Kvig Melgarson campaigned against orcs for many years (Sagas of the Gautrian Kings #37-48) to protect the humans of Gautria. Nominally under the banner of King Magnus in South Gautria, he vanquished the mighty urog King Valden the Ruthless at the Battle of Skarken River (sgk 40). Kvig was held in high esteem for his willingness to take the field against that massive orc army when King Magnus had argued they had little chance of victory (sgk 39). After that decisive battle, the bonders held a Thing (sgk 41) and declared Jarl Kvig should be their king. King Magnus heard about the Thing and declared Kvig an outlaw (sgk 42).

Kvig eventually fled South Gautria (sgk 45) with some loyal men, and brought his orc-slaying followers north. The League of Nil-ith Horn had sent invading forces of orcs and men (day-long wargaming event, “Kingdom Under Siege”) across Kisilev Lake to ravage Kvig’s homeland. Kvig returned to his ancestral home fort of Helvik (sgk 46) to find his brother Olaf unwilling to commit any of his troops to an offensive maneuver without the support of King Magnus and his armies. When the ill (and rumored to be bewitched) Olaf died in Kvig’s arms, Kvig pronounced himself Jarl of Helvik.

Once news of Kvig’s action reached the recently widowed (“Battle of Turlin”) Queen Svala of North Gautria, she sent a token unit of men to Kvig, in the hopes of an alliance. With the League of Nil-ith Horn troops to his east, King Magnus to his south, and Queen Svala on his west, Kvig’s chance to unite Gautria under one ruler was upon him.

When scouts returned to Helvik with reports of several units of League of Nil-ith Horn infantry coming from Larbro, Kvig and his champion Bleddyn readied their men for a siege.

The inhabitants of Helvik were inspired by their new Jarl’s confidence. The soldiers and bonders steeled themselves at their posts when the League of Nil-ith Horn army arrived. Unit after unit lined up for battle.

The League forces were led by Graf Shalmenasar, a black-robed priest. He dispatched a messenger to the Gautrians. Instead of listening to his terms, Kvig challenged their 3 largest urogs to fight Bleddyn, Wynston and himself.

Graf Shalmanesar agreed at first, but as the trio fought, he decried Wynston’s slippery tactics as trickery. He responded in kind with a blast from his mage’s staff. The humans retreated inside the pallisade, flames and lightning bolts slamming into the wooden gate behind them.

Kvig’s people were prepared and quick to react to the flaming front gate. Graf Shalmanesar then flung his fire magicks at the bridge leading to the great hall where the women and children were sheltered. Wynston jumped across the gap to defend the hall side while men worked to put out the fire.

The League of Nil-ith Horn forces waited patiently, satisfied to let their priest and leader burn a way into the fort. The men inside the wooden palisade felt their situation grow more desperate. It seemed a matter of time until the orcs destroyed the front gate.

Just then, a horn sounded in the distance. It was a Gautrian horn! King Magnus had arrived from South Gautria with his professional army. The hearts of Helvik were buoyed as Graf Shalmanesar ordered his forces to retreat.

The League of Nil-ith Horn army withdrew east, and King Magnus arrayed his troops outside Helvik. Kvig rode out to parlay with Bleddyn by his side, and his heavy cavalry and the ulfhednar behind him.

King Magnus had his new bride Inga Storolfdottir with him. Inga’s father Storolf was one of Kvig’s most powerful allies. Inga herself had taken a liking to the handsome champion Bleddyn when she first saw him in her father’s village, and heard the tales of his prowess in battle. Now a married sword sister, she still gave Bleddyn a lingering look as the pairs came together.

Magnus addressed Bleddyn, “I demand the surrender of this bandit Kvig Melgarson who calls himself lies like king and Valden-slayer! I bring the men for a united Gautria. I bring the true heroes of Skarken River, Bolverk Skalason, who struck down Valden, and Baron Vulmar, whose cavalry carried that day. With men like these fighting under me, I will go to Larbro, destroy the orc threat to the people of one Gautria!”

Kvig answered forcefully, “I have led our men into battle with the orcs while you sought to stay safe and protected. The people of Gautria need a king of action and strength. Go back to your stone keep and hide boy, I will take these warriors to Larbro and crush the orcs on our shore!”

“It will take both our forces,” spoke Inga. “We must unite in this, or the whole of Gautria will fall! Save your anger towards each other for when the orcs are gone.”

