"How far is it from here?", he asked afterward.
Reck thought. "I would say about two days' from here", he said. "But it depends on how fast you are on the road."
The afternoon had just begun and it was still a long way before him. Reck offered him to stay for lunch, but Agnar did not wanted to lose more time and wanted to found Uller and Geirröd as soon as possible.
Reck had been very happy about his visitor and gave him a glass of honey and two candles of bee-wax. Then Agnar said goodbye and rode along the path behind the cottage. The colorful birds accompanied him a bit, until the forest stopped and the path between high rocks continued. It got darker. The walls were so high that only a small amount of light fell into it.
After a few hours, he passed a small creek, where clear water flowed from the mountains. Agnar took the opportunity to fill his water bottle. He thought about what he would expect when he arrived at the castle. There were many things he could imagine, but the idea that he would see Uller and Geirröd standing around at the market place just would not come to his mind.
After a half day of walking through woods and narrow canyons, he suddenly saw a bright light in the distance. Finally, that must be the entrance. He rode quickly to the light.
Then it was time. Between two great oaks lay the exit of the mountains and the entrance to Wala.
In the middle of the two trees, Agnar came to stand and looked around. In front of him lay a huge, hilly country, with lush green meadows and endlessly active lakes. The sky was almost cloudless and the sun was so bright that he had trouble to keeping his eyes open.
Agnar was overwhelmed by the sight of him. The sunbeams seemed to smile, and he immediately felt the return of life to his body.
After he had enjoying the sight for a while, he rode northward. On his way he crossed many hills and rivers, while the midday sun radiated without protection on him. It was hot and Agnar began to sweat.
So he rode on for hours, until he found a few houses in the distance. In the first moment, Agnar thought he'd found people there, but when he got closer he saw that the houses were devastated. There was no one to see. The windows were broken and the doors were removed by force. There were debris and objects everywhere. What might have happened here? Wondered Agnar, who had a bad feeling in this place.
Suddenly a loud noise and a din resounded as if a whole army were on the advance. At first, the sounds were still far off, but then they suddenly came closer and closer.
Agnar's horse became wild because of the deafening noise and threw him hard on the ground. Agnar was able to catch it, just in time before it ran away. What's going on here?
He tried not to lose his nerves, when a long, black arrow suddenly flew at him and missed him just by a few millimeters.
When Agnar turned, he saw dozens of wild boars, as big as horses and with tusks, as long as those of an elephant running toward to him. On them sat small, disguised beings who looked like human beings at first sight. They were armed to the teeth and shot with arrows around, while they made growling grunts sounds.
Agnar quick gave his stallion spurs and tried to escape, but the pig riders were fast and still they fired an arrow after another at him. Most of the arrows miss their target, but then hit one of them Agnar's backpack and pulled a wide hole into it. The arrow stank so strongly of sweat and sulfur that Agnar was nauseated.
The riders were getting closer and closer, and Agnar tried everything to escape. He rode criss-crossed and through small rivers, but it didn't help. Then it happened and an arrow hit his horse in the thigh. With pain-weeping howls it collapsed and fell down together with Agnar to the ground.
The pig riders came growling closer and pulled their rust-colored swords. Agnar took his sword in his hand, while the first monsters past him. They were so fast that they did not succeed to giving a blow.
Agnar swung his sword and slammed the first of them out of the saddle. As the monster was on the ground and groping with his fingers in the earth, Agnar looked at his face. It was a ugly, green, red-haired dwarf, with pointed ears, crooked teeth, and a pig-like muzzle. What was most striking was that he did not wear pupils in the eyeballs, just like the wolves in the forest.
Agnar wondered, but he had no time to think about it. Without hesitating, he cut his throat, while at the same moment the last of the pigs had passed him. Subsequently, the wilds turned around and rode back with shouts and raised arms toward to him.
