"Gyaaaaahhhhh!!!" Grim wailed as the beast under him sped through the void of space, making a dash for the green and blue ball in front of them. Grim held onto the shaggy fur for all he was worth.
"Stop being such a baby!" the mad stryfe he had gotten to command the animal called back to him.
"I wanna go home!" Brogan cried out. The warriors they had brought with them seemed to silently agree.
The journey had been hell for the sorry stryfe. The take off had been rough and bumpy as the whale climed through the air of Volk. It had calmed down once it had left the planet but then everything became terrifying as they were surrounded by an endless blackness, most of them too scared to look over the edge of their mount. Now things were back to being the loud kind of scary as they were pointed at the green ground below them and rapidly gaining on it. The traditionally earthbound stryfe were screaming their lungs out while the rider was laughing his head off.
"AAAAAaaaggghhhhhh!!!"
The air hit them smack in the face bringing tears to their eyes. This is it. This is how I die. Grim's mind was racing as only a scared mind can. I never even took a wife! The whale carried on towards the ground, swooping over villages and cities, oblivious to its passanger's regrets.
"OOOOoooohhhhhh HEEEEeeeeelllllll!!!"
Orchid and Laren glanced out of their hideout's window as a shout came from outside. To their surprise they saw a group of blue beings riding a starwhale that was barely scraping along the chimneys of Manor's houses, it seemed to be out of control.
"Divine brothers!" Laren exclaimed, "what are they?"
"No idea," Orchid replied, "maybe the Dues Filli sent them? Let's follow them, the supplies will be fine."
The cat and Changeling leapt down the stairs and threw themselves out into the street. It was clear which direction the starwhale had gone from where people were moving, already a crowd was materialising in a nearby square. The pair ran to the edge of the crowd and slotted themselves in neatly to avoid attention.
It took a moment for the collected stryfe to regain their senses, their landing had been far from smooth. Grim shook his head and blinked the moisture out of his eyes as he and his group dismounted. The rider patted his whale fondly and scruffed its fur. "Good girl."
"Mmmmwwwaaaooohhhhrrr!" The whale bellowed as it opened its mouth letting out a handful more stryfe warriors, all of them slick with saliva and badly shaken up.
"You lads alright?" Grimnir asked them. He was answered by one of his men falling off the whale, their heavy armour making a loud clatter against the ground. "I'll take that as a yes. He laughed on an adrenaline high.
"Uuuuuh Grim." Brogan pointed to the small crowd of strange things that had started gathering around them. A few of the sword bearers shifted in their armour and drew their weapons, standing up straight to show off their full height, even the shortest among them was a head taller than the biggest among the crowd and easily broader.
"Easy, easy." Grim calmed them, placing his flesh hand on one of their shoulders and hiding his metal one under his cloak. He made his way to the front of his group and waved to the crowd. Brogan tensed up as Grim put some distance between him and his guards.
The crowd of Rowan and Changelings closed in around the strange beings, pushing and shoving to get to the front of the ever-shrinking ring. Orchid hopped onto Laren's shoulder to get a clearer view.
"They must be more aliens," she whispered in her friend's ear, "perhaps the Lord Roe sent them to help us?"
"What if it's a coincidence?" Laren muttered back, trying hard to let anyone-else see he was conversing with a cat.
"It's worth a shot, they look strong," she replied, "they'll never get out alive if the city guards get to them first though,"
"This crowd has outlived it's usefulness," the Changeling nodded in reply, "I can deal with this." He reached into his pocket and brought out a Dues Filli made pistol, raising it in the air.
"BANG!"
Screams filled the air and the crowd evaporated in an instance, condensing around the shops and alleyways nearby to gaze from a safe distance. Without any further hesitation Orchid bounded forward to the one who looked most important.
"Come with me if you want to live," she drooled.
The stryfe collectively flinched when the sound went off and rallied to defend their leader. grim's hand reached for his bow slung across his back. Then the cat told them to follow it.
"The cat's talking."
"Why is the cat talking?"
"Are cats their leaders?" They all looked around dumbfounded. All accept for grimnir that was, this not being his first time meeting a magical animal. The situation had gone from bad to worse in a heartbeat, he had to make sure his lads were kept safe and if experience had taught him anything it was that you listened to the talking animal.
