The Northlands, Chapter I
#1 of The Northland
Think Viking Scandinavia. Familiar enough for most people I should imagine, possibly will make this into a series so please do let me know what you think!
There is a silly bit at the end, I couldn't resist.
The Northland
White, blinding snow lies as far as the eye can see across the rolling hills of the Realm of the North. Occasionally, wind sweeps and whips the finest powder up into the air, creating veils of smoke-like texture. A lone figure struggles through the knee-high material, wrapped in animal skins from head to toe.
This figure is heading towards a small cave nearby, towards promises of shelter. As he trundles onwards, he stumbles occasionally. He seems near the limit of his strength.
After a torturous trek, he finally arrives in the dry, cold cavern. A pile of wood lies in the corner and the figure immediately gets to work, taking firestones from a small pouch and striking them together to create sparks. Stones scrape, streaks of light drop onto the dry kindling. Soon enough a small flame emerges, which is swiftly nurtured and grown into a proper fire.
The figure removes his outer layer of clothing as he sits close to the life-giving warmth. This reveals some more information about him. Firstly, he is definitely a man. His stout features include a strong jaw line and pronounced eyebrows. His grey fur covers a pair of canine ears, sticking proudly upwards. Cold, blue eyes reflect the glow from the fire. His teeth, impressive as they are, are contained in a long snout and muzzle. His black nose glints wetly.
It is clear then, that he is a wolf.
The wolf removed his gloves and the furs covering his chest in an effort to warm himself. The new perspective reveals a wide, muscled torso. Scars, most small but some large, cover his body. The most prominent one is a gash running across the left half of his chest, diagonally from the top left to the lower right.
A warrior then, seems a likely assumption to make.
His paws bear strong claws, glinting in the warm light as the wolf places a stick over the fire, supported on either side. On this he places several sides of meat. The smell of roasting flesh soon fills the small cavern.
As the wolf man sits more comfortably he draws a blade from a sheath on the floor behind him and begins to sharpen it with a stone. The shining metal is about the length of an average man's arm. The blade is straight, with a groove down the middle. It has a short guard at the hilt, a rectangular bar. The pommel is shaped like a wolf's head and cut from an ivory-like material.
A scrape is heard at the cave's entrance, the wolf shoots up straight, holding his blade in front of him. As he spots the cause of the sound, he relaxes and holds his arms out wide. A smooth, deep voice emerges from his throat.
"Ulm! Good to see you! Come share my fire friend."
The man entering, another wolf wrapped in skins, returns the greeting.
"Fenrir, your company is a welcome sight to an old traveler."
The wolf named Ulm sat down opposite Fenrir and stripped his own clothing. His body was equally scarred and equally muscled, his fur was a charcoal grey with a few grey strands here and there. Fenrir sat back down himself and offered the new arrival a side of meat, which was happily accepted. Ulm then took a largish flask from his pouch and offered it in return. The lighter wolf took a grateful swig, before handing it back.
"So what brings you down these roads Ulm?"
"Same as you I'd wager, looking for a living in service of a Jarl. There's always a place for a warrior, even if he's getting on a bit in years."
Fenrir nodded, "I was thinking I'd head to Jarl Olaf Olaffson. He's an old family friend. You're welcome to join me old friend, travelling alone is a wretched thing...Give me that ale again."
Ulm passed the flask, "I'd be happy to. Two blades are safer than one and the road is long. No use getting ambushed by some honorless bastard's son along the way."
The pair told stories of old times, when they still served as warriors in the King's service. A few years ago the King had died suddenly and without heir. The nearest claimant was a cousin, a measly coward of a weasel (literally). He attempted to assert his reign through force of arms, but his army was defeated. Ulm and Fenrir had found themselves without lord after that, about a year ago. the Realm started slipping into feudality and soon enough each Jarl wanted his own realm, creating plenty of vacancies for skilled warriors.
As they talked and laughed, darkness started creeping across the land. Suddenly Fenrir froze and held up his paw.
"Shh! Do you hear that?"
Ulm's ears perked up as they listened intently, a faint scream was heard. They both wrapped their clothes back around themselves and made of towards the source. They trundled through the snow towards a small hill. The sounds grew louder as they approached it, they recognized the classic sounds of battle. Clanging steel, screams and grunts. They crept up to the crest of the hill and stealthily glanced over.
