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

After Kvig Melgarson announced himself King to the bonders of Timlin, the current king Magnus declared Kvig an outlaw. Kvig’s brother Hegg, the jarl of Timlin, had his heavy cavalry bring Kvig to the keep in that town. Bleddyn and Wynston tried to infiltrate the keep, but Bleddyn was detected and himself captured. Wynston slipped out of the keep and into Timlin Town.

Wynston went to Kvig’s loyal priest and soldiers in their encampment and told them of the predicament their Jarl and Champion were in. They dispatched a runner to Bleddyn’s inn to warn his men. Alone, she returned to the keep to win free Kvig and Bleddyn.

Wynston climbed the tower and found two soldiers atop the dungeon entrance. Relying on her speed and strength, she bull-rushed the closest guard and knocked him off the wall. He fell with a thud by the barred window of the cell Kvig and Bleddyn were in.

Eyes wide, the second soldier backed away as Wynston threw open the hatch. Kvig and Bleddyn emerged and more guards responded to the fighting.

Wynston took to the catwalk and fixed a rope down. The keep was in a clamor at the escape.

The three heroes climbed down and sprinted toward the camp. Hegg’s knights came close behind to threaten Kvig’s troops. It would be a bloody battle to win free with Kvig’s retinue. There was no choice but for Kvig, Bleddyn, and Wynston to take to the night and sneak away.

Sagas of the Gautrian Kings #44- Winter Wolves>>

<<Sagas of the Gautrian Kings #42- King of the Bonders