Fire and Ice Book Four of the New Earth Odyssey

By Robert Blumetti

After Blondor left with half the company to rescue Pal and Tom, Arlindor led the rest of the company through the Wolf-Staak to Neutria. There they were met by the Neutrian Boatmen who took them to their king, Amthrim. They discover that Neutria is already at war with Allomania. Rullin and Huck are left behind in Neutria while the rest of the company ride with the Neutrian Boatmen to battle against the Allomanian army, but they unexpectedly find new allies to join the Truemans in their war against Allomania and the King Kreel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781678039974

Robert Blumetti

Robert Blumetti has been an elder in the Odinist movement for more than 25 years. He was introduced into the Odinist movement by Robert Zoller, a Godhi with the Rune Gild, and world-renown medieval astrologer, in 1984. During the three years he spent with Zoller, he experienced an epiphany and became a devotee to Odin. Other Gods in which he established a special relationship with during this period of his life are Freyja and Balder. Blumetti is a Rune Master Program with the Denali Institute of Northern Traditions. His fi rst book on the subject of Odinism was, The Book of Balder Rising, which is a complete recitation of the Norse myths and interpretation. In his second book, Vrilology: Th e Secret Science of the Ancient Aryans, he explores the origins of Indo-European spirituality and the pagan religions, tracing their roots back to the Ur-civilization that existed in the Black Sea region, over nine thousand years ago. In his third book, Vril: The Secret to a Successful and Happy Life, which is an introduction to Vrilology. Blumetti is the Vril Master of the Church of Balder Rising located in northern New Jersey, teaches classes on Runes, galdor magic, seither, spa-craft, Vrilology, Norse lore and much more, and is a pioneer in the field of runic physics. Blumetti is also an author of many other books that include science fiction, heroic adventure, alternative histories.

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Fire and Ice Book Four of the New Earth Odyssey

Fire and Ice Book Four of the New Earth Odyssey

by

Robert Blumetti

Copyright 1985

By

Robert Blumetti

First Edition 2003: Iuniverse

Second Edition 2019: Scifi Imperium Publishing

Cover art and illustration by Robert Blumetti

ISBN 978-1-67803-997-4

Cover Art by Robert Blumetti

The Dedication

I dedicate this book to two men who inspired me to write it:  J. R. R. Tolkien, whose books filled me with the love of the quest and adventure and Richard Wagner, whose music moved me to appreciate the timelessness of our myths and legends.

Other Books by Robert Blumetti

On Odinism:

Vril: the Secret to a Happy and Successful Life

Vril and Germanic Magic

Vrilology: the Secret Science of the Ancient Aryans

An Introduction to Viktor Rydberg’s Teutonic Mythology

The Book of Balder Rising

The new Book of Balder Rising

The Complete Edda

The Elder Futhark

Yggdrasil Training Program

Hel: Part One

Jotunheim: Part Two

Svartalfheim: Part Three

Niflheim: Part Four

Midgard: Part Five

Muspellheim: Part Six

Ljossalfheim: Part Seven

Vanaheim: Part Eight

Asgard: Part Nine

Fiction:

The Falin Crisis

Galactic Affairs Short Stories

What If?

More What Ifs?

New Earth Odyssey series:

The Return of the White Stone:  Part 1

The Quest Begins: Part 2

The Witch's Cauldron and the Dragon's Fir: Part 3

Fire and Ice: Part 4

The War of the Stones: Part 5

Into the Darkness: Part 6

The Bully-High Lord of Uppsala-Hof

Happy Yule to You Too

Ironstorm

Rache!

The Lion Is Humbled

The Dance of the Titans

President Bonaparte

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Chapter One: Faerie Hill and Tales

For three days Arlindor led them on the forest road that ran parallel to the shores of Lost Lake.  To their right, the forest grew right to the edge of the road, but its branches did not cover it.  The trees were large and gray, with huge, twisting trunks and branches that were covered with moss and vines.  Behind them, as always, lurked the impenetrable darkness that filled the Wolf-Staak Forest.  But the Highway was free from the woods’ eternal blackness.  The road itself did not pass into the forest, and during the day the warm rays of the sun reflected off the mirror-like waters of the lake. Its surfaced rippled gently against the shore that was no more than a dozen feet from the road.  At night they lit a fire, and slept under the star-filled heavens that seemed to easy their apprehension.  The weather grew progressively cooler, especially at night, as a northerly wind blew off the lake, causing them to pull out their winter clothing from their backpacks. 

