Post by Ser Kaigar Vegulfr Lodbroksonr on Jul 6, 2011 23:07:32 GMT -5
It was the cool rain on my face that woke me. As my mind came back to consciousness I started to feel the pain… pain everywhere. It felt as though my entire body was on fire, like I had been crushed under a mountain and swept down a rushing river, then pulled back together. I laid on the cold wet ground for how long, I don’t know. I tried with much woe to move my arms and found them still attached. My legs were next and then my neck. I was still alive at least and finding that I could still move, painfully, but mobile.
As I started to push myself off of the mucky ground I noticed a strange scent in that is both indescribable and unforgettable at the same moment. It is the smell of death. My stomach started to heave and I released its contents onto the ground at the scene before me. Everything is in ruins… everything is dead. That’s when my last few memories started to drift back to me…
I thought it all a dream… the dead things come to my village, it is the way it has been for as long as I know. But this time the dead things were talking and trying to convince my elders to join them. My village attacks them and I surge into the fray as a loyal warrior warrior should… It all goes black.
The “dream” continues with a man in robes that didn’t show his face telling me to fight or he would keep my blackened spirit. We fight and I best him… then I feel as though my body is burning… That’s when I wake up in this field of carnage.
Every other person in my village is dead… every warrior, elder, child and woman… all dead. Except for me… why? I stand slowly, my legs shaking and I walk slowly through the wreckage, examining the bodies of my brothers and sisters, the wounds on them. I frown as I notice that the wounds on their bodies are not the usual ones inflicted by the dead things...Their weapons are blunt and smashing, with any blades leaving the flesh around the wound rotting and blackened. These wounds are clean and straight cuts, made by sword and axe blades.
As I close the eyes on the last of my fallen comrades, I look around again, and make my way back to where I woke, realizing my sword, axe, and shield had been lying next to me on the ground. I bend down to pick them up, when I notice the blades are covered in blood...Not the bright green of the dead things, but the dark red of humans. As I kneel there, staring at my blade, I begin to shake, a dark thought creeping into my mind, What if it was me...What if..What if I did this? A voice whispers in my mind.
The sound of hoofbeats stirs me from my thoughts and I look up to see a group of riders enter the remains of the village and circle me. I blink, and when I open my eyes again, all I see is a circle of thirteen spearheads mere inches away from my face. I turn slowly, until I come to a gap in the deadly ring, and look up to see a very familiar face grimacing down at me.
"Kaigar..." A deep, soothing voice rumbles, "What have you done?" I catch my breath and speak slowly, choosing my words carefully. "My King, I cannot say what has happened here. But please, my Lord," I pause, falling to my knees again, "Please believe me when I say that I do not remember doing any of this..."
The king sighed, shaking his head and motioning for his men to raise their weapons. As they did, he dropped down from his horse and stepped forward, grabbing me by the shoulder and pulling me to my feet. "I say this once, Kaigar, and you will hate me for it. We came at the pleas of one of your own warriors, Sigard. He told us that you had gone mad and attacked your brothers." He paused, squeezing my shoulder, "I didn't want to believe it, but after seeing this..." He stopped, looking around at his men and dropping his hand down to his belt. "Kaigar, as King of Dacia, I hereby exile you, for crimes against your own people. Flee this land, and never return. If you do, know that you face death, by my own blade," His words became hushed then, and a less observant man might have missed the tears forming in his bright blue eyes, "Forgive me, my son..."
For what seemed like hours, the only sound I could focus on was the rain, falling harder, and the pounding of my heart. "Father, I.." I began, but was cut off by Ragnar's raised hand. "I will hear no more of your words, Kinslayer. Leave my lands, and never return." with those final words, he mounted his horse, and he and his men galloped away, leaving me to sink back to my knees in the mud and rain.
I gathered the few things I owned, my weapons, my shield, what food I could find that wasn't ruined, and I load it all up on the horse that had been left for me. After securing the packs, I started moving the bodies of my friends, my family...
I stood on the hill over looking the burning remains of my village, and took a deep breath, then turned away. "The past is gone, I must look to the future.." I said to myself, mounting my horse and heading towards the setting sun....
