The Swan, The Demon and The Warrior - by Cyril A. Peters

Th

e Swan

Th

e Dem

on

An

d T

he W

arr

ior

PETER

S

“They dismembered his body,” the skin clad man sobbed. “The

murderers dragged and carried every piece of him on the frozen ice, to the centre

of the lake. They broke the ice and created a hole.” He howled in despair. “The

remains of the Lord, your son, were thrown under the ice and into the waters of

the dark and forbidding lake.”

“I implore, O Almighty Creator,” cried the eternal queen, “for revenge

and seek nothing else...”

“...Astrid is no more. Henceforth, my daughter, you will be known as

Jasmine!” Gullvieg revealed. “Forever you shall remain a youthful, beautiful

bloom; though one that conceals within it the wrath of a vengeful god.”

CYRIL A. PETERS is the author of IGNOBLE

IMITATION. He is a tertiary educated person with

qualifi cations in Criminology, world history and

Indigenous cultures.

The year was 793 A.D., the day being the eight

of the fi rst month of that year.

The Swan, The Demon and The Warrior

By Cyril A. Peters Page 2

THE SWAN, the DEMON and

The

WARRIOR

By

CYRIL A. PETERS



Hamish

Life cannot equal a gift as one beautiful and loving boy...Cyril and Joan



Contents

LEGEND ............................................................................................................................................... 7

THE LEGEND, GRIEF AND DESPAIR OF GULLVIEG .............................................................. 9

DECEIT ............................................................................................................................................... 12

A MONASTIC TRAGEDY .............................................................................................................. 18

IN UNFATHOMABLE GRIEF ........................................................................................................ 37

TO BALANCE A SCALE ................................................................................................................. 52

THE HUNT ........................................................................................................................................ 58

RETRIBUTION ................................................................................................................................. 87

THE BLACK SWAN ......................................................................................................................... 97

THE BOSOM OF HUMANITY ................................................................................................... 104

THE DESERT HAS A SOUL ......................................................................................................... 137

A BEGINNING ................................................................................................................................ 180

TOWARD DESTINY ..................................................................................................................... 233

HEARTBEATS ................................................................................................................................. 265

TO CRUSH A FLOWER ................................................................................................................ 290

THE SEIGE ....................................................................................................................................... 307

ORIGINS........................................................................................................................................... 324

THE UGLINESS OF BEAUTY ..................................................................................................... 335

HÅMÜS, LORD OF THE SVEA RIKE ............................................................................................ 345

THE DREAMING ........................................................................................................................... 346

DESERT JUSTICE AND IMMORTALITY ................................................................................ 349

HATE ................................................................................................................................................. 374



VISIONS ........................................................................................................................................... 379

DESERT JUSTICE........................................................................................................................... 382

IMMORTALITY ............................................................................................................................... 390

RECKONING ................................................................................................................................... 412

THE RETURN ................................................................................................................................. 438

THE ROAD TO DESTINY ........................................................................................................... 448

REFLECTION .................................................................................................................................. 457

INSIGHTS ........................................................................................................................................ 462

TYRESÖ ............................................................................................................................................ 484



I am Yahweh of the Hebrew

Ngai of the Kikuyu

Trinity of the Hindu

Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu

When Fire and Ice combined in infernal cauldrons and Hell stirred with

flames of evil and injustice

I, Ymir ODIN,

Of the Norse,

Created you

Håmüs



LEGEND

Episode 1

In the Glow of a Magical Night

***A beautiful Swan sat among some rushes, her elongated neck arched in a poetic manner

as she observed her two cygnets with loving care. The cygnets were not mortal birds, created

merely to propagate the species. As young swans, they presented as beautiful creations, a male that

was white and a female that was black, nestlings of divine origins. ***

In the glow of a magical spring night, when all other creatures hushed to silence, the

swan beheld a Vision that dimmed the full moonlight to an insignificant illumination. It

spread its wings wide and embraced the energy that flowed from within the Vision. The

Swan shut its eyes and lowered its head in veneration. The power and glory of the

Creator God filled its soul.

The Creator bestowed blessings on it that mortal creatures could not aspire to, the

Divine entrusting the Swan with the care of two heavenly cygnets. Their souls were of

celestial origin.