It was early in morning and the sun had not yet peeked over the eastern horizon when Magin walked around the small encampment that they had made on the shore of the lake.  It was exceptionally cold that Harvestime 30, and Huck and Rullin did not feel much like getting out of their blankets.

Come on, lads - rise and shine, Magin said laughingly as he nudged the boys, awake.  The sun will soon be up before you, and if you don’t get up now, you’ll miss breakfast.

The boys rolled over and rubbed the sleep from their eyes.  Rullin slowly rose, wrapping his blanket around him as he did to protect him from the morning chill.  He got up and sat down next to the fire with Huck right behind him.

Ever since they left Keel Amon, they were moody and depressed because they could not go with Blondor and the others, to rescue Palifair and Tom.  They were eaten up with guilt, and felt that they had broken their oaths to stick by Palifair through thick and thin.  They often found themselves talking about everything they had passed through, since they found the White Stone with Palifair in the North Mark.

I wish that we had never left Wissenval, Huck said.  We’ve proven ourselves to be of no help at all.  We’re just baggage for the others to worry about.

Don’t talk like that, Huck, Rullin said.  It was Mr. Blondor himself who wanted us to come along, and if Mr. Blondor thought that it was important enough for us to come on this quest, then he must have known what he was doing.

I hope you’re right, but for the love of the Mark, I can’t see what possible good our presence has been so far? Huck said under his breath as he wolfed down his breakfast.

Rullin’s mind flashed back to the night in the northern woods, when the night sky lit-up and they found the White Stone.  Everything that had happened to them on their adventure so far raced through his mind; the meeting at the Unicorn Inn, their journey through the Mark, the attack by the Horzugal at Gateburg and again, before Bridgetown.  The attack by the trogs and the wild boars, and the council at Wissenval all flashed through his thoughts.  He wished he was back in the enchanted valley of Wissenval, or at least, back in the Mark eating a proper breakfast of eggs and bacon with pancakes and hot buttered biscuits.  Instead, he was in the middle of the most forbidding forest in all of New Earth, eating burnt bread and month-old, dried sausages, surrounded by danger.  Why were he and the others chosen? He kept asking himself.  Didn’t Blondor say that things just don’t happen by chance?  That there were hidden reasons for things turning out the way they do.  As hard as his young mind tried to ponder the reasons for things turning out the way they did, the less he could understand the events that had unfolded.  The druids seemed to have the ability to see things that people like himself, could not.  They had the ability to glimpse images of the future.  Did they see something in his and Huck’s future?  If they did, they were not saying.  Rullin then felt a sensation of warmth on his face and looked up to see the morning sun shining brightly over the trees in the east.

After everyone finished their breakfast and packed their gear, they were off once more.  Olaf and Pettin were walking out front, with Arlindor right behind them.  The druid had not passed this way in many years.  He was not a wanderer like Blondor, and preferred to remain in the Mark.  Much had changed about the landscape since he last traveled this way, but the Tillenian woodmen seem to know the woods well enough, even this far west of Jassinburg.  In fact, all of Wolf-Staak, east of Dullin’s Gate was considered the responsibility of the Tillenians.  They were charged with keeping the roads safe, and could make use of the forest’s resources, especially the lumber and herbs they found there.

The boys walked behind Arlindor and behind them came Gordon and finally Milland, with his sharp eyes and ears, and his ability to read the language of the forest.

One section of the forest seemed pretty much like the next to the boys.  Both the rows of trees and the calm waters of the lake seemed not to change.   Despite all their walking, it seemed to Rullin like they were standing still, if not for the blisters on his feet to remind him of how far he had walked.

Later that morning, a thick fog had rolled in from the lake.  They could barely see more than ten feet ahead of them as they walked along the shore.  The air was damp and cut through their winter clothing, right to the bone.  By late morning the fog began to break up once more, and the sun was soon shining brightly.  They walked for the rest of the day, and stopped only for their afternoon meal.  They continued to walk until the sun began to sink behind the distant misty shapes of the mountains that could be seen on the western shore of the lake.  If not for the rising peeks of the Drag-Ratum, which meant, the Mountains of the Sun, there was no indication that they had made any progress through the forest.

It was late when Arlindor stopped the company.  It’s getting late and we had better find a place to put-up for the night, he said.  Tonight is the eve of the Hollow Mass, and it’s not wise to travel through these woods on this night.