The scene was a classic one, a trading caravan was being attacked by brigands. The guards were fighting bravely, but were outnumbered quite clearly. Fenrir nudged his companion with his elbow.
"Feel like being a hero Ulm? Get some practice in?"
Ulm grinned, "I'll bet you a flagon of mead that I can kill more than you!"
They shook paws on it and charged into the melee, drawing their blades.
As the pair of massive wolves came hurtling down the hill at them, the first few brigands were taken by surprise. The wolves sliced their throats with ease. Ulm headed off to help out the guards, while Fenrir turned his attention to a small group of bandits heading to the back of the caravan.
Fenrir charged in behind them. As he caught up with them, they were preying on some of the merchants and their wives.
"Hey you lot! Why don't you pick on someone twice your size?!"
The foursome turned around and fanned out around him. The wolf's boast was not an idle one. His bulk was massive compared to the four dogs circling him, growling. The bandits wielded short swords and maces, not as impressive as his own weapon but deadly enough.
One of the dogs suddenly charged him, swinging his mace at the lupine's head. Fenrir dodged underneath and stabbed the unfortunate canine through the groin. As he fell to the ground, screaming and spurting blood, the other three attacked together.
The wolf dodged a blade and grabbed the owner, he flung him into one of his companions, knocking them both down. He howled and leapt at the remaining bandit, swinging his blade wildly. He connected with his target's neck and severed the head with a clean blow. He twirled around and charged the other two, still recovering. He slashed the first across the chest and kicked the other hard in the groin. The unfortunate brigand collapsed to the ground, clutching his testicles.
Fenrir turned to the dog with the gashed chest, lying on the ground. He stomped his clawed foot down on his throat, a loud crack was heard and the man convulsed one last time. He dragged up the last living canine and slammed his against one of the carts, his jaws snapped in front of his face and he growled demonically.
At that moment Ulm entered the scene, looking around with a raised eyebrow. Blood had melted much of the snow into a goopy red sludge, three dead dogs lay close together and the fourth wasn't going anywhere.
"Looks like I owe you some mead. Nice work! We won, if you're interested. The caravan master was very grateful, gave me some gold for our valiant rescue. Who have you got there?"
Fenrir grinned at the darker wolf, "I've caught us a plaything."
He tossed the terrified young canine to his companion, who picked up a discarded length of rope and tied up the canine's paws and legs. He could still walk, but only short steps. Ulm pawed at the bandit's rump, squeezing it hard.
"Nice and firm, good catch friend."
They laughed loudly as the realization seeped into the dog's face. He was dragged along by the rope as they headed back to the cave. Every time he stumbled he got a kick or a punch. They waved at the celebrating caravaneers as they passed.
Arriving in the cave, Fenrir threw fresh wood onto the fire and they both stripped their torsos bare again. They dropped their prisoner in the corner, the terrified dog pleaded with them.
"Please noble warriors, let me go! I was just trying to make a living!"
Fenrir snorted, "By attacking defenseless woman and their fat merchant husbands? I don't think so, you're just another honorless bandit. Only thing you're good for is pleasing your betters and fertilizing the fields."
The dog whimpered, "I can offer you great rewards if you let me go!"
Ulm laughed, "Ha! And what exactly is a little doggie outlaw like you going to offer us?"
The dog continued desperately, "I know where you can find great treasure! An ancient tomb of a great warrior!"
Fenrir shook his head, "If you actually did, you'd have plundered the damn, place with your buddies by now."
The dog shook his head feverishly, "No! We couldn't get in, it's guarded by some sort of demon! It said only true warriors could enter and killed two men that tried!"
Fenrir's ears perked up, this sounded interesting enough to play along. "Is that so? Well then, why don't you tell us where this place is and if you're not lying, we might let you go."
The canine promised he'd show them. Fenrir turned to their prisoner, "We're going to have a look tomorrow and you're coming with us. If you were lying, we cut your throat there and then."
The dog nodded feverishly, obviously relieved. Ulm stood up and growled, "But for now, you're going to be a good little bitch."
He stripped down naked and walked up to the bound dog. He tore apart the clothes covering his plaything, sitting on the ground, and pointed at his sheath. "Lick it."
The dog eyes flew open and he started to speak, Ulm smacked him hard on the face and pulled his head close. Hesitantly, the canine extended his tongue and started licking the sheath. After a few strokes, red flesh emerged from the sheath, the wolven member growing eagerly.