He didn't have time to think about the strange language it was using but could easily guess the gist of it from the cat's actions. "Follow that cat!" He yelled and set on its heel.
Orchid was somewhat perturbed that the aliens seemed to recognise what species she was but then again, they also spoke her language so maybe they also had cats wherever they came from? She banished the thoughts from her head however as she heard the whistles of the city guards approaching.
"Come on!" she yelled at the blue men and dashed across the street, into a darkened alleyway by a toy maker's shop. She hoped Laren would be following somewhere behind too but didn't have time to check, he'd have to find his own way out.
"This is bad Grim." Brogan warned him as the group crowded into a tight space between buildings. "And why are we listening to a damn cat!"
"Ssshhh!" Grimnir hushed the group. "We're on bad ground." He scooped up the cat so as to stop it from getting under foot. "Where now?" He said slowly so it could understand. who knew what the lesser spirits of this place were like?
"Left and along the backalley," Orchid replied with a hiss, she didn't enjoy being picked up but there wasn't time to argue in this situation. "When you see stone steps on the right leading up to the 'barber's lounge', go up those into the house. That'll throw them if we're fast enough."
"Come on!" Grimnir called as he bounded through the cramped stoneways. He couldn't understand half the words the cat used and held the small furry thing out in front of him, using it like some kind of dowsing rod that could lead him there. His group scrambled up the steps, keeping an eye out for anyone that might mean them harm. One of his lads, clad from neck to toe in dark full plate, was met at one of the door by a small pink thing who swung the door open into him.
The two yelped out in sheer surprise at seeing each other before the stryfe punched them in their little face, sprawling them out flat. "Get in!" Grim yelled.
Shrew crumpled onto the ground and rolled over into a crouching position. The Kinderven hissed at the intruders and bared a row of sharp teeth, his eyes taking on an animalistic glare.
"Wait Shrew, they're with me!" Orchid cried in alarm, waving her paws in front of the boy. He blinked at her and then shook his head, his bestial expression replaced by a sulking pout.
"Why did that thing hit me?" he whined.
"Why did you hit that thing?" Grim blustered.
"It spooked me!" The armored stryfe shouted. Soon the entire group was yelling over each other in a flurry of flustered arguing. In the end Grim had to assert himself and use his archon voice.
"Just get inside!" He ordered them and one of his lads slammed the door behind them. The stryfe seemed to breath a collective sigh of relief. After all, they were inside. No major acts of violence happened inside... they happened outside where there was room for them.
"So what now?" Grimnir asked, putting the cat down on the floor and hoping this would be the last time in his life he'd have to ask a talking animal for help or advice.
"We should be safe here," Orchid replied, glancing instinctively around the room, "My name is Golden Orchid and this here is Shrew," she added, gesturing at the young boy who lifted his cap in greeting.
Here was a chance to repeat his original idea of how he'd introduce himself, though a little more informal but beggars can't be choosers, much less beggars in a foriegn land.
"I am Grimnir Iron-Frost. This fellow is Brogan Hammerson, he motioned at the largest member of their company. "And these are there lads." He spread his flesh arm to the rest of the stryfe. "Shard-Fire, Kraggle, Hughne, Orme, Roegal, Shifting-Snow and Carven." He looked around. "Where's Carven?"
"Took off with the whale while you were talking to cats." Brogan grunted.
"You can talk blue man," Orchid interjected, "I've seen pink, brown, yellow, green and grey people but never anyone like your kind. Where did you come from? Do you work with the Dues Filli?"
"Eh?" Brogan cocked his head in confusion, the others looked at each other as if someone else might know the answer.
"We came from Volk." Grim said, weakly pointing upwards. "Past the stars. We didn't even know this place was here until a few days ago."
"Aye." Brogan backed his archon up while fidgetting uncomfortably in his armour, now that they were standing still and had time to take things in the heat of this place was starting to get to the stryfe.
As Grim was speaking Laren appeared from inside the house, breathing heavily.
"It's safe," he told Orchid. The cat nodded vaguely but didn't look away from Grim.
"Interesting,.." she muttered, "you're lucky you landed near us, this city is on the brink of war and I hate to think what'd happen if the authorities got to you first, their paranoia is eating them alive," she added with a chuckle, "thank the Lord Roe though, they haven't a clue where we are!"
