Prologue.
Tyrfingur Valmundursen was not the best warrior on the line but he had a strength that his Thane used quite often: He was the perfect spy. He was small and fast enough to sneak anywhere undetected and his memory was better than most men's, he was also literate in Orc, since he spent a few years as a prisoner of the Orcs. With these skills, his Thane often knew what the Orcs were going to do before the Orcs themselves actually knew what they were going to do.
Chapter One.
"Death always follows on the heels of extreme danger."- An unknown Vyir Skald.
Thane Valmundur Vilhjalmursen was an angry man and ran an angry household. All of his sons had already deserted him except for little Tyrfingur. Tyrfingur hid from his father when he went into his rages. His father would begin to hunt for him around the Hall with a strap in hand but little Tyr found out that if he put on an old cloak with runes on it and hid, his father would never find him. The poor wife of the Thane was often driven to tears by her boorish husband and pleaded the Yarl for a legal separation. "No, what then would happen to your baby boy?" asked the Yarl to the hapless woman. Finally she packed her bags in the dead of night, packed her little boy's bags and left the Hall for her uncle's house in Whitefield. She remained away for an entire winter and she finally began to worry that her husband might have killed himself. She sent one of her oldest sons, armed, to the Hall but discovered that Orcs and attacked the Hall and killed the Thane and had burnt the Hall to the ground. She remarried quickly thereafter to Thane Tjaldur Volsungursen. The Thane promised his little stepson that he would not beat him without a reason and the boy quickly grew to love his new father. A step-uncle came by the Hall one day and spoke about the need for spies. The boy was thirteen and was ready to take his Wilderness Trial. "I'll volunteer." said the boy. The older men liked his courage and his step-father said, "Once you pass your Wilderness Trial. Then I will put you under my spymaster." said the Thane. The next day, the boy went out to his week long wilderness trial, armed only with a short sword. He went out into the deep forest and built a shelter and then set traps for rabbits. He walked to a fast stream and refilled his water skin. He repeated the process daily and was able to feed himself daily with rabbit meat. During the trial, he confronted a Troll and was able to brain it before it killed him. He passed and began training. "Read this book, memorize these runes. Then ride a pony to me in Winter's Craig and repeat back to me the entire book, from memory." said Dagbjartur Eyvarsen, the spymaster. "That is so far away" thought Tyrfingur. "I know it is, but it is the only way to learn!" said the spymaster, seeing the look on his student's face. So Tyrfingur read the book, cover to cover and kept reading it until he was ready. "I have to go." said Tyrfingur a day later, to his father. "This is for your training? Where are you going?" asked Thane Tjaldur. "If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret." said the young man. "I was testing you." said the Thane. "Watch out for killer Frost Wolves, they are in great numbers this time of year." said the Thane as his stepson saddled up a pony. "I have to focus on what I read." said the young man. "Still testing." said the Thane. The boy rode off and focused on remembering what he read. His journey took him two days and by the time he reached the Hall at Winter's Craig, he found the spymaster and repeated the entire book to him, verbatum. "Now read this book, memorize it and take the information to Yarl Eikar." said the spymaster. He did and rode off to Summer's Reach. The journey took a day and he quickly found the Yarl and repeated the book verbatim. "Very good!" said the Yarl. "Now to have you read yet another book and I am sending you back to your master with the information contained therein. Have you noticed any enemy activity on the way here?" asked the Yarl. "Just damn Frost Wolves and Ice Bears." said the young man. "Good, no enemies then. Keep your eyes sharp and your ears open. Another function that you serve is to pass information to me about rebellious Thanes. It is no secret that some Clans do not like each other and will do everything short of open rebellion to make each other look stupid." said the Yarl. "Tell me anything you hear. Sometimes I have to pay a visit and settle the quarrel myself." said the Yarl. "Yes my Yarl!" said the young man. "Now get some food with the men tonight. Read this book." said the Yarl as he passed a 300 page book to the trainee. Tyrfingur took the heavy book and read it over and over again for three days until he had it memorized. He then rode back to the spymaster at Winter's Craig. He found the spymaster and repeated the book verbatim. "Good!" said the spymaster. "Do you know what kind of books you have been reading?" he asked. "Yes master, they appear to be cookbooks but at further investigation, they are actually code books. I was able to decipher the codes within and I wrote them down here." said Tyrfingur and he passed the spymaster the translated codes. "By the gods! I was about to tell you about that!" said the spymaster. "You are indeed a fast learner." he said. "So we skip ahead to the next lesson. Ride back to the Yarl and listen in on the conversation he has with his huscarls, tell me everything and leave nothing out!" said the spymaster. Tyrfingur rested, ate and rode his pony back to the Yarl. He silently sat in on the Yarl and his men and listened intently and observed their body language. The Yarl said not a word but he motioned to his huscarl and threw his eyes to the east and the huscarl saluted and left. Tyrfingur knew exactly what that meant. He rode back to the spymaster and made his report. "The Yarl sent a huscarl to deal with a Thane to the east." said Tyrfingur. "Good, excellent. You saw the Yarl give the hand sign for "Thane" then. Nothing slips past you. Now for the most dangerous part of your training and yes, you will have to escape from this part of your test: Get taken prisoner by the Orcs and escape only when you have learned both their language and their body language. They have loose tongues and they discuss sensitive matters in front of prisoners. At worst, they will make you cut wood or work in a salt mine, at worse, they will learn you are a spy and they will execute you. I advise you use this if they are going to execute you." the spymaster dropped a wolf-whistle into the hands of Tyrfingur. "They hear on lower levels, like the animals, anything from this whistle will put them in intense pain for a time of 40 minutes, use that time to escape." he said.
