Norravägg
Hankir sat quietly, he observed the edge of the forest on the outskirts of Naumudalr the only thing he could feel was, fear. A deep fear of the unknown, the fear one had of the dark when they were merely a child, and though this fear wasn't based on childlike fears of the night they were based on the fear of what lurked within those darkened woods. The treeline that hid so many mysteries, a dark void within that one could never make out what was inside of it. His heart pumped quickly and his skin began to crawl, not from the cold of the unforgiving northern wind and snow but from an inane feel within him that something was watching them.
"Oreldon." A voice called. Hankir ignored it, he kept looking, staring, observing at the tree lines so far off yet closer than one would think.
As Hankir kept looking his body began to tremble and his body became stiff, his neck toughened with every gulp and his hands wouldn't let go off of his swords handle. He was afraid.
"Hankir!" Another voice called, this time getting the Nord back to himself. Hankir looked towards who had call to him, it was Klegor, saddled up in his brown steed, helmet on and his furred cape on him as always.
"We're ready to go. Lead the way my friend." The Captain said honoring Hankir's wish to lead the scouting party. In most normal circumstances the Captain would've never allow such thing to happen but these circumstances were as one would say, extraordinary. Hankir for his part was still unsure but he had made the promise to lead these men, to make them see what they were up against. This was not something he wanted to end up in a fight, that could come later. For now he had to just make sure they would live to tell the tale.
Hankir put his own helmet on as he approached his white horse, "We'll dismount at the Tornlight, the horses will give us away." Hankir then pulled himself up and saddled up. With him was Klegor, and eight other men. These would not be enough men for a fight but the less people marching around the woods the less the chances of being discovered.
"Lets go then!" Hankir said as he signaled his horse to begin galloping, Klegor and the others began to follow behind him. The group quickly passed by a gap in the defensive line made throughout the night, as they were back on the road towards Bellenwhod the gap was closed back with spike barricades and torches lighting the perimeter of the town.
The group galloped through the snowy road following close behind Hankir, the group was quick passing through Jorunnarstaoir, which had been found in the same condition as Naumudalr. This had only further given credit to Hankir's story and had left the men back at the town quite uneasy but still confident that they could kill any beasts that dare attack, after all these werewolf infestations were usually ended quickly by the swift sword of the Jarls soldiers or militias made by the town folk, but never had an entire village population disappeared and been mauled by them. This was what made the situation extraordinary. Hankir, Klegor and the others galloped fast as the sun began to rise on the skies of Norravägg.
On the horizon, right in the snowy clearing where deer usually ate and near the road between the two towns that Hankir and his companions had just come from and pass by, a lonely figure observed stood and observed much like Hankir had done so. It observed the orange light of the torches surrounding Naumudalr, deers standing behind the figure as it stood completely still. It was as if it was part of nature, rooted right on the ground like a tree. But this figure was not that, not even natural by standards of much of the world of Eroris, an abomination by many. The creature's eyes gleamed with the light of the fire from afar and as the sun began to rise to a cloudy world. The creature then uttered a single word, his voice neither human, elven, orchish, or any other race, it was simply animalistic as it spoke.
"Humans."
After having reached the Tornlight, Hankir and the others had dismounted and hitched their horses, they continued on foot no longer using the road leading to Bellenwhod, instead Hankir led Klegor and the others through the snowy forestry of Norravägg. Hankir walked at the front as Klegor followed behind him and so did the other men who kept a keen eye for anything. Hankir was armed with his hatchet, and he had opted to leave his helmet behind in order to better see, meanwhile the others had kept most of their gear with them and were struggling to move through the snow as they carried their shields, swords and spears that some of them carried.
Klegor had his hand ready to unbind his sword and had left his shield behind but carried his helmet still. He followed close to Hankir and as they walked deeper into the forests he began to question were he was taking them, so far it seemed that since the Tornlight they were getting farther from Bellenwhod.
"Hankir, where are we going?" He finally asked.
Hankir kept silent for a while as the group walked upwards a rocky hill which finally led to a frozen lake overlooked by a rock formations leading up to the mountains. The same place where Hankir and his daughter had hunted that deer.
"We're close. This route goes around the main way to Bellenwhod." He said as he began to slide down the step hillside to the thick ice layer of the lake. Klegor looked at the view, it was quite the sight, one that he didn't usually got to see since his days serving the Jarl. Hankir was down on the lake, and as he walked through the frozen lake he spotted something on the ice, something odd. The Nord kneeled down to examine it and as he did his companions up above on the frozen wooded hill tried to catch a breath. Klegor observed as Hankir was looking at something on the ice and the others noticed this.
