Tanya
"Congratulations, Tanya you've managed to raise your rank from Wolf Tamer to Dragon Slayer," I uttered as I looked down at the scaly reptilian beast that I had just had the unpleasant task to fight.
Four hours ago, I was told there was a monster that needed to be killed and, seeing that the opportunity to raise my worth in the community often came from killing monsters, I really had no other option but to agree to kill the thing.
I had expected another large wolf, Those were very common this time of year, or perhaps an ice troll. Heck, I'd even considered the possibility of it being a tribe of ice fiends, which were apparently the correct name of the smaller yetis. Being that I was now hunting the monsters, I thought it was best to have a proper education on what kind of creatures were out in this world that I would have to deal with. Frankly, there were way too many mega animals on this near-frozen Winter Wonderland called Fenris.
And today, I happen to have run into one of the two species that could pass for dragons. Why were there dragons on this planet? I do not know, by all scientific understanding of the word they did not exist and were just misconceptions of dinosaur bones. But not here on Fenris! Oh no, on Fenris, there were two animals that could pass for dragons. First, the ice wyrm, a reptile with fur that looked very similar to an Asian style dragon with its long snake-like body. The only good thing about that beast was it could not fly, which was why I would have preferred to have fought it.
No, I had run into the second. The one that could fly, the Drake. It had apparently come down from the mountains in search of food and tried to eat one of my wolves when it had spotted us coming around as we were looking for any other ravenous creature that somehow managed to live on this planet.
Thankfully, I had been able to get my arms around the damn thing's neck and pulled it away from my wolf before it had gone further. Unthankfully, it had taken flight and I had no real option but to hold on for dear life.
For 3 hours I had held on to the neck as it had tried to get me off of it in a desperate mid-air struggle of survival.
Honestly,I was terrified the entire time that I would fall and die. Oh sure my healing Factor was good but as far up as we've got I don't think it would have worked very well. No, more likely that I would have ended up splattered across the rocks and hopefully dead. I say hopefully because for all I knew I could end up healing just enough to not die and be left a crippled mess for the rest of my life and I was sure that that life would be fairly short in such a state.
But somehow, over the course of those 3 hours and more adrenaline than I think had ever pumped through my system in all my life as a personnel manager, I was able to hold on to the Drake. After longer than I would have liked my untrustworthy steed finally got too tired flying about and landed. Where I was I wasn't exactly sure but it didn't matter as, now that the damn thing was on the ground, I was able to shove my sword deep into its spine.
Drakes, from my understanding, were an uncommon nuisance during the winter, usually only killing off farmers' livestock in their search for something to eat during the harshest parts of Helwinter. And I just couldn't be bothered to try and feed this thing if it had somehow been tamed by that ride, which I doubted. More likely it was just exhausted from having to carry my weight on its back for so long.
With the beast dead I removed its head and generally picked the direction I believe we had flown from. I figured it would take a few hours to find my way home but that was not a problem.
I'm sure that my wolves were not too far behind me and, once I reunited with them, it would be an easy ride home.
Several hours later that's exactly what happened. I walked out of a thicket of heavy Bushcraft to see my wolves, with several of the volunteer Wolf riders that had started to accompany me in the last month or so, looking around for me.
Before I even got to say anything Geri charged up to me and began licking my face, obviously having had some worry about my life I would assume. After all if I passed on who would negotiate the food rations from the King and local farmers? I was important for the pack's survival and that was a good feeling in its own way.
"Lady Tanya! it's good you survived." one of the volunteers said as he held on to his wolf as it ambled up next to Geri. Poking my memory I was able to remember that he was Lord Tyr, the man who'd taken several wounds from the ice troll a month back. He was doing much better now and had consistently volunteered to take part in my trips into the wild to hunt beasts.
Frankly, I was a bit worried about him. I could hunt these monsters because I had the advantage of an abnormal healing ability and strength while he was just a simple human who was getting off on the feeling of being involved in a hunt for monsters. He was no better than a battle maniac in that way, except instead of battling other humans, he was interested in fighting the massive megafaunas of this world.
Also, I felt a bit responsible for this. I did not know for sure that he had been like this before the fight with the ice troll, but he definitely seemed to have taken to it ever since that fight. So I was under the assumption that he had become addicted to this adrenaline rush because he'd nearly died and survived.
Take that I may be responsible, and adding that he was a local Lord, I had plenty of reason to watch out for him. Because nothing could get your boss faster in here than having the manager above you getting into major trouble that you could have helped them stay out of. Not to mention, with how dangerous this was, it was not impossible that in his battle Maniac stupidity he could get himself killed, and his family may take personal umbrage with that and come after me in some way.
Wait… Battle maniac, why does that ring a bell? Oh, the headache was starting up again. I didn't feel like dealing with that right now, so I would leave it and poke at it later when I was safely at home.
Instead, I simply held up the head of the Drake that I had severed from its body and addressed them all.
"Yeah, I survived, and the Drake did not. It was a clash of wills to see who would hold out longer. If I'm stubborn enough not to let go when I got bucked the first 10 times, I wasn't going let go over the 300th time either."
The casual way of depicting the situation seemed to bring a chuckle to the mass of volunteers. Something I noted about Fenrisian humor; when it wasn't very crude it tended to be very dry and witty. So I found that downplaying the severity of the situations I found myself in tended to at least elicit a laugh and laughter was a good way to build a rapport with anyone.
Lord Tyr nodded and then "Not many have dared take on a Drake, at least not as close as you have. I believe that the last one was killed with a giant crossbow mounted on the walls of the castle Fenris, 50 great years ago. Taking one down as you have is a spectacular showing and a sign of greatness in your future."
I slightly chuckled at that. It seemed that he was trying to get in my good graces even more than I was with him, either that or he had theories about me having plans of taking over the kingdom of Russ. I wouldn't be surprised if that had been attempted in generations before, when people of great standing came to power. But I had no interest in the petty politics of the Kingdom, I just wanted to live a nice quiet life as comfortably as possible in this world. With that being said there was ways to make sure my life was as comfortable as possible.
