The Long Way

[matteus the inbred]

request thirded...

[Franconicus]

Don't know. I am just thinking about a new interactive. And I did not think that anybody would miss this story. Maybe I think again.

[Franconicus]

[Franconicus]

Chapter 12 – The Battle of Noreia

Glum and the volk arrived in the afternoon. I hailed him and showed him the ferry.
“Well done! How did you get it, Gunnar?”
“Err, I found it upstream.”
“Where is the owner?”
“I do not know! It was forlornly.”
“Did you meet any natives?”
“No. The area I passed was deserted.”
Glum looked at the sword hanging at my side, but he did not say a word.

The volk rested for the night and at the next morning, we started to cross the river. Of course, Velleda wanted to know every detail of my trip. Unlike Glum, she was not so easy to please. I had to tell her every detail. When I told her about the meeting with the swan maidens, she shook her head and said: “Gunnar, you did not act very smart. It is not advisable to swan maidens on. It invites trouble.”
I felt that she was right, but I said: “Common, you are too pessimistic, aren’t you? What can a swan maiden do to us? We are strong, we can determine our fate.”
Then I told her how I had gotten the ferry.
“Gunnar, what have you done? You killed a subject of the Noreian king. Don’t you think he will bring us to book? Why didn’t you tell Glum about it?”
“I did what I had to do. We needed the ferry. I did not want to kill him; he forced me to do it. He is the one to blame. Anyway, he was nothing but a ferryman. He is not important at all. We can pay for atonement. And if their king does not accept.”
“Gunnar, show me the sword!”
“This is not the sword of a poor ferryman. Gunnar, I tell you, your act will cause misery.”

Despite of her words we crossed the river without any problems. The weather was fine and everyone felt happy that we passed another hurdle on our way to Alberich’s realm.

It took four days to cross the river, but finally all our people and all chariots were on the southern bank and we advanced into the land of Noreia.

Three days later, our reconnaissance spotted a big army. They were at the other end of a big plane. The plane gently inclined. On both sides, there were woods. Glum ordered the warriors to deploy for the battle. We had learned a lot in the passed months and the warriors knew there positions in the formation. The Ambrones formed our right wing, the Cimbrii the center and the left. Ger-men formed the first three rows. Behind them, there were the archers. The Teutons were our reserve. Behind them the old warriors and women built our camp. On the very right side, there was a small distance between the Ambrones and the wood. Glum sent our cavalry there, most of them former wild saw men, who had joined our volk during the last months. On the left, the Cimbrii leaned against the other wood. Inside the wood Magni and his werewolves took position.

Glum called me. “Gunnar, if possible, I want to avoid this fight. There is nothing to gain if we have to fight our way through Noreia. I send you to the other commander. Tell him that we do not want to make trouble; we just want to pass his country on our way to Alberich. Offer him a toll, if necessary. However, if he does not agree, tell him we will fight.”

Therefore, I climbed on my horse, called two comrades to follow me. We crossed the plain. I heard the sound of the upcoming battle. The Ambrones had started their war chants. From the left I heard inhumane cries; Magni’s following worshipping to Modi, the god of battle wrath.

From the other side a group of riders crossed the plane, too, and we finally met in their middle. The enemy delegation consisted of twelve men. They stopped at a distance of several hundred yards. Three riders separated from the rest. The man in the middle was quite old, maybe 45 years old. He was wearing a rich armor and was riding a noble horse. Obviously, this was the leader of our enemies. On his right, there was a young man of about 17 years. His equipment and his attitude showed that he was a nobleman, too. His face was somewhat familiar to me, although I did not remember why. The third rider was different. He looked meager and the way he sat on the horse showed that he was no warrior.

After the two groups had met, I said to the leader: “Why do you stop us here? Take your men and step aside or you will regret it.”

My opponent looked at me with anger: “I do not know who you are, young man, or where you come from. However, I tell you that it is accepted custom here at Noreia that the young men listen to the old and noble ones before they speak. I am Kvasir and I am King of Noreia. I am here to demand atonement. Someone killed my ferryman and I call for retribution. If you turn the murderer over and pay enough gold to balance the dead body you may leave this country and return to your home alive.”

“I do not know what you are talking about, old man. I do not know anything about a dead ferryman, but I know that there will be many dead men at Noreia if you will not get out of our way. If you want to keep your realm, step aside, old man.”

The king wanted to reply, but the man on his left interrupted him at his left: “It’s you! You are the murderer! You killed Honir! I stood on the other bank. I recognize you!”

“Keep your trap shut! You do not know what you’re talking! Who is Honir? I do not know any Honir at all!”