King Magnus looked shrewdly at his wife, then at his units of men behind her. “I will call a Thing, two nights hence. We will hear what these people of Gautria think. They will proclaim me rightful King, then I will lead the attack on Larbro. You and I will settle after, Melgarson.”

Magnus wheeled his horse away and returned to his forces. Inga sent a last smoldering glance to Bleddyn and followed her husband.

The South Gautrian army set up camp just within sight of the palisade of Helvik. Kvig took counsel with Bleddyn and Wynston. “Send some of your men to your father, Ragnar Red-Blade. Ask for his aid against these orcs,” Kvig said to Bleddyn. “And stay out of Inga’s tent.”

Kvig hoped his ally the King of the Vell savages to their north would come swiftly. Ragnar’s presence would give Kvig’s claim to kingship more weight. Any additional fighters would be welcomed against the well-armored and highly disciplined League of Nil-ith Horn troops. But it was the common bonders who had first declared Kvig as their King. Would they come to this Thing, with King Magnus and his professional army poised to tip the balance of power? Would the bonders make their voices heard again for the man who kept the lands free from the orc terror?

Two days time would tell.

Following the death of his brother Olaf, Kvig Melgarson took possession of his ancestral home of Helvik. Olaf’s widow Ragna fled with a few women, leaving the fighting men to grumble their suspicions of witchcraft. Jarl Kvig had ordered all the casks smashed, which added further to the grumbling.

However, spirits were lightened when Herigar Kolson, the huscarl of Helvik, and his cavalry patrol arrived at the fort. They led a column of men and supplies from Queen Svala at Mosveld, the recently widowed ruler of North Gautria. Also escorting the men from Mosveld was Baron Valliard and his elite cavalry unit.

Baron Valliard offered the veteran bonder unit as a gift of goodwill from Queen Svala to Kvig Melgarson, rightful Jarl of Helvik. The Queen was anxious to provide Kvig with more supplies and reinforcements, in return she asked only for an oath of cooperation, and potential alliance. Kvig accepted, and demanded the bonders swear their oaths to him. Herigar Kolson and all the thanes of Helvik swore to serve Jarl Kvig as well. Baron Valliard took his leave, with promise to return shortly.

The goods from Mosveld fortunately included mead, and Kvig was generous with these casks. The warriors celebrated into the night. Kvig, Bleddyn and Wynston left the mead hall and gathered to discuss Queen Svala’s terms.

“There’s only one thing for you to do Kvig,” said Wynston.

“I know. I have to marry her,” said Kvig.

The stunned silence surrounding the group made it easy for Wynston to hear something out of place. She looked towards the sound and saw orc valgrafs from the League of Nil-ith Horn scaling the palisade fence.

Wynston pointed the orcs out to Kvig and Bleddyn, then ran across the bridge, climbed the fence and a roof and gained the high ground on an unsuspecting orc.

Kvig used the ladder and challenged an orc at the gate.

Bleddyn spotted an orc with a large phial at the base of the wooden tower and charged him.

Wynston disposed of her orc, then moved to protect Kvig’s flank.

Kvig, Bleddyn and Wynston slew the orcs inside the palisade. Down below in the village, two urogs sliced through bonders.

Kvig’s mounted thanes responded to the urogs and defeated them easily from horseback.

The wounded were tended to and had barely healed up when Baron Valliard returned a few days later. His elite cavalry unit had tracked an unnaturally swift group of urogs.

The frenzied urogs were near by, within striking distance of the cavalry. Kvig had Herigar Kolson and the Helvik cavalry ready, and Bleddyn took command of the highly mobile ulfhednar. Wynston rode along with the Helvik men, and Baron Valliard’s knights led the way.

Bleddyn and the ulfhednar easily scouted the fast-moving urogs and deployed on their flank. Kvig drove the two cavalry units straight at the horde of urogs. A few urogs spotted the ulfhednar and broke off to meet them. Bleddyn and the priest Gunvor Rolfson fought well, but wolfpelt-clad warriors fell to the huge urogs.

Wynston rode at them and dismounted at Bleddyn’s side. The ulfhendar took heavy losses.

The cavalry slowly whittled the rest of the urogs down, and took many casualties themselves.

Fighting on horseback proved the advantage for the humans, as Kvig Melgarson and his company slaughtered the crazed group of urogs.

Kvig Melgarson, his champion Bleddyn Yorath, and his master spy Wynston Black marched with Kvig’s few infantry units to his ancestral home of Helvik. When Kvig arrived at that wooden keep, he found his brother Olaf, the jarl of Helvik, had the gates open in welcome. Kvig brought his troops inside the wooden palisade walls.