"Lord Tyr, this victory is not just for me. It's for all of Fenris. Every monster I take down improves the lives of the folk around me, and it is also your victory for if you hadn't stayed dedicated to a search to find me who knows what could have happened to me out here in the wilds." Better to butter up potential kings in the making than to piss them off by taking all the credits, that was the best way to maintain my potentially safe and quiet life.
Lord Tyr laughed. "You humble me with your humbleness, my lady. But if you wish to share credit I won't say no, even just seeing such a great beast lose its head is a great honor in and of itself. And I am simply glad to be of service in letting the Great Humble Hunter of Monsters return safely from her hunt."
Man… He was really trying to butter me up, I thought, wondering exactly why. Perhaps I had gained some sort of soft power by killing these monsters and he was hoping that, being close to me, it would rub off on him? It was not impossible and if it was the case… That could be useful in the future, having people looking out for me in high places was a way to maintain a safe and relaxed life after I had accumulated enough wealth to maintain my retirement. Whenever that may be.
Rubbing Geri's head I simply smiled back..
"Well, we've killed the beast and we've had our moment of joy at our survival. Now is the time to go home," I said, before pulling myself on the back of Geri. "I'm sure the king will be glad to have this new head for his mantle place and will reward us greatly for this victory."
"The king will definitely be pleased by this victory, though I think likely the priests will be even more interested." Tyr said matter of factly.
Raising my eyebrow I tilted my head and asked. "The priests? Why would they be interested in this head?"
"Drake's teeth are often used in their runecraft. They won't take all of the teeth, my lady, just a couple of the back ones and the ones inside the jaw and they'll turn them into items for use with their craft."
Ah, superstition was alive and well in this world. To be expected but at least they weren't demanding my worship or anything of that sort. As long as these priests were willing to negotiate a favorable price on the teeth I was willing to sell them to them.
Well… Considering the strange things I had seen on this world, mainly the wolf with psychic abilities and the fact that dragons existed… Maybe I should take this a little bit more carefully and with interest.
There was the distinct possibility magic was real and if that was a thing I had to consider… There were two things I needed to know: one, could I use it for my own benefit? And two, how did I prevent it from being used on me? If the priests were the practitioners of this magic runecraft well, then I guess I needed to talk to them about this matter.
Shrugging my shoulders I turn to Lord Tyr and said. "Well then if the priests want a token from the drake, we shall give them a token from the drake."
"I'm not very familiar with contacting them though. Do you happen to have a way of getting in contact with them and setting up a meeting with me at my home?" If I was going to meet with some practitioner of magic I'd rather do it in the safety of my own home and with my wolves watching.
Even if the priest sent was an illusionist he'd think twice about trying to scam me when a hundred hungry pairs of eyes were watching him from all angles, with jaws and smiles firmly set.
Tanya
It had been a few days since my unscheduled flight on top of a dragon, something that I would both ever fear happening again and cherish as a moment where I sored above the skies outside of a plane. Haven't had many opportunities in my last life to travel in planes but from what I remembered it was quite a different experience. Also not as cold.
Since that time I had enjoyed a few days of peace and rest, caring for my wolves and maintaining my humble abode. I was with Freki in the process of commissioning a few giant dog houses or rather, perhaps it would be better just to call them what they were, barns for my wolves to live in.
At the current population, I would need at least seven, dotted around the area. I could currently get away with five since a lot of wolves enjoyed sleeping next to the warm buildings. Something I noticed in the mornings when I come out of my home and found them gathered around besides of my house.
Well, I would need more: the population was steadily expanding. For example, Freki and his mate, as I now thought of the old alpha I'd beaten, had a couple of pups that followed them around. At least I was under the assumption those were their pups. They sure looked very familiar. Though It was not impossible, they were adopted pups from the common wolves we had taken out near the start of Helwinter.
I guess I would find out eventually when they grew up, Blackmaned wolves seemed to have a maturation rate that allowed them to reach maturity within half a great year or just a year, so it shouldn't take too long to find out.
As for the common wolves, they were doing all right as part of the pack. I had moved them into the pack completely by this point, and they lived amongst my Blackmaned. I had been worried that there'd be some sort of integration issues because they were separate species of wolves, but it seemed that once they acknowledged someone as the alpha of a pack, it didn't matter who else was in that pack. I was going off a working theory that the so-called Thunder Wolves, being massive tank-like animals that lived in the mountains, sometimes broke their Lone Wolf schtick to come down and take command of lesser wolves.
Such as the King of the Mountain, something I only recently learned was the name of the black wolf I had fought several months before. Apparently, it had a reputation for being a monster, and a mean one, that had caused terror and mayhem in the lowlands. Supposedly it was also older than the king himself. Considering he was 60 great years old It meant that wolves could live a ridiculously long time.
Although humans apparently could live a ridiculously long time too. How the King was nearly 120 years old I had no idea. He looked not a day over 70. I guess a hard life could work in some people's favors? Perhaps the cold was keeping them fresh? I didn't know, and it was even distinctly possible that there was something screwy going on with the genetics of the human population of this planet that I was unaware of.
I had been trying to find out more about the history of the world. Fenris, for all its Scandinavian influences, seemed… hollow, to me.
The world made no sense. During Helwinter, a period of 4 to 6 months out of a year, the planet was so far away from the Sun that the storms would instantly freeze anyone in the Northern and southernmost poles. This sent the animals into either the deeper depths in the mountains that were warmer and around the active volcanoes or into the lowlands of the only main continent on the planet, where they would cause harm and havoc among the human population.
And there would be a period of 6 months where everything would calm down with the beasts, but there would be conflicts between the people of the main continent of this world, Asaheim. They were, from what I could understand, mostly disputes about hunting rights and old grudges that needed to be settled. Wasteful amount of resources went towards these wars by my estimates and I would have no part of them if I could. There seemed to be some festivals between allied groups during the same period which encouraged trade.
