The Sage of Einar

Chapter 420: The burning of the Imleach monastery

Einar who was sitting on the stone opened his canteen with herbal liquor and drank while he watched as his soldiers carried wheelbarrows where the corpses of the people were collocated.

He just watched silently as the rain drenched his body. He didn’t want to speak or think he just looked at the work of his soldiers while he drank his herbal liqueur.

After a few hours it had already gotten dark so Einar got up from the stone and took a deep breath, having come to the conclusion that his revenge would continue, however he would not allow another massacre like that to take place.

That night, he simply got into his tent and took a bath to later sleep in his bed. He knew that he could not overcome those things that he had seen however, as a trained soldier.

He told himself that everything he did was for his family and his nation, a little mantra that he had learned during his little time at the psychologist at the military barracks when he had killed his first person.

The next morning Einar got up and watched as his soldiers continued to remove corpses to be able to bury them, so he went to help, because he believed that it was something he had to do because it would not eliminate the guilt.

However, it would help him feel a little better, so taking a shovel he began to walk to the place where the corpses were being buried and after arriving he began to help create the graves for the people.

During the following days, they worked hard until all the corpses were buried. After this, the city and the castle were set on fire, while the soldiers advanced towards their next objective.

Which was the Imleach monastery, as it was the last safe area in the kingdom of Ormond where a resistance to the occupation could be created.

On the way, the soldiers were quite quiet because everyone could remember the images of the massacre they had committed. Somehow, they all knew that their stay on the island would be difficult.

During their march they met many towns which surrendered to the army of Einar, because of the priest Walter who convinced them after showing the head of King Dunchad.

The road to the monastery was quite short because it took only a couple of days to arrive. When they did, they realized that in the walled monastery, there were many people on the walls.

Einar then ordered that a messenger be sent for them to surrender. The messenger was a young man from one of the many towns of the kingdom of Ormond when he arrived.

He tried to explain what would happen if they did not, unfortunately the monks of the monastery believed that God would protect them so they refused to surrender.

Einar, upon hearing the words of the messenger only shook his head and ordered him to ask if there were civilians in the monastery so that they could leave with guarantees that nothing would be done to them.

When the messenger asked, the answer he received was overwhelming, because they told him that there were civilians, but that they refused to go out, so when he returned with Einar to say those words.

Einar simply sighed and shook his head to order the soldiers to prepare the catapults, as this time they would launch Nordic fire on the enemy, as Einar was not willing to see another massacre using chlorine gas.

After two days the catapults were assembled, so Einar sent the messenger again, only this time he carried with him two containers, one with water and the other with Nordic fire, so that he could demonstrate that they would die.

They just needed to surrender or let the civilians out, as it would be the last time they would have a chance to save their lives.

But the answer he received was the same they were sure they would win, so Einar simply shook his head and gave the order that the vessels lit with Nordic fire be thrown.

In just seconds, the noise of screaming was heard in the monastery, so all the soldiers simply looked at the fire that was created inside the monastery, but despite that no one left the monastery.

After a few hours, the monastery had turned into a true hell, where there was only fire, even because of the heat part of the walls collapsed, but no one left that place.

Einar, seeing that, simply sighed and ordered his soldiers to wait for the fire to go out in order to leave that place, because he did not want to see the massacre that was inside that place.

The fire took three days to go out, so once it was put out Einar gave the order that 5000 soldiers go town by town of the kingdom of Ormond to surrender to the rule of the Norse. 

Meanwhile, Einar prepared his soldiers to advance towards the border of the kingdom of Desmond, because he wanted to end the next kingdom to be able to finish his conquest of all Ireland as quickly as possible.

In some days, the news of the destruction of the kingdom of Ormond by the Nordic army could be heard in all parts of Ireland, so a fear seized all the kings and nobles.

For according to the rumors that they could hear, the Nordic army had burned to ashes the monastery of Imleach and the city of Lairge in just a few days. It had not taken months to destroy a kingdom just days.

So a mass hysteria began to be created. The noblemen with gold and silver took their things and undertook a trip to the island of Brittany to seek refuge because they did not want to die.

The merchants who were sure of the victory of the Nordic army went to the kingdom of Ireland to settle leaving their countries of origin because they preferred to be with the winners of the war than with a group of kingdoms without the power to survive.

As for the citizens, free people and serfs, things got horrible as their kings took away their food in an attempt to guarantee the survival of their troops and their castles.

This caused food for the normal population to be scarce, but not only that but also caused the church of Rome to use its power to steal everything it could from the civilians.

Well, they did it under the pretext that they were building a vast army to defend the Christian kingdoms on the island of Ireland.