“You’re all seriously going to leave, aren’t you?”
Reinn nodded.
“Son, you, Einar, and Osvif have your rooms reserved for a month. By then, you three should be set up with a warband. I don’t expect to see you more than once or twice this next year.&...
2024-06-05 13:01:30 +0000 UTC View PostThe path to the dueling fields was lined with people wishing each and every one of the nineteen finalists their congratulations. Trampled flowers lined the streets, and people showered them with even more flowers. Guards stood every so often to remind the people to stay behind the mar...
2024-06-05 13:00:06 +0000 UTC View Post“You look like I wore you out all night,” Tanila teased as they rode back in a carriage to the Faction property. “I hope this works out how you think it will.”
Nodding, Max fought back a yawn that tried to make itself known and winked at Tanila. “I could see it in their eyes...
2024-06-05 13:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post“Einar?”
Blinking his eyes a few more times, Magnus saw that Arngrim was sitting next to him on a chair, and he was in a small room lying on a bed.
“I guess I didn’t die,” Magnus said as he stretched his neck. “How long have I been here?”
“One day. Th...
2024-06-04 13:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostTeit and Reinn had changed up the way people could approach Magnus, creating a small barricade with two permanent guards at the edge of it. The booth he always sat in had been a decision he made from a lifetime of never leaving his back exposed. Now even his sides and fronts were guar...
2024-06-04 13:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post“What’s in it for you besides our goodwill and gear down the road?” Tom asked. “I mean, you seem to think we need to give you more than we already do.”
Everett held up his hand, storing the clipboard and moving to the stone counter where the two other men were standing. ...
2024-06-04 13:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostFowl rushed toward the giant skeleton, and when he got within twenty-five yards, the creature roared and came running at him. Its massive red feet shook the ground as it raced toward Fowl, kicking up clouds of dirt.
It swung both swords in a combo attack, and Fowl blocked and parried ...
2024-06-03 13:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostFive remained, and the announcer had done his job, whipping the people in the seats into a frenzy. Each boy moved as one, walking in a line to where a jar rested on a stone pedestal. Bior was there, wearing an outfit that made Magnus think of kings. Leather armor with gold and s...
2024-06-03 06:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post“Had I known you needed this kind of protection, I would have asked my shield sisters to walk with us,” Avitue said, winking at Magnus.
Chuckling, he nodded and motioned to the eight warriors who were hired to escort the pair of them as they walked along the streets of Kopanes. &nb...
2024-06-03 06:29:01 +0000 UTC View Post“That was foolish, and you know it!”
Magnus nodded and did his best to look remorseful as Thora berated him again.
“If you had died—”
“He wouldn’t have,” Valgard said, cutting her off again. “He is no longer our child. He is a warrior, and dea...
2024-06-03 06:28:00 +0000 UTC View Post“What? Who would—” Magnus stopped his line of questioning and immediately looked at where Jarl Unnulf and his son Skardi were standing. “You can’t be serious?”
Nodding, Arngrim motioned to where Hrein was standing nearby.
“Jarl Bior sent word just a lit...
2024-06-03 06:27:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe crowd was roaring as the two teens moved toward each other. The stone walls almost seemed to vibrate from the shouting and stomping.
It took all his training to keep his heart from racing.
This is insane!
Magnus and Arnor each shifted toward each other slowly,...
2024-06-03 06:26:01 +0000 UTC View PostNo one bothered Magnus as he sat in the corner of the booth, the look on his face keeping even Reinn and the others who knew what it meant. Guat had sat down, trying to talk, but when he read the rage in the look Magnus had shown, the boy left, joining the others who sat quietly.
“H...
2024-06-03 06:25:01 +0000 UTC View PostAfter all the fights were over, the Berserkers’ Den was bursting at the seams. Rumors swirled about the three teens from Reinn’s village, and others were coming to find out what was different about them.
“I feel like a caged boar,” Guat complained as the three of them were seated at...
2024-06-03 06:24:00 +0000 UTC View PostMagnus couldn’t help but appreciate the lesson he was learning from all these fights.
Seventy-plus matches today were scheduled, and over a fourth of them had been won by someone using a trick or underhanded moment. The fighting this year had already surprised many; the young warriors wer...