"Roe?" Grimnir was quietly taken aback.
"Boss?" Brogan placed a concerned hand on his friend's shoulder.
Grimnir blinked himself back into this conversation. "so you're all about to fight?" He walked further into the building, inspecting his surroundings. "Is this your keep?"
"Any day now," Orchid replied as Grim inspected the cramped wooden house, coming across a stack of crates, "they keep the Ekiruru in chains and the rest of us hungry, whilst they eat soft bread and wear fine silks, the nobles that is. Let's just say they're in for a blast," she nodded towards the boxes.
That was a lot of words Grim didn't understand all at once. "uuuum alright. Looks like we chose a bad time to introduce ourselves." He began to fidget with the pendant round his neck, rubbing at the five pointed symbol.
Orchid noticed the pendant that Grim was wearing and bounced onto a nearby crate to get a closer look.
"How curious," she said, "your pendant looks almost identical to the symbol of my people the Rowan, the flower of Petal."
"The what of what?"
"You talking about that old knick-knack he made himself?" Roegal the stryfe butted in. "That spirit doesn't even have a name!"
Orchid decided that the aliens needed a short history lesson.
"About two thousand years ago, my people the Rowan were just one of many tribes. A young girl by the name of Petal was befriended by the god Roe and they formed a unique bond... that is, until she perished in an attack by a rival tribe. The Lord Roe lead us to victory and then when he realised what happened to his friend, in his grief he created a five-petaled white flower to place on her body. This became the symbol of the Rowan."
The cat climbed down from the crate and strode across the floor to a battered painting on the wall, depicting a pale young boy and a darker girl holding hands, surrounded by light.
"The Lord Roe descended into the underworld to find Petal and with the help of the Lord Zareth, she was raised to become one of the divine. To us she proves the eternal bond between god and mortal and the promise that death is not the end,"
"Sounds fancy." Brogan said.
"Petal..." Grimnir pondered to himself, holding the pendant up to the painting. "So that's their name, her name. Was this her plan all along?"
"The gods work in mysterious ways," Orchid shrugged, "if you're wondering why I'm a cat, well that was the result of a meeting between myself and the Lord Roe a few years back,"
"Would've thought he'd make you a fox. Still he's got a better sense of humour then our regular faces."
The other stryfe agreed.
"Yes, the legends do say he often appears as a fox..." Orchid replied, wondering how they would know this. "Say, the Lord Roe didn't send you himself did he?"
"Why would we have met your little pink fox lord?" One of the stryfe grumbled.
"Kaviken, she means Kaviken." Grimnir silenced him. "I crossed paths with the fox that calles himself Roe and God. Met more of them than anyone might have wanted." He said lowering his voice. "They call themselves by so many names though... I'm not sure who's who anymore but they came up just like they do in our carvings. The fox didn't send me though." He moved closer so as to hide the name from his lads. "It was Ormengand that pointed our way... I'm sorry." And he seemed genuinely saddened by the news.
"Ah..." Orchid nodded in understanding. In the following silence, Shrew took the opportunity to pipe up.
"Have you come to help us then sirs?" he asked the stryfe.
That was an awkward question to answer. "We just came to meet you." Grimnir shrugged. "We didn't even know what we'd find here."
"We could give them a hand." One of the stryfe said. "Plenty around who'd like the challenge."
"You kidding?" Brogan scoffed. "We're only just getting things settled on Volk, now you want to ask folk to go to another world and fight for people they aint never heard of?"
"He's got a point." Grim admitted. "You're the first people we've spoken to hear, a good commander doesn't go in so blind. I promised my folk less fighting."
"It's fine," Orchid interjected, giving Shrew a glare, "it's our war to fight and with the Lord Roe and his bride behind us, we cannot lose. Perhaps in the future our peoples could trade though, think that would be possible Laren?"
"I don't see why not," the Changeling replied, "I'm sure a good whalerider could find this world Volk fairly quickly,"
"Well there you go then!" Said Grim, trying to sound as successful as possible. This was kind of what he had come here to do. "If your own whales get the chance to come see us on Volk the stop by Gravengrad."
"Dress warm." brogan ordered the aliens.
Now the stryfe just had to get off this mad world.