One of the two cygnets was the eternally beloved of the Creator God. In the silence

and prettiness of the star dominated night, the Swan heard a Voice:

‘I am Ymir ODIN, God of the Norse’



A few days later, the Swan, eternal mother to two divine lives, accepted the gifts of

the Creator God. Looking towards the heavens, it swore to fulfil responsibilities

entrusted to it and to guard the cygnets with its life.

The Creator God named the Swan Gullvieg. It metamorphosed into human form and she

assumed the rank of Queen to the Nordic clans.

On a subsequent night when the moon concealed itself shyly behind clouds and

stars glowed, in joyous veneration, the Vision appeared again.

The white male cygnet swam out to the middle of the lake. Its waters reflected the

Light of the Creator God in waves of silvery streaks. The mother, Queen Gullvieg of the

Nordic clans, spread her wings wide and appeared as an angelic apparition. Together with

her female cygnet, she observed with deep respect as the Vision spoke to the male.

You are the breath of the Divine and your soul is immortal.

Serve your Maker.

The young swan lowered its head, touching the surface of the water. It spread its

wings wide and with extreme humility accepted the trust of the Creator God.

For all eternity, it would be a faithful servant to the Divine.



THE LEGEND, GRIEF AND DESPAIR OF GULLVIEG

***Some myth spoke of a swan that waited with eternal patience for its

immortal cygnet to be reborn, in human bodily form. Even though, the swan had

survived annihilation, she remained forever shunned by the gods and beyond the

finality of death***

Some said a legendary queen of the Norse, Gullvieg, was once a swan. She had

vanished from mortal life in grief and utter despair and never seen again. Of her two

cygnets, one, in human bodily form, died a tragic and ghastly death. As she waited in the

darkness of her grief, seeking forgiveness from Nordic gods, Gullvieg lamented

inconsolably. The death of the cygnet was a consequence of her carelessness.

Her cygnet was a human embodiment of the eternally beloved of the Creator God.

Gathering her other cygnet, a female, under her wings, Gullvieg descended into the

waters of the lake at Tyresö, in the lands of the Norse and into the depths of an infernal

and terrifying abode. There, she remained, to grieve. The divinities of the Norse punished

her in perpetuity for the loss of the cygnet. Gullvieg could not forgive herself either.

Legend had it that certain people heard Gullvieg wailing and singing mournfully in the

voice of a lamenting swan as she flew above the waters of lakes and rivers. Some said she

glided the waters of Nordic seas calling the name of her cygnet, her tormented voice

inviting the elements to grieve with her. The echo of his eternal name, Håmüs,

rebounded off rocks and bounced on the surface of water, wave upon wave until lakes,

rivers and seas made the environs shudder with despair.

The wind repeatedly whistled the name of Håmüs, in torment and agony and tossed it

randomly in despair. The legend recalled that the grief of Gullvieg was such that rocks



melted, trees withered on hearing her sing and solid ice shattered into fragments as they

grieved with her. The elements behaved in anguish when Gullvieg emerged from the

cavernous depths of a terrifying and torturous abode, to give vent to her sadness.

Winds howled and thunder roared like a wounded beast as the earth trembled with

Gullvieg in despair.

Lightning started forest fires with her rage as she lamented her lost cygnet. Gullvieg,

the legend said, could never die as a mortal entity. She was condemned; to forever exist in

shadowy regions, travelling between life and the obscure regions of unachievable mortal

death.

It was the anger of her gods that prolonged her damned existence; the depths of her

sorrow sustained her as a mother. For Gullvieg, there was no escape. She existed for all

eternity in vague timelessness, occasionally seeing her cygnet when her gods took pity on

her. When it appeared as a human, she could never touch Håmüs; the gods would

withdraw that meagre privilege if she attempted to do so. The legend said, in her grief she

had grown in strength and acquired the powers of a real god. However, the truth of that

remained a mystery and people feared her name without cause.

She could change the environment around her by sheer will. When her cygnet was

born and reborn in human form she could transform winter into spring and spring into

full summer. When it incarnated, Gullvieg isolated it from the world to celebrate its

company, as she no longer trusted humans. When she grieved in his absence, she had the

power to reverse the seasons, turn glorious summer into ravaging winter and command

the elements to mourn with her.

The legend said that she persisted in the shadows of existence for revenge and not for

justice.

