Elmal vs. Shargash

From: Nick Effingham <wal_at_eff.u-net.com>
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 1996 21:16:48 +0100


This is a sketchy attempt at what the HoG may have been like versus Shargash:

ELMAL AT THE HILL OF GOLD


 In the Darkness, when the chaos winds had blown away most of Orlanth's tribes, Elmal's past came to meet him once again. As all good Orlanthi know, Elmal was once a member of the Sun Tribe, who left when he realised the illusions and deceptions that the Sun tribe maintained.  In the center of the Darkness, a messenger riding a golden hawk appeared at Elmal's stead. The rider was clothed in fiery cloth, and wrought in gold tarnished by the darkness, and when he saw Elmal he spoke in a voice almost as loud as Orlanth's, "Elmal Traitorsblood, your father, the omnipotent Emperor Yelm gave unto you the powers of sun and fire, that you might cast light upon the land. Now the Emperor lies dead, slain at the hands of your adopted brethren, and the Sun tribe is weakened. Your brother, the Destroyer, demands that you return your father's gift to the Sun tribe so they may rule mightily again. Come apostate, make this easy upon yourself, give me your gift without bloodshed."
Elmal, undaunted by the threats, knew that his light, his life breathing sunbeams, where the only things keeping his tribe, clan and adopted blood brothers from falling to the creatures of the Darkness. He refused the messengers request.
 The messenger came twice more, and each time Elmal sent him back. The third time that the messenger came, he carried a different message, "Ho! Elmal Traitorsblood, you have been deemed unworthy of your gift by the Court of Shargash. Yield it, or lose it by challenge."
"I recognize no such court," answered Elmal, "But if my brother challenges
me to a duel I am honour bound to face him. Let him name the place to fight, I shall come to meet him."
"He names the Hill of Gold."
"I recognize no such place."
"It lies north from here, if you cannot find it then you have failed before
you have even started, and must forfeit your powers without a struggle." And, with that, the messenger flew off again, back to his insane master.  Elmal grew worried, it was true that since he had agreed to such a challenge then he must appear or else fail by forfeit. He sought council with Lhankor Mhy, the Lawspeaker and Map Learner. He gladly aided Elmal, and searched long and hard for the requisite parchment, and produced it for his companion. Elmal then mounted his wife, Hippoi the horse goddess, and readied his armaments -- he took his golden armour that mirrored all that looked onto it's surface, that made him invunerable to all magics and spells for they were merely reflected when used against him. He took his Stormblade, a gift from Orlanth, which crackled with airy might and storm swirling energy. Lastly, he took his Sunspear, which glowed with his own inner light. Whoever held the spear, held the powers of the sun. Then he rode off, to meet his brother in battle.

 It was not long before Elmal arrived at the foot of the Hill of Gold. There stood Shargash, armoured in his dead father's apparell, not having the strength of character to seek his own possessions but instead being willing to merely inherit his ancestors. Alongside Shargash was his train of worshippers and sychophants who whispered sweet nothings in his ear and words of false encouragement in the hopes of becoming recognized in his eyes. Shargash, true to his word, however, accepted no help from any of those who followed him.
"Brother," he said, "You have left my tribe, and I demand that you return
that which is rightly mine."
"Destroyer," retorted Elmal, "You are no longer my brother, what is mine is
mine alone and the province of my adopted allies. I can no more return my father's gift to me than I might gift you my leg, or my head." Shargash sneered, "You may well have to, brother. Your head will do nicely on my trophy display."
 With that, the two gods clashed. Fire wrapped the two, encircling them in a fireball of divine proportions, and they took to the skies. They danced in a rite of sword swinging, maul clashing fighting that even entranced the shallow, souless followers of the Destroyer. For three days they fought, and in their carnage they laid waste to the hill, and it never again became the vibrant cornucopia of life it once did. Yet finally, after all this fighting, the two came to a standstill, each wrestling the other. At this point, Elmal slid in his storm blade and injured Shargash who fled with a scream of agony. The wound that was left was never totally healed.  Elmal was left, wounded, battered, exhausted but victorious. He rested for some time, awaiting the time when his strength had returned so that he might travel back to his stead and celebrate with his kinsmen. Yet, unfortunatley for the Sun god, Shargash has been tracked for a long time by an old enemy of his, the Black Lord. The Black Lord was rage and hate given form, a child of Nakala the eternal darkness. He had long quarrelled with the Destroyer for he desired his land. He had hoped to capture Shargash unawares after his ardious fight on the Hill of Gold. Alas, for the Black Lord, he had come too late to meet his arch enemy. Instead he spied Elmal, asleep and his wounds only just staunched.
 The Black Lord was overjoyed, here was the sun himself!! He would never again have the chance that had been offered him. He crept up behind the radiant Elmal, raised his poisonous club and swung. The blow forever crippled Elmal's leg, and the poison nearly killed him if not for his fiery blood that burnt the evil out of him. Elmal, now awake, went for his spear, but discovered it had gone. When he turned he saw the Black Lord fleeing away into the night, carrying it in his arms. Elmal tried to follow, but fell under his own weight. Then the paralysis of the poison came. Without his fiery blood powers, he succumbed and fell into a hazy slumber.  It was a cold time for Elmal, his body fell into a deep chill and ice grew off of him. He felt that Death was approaching, but even then only worried for his wife and children. Elmal turned blue, and began to fade as his might over Fire bled from the wound in his leg. Alas, for Elmal the Black Lord too was tracked by a foe. The evil Vaskal Krjalkson and his Monster Horde had long followed the Black Lord in an effort to kill him, for the Black Lord had long been a foe of chaos (as he was to everything in the Cosmos) and the Devil had offered great rewards to those who could slay, or even stall him. Vaskal had followed the Black Lord in the hope of catching him unawares and wearied after a battle on the Hill of Gold and defeat him then.  However, instead they came across the body of Elmal. Vaskal grinned, with all seven of his mouths, for he was a prize far greater than the lord of Rage and Hate, here was the Sun!!! Vaskal made ready to devour him. Fortunatley, Vinga the Adventuress, a companion of Elmal and a bonded kinswoman of the Orlanthi tribe, happened upon the Hill of Gold. She leapt into the battle without a word of warning, and quickly dispatched the evil chaos lord who had lowered his defences in order to properly savour his meal. In the passing hours she fought with vigour and passion and managed to force back the monster horde. Vinga picked up the dying body of Elmal, and healed the wound where his magic and soul seeped out of. She tended him, and finally brought him back from the brink of death. As he awoke, and the warmth returned to his limbs, the ice and frost that covered his body melted and turned to life giving water. We can see this in the way that winter, the dying sun, turns to spring, the return of life.

 After this, Vinga returned Elmal home. Elmal tended to his stead, and also
to his King, Orlanth, when he went on the Quest to Hell. Eventually most,
but not all, of Elmal's powers were returned by his sons and daughters by
recovering them from the Black Lord. This is the sad story of the sun's lose.
- -------------------------------------------------
Nick the Shaman of Thed
E-Mail:wal_at_eff.u-net.com
http://www.u-net.com/~eff/
I thought Britain was Dorastor without broo, but then Sandy made it all clear to me.
- -------------------------------------------------


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End of Glorantha Digest V3 #250


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