Chapter Two
Tyrfingur decided to let himself all into the Orcs hands for that part of his training. He had the whistle concealed where the Orcs usually don't look and he rode out unarmed. He rode out to the Orc camp, seemingly unconcerned about this direction or fate. "Gaaarash Ozzzug!" said an Orc. The Orc grabbed the pony and he got off and presented his hands to the Orc. "Kimmash?" asked the Orc. He said nothing. "You are a stupid Vyir." said an Orc in Vyir, with a staff. "I am the Shaman for this clan. You are now our prisoner. You must tend to our wolves now. Perhaps we let you live and let you go home, if you are good." said the Shaman. "But if you try to run away, we make a big stew out of you, and we crack your bones for your marrow!" said the Shaman. The Orcs laughed. Tyrfingur said nothing. They didn't search him but they did put him in wooden stocks and he was chained to a cave wall at night. He began to observe their speech patterns and objects they associated with the words. He began to talk with his captors in Orcish about little matters, like Bears and wolves and even the weather. A few days passed and the Shaman began to trust him. "Listen human, we didn't want this war. This land that you claim was once the Kingdom of the Frost Orcs. We were powerful and had many slaves. We once had over 5,000 villages and three big fort-cities. All gone! Your people destroyed them! Our Priests warned us that the gods were angry with us but our King and the Great Emperor didn't listen. Now we might become your vassals, if you will let us live!" said the Shaman. "I am not such a cub, I can tell the path of the future." he concluded. "Our Yarls have accepted vassals from Orcs and Trolls in the past, and they worked for us honorably, only after they converted to the Way of the gods of the Light." said Tyrfingur. "Hail Shaman!" said another Orc, in Royal colors. "I must attend to this matter." said the Shaman. Tyrfingur listened to the conversation carefully. "We can't hold this human, we can barely feed ourselves!" said the Orc noble. "He seems sympathetic." said the Shaman. "Are you kidding? They would kill us before accepting us! I will give him to Borrok the Slaver and he will take him to the salt mines in Orgundia." said the Orc noble. "I rather like that youngling." said the Shaman. "No! He must go and that is final." said the noble and the conversation ended. "You heard?" asked the Shaman. "I heard, how do I avoid death there?" asked the young man. "Just swing your pick at the salt rocks and push carts and make sure to steal enough bread to survive." said the Shaman. "It is a bad way to end your life." said the Shaman with a sigh. He walked off. The next day, the slaver came by the camp and took Tyrfingur. He was put on a pony and after a journey of a week deep into Orgundia, they came to a mine and Tyrfingur got off his pony. "You here." said the Orc. "Me take new slave." said a huge, nasty-looking slaver. He placed an iron stock on Tyrfingur and led him into the mine. "Take pick when I take off stock. Stay and mine salt rock. You must go to table and take bread when eating time." said Orc. "Other slaves take food. You survive. They do not." he said with an evil grin. He left Tyrfingur with a pickaxe and left. He wondered if he was totally ready. He could read their body language and he knew their language quite well. "You, Vyir. Come with me." said an Orc noble. He lead him to a table with books and papers and a quill. "Me no read. You read, very smart. You do accounts. I be watching. You even make gold! No as slave but as retainer." said the noble. Tyrfingur saluted as an Orc would salute. "Yes my lord!" he said, convincingly. The Orc noble laughed and patted him on the head. "You wise. Soon Orc Empire be very huge again!" and he left the room. He checked the books and they contained a wealth of information about the Orcs profits, their trade routes and even the locations of the Orc nobles and their retainers. He knew what he had to do. He stole as much gold coin as possible and secreted it into bags, then he freed all the slaves, in secret. After memorizing all the books he was given, he slipped out on a stolen pony and rode back to Vyirlundia by bypassing the fortified part of the border and instead rode through a cave with two exits that straddled both lands. He rode to the High Yarl and made his report. "Good work! You disrupted their economy enough for a year so they will be easy to attack. You keep the gold, get my smith to turn it into guilders. And repeat the books to my scribes and they'll rewrite them in Vyir for official records. I am stealing you from your Yarl. You will be under Fafnir "One-Eyed." Drengursen, my spymaster. The High Yarl wrote his Yarl about the new arraignment and Tyrfingur settled in as one of the five spies of the High Yarl. "Go to the Tavern district. Best place to pick up information." said Fafnir. Tyrfingur walked down to that district and listened in on conversations throughout the day to get any useful information. He was sitting down when he heard a shifty lizard-man talking to two Nords. "Listen, my agent has a job for you lugs. Kill the High Yarl. I can give you 10,000 guilder." said the lizard-man in Ossian. Ossian was close enough to Orcish where Tyrfingur could catch most of the conversation. He walked out of the Tavern and then ran to the Great Hall and reported to the High Yarl. "Dori! Arrest those men that Tyrfingur described!" said the High Yarl. The Royal Huscarl went out to do his job and returned later with their heads. "They resisted arrest my Yarl." said Dori with a grim smile. "You have done me a great service Tyrfingur! I name you Thane and I grant you Springs Frost Hall, not too far from here." said the High Yarl. "I also give you one huscarl from my personal guard." and the High Yarl nodded to a huscarl. "But you are still my spy, so I will call for you when I need you." said the High Yarl. Tyrfingur packed his belongings and rode out to the ruined Hall. "What happened?" he asked out loud. "This place was sacked by the Orcs." said the huscarl. "The High Yarl has given you 1 million guilders to rebuild the place." he said. Tyrfingur returned to the city and hired workmen and they started to repair the ruined Hall, in the meantime, he lived in the city in the Great Hall with the other spies. The rebuilding took several months and finally he moved into the place. Not surprisingly, 30 warriors came to his Hall, asking to swear fealty to him. "Do you swear to fight my battles and the battles of the Yarl and the High Yarl?" said the new Thane. "We swear." said the men. "You are now my retainers." said Tyrfingur. "Since I am a spy and no great tactician, Huscarl Fengur will lead you into battle. Keep my lands free of Orcs, Trolls, bandits and feel free to kick out drunks and freeloaders." said Tyrfingur. "I almost forgot. You keep all loot you find but all skins from Bears and Wolves go to me." said Tyrfingur. Tyrfingur knew that skins sold in the south for 100 guilders a pelt, he knew which merchants would give him a good deal. After a few days of having no furniture and no mead or ale, he was finally able to get a merchant in to sell him a furniture set and a liquor merchant to sell him several casks of Black Mead and fine brown ale. Local young women began to hear of his being "raised in rank" by the High Yarl and according to Vyir custom, their fathers sent letters of invite to him to their Halls for the purposes of him meeting their marriageable daughters. He spent a week on that and thanks to his uncanny abilities, he picked Alfhildur Arinbjornsen, whose father was not too rich but wasn't greedy either. He paid a dowry of 2 million guilder for her and they were married at the Temple of the Light in the Capitol City.