Agnar was looking for a way out, because he had realized, that he couldn't survive long against so many opponents. Then the first of them came and tried to take him on the horns of his wild boar, but Agnar could avoid it. A few of the riders descended and attacked him with axes and swords.
Agnar managed to deflect the attacks and killed one or the other opponent. One of them, he rammed his sword against his forehead and crushed his skull. Another he shared at the waist into two halves, but all that was only a drop on a hot stone. They came from all sides.
Suddenly a small iron ball flew through the air and fell directly into the hands of one of the pig riders.
"DOWN, BOY!!!", cried a voice.
Without questioning the statement, Agnar lay flat on the ground. Just one second later, there was a loud bang and a big explosion. A large part of the unholy had been torn to pieces with their wild boars and lay now wide across the field.
Unrest broke out in the rest of the horde. Agnar looked around and saw four men approaching him slowly from a hill. One of them put an iron ball into a sling and lit a fuse.
"Fire!", cried a tall, handsome man beside him and then flew an iron ball on the pig noses.
This time, a few of them managed to flee before the ball exploded. Planeless, they ran wildly as the two other men took their crossbows off their shoulders and began to shoot at the gang.
In panic the pig riders tried to run away, but the men's shot one after the other. As only one of them was left, he tried to crawl into a rabbit hole, where he stuck upside down. His short legs stalked wildly in the air.
The men's went laughing to him and watched the spectacle. After after they watched at him for a while, he suddenly stopped wagging his legs. He was smothered in the rabbit hole.
Meanwhile Agnar walked slowly toward to the men's. On the way he saw his horse as it lay dead in a blood pool. The sight hurt him much, because he had raised it itself three years ago, because the mother could not give enough milk. Then one of the men's approached him kindly, while the others began to throw the remains of the attackers on a heap.
"Are you all right?", the man asked him.
"Yes, I'm fine.", answered Agnar, although in reality pain ran him through the chest, since his horse had thrown him off at the second time. But he was still so full of adrenaline that he barely noticed.
"Fine!", said the man, laughing and gave him his hand. "I'm Magnus. You have a pretty lucky that we found you."
"Very pleased. I am Agnar.", he replied. "I am deeply grateful to you."
Then Magnus rummaged in his pocket and handed him a water bottle. Agnar took a large sip and looked to the heap, where the corpses slowly piled.
"What were those beings who have chased me like an animal through the area? And why did they do that at all?", he asked.
Magnus came a sad smile on his lips and looked up at the heap. "They were Orcs!", he said. "They attack our cities and villages since months and killing anyone who meets them. They are brutal creatures that kill indiscriminately without compassion."
Never before had Agnar seen an Orc in his life. He only knew them from the fairy tales in his books and had forgotten that they really existed.
Then he remembered a story from Uller. He told him that a long time ago there was a big war, between the orcs and humans. The battles were cruel and bloody, but in the end the humans managed to defeat the orcs. They were considered to be exterminated, but this does not seemed to be right, as he now had to establish.
The idea that Orcs h
ad attacked Uller and Geirröd would never have occurred to him, but he slowly began to reckon with the worst.
"What are you looking for here?", asked Magnus. Then Agnar told him everything. Magnus was silent for a while, thinking. Agnar had the hope that Magnus Uller and Geirröd had seen, but he did not know the two and had not seen them.
"What about this one?", suddenly one of the men's, which was standing next to the orc, who was still in the rabbit hole shouted.
"He comes also on the heap!", Magnus replied.
"But he's stuck!"
"Then dig him out!"
"All right!", he said and began to dig with his hands.
It was already late and the sun began to go down.
After all Orcs were lying on the heap, Agnar and Magnus went to the other men's.
"I'd like to introduce you to my comrades.", Magnus said. The man with the stone sling and the iron balls is Olaf, our blacksmith and weapon expert. The other two with the crossbows are Lutz and Lars, the hunts here in the area."
"Nice to meet you!", said Agnar, nodding to the men's.
