr were made of Hurpalb. Of this substance, then, Orkon was most desirous, for of it he forged many weapons of potent sorcery.

With the Ambori of the Kefnera conquered, Orkon turned his ambitions of conquest Westward, conquering and despoiling all which the Ambori held as their own. The Pleasant Isle was stripped bare, and the Kefnera became a twisting labyrinth of tunnels and mines and pits which belched forth columns of smoke. The Northern moorlands became a desolate wasteland, and the islands of the Archipelago were scoured bare. Even those places which were not in Orkon's designs were slowly corrupted by the poison which spread from the Black Hills, and all the land east of the Sea to the Kothorian Wood became a desolate wasteland. It was in those days too that evil things first began to stir and grow in the Sea, and the water became murkier so that none, however strongly the blood of Starland might run in their veins, could breathe it. Only at the Amborian Wood was Orkon's progress checked, for there the power of the Hill of Orusen was strong, and Orkon himself did not dare approach it while it was well-tended. And the Sothbori waged a war of sudden assaults and ambushes, refusing to meet Orkon's hosts openly in the field. So after a while Orkon ceased trying to conquer the Wood, but rather ringed it around with a strong guard, waiting for a day when the guardianship of the Pool might fail. Long were the years of the Ambori's slavery in the mines and pits of the Ran-Orgnalsh, for so ever after they have named those hills.

[There is no right reckoning of years for the Dark Times, but there are Sothbori poems from this period which recount another twenty-one chieftains from Orkon's conquest in the East. Probably this is not an exact number, but based on it we may assume at a minimum that three or four Eons passed in slavery to Orkon.][6]

This darkness lay not only over the Ambori, but over all the peoples of the world. In the South, the Dalian kingdoms now acknowledged Vishnarr as their lord, and Vishnarr had moved his seat to the very Marches of the North; and Orkon's corrupting power was only increased by having his master so near.

In the midst of that darkness the memory of the glory of former times was still kept alive, hoarded jealously like the last dying embers of a fire, until some breath of wind might blow them again into a blazing flame. That ember was kept alive, so the harpers tell, in the line of Lanenomen, which was preserved unfailing through all the years of darkness. And the truth of their lineage and the knowledge of all of their ancient lore and craft was preserved from father to son until one should breathe new life into ancient flames. The last of that line was Sencan, and he was the son of Deryal, who was a smith as was his father before him. And when Deryal was old he took Sencan down to the deepest shaft of the mines, so deep that none of their taskmasters had ever discovered it. There, he showed Sencan an ancient anvil and smithy, and many bars of iron and Hurpalb which had been laid aside with great care, and by the labors of many generations. And Deryal said:

"The day may come when the Ambori will rise up and throw off the shackles of their bondage. When that day comes, they will need weapons of iron and steel, and living swords and shields. But they will also need men with hearts of iron, and unyielding will."

Then Deryal taught to his son all that he knew of the craft of forging a blade, and when this was done, he died. Then Sencan began a great and secret task, and none greater has been undertaken by any hear of Feihoth since the world was young. For seven years Sencan labored at the forging of a great sword. Six other weapons his hammer forged as elsewhere the songs have told, and though they became in after-days the possessions of great heroes and the treasures of great princes, yet Sencan knew that none of them were great enough for the task which was before him.

[So it is sung that:

Seven times Sencan's hammer

Seven works of battle-wonder

Wrought upon his father's anvil

'Neath the Seat of Lanenomen. 

Veryalsuja, Weed of Battle,

First he made of living metal:

That which in after days the princes

Of the Ambori all wielded.

Then a second mighty weapon

Sencan forged on Deryal's anvil:

Ereiknath, the Brazen Beater,

Famous was that battle-hammer.

Then another, Inrarstana,

Eagle's Courage, set with carvings,

Runes of power blazing brightly.

Fourth, from Hurpalb, Sencan crafted

Supeishparu, miner's sickle,

Which would reap a bloody harvest

Of the servants of dark Orkon.

Fifth, untiring, not forgetting

All the wrongs of Feihoth's children,

Sencan forged a mighty war-sword:

Innefal, the Shining Lion.

Still he hammered, six years passing,

‘til he forged a mighty war-brand:

Larnorupeim, the Blade of Fire:

Redly gleamed that blade of Hurpalb!

Hot it burned for blood of foe-men.

One blade bolder Sencan crafted,

Seventh, last, and greatest labor:

Hurorupeim, the Living Ice-shard

Coldly gleamed amid the darkness,

Coldly burned with holy fire.