Fenrir grinned and stripped down naked himself. He sat down on the ground and gently stroked himself as he watched the scene unfold. Pre leaked from his soon erect tip. He caressed his large meat.
Ulm forced open the dog's maw and shoved his half-erect cock in. "Don't even think about biting or you're dead! Now suck it!"
The dog hesitated again, until another smack got him to start suckling the inflating flesh. Ulm's wolf cock reached its full impressive size as the canine's tongue rubbed along its shaft. The muscular wolf grabbed his victim's head and started fucking it. He thrust deep and fast, his tip nudged the entrance to the canine's throat.
Fenrir had walked up and was now forcing the dog to get down on all fours, Ulm got on his knees and continued fucking earnestly. The grey lupine lined his erect pre-covered cock up with the prisoner's tailhole and slammed forward. He buried his shaft in one thrust, his knot nudging his entrance. The dog screamed around the cock fucking his muzzle, tears sprang from his eyes.
Fenrir started fucking immediately, he thrusted hard into his bitch and slapped his ass. His knot pounded at the entrance as it sought to break though. The tight fit had him throw his head back in pleasure as he roughly fucked the young bandit's tailhole. His victim's cock had engorged, a clear sign of the pleasure he was forced to feel at the hands of his rapists. The canine member twitched and spurted pre onto the ground.
UIm growled and pushed into the dog's throat, who gagged immediately around his substantial length. The added stimulation drove the charcoal wolf to the edge, he could feel his balls tighten as his load was about to be released. He howled and pushed forwards all the way, his pulsing cock sent spurts of cum down the young dog's throat, into his stomach. As he finally withdrew, the canine gasped for air and coughed, strands of saliva mixed with cum and pre leaked from his muzzle onto the floor.
Fenrir lifted the dog up by his hair. He wrapped his arms under the dog's arms, over his shoulders and locked his paws in his bitch's neck. He slammed up into the tight tailhole and felt his orgasm approach. He growled loudly and bit the dog's shoulder as his knot pushed through, tying them together. He gave a few more thrusts and his cock spurted thick ropes of cum, coating the raped canine's insides.
After a few moments, he ripped out his knot and let the dog fall to the ground. He breathed heavily as he reached down and roughly jerked the victim's cock. Already close to the edge, the dog came almost immediately and shot white strands of cum onto himself, covering his chest and stomach.
Fenrir bound his paws behind his back and legs together tightly, leaving him on the ground in the corner of the cave, naked and covered in his own cum. A small trickled of semen streamed from his abused tailhole.
The two wolves curled up in their furs and went to sleep.
The following morning, the wolves ate a quick breakfast of honey-laden biscuits before cutting loose their prisoner. Fenrir tied a stout length of rope around his neck and attached it to his own waist. He tossed the dog a fur cloak and a pair of warm boots.
"No point having you freeze to death is there?"
Ulm grabbed the dog's arm, bruising it slightly. "Don't even think about doing anything brave. You just lead us to this tomb of yours, I will not hesitate to cut off your balls. Now get moving!"
The canine swallowed and nodded, he wrapped the cloak around himself and put on the boots. His fur was matted and his tailhole sore, but this was not the time to complain. He led the pair through the snow towards the east.
After about an hour's walking in silence, they arrived at a small crevice in a rocky outcrop. The dog pointed at it, "It's right in there."
Fenrir motioned him to go first and took form hold of the leach. "No heroics now puppy."
The wolves held their hands on their swords as they carefully followed the dog inside. After only a few moments they arrived in a large room carved into the rock. The ceiling was the height of three men and the walls were lined with some sort of luminescent mineral, small specks of blue-green light scattered all over the walls. The light was sufficient to make out a large double door, intricate swirling vines were carved into it. They dropped their packs at the entrance.
The prisoner whimpered and refused to go any closer, he pointed at a statue next to the door. "That's the demon, he killed out guys like it was nothing."
The statue stood suspiciously still for a demon. It was a larger-than-life representation of a wolf, most likely the buried man. He wore chainmail armor and wielded an impressively large looking sword. His helmet bore a simple crown, suggesting he was an ancient king.
Fenrir and Ulm looked at each other and laughed, slapping their thighs. "By the Gods! A bloody statue killed your friends eh? Mighty impressive!"
