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Sea of (now) Frozen Tears
Aftermath of the Battle on the Ice
‘’STOP!’’ Cried a voice deeper than the sea accompanied by a crackle of lightning. All on the icy crucible could hear it, from afar and from the sky, and the last embers of battles were abruptly put to halt as friend and foe looked up astonished from whence it came.
A barefoot young boy in tattered clothes walked past and through the ships of the frozen pirate fleet, holding aloft a shimmering sword.
Prince Alric had seen the fighting on the ice and the ships ahead of him and knew them to be Eodaen. Having walked for so long with no food, water, nor shoes on his feet, the sight of his people filled him with joy and relief. But this was not the opportunity for rescue that the Prince had so greatly hoped for. The Banners were unmistakable. These were his Uncle’s vassals. What disheartened Alric so greatly was the realisation that all ships were of Eodan build. This was civil strife and it had to be stopped. If Alric was to save his people from destruction he first had to save them from each other. Thus the young Prince approached the battle confidently and raised his sword, and thus he yelled with fervour.
Seeing how their attention was grabbed, the sound of steel ceased and he found himself with a grand audience of his kinsmen.
“I beg you all, stop this violence!” his voice echoed through the frozen waves.
“Who are you? A sorcerer?’’ One of the men called back at the princely boy.
“I am your Prince.”
Alric was met with incredulous stares, though nevertheless perplexed.
“And I have been brought back by God himself to save you all. My name is Alric, son of Aethelberht. Blood of Horsa. Rightful King of Eodaland. Now I demand. Stop this violence.” Alric’s heart raced. Had he made a fool of himself? How could he hope to convince them? He continued to stand, sword raised, his eyes looking upon a sea of blank faces.
Back atop the Storm’s Herald, Aelfgar’s face goes pale as he heard the name of Alric drop.
‘’I know that voice… It can’t be…
Here? Now?’’
He looks nervously towards Leofric, and then to Leofric’s blade still held threateningly close to his face.
‘’Lemmy up for a bit… I’ve seen this Alric, I can identify if it’s him.’’
Leofric frowned at this development. Aelfgar’s surprise appeared to be genuine, but for all he knew this was some elaborate ploy. After all, why would the King of Eodaeland be out here? Where did he come from? Why did the ice freeze? There were so many questions. And what was that sword…
“Watch him, Peric,” Leofric ordered. Peric nodded, moving his axe to Aelfgar’s throat at the same time Leofric moved his own blade away. He eyed the boarders warily, and walked over to the railing to get a look at the Prince.
The Prince had been a boy when Leofric had last seen him, and at this distance all he could confirm was that he had the same hair colour. The odds that this boy actually was the Prince remained unlikely. But Leofric picked up a coil of rope, tied it tightly to the railing, and let it drop.
“If you are who you say you are, ‘my King’, then climb on up!”
Alric lowered his sword. He had certainly garnered the attention he required but perhaps more so from the sheer surprise his presence had caused. He dared not refuse this outstretched hand and began to walk towards Leofric’s ship, sheathing his sword.
He clinged to the rope and began to pull himself up until finally at the railing, slumping himself onto the deck. The Prince looked at the blank faces surrounding him until his gaze reached Aelfgar, the first familiar face he had looked upon for some time, though not a friendly one. Alric knew him to be one of his Uncle’s most trusted bootlicks and to see him in such a compromising position did give the Prince a guilty sense of relief. But this wasn’t the time to score a petty point against Badastan. Alric was no longer the boy he had been and his divine experience brought duty to the very front of his mind.
“It is true what I say, I am King by right. But right alone does not make a King. It is my mission to prove myself worthy of the people I will rule and that is what brings me here.” Alric spoke softly.
“I will prove to you who I am but you must first stop this fighting. Recall your men to their ships.”
Leofric glanced off into the distance. His men who abandoned their ships had successfully driven back their attackers. Even now, they were taking the barrels they had rolled down the slopes and were breaking them open, using their helmets as makeshift buckets to throw water onto the flames.
“Most of my men are already on their ships,” Leofric said, “and the ones that aren’t… I’m not about to order them to roast themselves.” He shrugged, then looked down at Aelfgar. “Are you going to call off your men, lapdog? If you don’t, Peric here will reward your bravery with a shave. But I warn you: he is somewhat clumsy.”
The captured thane bristles with indignity. ‘’Such hatred! And what for? What’s God ever done for you, huh? Nothing. You should’ve stuck true to the Squirrel Demon.
Why, ever since renouncing the False God me life's been nothing but laughter and sunflowers lemmy tell you! Just a basket of rainbows of joy me life’s been!’’
He looks to Alric and abruptly shifts to a grovelling tone. ‘’My good Prince, help one of your dear subjects out of the frying pan, will you?’’
“My Lord, it appears you’ve simply been bested. The power is out of my hands and in that of your… opponent’s.” Alric spoke before looking to Leofric inquisitively.
“I must apologise, I do not know your name or rank, though I must insist such formalities wait until we are sailing. My mission is urgent.” Alric turned back to Aelfgar.
“You must agree to some terms of surrender and while you are my cruel Uncle’s creature I will vouch for your life.” The Prince paused.
“Out of respect for your title.”
Aelfgar’s eyes light up. ‘’Oh thank you, Prince! You are most generous! Truly you are Aethelbehrt’s son!
Don’t do it for my sake, I have little children to feed, you see!’’
