Aglanthol 2 - Side Stories (The Legend of Murdock etc.) - 1. The Legend of the Ancient Town

The Legend of the Ancient Town

The legend says that foreigners came to the land many centuries before the kingdom of Aglanthol was founded. They came to the land by ship and they came from a far away land. The foreigners built a town far on the northern coast. They built a seaport because more ships were supposed to sail to the newly discovered continent. The first immigrants, however, were killed by the plague shortly after their arrival. And, strangely, no more foreigners came to the land. It was speculated that the plague had killed the foreigners in their homeland as well.

At that time only a few native tribes and clans settled on the continent. They passed on the story of the foreigners and over time the story turned into a legend.

Kenneth was one of the natives who encountered the foreigners. He was a somewhat solitary man. He was twenty-six years of age and he had not yet married. And no one believed that he ever would. Kenneth spent his time in his hut or on his cornfield. Now and then he went hunting or fishing in the river Isenbel. He joined the rest of the tribe only on rare occasions, for instance when a feast was held. Kenneth was not a nuisance and he was not a bother and that was why the tribe let him be.

One warm summer day, Kenneth decided to go hunting again. He went by foot like he always did. He was used to long distance walks. Kenneth walked north that day.

Kenneth’s tribe lived near the river Isenbel that ran from west to east. The water of the river made the land fertile. It flourished and the crops were good. The silos were always filled in autumn and the people were able to outlive the winter, although those were long and rich in snow.

Farther north, the ground was dry. The river Isenbel did not touch this part of the country. Only small creeks held water and they ran dry during the hot summer months. Plenty of rain was falling in autumn. But the air was already cold at that time of the year. The creeks turned into violent streams for two or three weeks and the soaked ground froze quickly. And then heavy snow was falling. No tribes had settled in this area and only few hunters had ever explored the region.

Kenneth had wandered farther north than any man had done before him. A couple of years ago, Kenneth had already crossed the dry area where only scant vegetation was to be found. He had walked for three days from morning to night. He had wanted to find out where the land ended. On the fourth day of his journey, the vegetation had changed. It was more profuse. Kenneth had wandered on and one day later he had reached a large wood. Kenneth had started to explore it. He had found a multitude of creeks that were filled with water even in summer. Kenneth had found plenty of wild fruits. The wood was rich with game and deer. However, Kenneth had decided to keep his discovery a secret. He considered the wood his property. From that time on, Kenneth had explored it every summer. He brought dried stripes of meat to his hut, but he arranged that nobody noticed. He knew he was selfish and he felt guilty a bit. He decided to tell the tribe of the wood in case a bad time came upon them.

Summer had come again. Kenneth wandered north. This year he would cross the wood. He wanted to find out what was on the other side. He still had not found out where the land ended.

Kenneth made a camp when he arrived in the wood. Then he stocked up his storages. The following day he walked farther north. He walked for three days and then he reached the edge of the wood. Kenneth encountered a steppe-like area. He crossed it and then he reached the sea. It was vast and stretched to the horizon.

Kenneth had never seen the ocean. He stood on a cliff and looked out on the sea. The water was blue close to the shore. Farther away it had the colour of gray. The waves rolled at the shore. Kenneth stood and watched them. He listened to the sound of the sea. A chilly wind was blowing. It made Kenneth shiver. But he remained standing on the cliff. The sea fascinated him. After a while, Kenneth found that the sound of the sea was getting louder. He saw that the waves rolled farther on the shore. Kenneth watched with fear what was going on.

He stayed near the sea for a couple of days and slowly got familiar with the tides. He was unsure, however, why the water behaved like it did. But the tide impressed him greatly. His fear vanished and he decided to go down to the shore. He waited until the water had retreated. The ground was rocky. Kenneth walked along. He saw shells and strange looking animals, but he found nothing that he wanted to keep.

Kenneth moved down the shore and then he caught sight of something that shook him deeply. Kenneth caught sight of a ship. The ship had anchored in a bay where the waters were less deep and less wild. Kenneth hid behind a rock and watched the ship. He had his own boat that he now and then steered down the river Isenbel. So Kenneth figured out quickly that the vessel was a very big boat.

