The Ballad of Istrael - Tales of Senniastril

[Bayushiseni]

The Ballad of Istrael
 
Living Longings
 
Your bones break like old roof tiles
Your clothes rip like a sail in the stormy sea
We bite your tender flesh with dry old teeth
We smell old and buried - aaahhh - we are the dead.
 
Your music calls on us - stingy and avid
Your laughs hurt our empty chest plate
You are beverage for us and we are not thirsty or hungry
We wander endlessly - aaahhh - we are the dead.
 
We are a phalanx of bow and spear and axe
Corroded by time and rust and oblivion and dust
We march towards your house and nothing will stop us
A locked door is an embrace - aaahhh - we are the dead.
 
We growl low and long a scary and undying sound
We wish for your tender lips in a tight kiss
Our maxilla closes on you like a nutcracker
And your screams are bliss - aaahhh - we are the dead.
 
Some of us are mourned - but just for a short while
Eternity erases all human strings except one
We say we won't kill you if you love us truly
But we rip the heart from your chest without a thought.
 
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
We are the dead.........

[Bayushiseni]

The Ballad of Istrael
 
The Song of the Death
 
The morning was cold. The smell of just made food filled the air in the small plaza. After a few weeks nobody looked at them with fear and curiosity anymore. Seniiastrill was already accepted by the inhabitants of the city. Especially by the children that shoot her time and again with avid questions about the Druusi. Istrael smiled with the image of children around her. Coming running from one of the few stoned streets of Marahiilliar, one of the kids that lived in the plaza waved at him shouting. “Captain, captain.” And stopped near him. Seniiastrill appeared at their house’s door and waited listening. “What is it, Irianni?” The boy filled his lungs, sucking for breath and pointed to the south zone of the city.”Captain Toriansor asks you to join him quickly.” “Why?” The boy’s face filled up with terror. “The dead.” Istrael went for his sword and the Druusi moved to his side. “Show us the way, Irianni.” And they walked away at a fast pace. Around them people moved with meaning, but very very frightened.
 
“Captain Toriansor. Do you need my help?” The captain turned facing them. From the palisade, the view showed only wheat dancing on the dry wind of the cold morning. They shook their hands vigorously. “I don’t know if you can help me, captain. But this is way beyond my knowledge. I think that both of you are more prepared to understand it.” “What” asked Seniiastrill.” My lady, the dead are outside. A full regiment.” “And you pretend to attack them before more of them arrive?” He denied it with his head, unsure. “They arrived under a white flag and are waiting. Their positioning isn’t of someone who is preparing an attack.” Seniiastrill inclined herself over the palisade trying to see them. “Strange indeed.” The captain moved near to Istrael and spoke softly. “I want to send someone to talk to them, but nobody wants to go and I can’t blame them.” And he kept his gaze on Istrael expecting. “Do you want me to go?” “Yes, captain. If you come with me I’ll be grateful.” Seniiastrill approached them. “I never saw a dead from close.” And then she laughed. “At least one that keeps moving.”
 
The three of them left the gate with a white blanket tied to a spear. The camp of the dead appeared in front of them after a turn in the road. They had mounted it in an open space, in high ground and with visibility. Dead or not, Istrael thought, they aren’t stupid. When they were at two hundred paces, two of the dead met them half of the way. They were dressed with the remnants of the Queen’s uniform. One was a corporal and the other an official. They waited in silence. “The dead want to speak”, said Istrael. “And they don’t smell”, added Seniiastrill smiling, “I always thought that they smelled”. The officer smiled mechanically. His face was cadaveric, his eyes still and without expression, but his voice was alive and warm. “We are dead. We do not rot. I don’t know why. There are other undead that are decomposing. Not us. And we are not like them.” Captain Toriansor approached a step in the officers direction. “You. You…” The dead made a dry smile. “Yes, Toriansor. It’s me. Or at least it was me. I’m commander Ingrain.” The captain nodded slowly. “You died. The fourth city regiment. Three months ago. In the battle of Itarnha. And now you are back…”
 
Istrael walked in the midst of the artisans. Arrows were being made. Wood shields piled up newly made. Thousands. The dead had camped outside, near the walls of the city. According to them an army of undead, led by several necromancers marched to Marahiiliar. Reinforcements would never arrive in time from the capital. They would have to fight them alone. Istrael was distracted from his thoughts by a group of noisy women that walked resolute through the streets. Strange, he thought. He followed them alerted by the violence revealed in their faces. They passed the city gates walking in direction to the dead camp. Some city guards followed them but without interfere. “What is this”, he asked one of them. “The dead don’t want to let them into their camp and now all those women have joined together.” Istrael looked at him intrigued. “What do the women want from the dead?” The guard looked at him surprised and with sorrow in his eyes. “They are the mothers and wives of the dead, captain...” Istrael stopped cold and watch them as they pulled away. Returned from the dead but still dead. This is not my business, he decided, but his throat was dry. He went back. There were a lot of things to check.