That blade he wielded, great deliverer,

When the freed the water's children.][7]

Then, in a dream, Raos the Polestar came unto him. This Raos it was who had visited Lanenomen long ago to warn him of the destruction of Starland, and promise him of a new homeland. Raos showed Sencan the way of crafting such as the Stars still practice, and he taught him the runes which he must carve upon the blade.

[And these runes, it is said, read:

Ohurukhpom pomiyon khisthadenei kwo okwdhahidenai pukheirahos Seinkhanr. Rogkhuishinish yoleyomi rokhush Kwaurhlan nihokwanomi.

These runes were to signify in the tongue of the Stars:

Hurorupeim this sword is named, and forever it belongs unto the heirs of Sencan. No other hand may wield it until the ending of the world.][8]

Then Sencan arose and, going down to his father's anvil, took his last bar of Hurpalb, and with it began his last and longest labor. Seven times he forged the blade, and when he had finished, its edges gleamed with a cold light in the darkness, and Sencan knew that the sword lived. And he said:

"Now I will smith no more, for never will I make a better sword. But you, Hurorupeim, shall be my hammer now, and with you I shall forge a nation."

So saying, Sencan took the sword, biding his time until the hour was deemed right. He had no need to wait long, for there came a day when all of Vishnarr's servants were called to pay him homage in the South, and Orkon went grudgingly, for he styled himself more and more a lord and king in his own right, and by the crafting of magical weapons he had won great power unto himself. Then, seeing the hour was ripe and Orkon was away, the Ambori took up the arms which they had long hoarded in secret, and Sencan led them forth from the Ran-Orgnalsh. So swift was their onset and so sudden that none could withstand them, and it was not until the whole host of the Ambori had reached the great gates of black iron that the Nalshbori were able to mount a defense. This was led by the five kings who had served Vishnarr through long ages, and their undying malice and hatred for their own kind gave them life far beyond what was appointed to men, but it had twisted them into horrible things, misshapen and cruel. They had rallied the Nalshbori host and set them in battle array before the gates, and the Ambori could not pass any further without giving them battle. Then Sencan stood forth, and raised the Hurorupeim on high, and said:

"Children of the Water! Too long has the hand of Orkon oppressed you, and cut you off from sea and rain and sun and sky. Remember how our fathers came through long hardship to possess the very Sea and Lands which are now denied us. You have no such march before you—scarce a thousand paces ere we win the gate; a thousand more and we will gaze once more upon the Stars. Between us and our freedom stand those who thought it a small price to pay for a bent and twisted life, long though it be. But now I challenge them to face the serpent they have so long trodden under foot. Let them accept my challenge, if they are not afraid to give battle to the son of an iron-smith!"

This last challenge he issued again to the great host of the Ran-Orgnalsh, and after much clamor among that unruly rabble, Iraken, the greatest of those five kings, came forth. This Iraken was a giant, grown in the strength of his body by long years of malice and sorcery. He raised a black axe on high which screamed with the screams of all those whose life and blood the axe had claimed. Iraken waded through the press of the Nalshbori and strode to meet Sencan on the field between the two hosts, which lay beneath a great ceiling of cracked black stone. But the Hurorupeim shone in the darkness like a cold star, and ever as Iraken moved nearer it shone brighter with the hatred of all Orkon's Servants. And the axe of Iraken screamed as he rained blows down on Sencan, and the blows fell as lightning falls at a summer storm. But Sencan gave no ground unto his foe, and with the Hurorupeim he matched Iraken stroke for stroke. The axe of Iraken wailed loudly, but the Hurorupeim keened ever the louder, and at last it rang out with Iraken’s death-song. Then the axe of Iraken shattered, and Sencan cut the giant's legs from under him, and cleaved his head from his shoulders.

Then Orat the Terrible came forth to avenge the fall of his brother-king and answer Sencan's challenge. This he did wielding a great curving sword which groaned with all the fear Orat had inflicted upon his victims, for this Orat was a great and loathsome creature, and his visage more like that of a beast than a man. But his ferocity could not overcome Sencan's valor, nor his blade withstand the Hurorupeim. It shattered when it met that blade of Living Steel, and the Hurorupeim keened the death-dirge of Orat the Terrible. Sencan drove the blade through his heart so that he died. Next came forth Snamoel of the Gaping Maw, most loathsome of all the Nalshbori lords. He had been, it is said, a great glutton and drunkard ere he had turned to darkness, and now the long eons of corruption and debauchery had made him gluttonous for men's flesh, and a drunkard of the blood of the Ambori. He had a cruel, twisted visage, with gaping jaws full of six rows of teeth as sharp as a shark's teeth, but black with rot and decay, and his hunger was never satisfied, nor could his thirst ever be slaked. He carried a great wooden truncheon banded with black iron, but never would he spill the blood of his victims, for it was his custom to eat them while they were still living. Slavering hungrily, Snamoel set upon Sencan, and at first his great girth drove him back. And Snamoel laughed at this, and said:

"I have devoured armies. I have swallowed kings. I have had the sons of kings for the dainties of my dining table. Your head I will tear from your shoulders to decorate my board. I will split and crack your ribs and suck the sweet marrow in the sight of your kinsmen."

