Chapter One
The hailstones came down on the helmet of Kjarten, making a loud noise even worse than it had to be and it seemed the Kjarten would go deaf. Thane Kjarten and thirteen of his best warriors were chasing a rebel Frost Orc called Jaiir the Sneak. He had been burning down barns and killing livestock in the surrounding valleys for several years. That Orc was a smart one and was more destructive than ten of them combined. At times, Thane Kjarten felt that he and his men were chasing a ghost. "He is doubling back on his prints!" he said to his warriors. "Look how deep the prints are." he said, pointing at the Orc prints in the snow. "Turn around." he said and they headed the other direction until someone felt something brush against them. The warriors quizzed each other but no-one had bumped into each other. "He is wearing a cloak of invisibility." said the Thane. "Everyone wave your shields at the prints." said the Thane. The warriors did and Olsa hit something. Olsa quickly drew his sword and stabbed the invisible Frost Orc. The enchantment turned off and the rebel Orc fell dead to the snow. "You get the bounty!" said the Thane. The warrior lifted his sword in the air in celebration. The hail started back up again. "You made the gods angry at your celebration." joked a warrior to Olsa. It began to snow and the men returned to the Hall, five miles away. "It was a good hunt." said the men as they put away their armor and cloaks. "At least the rebel is dead." said the Thane. "Only if things appeared as they seemed." said a voice in the Hall. "Who was that?" said the Thane, angry that some magic user had entered his Hall. "And so you chase after invisible Orcs and did you check if they are actually real? Ha, hahahaha!" and the invisible mage teleported out. "So we are dealing with a mage! Probably some worshipper of the Dark gods!" said the Thane. "Anyone who can kill that mage gets 10,000 guilder!" said the Thane.
The Dark Mage returned to his loft in the slave village. He didn't like the Thane and he intended to wear out the Thane before he made his final move. He had been Dark Mage in his homeland before he was captured but since the Vyir were killing mages, he pretended to be a serf. He didn't feel any kinship with his fellow slaves, they were just objects to be used and thrown away, he thought. The real goal in life was power and lots of it. He figured he could transform himself into the Thane using a perminent enchantment and then kill his way to the top and then become High Yarl so he could lead the Vyir to their deaths. He had it all planned out. Fortunately a slave woman had been watching his movements and told the Thane. "So! A Kelti dog of a mage hides in my village? I'll set a trap for him!" said the Thane. "Bring him to the Hall and tell him that I called him to give him his freedom." said the Thane to the slave woman. She nodded and left to tell the Dark Mage. The Mage suspected nothing, he thought that the Thane was weakening in his will. He presented himself before the Thane in his simple slave clothes. "So! You wish to become a freedman! You shall have it!" said the Thane. The Thane nodded and the Kelti Elder came behind the Mage and stabbed him in the back with a longsword. The point came out of the front of the Dark Mage and the Elder withdrew the sword and the Dark Mage fell to the ground dead. "Burn his body and scatter his ashes. We don't want his demon soul latching onto anything here." commanded the Thane. The demon soul of the sorcerer entered into a nearby sword and it began to gleam. One of the warriors noticed the gleaming sword and not knowing anything about enchanted swords, picked it up and claimed it as his own and paid the Thane for the sword. "Fine, have it." said the distracted Thane, not knowing that the sword was possessed by a demon soul. The warrior carried it back to his hut and greeted his wife. She seemed to turn into an Orc and he panicked and killed her. His children too turned into Orcs before his eyes and he killed them as well. He dropped the sword and the bodies changed back to human, right before his eyes. He screamed and fled the Hall grounds. He wept as he ran and he drew his short sword and fell on it. A huscarl heard the scream and went to see what had happened. He checked the road and saw the dead body, then he went to see the man's hut and saw the man's dead family. He spied the glowing sword and put together the events in his head. "This sword is cursed." he said out loud to the other huscarls who rushed to the scene. He went to the Priest of the Hall and the Priest took the sword to the Thane and explained everything the huscarl and seen and had figured out. "We need to destroy this sword." said the Priest. The Priest scattered some ashes onto the pommel of the sword chanting "Ashe Zu Ashe" and the demon soul screamed and came out of the sword. The ghost of the evil mage appeared before the Priest and the Priest quickly pulled out a silver sword and slew the demon soul. "Ashe Zu Ashe!" he chanted and the demon soul screamed again and turned into a pile of ashes. "The evil mage is finally gone!" said the Priest. The Hall went back to it's normal business.
