Landsbyen -Into the North- An Epic Poem 15

The elf stared into his eyes for a very long moment, pondering his answer. He knew this would change everything in the life of the man who sat before him. He knew what the man suspected and that his answer would confirm Joulupukki's greatest fear, and yet perhaps it would set his mind at ease as well. It would explain his life of secrecy and running. His only fear was that he might decide to run once more and the prophecy would be broken, leaving the village to remain under the heartless and heavy handed control of the power hungry Rian and his minions, the current council of six. DynDoeth decided it best to tell Joulupukki everything; thus, began the great tale of his father, Erlenkönig. It had been many, many human years since Erlenkönig had ruled the Elfin People, not just the Village, but all of the elves of the six different clans spread across the different continents of the world. Peace with the humans was one of his most important goals, even to the point of being Joined to one. Not that he did not love Aisling, for he did with all he had within him. They loved each other more than most, be it elf or human, could ever imagine. Which made his decision to join with her all the easier with hope of bringing the elves and humans closer together. On the eve of their ceremony Erlenkönig announced that the elfin race was too great to be ruled by one leader and that he would create a council with a representative from each clan who would be equal to the king and each other and would make the decisions for all elves in the future. This confused the elves at first, for virtually all of them in all six clans felt very highly of Erlenkönig. They considered him a very good and wise king and all was well until the time of the king's Joining. Rian saw this as a chance of opportunity for himself and his close associates. At the time he was a minor advisor to the king on matters concerning humans. His clan was small and resided in the southwestern most portion of the largest land mass in the world. They were known as the Ibero Clan a name that remained with the humans adopted by the ancient inhabitants of the area. The Athenians used the name to refer to both the people and the nearby large river of the region. Rian who at the time was called Reginn saw the discontent in many elfin families who did not believe in the mixing of human and elfin blood. He secretly fomented discontent among the elves that wished to have nothing to do with the humans. All the while, Erlenkönig, went about forming his council, asking the elders of each of the clans to secure a vote from their members to elect a Council Elf to send to the Village as advisors to the king. Reginn (Rian) managed, through political maneuvering and manipulative persuasion, to circumvent the election and be assigned to the council directly, none of which was known by Erlenkönig. During the first few months of the council a strange illness began to over come each member and one by one they all died. Of course Reginn was the first to contract the illness and in a few weeks was completely cured. As each councilman in turn passed from the Earth more and more suspicion, with the help of Reginn, mounted against the king, many saying it was a magical curse brought on by the union of the Elf King and the human commoner. Reginn subtly weighed in on his view point, never accusing the king, but always siding with the radical fringe, helping to put questions in the mind of the average elf. On the day of their union, Erlenkönig gave a great and moving speech to the elves of the Village with his new bride standing beside him. He asked them to be patient with his new ideas and to allow them a chance to come to fruition. They cheered him on and chanted, 'long live Erlenkönig, long live Aisling,' which was repeated over and over, but this did not stop the followers of Reginn from attacking the king and his wife the following day. Many of the attackers were minor elders from various clans that had been brought to the village in secret with the sole purpose of taking control of the elfin capitol. Each of them quite powerful in their own magic.