The dog kneeled in front of the pair, raising his paws, begging. "Please my Lords! I've shown you the tomb, please release me! I'll be no more bother to you!"
Fenrir shrugged and untied his end of the rope, he slapped the dog's head. "Go on then! Get out of here!"
The dog ran out, muttering thanks to some god or other, dragging his leach behind him.
Ulm, meanwhile, had been eyeing up the door. He turned to his friend, "Say Fenrir, this thing is made of iron! And these marking here look like old rune script. There might actually be something good in here."
"Well then open it up and let's have a look."
They grabbed one of the massive rings attached to one of the doors and pulled. A loud scraping sound came from beside the door, the wolves jumped back just in time as a massive stone sword struck the door. The statue beside was no longer suspiciously still as it stepped forward, it's eyes glowed with the same blue-green light as the walls. A loud, booming voice declared: "This tomb can only be entered by a true warrior! Defend yourself or begone!"
It stepped forward and swung its huge sword horizontally, sweeping at the wolves' midsections. They dodged and waited, hesitant to swing a sword at the hard stone.
Fenrir was first to act, he lunged forward and stuck the creature on the arms, his blade left only a small mark as sparks flew through the air. The creature swung his way again, his strikes were slow but unstoppably powerful. A blade wasn't going to do them much good here.
Ulm ran to the entrance while their opponent was distracted and rifled through his pack, moments later he stood back up with a blacksteel battle hammer. It was roughly the length of his forearm, with a head the size of a fist.
While Fenrir averted the creature's gaze further, Fenrir jumped it from behind. He swung his hammer in a wide arc over his head and struck the living stone on the neck with all the strength he could muster. A resounding crack echoed through the chamber, a clear fracture was visible in the stone.
The guardian was not deterred and swung around towards Ulm, charging at him with thundering steps. The massive stone blade sought out his chest. The wolf just barely managed to avoid the impact, dropping his weapon in the process.
"Fenrir! The hammer!"
As Ulm dodged one attack after the other, Fenrir rushed to the fallen weapon and picked it up. He repeated his companions attack, charging at the impossible warrior and bringing the hammer to bear on its neck. Another loud crack was heard, chips of stone scattered. The guardian stumbled and fell to one knee. The grey wolf growled loudly and rained down one blow after the other. Eventually, with a loud snap, the stone head simply detached and fell to the ground.
The two lupines stood panting heavily, hands on their knees as the living stone reverted to its more conventional dead state. As the eyes dimmed, the massive iron double door swung open slowly.
Ulm, still catching his breath, looked up at his friend. "Fenrir....I don't know...about you...but I'm pretty sure rocks aren't supposed to behave like that. And neither are doors, for that matter. What sort of place is this?!"
Fenrir stood up straight and gazed through the open door, darkness awaited them. "I've heard the skalds tell stories about the ancient kings and their magic...I guess they were at least partially devoid of shit for once."
The charcoal wolf chuckled, "Well then...maybe we can give those boys something else to sing about?" He started walking towards the door. "You coming?"
Fenrir sighed deeply and followed reluctantly.
As they walked through the doors, the walls near them lit up with the familiar specks of blue-green light, lighting their path for them. The corridor they walked was straight as a sword and broad enough for three men to walk abreast. The walls were etched with depictions of various scenes, most included some form of battle. These must be the buried king's life story.
Fenrir saw one depiction which seemed to portray dragons, being slayed by the king. "Always room for exaggeration eh?", the wolf thought to himself.
They came up to the end of the corridor, another double door blocked their path. They tried pushing or pulling it open, no use.
Ulm growled, "Oh no you don't! We didn't just kill whatever mister hospitality back there was only to be denied entrance at this point!"
He motioned Fenrir to step aside, who did so. He howled and took a running start, sprinting toward the door. He threw himself into the air and slammed against the door in full force, the hinges buckled and the doors fell down with a might slam.
Ulm dusted himself off as he got up, "There, that did the trick!"
Fenrir laughed and patted his companion on the back, "Ulm the Barbarian! Always fun having you around!"
They headed into the new chamber. As the lights on the walls lit up they stood silent, eyes growing large with astonishment.
The circular room was about 10 meters across, in the centre, on a raised platform, stood a large sarcophagus. This was not the astonishing part. Around this platform was a trench, perhaps 2 meters deep. This was filled with silver, gold, gemstones and many other things of great value. Even that was not the astonishing part, they didn't care much for shiny things.
