The saint's body will eventually turn into ashes. During this night, many people recalled all the past related to Vilia and everything the old priest had done for the tribe. They kept vigil for Vilia until dawn.
At dawn, the noise in Fort Ross still woke up the entire tribe.
Rurik didn't want to worry about those rumors for the time being. After all, he would return and any rumors would be self-defeating.
He must use some strong means to deter the conspirators within the tribe, as well as some people who hide deeply.
He boasted that certain measures must be taken as soon as possible to bring a different starting point to the "post-Viglia era".
At dawn, Otto woke up early, he was worried and sad.
Niya tried her best to stay calm, but she shed tears inadvertently.
Rurik had already woken up and was staying at home with his parents, wives and concubines, eating dried meat and wheat cakes.
Everyone remained silent until Rurik made a shocking statement: "I will take immediate action and demolish the longhouse today."
Niya was shocked: "What did you say?"
“Tear down the longhouse of sacrifice.”
The son's face was solemn, it didn't look like he was talking nonsense. Niya almost instinctively tried to dissuade her: "Don't be delusional, that's a sacred area. You can't do that."
"No! The High Priest's House is sacred to Vilia. After she dies, there is no meaning there."
"But……"
"Let him do it." Otto stopped his wife.
"You! Otto, you two have discussed this?"
"Yes, I will take action immediately." After saying that, Rurik quickly ate the wheat cake, stood up suddenly, and walked out of the house to the surprise of his mother and female relatives.
The outdoor temperature is still below freezing. Even though it is close to March, the ice in the sea shows no sign of thawing. People who dig breathing holes in the ice to catch seals and fish must still carefully use an ax to carve out half a meter of holes. of ice.
Even at this low temperature, a large number of people have appeared outdoors. Wearing thick leather coats and plush hats, they moved spontaneously towards the long house of the priests.
Rurik came to his mercenary camp with his capable mercenary men on guard, and gave an order to the sleeping mercenary warriors to assemble quickly.
"Is everyone here? Yevlo, please take stock."
After a while, Yevluo completed the statistical task and carefully reported: "One hundred and fifty brothers are here."
"Very good! You are all my confidants." Rurik shouted loudly, "Bring an axe? Prepare some hemp rope? Follow me! Remember, what do I ask you to do? Just do it. Do you dare to refuse? That's it. If you are guilty, you will be killed!”
The cold didn't wake everyone up? Instead, Rurik's serious and terrifying orders made everyone's hearts beat faster in shock.
A mighty army marched to the longhouse for sacrifice? All this happened under Otto's watch and permission.
There are people standing on both sides of the winding road? Everyone has different opinions, and they don’t know what Lord Rurik wants to do with the mercenary army.
The earth was shaking, and at this moment the priestesses in the chief priest's house noticed something strange.
Rumia, she is guarding Vilia's gray body until now? She sheds tears when she thinks about the past few years.
The body has been placed in the lobby of the longhouse? A large number of oil lamps are arranged around the body, creating a strong sense of ceremony.
It's very noisy outside.
"Go and see if the person carrying the body is here?" She greeted casually, but unexpectedly Rurik hurriedly opened the door curtain and entered.
"Rurik, you're here!" Rumia came over immediately.
"Is everything okay?" Rurik asked casually with a sullen face.
"Everything is fine. Is the ceremony about to begin?"
"Yes! You..." Rurik looked around and gave a serious order: "Rumia, come here? Stand next to me. I will arrange manpower to move all the objects in the long house."
"Ah? What...are you going to do?" Rumia just felt confused? Of course the body will be moved to the final cremation altar, but will other objects also be buried with it?
Rurik let out a long sigh and looked at Rumia sincerely: "This longhouse was built for Vilia. It is no longer sacred. It has no meaning of existence. Now, I will demolish it."
"Tear it down?" Rumia looked stunned, and the other priests were also at a loss.
Rurik hadn't finished what he said. As a group of mercenaries rolled up their linen sleeves and entered the "sacred area" with serious faces, the priestesses instantly understood that what Rurik said was true, and began to accuse one after another. Mortals have broken into the sacred realm.