Chapter Three.
Seven years later saw the Thane relaxing at his Hall with his seven children playing around the Hall and his wife tending to the Kelti slaves and making sure that they made the meals on time and tapped the mugs for the warriors, the huscarls and the Thane. According to the tradition of his Clan, the warriors ate first, the huscarls ate second and finally the Thane ate last but the Thane drank first and the order was reversed from that. Each Clan had a different tradition with that. The drinking game was thus; The Thane drank from the horn of the honored guest. If there was no honored guest, he drank from the horn of his first huscarl. The huscarls drank from the horns of the warriors every other drink and finally everyone drank from the Thane's horn. And that is how it went all night. The men would stagger outside and puke out their vomit but not in front of the stairs, but off to the side in a hole dug for that purpose. The tradition varied with the Clan. Clan Ysgramor was the "top" Clan with major Yuletide gifts going to the Clan Head, the High Yarl was the next to get major gifts and finally small gifts of gold and silver were sent to the Priests. None of the Vyir could figure out why Clan Ysgramor never gave another one of it's members as a High Yarl but whispers had it that a Clan Head from Clan Ysgramor sitting on the Dragon Throne would be too powerful unless if it was a major crisis. The other Clans made sure, during the High Althing, that "their man" had a turn on the Throne and the Yarls all sat on their thrones according to the will of their Witangomots, which consisted of all of their thanes, so everyone was happy. The Thane was turning these things over in his sharp mind when he was told that the High Yarl wanted to see him about a matter. He got on his pony and rode to the Hold Capitol. "You wanted to see me my Yarl?" asked Tyfingur. "Tyrfingur the Unseen! I wanted to know if Clan Ysgramor wants to wrestle my throne from me. Go find out if their Thanes and Yarls are agreeable towards me." said the High Yarl. "Your will be done my lord!" said Tyrfingur. He rode the circuit of Hold Capitols, listening in on the conversations, disguised as a wandering Priest. After hearing nothing amiss, he returned to the Great Hall. "My lord, your fears are unfounded, Clan Ysgramor sleeps and is at peace with your rule." said Tyrfingur. The High Yarl nodded his head. "Good, because whenever Clan Ysgramor gets the Throne, they tend to curb the rights of the Yarls." said the High Yarl. The sons of the High Yarl sat at the Great Table and listened in. "Now the only problem is my sons! All of them want to be High Yarl but if I can't pick an heir, the High Althing will put a different Clan on the Dragon Throne." said the High Yarl. "My lord, give each one a test. Make each one memorize the Great Law Book. The one who can recite verbatum from the Great Law Book will become the High Yarl." suggested the Thane. "Fine! A great suggestion! You run the test." said the High Yarl to Tyrfingur. Tyrfingur gathered the sons and told them the test. They agreed to recite the tome after they had all studied it, in a month. Tyrfingur rode back in a month and conducted the test. Crown Prince Aeolbjorn was the only one who could recite, from memory, the entire law book. "Aeolbjorn is your heir." said the Thane. "Aeolbjorn? He is the youngest of my sons." said the High Yarl. "But he is the governor out of all of them." said the Thane. So the High Yarl named Aeolbjorn his successor before the Moot and the Yarls accepted him as the next High Yarl. Wartime came and Thane Tyrfingur was sent out on dozens of missions against the invading Kelti Kings. The Kelti Kings had thrown their armies together into a 600,000 warrior invasion force and began to attack and burn Halls to the ground where they found them. To make matters worse, Kelti slaves were running away to join the Kelti invading Armies. Thane Tyrfingur and Anton the Assassin cooked up a plan to assassinate the Kleti Kings and thereby confuse the whole invading army. They disguised themselves as Kelti runaways and told the Kelti Kings that they should meet in a certain cave at a certain time to meet with traitors from the Vyir side. The Kings agreed and when they came to Astmundur's Cave for the meeting. A Vyir battle-engineer had rigged the cave with explosive compounds that ignited when a torch was stuck nearby, causing the cave to collapse, killing the Kings and it sent the Kelti armies into a panic and the High Yarl was able to encircle the invading force with the Grand Army and wipe it out. For that act of amazing bravery, Tyrfingur was raised to the post of Yarl, replacing a Yarl that had been killed in battle. Yarl Tyrfingur was a wealthy man now and was surprised by an old Vyir woman who came to him and gave him some news. "Do you remember your birth father well?" she asked. "Not really, I just remember running and hiding from him!" he said with a chuckle. "Your father was a member of Clan Ysgramor, but he never revealed that secret to anyone, even his wife." she said. "gods!" Tyrfingur exclaimed. "How many people know this?" he asked. "Just me and my sister." said the older woman. "I must tell the High Yarl that I must exclude myself from the succession." said Yarl Tyrfingur. "Just be warned that the High Yarl is secretly arresting the members of Clan Ysgramor." said another old woman. "That doesn't sound like the High Yarl." said Tyrfingur. He saddled up his pony and went to visit the High Yarl as his summer Hall. "There is no truth to the rumors." said the High Yarl. "Why would I do that? The whole nation would rise against me. I was concerned about Asliefur Astvaldsen and I put him in my dungeon." said the High Yarl. "Let me see him." said Yarl Tyrfingur. The High Yarl gave assent and he went down the narrow stairs to the dungeon. Men cried in the darkness and the Yarl thought he heard a man pleading for mercy. "Torture! by the gods!" said Tyrfingur. He walked to the cell of Asliefur. "Treason and contempt!" cried Asliefur. "Silence!" said the jailer. "No justice and no mercy!" said Asliefur with contempt. "What is going on?" asked Tyrfingur. "Two odd older women visited me a week ago, claiming that my father was a member of Clan Ysgramor. I told them to leave my Hall and to never repeat that matter, least I declare them outlaw. They accused me to the High Yarl! Both of the vile witches should be declared outlaw!" he cried in tears. "Those women sound familiar. I will speak with the High Yarl. He went upstairs and explained the matter. "So those old witches fooled me! Huscarls, go arrest those women! They are staying here in the city." said the High Yarl. "Tell the jailer I free Asliefur and I lift all charges against him and I restore his titles and his property and I give him 1 million guilders for being patient for the High Yarl's justice." said the High Yarl. Yarl Tyrfingur went downstairs and freed the prisoner. The two evil women were arrested and under closer examination, it was revealed that they were actually Orcs under an enchantment. They were both immediately executed by orders of the High Yarl.
