Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="industrygothica" data-source="post: 5128461" data-attributes="member: 23298">Baern's gaze travels from Thomas to the fireplace, and again his mind wonders back to his childhood."Ye done good, laddie!" A hard pat on the shoulder accompanied the compliment, though from whom it was he could no longer recall.  It do feel good, he admitted to himself.  But at what cost?  A score of dwarves were lined up along the hewn walls of the Great Hall, and three times that many ogres lay in a pile ready to be hauled off to the furnaces.  Young ones like Baern weren't normally allowed to witness these things until they were a bit older, but the elders made the exception after he'd proven himself in the battle.Then there was another hard pat on the shoulder, the second of many that day, and for the weeks to come.  "Best get to the haulin' afore they start stinkin' up The Hall."  He was sure he'd known who said it at the time, but the memory was old, and hadn't come to him in a long time.The furnaces lit almost instantly, despite having not been used for a decade or more.  One by one the dead ogres were thrown inside, and Baern watched and steeled his stomach as their melting flesh peeled away from their blackening bones until each was but a pile of ash.As the last ogre was thrown into the furnace, yet one more hand clasped his shoulder, and Baern winced.  It was the king himself."Ye done good boy," he said.  "Quite a sight here, ain't it?  An' the smell'll stick with ye through to yer dyin' days, don't ye doubt.  But ye done good, and ye stuck with it through the end t'make sure it's finished.  Ye done the Stoneheart name proud today son.  Ye done yer mammy proud, too.----------------Baern accepts the Queens thanks, as he had the king's that day.  "Aye, meself'll be comin' with ye.  We'll see this thing through, one way or another."</blockquote>

Verification