FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

By the time sunrise came around the Severed Peak, Fidel and Isamu were still sleeping on the beds and Trygrr was nowhere within the room. His spear rested on a wall, next to Isamu's nodachi and Fidel's two-handed hammer.

Trygrr was walking down the hall, where various other Raiders, since they were the only type of Sofrezan who would come to the Severed Peak, either under a Jarl or a brother-band, would gasp at who he was. A survivor of the Dalgaarding, was what he usually heard.

When he got to one of the "taverns" within the Severed Peak, he found it near empty. Sure, there were those getting drunk off their tails at this early time, but not much else. Not like they needed to pay here, brother-bands and Raiders under employ of Jarls stole alcohol from everywhere to bring here.

In the corner, Trygrr saw the polar bear combatant from last night, alone and with a very disconcerting gleam in her eyes to those getting drunk and those that weren't. In spite of this, Trygrr began to walk in her direction, seeing that she's wearing what she had on last night.

When he got close to her table, she looked up at him. At first, Trygrr thought that she was doing just that, but then he saw what lurked behind her eyes and remembered what happened last night.

He did not shy away, since berserkers would kill one over something as trivial as that.

"Do you mind?" He asked, motioning to the second chair that was situated at her table.

She shrugged. "No." She answered, probably trying her best not to rip his throat out.

Trygrr pulled the chair out and sat down. Unlike in Kespian, where the slightly rough chairs were softened with a rough sack for a cushion, these flawless-to-the-touch chairs didn't have that luxury, but it did the job well. One of the Attendants came by and placed a bowl of hot broth in front of Trygrr, along with a wooden spoon, made with the same expert craftsmanship as the chairs.

And to think it was all done with axes.

Trygrr began to eat the broth in front of him, savouring the tastes of his homeland once more. He felt the eyes of curiosity watching him as he ate. He glanced up, noting that it was the berserker that was looking at him.

"How come you're not afraid?" She asked.

"I got used to it." He answered, which the berserker clearly wasn't satisfied with.

"How?"

"You get used to eating near dangerous people."

And so he kept eating and wasn't looked at again. When he was finished, he held the bowl up high, which an Attendant took.

"What did you mean by dangerous people?" The berserker asked, obviously waiting.

Trygrr sighed. "I am a part of a brother-band, of which you must know of the.... unique dynamic they have. And I have come back from Kespian, alongside one from there and one from Uslijan, both capable warriors which each were not afraid to kill me, and me them. I got used to watching my back a little bit." He explained.

The berserker hummed, nodding slightly.

The Attendants behind the counter looked up and snapped still.

"Herra!" They shouted, staring out at the entrance.

Trygrr turned to look at the entrance, along with the other patrons, knowing exactly who it was that was coming.

It was rare for a leader of the Attendants to come down. Rarer to ever see one in a lifetime. Must be big news, then.

An old owl, in the Attendants uniform and a Dane Axe strapped to his back, came into the "tavern" and began to look around the room by only rotating his head. When his eyes were laid upon Trygrr, he began walking towards the wolf.

"So, you're the survivor I've heard about. Come with me, you need to be caught up."

Trygrr stood and followed, not wanting to miss out on details. He followed the lead Attendant back through the halls and to a certain door.

One which bore the red weeping eye and sun.

Trygrr immediately began to growl and his paw clenched, so much so that he could feel his claws threatening to puncture through the skin. The lead Attendant just waited for his anger to subside, which it did.

"Do you have a name to this brother-band, wolf of the Daalgarding?" The Attendant asked.

Trygrr slowly shook his head. Not of confusion, but to keep his anger in check. "No, herra."

The Attendant motioned a wing towards the insignia. "Luckily for you, we do have a name for them."

Trygrr slowly looked towards the Attendant, who fearlessly looked back at him. "Would you mind telling me, herra?"

"They are known as the Orevling. And now, you can get them back for what they've undoubtedly done."

Trygrr stared at the insignia, his mind working behind his eyes. He looked to the Attendant.

"Can you send a message?"

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After Isamu and Fidel woke up, they waited for Trygrr to come back, which the wolf did.

Fidel opened his mouth to speak, but saw the eerie calm across Trygrr's face and the lack of movement in his tail. The wolf tilted his head towards the hall, which Isamu and Fidel recognised what Trygrr wanted. So, Fidel placed his talisman onto his belt while Isamu tied his two small blades over his waist, and they followed Trygrr.

They came to somewhere similar to where they waited out the snowstorm, full of Raiders of different species, and the wolf led them to a table in the corner, the same table where the polar bear who was fighting last night was currently sitting at. Both were adamant about the chairs, but found them to their liking. Some broth was placed in front of them, which they were grateful for.