No, the astonishing part was the fact that the lid of the sarcophagus was open and that there was someone standing next to it, clearly alive and looking at them. He looked exactly like the statue at the entrance, his size had not been exaggerated. He was an older grey haired fox. The figure waved them closer.
"Well come on now! If you're going to knock down my door like that you can at least have the decency to come closer so I don't have to shout!"
The two friends looked at each other, Ulm shrugged. They stepped forward carefully. As they came to a stop, the massive wolf in front of them lifted his arm and pointed at Fenrir.
"You! Were you the one that destroyed my guardian?!"
Fenrir tried to control his voice as he addressed the impossibly alive ancient ruler. "I...I landed the killing blow, yes."
The man now pointed at Ulm. "And you opened the doors to my chamber! Not exactly the way it was meant to be, but that's a detail I think you'll agree."
The two lupines looked at each other, confused. The large man slapped his face with his paw. "Oh my! Please forgive an old man, you have no idea who I am! My name is Asgar, King of the North! Well...at least I was, you see."
The wolves' confusion seemed less than subdued, jaws found their way down swiftly
"Doesn't ring any bells?! Has it been that long? Oh well, fame is fleeting, as they say. Suffice to say I once ruled all the North, before I decided to have this little nap here." He patted his sarcophagus.
The reigning confusion dug in its heels and had a party. Fenrir cleared his throat, "Uhm...forgive me, My...Lord? But how exactly is it you're....well, not dead?"
The king raised an eyebrow, "Why am I not dead? Oh, yes of course! I can imagine that could be confusing. Well long story short, it's because of Dragon's blood, makes you immortal! Anyway, that's not important right now. What is important is that you've successfully completed the test."
The pair looked on with the same look indicating they found the situation as a whole to be rather less clearly explained than was possible and rather more convoluted than was necessary.
Asgar continued in rapid voice, "The test! Killing the guardian and gaining entry to this room? You completed it! Anyway, you're both entitled to a reward. Don't ask me why, it's confusing even to me. Something about prophecies or something, honestly it's just a bunch of nonsense but the mages insisted I do this. So I figured, what the hell why not? Basically you two get to pick any one item out of the stuff in this room, anything at all, it's yours. You then leave and let me rest in peace, pun not intended. Live your lives, maybe save the universe from eternal demonic damnation, if you believe old Thrashbarg at least, the silly old mage. He kept going on about some Demon called Bob that was going to kill everyone unless this test was put in place to supply a great warrior with a powerful artifact that could help slay him."
The two lupines blinked at the onslaught of words, surprisingly few of which seemed to make any sense.
"Anyway, he was obviously wrong about that! I mean for starters there's two of you! But, I'm a wolf of my word, so you I'm sticking to the plan. Both of you get one item, you don't seem like the sort that like necklaces of water breathing or rings of fortitude and all that sort of stuff, so I'll mention that all the good weapons are in the back.....off you go then!"
He waved his hands in a shooing motions.
The wolves looked at each other, shrugged once more and started looking through the assorted treasure.
After a while, Ulm came across a rather impressive looking axe. If placed on the ground, it reached up to his shoulders. The head was a massive, wide blade which gleamed with a silver sheen. On the other side of the blade was a spike, made from the same material. It was surprisingly light.
Asgar clapped his hands enthusiastically. "Oh! That's one of my old favorites! It's a Mithril War Axe of Slaying +4, with triple damage criticals!"
Ulm blinked in the now familiar confusion that assaulted him.
Fenrir dug up a finely crafted blade. It was the length of his legs, with a long grip that allowed for both paws. It had a wide cross guard and double edged, straight blade with a blood groove. A ruby had been set in the pommel, surrounded by a fine silver meshwork, which ran up all along the handle to provide grip. The blade had a strangely dull sheen, like polished bone.
Asgar clapped again. "Ah! You've found a real treasure there! You have no idea how many hours I had to grind for that one! It's a Dragonbone Bastard Sword of Mutilation! Adds resistance to fire damage and inflicts crippling wounds on every critical strike, which it gets on a roll of 16-20!"
Fenrir tried to ignore the raving lunatic king as best he could, he got a fantastic sword out of it, now it's time to walk away. The two wolves did so, hearing the overly friendly ancient warrior king congratulate then on their great "stats" and their "saves" on the way out.