She pleaded with Nordic gods, not to allow the perpetrators of an unspeakable crime,

escape into the comfort of mortal death. She pleaded for their existence in mortal human

form for all eternity if necessary. The gods considered her request, for a grievous harm

had occurred.



For all that, Gullvieg could never be continuously, or forever, with her cygnet. Only in

periods of transition between one life and the next could she acknowledge it. She could

not reveal to him her full identity, unless the gods granted her permission.

For its protection, the cygnet would never acknowledge her as its Mother.

She took comfort in the company of her female cygnet as the gods had immortalised it.

The female cygnet could trace the various lives of its nestling and follow the first, a male,

wherever it travelled in physical or spiritual form. Gullvieg remained forever imprisoned

to the lands of her creation as punishment for her carelessness. She could not penetrate

defined physical borders in bodily form.

The gods however, had been considerate. She could travel through time and history, in

spirit form, protecting her cygnets from annihilation as a service to the gods. The female

cygnet could accompany her mother, Gullvieg, on a soulful search within restricted

boundaries. Unlike her mother, she, the black swan, could follow her brother, life after

life, each time he was born in human form as Håmüs.



DECEIT

(The Fall of Gullvieg)

It was the autumn of 792 A.D.

Gullvieg allowed three young men who had recently returned from the continent entry

to her palatial domain.

Tall, elegant and regal, her pale skin touched with a suggestion of pink, her light

blonde hair arranged in methodical manner on top of her head, she appeared by every

measure, a queen. Gullvieg, endowed with the blood of humans and the spirit of the gods

appeared as a majestic figure.

Being uncertain of their mission, she preferred the three young men to wait.

Eventually, the protocols of Viking norms having been satisfied, she greeted them with

polite dignity. Though not very refined, they were nonetheless polite, reasonably well

mannered and accorded her customary respect due to her.

The young men introduced themselves as Toren, Ulf and Grünth.

Håmüs her son, they had known was a fearless soldier and had proved in the eyes of

many to be a leader of men. It was known that he was beloved of all pagan gods and more

so of Ymir Odin, the Creator of all things. They desired to meet with her son, they said,

to accompany them on a mission to the land of the Britons and Anglo-Saxons, a strange

place where the sun set, that few had the daring to reach by sea. However, they claimed

they had prayed to the pagan god Njörðr, whose power would calm both sea and fire and

grant wealth and land to those who served him. It was a venture into the future of the

Viking.



The clans needed productive land. When ice did not melt and snow covered the land in

spring, crops did not grow. Another pagan god, Freyr, had assured them in visions that

blessings for fair weather, farming, peace and much pleasure was for the asking.

Håmüs was diplomatically skilled. He had engaged in strategic roles to help secure

foreign soil for the people. It was their intention, the three young men stated, to seek the

renowned abilities of her son. Their mission was to appropriate territory on the lands of

the ancient Britons and the Anglo Saxons by peaceful means. The Anglo Saxons, they

said, were rumoured to be of a friendly and placid nature.

The Britons assured Toren, Ulf and Grünth, invited clans of the Norse as some had

visited Viking territory. They were prepared to establish relations in trade beneficial to

all. It was an opportunity not to be squandered.

A brief previous social encounter resulted in establishing friendly relations with Lord

Håmüs.

Håmüs, at the given time and in the company of his sister Astrid, was attending a

trade mission on the mainland. Gullvieg adored her children, her entire life devoted to

their welfare. She regarded strangers in her household with a modicum of suspicion and

young men, with no verifiable background, required a cautious approach.

However, they were charming, polite and respectful and their arguments were

persuasive; there seemed insufficient reasons to believe their purposes to be anything else

but honourable. The concepts were reasonable and Gullvieg was prepared to accept their

explanations. She was aware that others who occupied the roles of chiefs amongst the

clans would view matters differently, perhaps out of envy. However, the ultimate

decision would be that of her son. If convinced, she would merely be a messenger for the

visiting three men.

At a young age, her handsome son, Håmüs offered potential as among the luminaries

and legends of Valhalla, a haven for the warriors of the Norse. He was a young man of

twenty-three summers, proud in bearing, powerfully built and much admired by the

The Swan, The Demon and The Warrior - by Cyril A. Peters

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