Aglanthol 2 - Side Stories (The Legend of Murdock etc.) - 3. Gwyn's Silver Casket

Gwyn’s Silver Casket

The silver casket was passed on from generation to generation, from mother to daughter. It was passed on as a dowry since the day Kelim had given it to his bride as a wedding gift. The silver casket was a precious gift. Silver was a material that was as rare as gold in Aglanthol. The women hid the casket from their husbands. It was their insurance in case anything happened and the women were forced to live on their own: the early death of the husband perhaps, or his running off from his wife for whatever reason. Luckily, for many centuries fate had meant well with the women and none of them was forced to sell the silver casket. The silver casket was a precious gift. But the casket contained something that was far more precious, at least to those who saw its value. The casket contained a parchment. It was an ancient map.

Kelim had received the casket and the map from a Khalindash man in exchange for food. The starving man was close to death and so he readily gave away the most precious item he possessed. He told Kelim the parchment was more precious than the silver casket itself. While Kelim doubted his words, he nonetheless did not get rid of the parchment.

The outside of the parchment was covered with strange symbols and the inside showed a map. Kelim was not able to figure out the map. But the strange symbols fascinated him. Perhaps the Khalindash man was right and the parchment was precious. Perhaps it was even a magical item that a wizard or a wise man would pay a lot for. Kelim’s thoughts were quite correct, but Kelim did not act on them. He gave the casket to his bride instead. He told her of the mysterious words the Khalindash man had said to him. And therefore his bride also did not dare to give away the map. Instead, she passed it on to her eldest daughter as a dowry and she told her the mysterious story. Her daughter gave the casket to her own daughter. This woman carried on with the tradition and passed the casket on until Gwyn received it many centuries later from her mother the day before she married.

The casket and the parchment were old when Gwyn received them. They had already been old when Kelim’s bride received them as a gift. A man had put the parchment in the casket many centuries ago. He had found the map not far from the ancient town.

The ancient town had been built by foreigners who had come by ship to the continent in ancient times. The town was taboo for all the tribes that lived in the north of Aglanthol. The strangers had been killed by the plague, but the natives feared more ships would come and so men from the tribes wandered the woods for a few decades. They wandered up to the northern coast and watched out for ships. Igó was one of them.

He wandered north one summer. He did not dare to enter the forbidden town. But one day he moved as close as he could. He did not see a lot, however. The houses had already fallen into ruin and the ship had sunk many years ago. Igó gazed at the ruins. He hesitated to enter the town for he knew that the foreigners had been killed by the plague. Igó surrounded the town instead. He encountered a skeleton on his way, the remains of one of the intruders. Igó shied away from it. He stumbled and fell to the ground. He spotted an oil cloth beneath a bush when he tried to sit up. Igó knew that he was imprudent. But he could not resist. He reached out his hand and seized the oil cloth. A parchment was carefully wrapped up in it. Igó studied it closely. He figured out quickly that the parchment was a map that the foreigners had brought along. Igó realized the map’s value. He took the parchment with him and placed it in a silver casket that he had inherited from his father.

Igó did not show the map to anybody. He knew they would take it away from him. The tribe would destroy the parchment that had belonged to the hated intruders. Igó was sure, however, that some future day the map would yield a high price. So Igó kept it. He gave the silver casket and the parchment to his son when he was old and felt that he was close to death. His son gave the items to his own son. And thus the casket and the map were passed on from generation to generation. The descendants of Igó belonged to the Clan of Bre that was driven from Aglanthol territory in the days of Khaalindaan. The last owner of the items was a Khalindash man.

This man lost his way in a violent snow storm. He was close to death when Kelim found him. The Khalindash man had taken the silver casket with him for he never let alone the precious item. The starving man offered the casket to Kelim in exchange for food. And that’s how the silver casket and the ancient map came to Aglanthol. Kelim gave them to his bride as a wedding gift. And from that day on the items were passed on from generation to generation, from mother to her eldest daughter, until the day that Gwyn received them from her mother.