"Are you sure about trusting him?" Alvrwulf, one of the accompanying warriors asked, the question obviously directed at the Captain.
"What reason do I have not to?" Klegor answered as he then slided down to the lake, the others following him, Alvrwulf was the last to go down as he tried to make sense of what was happening. He didn't know this region so he couldn't exactly tell if Hankir was guiding them wrong but having left the road and now wandering in the woods? Werewolves around, it was dangerous and sketchy to say the least. The warrior finally slid down and found his companions around Hankir, all now observing what he had found.
"This is no natural mark." Fjorlf, another warrior commented. Alvrwulf walked towards the group as they kept bickering over what they had found.
"Perhaps its a bear?" Rafud added.
"Bears aren't that big you idiot." Belrtrom retorted. Alvrwulf tried to get a good look at whatever they were talking about but they were all blocking his view.
"Whatever it is, no creature that I've ever seen." Hankir said as he got up, Alvrwulf finally got a good look, it was a track. A big track that had imprinted into the ice, one would first think it was of a bear, but no bear had long finger like extremities and as Belrtrom said, no bear was big enough to make a track the size of horse saddle. Alvrwulf himself kneeled down to get a better look, he couldn't believe it.
Klegor for his part looked around the area, he found another track on the ice, leading to the other side of the frozen lake. This had been no normal creature, it could not be a werewolf, that was impossible. The men in the group began to get tense and unsure if they had made the right choice letting Hankir lead them.
"We have to get out of here! Whatever this creature is, it cannot be far." Lodistr said with alarm.
Fjorlf nodded in agreement. "The omen is bad enough. We shouldn't have come h-here..."
"He led us here! To the mouth of the beast!" Belrtrom said in a loud and aggressive tone as he pointed at Hankir.
Klegor tried to keep tensions down "Everybody calm down. He said Bellenwhod is not far, we have to make sure we know what we'-"
"I have a son and daughter back at home! I'm not going to be werewolf dinner over some backwater town in the middle of nowhere!" Vongoct interrupted with anger.
"We have to keep quiet you fools!" Rafud said while trying to keep a low voice, this didn't help as the men let fear get the best of them.
"If you want to be food for beasts fine by me, I'm going back to the Tornlight and then back to the others!" Vongoct said in anger as he walked back towards the forest in the direction the group had come from.
"You will do no such thing soldier!" Klegor finally snapped as he unsheathed his sword, Vongoct already off the lake and into the snowy ground of the forest. The man looked at the Captain with little care.
"I joined the guard to serve Frosthold, not s-"
"You took an oath to serve Norravägg!" Klegor said with a stern voice as he pointed the sword towards Vongoct. The others began to move slowly to the side they supported, with Rafud, Alvrwulf, and Holgtring siding with Klegor and Hankir. The others walked slowly to side with Vongoct, and they took began to slowly move to unsheathe their weapons.
Hankir finally broke his silence, "We all need to get a hold of ourselves... We're Nords, we shouldn't be pointing our weapons to one another." He said as he set his hand on Klegor's sword to push it down. He then go in front of the captain, showing both hands to the other men as a sign of no ill will.
"I understand you're afraid, believe me I am too. But remember that we're all Nords and we have to stand by each other, we should fight the beasts that did this, not each other." Hankir extended his hand to Vongoct, hoping that he would take it to end all hostilities. The two men looked at each other, the Nord then began moving his hand away from his sword and towards Hankir's though reluctantly. Finally it seemed that tensions were down.
Vongoct was about to give Hankir's his hand, right at that moment and seemingly out of nowhere he was then tackled by a big white creature coming from above. A quick yell was the only thing Hankir heard as Vongoct was tackled into the forests and all men were taken aback by the sudden and quick dissaperance of the Nord from their view as he was dragged into the forest by the creature, his screams echoing by the frightful and shocked silence of the men. Then they all looked up to see dozens of wolf men above on the rock formations overlooking the river and all looking directly at them, all varying in fur color and size but regardless were all fierce looking and their terrible eyes that gleamed with the light of the clouded sun looking at them. Claws extended and sharp wolf teeth showing, it was a sight of terror.
Hankir, Klegor and all of the men stood silent and in shock for several seconds, it was hard to digest what had just happened, that was until Hankir at the top of his lungs yelled "RUN!"