So far, Kenneth had not met any people in the north of the land. He had never heard of a tribe living far north. He had never heard of ship as large as the one he saw in front of him. Kenneth kept watching. And then he saw them. A group of men appeared on the shore. They walked to the ship. The men had fair hair and pale skin. Apart from that, they looked very similar to the men of his tribe. The men were dressed in green tunics and blue trousers. They entered the ship and a short while later left it again, carrying wooden boxes. Kenneth followed the men furtively. They had built a camp in a safe distance from the sea. Kenneth figured the men had only recently arrived in their vessel. He hid again and watched the crowd from his hiding-place. He counted about one hundred men. They all looked very much alike. But Kenneth was too far away to hear their voices and he did not dare to move closer.

Kenneth watched them for a fortnight until he found out what the strangers had in mind. They started to build houses. These houses were not like the huts Kenneth knew. The stranger’s houses were made of stone. Kenneth also watched them hunting. Like he himself, they used bow and arrows. But one man had a weapon that was far more effective. Kenneth had no name for the unknown weapon. But he knew that the weapon, a crossbow, was dangerous. That was when Kenneth decided to inform his tribe. The strangers were a threat. Kenneth hurried back. He walked all day and part of the night. He had to warn his tribe before the strangers would find them.

Nobody believed him at first. But Kenneth insisted and probably his fear showed in his eyes. A group of men finally travelled north with him. Kenneth led them to the foreigners. The men returned a fortnight later. The chief of the tribe summoned a meeting with the neighbour tribes. A larger group of men wandered north again. With them travelled the greatest shaman of the tribes. The strangers meanwhile had built a small town. Kenneth and his fellowmen watched the intruders fearfully. More of them meanwhile carried the unknown weapon. The weapon was powerful and the natives knew that they would never win a battle. They had no doubts that the foreigners had come to war and conquer the land. The shaman was asked to find a solution.

The man spent the whole night awake and chanting. He announced the solution at sunrise. The rats from the swamp of Gudón would bring it about. The men stood in fear at the shaman’s announcement.

A man finally dared to ask how they should catch the rats and bring them to the stranger’s town as the rats brought disease and death to everybody who touched them. To stop the rats from leaving the swamp, the tribes deposited their farming refuse and the corpses of dead animals there. This usually worked out well. The rats only left the swamp once or twice in a century or so and when this happened the tribes immediately fled the area.

The shaman explained his divine inspiration to his fellowmen. They would attract the rats with litter and half-rotten animals. They would then catch the rats and take them to the stranger’s town. The rats would bring death upon the foreigners. The shaman was sure that not a single man would survive. The shaman’s fellowmen, however, did not applaud. They gazed at the man fearfully. The shaman finally said what they all were thinking. Two volunteers would catch the rats. The shaman waited for a while, but none of the men volunteered. The group travelled back.

The shaman met with his fellow-shamans and the chiefs of the tribes. They determined that a bow and arrow contest would decide on the volunteers. The contest was held on the day when the moon turned full. All not yet married men were obliged to take part. The two men who did worst would take the rats to the foreigners. This heroic deed would outweigh their failure in the contest. The contest started in the morning. When night fell, the volunteers were found. The two men gave in to their fate. It was made clear to them that immediate death would be their lot and their family members would be banned from the tribe in case they rejected their mission.

The two unfortunate men went off to the swamp the following day. The shaman followed them and watched them from a safe distance. His sight was like the sight of an eagle. He reported later that the men had caught nine big and fat rats. The men wandered north with the plague in a bag. The shaman followed them again at a safe distance. He reported later that the two men had sneaked into the stranger’s town where they had opened the bag with rats. The starving rats gorged on everything they encountered. The foreigners shot the animals. However, it was too late already. The men fell all sick and within a few days died. The two native heroes died in the wood as well.

The native tribes did not travel north for many years. Even Kenneth refrained from it. Ten years passed before a group of men wandered north again. They found the remains of about one hundred men in the town and they found two skeletons in the wood. Rain and snow had often fallen. The shaman was sure the disease was gone. The tribes, however, declared the stranger’s town taboo. The houses fell into ruin. The ship had already sunk.

The tribes feared that more ships would come to their land. Therefore, a group of men regularly wandered the wood and watched out from the cliffs. But no more foreigners came to their land. After two or three decades, the natives gave up their constant guard.

The incident remained a mystery to the natives. But whoever asked any questions regarding the foreigners was instantly scolded by the shamans. The holy men declared the whole matter taboo and no one objected. Juck Murdock was the first to break the taboo.