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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Paka" data-source="post: 955551" data-attributes="member: 100">The Ballad of Karhoun EsbenStory Post #11Regaining Lost WeaponsI am Karhoun Esben, spawn of Vildar Esben, a good son.We watched as the oak tree was planted with some ceremony in the courtyard, in front of the Cathedral to Izrador.  Unaros said the Lady of the Oak was a Dryad, the Shadow in the North has a grove of such trees he converted and often he sends them to be planted in front of his greatest temples, so the Black Oaks might ward them.  It is another beautiful creature wasted to the Shadow but I don’t say any such thing, dare not even think it.Father sees the Dryad and seems to gain a look of lust in his eye.  I wouldn’t want to be his current wife right about now.I asked Suk, the leader of our Orcs how I should go about approaching the Oruk.  He suggested that he goes about getting the gear back but I disagreed, not wanting to appear weak in front of my family.  Unaros hem’ed and haw’ed, refusing to pull Legate rank and Olin, the Legate’s Demon-possessed mastiff just laughed.  Either this was a test or everyone was scared of these Oruk, these High Orcs.  I think they were scared.The crowd from the oak planting was dispersing, father was chatting with the Dryad and the three warden/brothers were standing around him but watching me out of the corner of their eyes.  They trusted me like a brother, which is to say, not at all [ripped that line right off from Zelazny’s Amber series, forgive me].I approached the Oruk with my weapons and cleared my throat, “Excuse me, sir, you still have my weapons.”He smiled, a big tusky grin and replied, “They stopped being your weapons when I captured you in the forest and you gave them to me.”“My father is Lord here.  I would recommend that you return them.”He began yelling, “I am a true son of Izrador and my father is the Shadow in the North!  Do you wish to compare lineage!”  He beat his chest while he talked, his fist making hard contact against his blackened plate mail.  Two of his friends stepped in from behind but the Captain of the troupe and a few other of the older Oruk stood away, near the Oak’s former cart, watching carefully.A good hunt takes patience, I thought to myself, let him yell, let him think I am a weak, puny human who is going to back down.  Another thought came to my head, unbidden: This is going to hurt.Then Valenicia stepped from behind me, my sister, still standing up for her babe of a brother is at my side.  Another unbidden thougth came to my head: It is good to be home again.He was still yelling, spitting his words, “Go away, Esben-spawn, be thankful that you learned such an easy and valuable lesson from a True Son of Izrador.  Get a new blade from your powerful father and rest easy knowing that the Shadow will be using your weapons well.”I tried to make the following words sound as hollow as possible, “Okay, but I’ll remember you.”Then I waited, I waited for him to turn around, waited for him to show his back to me.  Then he will taste what my father’s gift, I thought.  Then the Oruk on the right and then, if I’m still alive, the one on the left.  The wait for him to turn around was an eternity but he was going to do it.  I convinced him that I was nothing but a weak human, depending on my father’s name for a boon.  May I feast with my ancestors in Valhalla if I die.  I found myself wondering if father would have given my a proper send off or would have just let me rot for the crows, to show other Esben children what happens to fools.The Oruk was set to turn his back to me when my supportive sister spoke, “You can’t take those; they aren’t yours.”The Oruk sought to backhand her across the face but noone slaps an Esben in this city but another Esben.  I drove my dagger into his guts, driving with all I had so that his body went into the Oruk on the right of him.  If my sister wished to be involved she could take the Oruk on the left; if she doesn’t, I am dead.His ribs cracked as I lifted him off of the ground and I held the dagger in, hoping the poison does its work.  It did and he died fast of the gut wound and I took my dagger to the Oruk on the left.  They allowed themselves to get too close and the Vardatches didn’t draw easily when Dornish folk are right in your face.  I tried to put my dagger in its throat but missed, hitting its shoulder.Suk, eager to test his mettle against his Oruk cousins, was attached to the Oruk on the left.  While they wrestled, Suk trying to stop the Oruk from drawing his Vardatch, Valenicia put her bastard sword in the Oruk’s skull.The last Oruk and I were in a vicious embrace.  While I held the dagger in his shoulder he attempted to draw his weapon.  When the Vardatch doesn’t come easily he abandoned it and attached his tusks to my face, ripping meat and biting into the bone of my jaw.  We were both holding on to each other, refusing to let go.  I was waiting for the remaining batch of my father’s poison to go to work and it was attempting to bite its way through my face.Unaros approached, putting his Legate’s hands on the Oruk's face and said, “I give you the Shadow’s blessing,” and with a cold breeze, the Oruk died.I eyed the Oruk Captain and said, “No Fell shall rise in my father’s keep,” and proceeded to take off their heads and feet with my regained bastard sword.  It was just an excuse, though, I wanted more blood.  I tried to say to the Oruk Captain, “Their lives were worth a battle-scar but yours will bring us true glory,” but I’m truly not sure what came out.  My jaw was more or less broken from the bite and blood was everywhere.The Captain of the Oruk approached and said to Unaros, “Thank you, Shadow Legate, for removing these weaklings from our party.  Please take their weapons and armor as our thanks for your service.”I nodded, blood streaming from my Oruk-bitten face.  Unaros accepted graciously and healed my face with his cold Shadow-touch.  Now my face has another scar, another place where my blond beard will not grow.I took ears from the ones I killed and the tusk that had lodged into my face.  We divvied up the geat, Suk eager to try on his new full-plate.  The third suit we gave to the church, as a bribe…no, donation through Unaros.We decided to tour the Cathedral before dinner, perhaps stopping by the Oak along the way, talk to the beautiful Dryad.  I still had blood on me but Unaros assured me that bearing the blood of your enemies into Izrador’s cathedral was far from a bad thing.I strapped my axe and my sword to my back and hip and walked toward the cathedral.  My father and brothers were gone by the time I thought to look for them but they would know of what happened.  I will attend dinner in a few hours, my weapons will be worn as a message, a reminder to my family of what I learned while away at Theros Obsidia.</blockquote>

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