Kvig could see the fortification was woefully undermanned. The fighting men from Helvik looked hopefully to Kvig. They had marshalled in the fort against the League of Nil-ith Horn orc invasion, but Jarl Olaf was too ill to ride out and fight. Kvig promised them he would drive the hated orcs from the shores of North Gautria, just as he had done in the lands to the south. Many men of Helvik cheered and Kvig’s retinue began to chant “King Kvig! King Kvig! King Kvig!”

“Where is my brother, your Jarl? I should pay my regards to him and his wife,” Kvig asked. He was directed to the great hall on the hill, where the men told him Olaf sat and drank each day as his wife Ragna ran the holdings. There were dark looks exchanged when Ragna’s name was spoken.

Kvig strode through the warriors to the hill. Wynston and Bleddyn followed behind Kvig as he entered his brother’s hall. Olaf Melgarson sat slumped in a large wooden chair, drink in hand. His beautiful wife Ragna sat in a matched chair by his side. Casks and barrels lined the side of the hall between Kvig and Olaf.

“So, brother,” said Kvig, “This is how you keep our father’s lands safe? Our people are slaughtered by orcs while you drink in the mead hall? Take your sword and ride out with me!”

“You would like that, Kvig Melgarson, I am sure,” said Ragna. “To see your brother slain on the battlefield so you can lay claim to Helvik.”

“Enough!” roared Olaf as he rose unsteadily from his chair. “I’m not dead yet, woman! I rule Helvik, and I fear neither this bandit-king brother of mine, nor the orcs from the League of Nil-ith Horn.” Olaf drained his cup.

“Then lend your sword arm and your men to our cause and together we will defeat the orcs!” replied Kvig.

“Bah! Do all your men even own shields?” asked Olaf. “You ran from our brother Hegg in Timlin and his liege King Magnus, and come here to Helvik with thirty men boasting to slay the orcs? I will wait for Magnus, I think.”

Kvig turned a hard stare on his brother. “Is that you speaking, Olaf? Or is it the words of your witch-wife speaking to you through your drink?”

Olaf threw his empty cup at Kvig and drew his sword. Ragna jumped to her feet between the brothers.

“Bleddyn,” Kvig said behind him. “The casks.”

With just a slight hesitation, Bleddyn hacked into a barrel. The floor grew dark as Bleddyn slashed cask after cask.

Olaf only shuddered and let his sword drop. Ragna shrieked and ran from the hall.

“Now you can be free, brother, as we will make the North free!” proclaimed Kvig.

“You will see what you have done, brother,” said Olaf hopelessly.

Kvig, Bleddyn and Wynston returned to their men in the yard. Once it was dark, Wynston convinced the two to sneak to the sacred grove where Ragna was surely calling on the old powers. Kvig and Bleddyn hid farther off, but Wynston was able to get close enough to prove her hunch. Ragna was communing with her sister Svala, the Queen of North Gautria since her husband Gorm was killed at the Battle of Turlin.

Svala promised men to aid Ragna in holding Helvik. Hidden among them would be professional assassins to target Kvig. Wynston moved closer to hear the details and was spotted by Ragna’s fanatic followers. Wynston slew one, and led the other to her hidden comrades. By the time she, Kvig and Bleddyn had dealt with the fanatics, Ragna had disappeared.

The trio ran back to the tower of Helvik, where they were stopped by more of Ragna’s men.

Kvig demanded they step aside. Kvig’s forces were rousing in answer to the combat outside, and the sudden commotion in the gates. Ragna’s three thanes in red threw down their swords and declared for Kvig.

Wynston was about to enter the tower when most of the few remaining women in Helvik appeared in the yard. They begged for Kvig to hurry to his brother. Kvig ran to the great hall.

Olaf lay at the foot of his chair. His skin was grey, and his breath shaky.

“See, little brother? See what you have brought on me?” asked Olaf. “You may know war, but you do not know women.” Olaf lifted his shirt. A black stain marred his chest. “This should have killed me long ago. It was Ragna kept me alive. You bring death with you, Kvig.”

Kvig grasped his brother to him as Olaf breathed his last.

Wynston turned from the Melgarsons and sprinted back to the tower. It was empty, and no one had seen Ragna.

Kvig Melgarson burned Olaf’s body with honors. Kvig stood tall in the light of the funeral pyre and declared himself Jarl of Helvik. The inhabitants of Helvik cheered their approval. Kvig’s men from the south began a different chant:

“King Kvig! King Kvig! King Kvig!”

