THORGRIM'S SAGA:
PART 1
As a newborn child, he was set
out in the forest to die. The
night was stormy and his mother
was certain that the unwanted
child would be dead by the morning.
Instead, the Gods had other plans
for him ; a lightning stroke his
shoulder, forever burning the
mark of the god Thor on his skin.
He was found in the dim morning
light by a hunter on his way out.
The boy child didn't make a sound
until the hunter nearly stepped
on him.
It was a co-incident that the
hunter came from the same village
as the baby’s mother. She
never said a word, although she
recognized the baby at once. She
often thought that it was the
gods punishment – seeing
her boy growing to be an intelligent
an strong lad, and under the guidance
from the hunter – also to
be the best hunter of all the
young men in the village. She
was tormented with regrets, but
could never reveal the truth.
The boy was named Thorgrim after
the thunder God, since the flashing
scar never paled on his skin.
The Elder of the village sensed
that the boy was different from
other children, and as Thorgrim
grew older, he found himself with
an ability to know honesty or
falseness in people.
As a part of a ritual that all
young boys had to go through before
being accepted as men –
Thorgrim choose the task of wilderness
survival. Nobody was surprised
by this, Thorgrim always chose
the most difficult task. With
no more equipment then his knife
and longbow, he set out heading
further north with the blessings
from The Elder with him.
No one really knew where he went
or what he experienced, but when
Thorgrim returned the next fall,
he had definitely become a man.
The young, tall and lean youngster
returned as broad with muscles
as he was high, with the distinct
aura of might and strong will
surrounding him. Since he brought
with him a two handed great axe,
they guessed that he somehow had
found a society of people somewhere
in the northern wilderness. Big
and small scars criss-crossed
his torso but the lightning mark
topped them all. But what puzzled
the villagers the most, was the
fondness of which Thorgrim treated
a young wolf and an old horse
he had with him. The wolf had
no name, Thorgrim called him Ulv
and sometimes talked with the
animal in a language nobody knew.
The horse was called Lightning
and even if it was old, everybody
could see that it once had been
an extraordinary animal. Thorgrim
nearly worshiped this horse, even
built a little house for it.
The hunters family knew that the
days when Thorgrim was their son
forever was gone. He moved to
a small hut outside the village,
and stayed there, alone except
from his animals.
A fortnight after Thorgrims return,
a terrible storm hit the mountain
side. For four days the wind,
rain and thunder never left the
village. It seemed like the storm
for some reason waited atop the
small huts in the mountain side.
Lightning’s struck the village
every hour, and The Elder started
a ritual to please the gods, but
with no luck On the fifth day,
the villagers saw Thorgrim leaving
his hut. He reluctantly fetched
the horse and together they slowly
left the village. Somehow the
storm followed the two of them,
and late the next day, the remains
of the storm was only a few, dark
clouds. Thorgrim returned alone.
He seemed struck by sorrow, and
explained that the he had known
all along that the thunder-god
wanted the spirit of Lightning
back, and to save the village
from total destruction, he brought
Lightning out. At the foot of
the hill, the lightning had struck
the horse dead and burned its
remains to nothing. The Elder
shook his head. It was not a good
thing that commoners had too much
dealings with the gods. But he
agreed that the offer was the
right one, and thanked Thorgrim
for performing the ceremony. THORGRIM'S
SAGA:
PART 2
- It is time you tell me about
your adventures, Thorgrim, The
Elder said.
Thorgrim was summoned to the
ceremonial cave at top of the
hillside. He knew why - he had
seen the glance of the wiseman
often on himself over the last
few weeks after his return.
The Elder pointed at at bench
aside the fire, and Thorgrim
sat down, his legs crossed.
The old man was preparing something
bad looking and even worse smelling,
and waited patiently for Thorgrim
to begin.
- Alright then. In my manhood
quest, I chose wilderness survival,
because I had heard that far,
far towards the nortwest there
was supposed to be a huge ocean.
I planned on going there! Thorgrim
laughed.
- It took me a couple of weeks
to realize that it would take
more than the automn months
to get there. By then; the winter
storms made it difficult for
me to travel, so I started to
look for a cave to stay the
winter. In stead, I found a
village of a northern tribe.
Did you know that there are
people living in the nortern
wilderness? Thorgrim looked
at The Elder.
- Of course my young friend!
Thorgrim, I do not need all
the detalils - you are avoiding
the main issue here! the wiseman
said a litle more impatiently
this time.
Thorgrim sighed.
- Too make a long story short
- and mind you, you would have
found it very interesting! Anyways,
I stayed with theese peoples
over the winter. In the short
daytime we hunted small gems
near the village. The nights
were long and dark, and when
spring finally came, we went
out to hunt bigger gems. The
little son of the tribeleader
was with us, his first hunt!