Chapter Four
Yarl Edvard Edvardsen was resentful of Thane Eyvaldur Fjolsvinnursen and accused him to the High Yarl of being a plotter against the High Yarl. Instead of submitting to arrest, Thane Eyvaldur gathered his retainers and went on the run, hiding in caves and gathering followers. The High Yarl called in Yarl Tyrfingur. "Old friend, go to Thane Eyvaldur the Rebel and see why he rose against me." said the High Yarl. Yarl Tyrfingur found the location of the rebels and went to speak with the Thane. "Why did you rise against the High Yarl?" asked Yarl Tyrfingur. "Because a base-born man by the name of Edvard Edvardsen slandered and libeled me to the High Yarl and now I am a wolf's Head in his sight." said the Rebel. "End the rebellion, ride with me to my hold and I will put you under my protection and you will have the chance to explain yourself to the High Yarl." said Yarl Tyrfingur. "I want to stand before the High Althing and let them judge me." said the rebel Thane. "Fine, we will wait for the meeting of the High Althing." said Yarl Tyrfingur. He rode the rebel Thane back to his Hold and then rode to see the High Yarl and explain the situation. "Huscarls, go arrest Edvard Edvardsen!" shouted the High Yarl. The huscarls went out and got Edvard. Edvard spat at the High Yarl. "You offended my cousin! So I gained revenge by making you look like a fool!" said Edvard. "Huscarls, execute that base-born traitor." said the High Yarl. "Wait." said Yarl Tyrfingur. "High Yarl, your bad decisions are making everyone mad. I suggest you abdicate in favor of your son." said Yarl Tyrfingur. The High Yarl became angry but said; "Edvard. You made your point, now go home and stop bothering me or I will clap you in irons. I declare the rebel to be pardoned and fully restored. Yarl Tyrfingur. Just go away for awhile before my temper makes me put you in irons." the High Yarl warned. Yarl Tyrfingur turned and left for his Hold and began writing the other Yarls about forcing the High Yarl to abdicate. "Dearest Yarls, the sitting High Yarl is lacking in skill and ability, his son would be a better choice than him. Vote in the next High Althing to force him to abdicate in favor of his son." and he sent out the copies of the letter to all the Holds and to the Earldomans. The next year came and the High Althing met and discussed the matter and decided to convene a Moot. The Thanes left and the Yarls remained in the stone circle. "All in favor of forcing the High Yarl to abdicate in favor of his son, the heir we close, say "Aye!"" said the judge in the White Robe. The Yarls all voted "Aye!" with one accord and the clerks sent the decision to the High Yarl by messenger pigeon. The High Yarl received the decision and put the Crown on his successor and he retired to his Hold.
Chapter Five
Yarl Tyrfingur heard of a relic sword hidden in the deeps of mountain, deep within a former Thaugmar hold. He recruited Bjargmunder the Double-Axe, a warrior of great renown. They went together into the mountain to find the relic sword but a million deep-trolls attacked and slew both men after a protracted battle. The gods looked down on the tragic ending and wept. The god of war sent his Valkyries to resurrect Tyrfingur and Bjargmunder and slew the deep-trolls. The men got up, completely healed of their battle-wounds and they knew what had happened to them. They both marched into the main chamber, now free of deep-trolls and took the relic sword. The relic sword was a Thaugmar-steel overlay that was frost enchanted so whenever it hit an enemy, it turned the enemy into a statue of ice. "I shall rename you "Dyrmundur!"" said Tyrfingur to the sword. The sword hummed with a positive energy and Yarl Tyrfingur and his friend returned to the Hold in triumph. The new High Yarl heard about the relic sword and asked for it. "Sorry, the sword is soul-bound and it would kill anyone else who tried to use it." said Yarl Tyrfingur in a letter. "Fine then, I want you by my side. I name you High Chancellor and High Huscarl." responded the High Yarl in a letter. Yarl Tyrfingur accepted the promotion and came to serve at the new High Yarl's side. The Orcs invaded and Tyrfingur cut into the Orc line with "Dyrmundur" and slaughtered thousands of them. The Orc Army fled and Tyrfingur with the Grand Army pursued the Orcs and slaughtered the remainder. The battle-field was a collection of Ice Orc Statues and the Vyir named the battle-field "The Field of Ice Statues." the Orcs stayed out of Vyirlundia for 20 years after that. During that time, warriors tilled their farms and the Yarls built needed forts, roads and even trade towns. The High Yarl had a statue of Tyrfingur erected outside of the Capitol City upon Tyrfingur's demise at 103 years old. The relic sword itself reverted the the High Yarl's Throne forever and was put in a glass case in Hall Vallhalla-Mitgarde.
