The New People

The Coast of Alden, Nine Hundred and Fifty Years Before

They came upon the first village at midday, surprising the fishermen in their long, shallow boats who stood up and shaded their eyes with their hands, talking excitedly to each other before beginning to row for shore. The water was a pure, clear azure, and the fish swimming in its waves seemed to leap into the fisher’s nets as they pulled them in.

On the edge of sand and forest, their houses were round in shape, the walls formed by logs planted like trees into the earth, and the rooves constructed of overlapping wooden tile. Around the village, the people working, weaving, preparing food, tending to their young stopped to look and marvel.

The alarm was slow to spread as Thaelen’s soldiers moved in, their initial response being curious startlement, but the fight was ferocious once they realized they were being attacked. It was over within minutes, most of the villagers subdued and chained, and the sand bright with the blood of tho