The answers to what happened that day lay somewhere to the West, of that I'm sure. Perhaps someday, I'll find them, and find a way to stop the burning within my heart and my body that torments me constantly. I will not rest until I find them, that I swear.
Óðinn forgive me...
As I started to push myself off of the mucky ground I noticed a strange scent in that is both indescribable and unforgettable at the same moment. It is the smell of death. My stomach started to heave and I released its contents onto the ground at the scene before me. Everything is in ruins… everything is dead. That’s when my last few memories started to drift back to me…
I thought it all a dream… the dead things come to my village, it is the way it has been for as long as I know. But this time the dead things were talking and trying to convince my elders to join them. My village attacks them and I surge into the fray as a loyal warrior warrior should… It all goes black.
The “dream” continues with a man in robes that didn’t show his face telling me to fight or he would keep my blackened spirit. We fight and I best him… then I feel as though my body is burning… That’s when I wake up in this field of carnage.
Every other person in my village is dead… every warrior, elder, child and woman… all dead. Except for me… why? I stand slowly, my legs shaking and I walk slowly through the wreckage, examining the bodies of my brothers and sisters, the wounds on them. I frown as I notice that the wounds on their bodies are not the usual ones inflicted by the dead things...Their weapons are blunt and smashing, with any blades leaving the flesh around the wound rotting and blackened. These wounds are clean and straight cuts, made by sword and axe blades.
As I close the eyes on the last of my fallen comrades, I look around again, and make my way back to where I woke, realizing my sword, axe, and shield had been lying next to me on the ground. I bend down to pick them up, when I notice the blades are covered in blood...Not the bright green of the dead things, but the dark red of humans. As I kneel there, staring at my blade, I begin to shake, a dark thought creeping into my mind, What if it was me...What if..What if I did this? A voice whispers in my mind.
The sound of hoofbeats stirs me from my thoughts and I look up to see a group of riders enter the remains of the village and circle me. I blink, and when I open my eyes again, all I see is a circle of thirteen spearheads mere inches away from my face. I turn slowly, until I come to a gap in the deadly ring, and look up to see a very familiar face grimacing down at me.
"Kaigar..." A deep, soothing voice rumbles, "What have you done?" I catch my breath and speak slowly, choosing my words carefully. "My King, I cannot say what has happened here. But please, my Lord," I pause, falling to my knees again, "Please believe me when I say that I do not remember doing any of this..."
The king sighed, shaking his head and motioning for his men to raise their weapons. As they did, he dropped down from his horse and stepped forward, grabbing me by the shoulder and pulling me to my feet. "I say this once, Kaigar, and you will hate me for it. We came at the pleas of one of your own warriors, Sigard. He told us that you had gone mad and attacked your brothers." He paused, squeezing my shoulder, "I didn't want to believe it, but after seeing this..." He stopped, looking around at his men and dropping his hand down to his belt. "Kaigar, as King of Dacia, I hereby exile you, for crimes against your own people. Flee this land, and never return. If you do, know that you face death, by my own blade," His words became hushed then, and a less observant man might have missed the tears forming in his bright blue eyes, "Forgive me, my son..."
For what seemed like hours, the only sound I could focus on was the rain, falling harder, and the pounding of my heart. "Father, I.." I began, but was cut off by Ragnar's raised hand. "I will hear no more of your words, Kinslayer. Leave my lands, and never return." with those final words, he mounted his horse, and he and his men galloped away, leaving me to sink back to my knees in the mud and rain.
I gathered the few things I owned, my weapons, my shield, what food I could find that wasn't ruined, and I load it all up on the horse that had been left for me. After securing the packs, I started moving the bodies of my friends, my family...
I stood on the hill over looking the burning remains of my village, and took a deep breath, then turned away. "The past is gone, I must look to the future.." I said to myself, mounting my horse and heading towards the setting sun....
The answers to what happened that day lay somewhere to the West, of that I'm sure. Perhaps someday, I'll find them, and find a way to stop the burning within my heart and my body that torments me constantly. I will not rest until I find them, that I swear.
Óðinn forgive me...