The End.
Tyrfingur Valmundursen was not the best warrior on the line but he had a strength that his Thane used quite often: He was the perfect spy. He was small and fast enough to sneak anywhere undetected and his memory was better than most men's, he was also literate in Orc, since he spent a few years as a prisoner of the Orcs. With these skills, his Thane often knew what the Orcs were going to do before the Orcs themselves actually knew what they were going to do.
Chapter One.
"Death always follows on the heels of extreme danger."- An unknown Vyir Skald.
Thane Valmundur Vilhjalmursen was an angry man and ran an angry household. All of his sons had already deserted him except for little Tyrfingur. Tyrfingur hid from his father when he went into his rages. His father would begin to hunt for him around the Hall with a strap in hand but little Tyr found out that if he put on an old cloak with runes on it and hid, his father would never find him. The poor wife of the Thane was often driven to tears by her boorish husband and pleaded the Yarl for a legal separation. "No, what then would happen to your baby boy?" asked the Yarl to the hapless woman. Finally she packed her bags in the dead of night, packed her little boy's bags and left the Hall for her uncle's house in Whitefield. She remained away for an entire winter and she finally began to worry that her husband might have killed himself. She sent one of her oldest sons, armed, to the Hall but discovered that Orcs and attacked the Hall and killed the Thane and had burnt the Hall to the ground. She remarried quickly thereafter to Thane Tjaldur Volsungursen. The Thane promised his little stepson that he would not beat him without a reason and the boy quickly grew to love his new father. A step-uncle came by the Hall one day and spoke about the need for spies. The boy was thirteen and was ready to take his Wilderness Trial. "I'll volunteer." said the boy. The older men liked his courage and his step-father said, "Once you pass your Wilderness Trial. Then I will put you under my spymaster." said the Thane. The next day, the boy went out to his week long wilderness trial, armed only with a short sword. He went out into the deep forest and built a shelter and then set traps for rabbits. He walked to a fast stream and refilled his water skin. He repeated the process daily and was able to feed himself daily with rabbit meat. During the trial, he confronted a Troll and was able to brain it before it killed him. He passed and began training. "Read this book, memorize these runes. Then ride a pony to me in Winter's Craig and repeat back to me the entire book, from memory." said Dagbjartur Eyvarsen, the spymaster. "That is so far away" thought Tyrfingur. "I know it is, but it is the only way to learn!" said the spymaster, seeing the look on his student's face. So Tyrfingur read the book, cover to cover and kept reading it until he was ready. "I have to go." said Tyrfingur a day later, to his father. "This is for your training? Where are you going?" asked Thane Tjaldur. "If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret." said the young man. "I was testing you." said the Thane. "Watch out for killer Frost Wolves, they are in great numbers this time of year." said the Thane as his stepson saddled up a pony. "I have to focus on what I read." said the young man. "Still testing." said the Thane. The boy rode off and focused on remembering what he read. His journey took him two days and by the time he reached the Hall at Winter's Craig, he found the spymaster and repeated the entire book to him, verbatum. "Now read this book, memorize it and take the information to Yarl Eikar." said the spymaster. He did and rode off to Summer's Reach. The journey took a day and he quickly found the Yarl and repeated the book verbatim. "Very good!" said the Yarl. "Now to have you read yet another book and I am sending you back to your master with the information contained therein. Have you noticed any enemy activity on the way here?" asked the Yarl. "Just damn Frost Wolves and Ice Bears." said the young man. "Good, no enemies then. Keep your eyes sharp and your ears open. Another function that you serve is to pass information to me about rebellious Thanes. It is no secret that some Clans do not like each other and will do everything short of open rebellion to make each other look stupid." said the Yarl. "Tell me anything you hear. Sometimes I have to pay a visit and settle the quarrel myself." said the Yarl. "Yes my Yarl!" said the young man. "Now get some food with the men tonight. Read this book." said the Yarl as he passed a 300 page book to the trainee. Tyrfingur took the heavy book and read it over and over again for three days until he had it memorized. He then rode back to the spymaster at Winter's Craig. He found the spymaster and repeated the book verbatim. "Good!" said the spymaster. "Do you know what kind of books you have been reading?" he asked. "Yes master, they appear to be cookbooks but at further investigation, they are actually code books. I was able to decipher the codes within and I wrote them down here." said Tyrfingur and he passed the spymaster the translated codes. "By the gods! I was about to tell you about that!" said the spymaster. "You are indeed a fast learner." he said. "So we skip ahead to the next lesson. Ride back to the Yarl and listen in on the conversation he has with his huscarls, tell me everything and leave nothing out!" said the spymaster. Tyrfingur rested, ate and rode his pony back to the Yarl. He silently sat in on the Yarl and his men and listened intently and observed their body language. The Yarl said not a word but he motioned to his huscarl and threw his eyes to the east and the huscarl saluted and left. Tyrfingur knew exactly what that meant. He rode back to the spymaster and made his report. "The Yarl sent a huscarl to deal with a Thane to the east." said Tyrfingur. "Good, excellent. You saw the Yarl give the hand sign for "Thane" then. Nothing slips past you. Now for the most dangerous part of your training and yes, you will have to escape from this part of your test: Get taken prisoner by the Orcs and escape only when you have learned both their language and their body language. They have loose tongues and they discuss sensitive matters in front of prisoners. At worst, they will make you cut wood or work in a salt mine, at worse, they will learn you are a spy and they will execute you. I advise you use this if they are going to execute you." the spymaster dropped a wolf-whistle into the hands of Tyrfingur. "They hear on lower levels, like the animals, anything from this whistle will put them in intense pain for a time of 40 minutes, use that time to escape." he said.