Rullin remembered the tales that were told in the Mark of the Hollow Mass.  It was the night when the spirits of the dead leave their graves and walked among the world of the living.  The very thought of spending this night in the Wolf-Staak terrified him.  Rullin thought about the tale of the headless rider of Timberlandgrove, who was jumped by thieves while passing through the Middle Lawn Woods to Harlinburg, on this night.  They cut off his head and buried him in an unmarked grave.  The body was eventually discovered and reburied, but no one had ever found where they had buried his head.  Ever since, on Hollow Mass Eve Night, it is said that his headless spirit rose from his grave and rode across the country looking for his missing head.  He would kill anyone he met out on this night, cut off his head and ride away with it.  Rullin shivered as he thought about the story.

There’s as small hill not far from here, Pettin said.  It’s about two miles from here and is on the lake side of the road, so it’s not inside the forest.  It’s high enough so that its crown is above the woods’, roof, and there is cover on its slopes from unwelcome eyes that might be searching the night.

That sounds like a good place to make camp for the night, Arlindor said.  We should make for the hill.

But there’s something else, Pettin said.  My people believe that the hill is an Alfen Hill.  It’s thought to be a home of the faerie spirits of the woods.  It’s said that the faerie folk gather within such hills, hold great feasts there and made merry.  Wild singing and dancing takes place at these faerie parties, and they do not like to be disturbed, but they are no friends of the Darkness.

Then we’ll take care not to disturb these forest spirits, Arlindor said, as he turned and led the others up the road.

They continued to travel along the road for another half-a-hour when the road began to veer away from the lake.  The ground began to rise and now they could see the large, dark hump of a hill standing before them in the black of the night.  The road curved around it to hill’s left slopes where the forest edge stopped at the foot of the hill, as if it feared the mount.  The hill was not devoid of trees, and a scattering of very old holly, oak and ash trees grew higher up its slopes, close to the top of the hill.  They all appeared very ancient and their trunks were thick and covered with moss.  The branches seemed all twisted and tangled from the weather that blew off the lake.  But they appeared to possess a quality about them that invited one to walk among them.  It was apparent from that feel that they were not part of the forest, but that they belonged to the domain of the hill.

As Pettin led them off the road and up the side of the hill, Rullin had an unnerving feeling that they were being watched.  He felt as if someone, or something, was aware of their presence.  He looked at Arlindor to see if the druid was aware of anything out of the ordinary, but the druid seemed oblivious to the sensation. 

When they finally reached the top of the hill, they were standing among a large growth of trees.  They came to a halt within a small clearing surrounded by most holly trees that overlooked the western slopes of the hill.  There was a single, large ash tree that was taller and grandeur than the rest of the tress on the hill.  Rullin looked up at its dark form in the night.  It stood silhouetted against the night sky and crowned with a hallo of stars.  Rullin could see the roof of the forest that stretched out to the north and east from where they were on the hilltop.  To the west and south the mirror surface of the lake was still and sparkled with the reflected light of the stars overhead.

Huck joined Rullin as he looked out across the lake.  They could see the a few clouds gathering in the western sky.  The clouds appeared laminated with the last rays of the sun that had sunk behind the surface of the western horizon.  They could see two mountain peaks under the clouds.  The larger one was closer and appeared red in color.  It appeared as if it was on fire.  The smaller peek was further away and had a bluish color.  The contrast between them appeared hypnotic.

That one there, the reddish one, is called Drag Ratum, Arlindor said, causing the boys to jump.

Oh.  It’s you, Arlindor, Rullin said.  You startled me.

The druid ignored what Rullin said as he stood, staring off into the west.

It means, ‘the Mountain of the Sun,’ Arlindor explained.  The other peak is named Drag Rakum, ‘the Mountain of the Moon.’  It was there that the men of Keel Amon built great towers and kept great fires burning.  Sacrifices were made to both the moon and the sun. The towers were so large that an entire town could be housed in the base of each other.

Are the towers still there? asked Huck.

No, Arlindor said.

What happened to them? asked Rullin.

The men of Keel Amon were followers of the Light and thus built a great civilization, but there eventually grew among them a cult of priests who were seduced by the Darkness, Arlindor began to explain.  "It’s said that they had formed a secret alliance with the Kreel priests of Allomania.  They took possession of the towers and set-up shrines to the Demons of the Darkness.  In time they grew in numbers and caused a chasm to divide the civilization of Keel Amon - between those who followed the Light and those who followed the Darkness.  War broke out and civil strife filled all the lands under their rule.  Brother killed brother and son fought against father until the lands were drenched in blood.