Then Olaf lit a torch and looked with a questioning look at Magnus. He nodded, and then Olaf kindled the corpse. The flames were large and lit the whole area. The community stood before the heap and watched the orcs burned slowly. The fire crackled loudly, and the smell of burnt meat lay in the air.
Agnar thought again of Uller and Geirröd, and was more concerned than ever. Meanwhile, he realized that one of his backpacks was missing and so much he tried to find him, he was gone.
After a while the men's went to pack their belongings.
"If you want, you can spend the night with us.", Magnus said, looking at Agnar. "Unless you prefer to sleep outside with the animals." He grinned as he said that.
In view of the events of the day, Agnar accepted the offer gratefully and went with the men's. It was a joyful walk, on which much laughter and sing was.
"Tell me Magnus.", Agnar began to ask. "What are you by profession?"
Magnus had to laugh at the question. "You have to know.", he said. "I'm doing a lot of things. In the first place, I am an adventurer and researcher. I travel through the whole world, searching for lost treasures and undiscovered places."
Agnar liked his story. Magnus did exactly the things he'd always wanted to do. Then he asked:
"If you say you're primarily adventurers and explorers, what are you more?" With this question, he hit across a sore point, but he got an answer.
"I'm a blacksmith, like Olaf, but I'm also a hunter and a jeweler. Since a while I am a full-time Orc hunter, just like my comrades."
Agnar did not really understand why this topic was so unpleasant for him. He saw Magnus as a very venerable man. But not to offend him any more or even anger him, he looked away from further questions on this point and instead looked forward.
They went a long way, over hills and meadows until they came to a small wooden hut. It stood on a small hill, right next to a large oak.
Meanwhile the sun had gone down, and the moon came between the clouds. Even without the sun it was still very warm.
The company approached the hut and stepped inside. The interior was only one room, which were completely furnished with furniture. Under a large round dining table, in the middle, were many little boxes with iron balls and black powder; enough to take it with a whole army.
"Please, sit down!", Magnus said, pointing to an old chair at the dining table. It was very cumbersome to move in the room, but somehow also cozy. Olaf spread a white cloth over the table, and placed a few cups and saucers on it, which did not fit together. Then Magnus and Lutz served some biscuits, while Lars ignited a fire in the fireplace. After several unsuccessful attempts, he finally succeeded, but the flames shone so small, that Agnar had to take the two candles out of his pocket that Reck had given him in the morning. As he ignited her, he worried that the flames might ignite the black powder under the table, but Olaf discarded his fears.
Afterwards, the men's sat down at the table and Olaf poured the elderberry blossom tea into the cups. Agnar got the only cup to which there was a suitable saucer and took a big sip. At the same time, he let his legs dangle a little and looked around the room, which was done relatively quickly.
"I know it's a little messy.", said Magnus and took a sip from his cup. "But this is only an outpost of us. We have our real apartments at the Castle of Wala. If you ever visit me their, I'll made you a better reception."
Agnar was a very modest person and did not mind the disarray. "Where does the kingdom of Wala begin?", he wanted to know.
"Actually, we're already in Wala.", Magnus replied. "Some time ago, the King of Wala ruled over all the cities and countries around him, but over the years more and more rulers and congregations had split up from him. It had unfortunately turned out that the king was not in a position to lead his country decently. Many simple people had to suffer under his greed, and did not wanted to follow him any longer."
"Is the king really such a bad man?" Agnar asked.
"I do not want to judge that.", Magnus said, looking at the ceiling. "But he is not a very good king. There's been a lot of talk about him lately, as people have not seen him for months. Some think he's dead, others suspect he's just blown away."
It was not a nice story he'd heard, but Agnar had other worries at the moment. "How did it happened, that you and your friends were came to your job as Orc hunters?" The question brought the group to laugh.
