Ealdstan glowered out the window. When had he last visited the surface? A hundred years ago? Perhaps less? There were technical wonders then, but they were kept by the rich and influential. Now it was as if the sky had broken open and rained mechanical marvels down on all the people. In his brief trip from the tunnel exit in Sudmer Mountain, he had seen radios, telephones, automobiles, and here in Berlin, the elephantine omnibuses. Men wore clocks on their wrists. Ealdstan remembered when exact time was only known from church towers. Now anyone could strap it to their arm. And here, just the start of the evening, and electric light was already beaming from lanterns just as small, yet brighter than his own enchanted lamps. And then there were the weapons. So many weapons.
The car slowed slightly-out of reverence? — as the Reichstag came into view. Electric lights were strategically arranged to highlight its grand, sprawling design. It was obviously built to impress, but Ealdstan only sniffed and looked out the other window, then down at the sleeves of the large overcoat he had been given to wear over his robe.
The car slowed and stopped before the door of the great state building. Ealdstan allowed the driver to circle the car and open his door for him. Already a group was forming in the doorway to meet him. He involuntarily bristled at the sight and then masked his rude gesture by shrugging deeper into the large coat.
“Welcome!” A slight man in a dark suit emerged from the pack. He was clean shaven and his hair was completely slicked back. He wore a wide smile and opened his arms as if Ealdstan were a dear friend he hadn’t seen in years. He walked with an awkward, heavy limp, which he tried very hard to hide. “Welcome, my friend. Please, come inside. How was your journey? I trust everything was smooth.”
Ealdstan mounted the steps and crossed the threshold of the building. There was a great bustle, even this late in the night, as people moved folders, furniture, and themselves through the halls and corridors. “You’ll forgive the disorder. We only received offices yesterday, and much as we would like, reorganization does
not happen instantly. A large animal cannot turn immediately.
Feeling uncomfortable under the harsh indoor lights, Ealdstan stood alone, watching the people in the building dart to and fro.
“I am so sorry, sir,” the man said, returning. “Please, come this way.” He ushered Ealdstan into a large room off the main corridor that was oddly devoid of people. Then he shouted across the hall to a couple of men in brown shirts and trousers to stand outside the door and make sure that they were not disturbed.
“As I say, everything is disordered. I myself do not even have an official position yet-I just pitch in with whatever needs to be done, for the moment, and that seems to be everything. This will pass, this will pass. All that you see here-it is not confusion, it is reordering-a right ordering!” He crossed the room and closed the windows as Ealdstan stood just a few paces from the door.
“It is both exhilarating and exhausting at the same time.” The unofficial official lowered himself into a plush, ornately constructed chair. “Please, take a seat.”
“I will stand,” Ealdstan declared.
“Then I will stand also,” the other said and rose to his feet again. “And I will come directly to business. When we found we had opportunity to contact you, as you well know, we wasted not a moment. Until our man met you, we had no idea that the legends were true; we are simply beside ourselves with excitement over this most historic moment. Our leader himself will be here shortly to pay due honour to your person, but he has instructed me to act and speak on his behalf until that time. I was also instructed to present you with this.”
He went back over to the chair and picked up a long box that lay on a side table. He came back and held it out to Ealdstan.
“It is a sword manufactured in this land, made by Eickhorn, in Solingen, the best weapon-smith in the world. I would like to present it to you, on behalf of the German people, as a symbol of our shared goals and ambitions.”
Ealdstan reached out for it with both hands, tilting his staff against his shoulder. He opened the box to reveal a sword with a slightly curved blade, sheathed, with a hilt that was modelled with a gilt lion’s head pommel, the mouth of which bit the handguard that bent around to meet it.
“Those are rubies in the eyes, not glass. And the crossguard has been altered to include the swastika. That is our emblem. It has been selected and designed by our leader himself, as the symbol of our movement that will sweep Europe and, one day, the rest of the world.”
Ealdstan pulled back his great coat and tucked the sword into his belt, putting the box on the chair next to him.
“But that’s not why you are here. You are here because of what we can do for each other.”
“I do not know what I can give you.”
“We do not want anything
“Consult?” Ealdstan tightened his grip around his staff.
“We are building an empire. We have never done this before. You have been doing it, in secret, for centuries. We want you to help us. We know of your work. Our leader is a great student of legend and ancient history-of the forgotten times that are remembered only in stories. A time of dignity, when men not only lived with purity and honour but also fought for it. When the righteous stood tall, and the corruption of dishonourable men did not touch them. That is the golden age that the legends speak of. Those times that you have seen leave-as the faithful left, one by one, only to be replaced by the faithless. Did you think those times would never return?”
Ealdstan wrung his hands around his staff.
“Those days will come again, my friend,” said the man, smiling, knowing he was drawing Ealdstan in. “You have the knowledge, and the people of Germany have the will. With your help, who could stand against us?”
Ealdstan nodded and stroked his beard. “I would dearly love, more than anything else, to see that world come,” he said. “I would very much enjoy further discussion.”
There was a knock at the door, and it was opened by one of the brown-shirted youths. A man stepped through who did not wait to be announced, nor for permission to enter.
“Ah, here is our leader now!” The slight man’s face beamed. “Archchancellor! You have made very good time.”
“For this, I make time. So, you are the wise Ealdstan, I presume. It is good to meet you. This is a meeting that will be recorded in the legends of the future. I hope Herr Goebbels has been showing you every hospitality.”
III
Ni?ergeard
Frithfroth knocked on the door of Ealdstan’s study. He waited a moment and got no reply, as expected. He put a hand on the metal door loop and pushed it open a few inches.
“My lord?”
Ealdstan was at his desk, writing in a small book.
“My lord, the lifiendes are ready to depart.”
“In a moment,” Ealdstan said and dipped his pen in the ink bottle.
“Wysfaeder, if you will permit me. . Is it right?”
All that Frithfroth received as an answer was the scratch of pen on vellum.
“I don’t mean is it right that they aid you in this-aid
More scratching.
“It’s only. . that this is the third group of lifiendes that have managed to find their way here-no easy task in itself. I am told that on the way they ran afoul of the usual perils. Surely that is test enough?”