Chapter Two
Tyrfingur decided to let himself all into the Orcs hands for that part of his training. He had the whistle concealed where the Orcs usually don't look and he rode out unarmed. He rode out to the Orc camp, seemingly unconcerned about this direction or fate. "Gaaarash Ozzzug!" said an Orc. The Orc grabbed the pony and he got off and presented his hands to the Orc. "Kimmash?" asked the Orc. He said nothing. "You are a stupid Vyir." said an Orc in Vyir, with a staff. "I am the Shaman for this clan. You are now our prisoner. You must tend to our wolves now. Perhaps we let you live and let you go home, if you are good." said the Shaman. "But if you try to run away, we make a big stew out of you, and we crack your bones for your marrow!" said the Shaman. The Orcs laughed. Tyrfingur said nothing. They didn't search him but they did put him in wooden stocks and he was chained to a cave wall at night. He began to observe their speech patterns and objects they associated with the words. He began to talk with his captors in Orcish about little matters, like Bears and wolves and even the weather. A few days passed and the Shaman began to trust him. "Listen human, we didn't want this war. This land that you claim was once the Kingdom of the Frost Orcs. We were powerful and had many slaves. We once had over 5,000 villages and three big fort-cities. All gone! Your people destroyed them! Our Priests warned us that the gods were angry with us but our King and the Great Emperor didn't listen. Now we might become your vassals, if you will let us live!" said the Shaman. "I am not such a cub, I can tell the path of the future." he concluded. "Our Yarls have accepted vassals from Orcs and Trolls in the past, and they worked for us honorably, only after they converted to the Way of the gods of the Light." said Tyrfingur. "Hail Shaman!" said another Orc, in Royal colors. "I must attend to this matter." said the Shaman. Tyrfingur listened to the conversation carefully. "We can't hold this human, we can barely feed ourselves!" said the Orc noble. "He seems sympathetic." said the Shaman. "Are you kidding? They would kill us before accepting us! I will give him to Borrok the Slaver and he will take him to the salt mines in Orgundia." said the Orc noble. "I rather like that youngling." said the Shaman. "No! He must go and that is final." said the noble and the conversation ended. "You heard?" asked the Shaman. "I heard, how do I avoid death there?" asked the young man. "Just swing your pick at the salt rocks and push carts and make sure to steal enough bread to survive." said the Shaman. "It is a bad way to end your life." said the Shaman with a sigh. He walked off. The next day, the slaver came by the camp and took Tyrfingur. He was put on a pony and after a journey of a week deep into Orgundia, they came to a mine and Tyrfingur got off his pony. "You here." said the Orc. "Me take new slave." said a huge, nasty-looking slaver. He placed an iron stock on Tyrfingur and led him into the mine. "Take pick when I take off stock. Stay and mine salt rock. You must go to table and take bread when eating time." said Orc. "Other slaves take food. You survive. They do not." he said with an evil grin. He left Tyrfingur with a pickaxe and left. He wondered if he was totally ready. He could read their body language and he knew their language quite well. "You, Vyir. Come with me." said an Orc noble. He lead him to a table with books and papers and a quill. "Me no read. You read, very smart. You do accounts. I be watching. You even make gold! No as slave but as retainer." said the noble. Tyrfingur saluted as an Orc would salute. "Yes my lord!" he said, convincingly. The Orc noble laughed and patted him on the head. "You wise. Soon Orc Empire be very huge again!" and he left the room. He checked the books and they contained a wealth of information about the Orcs profits, their trade routes and even the locations of the Orc nobles and their retainers. He knew what he had to do. He stole as much gold coin as possible and secreted it into bags, then he freed all the slaves, in secret. After memorizing all the books he was given, he slipped out on a stolen pony and rode back to Vyirlundia by bypassing the fortified part of the border and instead rode through a cave with two exits that straddled both lands. He rode to the High Yarl and made his report. "Good work! You disrupted their economy enough for a year so they will be easy to attack. You keep the gold, get my smith to turn it into guilders. And repeat the books to my scribes and they'll rewrite them in Vyir for official records. I am stealing you from your Yarl. You will be under Fafnir "One-Eyed." Drengursen, my spymaster. The High Yarl wrote his Yarl about the new arraignment and Tyrfingur settled in as one of the five spies of the High Yarl. "Go to the Tavern district. Best place to pick up information." said Fafnir. Tyrfingur walked down to that district and listened in on conversations throughout the day to get any useful information. He was sitting down when he heard a shifty lizard-man talking to two Nords. "Listen, my agent has a job for you lugs. Kill the High Yarl. I can give you 10,000 guilder." said the lizard-man in Ossian. Ossian was close enough to Orcish where Tyrfingur could catch most of the conversation. He walked out of the Tavern and then ran to the Great Hall and reported to the High Yarl. "Dori! Arrest those men that Tyrfingur described!" said the High Yarl. The Royal Huscarl went out to do his job and returned later with their heads. "They resisted arrest my Yarl." said Dori with a grim smile. "You have done me a great service Tyrfingur! I name you Thane and I grant you Springs Frost Hall, not too far from here." said the High Yarl. "I also give you one huscarl from my personal guard." and the High Yarl nodded to a huscarl. "But you are still my spy, so I will call for you when I need you." said the High Yarl. Tyrfingur packed his belongings and rode out to the ruined Hall. "What happened?" he asked out loud. "This place was sacked by the Orcs." said the huscarl. "The High Yarl has given you 1 million guilders to rebuild the place." he said. Tyrfingur returned to the city and hired workmen and they started to repair the ruined Hall, in the meantime, he lived in the city in the Great Hall with the other spies. The rebuilding took several months and finally he moved into the place. Not surprisingly, 30 warriors came to his Hall, asking to swear fealty to him. "Do you swear to fight my battles and the battles of the Yarl and the High Yarl?" said the new Thane. "We swear." said the men. "You are now my retainers." said Tyrfingur. "Since I am a spy and no great tactician, Huscarl Fengur will lead you into battle. Keep my lands free of Orcs, Trolls, bandits and feel free to kick out drunks and freeloaders." said Tyrfingur. "I almost forgot. You keep all loot you find but all skins from Bears and Wolves go to me." said Tyrfingur. Tyrfingur knew that skins sold in the south for 100 guilders a pelt, he knew which merchants would give him a good deal. After a few days of having no furniture and no mead or ale, he was finally able to get a merchant in to sell him a furniture set and a liquor merchant to sell him several casks of Black Mead and fine brown ale. Local young women began to hear of his being "raised in rank" by the High Yarl and according to Vyir custom, their fathers sent letters of invite to him to their Halls for the purposes of him meeting their marriageable daughters. He spent a week on that and thanks to his uncanny abilities, he picked Alfhildur Arinbjornsen, whose father was not too rich but wasn't greedy either. He paid a dowry of 2 million guilder for her and they were married at the Temple of the Light in the Capitol City.
