Damon Greyhart

Somewhere in the northern woodlands, Farrenhelm

"COME ON YOU BIG BASTARD, what are you afraid of?!" Alda shouted at Damon from within the waters of the steamy hot springs. She pulled her wet hair out of her face. Her locks were usually brown like the earth, but when soaked in the waters of the hot spring, it was almost black like the ink of a quill. Her naked body glistened in the sunlight, and Damon did forget sometimes that she was woman, a beautiful woman in her own way, with breasts and everything, though she scarcely behaved like one. There was always a sword around her waist, and she was always finding reasons to use it. Her temper was the worse amongst the twelve, and they all had short tempers.

Damon smirked, and shook his head. "You forget, Alda, these are my lands we're in. I've spent more time in the hot springs than all of you lot combined." He was sitting on a long, fallen log, whetting stones and binding them to sturdy sticks he found. He liked to craft his own weapons; arrows, shields, hammers. Killing something was always an intimate affair, and when he killed something, he wanted to do so with weapons he made with his own hands. His pride among his armory was Thunder, a warhammer he made from mammoth bone, iron and hickory. It was a weapon to be feared, and he killed many men with it's hammerhead, and only used it in times of war. Most other times, he carried Winter, a sword with an ivory hilt and a blue steel blade.

Alda waved him off. "I'm sure that's it, Greyheart." She looked at him with mockful eyes, and at the sticks and stones he held in his hands. "Playing with other sticks and stones cause you're embarrassed of your own?"

The others there, Cedric and Jaylem, laughed at her remark, and made "ooh" sounds. Of the twelve, there were five out in the woods. Thane Cullen wanted one last hunt before they returned to Frostwind, and wanted to hunt something big. He spotted a great bear on his last trip, he said, and with him to slay the great beast were the Thanes Alda and Cedric, as well as Damon. Damon had insisted Thane Jaylem and his bannerman Benjamyn come along, though Cullen wasn't too pleased with their addition. But Damon insisted, and he knew the woodlands well, so Cullen agreed.

Cedric laughed at the disparaging remark, and stripped off his furs and leather, quick to jump in. "The lady has made a fine point, Greyhart. A real man has pride in what he has between his legs." He shivered in the cold, nipping winds. His skin was bumpy with gooseflesh and his fruits were shrunken, but he was prideful regardless of his size. He ran through the snow and leaped into the hot springs, and the bumps disappeared as the hot water swallowed him up. He broke through the surface water, laughing, and splashing around. Alda made a ball of snow from the bank and threw it Cedric's face. He wiped the snow off his face and threw a splash of water at her.

Damon rolled his eyes at them, and went back to making his arrows. Jaylem sat next to him. "I'm sure you're fine with your stick and your stones, Lord Greyhart," he said with jest.

Damon grunted, and laughed. "Yes, yes I am. I'd just rather not be naked when Lord Cullen returns from scouting with my nephew. That man has little humor to him." He ran the edge of a small rock against his whetstone.

Jaylem nodded. "He's much like Lord Whitelocke in that regard. I care little for either of them."

Damon shook his head at the young thane. "Careful who you say that to, Jaylem. The two of them don't take well to insults, and there are many who would tell them you spoke ill of them in hopes of earning the smallest of their favor."

Jaylem swallowed and nodded. "Yes, yes, you're right, forget I said anything."

They let silence settle between them, save for the sounds of rocks against whetstone and the sounds of the two thanes splashing around in the hot springs. Cedric was laughing, and he ran his eyes all over Alda whenever she looked away or had her eyes closed. Damon was sure his fruits were hard under that water.

"You know," said Jaylem in Damon's ear, "if you ever wish to get back at Cedric over there, he once mistook me for Alda at a feast we had some time ago. You know, the one we had in celebration of Lord Cullen's newest born son. That man held me tight and ran his lips all over me. It was awful."

Damon threw his head back and roared with laughter. "Did he now?" He knew Cedric was deeply enamored of Alda, they all did, and they all knew Alda didn't care much for his feelings.

And now it seems he has taken to young Jaylem as well

"That's rich, boy! I needed that laugh, thank you."

Alda came up the bank near their feet, and smirked at them. "Care to join, Jaylem? Or would you prefer to play with sticks here like Greyhart?"