The king said: “Honir is my son. He was the strongest man in the realm. I do not know how you managed to killed him. It must have been deceitfulness.”

“I do not know what you are talking about.”

The young man on the left turned to the king and said: “Father, look at the sword at his side. Doesn’t it look like Honir’s sword Tyrfing? Stranger, give me the sword; I want look at it!”

“You want to make acquaintance with my sword. Don’t hesitate, my boy, it’s waiting here for you!”

The boy spurred his horse and attacked me. I did not know whether he recognized the sword when it penetrated his throat right below his chin. He fell from his horse and was dead without another word or even a sigh. When I turned around again, the king and the other enemy were on the run. One of my companions threw his ger at the king. It penetrated his back. He hurried to his own lines and his entourage covered his retreat.

We returned to our lines, too. When I reached Glum, the Noreians were already approaching. While they were running down the plane, they shouted their war cries. Our archers sent them the first greetings, however without any visible effect. The second volley did cause some confusion and the third one tore holes in the formation. Then the enemy reached our lines.

On the right, our cavalry tried to attack the flank of the Noreians. However, the Noreian cavalry intercepted. Our cavalry dispelled and the riders escaped into the wood. The Noreians did not follow. They attacked the Ambrones, which started to loose ground.

Our center stopped all attacks. At the right, the enemy sent cavalry, too. I stood side by side with Glum. He said: “Common, Magni. Now it is time to start your attack. Hit their flank and hit them hard.”
At that moment Magni and his men appeared, screaming and roaring. They were now in the mood for their Berseker’s raid. They were filled with wrath; they hardly noticed what was going on all around them. Glum sighed with relief until he saw that they were not attacking the Noreians but chopping the bushes.

Glum was shocked. He just could not believe his eyes. His elite formation was busy chopping trees! A messenger called him back into reality: “Glum, our left wing! The Ambrones are retreating!”

A look to the left showed that he was right. However, our right wing was not doing much better. The men there, shocked by the behavior of the werewolves, lost ground.

Seeing the danger for both flanks made Glum master of the situation again. He turned to me and said: “Gunnar, take five clans of the Teutons and turn to our right flank. You have to stop the enemy. I will go to the left and repel the enemy there.” I turned to go but he called me once more: “Gunnar, all depends on you, now. Make the Ambrones make a stand. The left wing has to stand.” Then he turned away and disappeared in the battle turmoil.

I went to the Teutons and told them my intention. We hurried to the left. Fortunately, the Ambrones had already picked up courage again and when they saw us coming, they started to attack the enemy. Together with my Teutons, I headed for the cavalry of the Noreians just as they tried to get into the back of the Ambrones. Suddenly they found themselves between the shafts of the Ambrones and Teutons and were slaughtered. Next, the fight between our infantry and the Noreians was fought with maximum rage. Success was going up and down. Suddenly, completely unexpected, our cavalry appeared at the edge of the wood and attacked the rear of the enemy. They had gathered themselves, again, and had waited for the right moment to interfere again. The enemy, attacked from both sides, gave up and run away. While our cavalry was chasing them, I gathered the Ambrones and Teutons and aimed for the center of the enemy.

Our attack made the enemy shiver. From the other side, I could hear the screaming of Glum and his men. They had cleared the situation at their side and were heading for the center, too. That was too much for the enemies. They turned around and run as fast as possible.

It had been a hard fight for all of us. Nevertheless, our casualties were relatively low. We had proven that we were no longer a robber band but a disciplined army.

[matteus the inbred]

Coooool. The plot thickens. Bit of a thieving rascal, is Gunnar! I like the bit about chopping trees...
the chaos of battle is well-described...this reminds of some of the slightly gothic short stories Games Workshop used to publish, that kind of semi-realistic semi-magical feel.

[Franconicus]

All wars are nothing but raids. (Voltaire)

[Franconicus]

Chapter 13 – Consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo

We camped for three days to lick our wounds. Many people were upset about the performance of Magni and his berserkers. They say they marooned the volk; they were useless and even a danger. Next time they would attack their own brothers in arms instead of innocent trees. Many said that Magni and his followers should leave the community.

Magni did not say a word, but it was obvious he took those reproaches very seriously. He was willing to accept any sentence. However, Glum commemorated the merits of Magni’s strength and courage and the benefits given to the volk before and he came up to an exemption from punishment.

Then we advanced to the Noreia, the capital of the homonymous realm. On our march, several small tribes that had knuckled down to the Noreian king joined our volk and compensated our casualties. Noreia was a rich country and we made good booties along the way. We gathered a lot of metal, iron as well as bronze, silver and gold and we became richer than we ever thought we could get.