Made sense. The same weather conditions that could allow an army to move would also allow trade to move if the fighting could be ended. I had a feeling that it would be the best for everyone as the economy would have a good opportunity to grow and expand. Who knows what that could lead to.
After that came the summer when the planet was drawing the closest to the star the planet circled, known as The Wolf's Eye. This period I had not yet experienced but from what I understand the glaciers would actually melt heavily during this period and there would be a bounty of sea life in the mass of ocean of the planet.
This would draw out the sea monsters that apparently existed, as if there weren't already enough reasons for trade to be disrupted.
This would push the sea tribes and the glacier tribes groups that did not live on the continent onto itt, which would bring more conflict as resources were then broken up between three groups fighting for survival. If it was just that this might not be so bad but at the zenith of Summer came the Season of Fire when the planet drew close enough to the local star that something incredible apparently happened. The mantle kicked into overdrive, setting the ocean on fire outside of the main continent. The world literally reshaped itself as new volcanoes rose from the sea and older ones fell back in, unleashing massive steam clouds that would kill anyone who didn't have somewhere safe to live. Which tended to mean the main continent.
It also had the effect of bringing somewhat warmer conditions to the main continent. Being near the North Pole it didn't get that often, but it was worth enjoying when it was here.
These conditions were not conducive to the flourishing of life, these conditions were conducive to death and extinction. Of humans, of animals, of trade. There should be no reason for anyone to live on this planet and yet there were people here. I had theories but they were generally that this was some lost colony of humanity and once that was taken into account that meant there were things I could not understand with any reasonable certainty.
I probably knew where the answers were: under the planet's surface, where I've been told not to go. I was not tempted to investigate that too much yet as I could see no gain from it.
That being said it was more likely than not that the humanity here was a Lost colony of some other group that had been reduced to the nomadic stage when something happened. Perhaps the original group had World War three'd themself out of existence? Wasn't impossible, once you have access to nuclear weapons. With the ability to colonize other planets, causing great environmental damage probably seemed like less of an issue.
Why they chose a world so overrun with disastrous things I didn't know, but factor that in with the possibility that the animals were not native and that the humans had some sort of genetic deviations… I could come up with a theory that this was some sort of reserve, an attempt to try and create a Nordic style legend world to preserve their history. Perhaps even used as a tourist trap at one point.
If true I was kind of interested in the possibility that there were other reserves like this. Was there a Greek reserve? A Roman reserve? If those two exist, was there a Japan reserve? That brought a chuckle whenever I thought about it, wondering how that one would shape up. Would it be super serious and trying to stay true to the ancient legends or were there catgirls in fake shrine maiden robes running around?
If I ever found a way to get off this planet, something that seemed very unlikely but I entertained the thought now and again, that would be one of my goals: just to find out what the Japan Myth Reserve looked like.
But I'd gone off-topic. it had have been a few days since my impromptu flight and I was enjoying my morning drink. There was a particular type of bark that, when cooked thoroughly, produced some sort of caffeine effect that I rather enjoyed. Didn't taste the best but it was better than no caffeine.
When I heard a knock on my door, there were many possibilities of who it could be from. Possibilities ranging from a message from the King, to local shield maidens wanting to take me out, to someone looking for more fundraising or some young volunteer wanting to learn how to ride a wolf.
Whatever it is I knew it was an opportunity to raise my general standing in the community and my work so I got up and walked over to the door. Pulling the wood latch out of position to open it, I saw an elderly gentleman with a staff in one hand, a raven on his shoulderp, and an attempted blonde mohawk drooping to the left side. Besides that, he was wearing a fine set of clothing that looked like he had paid a pretty penny to acquire it. Not 'Noble' fine but definitely some sort of clerk position, I would estimate. Then I did see the runes on his staff and realized exactly who I was dealing with.
Standing before me must be a rune priest.
"Good morning," I said with a cheery tone, opening the door fully.
The man, whose stature fell off a foot and a half less than my own, looked up at me then smiled.
"Good afternoon, Wolf Girl. I've heard tell that you have slaughtered a Drake and, as commissioned by my order, I have come to determine the age of said beast as well as ask to purchase some of its teeth for our order's needs.
'Wolf Girl'? Well, that raised an eyebrow. It was the first time anyone had called me that since I came to civilization, but I wasn't going to let that comment sidetrack me. It could be a sign of appreciation for all I knew. Opening the door wider I allowed him to see inside the main area, which was my kitchen and motioned him in.
"Take a seat, I will retrieve the head."
The man simply nodded and took a step in, stopping when he saw the number of wolves that were inside my house and now watching him. I tried to only let in Mother Wolf and Cunning and Fierce but I occasionally let in a few others on colder days, those who hadn't grown good enough coats in my opinion.
Smiling, I said "Don't worry, they will not fight," before I stepped past him into the outside, heading towards the area where I'd buried the head.
With six to seven wolves watching him I doubted he would try and steal anything. So, knowing everything would be secure inside the house, I went to dig the head out. I had buried that outside to keep it good as I didn't know if they needed the flesh for identification. Still I figured that the fresher the head was, even if frozen, the better.
Took me about 3 minutes to walk where I buried it, another five to dig it out. By the time I returned to my little home I had expected him to have either fled because he did something stupid or to be sitting there all nervous.
I underestimated him. He was sitting in the chair right next to one of the wolves and giving them a scratch behind their ears, that was a good sign. That the wolves were willing to put up with him probably meant he was at least fair and kind enough. Considering I didn't smell any sweat of fear in the air he wasn't afraid of the wolves either, which would probably have endeared him even more to them.
Carefully I came back with the head in a burlap bag and placed the large thing on my table. I would just clean it off later so I wasn't worried about any of the gunk that used to be its blood melting into the wood. Carefully I pulled it out, letting the green and red scales blink off in the morning sun that was coming through the double-pane window I had commissioned for my home.