Thousands. Marching together. Like puppets pulled all by the same strings. Constructs. That was what commander Ingrain called them. The others. Rose from the dead but without any will of their own. The living were less and were terrified. “If we don’t do nothing we are lost”, said Istrael to Seniiastrill. She smiled back at him. “Come human. Let’s give some rest to those that already deserve it.” He raised his sword and with a movement from his wrist a rain of arrows darkened the sky for a moment. Many undead fell but still, many more walked without fear and they also sent arrows over the palisade cutting lives. And grabbing each other they start climbing the walls relentlessly like bone spiders. And the living ran away scared by that inhuman determination. Istrael shouted and punched the soldiers that were running away. “Stop! Stay! You must defend your homes and wives.” And he managed to hold some of them. But they were not nearly enough. The undead climbed the palisade and the opposition they found was disperse and disorganized. Soon Istrael was too occupied using his sword left and right to be able to moralize the city guard. And then he saw her. They all saw her. Dancing amidst the dead. Whirling. Laughing. His wife that wasn’t even human. Half a circle, open arms ending in twin swords and two slashes that cut two undead by the chest. A crouch that was like a spring. The backing of a foot that was a martial dance. A parry of enemy blades, followed by a twirl that split a head from a body. And the avalanche of the undead halted there. Dozens of dead pushing each other in a bottling caused by a feminine figure sliding from one place to the next and back again. Parry, thrust, parry, parry, thrust again. And that was giving time to the living to catch a breath. And in the other side of the battle, the city gates opened and the dead led by Commander Ingrain were spitted like a torrent and hit hard the necromancer’s army. And Istrael shouted like a damn and charged madly. Anger and violence took care of his body. Of his living body.
 
They had two horses. They had food and equipment enough to spend several weeks in the wild. They weren't able to pay for anything. The people from the city smiled and refused their money. Istrael felt sorry about leaving. Seniiastrill also felt it, but she never would admit it. He had seen her caressing Irianni head, like a thing she had learned recently. At the city gate they stopped to speak with the guards. One of the sergeants raised his hand to compliment them. “Come back”, he said with embarrass in his voice, “you will be always welcome.” “We’ll be coming back”, Istrael assured him. The other guard was one of the few dead led by Commander Ingrain that survived the battle. Istrael looked at him curiously. The dead looked back at him with empty eyes. But not his voice. “I’m still dead, captain, but my mother treats me as if I had returned alive and I don’t need to give her more regrets.” Istrael nodded without saying word. They crossed the great arch under the wall and were already away from the city when a mounted man called them. “Captain” and they stopped waiting for him. “What can I do for you?” Commander Ingrain smiled at them. “Can I join you?” “Are you leaving?” “I’m of no more use to the city, Captain. And you might need a strong arm.” Istrael looked at Seniiastrill. She smiled back. “If you can have a Druusi for company, why not a dead man?” Istrael smiled. “Come along. Call me Istrael. It’s been a long time since I was a captain.” The other lined up with them. “Very well, Istrael. But recently you were a great captain to this city. And you can call me Ingrain. It’s as good a name as any other.” In canter they disappeared in the other side of a small hill, and Marahiiliar, the city they have saved, stayed behind. Sometime later, a walking figure, hooded in blue, left the city running. Stopped to see the hooves printed in the road where the three had met. Then the figure raised, and walking calmly, followed their tracks.

