The Land of the Ancient Vyrajian Gods. Book 1. The Girl and the Hunter

By Elena Kryuchkova and Olga Kryuchkova

Excerpts from the book:
The attention of the girl was attracted by the hunter. He courted a young widow. Throwing an excellent fox hide over her shoulders, the hunter said:
“Buy, beauty, you will not regret it! I shot a fox myself, I hit it right in her eye, so as not to damage the skin. Watch how it suits you.”
The widow peered into a small mirror made of silver amalgam, specially seized for a similar occasion at the fair.
“Oh! After all, I myself have red hair! And if I sew a fox collar on winter clothes, I will look like a fox. Ah, will you shoot me by mistake then, Lesyar?!” the young widow flirted with the hunter.
At this time, the mother of Ladomira, Miloslava, was distracted to try on a necklace, and Ladomira decided to approach the hunter. The widow was just paying for the purchase and exchanged a meaningful look with the hunter. Suddenly, the girl felt annoyed ...
Lesyar was unusually stately, handsome, strong.
“What do you want, Beauty?” he asked Ladomira.
She lowered her eyes: the hunter's voice excited her.
“Squirrel skins for decoration,” she answered in a strange voice.
Lesyar took a bag from under a wooden counter and laid out its contents in front of the gaze of a surprised girl.
“Choose! All is yours! We’ll agree on a price!”
Ladomira ran her palm across the shiny reddish-brown skin with black markings.
“I take everything.”
Lesyar grinned.
“Then I will discount some copper merculs,” he promised.
Ladomira unbuttoned a purse on her belt, filled with copper and silver coins, named in these places merculs. Because, as on one side of the coins, the face of a god unknown to the Slavs, Mercury, was depicted. Once the Slavs paid for their purchases with river pearls, but four hundred years ago merchants from distant countries appeared, their purses were full of merculs. Slavic knyazs liked the appearance of a foreign god of trade. Soon, mints appeared, which began to regularly replenish knyazs chests with copper, silver and gold merculs.
“Tell me your price,” said Ladomira, lowering her hand into her purse.
“Two silver and three copper merculs.”
The girl counted the amount and gave the coins to the hunter. He deftly grabbed her wrist.
“I heard — you are a novice at the Temple of Damp Mother Earth. Are you going to become a priestess?” Lesyar said.
Ladomira released her hand and threw coins next to the skins.
“Pack the goods in a bag!” she answered sharply.
***
...Over the sacred city of Radogosh, located on Mount Alatyr, which stood in a thicket of forest, clouds were gathering. The atmosphere among its inhabitants was heating up. Tension has been in the air for a long time, but lately it has only intensified. The inhabitants of the sacred city, the Vyrajians, those whom the Slavs revered as their ‘gods’, were going through hard times. For the cult of Logos was gaining strength in the western lands that were located beyond the Alba River.
The Logos cult was considered young because it appeared only about seven centuries ago. But, despite this, the newly emerged cult pushed the ancient Germanic and Scandinavian gods, they sunk into oblivion, and reached its zenith. And even Rod, the creator of all life and existence on the lands of the Slavs (Vyrajians by birth), who was the first to descend to Earth in a Golden Egg more than five millennia ago. Which was worshiped by the Western Slavs and considered him their ancestor. And his grandson Dazhbog were forgotten, giving way to younger gods.
The followers of Logos united in sacred orders — the Golden Cross on the land of the Franks, and then in Saxony, Bavaria, Thuringia. And in the northwest — in Denmark, the lands of the Norwegians and Swedes — the order of the White cloaks, which was the younger brother of the Frankish Order of the Golden Cross...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elena Kryuchkova
• Release date: Oct 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005248048

Elena Kryuchkova

Elena Kryuchkova started her creative path in 2012. She writes in different genres, such as: esotericism, fantasy, Slavic fantasy, sci-fi, dystopia, post-apocalyptic and others. Has several graphic works. A number of her novels were co-authored with Olga Kryuchkova.She is inspired by various fantasy and science fiction.Loves cats and draws.

Book preview

Prologue

Over the sacred city of Radogosh, located on Mount Alatyr², which stood in a thicket of forest, clouds were gathering. The atmosphere among its inhabitants was heating up. Tension has been in the air for a long time, but lately it has only intensified. The inhabitants of the sacred city, the Vyrajians, those whom the Slavs revered as their ‘gods’, were going through hard times. For the cult of Logos was gaining strength in the western lands that were located beyond the Alba River.

