Private Tales The Lion, The Rookie, and The Giant

[Heike Eisen]

All knights will face? On that Heike vehemently disagreed. And she remained firmly upon her initial position regarding the matter: that either the oaths of other Orders were deficient in some manner, or the man or woman swearing them were lacking of such character that they could not hold true to their own word. The Order of the Golden Blade was not perfect--yes she knew--but every Oathbreaker was of the latter category, so far as the history of the Order was relayed to her. The Trinity of Oaths had not led any man or woman who swore them and held to them astray. And for those Oathbreakers? Exile or, if they so chose, Hinrichtung.

A true knight. To Heike, such a distinction seemed pedantic. Unnecessary. By the Reikhurstan view, one was a Golden Blade or one was not. But perhaps Oban was so plagued with troubles that such a distinction between a knight and a "true knight" was in fact necessary.

Again, Heike felt blessed to have been born in Reikhurst, and felt awful on Ser Gavin's behalf that he had apparently been made to battle not only enemies from without, but as well the societal woes of Oban from within.

"My Oaths reflect my morals. Else I would not have sworn them," she replied. "Keeping my Oaths, sticking to my morals, doing what is right: all these are one and the same for me."

* * * * *​

The Fist of the Dwarves.

A massive monument indeed. Heike, Herr Lukas and Herr Dieter, the whole retinue of Golden Blades all regarded the structure with varying degrees of being impressed by its scale and craftsmanship.

And it was getting colder. Heike had put her helm on well before they had arrived at the Fist for all the warmth it would give. It was in a way humorous how being fully armored on a hot day felt particularly torturous, yet when these cold winds came blowing in the same armor did not seem to provide nearly as much warmth as Heike would have liked. Gambesons were looking mighty attractive right now to her as an alternative the Order should seriously consider in circumstances such as these.

Herr Lukas ordered his Knights to disperse and to briefly check the area around the Fist for signs of Dordim or Abagail: discarded items, the remains of a campsite, evidence of a struggle, the like. Heike, as ordered, went in search of such signs as well.

They might not find anything. Or they might find something that could give them some notion of what happened, of where Dordim could have gone after reaching this landmark.

Ser Gavin Halbert

 

[Ser Gavin Halbert]

Gavin nodded to Herr Lukas' suggestion to disperse and look for clues. It was a large area to cover and the Fist of the Dwarves was usually considered the place where brave travelers from Kal Palthras rest and plan their trek into the unknown lands of the Seret Mountains. They never made it back. Gavin directly towards the Dwarven Fist assuming that Dordim's group took refuge under it to shield themselves from the cold.

There were many mentions by the inhabitants of Kal Palthras on how the weather was getting colder even though it was in the middle summer. Even Raak lamented on it, maybe it was just an anomaly though Gavin had a feeling that there was more to it than that. He reached the fist and squinted trying to see if there was any signs of a camp being made. Other than some footprints that were faded, there was no camp.

However Gavin found Dwarven symbols carved into the wall:

Gavin had to read it twice to get the gist of it since the symbols were faded. "We mark our territory," he read. "Not the last of the old Dwarven Empire but the first of the new."

He sighed thinking about Belgrath and it's dwindling population, as much as they don't want to admit it the Dwarves were slowly dying. Many Dwarves had left the once mighty Dwarven capital and disappeared into the lands. Kal Palthras on the other hand has began to thrive due to deals made with Elbion, the Kingdom of Cintria and Maaran. But overall the Dwarves were once technological innovators who nearly took over the world with their airships but now seeing them a shell of their former selves saddened Gavin.

Still he wondered if Herr Heike and Golden Blades faired better than him.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike had gone around to the rear side of the Fist, coincidentally where the wind was hindered by the stone itself. A small blessing, that, and a welcome one. The strangeness of the weather was only further underscored, with summer seemingly left behind at the base of the Seret Mountains and winter coming with its icy, bony fingers high up in its altitudes.