The priest sat up with great interest and began to inspect the head, carefully pulling back the lips to check out the teeth then tapping areas of the skull and listening to something. Perhaps their brains case were more hollow when they were younger? I didn't know. After a while he stood up and nodded at something before addressing me.
"What we have here is a middle-aged Drake, male. In my estimation it probably came down from the mountains for a simple hunt before it ran afoul of you and your hunting party. The teeth are worth their weight in gold, really."
"Really, now? So if I were to ask for gold for the teeth you would have to meet that price?" I answered, poking at that little statement.
The old man chuckled, looked at me then went back to studying the skull. he shrugged and replied. "Quite. In fact… Well, if you were to give them to me as a gift I could definitely ask the Ravens to send a message to the Allfather for you. I'm sure any message you wished to send him he would answer quite readily.
I sat down in the chair across from him and calmly spoke.
"I've already had a discussion with the Allfather, I don't need anything from the Ravens. I'm simply looking into things that can help me with having a quiet honest life here." As if to make my point, one of the Ravens that had become part of my pack fell in from the rafters of my house to land on my shoulder.
His eyes seem to widen at that before he sat quickly back to think, apparently having some sort of internal debate. He was most likely trying to find a way to negotiate a great price that wouldn't break the bank for his order. I had asked the full price simply to start the negotiations, I was fully expecting to have to come down eventually.
Finally he stopped whatever he was doing and replied.
"If the Ravens have chosen you as a Worthy messenger of the Allfather I could offer to teach the runes to you. With proper use and dedication then you can hope to use the Allfather's powers for the benefits of yourself and those who would side with you."
That reason why I hadn't considered the possibility that I'd be offered magic lessons. That was fairly entry- Oh, there's the headache.
My hand went up to my forehead as the thought of using magic caused the now familiar headache, which would imply that I had done so before. If my theory about these headaches was right and they were triggered by coming in contact with things that had been lost to me due to the cheese grater effect that some unknown entity had applied to me between my time with Being X and Fenris. That would mean that, at some point, I would have had to come across or use magic, which means if I learned it here I might be able to slowly chip away at those headaches and find out what parts from my last life I was denied in this one.
I took a moment with my hand covering my right side of the face trying to calm the pain but as soon as it was over I looked up to him and said "That is an intriguing offer, one that I would be willing to partake in. However I'm not a big fan of being called a priest."
The old priest simply chuckled and replied. "No, you're not a priest. But if your statement that he has been in contact you with is true then you're a chosen, someone the Allfather believes will bring great good to Fenris. Teaching you how runes work would simply be what the Allfather would want."
I was not a fan of religion but I was not exactly going to turn down the chance to learn something about myself. If this magic was real and could be harnessed for my benefits, well… That made the situation even better in my mind.
"That's something I can agree to," I said, holding up my hand to let him shake it so that the deal could be sealed.
His hand lost itself in mine and we shook on it before he reached into his robes and pulled out a string with several rocks and beads running through them.
"These are rune beads, one of the methods for channeling the Allfather's powers. It could take years for you to learn what they mean but it's a good starting method, though very limited compared to other methods."
Nodding my head I took the beads and looked at them then did a double-take.
The runes carved into various stones and bones were familiar, they were the same kind of runes I started using when I first appeared in this world. Some of them were alphabetical but a lot of them were numerical and I could see that this was some sort of method for creating a calculation of power. You would tune the runes to represent a certain code as it were to get a value.
In essence, this was math. I was very good at math.
"One thing, though. You must first learn how the runes are working and why they work. Jumping into this without the appropriate knowledge could have consequences for you and everything around you. Deadly, if you are not careful."
That raised my eyebrows. I looked up to him and he continued. "The powers of the runes are more stable than anything that can be achieved when not using the runes, but they can still leave you at the worst possible time and cause a disaster if you are not careful."
"How bad of a disaster are we talking here?" I asked, wanting to get a good understanding of what he was talking about.
"One young acolyte turned himself to stone, at least that's the legend. It was a long time ago, even though the statue still stands at the center of our Temple. It is now very badly degraded and there's no way for sure to know if the legend is true but well… He's there for a warning and it's a pretty good warning."
"Right." I said out loud, instantly placing this magic stuff on the 'use only as last resort' list. I would still go through the process of learning it because I hoped it would unlock my memories, but I wanted to be here and alive and flesh and not a stone statue in a temple somewhere.
Tanya
Hellwinter was coming to an end and it was glorious, no long arduous terrible winter nor monsters that would come down from the mountains for 6 full months. Then I would have to worry about monsters coming up from the sea for 6 months then I would have 6 months of freedom again… They really needed to work on how to deal with these monsters more effectively so they could have periods longer than 6 months.
As it was I had been called up, along with many people, to attend a banquet in celebration of the coming spring. Understandable given how winter was hell here, celebrating surviving it made sense. As someone who had helped them survive I guess this was a celebration in my honor in a way? I'd tried to not let that go to my head, I was simply a hunter for them. Nothing more, nothing much else.
Although I was a hunter who was currently drunk. I admit it I was drinking a little too much, I had survived nearly a year and it was a party in celebration of me in a way so letting myself go a bit was somewhat unorthodox but frankly expected from the parties I'd seen.
There had been a few get-togethers called between the beginning of Helwinter and the end, for various reasons. First-born sons, coming of age ceremonies, those sorts of things and I had seen people who were related to the reason yet so smashed that they woke up three days later. One guy had been thought dead, only to turn up walking in the woods outside my house naked. Why he had been like that I had no idea but I rolled him up in a blanket, tied him to a back of a wolf, and sent him on his way home.
But with a precedent like that I assumed it was expected of me to get drunk and so I let myself indulge.
Somewhere along the way someone had even found a mug that was my size so I was having a larger portion than I probably had in most of my first life.
But I was safe, I had wolves, I had coworkers. Sure, they were just as drunk as me but I felt they were reasonable and responsible gentlemen. And the shield girls were watching over me so I'm sure they would get me get home if I got too drunk.