[Bayushiseni]

The ballad of Istrael

The rules of Engagement

Round hips, long legs, smelling to sweat, blood and battle. Heavy eyelashes and pointed ears. "Assarioth niel adinarii shamun." And her voice, crystal, beautiful and full of mirth, touched him deeper than the sword that had cut him some moments before. "I don't understand you", the soldier told her. She raised her brow. "I'm in the mood to feel." He was surprised with her voice. Laying in the cold dirt, he changed his position, his blood wetting the cold, cold ground. "With disposition to uncommon feelings?" She laughed. "A Human with near death jokes? I always thought that humans were so terrified with death that they couldn't make a joke." He also laughed. "I'm terrified.” He paused, asserting the next words. “And in the mood for love." She looked at him silently. Slowly she wet her lips with her tongue. The battle was dying away. The humans were running for their lives, those who could. The Druusi slashed at them mercilessly. She knelled at his side, buried the blade that still had his blood in it in the ground and looked at his wound. "I read one of your poets", she whispered. "He said that all creatures should live a life of love. And that if we don't, then something is very wrong. He said that being in love is the most mature thing you can do in life. Do you know what this mean?" He gaze at her and his nemesis was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. "I am just a soldier of the Queen." "But do you understand this?" "Yes." "Then tell me." He blinked with pain. "From one side there is a wanting that offers itself... From the other side there is a wish that accepts..." She looked angry. "I don't understand..." He closed his eyes in concentration. "It's like opening the chest and accept that the sword that will cut our flesh to caress our heart." "Hum, yes, that I can see..." He looked her firmly in her eyes. "Predispose ourselves means that we must go through a certain path, prepare ourselves... or even... search for something ..." "A desire?" "Predispose ourselves to love is a bit different... is to let go what restrain us to receive or identify love... if it comes our way..." "And if it comes?" "Embrace it." "How?" "I don't know." She leaned on him. She kissed his lips and for the first time they had crossed swords he felt her... unsure. "Never have I kissed a man." "I know. Help me to get up." "Aren't you dying?" "Not yet." "We have no future, Human." And she helped him to rise up. Pleasure in the contact mixed with care. "Only if we don't want to, Druusi." They looked in the eyes, faces near, standing, equals. She smiled lightly. "So, is this to be falling in love?"

[Bayushiseni]

The Ballad of Istrael

The rules of Engagement

The sun was touching the horizon, red and inking the sky with purple tones. The serrated top of the ridge threaten to reap apart the settling dusk. “Dragon that once was”, as it was told in the old saying from the realms of Man about that kind of landscape. The soldier was seated leaning against an old oak that stubbornly insisted in staying alive. Her head rested on his legs, of her free will, like the willful cat that chooses when to be caressed. They had been travelling together for weeks, and, although he already knew her name, and she already knew his, he still caller her "Druusi" and she always called him "Human". That was the way they decided to maintain the distance that two enemies who fell in love must have. During daylight they journeyed, hunted, shared their stories - strange ones to each other - and in the night they shared a small blanket, their bodies and moans of pleasure.

Down in the dirty road below the old oak where they were resting, a group of men passed their location without seeing them. The soldier raised himself a little. "What is it, Human?" And she didn't even open her eyes. "Bandits" he said calmly following their movement with his eyes, like a hawk. "So", she asked and opened her eyes to fix them on his face. "They are going to attack the caravan that passed the road some time ago." "So?" He looked her in the eyes. "The caravan had women and children on it." "So?" "I can't stand seeing women and children being hurt without making something about it." She waved her hand. "Then do something about it." The soldier stood up and grabbed his sword. She sat up against the oak still looking at him. "I'll be back soon." He picked up his bow and marched quickly in a parallel course to the group of bandits.

He was approaching the bandits while they were preparing the ambush. She made almost no sound as she stood beside him. "You've came to watch", he asked her in a murmur. "No." "Oh?!" "I've come to fight." "Why." "I can't stand you to be hurt by someone." "Ah." "Is this the same reason that you can't stand that someone hurts women and children." "No." "You don't make sense. Why isn't the same thing, Human?" "I don't love those women and children." "Then?" "But if I don't do what in right and noble I don't deserve to be loved by anybody." "Not even by me, a Druusi that doesn't care if someone that I don't know is hurt by someone else that I also don't know?" "It is for myself that I do what it's right." "Even if you don't know these women and children." "Every man is father to every child." "That's a task... Even Druusi children, you mean?" "All the children." "You are a burden to me, Human." "You don't have that opinion all the time, do you?"

He landed in their midst, besides his warrior lover. As one, as if they were making love, they rotated to opposite sides. His sword cut the chest of the bandit’s leader. The two guards of the caravan, already prepared to surrender, found new courage and attacked the assailants. Eighteen of them. Eventually the guards would die, selling dearly their lives. The last of the bandits did run away, running almost twenty yards before being cut down by the twin swords of the Druusi warrior. The soldier cleaned his sword with the dirty cape of one of the dead bandits. There was a child crying in the twilight. A blessing, that sound.

