To Wake The Sleeping King (fantasy high or low, M for F)

[IrishWolf]

To say it was the end of days, would have been overly dramatic, although it was surely the end of the Kingdom of Welum. Whispers of doom had come for years, tales told of conquering armies to the east but they had never alarmed the nobles of the land. But now the enemy is here, flowing over the border. The King’s own brother is dead and the royal army, along with every noble’s retinue the marshal could find, has been broken. The cream of the nobility was wiped out or dragged into captivity. It will only be days before the host will reach the gates of the capital and lay siege to the city.

There is no hope.

The priests and priestesses pray in their temples, as the remaining knights and man-at-arms gather the people, their livestock and stores behind the walls, prepared to resist. Maybe their allies in the neighboring kingdoms will finally ride to their aid. Alone, the Loremaster pours over ancient scrolls and runic inscriptions. Even in these final hours, some members of the clergy find the time to mock the mage, who can barely cast a spell of light, which is more than most of those few still learning magic, can do. Although it should be noted, no miracle of the Gods has appeared to save them.

But salvation may yet be found in those crumbling tomes.

In the days of old, before the coming of the Gods and the age of Miracles, when magic was strong in the world and the fathers of men worshiped their own ancestors or pagan spirits, great kings were laid in the Barrows, when life left them. They were entombed before an alter, in their armor, with weapons in their hands and treasures at their feet. The Mages of yore, would incant long spells, laying curses for those who might plunder the graves and more importantly, weaving their magic, so that the promise each king made, to return when his people most needed him, could be fulfilled.

In the long passages, deep underground, around the chamber of the King, would rest his retainers and household, when they too passed into the Halls of the Dead. Each would be wrapped in sorcery, as they were laid in the grave, so that they could answer their King’s call, should he be awoken again and be in need of warriors. While it might not be an army of the dead, a core of fighting men, who could not be killed, would make an army invincible. 

As time turned and magic began to fade, this art was lost and the later barrows were simple graves. Yet the magic laid on the tombs of the first Kings of Welum, was strong still. When the Loremaster raced to the King’s bedchamber and summoned his council in the middle of the night, he was scoffed at by the Priests. If this magic was so strong, why had not the Kings of old arisen when the country was first invaded? But the old mage had an answer. When the Gods arrived, the old rites had stopped and the attention of the sleeping Kings had been drawn away from the mortal world.

They would need to perform a new rite, one that was as old as the Barrows themselves and make sacrifices, to awaken the great warrior kings of old. And not just any sacrifice would do, not just treasures and animals but it would have to be a human sacrifice. At least one woman of noble blood or better still, royal blood and her handmaidens, their blood to wake him, their bodies to keep him entertained while in the flesh and to go with him into the Halls of the Dead, when the foe was broken.

This would be the last chance for the Kingdom of Welum, no matter how slim.




So, anyone interested? Send me a PM and we can brainstorm.

I don't have all the details set in stone and I would love some input. I am thinking that the setting for the story would be something along the lines of late medieval, knights in plate armor, stone castles, the whole classic fantasy thing, with the King and warriors being more heavily inspired by Anglo-saxons and the Vikings. The invaders could be other humans or a more high fantasy enemy, like orcs or trolls.

After long arguments, the modern day king agrees to the Loremaster’s plan and orders that a young noble lady or possibly his own niece/daughter to be taken into the Barrows, along with a few common serving women and sacrificed on an altar, to wake a dead king. The Loremaster was right about the magic and the rite doesn’t kill the girls (at least not yet) but bring a King to life, to lead his warriors and the remaining knights and nobles of Welum to victory, however long that might take.

However the young women are also the Achilles Heel for the returned dead. They are a power source for the reanimated warriors and need to stay close, close enough that they will be within bowshot on the battlefield of the enemy..

Or it could be a foreign lady, some noble household driven from their lands before the enemy horde and thought to take shelter in Welum. Possibly a non-human noble.