Idyll to Fallen Idols,

Idyll to Fallen Idols,

Where a warmth of fire once stoked my passions,

Now I only recognize the sorrowfulness of cold,

And those words that dropped from my lips,

They use to mean so much more than now,

But as a child's idols die they know their heart is weak, 

It's hard to count the beat as it slows and dies,

And we slowly are dying from something so silly,

To so bizarre a death as to be worthy of the Dark Ages,

I feel my soul tortured and torn asunder,

And there is just a pain of loss a frustration,

For with iconoclasm comes a void,

With anarchy and revolution comes a gentle desperation,

Yes today I feel it hang in the wind as my mind withers,

Sanglante: Thomas 1

Sanglante: Thomas 1

“Brother Thomas” the priest called. And a large knight walked towards him. This giant man was covered from head to toe in heavy Teutonic armor. As Thomas approached he stared at the the villagers the priest had been interrogating.

The first had been stretched and broken on the wheel. Her eyes still open and mouth frozen as she called out for her pagan gods. Next to her was a child, his feet had been burned as the priest sought to get a confession, as the child writhed the collar around his neck was tightened, inch by inch until he was asphyxiated. Finally there was the man who was ready to talk, after all watching his wife and child die so brutally can cause even the strongest man to break.

Brother Thomas took off his helmet and looked at the man, speaking softly, “I am brother Thomas, soldier of Christ, Komtur of the Ordo domus Sanctæ Mariæ Theutonicorum Hierosolymitanorum, we have come to bring the cross to your lands,a nd defeat the old pagan devils you worship.”

At first the man remained silent. And then he rose his head. The priest ahd detahced the man's retina durring the questioning, so he could only see out of one eye, and as bllod ran from his mouth and nose he began to speak, “Yes knight, your brothers have been bringing the cross to our land. We see now that yours is a religion of fire and blood. And it is only blood that we can offer to satiate it. The temple you are looking for is to the east. I would guide you, but my gods shall soon grant me the mercy of death, a mercy you will soon receive for there, in our holiest shrine the gods themselves will confront you. Yes knight of blood and fire, you will find both their! This conquest, this crusade will only end in your death, and the destruction of your order.”

Thomas smiled, with a gentle stroke of his sword he took the mans head clean off. Then he looked at the priest. “Burn them” he said, “and then gather the brothers, we have marchign orders.”

Some brothers assisted the priest, to prepare the stakes to burn these townsfolk at, however they were careful to remove the heads of all of them. After all, it will be a greater punishment that when these pagans make it to hell, their heads will be severed from there bodies.

Thomas called for a few more of the brothers. “After the villagers are burned, put the whole city to the torch.” The brothers nodded and headed off.

At that moment an emissary rode up, “Komtur!” he called out, “Komtur Thomas!” Thomas walked towards the emissary. Out of breath the man tried to speak, “The pagans!” he gasped, “The Pagans have mounted a counter attack!” Thomas looked at him unimpressed. The emissary continued, “Brother Conrad is dead, his knights were captured and mutilated.” At these word a fire lit in Thomas's eyes. He spoke with a cold caculated tone, “And where is this force of savages?” The emissary explained the details,a nd then stunningly interjected.... “They have the Generalprokurator from the vatican, and they were tortureing him!” Thomas stared enraged at the emissary, and called to his brothers.

“Brothers!” he yelled, “Brothers, the pagans have attacked the church!” As the men assembled he bagan to adress them in a familiar if patriarchial tone. “Komtur Conrad and his men were slain and horrifically tortured. And worse yet, the men took the Generalprokurator, the deputy of the pope. These men insult God himself, and this insult cannot go unpunnished. We shall with all haste finish putting this town to the flame, and then march, march as if the heavens were beckoning us to this pagan camp. There, by the will of the almighty shall we take every last pagan soul to hell!”

At this sound the men cheered wildy. Thomas then mounted his horse, and with torch in hand lead the brothers in the burning of this little Lithuanian village. As they assembled outside of the town, the red blaze of the village reflected the fire in Brother Thomas's heart. He would see every pagan brought to the lord, or sent down to Satan, For he would stomach nothing but the true religion to exist on this earth, not while he could still march.

As his knights marched he kept calling, “Pick up the pace! Christians are dying!” They covered an incredible amount of territory as they aproached the pagan camp. Near the camp several other Komturs and their Knights had assembled. The priests were reading Psalms and the men prepareing for war. As the Komturs assembled to discuss the plan Thomas stared toward the Pagans.

Mixed in witht he crys of suffering men, you could hear the pagans danceing and reveling. It was a stunning victory. In the center of the camp nailed ot a cross was the Generalprokurator. They had disembowled him while he was still alive and tied his entrails around his kneck. The agony he had suffered lit a fire so intense in Thomas's heart.

Fianlly the Komtur's agreed on a battle plan, and Thomas, had demanded the honor of leading the first charge where by some of the other brothers would attack with their Knights from different directions eventually encriceling the pagans. The men cheered as their leader once more wipped them into a frenzy of bloodlust. Finallay to the sound of martial music, he unleashed his men towards the camp, riding the fastest and at the head he yelled, “Men, for every pagan you kill I will send a gold coin back to your family in Germany, and for every head you take, an indulgence for one of your family memebers still in Purgatory!”

Brother Thomas's horse bounded over the picket line and begun engageing the Pagans immediately. They had been caught by surprise, naked, drunk, and unarmed. By the time the war horn had been blown Thomas had felled nearly a dozen men. However, tyhe Lithuanians then rallied, and began to push the Komtur's knights back. Dismounting his steed and swinging his great sword Thomas broke the counter attack. The pagans began to fall abck as the other Komtur's encircled them.

As the sun rose, it seemed that the grass had been died red. The Teautonic causualties had been negligible, but only a few pagans still lived. Thomas had questions for them, and of course, they planned to repay the kindness these savages had shown.

The interregation began with flaying, and then streching. Finally the men were broken on the wheel. The Komturs all reveled except for Thomas. He called a meeting. He told them of the pagan temple he had been searching for and the dark magic the villagers said existed there. He reminded the men that it was his duty to stop it. While the Komtur's wanted to get back to their wealth and estate, they were willing to part with a few knights each in order to bolster Thomas's force. The only condition was a share in the loot from the Pagan temple.

Agreeing to this Thomas wlaked over to the last prisoner to survive, the man was writhing in agony, the flaying made is body feel like fire, and his eyes welled with hatred. Thomas smiled, “Tell me where this temple is, and I will end your suffering on this earth” The man turned his head. He spoke concise and direct directions. “Go”, he laughed “Go to your death, there is a power in that tmeple, a power that will turn back your hordes! We will be free to wroship the gods of our fathers, and it will be you that are broken on the wheel!”