Cute kid! he rode on his fathers
horse named Lightning. Thorgrim
nodded.
- Yes, the same one that I gave
to Thor, the God of Thunder!
- But back to the story, we
were following the tracks of
some Moskus, and the kid and
I talked, laughed and had a
good time.
Then suddenly we met anoter
huntingparty - a huge flock
of wolves!
At this point, Thorgrim paused.
Divine spirits, magic and all
that sort was something he had
never felt comfortable with.
All his life people had treated
him like something special because
of the lightning-shaped scar
on his shoulder. He had always
hated it! He believed what his
eyes could see, nothing else.
And now he was about to talk
about something that he, ever
since the event, had denied
even to himself.
The Elder knew Thorgrim well,
and understood that it would
take more than a simple command
to get the whole story out of
the young man.
- Here, take this! The Elder
gave Thorgrim a small cookie,
brownish in the colour and sticky
to the fingers.
– Eat it! As Thorgrim
put the cookie into his mouth
he was surprised of the aromatic
and strong taste. The cookie
melted on his tongue, leaving
a bitter-sweet scent. The Elder
kept smiling at him, awaiting
for something to happen? What?
Thorgrim took a quick glance
around the cave, but nothing
out of the ordinary met his
eyes. The smoke from the fire
seemed to burn in his eyes,
and he felt a loss of concentration
that was strange? or awkward?
or even funny? He could hear
someone laugh, then he realized
that is was himself, and stopped
immediately. The Elder continued
to smile at him.
- Now, my young friend, tell
me what happened after the wolves
had attacked you and the other
hunters!
Thorgrim nodded, and continued
the story.
- The two major wounds on my
body could each easily have
killed me. The wound in my leg
seemed the deepest, as my blood
poured out in massive amount
from it. The wound in my chest
was not so deep, but I could
see bones in there, the flesh
was simply ripped off, leaving
a gap on my whole right side.
Thorgrim touched his side whilst
telling. The Elder noticed that
his eyes were closed, Thorgrim
was totally re-living the event
now, thanks to the drugs in
the cookie.
- Noticing all this, took me
but a few seconds. I was kind
of floating above myself. It
did not really bother me. Funniest
thing though! There I was, dead,
and I didn’t mind! I just
turned my face upwards, I longed
for going to the next level.
Thorgrim shook his head slowly.
The Elder leaned forward, this
was getting more and more interesting!
He did not say anything, the
drug was a light one and was
easily interrupted.
- Over me, the sky was turning
shimmering white…. there
was like layers of different
white light, from the brightest
of white to light shades of
grey… as I looked, the
layers bent downwards on the
edges, forming kind of a cocoon,
and I knew that I could fit
perfectly into that shape! I
started to float up towards
it, longing for the connection,
wanted to end my stay on this
earth – so full of struggles
and pain. I was yearning after
the simplicity and pureness
of my spiritual world. The cocoon
of white light opened up towards
a dark tunnel, and I knew that
at the end of this tunnel there
would be friends patiently awaiting
my return!
- But then something happened,
I could see her… well
more like feel her, the Mother
of All Things, she was all around
me… her words were coming
from the inside of my head!
She told me that my task on
earth was not accomplished,
that I had to return to my body..
I should be one of her soldiers
on earth, always defending the
good and denying the evil…and
of course I obeyed.. I had no
choice actually.
- I was going down, and as
I re-entered my body, the full
amount of pain hit me, but for
a brief moment I was aware of
a soothing wind coming from
her - mending my body and recharging
my soul.
As I later woke up, the bright
daylight had turned into soft
shades of the afternoon. Everything
around me felt bright and cleansed,
although the ground were still
covered with the corpses of
my hunting party and dead wolves.
I knew already that the boy
was missing, and so was Lightning,
the horse. I easily found the
horse tracks, heading further
North.
Since my wounds now were healed,
I decided to go looking for
them.
And as Thorgrim continued his
saga, The Elder carefully left
him by the fire. He had got
the information he was seeking
for, now he needed time to meditate
and consider necessary precautions.
Not knowing that The Elder
had left, Thorgrim continued
his story….
THORGRIM'S SAGA:
PART 3
Leaving the cave, The Elder saw
nothing, heard nothing and did
not even notice the village chief,
that tried to catch The Elders
attention.
He just kept on walking towards
the hut he called his own. The
hut was bigger that the rest
of the village huts, and the
door was always kept locked.
No one entered here, except
The Elder himself.
He quickly locked the door
behind him, and lit the oil
lamp hanging down from a wooden
beam. As the light grew stronger,
one could see that this Village
Elder was under the influence
of the darker forces. Sadly
– no one would ever see
this, and if somebody did, they
would never live long enough
to tell.
The Elder picked up a ebony
staff and caressed it whilst
slowly walking from one wall
to the other.