After they were done, there was an awkward silence around the table. Even Isamu had to admit, the polar bear's stare was unnerving.

"Look here, boys! Foreigners!" A voice yelled behind them.

The occupants of the table looked at who said it, seeing a ram flanked by a tiger and a badger. The ram looked familiar to Fidel, although he cannot remember from exactly where. A bow and a quiver of arrows was on the ram's back, an axe kept at the ram's hip as well.

It was then that Trygrr stood from his chair and stood between them and the three pieces of rabble.

"Leave. Now." He growled out, his eyes never leaving the young ram.

"We would, but only after those two foreigners and now yourself have left the Severed Peak." The ram replied, poking the cord which kept Trygrr's small cape on him.

"I wouldn't try to force us out with your two vinir. The Attendants will disallow you to ever set foot into the Severed Peak once more. If you don't want that to happen, leave and find another watering hole." Trygrr said, his paws never leaving his side and his eyes never leaving the ram.

The ram scoffed and pushed Trygrr's shoulder. Knowing what this meant, Trygrr completed the turn induced onto him to go back to his seat.

He quickly realised his mistake when he saw Fidel shove him out of the way.

Trygrr saw a blade of light in Fidel's right hand, which deflected the ram's axe down. He used his other hand to disarm the ram, now holding the axe, and thrusted the sword of light towards the ram's throat, stopping a centimetre from it. The ram was obviously freaked out by the speed at which this all happened, now frozen.

One of the Attendants drew their Ulfberht sword and came over. Fidel dispersed the light, now being just a talisman he's holding, and lightly threw the axe back to the ram. When he sat back down, he saw the polar bear smiling. And not in a fun way. Behind him, the Attendant was guiding the ram out of the watering hole by sword-point.

"You do travel with dangerous people." She remarked to Trygrr, not that the wolf was exactly listening to her.

His eyes were fixated on two. Both male, one a cheetah, the other a bald eagle. The cheetah had the insignia of the Orevling on his right pauldron, all black, and the bald eagle had a small black cape with the insignia on it over one of his wings. The claws on the end of his fingers were digging into the wood that made the chair, his tail now flicking in anger.

Even the polar bear remained quiet with him.

With that, Trygrr stood and walked over to them. The two were joking among themselves at the table which they sat at, oblivious to the now pissed off wolf walking towards them. Only when Trygrr both stopped and crossed his arms did they look at him...

... And the insignia on his pauldron.

Both stood, one at eye level while the other was a head shorter. They just stood there, two staring at one. Two calm, one angered beyond doubt.

The cheetah smirked lopsidedly, baring a fang. "Well, the lonely Dalgaarding has finally shown his muzzle." He jeered, causing Trygrr to growl at him.

It shut the cheetah up quickly, but it didn't stop him from smirking.

"I challenge you two Orevling in the Arena in two hours." Trygrr announced loudly, so that it echoed inside the watering hole.

The entire place became quiet and every occupant turned their heads towards the two now-rival brother-bands. The cheetah and eagle looked at each other, looking as if they were near laughing.

"We accept your challenge, Dalgaarding fool." The eagle responded. After that, the two Orevling left the watering hole, Trygrr's eyes following them until they disappeared behind a wall.

Trygrr walked back to where they were sitting, until he was pushed up against the wall by Isamu, his claws digging into the grooves of Trygrr's armour near his neck, and who was clearly agitated beyond even Trygrr's own anger. Both heard the gasps of the occupants and the thud of a spear haft onto the ground, most likely by the Attendant.

"Why did you do that?! Do you have no regard for your life?!" The cougar demanded.

Trygrr kneed Isamu's upper thigh and threw Isamu to the ground, the cougar moving his tail just in time. The ronin didn't have time to even try to get up, as the wolf closed in on him and took his haori and a paw-ful of fur to look deep into Isamu's eyes, growling.

"I had to. If I didn't, I would be disrespecting those who died because of them, because I would not face their killers. I may have no regard for my life, but there will be brotherhood in death. I will live the Sofrezan way and none other." Trygrr growled out to Isamu.

Trygrr let go of the ronin, seeing the lone Attendant at the bar with their spear ready and the other with their Ulfberht still out and everyone was looking at them. Trygrr stuck a paw out towards Isamu, which the cougar took to help him stand. While the cougar went to sit down and was nursing a now developing bruise, Trygrr went over to the Attendant with the spear, explaining the situation.

Trygrr soon came back, only to find the polar bear was gone and only Fidel and Isamu sitting. He sat down and gestured to Fidel to bring out the map.

For one hour, they talked. Mainly about Trygrr telling the other two where to go just in case he died. It was then that the polar bear came back.

"I'm going to fight with you." She told Trygrr.

Trygrr leant into the table, his paws interlinked. He stared intently at the polar bear, who stared back.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"It will either be my last kill to be free, or a death well worth it."