"That's a good question.", Magnus began. "We were never going to hunt down Orcs, but the attacks began to pile up and no one really did anything. We all know each other from an inn, at the castle, where one night we decided to do something against these savages. In the beginning it was more a hobby than a real job, but people quickly began to reward us generously when we held the Orcs off their views. Since then, we have been going as Orc hunters through the country."
"Did the king doing nothing against the attacks?" Agnar wanted to know.
"Unfortunately, you can not expect anything from this king.", Magnus replied,with a serious and worried look.
Agnar still had many questions. Most of all he thought about why the Orcs, just like the wolves had no pupils in the eyeballs. It was not to be overlooked that there was a connection that he did not know. Besides, he wondered what a king this was which did nothing while his people were attacked by Orcs.
The five still sat together until after midnight and drank tea as they told stories. When they went to sleep they were all tired and exhausted from the long day; especially Agnar.
There were no beds in the cabin. Slept was where space was. Lutz and Lars shared a seat, under the window, next to the fireplace. Olaf slept under the dining table and used a small sack, filled with black powder as a pillow. Magnus hung an old hammock across the room and climbed into it. Agnar was lucky, because he could sleep in the soft chair, where he had sat the evening.
The falling asleep was very difficult for Agnar. It was the first night in his life, that he did not spend in his village, and he was already homesick. He missed his house, with the beautifully decorated door and his friends. But most of all he missed Geirröd. His big brother was always there for him and had always taken care of him. Oh brother! What happened to you? Then he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
That night, the same dream of once tormented him. Again he saw this black knight, with a burning sword, whos grasping at Geirröd's face, and burning him for so long, until he fell dead.
Agnar woke up the next day sweaty, ripped open his shirt and wrestled for air. When he had calmed down after a while, he realized that he was alone in the hut. Although it was already day, the sky was dark and cloudy. A strong wind blew from the north, bringing cool air over the country. It did not rain, but it seemed to be a matter of time.
Suddenly the entrance door opened and Magnus came in.
"Good morning! I hope you've slept comfortably.", he said, handing him a plate of
bread and ham.
"Yes I have. Thank you very much.", Agnar replied, trying to wipe the perspiration from his forehead inconspicuously. Then he heard a noise from outside and looked through the window, where Lutz, Lars and Olaf sitting on a bench and eating their breakfast together. Meanwhile Magnus looked at him with a critical eye.
"Is everything all right?", he asked again. Agnar felt caught and told him about his dream.
"Do not worry!", Magnus said with a smile. "What happens in your dreams does not affect reality. Now eat a bite. You have a long march before you." Then he sat down next to him and they ate their breakfast together.
It was not long before Magnus broke the silence:
"Tell me, do you really want to go to the castle in these clothes? If anyone sees you, nobody will take you seriously."
Agnar looked at himself. He was wearing a white shirt that was strewn with holes and patches. His trousers were the same, which he always weared on the pasture, and his boots were also seen, that they had already a lot behind. He's right. With those things I can not go to the castle.
Magnus began to laugh. "Wait a moment! I think I have a few things which I can give you.", he said, opening a chest, that Olaf had used as a seat the night before. From the chest he took a clean shirt, a hunter trousers, with matching jacket and a pair of shiny boots. "They should fit you." Then he handed over the things to Agnar. "These things are from the time when I was a young man."
Agnar put on the things and they fit perfect. From the bottom to the top he closed the golden buttons of the jacket and looked at a narrow mirror that hung behind the door. He looked like a nobleman; one with whom one wanted to do business.
"It looks quite different.", Magnus said, taking a sip from his coffee cup. Agnar ate quickly and went back on the way, to the castle.
The weather was not nice this morning. In the moment Agnar left the hut, it began to rain and a cold wind whipped around his ears. He pulled the hood of his cloak down deeply under his nose, but the rain and wind flew unhindered in his face.
The Kingdoms of Wala: Agnar and the battle of the Firemountain (1) Page 5
