Heresy: The Book of Mammon

Chapter 33

Chapter 33



Loki leafed through the hundreds of parchments that sat upon his desk. Most of them were simple documents pertaining to purchases for Dustaffnage and contracts from the many vendors and farmers. Others were orders from the tribunal that spoke of lands, titles and lordship. What he was looking for finally revealed itself in the center of the thick stack of papers.

It was not a contract or order or anything of the sort, but a letter; one that he’d been expecting for some time. Hiding it in with the other things on his desk was clever, but the thought that it was in plain sight bothered him. He shook his head as he read through it.

Jarl Loki,

We’ve been expecting results for far too long, and we’re growing impatient. It is time you took action rather than waiting for the miracles of bureaucracy to work in your favor. Though we admire your abilities, it is time you set the politics aside.

The assistance of your organization is vital to our cause, and there are too many laws in place that restrict us from reaching our goals. We expect you to handle this tonight at the council. We pay you to work for us, and thus far, you’ve done little. With the council of the Thanes meeting, this is your single opportunity to prove to us that you were worth hiring.

You need not respond to this, as your actions tonight will be response enough. Remember, this is your only opportunity.

Best of luck Jarl, if you do not succeed, you’ll need all the luck you can get.

He slammed the paper onto the desk and shook his head. They were so ignorant to the ways of the lands. Laws were not easily changed in Xalimfal. The King was ignorant to the effects it had on the populace, and simply requesting that they be changed was not at all worth attempting. He required a more direct approach. Though he knew he could keep his employers pleased by the end of the night, another letter would eventually arrive, or worse.

He needed more time, but there was none to offer. They were quite specific in their requests, and he’d done his best to meet their demands. Now, with the appointment of a new aid, perhaps things would change. Ymirjar’s were loyal people, though they had no reason to be with the exception of fear. Fear is not the tool he needed. What he needed was trust, and Snorri was the perfect man for such a thing. The Ymirjar was one of the brightest he’d seen, and he knew he could handle the tasks at hand.

The others would prove useful in their own ways if those were the ones he would choose to be his staff. He was certain they would be. Ymirjars did not have the luxury of socializing with one another, and the four that worked in the kitchens were the few that knew anyone else. He’d watched the two of them for months before requesting that the two from the mines be brought to Dustaffnage. They were more than slaves or workers, they were friends. The two others were accepted without question, and he knew there was a tight bond between them. That is what he required. Close relationships were a powerful tool and were an effective means of obtaining cooperation. Though he really only needed Snorri, without the three friends of his, much of his head would not be devoted to the tasks he had in mind. It was a small matter. Though he would miss the excellent meals they prepared, more cooks could be brought to the castle. It was a minor sacrifice.

The Tribunal would handle things as they always had. His organization was by far the most powerful in the lands, and his employers recognized that. The Tribunal was more than just an office that denoted where Thanes’ borders fell, it was the supreme authority of Xalimfal. Though land was not a symbol of great power or wealth, it was coveted by the many Thanes that ruled the provinces. It was greed that powered his creation. Once he’d received the permission from the King to form the Tribunal, bribes arrived by the bushel.

Gold flowed as though it were water, and money was a great power. It swayed the minds of people in and outside the city. Vendors, farmers, and lords alike answered to him and him alone. Hjalmar was little more than a figure head to the people. He passed his laws and told the Tribunal what borders fell where, but it was them that ultimately made the decisions. It was a contest of favorites, and he enjoyed every bit of the struggle between the Thanes.
It worked its ways exactly as he’d hoped. Taxes rose on the outlying districts in order to fund the bribes, and the people grew ever more questionable of their King who was the target of their blame. The uprising was still quite some time away however, and now with the letters coming from the ones who had first hired him, there was no more time to be had. If only they were more patient.

Still, at the end of the night, he knew their approval would be his. The Thanes were greedy, single-minded people. Most of them were of little worth other than the application of the King’s law, and law mattered little to him. At the end of the day, he made the decisions, and the webs of politics wrapped ever tighter around the King.

Xalimfal was a backward sovereignty. The laws of old no longer mattered, but still Hjalmar enforeced them as though they were his own. Their ancestors didn’t care of honoring traditions as the King argued, they cared for the lasting existence of their lands. With the world changing around them, it was time to embrace the future rather than the past. Much was to be had from alliances of the western lands. Tarkan was their only ally in the past, but that would change.

Their trades had proven useful for them, but power did not come from furs, gunpowder, or food, it came from science. Though it was something far beyond his understanding, he’d seen its capabilities and potential. What was once only the mashing of roots and leaves had evolved to the application of military supremacy. He knew that the people of the world spread like wildfire, but there was still much land that remained unclaimed. He need only take it. With the potential alliance of the west, he would have that capability once he was King.

Those times were not on him yet. Power he had, what he lacked was control. All the gold in the world could not control the people. It was something he knew better than anyone. The poorest in the lands still survived despite their struggles. They didn’t need gold to live. People were animals just as any other beast that roamed the earth. The prime instinct of any animal was to survive, and he knew he could not break that single driving force in the hearts of all people. Even a King did not have such power.