It was a few days after he had gotten back from his travels and Grimnir was still racking his brains over what he had seen. One of the rooms he could claim as his own in the keep at the top of Gravengrad was covered in a layer of books and papers, all over them smothered in the rune text that was the stryfe written language. Half of it was about the world he had visited and theories about what he had heard there, the other half was all plans and strategies for what to do if those creatures ever came to Volk, for peace or war.
He had barely slept since getting back, what time wasn't spent writing was spent mediating the spats between kalds as Grim, and those that helped him, tried to keep the plates they called a kingdom spinning. But right now he'd had enough. Grim took a walk outside into the stone garden. The lonely stryfe looked up at the towering images of the "Grand Spirits". The gods of his people... or what they wanted them to be. He found the featureless Petal. The Rowan things held her in such high regard, thought she was something they couldn't even dream of matching. But he had never heard of her, only knew her as the thing that fed him and his mother before he was old enough to remember and gave him the little white charm that was burned along with his arm. He clutched the stone replacement he'd made in his steel hand... it looked crude and harsh compared to the original.
"I know who you are now." He said to the stone monolith. "I'm not sure what we call you... not sure if we call you anything but hey, gotta start somewhere." He slumped against the sculpture in silence for a while. "It sucks, being in charge." He said breaking the quiet. "Everyone expects me to know all the answers, to fix everything. Don't tell anyone but I don't know. I don't know what to do. Its going okay so far but I've no idea if what I'm doing is right... if any of it's going to hold up." He sighed, breathing out a cloud of mist. "I told them they can't kill their babes anymore so that's nice. I mean they still kill a few but, y'know, cus their legs are all..." He waved at his legs. "Or their insides are all... bleh." He patted his lungs as if that could explain it all. "The ones that are dying anyway. Course then it gets dark and I can see all their faces and I have to tell them it was for the best... they never believe me." The wind picked up a little.
"I don't know." He sighed. "Think I'll find myself a partner, maybe a bunch. Make some stryfelings of my own then maybe I'll get it." He turned to look at the featureless form. "Don't suppose you know any nice girls do you?" The faceless spirit just stared back until Grimnir turned and walked away still muttering under his breath.
"I don't know."
"Stop being such a baby!" the mad stryfe he had gotten to command the animal called back to him.
"I wanna go home!" Brogan cried out. The warriors they had brought with them seemed to silently agree.
The journey had been hell for the sorry stryfe. The take off had been rough and bumpy as the whale climed through the air of Volk. It had calmed down once it had left the planet but then everything became terrifying as they were surrounded by an endless blackness, most of them too scared to look over the edge of their mount. Now things were back to being the loud kind of scary as they were pointed at the green ground below them and rapidly gaining on it. The traditionally earthbound stryfe were screaming their lungs out while the rider was laughing his head off.
"AAAAAaaaggghhhhhh!!!"
The air hit them smack in the face bringing tears to their eyes. This is it. This is how I die. Grim's mind was racing as only a scared mind can. I never even took a wife! The whale carried on towards the ground, swooping over villages and cities, oblivious to its passanger's regrets.
"OOOOoooohhhhhh HEEEEeeeeelllllll!!!"
Orchid and Laren glanced out of their hideout's window as a shout came from outside. To their surprise they saw a group of blue beings riding a starwhale that was barely scraping along the chimneys of Manor's houses, it seemed to be out of control.
"Divine brothers!" Laren exclaimed, "what are they?"
"No idea," Orchid replied, "maybe the Dues Filli sent them? Let's follow them, the supplies will be fine."
The cat and Changeling leapt down the stairs and threw themselves out into the street. It was clear which direction the starwhale had gone from where people were moving, already a crowd was materialising in a nearby square. The pair ran to the edge of the crowd and slotted themselves in neatly to avoid attention.
It took a moment for the collected stryfe to regain their senses, their landing had been far from smooth. Grim shook his head and blinked the moisture out of his eyes as he and his group dismounted. The rider patted his whale fondly and scruffed its fur. "Good girl."
"Mmmmwwwaaaooohhhhrrr!" The whale bellowed as it opened its mouth letting out a handful more stryfe warriors, all of them slick with saliva and badly shaken up.