2024-06-03 06:23:00 +0000 UTC View Post“That is a dangerous game you played today,” Reinn informed Magnus as the group sat in the corner of the Berserkers’ Den, celebrating the three wins for the young boys. “Do not be too cocky of your own skill. One false move, one slip, anything can end your chance of earning a ...
2024-06-03 06:22:01 +0000 UTC View PostAll along the stone wall of the dueling fields, young men and women stood shoulder to shoulder while waiting for Bior Glandursson to speak.
The deafening roar of the crowd had made it impossible in the last twenty seconds to hear anything, and even the horns that had blown were drowned out....
2024-06-03 06:21:01 +0000 UTC View PostMagnus looked at the city of Kopanes from the docks and wondered how something so massive could survive.
There had been so many fields that they passed as the shallow boats had carried them upstream. He and the other men had taken turns using the long poles to propel it ahead du...
2024-06-03 06:20:01 +0000 UTC View PostLying on the table, the pain that Magnus felt was nothing compared to what it had been when Odin had put the first rune into his body. The taste of blood and metal was in his mouth again, and it felt like his whole back was on fire.
The same glow he had seen when Valgard g...
2024-06-03 06:19:00 +0000 UTC View Post“Happy Birth Day,” Thora said as she kissed Magnus on the forehead. She patted the braids she had just finished putting in his hair, admiring the handiwork. “You remind me so much of him.”
Magnus smiled and nodded, seeing the water welling around her blue eyes as she sni...
2024-06-03 06:18:01 +0000 UTC View PostSlowly, Magnus backed up, knowing the path he needed to take to avoid the trap they had created. Falling in while panicking wouldn’t do anything but get him killed. Not that he was afraid of it, knowing he had a rune, yet the idea of being torn apart by these beasts did little to he...
2024-06-03 06:17:01 +0000 UTC View PostMagnus smiled as he watched the Lendmann drop the metal weight, sweat running down his bare chest. Each of the older warriors’ tattoos was on display, and for a man of his size and age, Magnus knew there was a difference not just in the physical strength but in the power that came from th...
2024-06-03 06:16:00 +0000 UTC View Post“I’m not certain I can keep this up,” Osvif managed to get out between breaths.
Nodding, Magnus took a few more deep breaths and ignored the sweat running down his entire body.
Both of them had been training for the last month each night, and the exhaustion had final...
2024-06-03 06:15:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe look of anticipation of hearing what Magnus was going to say was gone. Arngrim scowled and wagged the finger at him again.
“Because if you don’t, boy, I will tell everyone that the troll was your fault! Then what kind of hero would you be after they learn two children died bec...
2024-06-03 06:14:00 +0000 UTC View PostMagnus looked at the cart of goods they were taking home with them. A single mule led by one of Reinn's thralls seemed content to plod along the dirt path.
Thora walked between Magnus and Valgard, an arm encircling an arm on each of them.
Silence beyond the sound of ...
2024-06-03 06:13:01 +0000 UTC View PostMagnus stood there quietly as Hrein ignored the protest of his wife and daughter, asking him to leave the boy alone.
A space around them had opened up as others saw the way the man glared at the teen boy they knew as Einar. A lanky brown-haired boy wasn’t backing down from a man who...
2024-06-03 06:12:01 +0000 UTC View PostMagnus found himself a sweaty mess from all the games he had been playing, trying to downplay the attention everyone had been giving him.
Guat had seen him once and glared, but Magnus had said nothing, a simple nod of acknowledgment, and went on. He had ideas on how to possibly ...
2024-06-03 06:11:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe last rays of sunlight flowed down the path from the road toward their house.
“Tomorrow, I expect the two of you at the Longhouse,” Reinn said as Magnus and Valgard started to walk away. “I owe a debt, and I will not allow it to hang over me long.”
Nodding once, Valga...
2024-06-03 06:10:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe troll turned to face Reinn, who had managed to spear the creature in the gut on its side, sinking two-thirds of the blade into the less hardened flesh.
Valgard’s axe swung at the hand that was coming toward Brennor.
Unlike the others, Magnus didn’t want...
2024-06-03 06:09:01 +0000 UTC View PostA little over an hour of running ended with a sight no one had wanted to find.
One of the farms used to have a handful of animals. The pen that had held them was gone. Blood and bits of flesh, and a large pile of crap, was all that remained. Worse yet was the footpri...
2024-06-03 06:08:01 +0000 UTC View Post