The urog king, Valden the Ruthless, marched his massive army north on Kednvald Road, intent on destroying the human outpost at Skara and claiming the northern peninsula for the Vangen Orc Kingdom. Kvig Melgarson and his retinue harried the western flank of the orc army to keep the orcs from the Gautrian lands west of Skarken River, but had too few forces to inflict serious damage. Kvig, Wynston and Bleddyn decided they had to cut the flow of relief forces and supplies from Kednvald to effectively stop Valden. The surest way to accomplish that was to destroy Kednvald Bridge.

Kvig took his companions, and a small group of Ulfhednar who were fleet of foot, and raced south. They traveled with little rest and no extra gear, save for one barrel of cinder sand. Their journey was briefly slowed in the swamp of Ondskap Mere (which the Great Northern Orcs called Sharog Mokal) where Wynston succumbed to the putrid air. There were several volunteers to carry her, and she was mobile by the time they reached Kednvald Bridge.

The weather was foul and damp, and they encountered no orc patrols until the scouts at the bridge. Wynston and Bleddyn silently eliminated them, and spied through the gloom across the river. On the other side of the ravine was a column of League of Nil-ith Horn orcs. They were held from crossing by the Vangen urog in command of the bridge.

Kvig took advantage of the disorder to strike the orc camp on his side. Wynston climbed along the cliff face and under the bridge, a cask of cinder sand tied to her back.

The men fought fiercely against the better armored orcs, desperate to buy Wynston time to set the bridge alight. The weather kept the fire down, and Kvig’s forces took casualties.

The wooden planks caught at last, but the flames did not keep back the more psychotic warriors.

The cinder sand was burning steadily now. Unfortunately, the fire gave off good light for the orc captain to spot Wynston. Unable to avoid his reach and escape the burning bridge underneath, Wynston vaulted to meet him.

A misstep by the orc captain and a timely lunge by Wynston sent the orc plunging into the waters.  The bridge was in full flame as Wynston sprinted across to rejoin Kvig, Bleddyn and the Ulfhednar.  As the bridge fell into the chasm, the humans broke combat with the orcs and ran for the swamp road. The embattled orcs let the humans retreat into the night.

 next: Sagas of the Gautrian Kings #38- Skara Will Burn>>

Wynston freed Jarl Kvig and Bleddyn from the dungeons of the keep at Timlin Town. Kvig’s brother Hegg ordered his troops into the night after them. Wynston had fast horses tethered in the village behind the keep. When the trio approached, riders came near.

Bleddyn readied the horses while Kvig stepped out of hiding and confronted the cavalry. Honor-bound to capture Kvig, the riders asked Kvig to yield.  Kvig was unwilling to attack the men, but refused to return. The riders were equally unwilling to join Kvig’s cause and one charged him. Kvig dashed into cover of the trees. Wynston was willing, and waiting, and grappled the rider from his saddle.

At that, the cavalry blew their horn and Wynston, Bleddyn and Kvig mounted up. They spurred their horses through the huts and past the cavalry but couldn’t outdistance them. More Kildarian cavalry joined the chase. Capture seemed imminent when a wolf’s howl was heard. Bleddyn’s ulfhednar screamed over a hill and engaged the cavalry.

They knocked a few riders from their horses, while the other riders broke and raced for reinforcments. Kvig ordered the injured cavalry tended to and left tied up.

The ulfhednar escorted Kvig, Bleddyn and Wynston to a place of relative safety in the hills. There Halvdan, their leader, told Kvig of a haunted ruins where the trio could winter. They had less fear of ghosts than of Hegg, so decided to wait there for the spring season.

They made a habitable dwelling in a vacant foundation near the stones. Boredom eventually drove them to explore the ruins one clear morning. They picked their way through the dank interior. Kvig stopped short in terror as a troll sprung from the darkness.

Then Kvig screamed in terror and ran away.

A second troll attacked and ran, Bleddyn right behind it. Wynston dashed across the room, uncertain at first whether to flee or follow Bleddyn. The first troll slithered through the ruins and Wynston went after it.

It dropped into a deeper chamber in the floor. Wynston followed. She looked briefly around the shadows of the chamber which could hide any number of trolls, and had Bleddyn throw her a rope and lift her out. They went to find Kvig and return to their warm home hurt and empty-handed.

Sagas of the Gautrian Kings #45- The Outlaws>>

<<Sagas of the Gautrian Kings #43- Fit for a King