"Then there appeared a great man by the name of Dullin.  He walked in the Light and the Light was strong in him.  Many good men looked to him to defeat the followers of the Darkness and put an end to the strife.  He called on the Lords of the Light to give him the strength to drive the followers of the Darkness out of Keel Amon.  A female messenger was sent from the Lords of the Light and appeared before Dullin.  She told him that the Lords of the Light would bestow upon him knowledge that could defeat the Darkness, but first he would have to make a sacrifice.  When he asked what kind of sacrifice, she told him to hang himself upon the tallest ash tree that he could find on this hill.  He should then hang himself from the tree by tying a rope about his hands and hang from one of its branches for nine days and nights.  Dullin did as he was told and after nine days and nights, his followers cut him loose.  He explained to them what the Lords of the Light had revealed to him while he hung from the tree.  What he learned was the secret knowledge of Rune-writing.  He used that great knowledge to defeat the followers of the Darkness in Keel Amon.

By using the knowledge of the Rune-writing, Dullin was able to cause the earth itself to tremble, causing the hills of Drag Ratum and Drag Rakum to shake.  The cliffs between the mountains collapsed and filled the channel that opened into the Great North Sea to the north, creating Lost Lake, as it is now.  The earth tremors also caused the towers to collapse and all those who followed the Darkness were either killed or fled.  Dullin and his followers then built a great gate and stone wall to control the traffic that moved east and west.  In time they were able to build another great civilization on the shores of Lost Lake.

What kind of people were they? asked Rullin.  The boys were enthralled by Arlindor’s story.  For the first time the druid’s face broke into a smile.  He led them back to the others, who had already set-up camp for the night.  They were gathered around a fire and cooking their evening meal as Arlindor and the boys joined them, sitting around the fire with them.

They were a glorious race of tall men and beautiful women, Arlindor said, as he continued his tale.  The other began listening to the druid.  They were proud and courageous.  Some claimed they were the first of the race of Truemans to settle in the southern lands.  Their skin was fair and their hair dark and they possessed eyes that were as gray as steel.  They cut the trees of the forest and built great cities along the coasts of Lost Lake and the Great North Sea.  The civilization they built was filled with the Light and they waged war against trogs that invaded the forest, and drove the Kreel out of the woods and into the lands to the south.  For a long time their civilization flourished, but in time they grew rich and their wealth corrupted them.  Their greed made them weak, and eventually, the Darkness returned to the men of Keel Amon.  As wealth corrupts and overwhelming wealth corrupts overwhelming, so the men of Keel Amon were corrupted.  The richest no longer felt a bound of blood with their fellow countrymen, and used their wealth to acquire power.  They used that power to enslave their countrymen and eventually did the unforgiving - they conducted heinous experiments on those they enslaved.  They learned to mix the blood of Truemans with the beasts in the wild and in the fields, creating a race of were-men.

Were-men? Rullin said.  You and Blondor mentioned them before.  Tell us more about them.

The legends of many lands tell of men who have the power to take on the shape of animals, Arlindor said.  Some use these powers for good while others use them for evil purposes.  This was true of the men of Keel Amon.

Whatever happened to them? asked Huck.

The men of Tillenia will tell you that their descendants still roam the darkest regions of the Wolf-Staak.  On certain nights one can hear their cries, or so some men say.  There are even a few men who claim that they have run into such creatures, fighting them off like one would a pack of wild animals.

That’s right, Olaf said in his gruff voice.  My father once told me that one evening, he and his comrades, while out cutting lumber, ventured deep into an unexplored section of the forest, and there they were attacked by such creatures.  Men-like they were, he said, and possessing heads and legs of wild animals, but they walked upright, like men.

Yes.  Even I have heard of such tales, Gordon said.  But never have I seen one, or actually spoke to anyone who had.  But there are plenty of tales by Marklanders who claim that they had seen such creatures in the Twin Woods or in the Northern Woods.

I sure hope we don’t run into any of these were-men, Huck said as he pilled more wood on the fire.

That night everyone huddled around the fire while they ate their small, but hot meal, and washed it down with the last of the golden drink made by Anna.

If only we were out of this dreadful forest, Huck said to Rullin.  It seems like there is no end to it.

It does feel like its eternal, Rullin said.  It feels like it blankets the entire surface of the world.

Once it was eternal, or nearly eternal, Milland said.  "Long before the race of Truemans wandered down from the frozen regions of the north, and after the great Hell Fires had subsided, and the world was barren of all green life and laid naked to the sun, there was one called Kernunon.  He was tall and mighty, like the redwood trees and strong as the oak, and he stood as straight as a cedar tree.  He was clad in green and brown, and walked over the barren surface of New Earth.  His long legs carried him far and he was able