Chapter Two
A band of raiding Frost Orcs came to the hall and set it on fire as everyone slept and everyone had to either run or be carried out of the Hall as it burnt to the ground. "Our armor was in there!" said a warrior. "Fine. We can run to the next Hall and borrow some armor off the Thane there, he is my cousin." said Thane Kjarten. The Thane left his boys and wife with one of the women in the warriors village and the men ran all night to the Hall of his cousin, Thane Snorborri. The raiding Orcs attacked the defenseless men but they punched and kicked the Orcs and got their weapons off them and killed the Orcs with their own weapons. The men ran to the Hall and pounded on the door. "What cousin, is this some new prank you've devised? Run half-naked in the winter wearing Orc clothing and wielding Orc weapons? I admit I am almost laughing." said Thane Snorborri. "No cousin, the damn Orcs tried to burn me and my men alive in the Hall." said Thane Kjarten. "Come in, we'll host you until we can get your Hall rebuilt." said Thane Snorborri. The Thane and his men stayed for a month with his cousin while he had sent for carpenters to build him a new Hall. He had the new Hall built larger and better defended than the last Hall and he added a stone ringwall around the Hall grounds and four watchtowers built, and the huscarls manned these new watchtowers on shifts throughout the day and night. He learned that there was a band of Frost Orcs literally hiding in a large cave under his Hall from one of his scouts. He and his men armed and armored up and went to go find the cave entrance. They entered the cave and killed several Ice Trolls within and finally came to a wall with a door. They busted in the door and surprised the Frost Orcs within and killed all of them after a quick but fierce battle. The men then looted the room and sealed off the cave as they left. "Gods, why does everything happen to me?" he wondered out loud when he thought on those events. The next month passed and a band of Frost Trolls stole seven heads of his best cattle and slaughtered them. The Thane saw this and was angry and considered letting his slave herdsmen carry spears to keep off raiding trolls. He gathered his slave herdsmen. "I trust you and I don't trust the Orcs or the Trolls. I am giving you spears to counter-attack the Frost Trolls if they attack my cattle. You have to give me the spears on a nightly basis." said the Thane. The herdsmen nodded. He also gave them a horn to use to alert the warriors in case of an attack on the cattle. A week went by and the horn didn't sound. The huscarls went to investigate. They saw that the slaves had killed their share of Frost Trolls and had been tossing their bodies in a burn pit. "Good work!" said the Thane to the herdsmen and he went back to his business.
More to Come!!!!!
The hailstones came down on the helmet of Kjarten, making a loud noise even worse than it had to be and it seemed the Kjarten would go deaf. Thane Kjarten and thirteen of his best warriors were chasing a rebel Frost Orc called Jaiir the Sneak. He had been burning down barns and killing livestock in the surrounding valleys for several years. That Orc was a smart one and was more destructive than ten of them combined. At times, Thane Kjarten felt that he and his men were chasing a ghost. "He is doubling back on his prints!" he said to his warriors. "Look how deep the prints are." he said, pointing at the Orc prints in the snow. "Turn around." he said and they headed the other direction until someone felt something brush against them. The warriors quizzed each other but no-one had bumped into each other. "He is wearing a cloak of invisibility." said the Thane. "Everyone wave your shields at the prints." said the Thane. The warriors did and Olsa hit something. Olsa quickly drew his sword and stabbed the invisible Frost Orc. The enchantment turned off and the rebel Orc fell dead to the snow. "You get the bounty!" said the Thane. The warrior lifted his sword in the air in celebration. The hail started back up again. "You made the gods angry at your celebration." joked a warrior to Olsa. It began to snow and the men returned to the Hall, five miles away. "It was a good hunt." said the men as they put away their armor and cloaks. "At least the rebel is dead." said the Thane. "Only if things appeared as they seemed." said a voice in the Hall. "Who was that?" said the Thane, angry that some magic user had entered his Hall. "And so you chase after invisible Orcs and did you check if they are actually real? Ha, hahahaha!" and the invisible mage teleported out. "So we are dealing with a mage! Probably some worshipper of the Dark gods!" said the Thane. "Anyone who can kill that mage gets 10,000 guilder!" said the Thane.