"This place is no longer sacred! You women..." Rurik scolded angrily, pointing casually: "You priestesses, you have been assisting Vilia in serving Odin, and now Vilia has become a Valkyrie, what about you? ? There is no need for you to continue to exist."
After that, Rurik made a gesture, and Jevro came menacingly with his men holding sharp blades. In fact, Rurik initially wanted to dismiss the group of priestesses, but then he thought about it and decided to kill them under Otto's hint.
They easily arrested all the ordinary priestesses present, grabbed their arms one by one, and forced them to kneel on the ground.
The priestesses wailed in horror. They didn't know what was happening and were struggling to beg for mercy. Unfortunately, any struggle was meaningless.
Rumia approached Rurik in panic: "You! They... what are you going to do to them?"
Rurik's eyes were extremely resolute. He did not speak, but only stretched out his right fist to send a "do it" signal.
The mercenary soldiers took out hemp ropes and began to hang the kneeling priestess.
"Oh! How could this be possible..." For a moment, Rumia's forehead was covered with sweat. She looked into Rurik's eyes and begged: "Why kill them? They are priestesses! Today's ceremony..."
"We will never need them again!" Rurik suddenly hugged Rumia in his arms, held her tightly, put his mouth to her ear, and whispered coldly: "You are our high priest, you She is my woman. Every night from now on, you must lie next to me, not this longhouse. There will be no longhouse in the future! These female priests and the entire longhouse will be buried with Vilia! I Some new priestesses will be reassigned to be your assistants, and I will build a permanent temple and erect statues of the gods. Now, close your eyes and think about nothing."
Of all the priestesses, only Parla survived. Of course, that woman was expelled by the group of hanged priestesses early on, and she essentially had nothing to do with the sacrificial group. She became a master of making soap and created a lot of wealth for her master. Not only would Rurik not harm such a woman, but he would also continue to give her important responsibilities.
Seeing the horrific death scene in front of him, Rurik felt a little touched in his heart, but that was all.
None of the summer priestesses in the longhouse survived, and they were given a "bloodless execution" and lay down next to Vilia's body.
This is one of the Viking funeral rites.
When some tribal leaders died, their female slaves were buried with them. By the same token, if the high priest of Rus dies, what reason does her ordinary priests have to continue to live?
"My lord, everything is done." Jevro asked seriously and somewhat fearfully, "What's next?"
"Pick up these corpses with leather and carry them out, and then move all the coins away. You have finished moving the things in the room and wait for my order to demolish the house."
The mercenaries are taking action!
The mercenaries outside formed a human wall to prevent the gathered Russian people from moving around. The people had different opinions. They saw Lord Rurik's men entering the longhouse with their own eyes. When they were surprised, they saw those people coming out carrying some strange things.
No! That's actually a human! It's a dead person! Those braids hanging down are all...
People were shocked to realize that a large number of priestesses... were dead?
The scene was very noisy, but Otto was not surprised at all. He pushed away the crowd and raised his arms: "Don't be surprised, everyone! These dead priestesses are willing to be buried with Vilia. Their souls have entered Asgard, where they will continue to assist our Valkyrie! Sperosville!”
Otto roared like this, and everyone's mood calmed down a little.
Suddenly someone asked again: "Where is our new high priest? Where is Sir Rurik's Rumia?"
At that moment, Lumia, wearing a deer-antlered helmet and holding Verlia's wooden staff inlaid with gems, walked out of the long priest's house that was in urgent need of demolition.
She is much shorter than the average Russian woman, and her current height is exactly the same as that of Vilia during her lifetime. Many people were almost dazzled by the sight, and were shocked that a Vilia was resurrected.
"I! High Priest Rumia, all the rituals today and in the future will be performed by me. All new lower-level priests are born! I am Lord Rurik's servant, and all new lower-level priests are Rurik. Your lord’s servant!”
Rumia already understood everything. She happily accepted her new mission, and immediately lost all thought about the priest's longhouse and everything in it. Following the words of the Rurik Assault Cult, she informally announced one thing to the people outdoors - all future sacrifices would only obey the orders of Rurik, the son of God.