When we approached Noreia, we made a strange encounter. There was a group of queer soldiers coming up. They marched in a close formation, each soldier close to the other, with synchronized motion. It was a parody of a real army. It looked so funny we had to laugh. We guessed that these were the jesters of the Noreian court.

We went closer and at close range, these men looked even weirder. They were small, indeed. At least one head smaller than an average human being. Their hair was black as coal. It was so ugly that they wore it very short. Each of them had the same equipment, a huge shield, a spears and a short sword. They all had helmets, and armours made of leather and metal covered most of their bodies.

Glum watched them for a while and said: “Look at them. They are so small. I guess they are afraid of us. That must be the reason why they cover their bodies with armor and why they crowd like sheep. We must be gentle not to scare them off.”

Vindelicus, the merchant, said: “Do not let yourself be fooled, Glum. These are Roman soldiers. People say that they are deadly warriors.”

Glum looked at him doubtfully, but did not say a word.

Vindelicus continued: “Additionally, these men may be the dwarfs you are looking for. Their home is far south; they live in the mountains. I heard they dig in the earth.”

The Roman soldiers began to deploy. Still they did not look very warlike. They carried coloured rags and there were even drums. When they finally stood in three rows, the lines opened and several cavaliers came in front. Glum, Vindelicus and me rode to them. The man in the middle was obviously the most important one. Although he was very small and had that ugly black hair, too, he looked quite impressive with his shining armor and his colorful clothes.

He began to talk. His words sounded strange, but Vindelicus said that it was Roman and that he could understand it fairly. The name of the Roman leader was Consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo. He said that he stood for the mighty Rome. Glum said that Rome might be the castle of Alberich. He said to Vindelicus, that he was happy to greet Consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo as the ambassador of the dwarf king Alberich. The Cimbrii and their allies wanted to become friends with the Romans.

Vindelicus translated this and Carbo first looked irritated. Then he asked why we had attacked Noricum, although the king of Noreia had been a Roman ally.

When Glum heard these words, he was frightened. He told Vindelicus: “Tell him: I did not know, that Noreia is an ally of Rome. This makes me very sad. We would never have fought them if we had only known. After all we had only asked to cross the country and the Noreian had started the fight. Tell him this. We do not want to have trouble with the dwarfs. If we did something wrong, we are willing to pay for compensation.”

While Vindelicus translated these words to the Roman, Glum watched anxiously the face of the Roman leader. Carbo reflected on what he had heard. Then he said something to Vindelicus, which was translated into the human language: “I see. Propably it was just misfortune; a capricious game some god’s like to play with us mortals. Kvasir is dead and most of his sons died in this battle. Only Voccio, his 8-month-old son is left. We already declared him king. We will protect him and help him to secure his regency. He is already on the way to Rome where he will be secure and where he will get the education that the king of Noricum needs. Until he is grown up, a Roman proconsul and a Roman garrison will help his mother to administrate the country.”

Glum said that this was fine to him and that he was happy that the incident did not stand between the Romans and the Cimbrii. Carbo said, translated by Vindelicus, that he wanted to learn more about our volk and about our cause. He said that he was very interested in foreign peoples and that he would enjoy hearing what we had learned during our march.

The Roman soldiers build a big colorful tent, where Carbo and we had our meeting. We saw novel clothes there as well as unknown pelts. There were many objects made of gold and silver. Carbo offered us wine, a drink we had already tried before, but never so sweet and so excellent. When Carbo saw that we liked the drink, he ordered more and his soldiers brought several barrels. His hospitality made us very glad and we were in a very good mood. We laughed about the fact that Carbo had to delute his wine with water. Obiously the dwarfs could not stand it.

Carbo was interested in everything that had happened on our journey. He also wanted to know every detail about our plans. We told him about Thor and the promised land that we will find in Alberich’s realm. The meeting took very long and in the end, I was so tired that I could not remember every detail. However, I still remember tha words that Carbo said when we finally left his tent: “Do not worry. We Romans will be glad to welcome you. Enough land is only waiting for you. We will live as partners. That will be guarantee wealth and security for both nations. Of course, you have to cross the mountains, but I will give you a guide to accompagne you.” Vindelicus stayed at Carbo’s tent to tell him stories of his own tribe.

With a warm feeling, we went to rest. We had found Alberich’s ambassador, we had made friendship and he was willing to give us land. Everything that Thor had promised would become true. That night I dreamed of Velleda, Idun and me living on our farm at the coast.

[Ludens]

Oh dear. Don't trust the Romans, even though they carry gifts. I fear Gunnar is going to pay the full price for his bloodlust.

BTW, why is he suddenly so warlike? Does he want to prove himself or has the journey made him so embittered he trusts no one anymore?