His thoughts were tumbling
with this one main issue: How
would this effect the plans
he had worked to accomplish
all his life? The day Thorgrim
were brought into the village,
The Elder had made the baby
boys horoscope, and he saw things
in it that made him worry.
It seemed that Thorgrim was
important for the fulfilment
of his struggle.. but it never
was made clear in what way.
Could Thorgrim be made to fit
into the puzzle of a plan that
The Elder had made, ages ago?
Or was he a threat to it?
Today, Thorgrim had revealed
a new aspect that made The Elder
come to a conclusion. It seemed
very unlikely that Thorgrim
could be of any use to him now,
since the Mother of All Things
had appointed him to be one
of her Soldiers of Good.
But how could he dispose of
Thorgrim? The Elder knew many
ways of imposing death, both
by magic and by using various
poisons. But Thorgrim was a
very popular man in the village,
he was marked by the God of
Thunder – Thor, and after
his return from the North he
had an aura of divine favours
about him. This could make most
death magic’s useless,
even back spelling on himself
if he tried one of those. Poison
would be noticed, clearly. Minions
would also come short toward
any divine favour Thorgrim might
be in possession of.
Best thing would be if Thorgrim
could depart this life in an
accident, not traceable back
to him.
The Elder had in his control
a few living servants - this
might be one of the times they
could make a real sacrifice!
In the cave, Thorgrim continued
to tell his story to the empty
walls.
- I took me a half day of running
to get closer in on the horse.
I hoped that the little boy,
Ante, was still with him, but
could not be sure until I got
closer. I noticed that the wolf
party had split up, and that
a fraction of 3-4 animals were
following Lightning. I knew
that there was little hope for
the boy and horse, but I wanted
to tell the chief of the village
exactly what had happened, when
– or if - I returned.
The tracks led up a stony hill,
and as I turned around some
cliffs, I found an odd scene.
First, I noticed Lightning,
standing guard. He was exhausted
and in bad shape, but still
very much unharmed except for
some small bleedings. On the
ground there was two dead wolves,
one stampeded to death - obviously
by Lightning.
The other wolf had clearly
been killed by another wolf!
Then I noticed the boy. He was
on the ground, his right leg
broken, huge amount of blood
on his head and face. He looked
unconscious and was laying side
by side a huge she-wolf, very
much alive she was, her yellow
eyes followed me suspicious.
And a half grown puppy stood
next to them.
As I approached, the she wolf
sneered at me. I had to take
care of the boy, so I was just
about to throw my dagger at
the wolf, when the boy started
whispering to me.
- “Spar ulven”,
Thorgrim! Don’t kill her!
She protected me against the
other wolves… He opened
his eyes.
- She will not let me come
near you, Ante. Are you in a
lot of pain, son?
- I feel nothing at all. Think
something in my back broke together
with my leg.. I’m dying,
Thorgrim, and she is dying with
me. Ante looked straight at
me, smiled weakly and continued.
I never noticed at first, but
the wolf was badly wounded,
and clearly not able to rise
from the ground.
- It’s a good thing,
isn’t it? She and I will
travel together to the next
life!
I just nodded and smiled.
- That is a good thing, Ante.
- Will you promise me to take
care of her poppy? He can not
manage on his own yet, Ante
whispered.
- I surely will, little hero!
Ante closed his eyes again,
a nearly unnoticeable shiver
in his body, and he and the
wolf was both gone. A burning
sense of sorrow and anger filled
me as I realized that this young
boy would never grow up to know
all the beauty of life.
I turned towards the young
wolf.
- Hei Ulv! Come here, Ulv.
I slowly stretched my hand towards
the wolf until I touched his
neck. The animal stood completely
still and his yellow-brown eyes
stared straight at me. I knew
that if I wanted to take care
of it, the animal would have
to let me carry him.. and Lightning
had to accept to carry the both
of us. I never would have tried
this in another situation, but
as I were, I did not have any
other choice. So I simply picked
the half grown wolf up, put
him in a sack at the horses
side. Before I mounted Lightning,
I buried the boy and wolf together.
The grave was shallow, so I
piled rocks on top of it and
performed The Ritual of Departing
Souls for them. It was the first
time I performed this ritual,
and it eased some of the pain
in my heart.
Lightning stood still with
Ulv in the sack. The horse looked
twice the age he had, only yesterday,
and I knew he was nothing compared
to his former self, and perhaps
he would never regain his strength
ever again. But that horse truly
saved my life! The long journey
back, first to the village,
and after that back here, I
could never have managed without
that wonderful creature by my
side.
Thorgrim paused, still lost
in the memories.
A sudden crack from the woods
on the fireplace snapped Thorgrim
out of the influence of the
drug.
-What the… !!
He looked up, all puzzled.
Since he could not spot The
Elder anywhere around, he decided
to leave the cave.
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