Jaylem didn't look at her when he responded. "Um, I'm fine, Lady Greer. I prefer the warmth of my furs to the warmth of the springs."

Alda shrugged, and turned away. "Suit yourself," she said, wading back into the spring.

"She is a fine woman," said Damon when he was sure Alda was out of range to hear him.

Jaylem raised his eyebrows at Damon. "You're married, aren't you?"

Damon chuckled. "Aye, yes I am but that doesn't mean Lady Greer isn't a fine woman."

Jaylem shrugged. "I suppose she is. A bit too thick for my tastes, however. I like them thin, my uh, my women." He said the last bit awkwardly, as if he didn't mean to say women.

Damon didn't seem to notice. "I suppose. I like them a bit meaty. They're better at keeping you warm at night, women like that." He took a stick from his side and bound it to the sharpened stone. "Have you ever had a woman, Jaylem?"

For asking such a personal question, he asked it with such nonchalance it made Jaylem nearly blush. Jaylem chuckled awkwardly. "Uh, how do you, how do you mean?"

Damon smirked at him. "Have you fucked a woman before?"

Jaylem uncomfortably scratched his head. "Um, no, no I haven't."

Damon scoffed at him. We really do need to make a man out of you, Lord Mayfield

Damon heard the sounds of winter from the woods behind him, snapping twigs and crunching snow. It may have been summer for the other kingdoms, but for Farrenhelm, it was always winter. Lord Cullen returned to camp, with Benjamyn in tow. He had an eager look on his face, and so did Benjamyn.

They must have found the bear, Damon thought.

"How was your scouting, Lord Cullen?" Asked Jaylem.

Before Cullen could answer, he caught the sight of Cedric and Alda naked within the hot springs. "Have you no modesty, you two? Put your damn furs back on."

The splashing stopped and their smiles vanished. The two of them left the spring and quickly threw on their leathers and furs, muttering curses under their breath, shivering in the cold.

Jaylem caught Cedric steal one more glance at Lady Greer's breasts before she slipped on her tunic, and shook his head. That man has no sense of decency

Cullen shook his head at the them, and turned to Damon. "And you just sat there as they threw honor and dignity to the wind?"

Damon shrugged. "Yes, my lord. They're both grown, they can do what they please."

Cullen shook his head at the red haired thane and frowned. "Thanehood has fallen on sad times."

Damon resisted rolling his eyes. Cullen always said things of the like, as if men and women weren't the same twenty years ago. Cullen wasn't that much older than any of them. He was a man of forty four years, only ten years older than Damon, but acted as if the gap was far larger. He was showing signs of aging, however. His black hair started to grey by his ears.

"Did you find the bear, Lord Cullen?" Damon asked.

Cullen nodded at them, but kept his glare focused on Alda and Cedric. "Yes. It's in a cave southwest of here. Once those two buffoons are dressed and ready, we'll commence our hunt."

Damon nodded, and finished binding the last of his arrows. He stowed them in a quiver and slung it on his back along with his hunting bow. He grabbed Winter and sheathed it at his hip. He looked at Jaylem and slapped his shoulder.

"Ready to hunt ourselves a bear?"

Jaylem swallowed nervously, as if bears frightened him, just like wolves and snakes also frightened him. He didn't want to be out on this hunt, Damon could tell, be it was too late to send him home now.

"I suppose I am, Lord Greyhart."

Damon smiled wickedly at him. We'll make a man out of you yet, young Jaylem

*****

Damon trudged through the snow, kicking up flurry white clouds as he did so. He and Cullen were at the front of the hunting party, the others behind them. Cullen told them the cave wasn't far from the spring, and that the bear had been sleeping last he saw it. Damon could see the cave in the hillside. It wasn't too much further, and they'd be there in a matter of minutes.

"Have you called upon your banners yet, Lord Cullen?" Damon asked the older thane.

Cullen nodded. "The midlands are a large territory. It takes moons for things to get done around there."

The midlands were a large territory indeed. Eight thousand men strong, Lord Cullen's banners made up a significant portion of Farrenhelm's army. He had more men under his command than any other thane, even more than Nolan Whitelocke, though Nolan had near as many, and far more wealth than any of them.