Heike gently kicked and brushed away patches of snow with her foot. Studied the ground revealed underneath but found nothing. She walked along carefully repeating this process and had nothing to show for it yet. Surely there would have been something, right? Camping here at the base of the Fist was something that seemed likely for anyone looking for a good site to do. And what if they found nothing? What if, despite all this likelihood Heike had convinced herself of, Dordim and Abagail and their party had not set camp here? Went further onward in some feverish haste in whatever direction they had gone? A direction which, other than through fortuitous guesswork, would remain a mystery to them?

"Golden Blades!" Herr Dieter, some twenty or thirty yards away, shouted. "Ser Gavin! I may have something!"

Heike hustled over, and the other knights came jogging around from their own searches toward Herr Dieter one after another until all were gathered. Down on the ground at Herr Dieter's feet were the old ashes of a campfire, and he held something in his hand.

"What is it, Herr Dieter?" Heike asked.

"Too thin to be a tome." He flipped it open. Looked at the first page. Gave a small smile of satisfaction. "A journal."

Heike, once Ser Gavin had approached, looked to him and suggested in a hopeful manner, "Abagail, mayhap?"

"It's not damaged. A good sign," said Herr Lukas, and a few of the other knights gave small nods of concurrence. "Seems as though it was dropped, or perhaps set down by its owner and forgotten by mistake."

Or, came a thought of pessimistic dissidence in Heike's mind, they had to leave camp in a hurry.

Herr Dieter glanced to Ser Gavin. Gestured upward with the journal, then offered it toward him. Said, "Would you like to look it over? Read us the latest entry?"

Ser Gavin Halbert

 

[Ser Gavin Halbert]

The rest of the runes were difficult to decipher even though Gavin had more knowledge of the Dwarven language than the average outsider, his skills were limited. The Dwarves were a prideful race though, loving to create large monuments to mark their achievements. Kal Palthras was indeed a Dwarven city on the rise with ambition of becoming a Kingdom that will rival the ancient Dwarven empire. At least according to the rumors Gavin heard back in Elbion. It was then that the voice of Herr Heike snapped Gavin from his thoughts, the young Knight found something.

The Lion of Oban sprinted to her location as well as the rest of the Golden Blades. Herr Heike had what appeared to be a journal in her hands, the book looked new albeit battered by the snow. "Great work Herr Heike," Gavin smiled flipping through the book unlike the runes on Fist of Dwarves, the Ink was legible. Wiping the bits of frost from the pages, Gavin began to read the last entry:

The further we were from Kal Palthras, the colder it got. It was so cold that a couple of our people got a bit of the frostbite on the tip of their noses. The Seret Mountains were known for its icy winters but it was never this bad. Many folks believe the Scholars back in the noble city it was the result of the earth cooling more than usual due to a decrease in Carbon Dioxide this year. but Dordim insisted it was the result of the Ice Giant. No offense to master Dordim but I'm going to listen to the scientists on this one, alas he is the heir to House Oreriver and has mountains of coin so who can stop him?

We took refuge in the Fist of the Dwarves with Dordim mentioning that we should stick on the northern path. I must say looking ahead, that the path carved out was paved as though somebody built it. Did it belong to the original Dwarves who took refuge before the two houses who founded Kal Palthras rediscovered it? Perhaps, I mean those who traveled beyond the Fist never made it back so It's possible they're still here. At night Abagail mentioned seeing a monster while on patrol, she insisted that it was using the snow as cover but she saw its dark blue eyes.

According to Abagail it is called: The White Devil some legendary monster amongst the Mountain Guides. Allegedly the white devil creates the blizzards so they can ambush unsuspecting travelers and eat their flesh. Abagail claims that many Mountain Guides have seen them at least once in their careers. I'm skeptical of her statement but the thought of a monster hiding in the snow to feast on my flesh is rather...... unsettling. Well we head north tomorrow morning who knows what we'll find........

Gavin closed the journal and stared at Golden Blades, his eyebrows forming into a frown. "Our only clue," he said looking at the road ahead. "Is to head north."