It was a splendid and relaxing time and I was generally happy.
The King was sitting at the head of the table and had said a few things at the start of our little celebration but he had mostly stayed by himself, enjoying his food. Now, with the party seemingly coming to an end, he stood back up and declared.
"Lady Tanya? Please, stand." In the grumbly voice he always had.
Holding on to my chair for a little extra support I stood up and looked towards him, wondering what this was about.
"Lady Tanya, there is a monster on the other side of the mountains that needs to be dealt with. A creature so vile and treacherous that it must be cut out before its depredations on our society is allowed to spread. Will you be my champion across the mountains and deal with it?"
You want me to kill a monster on that was a problem for society? Well I wasn't going to say no to that. The removal of problems for society was a net benefit for me as far as I was concerned, and the reputation would be worth it.
"Yes, my king! I will hunt this monster and bring him down for you." I said with a cheery smile.
The king smiled and then called out."Then it is agreed! Lady Tanya will lead the forces of Russ and any ally that wishes to help us across the mountains and into Lord Farthegn's territory and end the threat of his machinations once and for all."
I blinked and instantly sobered. How I instantly sobered I wasn't exactly sure, it was as if my liver went into overtime immediately and cleared my system of alcohol.
I had just been conned, and there was nothing I could do about it. I had agreed to hunt a monster without getting more details and now I had to lead an army across the mountains to kill a man who attempted to kill the king. I had to lead a war effort. Oh this was… This was terrible, what a wasteful wasteful thing. But there was nothing I could do. If I attempted to back out of it now my reputation would be ruined and I needed that reputation to look after my pack. There was no choice but to go through with it.
Carefully, my brain spinning a mile a minute, I sat down in the chair, feeling quite small and weak at that moment at my mistake and misunderstanding. I felt so sick and fooled and this all felt so so very familiar- Here comes my headache again.
Chapter 10, legend building 3
Tanya
I shook my head as I walked down the line of men who I would have to lead. I had never led anyone into battle, the wolves didn't count. If I had done so in the period I did not remember, that did not count either. The closest I had ever gotten to armed combat was a few FPS games and Medieval Total War 2. Neither of these qualified me as a military commander so leading Men into combat situations was well and truly above my head.
But I understood a few things. I'd watched Patton and a few war movies in my day, not to mention I had spent a good portion of my younger life reading up on military history. So I had some ideas of what to do: look impressive, act confident, and hope no one asked any important questions. It seemed like the best way to maintain control of the horde of barbarians I would be leading through the mountains to attack Lord Farthegn.
And they were a horde, of course. There were Russ's housecarls, at least 400 of them now, and another 200 shield maidens who had volunteered for this operation. As the king's personal soldiers they at least seemed to have some training and were lined up like a professional army should be. But the rest could best be summed up as a horde; three other Lords had volunteered forces, each of about 150 to 200 men, for a total of 550. They were not wearing the light blues of Russ; their colors were green, red, one extremely dark navy blue, and yellow. And their lines were not very professionally maintained, they simply were grouped up into what I would assume were cliques of friends. At least there seemed to be a standardization of equipment between most of the forces and Russ's personal army as almost everyone was equipped with spears and shields, with either a sword or personal axe as a sidearm for when the enemy was too close or the spear broke.
Except the yellows, every one of those 200 men carried a great axe of some kind. Their formation was also a bit heavier, I noted, having a lot more metal than fur and leather. I would have to find out who was the head commander of this force, because I would need to find out how to properly use them. The other three forces I could easily put into the wings of the main force but the 200 great axe soldiers… Well, they might need to be treated with a little bit more care on their positioning.
Besides those more lord-focused forces there was also what I was mentally calling the Adventurers Guild lackeys. Archers, scouts, adventurers, hunters, men of the wilds who were generally good with the bow. They had been paid good money from what I understood to work as scouts for our force, though how well they would do… I'd get to see if a lot of them were just as bad as the lesser lords' forces but I doubted that 200 archers would be a problem. They would find some usefulness in the coming fighting, but I wasn't exactly sure how I would use them yet. I had ideas but I would need to have a better understanding of the situation on the other side of the mountains.
I had nearly 1600 soldiers under my command, that did not seem like a lot but I was unaware of how many humans there were on the planet. I understood though that each person who was being contributed was someone who was not going to be able to help with farming duties as spring took full effect, so they had to limit the amount they were sending.
The same was not true of my enemy I would assume, which was a problem. Assuming that each one of these men needed at least one or two farmers to contribute to the food supply in their stead I meant I was possibly looking at an enemy that was double or triple my force in number, which was not a good odds. I did have an extra 200 wolves to add to the mix though, and they were each worth three to four humans in a fight.
Finishing my long walk down the line, I shook my head and took a breath. I needed to think of either a way to get out of this or a way to make sure that we all survived this. We had 6 months to cross the mountain, defeat an enemy with superior forces, and cross back before summer, when the environmental conditions would degrade again making crossing the mountains unhealthy.
How was I going to manage this? Looking back down the line I started to come up with an idea. It was not the most impressive idea but it was an idea and it was triggering a headache, which seemed to be a good sign.
Walking back towards the center of the line I found the king standing with several other lords who had contributed forces, all having what seemed like a lovely chat.
"Ah, Tanya! Do these forces meet your approval?" He asked with a smile that I almost thought was genuine. Man was using me for his own purposes. There was no way he really thought I would declare the truthful situation in front of him.
However, I could get away with playing up my wolf girl reputation. "The men are strong, yes. Though, as a pack, they seem unready."
'My men are ready." the lord in yellow said, seeming a little bit insulted. As expected, unfortunately. 'I assure you, miss, that my men will fight to their utmost and will bring victory and honor to this allied army.'
"Oh, I'm sure they will," I said, "every single one of these men and women will bring victory and honor, for a time."
"Is there an issue you've spotted that has missed our eyes?" the king asked, sounding intrigued, which was what I was hoping for.
