Radnor: Episode 1

By: Serge Lomako, Natalie Rose Lomako

Narrated by: Phillip J Mather

Radnor’s story began many summers ago in another cruel battle far away across the great ocean. It was in a wonderful remote land conquered by Zark the Vikinn, the fearless warrior from the North.

Zark was the chieftain of the large clan of Nordic people who called themselves the Vikinns, the children of the Northern gods who descended hundreds of years ago from the night lights in the winter sky. Vikinns were simple, yet hardy people. Cross them in battle and the ferocious side would reveal itself. The Vikinns were fearless warriors and brave seafarers, daring to explore the cold oceans and lands beyond the sea mist beyond their shores. Zark’s wife, Vilgren, chose to marry him at her young age of 19. By that age, the custom ordered all Vikinn maidens to have equally mastered the arts of war and the household. From the day of their wedding, the wife became the best of Zark’s war comrades. The lethal couple fought shoulder-to-shoulder in every battle, be it defending their homeland or stripping foreign realms of their wealth and wine. Sea voyages and snowy mountain raids were filled with glory as Vilgren recounted their victorious deeds with song.

Cruel hordes were of the numerous tribes who called themselves Monghols or Khassars, invading all lands from the southeast steppes and laying claim to all. Monghols practiced their custom to usurp the lands by callously laying the lands’ defeated leaders in charge of the lands which they had just lost - a bitter taste, but practical.

Here, the defeated leaders were to serve as the Monghols’ appointed local rulers, whose role was to mainly account for the people and goods within the conquered territory. They were also responsible for preparing and delivered the annual tax payment: one-tenth of everything the land had, including people and goods. Each year, the same procedure: one-tenth of the entire population of men were to join the Monghols’ troops and became Monghols themselves. One-tenth of women were to join the Monghols’ yourts, and children whose height was more than the length of a Monghol’s sword stuck into the ground were to join the women.

Finally, one-tenth of all the goods that were in the land became the quarry of the grotesque invaders each year; year after year. There was no way to hide anything. The Monghols had spies everywhere, and punishment was merciless. Unlike the Vikinns who schooled their own to immerse themselves into the conquered land’s culture, the Monghols, being a multitude of different tribes and faiths, in contrast have never left one of their own behind to govern the conquered territories. These were their traditions.

Radnor will soon return from the Southern deserts, armed with new knowledge of warfare acquired from the ancient foreign nation, to be giving the Monghols a shadow of death that would chase them until his mother could smile freely in Valhalla, listening to the songs of Radnor. During Radnor’s venture to the South, the Vikinns elect their new Chieftains and continue the campaign to protect their lands by fighting the Monghols.

©2019 Serge Lomako (P)2019 Serge Lomako

Looking forward to the next episode(s)

This was simply the first episode in what promises to be an entertaining serialization - good stuff!