"Be at the Dalgaarding door in half an hour." Trygrr ordered, standing up and leaving. And rather quickly too.

Isamu stood, motioning to Fidel to stay there, and began to follow Trygrr. After taking a wrong turn or two, he finally made it to the door and entered the quarters. There, he saw Trygrr hang his chest armour up, the pauldrons as well, and his helmet on top, his head fur now free.

Why he's doing that, Isamu doesn't know.

But the one thing he does want to know is why there's three long scars diagonally down Trygrr's back.

Trygrr unclipped the short cape and war horn and wrapped it around where it would usually go if he had his armour on.

"I know you're there, Isamu. I can smell you from here." Trygrr said, never even looking the r?nin's way.

Isamu closed the door behind him, now only the lanterns and the fire inside the room illuminating it. He never said anything, nor did he want to.

Isamu just stood there, leaning against the wall. Trygrr had his spear and his shield, his axe still on his belt, which was now around the top of the cuisses. Trygrr looked at the kite-shaped amulet, the two cords still around his neck.

"It's a brave thing you're doing, Trygrr." Isamu complimented, snapping the wolf out of his trance.

"Both of us know of the fine line between bravery and stupidity." Trygrr answered, sighing. "I think what I did fell into the second category."

"We all like to think that bravery is a completely different entity from stupidity, but it isn't. It's just stupidity with a stronger purpose." Isamu began to explain.

Trygrr's ears perked up at Isamu's saying.

"Both of us have purposes that required a hefty amount of stupidity to begin, although both of us can justify our reasons. Yours is revenge due to death, while mine is revenge due to enslavement. Both of us walked away from our homelands for help, despite the prejudices and dangers associated with doing so. A stupid move, sure, but the purpose behind them are stronger than steel and stone."

Trygrr smiled, the scar twisting. He moved his spear to his left paw, which also held the shield, and walked over to Isamu. He placed his right paw onto the cougar's shoulder and looked him right in the eyes.

"Þakka þér, vinur minn." Trygrr said.

Isamu looked at him quizzically, not understanding what came out of the Raider's muzzle.

"Thank you, my friend." Trygrr repeated, having Isamu understand what he just said.

Trygrr patted the cougar's shoulder in a way that resembled comradery, then walked out the door. The berserker was there, a hand axe on each hip with the haft severely worn, alongside Fidel, who was casting some minor holy spells with his talisman.

Trygrr nodded to the berserker, who nodded back. All four walked back down the hall and into the large expanse of the Arena. Trygrr pointed to Isamu and Fidel, then pointed to a long stone bench that overlooked the Arena. Fidel and Isamu split to sit on the bench while Trygrr and the berserker descended deeper still.

It took five minutes, but they came to the place where combatants would see each other before their fight. Combatants were still here, waiting for their chance to fight. The men had their chests bare, wearing either a pauldron or a small cape to signify their brother-band or the Jarl which they serve under, and the women had their bras covering their breasts, but still had either a pauldron or a small cape.

Trygrr looked around, seeing the two Orevling there, talking as they were an hour and a half ago. The bald eagle wore the cape with a Dane Axe resting against his left shoulder while the cheetah had an Ulfberth and a shield. As a back up weapon, the bald eagle had a simple dagger while the cheetah had another Ulfberth on his hip.

They waited there for about twenty minutes. An Attendant came up to them and told them to go through the Northern cave, while another Attendant told the two Orevling to go through the Southern cave.

When they got to the Gate, they just stood there, waiting for the fight currently on the Arena to finish, which gave them the chance to talk.

"The name's Trygrr." The wolf said.

"Gunnda." The polar bear replied.

"It's a good thing you're doing, taking a part in a future band war with a near dead brother-band."

Gunnda shrugged.

The fight finished, the winner, who was a lion, roared to the crowd, which was met with warhorns blown through and a mixture of calls from the crowd. The body of his opponent was dragged off for a burial, while the lion walked off towards the Southern Gate. Both Gates opened, and they walked out.

Silence formed the response from the crowd.

The only sounds that could be heard were their feet crunching the dirt beneath them.

They stopped roughly twenty paces from the Orevling. Trygrr rested the haft of his spear onto the dirt, the bald eagle doing the same with his Dane Axe. Gunnda lifted the two hand axes from her hips while the cheetah unsheathed one of his Ulfberths.

And there they all switched to their fighting stances, glaring their opponents down. And they waited....

And waited....

And waited.

Until the battle horn from amidst the clouds was blown.

They charged at the other side, Gunnda towards the eagle and Trygrr towards the cheetah, all four emitting a war cry each.

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Translations:

Herra! - Sir!

Vinir - Friends (Vinur would be the singular)