"No doubt the fighting styles of each unit here are similar but they are not the same, meaning each engagement will have to be carefully planned for and set up. However, it would be more practical and successful if the set up happened here. If I was allowed to retrain them all so that they know how to work with each other in the field… An army that is more adaptable on a tactical level will have more success in this operation, since there is a possibility we will be facing a larger force." I proposed ignoring the headache.
The king nodded, seeming to understand my point, before asking. "How long would this retraining take? We cannot delay too long or the campaign could be caught on the other side of the mountains when summer hits. "
'A week here of heavy training and then, instead of a heavy march across the mountain, a light march with a light training to finish." I proposed.
"That would be cutting it close," he said. "If you're unable to defeat his army within the first 3 months you will have trouble getting back over and, as we get closer to summer, what supplies we can send over will become less and less."
"I do not have a good understanding of the enemy forces just yet I'll need these ranger types to give me more info about his movements and such but once I have this information I could theoretically have the army defeated within that time. It's all a matter of gathering the proper information and keeping my man out of the enemy's grasp until we're ready to strike."
"You have your week then. Good luck, Tanya.'
"Thank you, my Lord," I said before turning back to the forces arrayed before me.
This was going to take some time but where there are wolves there's a way. Nothing beats a pair of hungry teeth into forcing people into doing what you want, I hoped. Stepping forward I set out to get at work. First things first, time to find the sub-commanders and get them on board with the retraining.
Thankfully the subcommanders I had been granted for this operation were all having a very heated conversion, by the sound of it about who would be bringing home the most glory. The first was a man in heavy armor and yellow livery, he was most likely the leader of the yellow axe men due to the fact he was lugging around a giant great axe. If he wasn't as broad-shouldered as one of my wolves he probably would not be able to haul that thing around and I wouldn't be surprised that he might pull his arms out of their sockets if he moved wrong with an attack with how heavy it looked to be. Frankly it looked like a vanity weapon that was compensating for something but I would keep that comment to myself.
Besides him was the commander of the housecarls who had been assigned to this operation. His armor was almost as heavy as his warriors though he preferred what appeared to be a round shield and a one-handed axe as his main weapon. To their right was a man in red and green armor who had a two-handed sword strapped to his back. It didn't appear incredibly large but looked fairly old on him, possibly an heirloom of some kind. The last commander representing what could be best understood as noble forces wore dark blue and had a simple round shield and sword on his side. The last man I already knew as the leader of the Adventurer Guild and he played up the part well, wearing what appeared to be a wolf fur coat with the head of the wolf turned into a cowl. He seemed to be eyeing those of my wolves that were walking around with a wary gaze.
"Gentlemen!" I called as I walked up to them, getting them to stop whatever their conversation had been about and face me. "I'll make this quick and simple since we all want to get to work. What we have here are five different forces who have never worked together for a long-term operation. If we were fighting on our own territory this would be an acceptable situation but we are going to be crossing into enemy territory. As a result, we need to make these five different forces into a united one.
"And how do you propose we do that?" The cock sure attitude coming off of the leader of the Adventurers Guild frankly annoyed me but I did not let that show. Instead I reached into the pack at Geri's side and pulled out a shovel before tossing it to him then tossing an ax to the man in dark blue.
"Today is simple. Today we build a camp." I said pointing to the area around the men. "If we can't build a simple camp that is defensible and will not result in us coming down with diseases this expeditionary force will be killed by its own hubris. So let us learn to build a camp together."
The Adventurer shrugged before taking that comment in and nodding. "Sounds reasonable." Which was the important part. In order for a force to work with each other in the battlefield they had to learn to work with each other off the field, building a camp that would be sanitary was a step in the right direction. Tomorrow I would work on marching, shield walls, and anything else I could think of. Though I'd most likely use the sub-commanders to my advantage and ask how they usually trained their men, trying to give each one a day to train the entire force in their preferred tactics. If they at least understood how each fourth worked it would be able to work together better.
The only real problems were the heavy axe and the Adventurers Guild. I would need to spend some time figuring out what to do with them. Perhaps I could get the Adventurers Guild to learn to ride my wolves? Archer cavalry didn't sound like so bad an investment.
And if the trainees got a little too uppity about it, I'm sure my wolves could convince them to stick to their training regime. Nothing like a pair of sharp and hungry teeth looking your way to improve a person's outlook on their situation.
Sub Commander Ulfrik Eilifsson
God damn, it's cold! You think you get used to the cold and then you go up into the mountains and are reminded just how cold this world is. Didn't matter how many times I went up here either. I've been on several raids via the mountain pass before, even done even more dangerous sea travels but one trip on the sea had convinced me that I didn't want to step one foot on a ship again.
The sea clans in the coastal region may have a good time out there but me? Well, the queasiness would make sure I never really wanted to go on the water again.
Besides, despite the monsters that live here, these mountains were a safer pass to where we wanted to attack. Even if the travel was at least a week longer.
Too many boats moving would cause the sea creatures to stir. Unless you were hunting sea creatures, or you really really wanted to get somewhere fast, it was best to take the land route.
Looking down from my horse on the column of men moving I was fairly impressed at the good order they were showing. This giant witch the Russ had found seemed to have a wide set of skills besides the wide tracts of land and hips. I've seen quite a few men simply do what she told them to because she told it to them. And some of those men were the most obstinate soldiers in any of our forces.
I didn't know if it was the beauty or the commanding voice she could put on that got them to do what she wanted, though I would probably put it money down on the wolves. They seemed to be tame enough around her but it was best not to push one's luck. For myself, I didn't feel any compulsion to do what she said, her curves played no part on my mind because I was a happily married man. She had proven herself capable when it came to organizing marches and setting up camps honestly, and a real logistics-minded person too. How she would do once we got to the actual fighting, that was something I would have to see. If she got herself killed though I was definitely going to angle myself for the commander spot. All they needed to do is raid the hell out of trucebreaker Farthegn's land, no reason to fight him on the open as Tanya seemed to be preparing to do.
