Train with the Warriors

The Revenge for Artud-ferrs-urrigr

I, Bloodtooth the Storyteller, present to you Atris Fear-unknown. He fought at the side of King Kostajor when treason killed us and he fought in the battle now known as the revenge for Artud-ferrs-urrigr and protected our good King Eversad. He is still full of wrath for the Lunars who escaped so do not dare to interrupt him, nor me.

Seven years and four after the fall of your great city the good Queen Kallyr Hor-vars-urrig visited our tribe. She was fair and beautiful and though she was no wolf everyone trusted her and wished her no harm for she fought in the battle of Artud-ferrs-urrigr on our side. There she saved King Kostajor from a Red Man's poison metal blade and there the two of them became friends. In her veins flows the blood of the Changer's line and so we Telmori serve her faithfully and always will.

The good Queen spoke to King Eversad in a friendly manner. She foretold a year of victory if we would follow her, she saw the Telmori Wilds filled with prey again, more precious then any which was or is there. She even told of a battle bringing more scars than Artud-ferrs-urrigr. But the most important she spoke of the revenge for Artud-ferrs-urrigr.

These were words which no one could have spoken if not seriously meant. Here for the first time King Eversad cheered a little up for a while. Here Queen Kallyr became a heroine. Both of them exchanged the gift of Deza and the good Queen left for her home.

The next day a great gathering was called inside our Wilds, I saw Tergavi from distant places of our lands. I saw wolves which were blessed and I saw the rihrr and the fireless wolves. This meeting was so great the our hunters had to use all their skills to provide enough food and we drank so much that a spring ran dry. At this gathering I saw my wife, Bloodfang for the first time. A ceremony we made there was seven times more magnificent than the most beautiful Heturavi I saw. In the midst of it, when all the Telmori were dancing, another two came.

One was like Telmor and one was like Yrr. Their scents of life were so strong that every sick wolf became joyous and participated in the ceremony. The blinding disc left very soon and the clouds were so dense that the terrible red light which can madden a wolf and can spoil rituals was no longer visible. It was like Queen Kallyr said, this was a year made for victory. This night when every wolf was fed and everyone joyous and the other two left, King Eversad appeared in the middle of us. And he wore the mask of Fer, yet no one was frightened, and he bore the Staff of Ancestors, and still no one was frightened, and he bore the Eaglebone, and all were joyous.

This night King Eversad looked like Telmor was in our dreams. He bid the oldest and wisest Tergavi to tell the story of Artud-ferrs-urrigr and he did. Living-wisdom, for this was the Tergavi's name, could tell that well, that the flame of the fire formed the pictures of the battle, he could sing so soft that the wind became his voice, I am sad he is no longer here to tell the stories.

After he finished every Telmori was filled with hatred and disgust towards the Red Men. Many tears fell on that night and all mourned the dead. The feelings of the fallen took our hearts, with their eyes we saw the battle and with their ears we heard it. Never will I forget it. Living-wisdom spoke with magic, which is lost to me, maybe I can discover it some day but I fear that I am not worthy enough having killed not enough Red Men.

After we woke King Eversad looked different. We never saw him joyous and happy, after all he was called Eversad but on this night we could see his golden eyes filled with happiness. And then King Eversad started his tale…

He praised all of the fallen warriors of Artud-ferrs-urrigr. As he spoke the name of each one, they appeared before him. From the land of the dead they came to sit at our gathering and to dance and to feel the joy we were about to feel. When he finished with the last he gave us the gift of Deza, hope. Though the clouds were dense on this night she was visible in the stars brighter then any other time. King Eversad told us all what good Queen Kallyr had said and we became a joyous tribe.

Seven days later Queen Kallyr visited us again. This time we praised her name the whole time she was inside our woods. She told us that in a few days the revenge would be perfect and that King Eversad should be prepared for it. As she left many of our wolfrunners began the ritual of power. They crushed bones, they ate stone and their hrugs broke poison metal. When they were finished all of our tribe was prepared.

Throughout the night none of us wolves slept. Everyone had done everything possible to reach this field of glory. On this night even some wolves from distant Telmoria arrived. When the blinding disc rose we heard the first cries of victory from the valleys around us. The men of Orlanth we cutting the Red Men down and the cowardly Red Men fled. Even the waters or Sartar turned against the Red Men when a river drowned the half of them. The men of Orlanth were ferocious like wolves. The most deadly was no man of death but the good Queen Kallyr. The good Queen's hrug killed more Red Men that I can tell of. But still one half of their army survived and ran towards the Wilds where they thought to find no human who could track them down.

Oh how right they were !

No human was there to hunt the most precious prey ever seen, only us wolves. It was like fire meets water, the clash of arms and the cries of wolves was heard as far as the blinding disc can rise and as far as Telmoria. This day Telmor himself descended to us and gave us his vigour, his skin and his weapons. We felt the gentle hand of Yrr on all our wounds this day. King Eversad laughed (!) every time he saw a Red Men die. Our Hrugs cut them down, stabbed them to death and some of us were so violent that they broke. This would be normally a very sad thing but on this day it was not ! The rage took all our senses and we ripped, clawed and bit all Red Men we could get. We hunted the Red Men with all of our strength, some of the warriors had to recover for a full year after !

But despite their most evil magic, they died. I tell you they died like dogs. They begged, the pleaded, the offered gold but we knew no mercy, not this day nor shall we any other.

When all of them were killed we prepared for a feast. All of their bodies were taken to a secret place and there we did what was forbidden and what was never done before. None of their spirits ever returned. And all of our rituals were more successful then before. The next year we had even some special cubs born.

This is the truth about it, heed it well.