CANTO II: THE MARCH OF THE OUTLAWS
The tale is told of the Dalian Kingdom: Once ruled by the mighty king Cumric, it was divided into three parts amongst his sons. In this weakened state, each of the three Dalian nations were conquered in turn by Vishnarr, until Cumric's descendants were forced into hiding in the mountains. There, through long years of hiding and exile, they lived as outlaws. The last of them, Vaneral, hears the plea of Dega's messenger for help in the final assault upon Vishnarr, but Vaneral fears to test his might against Vishnarr's. A debate results between Dega's messenger and Vaneral's poet and seer Kai. Kai foretells Vaneral's death in battle, and Vaneral accepts the will of Heaven. He winds his great horn, and the remnant of the Dalian people come forth from hiding to follow Vaneral to war.
When Lanenomen built his shining towns
Upon the hillsides which the Northern Star
Foretold to him, above the emerald downs
Where green grass roofed the caverns dark--
'Twas in those days, below the middle stars,
That hardy Cumric ruled the Threefold Land,
And there the law of love in equal parts
Dispensed with lordly word and courteous hand.
In after times the sons of Cumric Great
Disdained that any one should keep the throne
And rule the Threefold Kingdom's three estates
Which Heavens edict founded long ago.
So empty under sky sat Cumric's throne
Upon a craggy peak which time forgot--
Became, while sundered kingdoms fell alone,
A place which only bards and madmen sought.
Aaran land was first of three to fall,
As one by one its haughty nobles sought
The mast'ry of their brethren, spending all
Their valor in the civil wars they fought.
Then feathered demons over mountains stalked
And monsters led in conquest of the land--
The Aaran armies quickly set to naught,
Subjected Aaran under Vishnarr's hand.
Fair Oorna next the demons took,
And creeping silence filled the wooded dales;
Discordant trumpets high-walled castles shook,
And banners flashed, and swords shone red and pale.
The Threefold Kingdom struggled in travail--
Or wallowed, like a beast in bloody throes--
Until the One appointed to prevail
Should rise and lead the Three against their foes.
Ekkisliad, the land of ranging plains--
A Sea of Grass beside the Inland Sea--
Was swallwed in a tide of scarlet flame
When Vishnarr's creatures swarmed the Grassy Sea.
The horsemen rode unto the Forest's eaves
And there, by force or mercy, entrance sought,
But the horses wandered, mad, beneath the trees
Where Sothbori with poisoned arrows stalked.
Then the Ekkis riders westward turned
And rode in black despair across the plain.
Their houses, towns, and castles Vishnarr burned;
So dwellings fixed they evermore disdained.
Thus the Threefold Kingdom, whelmed in flames,
Gasped and faltered, maimed by ruthless swords,
While in the Dust, forgot by all but Fate,
The Seed of Cumric waited for the Word.
Through many years the Seed in darkness lay
In fallow earth, awaiting Heaven's Will.
Through many secret battles and escapes
The Seed maintained the Threefold Kingdom still.
At last, a band of outlaws on a hill
Which overlooked the Sepulchre of Kings
Were all that yet remained to do the Will--
Seedlings sprouting to a bitter Spring.
Among those outlaws, one of lordly grace
(In whose blood the First Estate yet flowed,
For he through many fathers yet could trace
His lineage unto the kings of old)
Sat before the Ekkis rider bold,
Who had in peril through the haunted lands
Ridden long in search of the Outlaws' hold
Where Vaneral held justice in his hands.
"The Khan of Khans calls all his friends to war--
He calls them friends who Vishnarr's will oppose--
For he has summoned twice ten-thousand horse
And rides to die, or conquer all his foes.
The Khan of Khans has seen the Web of Woe
Which Fate, the cunning spider, ever weaves
In caverns cramped amid the world below
All-hung with lives of peasants, bards, and kings."
Then Veneral sat silent on the stone
While Kai the Poet gave a skin of wine
Unto the rider. "Heaven's Will alone,"
Said Kai, "the sundry fates of men entwines
With world's, and brings all things in course of time
To fit that pattern long ago set forth.
That web the Weaver spins with silken twine
Reports, and not foretells, the deeds of earth."
Vaneral kept silence on the stone.
The rider drained the skin to quench his thirst.
"The Khan of Khans has walked, and that alone,
Among the halls forbidden under earth,
Where none may walk who dwell beneath the Stars--
Where none may walk who knew a woman's birth
Or saw the crimson riding of the Car
When Dawn the Ram goes bounding o'er the earth."