[Bayushiseni]

The Ballad of Istrael
 
Uhai-vern
 
Fire crept softly between the circle made of grey stones assembled only for that night. The sun was already hiding behind the forest canopy. Laid down with her head over his legs, the Druusi moved the whetstone up and down across the blade edge of one of her swords. She looked at the whispering group crouched near the other camp fire. “Won’t you join them, Human", she asked him. He looked away from the setting sun that he was gazing peacefully. ”Why should I go?” She laughed. “To talk a little with them. They seem to be very curious.” “They never asked me nothing about us, Druusi.” “Maybe they are afraid of me.” This time he was the one who laughed hard. “They must envy me more than they are afraid of you.” She raised her body and looked at him fiercely. “Envy you? Why?” “There isn't one among them who never dreamed of having in his arms a beautiful Druusi warrior. And I have one right here.” She looked at him angry. “Don’t play with me, Human. Loving you won't prevent me to stick a sword in your belly.” He burst into laughter. “You've already done that and I’m not joking. It’s the true.” She shook her head in disbelief. “We are taught to hate and kill Humans in one hundred different ways and you Humans are having lustful dreams with us?” He yawned. “Not always.” She rose up fast and catlike. “I’m going to speak with master Urick.” He also rose, but slower than her. “I’m going to bed.” She moved away and then returned. “Master Urick. Does he also...” he shook his head with an amused smile in his face. “No. That one only has eyes for his wife.” She kissed him quickly in his lips. “Good then.”
 
The two caravan guards that replaced the deceased ones during the bandits assault were helping him. He had chose them because they were solid and honest ex-soldiers. The wagon wheel was almost fixed. Like always the kids appeared from all over the place, playing around and at the same time watching what the grown up ones did, in a mix of curiosity and fear of receiving an errand to make. Through the corner of his eye, he noticed Master Urick approaching with an unknown woman. “Captain Istrael” complimented the caravan owner and his current boss. He signaled back with his head and gave him his attention. “I present you the lady Sillarya. Mage”, he added like a warning. “My lady.” And he bowed slightly with his head. “Captain, I come to ask for your services and… those of your lady.” Silently, almost from nowhere, Seniiastril joined the group. He smiled. “Why do you need our services?” She smiled openly to him and her face became very beautiful. Wizard’s ways, he thought. “Your capacity to defend this caravan is becoming legendary.” He nodded without smiling back. “And what would it be our work”, he asked dryly so that she understood that her ways wouldn't work with him. “I will pay you handsomely to kill a creature that is slaying and preying around here.” He pointed to Master Urick. “We are hired for all this season.” She put her hand over Master Urick shoulders, who smiled weakly, slightly troubled with the familiarity she showed and caught in a deal he was somehow forced to make. “Oh, I have spoken with Master Urick and he will not mind making a small detour that will be well rewarded.” Seniiastril spoke then. “What is this creature?” The mage observed  her from head to toe always smiling. “An Uhai-vern.” The Master jumped in surprise. “A dragon? I wasn't aware that it was a dragon”, he said frightened. The mage laughed and shake her head, but it was Seniiastril who replied. “No. This one is weaker. It does not have the living flame and it is a stupid creature. Still, very dangerous.” He looked at her and then again to the mage. She nodded and said now with a serious face. “I’ll pay you ten thousand Gold Scepters.” The Master whistled. The Druusi turned questioningly to Istrael. “Is this a lot”, she asked. “It is a lot”, he replied.
 
The lair of the uhai-vern was a big hole in a pile of large rocks in a small hill's summit. Grabbed with hands and leges to the uhai-vern neck who was trying to crush him against the protuberances of the rock wall, Istrael was starting to think that ten thousand Gold Scepters wasn't such a large amount after all. Once again he tried to pierce the leathery neck of the animal with his sword and once again the tip of his sword failed to penetrate the beast skin. With another blow, the uhai-vern moved him from where he was grappled and managed to hit him with one of his paws, the claws cutting his side deeply, the sweet smell of his blood filling his nostrils. I won’t make it. I will fall, he thought. And then there she was. His beautiful warrior. Dancing under the fangs of the beast, sliding from one side to the other, as the animal bite the space where she was a fraction of seconds before. She will die, he panicked. And with a terrible effort, that forced him to surrender a cry of pain, he climbed again to the back of the uhai-vern and pierced his sword in the beast's neck with all the strength he was left with. The roar of the animal shook his exhausted bones and then he felt like falling down and his last thought was that he couldn't fall under the uhai-vern's body.
 