"You lads alright?" Grimnir asked them. He was answered by one of his men falling off the whale, their heavy armour making a loud clatter against the ground. "I'll take that as a yes. He laughed on an adrenaline high.
"Uuuuuh Grim." Brogan pointed to the small crowd of strange things that had started gathering around them. A few of the sword bearers shifted in their armour and drew their weapons, standing up straight to show off their full height, even the shortest among them was a head taller than the biggest among the crowd and easily broader.
"Easy, easy." Grim calmed them, placing his flesh hand on one of their shoulders and hiding his metal one under his cloak. He made his way to the front of his group and waved to the crowd. Brogan tensed up as Grim put some distance between him and his guards.
The crowd of Rowan and Changelings closed in around the strange beings, pushing and shoving to get to the front of the ever-shrinking ring. Orchid hopped onto Laren's shoulder to get a clearer view.
"They must be more aliens," she whispered in her friend's ear, "perhaps the Lord Roe sent them to help us?"
"What if it's a coincidence?" Laren muttered back, trying hard to let anyone-else see he was conversing with a cat.
"It's worth a shot, they look strong," she replied, "they'll never get out alive if the city guards get to them first though,"
"This crowd has outlived it's usefulness," the Changeling nodded in reply, "I can deal with this." He reached into his pocket and brought out a Dues Filli made pistol, raising it in the air.
"BANG!"
Screams filled the air and the crowd evaporated in an instance, condensing around the shops and alleyways nearby to gaze from a safe distance. Without any further hesitation Orchid bounded forward to the one who looked most important.
"Come with me if you want to live," she drooled.
The stryfe collectively flinched when the sound went off and rallied to defend their leader. grim's hand reached for his bow slung across his back. Then the cat told them to follow it.
"The cat's talking."
"Why is the cat talking?"
"Are cats their leaders?" They all looked around dumbfounded. All accept for grimnir that was, this not being his first time meeting a magical animal. The situation had gone from bad to worse in a heartbeat, he had to make sure his lads were kept safe and if experience had taught him anything it was that you listened to the talking animal.
He didn't have time to think about the strange language it was using but could easily guess the gist of it from the cat's actions. "Follow that cat!" He yelled and set on its heel.
Orchid was somewhat perturbed that the aliens seemed to recognise what species she was but then again, they also spoke her language so maybe they also had cats wherever they came from? She banished the thoughts from her head however as she heard the whistles of the city guards approaching.
"Come on!" she yelled at the blue men and dashed across the street, into a darkened alleyway by a toy maker's shop. She hoped Laren would be following somewhere behind too but didn't have time to check, he'd have to find his own way out.
"This is bad Grim." Brogan warned him as the group crowded into a tight space between buildings. "And why are we listening to a damn cat!"
"Ssshhh!" Grimnir hushed the group. "We're on bad ground." He scooped up the cat so as to stop it from getting under foot. "Where now?" He said slowly so it could understand. who knew what the lesser spirits of this place were like?
"Left and along the backalley," Orchid replied with a hiss, she didn't enjoy being picked up but there wasn't time to argue in this situation. "When you see stone steps on the right leading up to the 'barber's lounge', go up those into the house. That'll throw them if we're fast enough."
"Come on!" Grimnir called as he bounded through the cramped stoneways. He couldn't understand half the words the cat used and held the small furry thing out in front of him, using it like some kind of dowsing rod that could lead him there. His group scrambled up the steps, keeping an eye out for anyone that might mean them harm. One of his lads, clad from neck to toe in dark full plate, was met at one of the door by a small pink thing who swung the door open into him.
The two yelped out in sheer surprise at seeing each other before the stryfe punched them in their little face, sprawling them out flat. "Get in!" Grim yelled.
Shrew crumpled onto the ground and rolled over into a crouching position. The Kinderven hissed at the intruders and bared a row of sharp teeth, his eyes taking on an animalistic glare.
"Wait Shrew, they're with me!" Orchid cried in alarm, waving her paws in front of the boy. He blinked at her and then shook his head, his bestial expression replaced by a sulking pout.
"Why did that thing hit me?" he whined.
"Why did you hit that thing?" Grim blustered.
"It spooked me!" The armored stryfe shouted. Soon the entire group was yelling over each other in a flurry of flustered arguing. In the end Grim had to assert himself and use his archon voice.