With that most of the men came back to their senses as they began to turn around towards the forest. The beasts above them began to pounce down and onto the frozen lake, their incredible weight causing much of the ice to begin shattering. The group of men was already running into the forest, some scattering and others keeping together. The beasts began to run after them, they were fast as quickly they were already pouncing onto the scattered men.
Refud was one of them as he tried to run through the snow and the trees, quickly tired from the weight of his armor and losing his breath, he tried to lighten up by doping his shield and trying to get his chest piece off. He then heard something behind him and turning his head to see a beast already close behind him, lunging at him and so Refud let out a scream that was the last thing he did as he got his throat bitten and his blood splattered through the white snow.
Same fate was met by Lodistr as his scream was heard by the Hankir, Klegor and the others who had stayed together and all followed the path back to the Tornlight. The howl of the werewolves was heard from afar as fog began to settle, Hankir and the others ran through patches of snow high and low. Most of them had their weapons drawn and were following Hankir for the best way to get out of this place.
Hankir for his part had his heart pumping fast as he ran alongside his fellow Nords, the sound of beasts not to far behind them. This had been a bad idea from the start, he knew it and yet he had gone through with it to this very moment where he was already regretting it.
"We have to get back to the horses, come on men, push through!" Klegor said with resilience as he followed Hankir who only agreed by manner of action as he kept moving.
The men were then cut short by finding more beasts right in front of them, dozens of them standing in their way. Hankir stopped only a some meters away from them and the others stopped as well. Then they looked around them, they were surrounded. Beasts at their front, their sides into the trees and right behind them. Sounds of growls, branches breaking, and snow grass moving made the men ever more unease as they all readied their weapons and formed a circle.
"Captain, what do we do!?" Belrtrom asked, his voice noticeably shaky.
"I... I..." Was the only response from the captain as he realized the predicament they were all in.
Hankir, had his hatchet ready on one hand, getting a hold of his dagger on his other hand, ready to fight these beasts again. He thought of Adria, how he had to go back to her. He had to fight not only for himself and these men with her, but for her, his daughter. The only thing that he had left in this world. As the beasts began to get closer and closer, Hankir realized that the time for strategy was over, they all would have to fight like Nords.
"FIGHT! FIGHT FOR YOUR LIVES!" Hankir yelled out as the a beasts lunged at him, Hankir quickly swinging his hatchet and piercing the beast on its skull., Hankir then let out a yell, a yell reminiscing of the older times of his people, the older times of Norravägg, a war cry. The others took Hankir's words at heart as they too let out their war cries and got on guard as the beasts pounced and charged at them.
Klegor thrusting his sword at one beast, piercing right through its stomach and swinging it aside to focus at the next beast, deflecting the claw attacks of one. Belrtrom using two hatchets to advance on one beast, swinging down and cutting at its ribs and quickly piercing its head with the other hatchet. Alvrwulf swung his sword at two beasts moving to him, hitting on in its snout as the other tried to swing at him with its claws. Holgtring then moved his sword down to pierce at one of the beasts attacking Alvrwulf. The group did its best to support each other as Hankir kicked one of the creatures and cut at its arm and Klegor promptly and quickly chopped its head off with one slash of his sword.
Despite their best efforts one by one the best began to die. Fjorlf receiving a slash in the face and then being dragged from his feet back into the forest, his yells heard by Einrmir and Berltrom who tried to take his hand only for him to get dragged away by the beasts, his screams the only thing they heard from him. Suddenly a beast managed to pounce Berltrom who didn't react in time and he went down to the ground with the beast on top of him, everyone else either shaken or occupied the Nord began getting ripped apart by the beast as he tried to stab the creature with his knife to no avail. Finally Einrmir pierced the beast in the head only to find Berltrom bloodied and dead.
"DON'T LET THEM GET CLOSE!" Hankir yelled as he then slashed at one beast right in the head and stabbed another on the snout and kicked it back. Klegor then cut one creature and kicked it back only for another to try to swing at him with his claws, another then charged at him and tackled him, it then tried to bit at his head only for it to get stabbed in the back by a hatchet and then its head pierced by Hankir's knife.
Klegor pushed the creature off him and yelled out "WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE! TRY TO MOVE FORWARD!"
The group then began charging forward, swinging and slashing at the beasts and running forward. Einrmir then getting tackled by a creature and despite his best attempts to push them back getting mauled by several others. The a gleam from the Tornlight was seen as the men desperately tried to get to it, still slashing and killing beasts as they were able to. Then Alvrwulf was grabbed from the feet and dragged into the masses of beasts, trying to swing at the creatures and grabbing the hand of Klegor and despite this being dragged away.