He nodded to himself, and wrinkled the letter into a tight wad before tossing it into the fire that burned in the stone hearth across from his desk. Loki watched as it ignited into a small ball of fire before finally burning itself out into a black pile of ash. He looked up to the map of the known world. All about the lands of Xalimfal, mystery lied beyond the mist of the seas. Somewhere out there, a new world would be made, and it would be theirs. Like all other sons of Xalimfal with the exception of the Ymirjar, he was a Norsemid. It was the Norsemid’s destiny to own the world, just as it said in their holy book: The Gylfaginning. The world was theirs, and he would see that they had it.

His attentions returned to the papers that littered his desk, and he grabbed the quill that lay atop another pile and dipped it into his inkwell. He signed his signature on the many papers, not bothering to read them. He cared little for the orders of the King, but he would see that they were done. If for anything else, to avoid suspicion. Though he held far more power than the king could ever hope for, he was still vulnerable to his influence. Guards were loyal to him, but they followed their King.

The knock on the door echoed and he smiled to himself. “Come in.”

Iron hinges creaked as the door swung open. The Ymirjar was a sight to say the least. A dark tunic hung on him as though it were ice melting in the heat. The belt he wore was tied in a not around his waist, and wolf fur was thrown over his shoulder like a dead animal. It was all he could do to not laugh at the man.

“Forgive me Jarl, these clothes are confusing.” Snorri bowed low to him.

Loki shook his head and smirked. “Rise, Master Snorri, you’ve no need to bow to me. I’m not the King.”

Snorri rose from his bow and his eyes scanned the room. The man was in a trance.

“Master Snorri, welcome to my office.” He rose from his seat and turned to the window behind him. “Do you know what day it is?”

“The seasonal council.”

“That is correct. Today marks a change of winter into spring.” Snow covered the rooftops of the buildings of the city. “It also marks a change of our lands.”
He turned to the man. Snorri stared directly at him.

“A change?”

Loki nodded. He reached for a paper on his desk and handed it to him. “Tonight at the council, everything will change. This is your first duty, I ask that you make haste.”

Snorri stared at the paper and his eyes shot back to him. He nodded eagerly.

“Go now, Master Snorri. You carry with you the dawn of a new age.” He smiled.

Snorri turned, and ran out the door. He shut it behind the man, and her face made startled him. Razelle smiled at him with scarlet lips. Fire burned in her eyes as she stared at him. Not the fire of one excited, but actual flames. Her arms crossed over her leather clad chest but did little to hide a full bosom.

“Hello, Jarl.” She spoke with grace and elegance, as though she were a queen.

He bowed. “Razelle, I was not expecting you.”

A laugh escaped her lips. “That is the point. Scared you didn’t I?”

He shook his head. “It would be senseless to hide it.”

“Indeed it would.”

“What brings you to my office?” He turned from her and stepped to the window. He slid the heavy drapery to the center, and the light of the sun was shut out.

“This.”

He turned, and she stood directly in front of him. He despised her stealthy ways. She held a letter in her hands. It was the same on he’d burned earlier. He also despised her gift.

“I assure you everything is in motion.” Loki took the paper from her and again wrinkled it into a wad before tossing it back into the fire.

“For your sake, I hope it is.” She offered him a grim smile. “They grow impatient, Jarl.”

“And you don’t?”

She shook her head, and shoved him into his chair. “I wait for the same results, but I’ve lived a thousand lifetimes. One month means nothing to me. What I care about is our agreement.”

“You shall have everything I promised.”

A sharp fingernail touched his neck. “Promises mean little to me, Jarl. Results are the only thing that matters. The west is as false as any other cluster of humans, if they do not give you what you requested, I shall hold you accountable.”

“They will.”

She withdrew the claw and flicked her dark hair off her shoulders. “What makes you so sure?”

“I have something they seek.” He slid open the center drawer of his desk. Its smooth cold surface sent ice through his arm as he grabbed the hunk of metal and held it up to her.

“Orichalcum!” Her eyes were wide as she stared at the metal.

He smiled. “There’s more of it.” He placed it back in the drawer and shut it. “I hold the key to their success, without me, the cannot hope to accomplish what they’ve set out to do.”

“Who is the one?”

Loki shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.”

Razelle nodded. “Perhaps it’s better that I don’t know.”

“Indeed it is. She is the only one that I know of. I’m sure there are more of her kind, and eventually she will lead us to them.”

Razelle offered him a tender grin. “You are smarter than I thought, Jarl. You may yet pull this off.”

He nodded.

“I’ll see you tonight, Loki.” She waved her hand, and the drapery parted in the center. A second wave, and the glass shattered. The shards of glass burst to the outside, but they did not fall. Instead, they dangled in the air as if they hung on strings. The twisted and spun sending sparkling light dancing about his office. “Be careful. I’m counting on you to see this through.” She dove through the window and the glass rang as the shards fell back into place with no crack to be seen. A shadow darkened the sunlight and then evaporated.

“Farewell, Dragon.”