Chapter Three.
Seven years later saw the Thane relaxing at his Hall with his seven children playing around the Hall and his wife tending to the Kelti slaves and making sure that they made the meals on time and tapped the mugs for the warriors, the huscarls and the Thane. According to the tradition of his Clan, the warriors ate first, the huscarls ate second and finally the Thane ate last but the Thane drank first and the order was reversed from that. Each Clan had a different tradition with that. The drinking game was thus; The Thane drank from the horn of the honored guest. If there was no honored guest, he drank from the horn of his first huscarl. The huscarls drank from the horns of the warriors every other drink and finally everyone drank from the Thane's horn. And that is how it went all night. The men would stagger outside and puke out their vomit but not in front of the stairs, but off to the side in a hole dug for that purpose. The tradition varied with the Clan. Clan Ysgramor was the "top" Clan with major Yuletide gifts going to the Clan Head, the High Yarl was the next to get major gifts and finally small gifts of gold and silver were sent to the Priests. None of the Vyir could figure out why Clan Ysgramor never gave another one of it's members as a High Yarl but whispers had it that a Clan Head from Clan Ysgramor sitting on the Dragon Throne would be too powerful unless if it was a major crisis. The other Clans made sure, during the High Althing, that "their man" had a turn on the Throne and the Yarls all sat on their thrones according to the will of their Witangomots, which consisted of all of their thanes, so everyone was happy. The Thane was turning these things over in his sharp mind when he was told that the High Yarl wanted to see him about a matter. He got on his pony and rode to the Hold Capitol. "You wanted to see me my Yarl?" asked Tyfingur. "Tyrfingur the Unseen! I wanted to know if Clan Ysgramor wants to wrestle my throne from me. Go find out if their Thanes and Yarls are agreeable towards me." said the High Yarl. "Your will be done my lord!" said Tyrfingur. He rode the circuit of Hold Capitols, listening in on the conversations, disguised as a wandering Priest. After hearing nothing amiss, he returned to the Great Hall. "My lord, your fears are unfounded, Clan Ysgramor sleeps and is at peace with your rule." said Tyrfingur. The High Yarl nodded his head. "Good, because whenever Clan Ysgramor gets the Throne, they tend to curb the rights of the Yarls." said the High Yarl. The sons of the High Yarl sat at the Great Table and listened in. "Now the only problem is my sons! All of them want to be High Yarl but if I can't pick an heir, the High Althing will put a different Clan on the Dragon Throne." said the High Yarl. "My lord, give each one a test. Make each one memorize the Great Law Book. The one who can recite verbatum from the Great Law Book will become the High Yarl." suggested the Thane. "Fine! A great suggestion! You run the test." said the High Yarl to Tyrfingur. Tyrfingur gathered the sons and told them the test. They agreed to recite the tome after they had all studied it, in a month. Tyrfingur rode back in a month and conducted the test. Crown Prince Aeolbjorn was the only one who could recite, from memory, the entire law book. "Aeolbjorn is your heir." said the Thane. "Aeolbjorn? He is the youngest of my sons." said the High Yarl. "But he is the governor out of all of them." said the Thane. So the High Yarl named Aeolbjorn his successor before the Moot and the Yarls accepted him as the next High Yarl. Wartime came and Thane Tyrfingur was sent out on dozens of missions against the invading Kelti Kings. The Kelti Kings had thrown their armies together into a 600,000 warrior invasion force and began to attack and burn Halls to the ground where they found them. To make matters worse, Kelti slaves were running away to join the Kelti invading Armies. Thane Tyrfingur and Anton the Assassin cooked up a plan to assassinate the Kleti Kings and thereby confuse the whole invading army. They disguised themselves as Kelti runaways and told the Kelti Kings that they should meet in a certain cave at a certain time to meet with traitors from the Vyir side. The Kings agreed and when they came to Astmundur's Cave for the meeting. A Vyir battle-engineer had rigged the cave with explosive compounds that ignited when a torch was stuck nearby, causing the cave to collapse, killing the Kings and it sent the Kelti armies into a panic and the High Yarl was able to encircle the invading force with the Grand Army and wipe it out. For that act of amazing bravery, Tyrfingur was raised to the post of Yarl, replacing a Yarl that had been killed in battle. Yarl Tyrfingur was a wealthy man now and was surprised by an old Vyir woman who came to him and gave him some news. "Do you remember your birth father well?" she asked. "Not really, I just remember running and hiding from him!" he said with a chuckle. "Your father was a member of Clan Ysgramor, but he never revealed that secret to anyone, even his wife." she said. "gods!" Tyrfingur exclaimed. "How many people know this?" he asked. "Just me and my sister." said the older woman. "I must tell the High Yarl that I must exclude myself from the succession." said Yarl Tyrfingur. "Just be warned that the High Yarl is secretly arresting the members of Clan Ysgramor." said another old woman. "That doesn't sound like the High Yarl." said Tyrfingur. He saddled up his pony and went to visit the High Yarl as his summer Hall. "There is no truth to the rumors." said the High Yarl. "Why would I do that? The whole nation would rise against me. I was concerned about Asliefur Astvaldsen and I put him in my dungeon." said the High Yarl. "Let me see him." said Yarl Tyrfingur. The High Yarl gave assent and he went down the narrow stairs to the dungeon. Men cried in the darkness and the Yarl thought he heard a man pleading for mercy. "Torture! by the gods!" said Tyrfingur. He walked to the cell of Asliefur. "Treason and contempt!" cried Asliefur. "Silence!" said the jailer. "No justice and no mercy!" said Asliefur with contempt. "What is going on?" asked Tyrfingur. "Two odd older women visited me a week ago, claiming that my father was a member of Clan Ysgramor. I told them to leave my Hall and to never repeat that matter, least I declare them outlaw. They accused me to the High Yarl! Both of the vile witches should be declared outlaw!" he cried in tears. "Those women sound familiar. I will speak with the High Yarl. He went upstairs and explained the matter. "So those old witches fooled me! Huscarls, go arrest those women! They are staying here in the city." said the High Yarl. "Tell the jailer I free Asliefur and I lift all charges against him and I restore his titles and his property and I give him 1 million guilders for being patient for the High Yarl's justice." said the High Yarl. Yarl Tyrfingur went downstairs and freed the prisoner. The two evil women were arrested and under closer examination, it was revealed that they were actually Orcs under an enchantment. They were both immediately executed by orders of the High Yarl.