"Just get inside!" He ordered them and one of his lads slammed the door behind them. The stryfe seemed to breath a collective sigh of relief. After all, they were inside. No major acts of violence happened inside... they happened outside where there was room for them.
"So what now?" Grimnir asked, putting the cat down on the floor and hoping this would be the last time in his life he'd have to ask a talking animal for help or advice.
"We should be safe here," Orchid replied, glancing instinctively around the room, "My name is Golden Orchid and this here is Shrew," she added, gesturing at the young boy who lifted his cap in greeting.
Here was a chance to repeat his original idea of how he'd introduce himself, though a little more informal but beggars can't be choosers, much less beggars in a foriegn land.
"I am Grimnir Iron-Frost. This fellow is Brogan Hammerson, he motioned at the largest member of their company. "And these are there lads." He spread his flesh arm to the rest of the stryfe. "Shard-Fire, Kraggle, Hughne, Orme, Roegal, Shifting-Snow and Carven." He looked around. "Where's Carven?"
"Took off with the whale while you were talking to cats." Brogan grunted.
"You can talk blue man," Orchid interjected, "I've seen pink, brown, yellow, green and grey people but never anyone like your kind. Where did you come from? Do you work with the Dues Filli?"
"Eh?" Brogan cocked his head in confusion, the others looked at each other as if someone else might know the answer.
"We came from Volk." Grim said, weakly pointing upwards. "Past the stars. We didn't even know this place was here until a few days ago."
"Aye." Brogan backed his archon up while fidgetting uncomfortably in his armour, now that they were standing still and had time to take things in the heat of this place was starting to get to the stryfe.
As Grim was speaking Laren appeared from inside the house, breathing heavily.
"It's safe," he told Orchid. The cat nodded vaguely but didn't look away from Grim.
"Interesting,.." she muttered, "you're lucky you landed near us, this city is on the brink of war and I hate to think what'd happen if the authorities got to you first, their paranoia is eating them alive," she added with a chuckle, "thank the Lord Roe though, they haven't a clue where we are!"
"Roe?" Grimnir was quietly taken aback.
"Boss?" Brogan placed a concerned hand on his friend's shoulder.
Grimnir blinked himself back into this conversation. "so you're all about to fight?" He walked further into the building, inspecting his surroundings. "Is this your keep?"
"Any day now," Orchid replied as Grim inspected the cramped wooden house, coming across a stack of crates, "they keep the Ekiruru in chains and the rest of us hungry, whilst they eat soft bread and wear fine silks, the nobles that is. Let's just say they're in for a blast," she nodded towards the boxes.
That was a lot of words Grim didn't understand all at once. "uuuum alright. Looks like we chose a bad time to introduce ourselves." He began to fidget with the pendant round his neck, rubbing at the five pointed symbol.
Orchid noticed the pendant that Grim was wearing and bounced onto a nearby crate to get a closer look.
"How curious," she said, "your pendant looks almost identical to the symbol of my people the Rowan, the flower of Petal."
"The what of what?"
"You talking about that old knick-knack he made himself?" Roegal the stryfe butted in. "That spirit doesn't even have a name!"
Orchid decided that the aliens needed a short history lesson.
"About two thousand years ago, my people the Rowan were just one of many tribes. A young girl by the name of Petal was befriended by the god Roe and they formed a unique bond... that is, until she perished in an attack by a rival tribe. The Lord Roe lead us to victory and then when he realised what happened to his friend, in his grief he created a five-petaled white flower to place on her body. This became the symbol of the Rowan."
The cat climbed down from the crate and strode across the floor to a battered painting on the wall, depicting a pale young boy and a darker girl holding hands, surrounded by light.
"The Lord Roe descended into the underworld to find Petal and with the help of the Lord Zareth, she was raised to become one of the divine. To us she proves the eternal bond between god and mortal and the promise that death is not the end,"
"Sounds fancy." Brogan said.
"Petal..." Grimnir pondered to himself, holding the pendant up to the painting. "So that's their name, her name. Was this her plan all along?"
"The gods work in mysterious ways," Orchid shrugged, "if you're wondering why I'm a cat, well that was the result of a meeting between myself and the Lord Roe a few years back,"
"Would've thought he'd make you a fox. Still he's got a better sense of humour then our regular faces."