Sencan said nothing, but pressed his attack with renewed vigor, but the Hurorupeim sang out:

"Kingdoms and cities you have devoured, Snamoel the glutton, but you may find this morsel sticks in your throat!" 

Then, as Snaomel's mouth gaped open to swallow Sencan, Sencan drove the point of the Hurorupeim upward, and the blade pierced the roof of the monster's mouth, and passed through the top of his skull, and he died. Then Teitgal and Tetklet came forth and raged against Sencan with spears of black iron and silver. But their might combined could by no means prevail against Sencan as he wielded the Hurorupeim, and he shattered their spears, and slew those brothers there on the plain. Then the host of the Nalshbori wavered, and Sencan drove them to the gate, and broke them as a great wave breaks a ship upon the rocks. Then the Ambori pressed forward, and Sencan thrust open those gates of black iron. Thus, after long eons of slavery and torment, Sencan led them out into the air of freedom again, as the moon was rising and the stars were shining in the sky above. So the songs tell us.[9]

That night the most of the Ambori began their march, and they crossed the Cheyth and came again into the ancient land of their people. Then there arose a great debate, for some among them feared the war which would come when Orkon returned to the Black Hills and knew what was done. These were led by a chieftain named Yuralesh, and he argued that the Ambori should seek other lands far to the North beyond the reach of Vishnarr and his servants.

[And some have said that in this, Yuralesh was guided by a vision which Raos the Polestar had sent to him. But others say that this division of the Ambori was but one more echo of the curse which the Stone Kings laid on Lanenomen because of the wedding-slaughter of the Sothbori.][10]

But the greater part of the Ambori followed Sencan, and desired to press on to the Amborian Wood. They held long debate there on the shores of the Cheyth, and the place of their contest is called Ran-Verjal, the Hill of Debate. In the end, the greater part followed Sencan. But six thousand went North with Yuralesh, and were lost to story and song. Then Sencan's host continued Westward, and came at last to the Amborian Wood. Songs still tell of the meeting of those Ambori who had remained in the wood

[who sometimes are called the Sothbori, but this is a confusing appellation, for the blood of the Sothbori of old had long ago been mingled with the heirs of Feihoth, and all their chieftains traced their ancestry back to Lanenomen.][11]

As Sencan's host reached the wood, they were challenged in a speech akin to their own, though the long years of separation had altered is strangely. Then Sencan strode forward and, raising the Hurorupeim, hailed them as brothers. He was tall and lordly, and the light of the Stars was in his eyes, and the Hurorupeim shone in his hand like a shard of glittering ice. Very lordly the Sothbori thought him, supposing that he was Raos or another Star come to them as in the days of old. But Sencan raised them up and called them brothers, and the two kindreds were united once again. In the days that followed, Sencan took to wife the daughter of Klorpeim, chieftain of the Sothbori. She was a fair maiden, Hasanya by name, and by their union the children of Lanenomen and Alyeitalya were at long last united again into a single house. And of that house have come all the kings and queens of the Ambori ever after.

Upon the sacred hill of Orusen, Sencan caused a city to be built, with seven high walls by which the Ambori might be protected by might of arms and by the holiness of the Hill, and so that none might ever come to Orusen's Well unchallenged. In after days that city became great, and was called Sencankarr, after the name of its founder. But the Well and the sacred grove of cypress was ever tended by Hasanya, and all the queens of the Ambori after her, and for that reason it is called The Queen's Pool. For by reason of his valor and his goodness, and because of the light of the Stars still shone brightly in his eyes, Sencan was made king of all the Ambori. Ever has his line endured, and shall endure until the end of the world, if the promises of Heaven be not shortened.

---

[1] The theme of the serpent as poisoner or tempter is common among both ancient lays as well as the more recent popular ballads of the Ambori. For further examples, see The Lay of the Wayateth.

[2] This is of course Norkur’s own theory, although one which seems probable based on linguistic evidence.