Chapter Four
Yarl Edvard Edvardsen was resentful of Thane Eyvaldur Fjolsvinnursen and accused him to the High Yarl of being a plotter against the High Yarl. Instead of submitting to arrest, Thane Eyvaldur gathered his retainers and went on the run, hiding in caves and gathering followers. The High Yarl called in Yarl Tyrfingur. "Old friend, go to Thane Eyvaldur the Rebel and see why he rose against me." said the High Yarl. Yarl Tyrfingur found the location of the rebels and went to speak with the Thane. "Why did you rise against the High Yarl?" asked Yarl Tyrfingur. "Because a base-born man by the name of Edvard Edvardsen slandered and libeled me to the High Yarl and now I am a wolf's Head in his sight." said the Rebel. "End the rebellion, ride with me to my hold and I will put you under my protection and you will have the chance to explain yourself to the High Yarl." said Yarl Tyrfingur. "I want to stand before the High Althing and let them judge me." said the rebel Thane. "Fine, we will wait for the meeting of the High Althing." said Yarl Tyrfingur. He rode the rebel Thane back to his Hold and then rode to see the High Yarl and explain the situation. "Huscarls, go arrest Edvard Edvardsen!" shouted the High Yarl. The huscarls went out and got Edvard. Edvard spat at the High Yarl. "You offended my cousin! So I gained revenge by making you look like a fool!" said Edvard. "Huscarls, execute that base-born traitor." said the High Yarl. "Wait." said Yarl Tyrfingur. "High Yarl, your bad decisions are making everyone mad. I suggest you abdicate in favor of your son." said Yarl Tyrfingur. The High Yarl became angry but said; "Edvard. You made your point, now go home and stop bothering me or I will clap you in irons. I declare the rebel to be pardoned and fully restored. Yarl Tyrfingur. Just go away for awhile before my temper makes me put you in irons." the High Yarl warned. Yarl Tyrfingur turned and left for his Hold and began writing the other Yarls about forcing the High Yarl to abdicate. "Dearest Yarls, the sitting High Yarl is lacking in skill and ability, his son would be a better choice than him. Vote in the next High Althing to force him to abdicate in favor of his son." and he sent out the copies of the letter to all the Holds and to the Earldomans. The next year came and the High Althing met and discussed the matter and decided to convene a Moot. The Thanes left and the Yarls remained in the stone circle. "All in favor of forcing the High Yarl to abdicate in favor of his son, the heir we close, say "Aye!"" said the judge in the White Robe. The Yarls all voted "Aye!" with one accord and the clerks sent the decision to the High Yarl by messenger pigeon. The High Yarl received the decision and put the Crown on his successor and he retired to his Hold.
Chapter Five
Yarl Tyrfingur heard of a relic sword hidden in the deeps of mountain, deep within a former Thaugmar hold. He recruited Bjargmunder the Double-Axe, a warrior of great renown. They went together into the mountain to find the relic sword but a million deep-trolls attacked and slew both men after a protracted battle. The gods looked down on the tragic ending and wept. The god of war sent his Valkyries to resurrect Tyrfingur and Bjargmunder and slew the deep-trolls. The men got up, completely healed of their battle-wounds and they knew what had happened to them. They both marched into the main chamber, now free of deep-trolls and took the relic sword. The relic sword was a Thaugmar-steel overlay that was frost enchanted so whenever it hit an enemy, it turned the enemy into a statue of ice. "I shall rename you "Dyrmundur!"" said Tyrfingur to the sword. The sword hummed with a positive energy and Yarl Tyrfingur and his friend returned to the Hold in triumph. The new High Yarl heard about the relic sword and asked for it. "Sorry, the sword is soul-bound and it would kill anyone else who tried to use it." said Yarl Tyrfingur in a letter. "Fine then, I want you by my side. I name you High Chancellor and High Huscarl." responded the High Yarl in a letter. Yarl Tyrfingur accepted the promotion and came to serve at the new High Yarl's side. The Orcs invaded and Tyrfingur cut into the Orc line with "Dyrmundur" and slaughtered thousands of them. The Orc Army fled and Tyrfingur with the Grand Army pursued the Orcs and slaughtered the remainder. The battle-field was a collection of Ice Orc Statues and the Vyir named the battle-field "The Field of Ice Statues." the Orcs stayed out of Vyirlundia for 20 years after that. During that time, warriors tilled their farms and the Yarls built needed forts, roads and even trade towns. The High Yarl had a statue of Tyrfingur erected outside of the Capitol City upon Tyrfingur's demise at 103 years old. The relic sword itself reverted the the High Yarl's Throne forever and was put in a glass case in Hall Vallhalla-Mitgarde.
The End.
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