The Dark Mage returned to his loft in the slave village. He didn't like the Thane and he intended to wear out the Thane before he made his final move. He had been Dark Mage in his homeland before he was captured but since the Vyir were killing mages, he pretended to be a serf. He didn't feel any kinship with his fellow slaves, they were just objects to be used and thrown away, he thought. The real goal in life was power and lots of it. He figured he could transform himself into the Thane using a perminent enchantment and then kill his way to the top and then become High Yarl so he could lead the Vyir to their deaths. He had it all planned out. Fortunately a slave woman had been watching his movements and told the Thane. "So! A Kelti dog of a mage hides in my village? I'll set a trap for him!" said the Thane. "Bring him to the Hall and tell him that I called him to give him his freedom." said the Thane to the slave woman. She nodded and left to tell the Dark Mage. The Mage suspected nothing, he thought that the Thane was weakening in his will. He presented himself before the Thane in his simple slave clothes. "So! You wish to become a freedman! You shall have it!" said the Thane. The Thane nodded and the Kelti Elder came behind the Mage and stabbed him in the back with a longsword. The point came out of the front of the Dark Mage and the Elder withdrew the sword and the Dark Mage fell to the ground dead. "Burn his body and scatter his ashes. We don't want his demon soul latching onto anything here." commanded the Thane. The demon soul of the sorcerer entered into a nearby sword and it began to gleam. One of the warriors noticed the gleaming sword and not knowing anything about enchanted swords, picked it up and claimed it as his own and paid the Thane for the sword. "Fine, have it." said the distracted Thane, not knowing that the sword was possessed by a demon soul. The warrior carried it back to his hut and greeted his wife. She seemed to turn into an Orc and he panicked and killed her. His children too turned into Orcs before his eyes and he killed them as well. He dropped the sword and the bodies changed back to human, right before his eyes. He screamed and fled the Hall grounds. He wept as he ran and he drew his short sword and fell on it. A huscarl heard the scream and went to see what had happened. He checked the road and saw the dead body, then he went to see the man's hut and saw the man's dead family. He spied the glowing sword and put together the events in his head. "This sword is cursed." he said out loud to the other huscarls who rushed to the scene. He went to the Priest of the Hall and the Priest took the sword to the Thane and explained everything the huscarl and seen and had figured out. "We need to destroy this sword." said the Priest. The Priest scattered some ashes onto the pommel of the sword chanting "Ashe Zu Ashe" and the demon soul screamed and came out of the sword. The ghost of the evil mage appeared before the Priest and the Priest quickly pulled out a silver sword and slew the demon soul. "Ashe Zu Ashe!" he chanted and the demon soul screamed again and turned into a pile of ashes. "The evil mage is finally gone!" said the Priest. The Hall went back to it's normal business.
Chapter Two
A band of raiding Frost Orcs came to the hall and set it on fire as everyone slept and everyone had to either run or be carried out of the Hall as it burnt to the ground. "Our armor was in there!" said a warrior. "Fine. We can run to the next Hall and borrow some armor off the Thane there, he is my cousin." said Thane Kjarten. The Thane left his boys and wife with one of the women in the warriors village and the men ran all night to the Hall of his cousin, Thane Snorborri. The raiding Orcs attacked the defenseless men but they punched and kicked the Orcs and got their weapons off them and killed the Orcs with their own weapons. The men ran to the Hall and pounded on the door. "What cousin, is this some new prank you've devised? Run half-naked in the winter wearing Orc clothing and wielding Orc weapons? I admit I am almost laughing." said Thane Snorborri. "No cousin, the damn Orcs tried to burn me and my men alive in the Hall." said Thane Kjarten. "Come in, we'll host you until we can get your Hall rebuilt." said Thane Snorborri. The Thane and his men stayed for a month with his cousin while he had sent for carpenters to build him a new Hall. He had the new Hall built larger and better defended than the last Hall and he added a stone ringwall around the Hall grounds and four watchtowers built, and the huscarls manned these new watchtowers on shifts throughout the day and night. He learned that there was a band of Frost Orcs literally hiding in a large cave under his Hall from one of his scouts. He and his men armed and armored up and went to go find the cave entrance. They entered the cave and killed several Ice Trolls within and finally came to a wall with a door. They busted in the door and surprised the Frost Orcs within and killed all of them after a quick but fierce battle. The men then looted the room and sealed off the cave as they left. "Gods, why does everything happen to me?" he wondered out loud when he thought on those events. The next month passed and a band of Frost Trolls stole seven heads of his best cattle and slaughtered them. The Thane saw this and was angry and considered letting his slave herdsmen carry spears to keep off raiding trolls. He gathered his slave herdsmen. "I trust you and I don't trust the Orcs or the Trolls. I am giving you spears to counter-attack the Frost Trolls if they attack my cattle. You have to give me the spears on a nightly basis." said the Thane. The herdsmen nodded. He also gave them a horn to use to alert the warriors in case of an attack on the cattle. A week went by and the horn didn't sound. The huscarls went to investigate. They saw that the slaves had killed their share of Frost Trolls and had been tossing their bodies in a burn pit. "Good work!" said the Thane to the herdsmen and he went back to his business.
More to Come!!!!!
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