The blood spilled in Viddar dried in the sun, revealing an absurd amount of death. The fall of the lord of Ulheim had been silent, and the inhabitants of Viddar either fell to the sword or knelt before their new lord. Because when the gates opened, the one who entered was not the old lord's heir, but the Giant King, Toskhan.
"Your Majesty, we have eliminated the city's entire militia, while the rest have been confined or captured," said a scruffy, long-haired figure with a charismatic bearing, flashing a relaxed smile. The only thing detracting from it was the scar revealing a bit of bone on his face. If Ducanor or Ulrika were here, they would recognize him immediately.
"Take the city; men, women, and children are now our spoils. Along with the castle, we giants will once again be the rightful lords of Ulheim, and the feys our slaves."
Thousands of giants had entered the castle, each with a presence that made most feys pale in comparison, and now the greatest fortress in Ulheim was in their power. How could they possibly fall now?
The smile on Toskhan's face widened as he walked ahead of his army, mounted on a snow-white, wolf-like beast. Behind him, his army rode dozens of beasts—all of them were sidhes.
"What do you want as a reward, warrior? Let it not be said that Toskhan does not reward his warriors," he said.
The scruffy man who had welcomed them bowed slightly: "Your Majesty, I only ask for a small place for me and my men to stay. It doesn't have to be the castle—after all, this place is for a king—but the rest of Ulheim needs a friendly fey face in order to be subdued."
Toskhan looked at the man in surprise, and his smile broadened: "All of Ulheim is mine to dominate and bend to my will, mortal. For that very reason, everyone is now my servant. You will own what you conquer under the supreme law of the strong proving their worth, and that is your right, but not your reward. As a reward, you will receive..."
As his gaze fell over the entire castle and the men and women being dragged away by the man's beastly, disheveled subordinates, he added: "My warriors, this entire castle is ours, as are all these lands, from the Endless Mountain Range to the Strait of Norue. All the loot is ours, but it will be divided equally. The slaves, the prisoners, and the treasures will be gathered in the center of the city, where their value will be auctioned in spiritual gems. Each warrior will have the right to half their weight in coin, while you, the warriors who took the city, will have double your weight in coin and the first turn at the auction."
His words echoed loudly, making everyone present hold their breath.
"And now go, my warriors, and spill the traitorous blood of the feys in their city of great walls, and show them the strength of the ancient giants."
The giants scattered with shouts, swords and weapons in hand. They dragged women and children from their homes, threw their belongings outside, and began looting everything from temples to businesses. They left no stone unturned, but that was the best-case scenario for the people of Viddar.
But in the worst...
"Please no, they are just children, I..." The old woman's head was smashed against the wall, leaving pieces of her skull embedded in the sediment, while the giant ignored the crying of the children and others present in the home.
Only to then focus on the women and...
While the horror of all-out war unfolded, women and children were branded as slaves while the men and the elderly were slaughtered. They were no longer people; they were slaves and the giants' spoils of war. Centuries of repression had bred considerable resentment between both races—the fairies and the giants. And in this moment, that resentment had been poured out like fire in a forest, burning everything in its path.
Looking at the scene of destruction before him, Toskhan quickly lost interest as he advanced up the main road toward the castle, but he stopped first, remembering something.
"Before I forget, what is your name, warrior? You deserve to be remembered by this king," he spoke, surprising several of his men.
To which the battered man smiled, showing his prominent fangs.
"Intermezzo, Your Majesty." Bowing deeply, he added, "Intermezzo Omeya."
The Child on the Throne
The legendary throne of Viddar was enormous; over twelve meters high and five meters wide. It was said that the first king of Ulheim was so large that Viddar Castle had been built to serve as a fortress for his race—after all, the first king was an aesir.
But only fragments of the giant throne remained; it had been restored dozens of times, and now only a throne six meters high by two meters wide was left. The fragments of the original had been used to forge the castle doors.
Legends said that only the rightful ruler of Ulheim would be able to open the doors as if they were a feather. Therefore, the doors had remained open for as long as there were records, and no lord or king had ever managed to close them.
Toskhan appeared at the threshold of the door, crossing it without stopping to look at it; he didn't know the legend, to him it was simply a door. And he found a small figure sitting on the throne in the middle of the great hall.