The wizard looked at them from faraway. It was so strange to see a Druusi taking a bowl of soup to a Human. She sighed. She had in fact seen strangest things in the past. “Are you awake, Istrael”, and Senniastril spoke in a low voice. He turned to her. “I must be dying, for you to call me by my name.” She put the bowl by his side. “Shut up and eat. If it wasn't for your mage you would be already dead.” “My mage?” She sat by his side. “She did everything she could to save you.” “And doesn't that makes you happy?” “It does. She is… pretty.” “Yes she is.” “And she is one of yours.” “One of mine?” “She is a human.” “You are jealous, Druusi. Of a human worm?” She laughed softly. “I caught myself several times thinking that I must be crazy to love a weakling human like you.” “So.” “You Humans are so fragile. But not really... weak.” He grabbed her hand. “Listen carefully, Druusi. If you see me making soft eyes to the mage, kill her immediately. She surely has put a spell on me.” She laughed and kissed him in the neck. “She is watching us”, she whispered. “I know”, he replied. “The uhai-vern that you've killed…” “That we've killed.” “Yes. It had a saddle on its neck.” “Did you ask her why?” “Yes. She said that she has no idea.” “We have a saying between us humans.” She nodded. “Liar as a wizard. We have the same saying. But she was mesmerized by you.” He laughed and she started to pour soup through his throat to shut him up.
 
She quailed her thirst drinking for a very long time from the spring. She let her dark brown mare drink and then she mounted her. From there to Loreenea, the capital of the Kingdom, it would be six days of travel. Time to get back. She would like to spend some more time with those two. Near them lingered a promise of interesting events. But she could not. She had other duties. The Captain and his Druusi were deeply in love and she found him nice. A pity. Long time had passed since she had felt the warmth of passion in her chest. And she didn't want to hurt him. But if the Druusi had showed in the slightest that she wanted to accompany her, she wouldn't have refused her company.

[Bayushiseni]

The Ballad of Istrael

Third Leaf from The Ballad of Istrael


One. At his hands the Black Sword roared,
Cutting heads from bodies with a joyful song,
His enemies' strength thinned and devoured.
The Destructor laughed and never paused.

Shouting savage songs of horror and death
Behind him castle and house and wall fell,
Golden wheat fields of hope and work burned
Women and children died, vengeance not met.

Mountains and valleys to him meant nothing
His march unstoppable, his deeds unchecked.
But in that night he arrived to the Quiet Place
Where a strange stillness was Queen and Grace.


Two. The  Quiet Man there calmly awaited
Death was not a fear or a stranger or a friend
In the night his sword had a pallid brightness
And he knew that would arrive he who was sent.


Three. The Destructor that loudly claimed no fear
He who said that despair and fright were just for the sad
Moved slowly careful and cautious in his steps
And his dartling eyes showed sparks of dread instead.

His strong iron-red hand strangely trembled
But that Summer night brought no cold to be said.
In the woods where everything was sleeping or on hold
Moving without knowing where to he crossed a pond.


Four. Then everything held when they finally met,
And in the dark night they began their stand.
The White Sword blow after blow would defend
The dark terrible blows the Black Sword sent.

For three long and dark days they fought
For three dark nights of despair they clashed,
Many strong devils the Dark Blade did join
But all of them by the light were banished.

In the fourth dawn a mighty blow swirled,
The White Sword suddenly shone like a sun
The Destructor of Hope with a terrible shout did fell,
And forever he was by the light banished to hell.


Five. Faraway in the morning echoed a bell
The tired Quiet Man paused once and then went away.
The sun rose in the clear sky and birds sang the dawn
The prophecy now fulfilled and balance restored to this day.

[Bayushiseni]

The World of Senniastril
 
A Possible Map - Westlands



A Possible Map - Eastlands



“The Thirsty Dragon will only listen to his thirst.” - Senniastril Saying

[Legion1963]

Indeed. Wow. That's some serious and impressive background. Well done. ;-)

[Bayushiseni]

Indeed. Wow. That's some serious and impressive background. Well done. ;-)

Thank you. You're most kind.