 

[Heike Eisen]

The Knights of the Golden Blade listened to the recitation of the journal's last record. Some exchanged glances. Heike didn't understand all of it, but she--and certainly every other Golden Blade present--heard well and clear the mention of the monster. "The White Devil," so was it relayed by the writer from the words of Abagail. Dordim was in pursuit of a supposed Ice Giant, and Abagail thought she had seen this new monster. Were both speculations true? One? Neither? It would remain to be seen.

Gavin closed the journal. Some of the Golden Blades commented among one another. Things like, "'Tis some manner of demon?" and "Could be hardly more than a tall tale," and "How can one know the difference between a normal snowstorm and this creature?"

"Golden Blades," said Herr Lukas, raising his voice slightly. "Our course is set. Let us march."

And they arrayed themselves back into a column, and set off once more.

Heike, at the lead with Ser Gavin, was quietly thankful for the paved road. Walking on rough terrain was tiring, and a full day of it absolutely butchered one's feet no matter how well made one's boots happened to be. It might not last for as long as she hoped it would, but for now she was grateful to whoever had built this road--the original dwarves or no.

"There is quite a lot of talk of monsters. And no mere ones: creatures of mythic stature," Heike said to Ser Gavin. A quiet hmmm, capturing the essence of the sentiment of Imagine That, buzzed in her throat. "I thought my first true battle would be against men. Enemy soldiers. For that I have been trained. For this I have not. Yet I trust in the steel that I carry all the same."

Ser Gavin Halbert

 

[Ser Gavin Halbert]

It seems that with every step that the group took, the weather became even colder. Not even the insulator spell in Gavin's armor was sufficient enough for him. The Lion of Oban pulled his coat closer as the icy winds began to pick up and looked at the road that was mostly obscured by the stark white snow. "Aye," he agreed. "But a Knight must be ready for all kinds of enemies be it a man or a monster."

"But sometimes it is man who is a monster," Gavin thought bitterly while he trudged through the blanket of snow that lay on the road.

"A weapon is an extension of a Knight's will," he advised Herr Heike trying to resist his chattering teeth. "But you are more than a barbarian wielding a cudgel. You are a warrior of sound body and soul, one carries vows that last a lifetime."

This White Devil does sound troubling but it was only a myth but if anything Gavin had learned is that every myth comes from a form of truth. "This storm doesn't seem natural," he said to the group. "I'd say we need to find shelter."

Heike Eisen

 

[Heike Eisen]

There was something about the cold that was worse than fighting any manner of foe in direct combat. Herr Elias had advised Heike and the other squires that actual combat did not take very long, and this was confirmed through duels with wooden swords. Even large scale battles were done with faster than one might think. Combat, battle, both were ordeals that were generally loud and fast. One was definitively engaged in them, and then one was done.

But the cold was an insidious foe. A sinister challenge. It could be biting, as it was now with the new icy winds that blew across the mountain as Ser Gavin and Heike and the Golden Blades trekked, but it often was not a sudden thing. A slow sinking in of the teeth, the cold. The danger of combat and battle was immediate, but cold was a patient foe, worming its way over time beneath one's skin and into one's muscles and freezing the very air inside one's lungs.

And it was a foe that the steel Heike carried could not slay.

Heike heard Ser Gavin bestowing more of his experienced advice, and while she did hear it, the bothersome ring of misery brought on by the clutch of cold whispered for her attention too.

"Yes," she said, cutting her response in terse sentences as she endured the icy winds. "I agree. A lifetime. I have sworn them. I shall live by them."

And they carried on.

Ser Gavin noted that the storm did not seem natural. Heike, though unfamiliar with the land and the Seret Mountains as a whole, was nonetheless inclined to agree. Even the ranges of the Spine close to Reikhurst didn't snow and storm like this in the summer.

Herr Lukas (hardly bothered by the cold, it seemed to Heike) gave a nod to Ser Gavin's suggestion. "I concur. We'll need a shelter before nightfall regardless. And a respite from this wind would be most welcome."

Perhaps another half-hour down the paved road, and Heike lifted her hand to her brow. Squinted in the distance off to her right. There was a promising shape carved into the mountainside that just barely caught her eye.

"Ser Gavin, look there," she said. "Is that a cave, or do my wishful eyes deceive me?"

Ser Gavin Halbert