After receiving their new orders from Sjorn the troop of hunters had swiftly split up and each group chased after the lone contingencies of casters. Their chase was fast and it didn't take long until the hunters came upon something that confused them.
The thing that confused them was nothing special, at least in their opinion, but since Hoelbrak was currently under attack they were wary of whatever it was they had discovered. Right there before their eyes was something carved into the mountains that made up the basis for Hoelbrak, something that hadn't been there before.
The further they progressed the more often they came upon these strange symbols. None of the hunters was proficient in the arcane or new what these symbols may represent. Thus, they agreed in their small units to try and disrupt the symbols by carving a few more lines through the symbol, hopefully preventing its use.
Sadly the runes were protected from mana and even while trying to infuse their axes or arrows with mana didn't do any damage to them. Thus, they returned to their hunt but promised themselves that they would report their findings to Sjorn once they returned. Unfortunately, that would never happen as they soon after their first few finds were ambushed by the casters and decimated, not leaving a single one of the hunters alive.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
With dull thumping sounds the enemy troops kept attacking their gates, this time not only consisting of Norn but also of corrupted creatures made of ice that had come to life by Jormag's mana.
While the troops upon the wall reigned down metal and fire upon the enemy Sjorn knew it would now only be a matter of time until they would breach the gates and he was right.
With a crashing sound the huge wooden gates of Hoelbrak splintered and burst open while the enemy troops flooded inside under outcries of victory or bloodlust.
"BRACE!" Sjorn roared and like one being the warriors at his side lifted their shields and spears like a wall and marched forwards steadily. The enemy meanwhile had seemingly lost every rationality in their craving for war and rushed like madmen into the shield wall, which sadly gave in at some points when Norn were met by ice creatures for example, getting skewered in the process until the shield wall had no choice but to give in completely, simply because of the weight the number of dead enemies laid down upon the shields.
"OPEN! FORM UNITS! LEAVE NONE ALIVE!" Sjorn roared and his orders were met with roars as answer while his subordinates did as he had said.
Sjorn himself clothed himself in a faint protective barrier made of mana, unfortunately only protecting him from glancing blows at best, and rushed into the enemy lines like a beast.
Swinging his axes without regard for his own safety Sjorn for the first time in his life completely ignored what may happen to him and soon was covered from head to toe in splashes of blue blood or shards of splintered ice, pertaining to some unfortunate ice creatures.
Pulling a son of Jormag towards him with the inner part of his axe Sjorn used his other axe to slide down the handle of his holding axe and caved in the held head from the man he had pulled over. Turning around he unceremoniously gripped his one axe on the lower part of the handle and with a mighty throw embedded said axe in the skull of another one. Rushing over to his axe he picked it up and continued his onslaught, like a whirlwind of death that split skulls and rendered men useless left and right, none who came close enough to do any damage surviving long enough to do so.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////
His breath running ragged under his helmet Sjorn did not know how much time had passed since he had entered the battle, the adrenaline slowly leaving his body and brought with it the fatigue and burning of his muscles.
While he faintly registered how his smoke like breath rose into the air he was more focused on his surroundings and knew that his time would soon come as barely any of his troops remained.
His soldiers continued to fight but in the end they were outnumbered without a doubt. Taking in another ragged breath Sjorn rushed into the battle lines of the enemy once again, his fallen comrades paving his way with swords, spears or arrows sticking in their bodies and told the tale of how these brave men and women had met their end.
'I'm right behind you brothers and sisters. Soon I will join you all and journey together with you towards the resting place of our ancestors where we will recount our adventures and rejoice at the legends we all created. And what legends we created! Truly, there couldn't be a better end to our lives than to die with heads held high on the battlefield!' Sjorn thought and let a grin form on his face while a sound half battle cry, half laughter broke through his lips until he disappeared behind the enemy lines exactly the way he had lived: With axes swinging an a smile on his face…
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Drakkar knew the battle had finally come to an end and his master's enemies had been eradicated to the last man. But his mission was not yet done and thus made his way over to the grand city Hoelbrak, ordering his troops to retreat all the while.
Marching through gates, breaking them down in the process, the beast soon arrived in the middle of the city and could feel all the symbols his subordinates had carved into the surrounding mountains come together exactly where they were supposed to.
Thus, with a growl Drakkar awakened the mana of his master that slumbered inside of him and had made him into what he was today. The mana began to swirl around his huge body and grew from a small whirlwind into a tornado that soon encompassed the whole of Hoelbrak, hiding it behind its blue spinning might until he began to incantate the words his master had whispered to him at his last visit with the order to only do so once the battle was concluded and who was he to deny his master's orders!
Under his instructions and his master's incantation the mana soon pierced everything inside of Hoelbrak. The walls, the houses, the trees, the animals and yes, even the dead that laid at the entrance into Hoelbrak.
Under roaring laughter Drakkar observed as the translucent spirits of the Norn were pulled back from the mists and slowly took form besides their former bodies, confusion clear in their eyes. With viciousness glinting in his eyes Drakkar began the second incantation his master had given him and with satisfaction watched how the horrified faces of his enemies soon morphed into blank iciness and took over newly risen bodies made of blue ice until said golems came to life themselves, now fuelled by the enemy until his master had found another purpose for those that had defied him.
'Truly, revenge is sweet if you knew how to go about executing it…' Drakkar thought while his vicious grin transformed back into his usual face, only a small smile remaining on his face. Turning around he marched over to the great hall and soon fell asleep inside of it, Hoelbrak all the while turning into a necropolis of cursed ice, guarded by those that once lived there with the one who killed them as jailor and master for all eternity if Drakkar had anything to say about it…
There you go guys! Hope you enjoyed it^^
Twisting his head to the side Alvar dodged the ogre's mighty swing by only a few millimeters. While he did so his eyes never strayed away from his opponent and thus only passively took in the sight of the wooden splinters sailing through the air after the stony mace of the ogre had smashed into a tree standing right behind Alvar and pulverized it on impact.