There are indeed careerists in the Ross tribe, but such people are very few. Most of the people, especially the women in the tribe who have lost their husbands and sons, ordinary families, and orphans from all over the country, fully support all Rurik's ideas and hope that Lord Rurik will control greater power and wealth. , so that you can drink one more mouthful of soup.
They watched in astonishment as the remains of the buried priestess were removed, and then looked at the large number of suitcases containing money in astonishment.
Rurik personally held the precious parchment, which was a "holy object of Rome", even though its title was "Exodus". In addition, all the wooden documents engraved with the past of the Russians were tied up with hemp ropes and carried out.
Rurik finally appeared. No one noticed the book he was holding. Hundreds of pairs of eyes were staring at the holy object lifted by the eight people behind him!
It’s Vilia’s body!
Otto gave an order: "Kneel down before our High Priest of Vilia!"
The Russians, both men and women, knelt on one knee one after another, and Otto also stepped forward to become Vilia's pallbearer.
This old woman who looked like a dead tree had dedicated her life to the Ross tribe. At this moment, she was lying peacefully on the wooden bed, covered with a snow-white polar bear skin. Just like the surrounding world and the frozen sea, they were all white.
The procession slowly walked towards the towering cremation altar, and all the Ross people along the way knelt to bid farewell to Vilia's holy remains.
Gould, a fat businessman, knelt down with his whole family.
The Hotla family, a family of shipbuilders, knelt with his friends.
The Vodegen family, owners of the tailoring workshop, knelt down.
A large number of businessmen knelt down.
There are also travelers from the old Eric family from Denmark and the Balmok tribe from afar. They are guests and they also kneel down for the lost high priest of Rus.
Their kneeling came from the bottom of their hearts, such as Biyongni, but when he learned that the high priest of Ross died at the age of eighty, he immediately believed the fact that the high priest ascended to heaven and became the Valkyrie. In Biyongni's concept, no mortal can live to be eighty years old, so the old woman who was lifted up by the Duke of Ross himself must be truly sacred.
The chief priest's house had become empty, all useful objects had been removed, and all that was left was demolition work.
In the end, the Ross people spontaneously obeyed this order. They brought various tools and quickly reduced the old longhouse to ruins.
A large amount of old building wood will be turned into fuel for the wooden platform, and only the more than fifty thirty-meter-long oak beams on the collapsed roof! Among them, the largest and most important oak beam, Rurik did not hesitate to use it as the keel of a new ship.
The golden light of the sun shone on the entire white world. In the days when Rurik no longer belonged to the tribe, Klavassen's blacksmith shop allowed Lilia to continue to make some dark lenses while nursing the child because of the fast money. Now, two hundred Russians put on sunglasses, and the sunshine in the snow was no longer dazzling. They stayed in front of the firewood pile filled with wood blocks for a long time.
It was them, this group of people wearing sunglasses, who assisted Rurik's elite mercenaries in moving the remains of the buried lower-level priestess to the pyre. At this moment, they saw the ferocious face of the priestess and the severe marks on her neck.
They were definitely not willing, they were killed!
Who did it? Otto must have given the order. .
However, this is their fate! Sooner or later they will be buried with Vilia.
Finally, Villa's body was placed on the top of the pyre, and then a large amount of hot seal oil began to be sprinkled on the pyre at the bottom of the platform. In order to make the combustion faster and more complete, Rurik could only do this.
This is a large-scale cremation. Burning the deceased to ashes will probably take a day and a night at the earliest. Rurik just hopes that this will end soon...
The sun is finally rising in the sky, and the time of sacrifice is now.
High Priest Rumia appeared wearing a deer-antlered helmet, and the so-called lower-level priestesses following behind her were actually a group of girls? !
No! These girls all wear unique silver jewelry, and each silver jewelry hanging on their chest is inlaid with a different gold crest. How could they be lower-level priestesses? Everyone knew that they were a group of slaves brought by Otto from Novgorod to Rurik, and now their exact identities were all the wives and concubines of Lord Rurik.