It was then that Holgtring got slashed by a beasts claws right onto his back, falling onto Klegor who tried to help him up. Then it was Klegor himself who received a slash right across the right side of his face and feel onto the ground. Hankir was the only one left as he desperately swung with his hatchet and knife to defend his two fallen warriors. The beasts slowly surrounded him, growling and showing their teeth at him, he then yelled out.
"COME AT ME MOTHERFUCKERS!" As he readied to fight to his last breath.
The beasts then began to retreat back, shocking both Klegor and Hankir, the unconscious Holgtring was losing blood. The beasts retreated back away from the three men and making way for something that was coming the way the group had fled from. It was big, its steps shaking the earth as Hankir then got in front of the two men, Klegor trying to drag Holgtring back as Hankir readied to fight.
"Get out of here!" Hankir said to Klegor, still standing guard for what was to come.
Klegor felt like he couldn't leave him behind, his bleeding eye dripping blood and becoming weaker by the second, still he couldn't leave a brother Nord behind.
"Han-"
"GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" Hankir yelled out, sheathing his knife and setting his hatchet on his belt to then draw his long sword from his sheathe. The beast walked towards him, it stood at at least 12 feet tall, the other wolf beasts cowering at it as it moved towards Hankir. Klegor was still dragging the wounded Holgtring, taking advantage of the distracted beasts, he then heard the unthinkable from the massive beast confronting Hankir.
"This one is mine!" The beast said with a vicious and animaslistic growling voice, its gleaming eyes interlocking with Hankir's human eyes. The Nord's body trembled with fear at the sight of the massive creature, still he didn't back down as he readied his long sword and got on guard.
"I already killed your kind, I can kill you too!" Hankir said with resilience and courage.
The beast then let out a horrific laugh, the other wolf beasts letting out similar frightfully eerie human like laughs. "Humans, always confident..."
Klegor couldn't do anything but take the wounded Holgtring with him, dragging him back into the main pathway right back to the Tornlight, with the little strength left in him he stowed the wounded man on the back of his horse and got on. He couldn't do anything for Hankir, he had to take the opportunity he had given him and go warn Frosthold, get the high king to send an army before they all died. He had to, for Hankir.
"HYAH!" He yelled as he then galloped away quick. Hankir realized it now, he heard the horses screeching from behind and realized he was now alone and facing this monster. Despite his inner fear he would not back down to it.
The massive beast then swung its claws at him. Hankir rolled sideways, narrowly avoiding the slash and cutting at the beast's hind legs, taking it off balance. The beast let out a growl and then it with its entire body barged into Hankir who couldn't react in time. The Nord was sent flying several feet into the air and back towards the direction of the lake. The beast stood up on both legs, and then let out a loud and mighty roar.
Hankir was down on the snow, his body aching but still fighting as he picked up the sword and got on guard as well, though very shaken from the hit. He then saw as the beast charged at him, its massive body plowing through the snow like nothing. Hankir again rolled sideways and again only slightly avoided the beast's attack. Hankir then retreated towards the lake, the beasts still at the trees and not letting him move elsewhere, he pushed himself to get to the ledge leading to the lake. The Nord turned around to see the massive beast running at him, not like an animal but like a man and then lunging at him, its teeth and claws ready to rip Hankir apart. The Nord managed to moved aside and slash at the beasts head doing little damage
Hankir was then hit by the beast swinging its arm and throwing Hankir back several feet and right onto a tree. The Nord's armor took most of the blow but he could still feel his body hurt from the hit, again he tried to get up, supporting himself on the mangle of his sword and trying to get up. The beast then walked with little care towards him, Hankir still holding onto his sword and doing an last weak attempt to stab at the creature only for it to easily avoid the hit and grab him at the throat.
"You and the rest of your pathetic race will die like the weaklings you all are!" It spoke to Hankir as it hold onto his neck and carried him up with ease.
The Nord, still holding onto his sword then gave a remark with his struggling breath at the massive beast. "I'll see you in hell then, you fucking mongrel!"
The beast then gave an unnatural looking smirk at Hankir. "No, we may have some use for you human."
Hankir eye's widened as then the beast easily grabbed his sword from his hand and then covering his head with its massive hand like paw it jumped from the ledge and towards the frozen lake, the other beasts looking as it did. The beast flew over the hillside and with all the force of its hand it punched through the ice with its closed hand, still holding onto Hankir and knocking him out. He was merely unconscious, but the beast would make him wish he had killed him.
