400 A. D. The Hubelaires are never conquered, but repeated sieges of their castle, destruction of their lands and frequent pestilences so weaken them that they leave Cornwall and sail to the Isle of Lundy in the Hungry Sea. Here they build a walled town and live at peace for thirty years.
430 A. D. The Rathlings invade Lundy and attack the Hubelaires. After long fighting with heavy losses on both sides, peace is declared; but the Rathlings remain in Lundy.
440 A. D. The Rathlings break the peace and kill all the Hubelaires; but Raymond the Golden, before his death, becomes the father of two sons, Raymond and Doom.
462 A. D. Raymond and Doom destroy the Rathlings and them sail to Armorica, where they establish the little kingdom of Walling.
782 A. D. Cecil is Lord of the Hubelaires in Walling. His only daughter, Angelica, dies, after destroying a giant.
783 A. D. Cecil, nephew of Lord Cecil, adventures to Cornwall and becomes the Overlord of that country. He lives in the castle of the Hubelaires, first occupied by his family in 57 B. C. He helps Lord FitzHugh marry Queen Broda of Ireland.
1. The Oak Tree
Lord Balder was old and tired, no longer able to lift the hammer with which he had slain a giant in his youth. But a stranger came to see him before the arrival of the marauders in their fifty dragon ships.
Balder, Lord of the Wolves, sat before his house in a massive chair, cunningly carved from the solid bole of a birch tree. Every day, except when winter hurled snow over the town and ice-locked the little harbor, he sat in this chair, sleeping at times and occasionally talking to his sons and the little children. His old face was lined with the passing of many years. His hair, once yellow, was now snow white. His family were proud of that hair, and his great-granddaughters quarreled over the right to comb and brush it.
At night he slept peacefully in a large bed, the posts of which were carved with wolf heads. He rested on and was covered with woolens filled with goose down. For many years he had slept alone, ever since his lovely lady, Thyra, daughter of Folkes-King Eric of Westfold, had left him after love-nesting in that bed till she had given him seven sons and three daughters.
The family lived in a cluster of stone houses. For many years they had been isolated from the world, self-sufficient and well satisfied with life. The sea furnished them food, the forests meat and wood, the pastures grass for their cattle and grain for their geese. Though they had no near neighbors and none had been in battle since Lord Balder was a young man, they spent part of every day playing at war, perfecting themselves in sword fighting, throwing the spear at a target and hurling the hammer.
Six dragon ships floated in the land-locked harbor. When their Lord or one of his sons died they placed him on a ship with all his war gear and his favorite horse and, setting fire to the ship, watched it sail toward the setting sun and Valhalla. Then they built another ship.
Year after year Balder sat in his great chair, saying less and dreaming more. At times he talked of the past glory of the Wolves. He told of their ancestor Scyld, who had come from the faraway land in the West. He had been only a boy when he sailed to Jutland in a rudderless boat, magically steered by the goddess Gefjon, who later married him. From that time the family had been befriended by the gods. Thor had taught them the use of the hammer in battle. When the Wolves were very young he had sent a falling star into the center of the town. It was flat on one side, sharp-pointed on the other and very heavy. A clever smith had attached a handle of hickory wood to this star, fastening it securely, and bound the wood with bands of copper. Around the handle he had woven strips of bulls hide so it could not slip out of the hand. Balder's father and grandsire before him had used this hammer in battle and it had never failed. None had used it since Balder had last killed with it, for it was so heavy that his sons could do no more than lift it from the ground. Balder kept the hammer clean and polished and it was always near him by the chair during the daytime and on his bed at night, for he thought the time might come when he would need it; but, as the years passed, his strength failed and finally he could only raise it from the ground and hold it proudly on his broad thighs. While he would not admit it, all the family knew that he would nevermore throw it in battle.
One pleasant day in early spring all the Wolves were merry. The young men and girls gathered wood of nine different kinds and placed it on a nearby mountain top to be burned at night as Balder's Balar. A pile of toadstools, called Baran, was placed nearby so they could be thrown into the fire to frighten the trolls who roamed the mountains, awaiting a chance to harm the family. The older men went into the forest on a very special mission, while the women were busy preparing food for the feasting. Only the little children had nothing to do, and so they gathered around Lord Balder and listened as he told of the hammer and how he had fought with it in his youth. He often talked thus, but, as he grew older, fact blended with fancy till even he was not certain how many of the enemy he had actually killed. Nevertheless it was all very wonderful to the little ones, and even the adults paused to listen, for they were proud that such a mighty warrior was their Lord.
"Tell us of Balder, the Beautiful, the god you were named after", demanded a flaxen-haired, blue-eyed girl as she climbed up on the old man’s knee. The other children shouted, "Tell us the story! Tell us the story!" and then were silent as the old man started to tell the tale, which was his habit each year on the day the Wolves celebrated the return of their favorite god from Valhalla.
"Balder, son of Odin, was, of all the gods, the wisest and most beautiful. One night he had a dream in which he fancied he was dead. He told this dream to the other gods and they determined to safeguard him from every danger. The goddess Frigg, acting for them, made fire and water, iron and all metals, poisons, sickness and all living plants and animals take an oath that they would never harm Balder."
"Did they keep that oath?" asked a boy.
"They did. The gods tested them. They threw stones at Balder, shot arrows at him, hacked him with swords and even built a fire under him, but nothing they did hurt him in any way. However, Loki, the Evil One, was not pleased and asked Frigg, ’Did you give an oath to everything?' and Frigg replied, 'To all except a little plant called the mistletoe, which grows east of Valhalla. It seemed too little to bother with. Then Loki went to Valhalla and found this plant and returned to the place where the gods were amusing themselves shooting arrows at Balder. Only blind Hother did not shoot. Loki asked him why he also did not shoot and he replied that he could not see. Then Loki placed a bow and arrow in Hother's hands and told him to shoot. Hother shot the arrow tipped with mistletoe and it passed through Balder and he died."
"What happened then?" asked one of the girls.
"All the gods wept. The women wailed and tore their hair and cried, ’Weep for Balder the Beautiful, for he is dead.’ They carried him down to his dragon ship, the Ringhorn, which was beached on the shore, but they could not launch it. Then a giantess named Hyrrockin came riding a wolf and she pushed the ship so hard that, as it slid into the sea, tire flashed from the rollers and all the earth shook. They built a funeral pyre on the ship, and on it they placed Balder and his wife Nanna, who had died of grief. They killed Balder's horse and placed him near the dead god, after that they set fire to the ship and started it on the voyage to Valhalla."
"But he came back! He came back!" shouted the children.