Aelfgar looks to one of the housecarls that had been nearly pushed off the flagship, had Alric not arrived timely to pause the fighting.
‘’Tell the men to withdraw to their ships.’’ He snarled to the housecarl, on which he leapt off the ship onto the slippery ice. An air of hesitation and further confusion manifested on the plains of ice, before slowly but surely, the Royalists began to withdraw from the ships, some of them dragging along their slain brothers for proper burials.
“I am Earl Leofric,” Leofric introduced himself. “I have taken to the sea to escape the usurper’s tyranny.” Then he turned to Aelfgar. “Pull him to his feet, and tie him to the mast.” As his men moved to carry out that order, Leofric addressed Aelfgar directly. “I will accept nothing short of unconditional surrender.”
Aelfgar stammers as he wiggles beneath the stiff robes, but the more he moves, the more the rope seems to cut into him.
‘’I already surrendered, but I’m just one man. I can’t give you the fleet, nor the men serving the fleet, since it doesn’t belong to me... It belongs to the Royal Family.’’
Alric piped up.
“It belongs to me.” Alric’s declaration created a moment of pause. All looked to him, some sniggering and shaking their heads. Alric then turned to Leofric.
“Earl, do as you will with Aelfgar but he is correct. His fleet belongs to the Royal Family and is, by right, mine to command. I may be young but I have the blood of my father, and God on my side.”
Leofric raises his nose with a stiff-necked upright posture, scoffing at the prince. ‘’God is on your side? How many men before you have claimed just the same?’’
‘’I will prove it to you.’’ Alric says, turning around to face the frozen ocean. He raises his sword skywards…
“Lord, as your humble servant I beseech you… release these oceans and free these good men’s ships from their icy grip!”
His voice would echo across the frozen sea and a moment of silence would captivate the sailors until suddenly several bolts of lightning crash from the heavens, decimating the ice, causing gargantuan cracks that begin to spread. These bolts are accompanied by a chorus of raging thunder that shook the skies and vibrated through the oak vessels. Leofric’s crew recoiled and took cover, with expressions of fear and bewilderment; Leofric himself flinched and shielded his eyes from the bright light. The splintered ice begins to drift apart, allowing the fleets to bob freely on the ocean’s surface.
Alric stood, his arm still raised in total awe. He had put his faith in His hands and proven that God was not quite so maimed.
The crew of the ship was equally awed, too stunned to move or speak. Leofric moved toward the railing of his ship and stared down, before looking at Alric, and then back at the sea. “By God…” he uttered.
Badastan’s men on the ice having also seen the powers at work, suddenly began running back over the ice towards their own ships lest they fall down the cracks. And, seeing this, the men of the pirate fleet began to cheer triumphantly. The battle was over, and Badastan’s army had been defeated! Victory!
Alric then turned to the crew and spoke softly.
“I did not ask for this. God spoke to me and I felt his embrace. If we do not all come together and accept Him our people will not survive what is to come. I am young and I am no King yet but with your support I can save us all. This I know as fact.”
The Prince turned to Leofric, sheathing his sword.
“For this task I need the Royal Fleet and I may well need you by my side. I know that once I am King and our people have been saved, Captain, you will be known as a hero and rewarded greatly, I swear it.”
Leofric looked toward the boy who claimed to be Prince, but then an alarmed expression crossed his face, and he glanced toward the rest of his fleet. Some of the ships had been rendered unseaworthy in the fighting, and were already slipping beneath the waves. Fortunately their crews had managed to climb onboard the other ships, but it was still a waste nonetheless.
The Captain clutched the railing in a white-knuckled grip, and he turned to face Alric, his face twisting into a bitter expression. “I’ll want those ships replaced, you know.” He said, looking the boy in the eye as he released his grip. There was a sudden tension in the air.
Then he drew his sword.
Leofric dropped to one knee, placing the tip of his sword on the deck. The tension faded, and he cast his eyes downward. “But aye, I’ll pledge my sword to you. Your Majesty.”
And with those words the crew of The Storm’s Herald followed his example. The Eodaens were the first to kneel, and they did so eagerly. Even King Badastan’s men that were present on the ship, lowered their weapons and knelt submissively to the Eodaen Prince. The non-Eodaens serving in Leofric’s crew were more reluctant; they had neither love nor loyalty to this strange boy, God’s favour or no, but they were loyal to Leofric and so they did as he did.
Alric nodded his head to Leofric.
“I will not take your pledge for granted, Captain. We shall sail for Radboudy where my sister is at court. She is married to King Poppo’s heir and I am certain they will give us refuge. There we can repair our ships and seek allies for what is to come.”
Leofric nods contented, revealing a smile. Then a brief silence permeated on the flagship, until a nervous laughter sounds from the back. ‘’I would kneel too, your grace, but I’m in a bit of a bind!’’ It came from Aelfgar, stammering with an awkward grin.
The young Prince then turned to his uncle’s captured Earl.
“You, my Lord, will accompany us and remain captive until the loyal and just vassals of my father’s realm are fit and able to judge you for your treachery of the Eodean people.
Now…’’
Alric raises a fist to the sky and speaks sonorously. ‘’Set sail!’’
As both Leofric and Aelfgar’s men returned to man their own ships, both fleets, now free afloat and thawed out, set off in the evening wind. They set sail back towards the great western continent of Visandza. It must have been the will of God... for somehow both fleets that were only previously locked in bitter conflict, have now pledged their allegiance to a common leader… None other than the one and true King of Eodaland.