[3] Here Norkur rather generously points out what is almost certainly a lacuna in Onerema’s original work. In every other detail Onerema follows The Songs of Spears closely, going so far as to preserve some of the original meter in his transcription of the dialogue of the poem.

[4] A curious insertion. I can find no textual source for this assertion, and must conclude that it was something Norkur was told, or discovered, during his wanderings.

[5] This was, and remains, the most widely accepted theory among the learned regarding the origin of the Nalshbori.

[6] In this, Norkur is probably referencing The Roll of the Chieftains of the Sothbori, an idealized account of the names of the Sothbori chieftains from Orusen down to Klorpeim III, the last of the chieftains of the Sothbori before Sencan I took the throne. The Roll is a model for similar poems which were made in later Eons to recount the reign of previous kings, including one which Norkur himself had composed, and he would have been very familiar with this poem. The Roll includes several names which are of great interest in tracing the history of the Ambori, the analysis of which is discussed elsewhere. Onerema’s earlier mention of similar songs indicates he may have also been familiar with The Roll, however if this is the case then his reckoning is uncertain, since it is difficult to tell if he includes Orusena I in his count of twenty, or if he means Orusena II, since it was in the latter’s day that the shadow fell upon the Kefnera. The names of the chieftains of the Sothbori, as they are given in The Roll, are as follows:

Orusena, Thorinta, Weiksura, Paranan, Teithbor, Klorpeim, Foloth-pabo, Palfeinan, Yalsamlon, Setela, Amsotha, Tengelbur, Shadlaharla, Verekan, Tenuyala, Rinsosa, Tanurendal, Nanalana, Malfaloth, Umnursos, Orusena (the second of that name; it was in his days that Orkon overcame the Kefnera), Ralush, Feiyaleth, Aneryalath, Anera, Hasanya (the first chieftainess of the Sothbori), Tenuyala (the second of that name), Nanalana (the second of that name), Variyala (the second chieftainess of the Sothbori), Klorpeim (the second of that name), Thoranrai (the third chieftainess of the Sothbori), Shadlaharl, Vasiral, Kaneral, Rinsos, Lanenom, Folothpa, Orusena (the third of that name), Teithbor (the second of that name), Klorpeim (the third of that name, whose daughter Hasanya was the first Queen of the Ambori).

[7] This song, called The Seven Labors of Sencan was likely composed at the middle of the First Eon as a likely elaboration of an older song The Forging of the Hurorupeim. This poem Norkur evidently believed to be the source of Onerema’s account of the forging of the Hurorupeim since Orimak’s account mentions only the one sword.

[8] The inscription Norkur includes here is not Old Amborian, or even Old Treian in origin. Norkur attributes it to “the tongue of the Stars.” If this is true, it is the only attested form of that ancient tongue which now survives. Norkur may have transcribed this from the runes on the blade itself if he had been allowed to do so during Nanrai’s reign, before the blade was lost, or he may have copied it from a fragment in the library at Sencankarr.

[9] This account of Sencan’s battle with the Five Kings seems to be a composite of Orimak’s detailed account and ballad dating to the early part of the Second Eon known as The Songs of the Hurorupeim.

[10] It seems clear that Norkur considers the second possibility the most likely. Of this sundering of the Ambori, Orimak has this to say: But some of the people left the host, after much bitter contention, choosing rather to face the perils of the endless North than risk a second slavery. This was the Wanreithacloray [war-of-words] and those Children who separated from their brethren are remembered only as the Duriri [the lost folk]. Here, their story passes out of the memories of the Ambori for many eons.” A cryptic statement indeed, for here Orimak seems to allude a familiarity with other tales concerning the Duriri. But what he means is difficult to guess.

[11] A clearer explanation of the difficulty in the name of the Sothbori may be derived from a close examination of the Roll of the Chieftains of the Sothbori mentioned above. As has been demonstrated elsewhere, the progression and repetition of dynastic names in the list suggest a Dalian culture which has come into contact with and become heavily influenced by the Treian culture of the Kefnera, but which retains an essentially Sothbori identity. It is only after the fall of the Kefnera to Orkon that a dominating Treian influence is seen (as demonstrated by the names of chieftains from Ralush forward), one which can probably be accounted for by an influx of refugees fleeing the conquests of Orkon in the East. The process of cultural assimilation which began, according to legend, with the marriage of Alyeitalya and Lanenomen seems thus to have intensified only after the conquest of the fall of the Kefnera, and was never so fully completed as to completely erase the existence of a Sothbori cultural identity.