Looking like an innocent child with blue hair, he watched Toskhan with obvious amusement, without any bodyguards. Approaching the throne in silence, the giant knelt before the boy and said: "Your Holiness, I didn't know you were here; had I known, I would have prepared a banquet and a celebration for your arrival."
Leaning lazily, Avarion looked away as he stretched out on the throne, quickly abandoning it: "Relax, Toskhan, I was just warming up the throne for you, though I won't miss it too much," he added with a laugh. "It's very hard."
Toskhan stood up with a rough look as he suddenly detected two figures several meters tall in the shadows flanking Avarion. They were bone giants so massive they looked like towers themselves; in this enormous hall with a hundred-meter ceiling, these monsters only reached a little over a tenth of its height. And that in itself was terrifying.
But what alarmed him the most was another figure—a figure hidden behind a crimson hood who, despite being in the dark, seemed to shine like a sore thumb. Not just because of her beautiful and stunning figure, but because the mere act of looking at her caused Toskhan absurd pain, his own eyes watering from the heat she emitted just by sight.
"My lord, Magister Iaspis is apparently moving towards Otranto; the forces I left there are insufficient to handle them. Should I let them retreat and draw them to the mountain range, or...?"
"Let them die," Avarion said indifferently, as if it were natural.
Toskhan wasn't surprised; he expected that answer and smiled, because it meant his master had a surprise for him. And as if reading his mind, the innocent boy added:
"Tara is the grand prize, Toskhan. The Hegemon is not stupid; if she loses too much, she will call all the forces of the continents to Ulstrost and flatten the lands. Her void fleets could even desolate Viddar if she wanted to," Avarion responded nonchalantly.
The giant was slightly stunned by those words and felt a chill at the thought of the Hegemony's fleet of void ships flying over Viddar.
"Then I suppose Your Majesty has a plan," Toskhan commented somewhat fearfully.
"Of course I have a plan, Toskhan, but first I have to steal something," the demagogue said with a smile as he walked away from the great hall, followed by the enormous bone giants and that mysterious woman.
"Your will be done, Holiness," the king replied as he bowed.
"Oh, and I almost forgot," turning his head with an innocent smile, he added, "have fun."
Whispers on the Road to Cnut
Rumors spread like a wildfire; the first thing you see is the smoke, and by the time you see the fire, it's too late—you're trapped.
The messages were contradictory. The sudden presence of the giants outside the territory of Ulstrost was hard to believe. The rumors they heard grew increasingly terrifying as they headed to the city of Cnut: from the giants destroying the young lord of Ulheim's army, to their triumph and march on Viddar.
There were even rumors that Viddar had fallen into the hands of the giants, or that the Hegemony had invaded Ulheim, mercilessly forging a path of blood. No one knew what to believe, not even Tolrik...
"Dracma, what do you make of the rumors?" Tolrik said, looking at the old man doubtfully.
"Do you want to hear my advice or my opinion, young master?" Dracma asked. Tolrik's retinue had increased in number, but that didn't mean they were invincible; a troop of twenty giants, if they ambushed them, could easily massacre them.
For that reason, Tolrik had very cautiously made the mercenaries serve as scouts to gather information, in addition to guarding the road.
"I want your opinion, Dracma," Tolrik answered after reflecting. "Your advice may be necessary, but I want to know what you really think of this situation and not what you want to tell me based on what I think."
Dracma nodded and remained silent. Finally, he said: "I feel they are pure rubbish. Rumors created to disorient and confuse the population, or perhaps the ignorant people themselves created them out of fear. But despite that, I can't help but want to tell you to be cautious, Tolrik. Never be incredulous, because the truth can always be worse than we could imagine."
Dracma's words made Tolrik ponder, and he looked at the group. Aside from Fernand and Gedik, they were also accompanied by Ducanor, who had recovered from his wounds. Moreover, curiously, his master had sent Benia and Ulrika to accompany them, also adding Ek Thor to the equation, who served as an informant since he had contacts with various cults. And of course, he couldn't forget... Matilde, and her slave Leona.
And the closer he got to the city, the more Tolrik felt a bad premonition.