The Logos cult was considered young because it appeared only about seven centuries ago. But, despite this, the newly emerged cult pushed the ancient Germanic and Scandinavian gods, they sunk into oblivion, and reached its zenith. And even Rod, the creator of all life and existence on the lands of the Slavs (Vyrajians by birth), who was the first to descend to Earth in a Golden Egg more than five millennia ago. Which was worshiped by the Western Slavs and considered him their ancestor. And his grandson Dazhbog were forgotten, giving way to younger gods.

The followers of Logos united in sacred orders — the Golden Cross on the land of the Franks, and then in Saxony, Bavaria, Thuringia. And in the northwest — in Denmark, the lands of the Norwegians and Swedes — the order of the White cloaks, which was the younger brother of the Frankish Order of the Golden Cross.

Initially, the influence of Logos did not bother the Vyrajians. They did not attach importance to the young cult of the weak god. The Vyrajians could not have imagined that by their standards, very little time would pass, and the young god would gain unprecedented strength and power. In his name, campaigns will be put forward against the Pagans, professing polytheism, in order to convert the Pagans to their faith.

The young aggressive religion, like a plague, spread from the lands of the western left-bank Slavs into the territory of militant Germans, Franks, Danes and Scandinavians, devouring the minds of European peoples.

Now the cult of Logos was becoming more dangerous than ever. The Order of the Golden Cross erected powerful fortresses such as Hammaburg, Linsburg and Magdeburg on the left bank of the Alba River. The crusaders gathered their forces in a powerful fist, preparing for a decisive campaign against the Pagans, no longer wanting to make simple raids on Slavic territories. The Meister of the Order of the Golden Cross, Heinrich von Bassenheim, famous for his sophisticated cruelty and intransigence to Pagans, received the support of Gregory IX himself, High Bishop of Avignon, the living embodiment of Logos on Earth.

Friedrich von Hogerfest, the Landmeister of the Order of the Golden Cross, whose residence was located in Hammaburg, and Eric von Linsburg, the Landkomtur of Linsburg, strongly supported his patron in his endeavors. And they dreamed of getting the Slavic lands into their complete submission. Grandmeister Dietrich Voltingen, the leader of the Danish order of the White Cloaks, did not stand aside. He had long drawn attention to the sacred Slavic island of Rügen and dreamed of building a base for his fleet on it.

This state of affairs was extremely worrying for the Vyrajians. They were depressed in their sacred city of Radogosh, overwhelmed by heavy thoughts about the future. They increasingly wondered: what will happen if the eastern Slavic tribes that live beyond the Alba River sooner or later take faith in Logos? And stop praying to their gods, Vyrajians? Indeed, without veneration of people, without energy released during prayer, Vyrajians will lose strength. Their life force will weaken, the Vyrajians will gradually become like ordinary mortal people. And, in the end, their days in this world will come to an end.

Alas, time went forward. How many gods have sunk into oblivion? Their names are forgotten. And many Vyrajians left this world, which did not become their full home.

So after Rod and Dazhbog many gods went to the Other World, their life energy ended, mortals did not offer them more prayers. Over time, the Slavs forgot about the old gods, their place was gradually taken by new gods from among the descendants of the first Vyrajians. However, centuries later, their fate became unenviable.

Chapter 1

From the life of the Vyrajians. The sacred city of Radogosh.

Vyrajian Veles was in sorrow for a completely different reason than other Vyrajians.

At the moment, the poet and storyteller did not care at all about the active spread of the cult of Logos. Alas, he did not even think about the fate of the Vyrajians, along with the sacred Radogosh. Vyrajians who had once gone to the forefathers, who once inhabited Radogosh, he more likely perceived as neighbors than as family. And the neighbors can change...

The reason for Veles' gloom was exclusively creative. Veles wanted to write poetry. He wanted to recite his creations to the audience with an obsessive passion. But only inhabitants of Radogosh, Vyrajians, could act as them. And their number which, with the onset of the Order of the Golden Cross on Slavic lands, has recently sharply decreased. And the brothers and sisters were too concerned, according to Veles, the cult of Logos. And they did not pay attention to him at all. Veles suffered... He suffered in silence. And, like any creative nature, and selfish nature, he felt unhappy, and his heart was wounded.

A saddened Veles wandered through the intertwined deserted streets of Radogosh, sadly holding a parchment covered with runic inscriptions. The wind threw fallen leaves towards him — yellow, red, brown... Autumn has come.

Veles cringed from the cold, his light caftan clearly did not warm from the gusts of the north wind. However, he did not want to return to the family chamber of Triglav. Too tiring was the wailing of the sisters. The debates of the brothers are intolerable... And the despotism of Triglav, who considered himself the successor of