Of the Journey to South Edagwon
Publisher: Golem Ríša
Release Date: 1995
Cover: V. Válková
Illustrated by: V. Válková
The book was nominated for the ASFFH Award (Academy of Sci-fi, Fantasy and Horror Fiction) in 1995
reedition
Publisher: Wolf Publishing
Release Date: 2005
Cover: Grigory Vyatkin
No illustrations included
This four volumes re-edition incorporates the content of the volume Of the Journey to South Edagwon to the chronological order of the story.
SUMMARY
Gudleifr’s followers together with other men including his son, prince Berohard, set off across the sea with few ships to the South Edagwon. Their aim was to retrieve the remains of king Udi, the ancestor of Gudleifr, back to the Land of Éllad. It was he who witnessed the disintegration of the land and so was supposed to be present by its unification, too. However, the Edagwonians transported his remains from the Land of Éllad four centuries ago and claimed them to be the remains of one of their popular saints. One of the mentioned Edagwonians was Orland Hialranidul. When he made his second journey to the Land of Éllad, he was imprisoned by Orlyg in the Getenek Shield near to the Nests of Wise Ravens, where time passes infinitely slower than elsewhere. At the moment, Orland was accompanying Gudleifr’s followers to Edagwon as a navigator. After landing he parted and set out to his hometown. The sovereign of the South Edagwon, Gardellaca Chorust, did not however intend to yield to their demands. Moreover, he feared that if the Élladians found out about the riches of his country, raides would follow. So he decided to kill all of the Élladians. Fortunately, they were warned in advance and Harald with the help of local stonemason Gamuxper succeeded in winning the remains back. Some of the Élladians escaped and saved their lives. Arnwald, who was returning back for the forgotten amulet, was captured and Gardellaca sentenced him to death by lynching. Luckily Arnwlad survived and when Gardellaca was forcing him to accept his religion during the torture, Arnwald was saved by the goddess Gani. However Arnwald lost the contact with the rest of the Élladians and so he went to Orland asking for help. Orland was meanwhile arrested and sentenced to death for alliance with the Élladians. He was supposed to jump out of a cliff to the sea. Arnwald saved him and together in a small boat they crossed the sea back to the Land of Éllad. Thus, Arnwald was the first of the followers to come back. The rest of the expedition found refuge in the city of Uxacona. When the city was besieged by Gardellaca’s army, few members set sail heading north and carried safely away the remains of king Ud. They received protection from the inhabitants of a land where the Zergyls’ riots took place. Zergyls were creatures covered with scales and similar to people, they had a huge beak and moreover they were keeping man-eating horses - that’s why they hunted people. They would kill only men not women since they could reproduce only with human females. The rest of the expedition left Uxacona which was facing the unstoppable threat of Gardellaca’s army and took shelter by Lakarinians, the desert nation. Only a river divided the territory of the Lakarinians from the area where Zergyls lived. Sian, Dangrud, Asgeirr, Waltheri, Harald, Morcant and Bald were captured. The only thing that saved them was that the Princess of the Zergyls chose Waltheri to be her husband without knowing that he was a forest man, not a human being. The child she gave birth to thus wasn‘t a descendant of man and therefore the spell making Zergyls who they were wasn’t transfered. The Zergyls became humans. Eventually, the remainder of Gudleifr expedition, despite all of the difficulties, returned with the remains of Udi back to the Land of Éllad, where meanwhile the war between Gudleifr and Winduwalt broke out.
(translation: Tereza Štěpánová)