Exhaling steadily Alvar prepared himself for his own counterattack and swiftly went into action as hesitation could mean the same fate for Alvar the poor tree behind him had experienced only a few seconds ago.
Tightening his grip on his two-handed sword, which was dangerously gleaming under the dim morning light of the just rising sun, Alvar dashed forwards with only one goal in his mind at that moment. Slay the ogre and finally get himself some breakfast! The bloody thing had interrupted him while he was just preparing said breakfast and he knew he may become an ogre himself, in a manner of speaking, if he didn't get something, anything really, to eat first thing in the morning…
While the humongous figure of the ogre was stumbling forwards after he had pulverized the tree instead of the enemy before him, Alvar had moved forwards as well and clothed his blade in mana in preparation for what was to come next.
Bending his knees slightly Alvar guided his sword to his right side with the blades point pointing to the ground and with another exhale drew his blade over the kneecap of his foe who roared in pain after which he made to turn around and ram the boy into the ground without preamble.
Unfortunately for the stinking beast Alvar had never let his eyes wander away from it and thus was able to see what it tried to do. With a fast jump backwards Alvar managed to get himself out of harms way, just in time before the ogre blew a hole into the hard ground where Alvar had stood only a second ago.
While the ogre was still stunned that his prey had escaped his mighty blows once again, Alvar was already in motion and managed to slip by the ogre and promptly used the opportunity to sever the other Achilles tendon causing the four meters tall ogre to wobble shortly and buckle over once he had completely lost the ability to stand tall any longer. Not wasting any time Alvar brought his blade down on his whining foe and with a thudding sound split the beast's skull nearly in half like a woodworker its lumber.
Silence fell upon the small clearing inside the forest afterwards, only slightly disturbed by the relieved breath released from Alvar for various reasons. For one: he had just survived a fight against a foe twice his size. Secondly: he could finally grab himself some breakfast…
With a grunt Alvar freed his blade from the beast's skull and with a swing to the side cleaned it of most of the blood on its body. The rest he would have to wipe away later to deny any chances for the steel to rust.
Trudging over to his small camp Alvar let himself fall down next to the glimmering bonfire and began to roast himself some squirrel. Not the most delicious meat there was but beggars can't be choosers in some cases.
While Alvar was wiping down his blade his mind wandered to the last few weeks and what had happened in that time.
The entourage of children and adults had managed to escape the Shiverpeak mountain's most dangerous territory in which they would have still had to worry about Jormag's troops. But once they managed to reach the lush green forests at the border to the Shiverpeak mountains those worries had faded to the background, even though none of the refugees ever truly forgot what had happened to them, nor would they want to in most cases.
After some deliberations the group had decided to make camp near the forests while two of the adults would leave for the capital of the Humans, namely Divinity's reach, and hopefully gain its protection for a while so they could think about the future of their people without haste.
While the two adults had left, the children were kept busy with various studies or tasks which resulted in a not too shabby campsite. Alvar and Veli though had only helped with the basic constructions and afterwards left the group behind in order to hunt for food and scout out the possible enemies that may roam the forests in the camp's vicinity.
And just like that a few weeks had passed for the two. Constant battles against ogres, wolf packs, minotaurs and even creatures the Norn had never seen before, sometimes able to project illusions and confuse the enemies if unprepared, had resulted in valuable experience for the two youngsters. After all they had made it their duty to protect the remainder of their people until they reached saver territory.
When Alvar thought back in time those creatures had been an interesting battle for Alvar when he met those for the first time. But in the end they had fallen to his blade like all the others before and after.
Today Alvar would return to the camp and meet back up with Veli and supply the camp with another bunch of hunted animals. Hopefully the messengers would return soon as Alvar had grown curious about what a Human settlement would actually look like.
Thus Alvar, while still munching on the last bits of his breakfast, began to gather his few things he carried in his bundle and after pouring some dirt into the fire slung his sheathed sword over his shoulder and began to march back towards the main camp, soon disappearing behind the lush green trees and bushes that were so rarely seen up in the Shiverpeak mountains. At first he had felt a little bit out of place as he had never before seen such lush vegetation. And yet the fauna provided Alvar with something he had rarely felt while out in the wilderness, back in the days when he ventured out with his uncle Olaf, namely peacefulness. These forests, filled with life and untainted by any kind of influence, truly were a sight for sore eyes and Alvar enjoyed every second of his time in between the green scenery.
With a small grunt escaping his lips Alvar realised that their escape had not only brought bad things for him. Then again maybe it was just his mindset that made life better for him? Life certainly became a little bit happier if you tried to see life as a jar half full, instead of half empty.
With a shrug Alvar shoved those thoughts to the back of his mind for later contemplation. Already he could hear faint clamouring in what he knew to be the main camp. With a small smile on his face Alvar increased the speed of his marching as he was looking forward to see Veli once again. The both of them would have a lot to share with each other about their time in the wild, Alvar was pretty sure about that.
Yo my darlings, hope you are all doing well^^
I found myself yearning to write something, anything really, so here you go. Even though I had some difficulties to get back into the swing of things I hope the chapter did come out somewhat alright :-)
Later!
Alright, read over it again and rewrote some parts as well.
bình luận đoạn văn
Tính năng bình luận đoạn văn hiện đã có trên Web! Di chuyển chuột qua bất kỳ đoạn nào và nhấp vào biểu tượng để thêm nhận xét của bạn.
Ngoài ra, bạn luôn có thể tắt / bật nó trong Cài đặt.
ĐÃ NHẬN ĐƯỢC