Not that I was against our Commander, the infighting in my own region tended to make such offices very problematicfor leadership. Having a commander from one faction controlling the others usually ended with bickering. The only reason that wasn't happening now was that Tanya was technically an independent party, with her own forces as the wolves. Yeah, she was allied to the Russ but everyone was allied to the Russ so that didn't mean much.
For now, though I was willing to wait and see what happened. Who knows maybe this time I would see some great and spectacular plan actually win against a superior force? More likely than not that we'd end up raiding and marching back over mountains, a little bit more tired than we could have been if we had just gone with straight raiding instead of training for a fight.
The glory would probably be about the same either way, it only mattered that it happened and not how it happened after all.
Riding forward on my horse, I got in front of my men and then continued on, wanting to see what was ahead on the way.
The low ends of these mountains that separated the coasts from each other were not as terrifying as the peaks near the top of the world, but the small and windy paths did make everything feel smaller. There was really only room for 3 men to walk abreast with a horse rider alongside them. It would seem like more than enough room to move but you needed to keep an eye on your men or they would do something stupid, so we had to maintain enough room for a horse to ride on the side.
I already had to save some farm boy from being attacked by a giant snake that lived in these mountains. Slimy little bugger came out of a hole and tried to drag him in, one good swing of my axe though and I cut that thing's head from its shoulders! Or neck? Do snakes have shoulders? That's a question for another time.
Whatever thought I was going to have was interrupted by a shout and large amount of noise breaking out from somewhere down the road. What was up I didn't know but I was fairly curious so I rode my horse hard in that direction to find out.
It wasn't that far, over by the dark blue company of troops really or near the center of the line. What I found when I got there was that apparently one of the larger Thunder Wolves had made it through our screens of 'rangers' as Tanya had referred to them as and was currently menacing that troop. The men were holding well and slashing at them, using their shields to keep it away, but they were not able to get in close enough for their swords to do any good.
Fine! I reached to take the great axe from the side of my horse and get ready to try and do battle with this beast when the situation developed in a strange way.
The wolf was snarling and biting at them from the left side of the road, pushing the men towards the right which was basically against a cliff face. Not a tall one, I estimated it only to be 20 feet high.
But it was high enough that I did not notice right off the bat that Tanya was at the top of it. Where she had come from, how she had gotten there? I didn't know. She tended to move up and down the line, making sure everyone was marching, being a little bit stricter with those who fell behind, and having her wolves menace anyone who tried to give her lip.
Apparently she found a way up onto the cliff and was using that as a shortcut to keep an eye on everybody since it would provide a larger viewpoint than being down on the ground with the rest of the marching column.
This, however, also meant that she was in perfect position to do something which I thought looked rather ridiculous. But very effective. She jumped over the column of blue soldiers and let gravity do the work to bring her down right on top of the big white Thunder Wolf that was menacing them.
There was a sickening crack as the armor she wore smacked against the heavy fur, possibly breaking some sort of bone inside the beast. Hard to say, could easily just be that there was ice frozen in its fur somewhere that made the noise.
Either way, Tanya was now on top of the beast and immediately got her arms around its neck. I think that was not easily achieved by the looks of it as she was barely able to hold on and pull at the same time.
The beast in question immediately started bucking and trying to get her off, smacking itself against a dead tree that had marked the side of the road before taking a few steps down the right slope and slipping off the cliff with Tanya.
As ways to go that was a marvelous one, I thought. Not only does she get a legend about taking on the king of wolves but she attempted to bring down one of the king of wolves' cousins in one on one combat. She only died because positioning screwed her over.
I shook my head and then prepared myself for the inevitable discussion with the other sub-commanders about replacing our noble wolf witch.
Then the wind picked up at an incredible rate as if a storm had been summoned and was hitting the mountains below our passage. The men, fearful of whatever this was, grabbed onto the side of the mountain and hoped they weren't blown away. I simply sat there on the back of my horse, looking stoic. I was not exactly sure about what was going on but knew that a show of confidence would lead to a better position in taking over, after her death was declared real.
Then the Thunder Wolf was thrown back up onto the cliffside by the massive amount of wind. Tanya was still holding on to the damn Thunder Wolf as if her life depended on it and I swore I saw something glowing in her left hand before they both crashed into the ground.
Everyone just stood there. We were shocked, unsure on what to do. All of a sudden Tanya pulled herself up, brushed off a little bit of snow and dirt that had gathered on her cloak, and walked over to the Thunder Wolf and checked up on it as she would have any of her others.
I expected many things but the wolf actually not trying to bite her hand off as she began making sure it was okay was not one of them. My best guess was that the Thunder Wolf I thought it was dead and wasn't exactly sure how to handle not being among the living anymore.
After a few moments of thought it seemed to shake itself free of whatever stupidity this was and stood back up. It looked around at everyone before its eyes focused on Tanya. One of her crows landed on her shoulder at that exact moment, which drew its notice. It bowed its head and backed away slowly, showing more deference than I've seen from any human to a lord.
Once it was far enough away it turned around and ran off, apparently deciding that human meat was off the menu today. Tanya turned around with a big smile on her face and said "well, gentlemen, it seems that situation is handled. Back to our march, we got a Trucebreaker to teach a lesson to and we can't waste our time up here."
The men immediately got to work doing what she said, marching in the general direction, but I just sat there on the horse stunned by the turn of events and listening to the soldiers as they walked by. Comments such as Chosen of the Allfather and Wolf King were made as they walked by.
Tanya for her part did not seem to care, only turning towards me after a few minutes to say, "good work coming up when you heard the racket. I wasn't sure what I was going to do when that thing first showed up but when I saw you there I knew I would have support."
"No, my Lady. Thanks to you, I've never seen something so wondrous as a Thunder Wolf being tackled. That is a scene that I shall replay in my memories for some time". I said, trying to be nice.