Vaneral kept silence on the stone
While Kai the Poet stood upon the stair.
"Such mysteries are not the Khan's alone,
For poet's eyes may pierce the upper airs.
I have climbed the dizzy purple stair
Which leads unto the seat of ancient kings.
I alone, of living men, have dared
To sit and hear the song the Bright Ones sing.
"This the proper place of my Estate:
To know the proper names by which the world
Is called by those whose rod and rede is fate,
And Fate their counsels afterward records.
May it be that this is Heaven's Word
For which through ages long we ever hope--
High Heaven will obedience reward."
Then Vaneral broke silence on the stone.
"Whether Heaven's Word, or will of man,
Yet some foreboding fills my heart with dread.
Is it our fate with blood to purge the land
So other men may till when we are dead?
The might of him who mounts the Throne of Dread
To crush the Threefold Kingdom would suffice
Were even mighty Cumric from the dead
Returned, with holy Noldu at his side.
"Your Khan, you say, has walked the twilit realm
Where dwell the spirits of the dead who wait,
Beneath the folding shadows of Night's helm,
The judgment which shall come at the end of days?
But Vishnarr holds the instruments of Fate
Which long ago he pillaged from their home.
Too well we know the issue of that rape--
The Threefold Kingdom grovels at his throne.
"The Khan of Khans has walked beneath the earth?
But Vishnarr in the middle-heaven dwelt.
If Fate's decrees are writ in Heaven first,
Then do not look to mortal flesh for help."
"Your fathers long ago this mountain held
When Cumric sat the Three Fold Kingdom's throne.
And I alone of living men beheld
The Kingdom from the lofty seat of stone."
So the poet said, his eyes afire.
"And shall I tell the Duke what things I saw?
I saw a purple smoke, a monarch's pyre,
And women mourned the giver of the Law.
His body lay in majesty and awe
While on his head a diadem of grace
Shone with diamonds, gleaming like the stars,
And after fire, flowers crowned that place.
"No certain hope of victory I give,
For victory may all our hopes devour.
'Tis fitting not for kings as slaves to live
To uncertain ends which lie beyond their power.
The work of kings, O King, is in the hour
To order things as Heaven's Will decrees
And leave to Heav'n the budding of the flow'r--
The work of Kings is but to plant the seed."
Then Vaneral stood forth upon the stone
And raised his hands, and drew his flashing sword.
"The Khan of Khans shall not ride forth alone
To Denthfeld's plain to fall in deadly war.
We join our spears with those who were of yore
Recked among the Threefold Kingdom's realm
And march--Now fearless, sound our royal horn
And let the blast go ringing through the dales."
The word was giv'n, the horn a page brought forth--
A twisting mass of horny ridges carved
With wondrous shapes of man, and beast, and horse,
Some flying high, some leaping to the charge--
And gave the horn into the faithful charge
Of Rian, mighty herald of the king
Who, in all their long and secret wars,
Had well-repaid the gifts he gave to him.
The horn was taken from a giant ram
Who once had ruled the Aaran mountainsides
Until a mighty king of distant lands
Traveled far to hunt him for his hide.
(The Ram of Dawn had taken for his bride
Some lovely ewe upon the mountain-slopes
And all the rams which sprung from Ibram's line
Had hooves of brass, and eyes which burned like coals.
This mighty ram was gendered from that stock
And ruled the Aaran mountains as a king,
Nor suffered man nor beast to dare the rocks
Which rose about the mountain's jagged knees.)
Much renown for hunting won that king
In haunted woods which lay in Western lands
Where once the righteous dooms of Feihoth's seat
Were heard, and men obeyed the just commands.
Nevi-Dan that king in songs is named
Who sought the ram upon a stormy night
When high upon the range the thunder played
And lit the jagged ridge in flashing light.
Men still sing how on the mountainside
The lightning showed those kings contend alone--
The illustrated struggle on the height
Was carved like graven images in stone.
The tale in full was told upon the horn,
Which afterwards was carried form the mount
And with the shining golden hide was born
In solemn state unto a grassy mound.
There Nevi-Dan was set beneath the ground,
A mighty horn upon his breast was laid.
The second horn with silver cord they bound
And to the Threefold Kingdom's monarch gave.
Rian gave the horn to Vaneral,
Who raised it to his lips and let it wind.
The horn-blast shook the rocks down in the dale
And in the caves and holes of desp'rate men.
A thousand horn-blasts answered in a din
And shook the peaks where snow lay piled high.
So from the dust the Kingdom rose again
And Vaneral the King rode forth to die.
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