Sermon given by Joren the Mystic at Gwaeryn on the occasion of a local peasant being killed by an Aklash. 

Friends! Friends, gather round! I wish to speak with you. I wish to tell you about Petryg and the Five Visitations. Come, come and listen!

 Petryg was a great chieftain but one day another man came to his house and threw him out with nothing but his ancestral sword and some bread. Since Petryg could not hope to beat the other he decided to travel in search of the answer as to what he should do.

 One day while walking among the trees Petryg was seen by The Dank Stalker. It lured him to its chamber and stole the sword he'd been carrying. When he awoke out of the charm it had cast on him he knew he couldn't go back home without the sword he had lost to it so he wondered off into the deep forest.

 There he was attacked by The Swift One. Before he knew what was happening it had lept to his face and stole his left eye. And, while he stood in terrible pain, it lept again and left him blinded. 

Well, he was deep in the forest and all he had with him was a single old loaf. And without his sight he'd never get back to his family. As he staggered through the forest shouting for help he suddenly heard a great wind coming. Before he knew what had happened The Vessel of the Choking Wind was upon him, tore off his clothes and left him voiceless.

 Once it was gone he searched about for his clothes but all he could find was his bread-loaf. Cluthing the bread to chest Petryg crawled on through the forest till he came to a mountain. Hoping to die where no-one would find him he started to climb up the mountain when he heard babbling voices all about him and numerous hands started to grasp him and to tear his bread from him. And, so, bleeding, he was left by The Bearers of the Mask to die under a boulder. 

He spent a week there, his mind wandering over Jara looking for a way through to Misyn. He was close to death when the boulder he lay under slowly lifted, turned round and looked at him. It saw he was dying and, in its deep voice, told him to look for his strength in the earth he lay on. And so his mind dove into the ground and there it finally found the strength he had searched for. 

Another week Petryg lay under the boulder regaining his vigour but at the end he stood up and feeling the ground under his feet he walked to where the Umbathri had hidden his bread from him. And when they came to attack him The Rock Giant was with him and together they scattered the babbling Umbathri.

Petryg ate his bread, thanked the Giant and headed down off the mountain. His feet guided by the ground beneath them, he sought out his clothes where they lay among the forest. As he searched the Aklash fell upon him once more but, with his clothes Petryg made a trap and captured the wind within them. And, it is well know that a captured wind dies quickly. When the Aklash was dead, all there was left was a single small seed among Petryg's clothing. Petryg swallowed it whole and filled with the strength of the Aklash bellowed across the forest so loud that they could hear his voice back in his village and the usurper shuddered upon his throne.

 Petryg now searched out the little Vlasta that had left him blinded and when he found it he blew such a wind that the Vlasta was picked up and smashed against a tree-trunk.

 He took his eyes back from it and went to where the Nolah lay in its chamber. Seeing him coming it tried to charm him but he was too quick. Grabbing his sword he slew the Nolah.

 Now, with his strength and his sword back he could go back to his village. Once there, he sneaked into his own house, the one where the other man lay now, and called out in rage so that his enemies scattered and his friends came to his signal. The other man tried to fight him but Petryg moved faster than thought itself. 

The next day when the village gathered in celebration Petryg told them - I had been banished out of my house by my enemies And they thought their theft made safe by their strength But I sought out the lessons that Ilvir has left us And, finding my strength, regained my home. 



 Konrad Talmont-Kaminski