Tanya simply smiled and nodded "it was an honor, though I wish I could have done it without falling off that cliff. That was a close one."
"Yes, quite lucky that the wind kicked up right then weren't you?" I poked.
"Yes. Lucky." she said, slipping something into her pocket. My eyes caught what looked to be a rune priest beads as it was stored back.
My eyebrow raised a bit when I realized that she was dabbling with magic, making my comment about being a witch more realistic than I thought. But, as long as she was safe… That could be useful in the coming days. Having someone with powers could change any battlefield. Most of the rune priests tended to stay out of combat so it was likely to come in handy in most situations.
Nodding in my head I said "Well then, Lady Tanya, I believe we have a march to get back to. The Trucebreaker isn't going to defeat himself after all."
I got a smile from her, which was a sign I was doing something right. Someone with powers you did not want to cross as well, better to be on her good side unless I wanted to end up a Wolf myself. Who knew what kind of other powers she had.
Tanya
Felt good to be out of those mountains. There was less stress now but I had to put out so many fires and near chaotic moments.
The road we had chosen apparently was known to be hunted by Thunder Wolves, as a result we had run into four. After talking with the subcommanders I learned that it was actually expected that something like this would happen and that they had expected to take 10% losses from the wolf attacks. Thankfully we only took 1% losses, mainly from people who had done stupid things and fallen off the mountain or got their feet frozen off and had to be taken back by my wolves. At least I hope they made it back safe? They were riding on wolf back, they should be fine enough. I guess I would find out when I got home.
Either way we'd made it safely across the mountains and we were now setting up a base in an area that seemed less populated. We had a freshwater stream and I'd had the latrines dug well away from it and from the camp. I also sent out the Adventurers Guild mounted on my wolves to find out more information about the area around us.
So far their information gathering was acceptable. We had arrived in the furthest west of the Trucebreaker's territory. So far there was nothing of more than vague interest, my Adventurers Guild Riders had located several old fortresses similar to the ones I had seen when I first entered the lowlands on the other side of the mountains.
They also were long since overgrown and abandoned for the most part. Good positions for a siege if something were to happen but not one that I would like to be caught in. Best to keep the force moving as often as possible and doing as much damage to the enemy as I could.
As for the rest of the terrain it was allsnow and villages, I used the Adventurers Guild as barebone diplomats to see if those villages would be willing to give us supplies while we were engaging in hostilities against their leadership.
They had politely refused the first time which had required me to go deal with them myself. After an hour of long negotiations, while my wolves padded around the village, I was able to secure a local supply in exchange for the local currency that we would most likely be getting off the enemy once we started fighting them.
It wasn't a great deal but it was better than nothing and they seemed happy enough to have it. Although considering that the other subcommander said that we should just raid them and take what we needed, there was probably a reason for that. They were based off Vikings in their culture, I wouldn't be surprised if raiding and fighting were just as common as Viking culture had it.
So working on negotiating a deal was a definite improvement for the peasants of this land. This also gathered to me a bit of intelligence from the locals as I knew that the Trucebreaker was still in his castle far to the South.
However some of his lesser lords were gathering forces, apparently they were taking this whole situation very seriously compared to their lord. They had not called up the citizenry of their little peasant villages though, relying on the warrior class of this region. From what I understood it meant there were seven armies of around 500 to 700 men each, scattered across this side of the continent and slowly moving in my direction.
I didn't need the constant headaches that I had been having since taking on this job to know how to handle such a situation; I was quite a fan of military history and I was well aware of Napoleon's strategy of hitting the enemy army while it was separated and destroying it piecemeal.
And that was exactly what I was planning to do. I only had close to 1600 men while the enemy had twice that minimum, if all their forces came together I would not have a victory on my hands. So I set about making sure that they would not come together. I had my Wolf Rider Rangers, the 100 or so men I had been able to train to ride the wolves without getting themselves bitten in two, to head towards the second closest army with the plan to simply engage, distract them, and keep them chasing my men in the wrong direction.
The rest of my forces had been split up into three columns and were moving out of camp, we were going to hit the closest force of around 600 men in the afternoon.
As far as I could tell they were being lackadaisical and lazy as they didn't even have pickets out to let them know that my rangers had gotten within breathing distance of them.
Which was not my problem. If the enemy chose to be terrible at their job that just made my life easier.
Mounting up on Freki I looked over at the other commanders who were eyeing my wolf carefully.
"All right, gentlemen! Let's go settle the score on the ambush number. They don't have much right to complain, considering what they told with their crossbowmen." I said trying to exude authority and confidence.
It seemed to work as they chuckled before leader in dark blue Jon Alfgeirsson said "Yes, let's go teach these trucebreakers why you don't break the freaking truce. I swear Lord Farthegn was a fool who got lucky or a genius who overplayed. Either way this is not going to go the way he thinks.'
Nikolas Larlsson of Green and red nodded his approval before adding "a good point! Though I think he didn't believe we'd be as bold as Lady Tanya is proposing with this march. Most commanders would simply come over the mountains and raid everything, not interfere with the local systems. Really the more gold you bring across usually means the more glory."
I nodded my understanding but I simply said, "The king asked me to end a monster, that's a certain expectation that I shall meet. Raiding the countryside and being an improvision on the citizenry of this country will not meet that expectation, it'll simply put off the inevitable fight that will come from not taking this truce breaker down while we have the chance. Better to kill the poisonous snake today, while it is still outside your property, than to clean up the remains of your animals tomorrow." trying to make my opinion on the matter as clear as possible.
And I did agree with this opinion on every level. The man had broken the laws of civilization as those people understood it. Letting him walk around like that was nothing would just encourage him to do it more.
Laws exist for a reason, to protect civilization from its worse excesses. You could bend them, you could find loopholes around them, but to break them that was a betrayal of civilization. And I would not live with something that was no better than an uncivilized barbarian waiting on my borders for the best moment to cause mayhem and disaster for the people that I worked with.