Rumia has the largest silver jewelry. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this short woman has an extremely noble status among wives and concubines, and she is also the new high priest.
After a while, more children appeared!
A large number of boys held "spears", which were extremely long wooden sticks with white cloth tied to each stick. They are children trained and fed by Rurik, and future warriors who are loyal to Rurik personally. Farewell to the high priest Vilia must be a special trial in their lives.
They lined up in the same neat line as during training, all dressed in plain clothes. They lined up in a matrix one after another and stood around the wooden platform. Their absolute neatness greatly enhanced the solemnity of the ceremony.
Another group of girls appeared. Two hundred girls around ten years old were also dressed in pure white. They tied white cloth strips on their foreheads, each carrying a bow tied with white cloth strips, and quivers and bags hanging from hemp ropes around their waists. There are a few arrows stuck in it.
The final funeral has now finally begun!
As many as ten reindeer were sacrificed, and each one was stabbed to death by Rurik with a sword, and then the deer's carcasses were dragged directly to the ice. A group of strong men dug holes in the ice and let all the deer's blood flow into the ocean.
Under the gaze of as many as eight thousand pairs of eyes, Rumia shouted loudly: "O God of the Ocean! Please accept our sacrifice! Let Sperosvilia's remains in the world return to the sea!"
These reindeer were not dedicated to Odin, but to the ocean. As for the deer carcass, it naturally became human food, especially as a reward meal for the men participating in the sacrificial activities.
Rumia began to chant the ancient sacrificial prayers of the Ross tribe, and some older people finally realized that what this girl was singing was a prayer dedicated to the death of a great man. People listened to Rumia's solo in silence, and then heard the chorus of a large number of girls, especially the Russian war song "Holy War". The war hymn is sung to Odin! The Rus believed that one of the incarnations of Odin was the sun.
At noon, Rurik washed his hands full of deer blood, stood on a high place, held up a flaming pine torch, and shouted loudly: "Russians! Our high priest Vilia spent eighty Year completed her sacred mission! Odin is her father, she was originally a Valkyrie, and now Odin has taken her away! Sperosvilia! Our Valkyrie! She is watching us from the sky Action! Odin is watching our actions!"
"Me! Rurik! I am also a descendant of Odin! I am your greatest leader. Odin protects me and I am invincible! Odin protects me and I am not afraid of wind, snow and heat! I will lead you to glory, all surrenders Ross and those who ally with Ross will receive the glory rewarded by Odin! Now, let me start a new era!"
At this point, the boys and girls began to yell "Ula" rhythmically according to Rurik's previous arrangement.
The sound of Ula, Rurik wanted to use it as the unique Viking war cry of the Rus.
Rurik endured the pain in his throat, approached the pyre with a tragic expression, and threw the torch with all his strength.
The flames burned quickly when they came into contact with the flammable seal oil, and the charcoal in the pyre had already been soaked in the oil. Almost instantly, a terrifying pillar of fire shot straight into the sky.
Rurik felt the terrifying heat, and the onlookers retreated subconsciously. Rurik raised his head with squinted eyes and watched Vilia's body being engulfed in yellowing flames...
The flames shocked everyone. Regardless of whether everyone reacted or not, Rurik announced in public that his era had officially arrived! The so-called Vilia was the one chosen by Odin, and Rurik was the second. Those who believe that Rurik is a holy being have their faith strengthened by today's rituals. As for the careerists, some began to waver.
Rurik doesn't expect that a group of guys who question his status will quickly change their views. He believes that at least those guys know what it means to be vicious.
His estimate was correct. The Russians cannot tolerate that their leader is not a brave and fierce warrior. Now everyone is more aware than ever that although Rurik is still an underage child (less than twelve years old), he already has the mentality of a warrior. Then everyone just needs to wait a little while for this child to grow into a man who is stronger and more powerful than his father.
The fire burned for three full days, and everything was finally reduced to ashes.
The last bones of Vilia were turned into powder in the flames, and all the ashes were mixed together and sent into the sea by the Russians.
The cremation altar has completely disappeared, and on top of the black remains left behind, a permanent temple will be built, and this is another story.