The other stryfe agreed.
"Yes, the legends do say he often appears as a fox..." Orchid replied, wondering how they would know this. "Say, the Lord Roe didn't send you himself did he?"
"Why would we have met your little pink fox lord?" One of the stryfe grumbled.
"Kaviken, she means Kaviken." Grimnir silenced him. "I crossed paths with the fox that calles himself Roe and God. Met more of them than anyone might have wanted." He said lowering his voice. "They call themselves by so many names though... I'm not sure who's who anymore but they came up just like they do in our carvings. The fox didn't send me though." He moved closer so as to hide the name from his lads. "It was Ormengand that pointed our way... I'm sorry." And he seemed genuinely saddened by the news.
"Ah..." Orchid nodded in understanding. In the following silence, Shrew took the opportunity to pipe up.
"Have you come to help us then sirs?" he asked the stryfe.
That was an awkward question to answer. "We just came to meet you." Grimnir shrugged. "We didn't even know what we'd find here."
"We could give them a hand." One of the stryfe said. "Plenty around who'd like the challenge."
"You kidding?" Brogan scoffed. "We're only just getting things settled on Volk, now you want to ask folk to go to another world and fight for people they aint never heard of?"
"He's got a point." Grim admitted. "You're the first people we've spoken to hear, a good commander doesn't go in so blind. I promised my folk less fighting."
"It's fine," Orchid interjected, giving Shrew a glare, "it's our war to fight and with the Lord Roe and his bride behind us, we cannot lose. Perhaps in the future our peoples could trade though, think that would be possible Laren?"
"I don't see why not," the Changeling replied, "I'm sure a good whalerider could find this world Volk fairly quickly,"
"Well there you go then!" Said Grim, trying to sound as successful as possible. This was kind of what he had come here to do. "If your own whales get the chance to come see us on Volk the stop by Gravengrad."
"Dress warm." brogan ordered the aliens.
Now the stryfe just had to get off this mad world.
* * * * *
It was a few days after he had gotten back from his travels and Grimnir was still racking his brains over what he had seen. One of the rooms he could claim as his own in the keep at the top of Gravengrad was covered in a layer of books and papers, all over them smothered in the rune text that was the stryfe written language. Half of it was about the world he had visited and theories about what he had heard there, the other half was all plans and strategies for what to do if those creatures ever came to Volk, for peace or war.
He had barely slept since getting back, what time wasn't spent writing was spent mediating the spats between kalds as Grim, and those that helped him, tried to keep the plates they called a kingdom spinning. But right now he'd had enough. Grim took a walk outside into the stone garden. The lonely stryfe looked up at the towering images of the "Grand Spirits". The gods of his people... or what they wanted them to be. He found the featureless Petal. The Rowan things held her in such high regard, thought she was something they couldn't even dream of matching. But he had never heard of her, only knew her as the thing that fed him and his mother before he was old enough to remember and gave him the little white charm that was burned along with his arm. He clutched the stone replacement he'd made in his steel hand... it looked crude and harsh compared to the original.
"I know who you are now." He said to the stone monolith. "I'm not sure what we call you... not sure if we call you anything but hey, gotta start somewhere." He slumped against the sculpture in silence for a while. "It sucks, being in charge." He said breaking the quiet. "Everyone expects me to know all the answers, to fix everything. Don't tell anyone but I don't know. I don't know what to do. Its going okay so far but I've no idea if what I'm doing is right... if any of it's going to hold up." He sighed, breathing out a cloud of mist. "I told them they can't kill their babes anymore so that's nice. I mean they still kill a few but, y'know, cus their legs are all..." He waved at his legs. "Or their insides are all... bleh." He patted his lungs as if that could explain it all. "The ones that are dying anyway. Course then it gets dark and I can see all their faces and I have to tell them it was for the best... they never believe me." The wind picked up a little.
"I don't know." He sighed. "Think I'll find myself a partner, maybe a bunch. Make some stryfelings of my own then maybe I'll get it." He turned to look at the featureless form. "Don't suppose you know any nice girls do you?" The faceless spirit just stared back until Grimnir turned and walked away still muttering under his breath.
"I don't know."