"Aye, they are. Do you plan to move them south? The Woodlands would host you as you came through."

Cullen shook his head. "I appreciate your most gracious offer, Lord Greyhart, but Lord Whitelocke has been tasked with leading the southern campaign. I'm to defend the homeland."

"Are my men and I to go south?" Asked Damon.

"We've yet to determine that."

Damon nodded. He hoped he wouldn't. He hated the south. The scorpions and snakes, how the rough and course sand would get in his boots, and how the sun seemed to burn a hundred times hotter down there.

Jaylem spoke up from behind them. "It still feels unreal, a war over elves."

Cullen kept his gaze ahead as he answered him. "Had they not murdered King Joras, there might not have been one. But since they did, and Valdor still wishes to return their kind to this land, we will destroy that fanatical notion."

Cedric nodded cheerfully, as any young northern patriot would. "The last war waged between man and elf didn't end too well for elvenkind."

Damon nodded. "Seems they haven't learned."

They were at the entrance of the cave now. It was deep and dark, and Damon could hear the sounds of the sleeping bear echo off the cave walls.

"The beast is just down there," said Lord Cullen. "Cedric, stay out here and keep watch. If we need you, we'll call for you."

Cedric nodded. "Good luck, all of you."

Cullen nodded. "Let's make this quick and painless. I'd rather not wake a sleeping bear." Cullen started down the cave, then Damon behind him with his nephew, Benjamyn, and then the rest.

The cave was cramped by the entrance, but opened up as they descended. Cullen lit a torch, and the darkness scurried away from the firelight. The bear was in the center of the cave, a big, sleeping heap of brown fur. Bones and animal carcasses littered the cave, and the smell of rotting meat was thick in the air.

Damon pulled Benjamyn close to him, and whispered as quiet as he could "stay behind me." Benjamyn nodded, and gladly did so.

Cullen gingerly approached the bear, who made no flinch or sudden move. The thane took his sword in his hand, and drew closer to the bears neck, ready to plunge his steel into the beast.

Then Benjamyn slipped on a bone and fell.

The bear's eyes snapped open, and it rose quickly to its haunches, roaring ferociously, and stood near 10 feet tall. Its eyes found Lord Cullen just before him, angry and hungry.

"Shit!" shouted Lord Cullen as he fell to his back. He scurried, and turned on his hands and knees, quick to crawl away, but the bears claws sank into his leg and pulled him back.

"Cullen! Shouted Damon. He and Alda had their bows drawn, letting arrows fly at the beast, but they did little to the bear.

Cullen clawed at the cave floor, desperately trying to rid himself of the bears grasp. His sword was just out of his reach, but if he could reach it, he could free himself. "Help me!" he screamed.

"Jaylem, get my nephew out of here!" Damon barked. "Alda, keep shooting the bear!"

Jaylem grabbed Benjamyn and shoved him up towards the cave entrance, cursing at the bannerman to go faster.

Alda drew another arrow, but felt only a few left in her quiver. It would take more to slay this beast.

The bear bit into Cullen's thigh, and stripped his leg of it's flesh. Cullen cried in pain, but could scarcely move under the weight of the bear.

Damon dropped his bow and drew Winter, ready to stab it into the bear when he had the chance. He just had to wait for one.

"Kill the damn thing!" shouted Alda from behind him. She was out of arrows now, just having let the last of her arrows fly. It dug into the shoulder of the bear, but the bear didn't seem to notice.

"Please!!" shouted Cullen. The bear released his leg, and stood on its haunches and roared, spit and blood flying from its jaws.

Cullen started to crawl away, quickly as he could but not as quick as he would have liked. Damon waited for him with an outstretched hand, quick to pull him away when he would have his grasp.

The bear came down on all fours, its paws landing heavily on Cullens shoulders. The thane felt his bones in his shoulder crack apart, and he would have screamed if he had any more air in his lungs.

Damon jumped back, the bears snapping maw just a few feet from his fingers. Cullen looked up at him with pleading eyes, but those eyes rolled into the back of his skull as the bears jaws clamped down on his head. The bear clawed and bit at dead thane, and flung his body towards the side of the cave. And then it set its eyes on Damon.

Damon felt his bowels nearly empty. "Oh shit..."

The bear charged, and brought a paw up to swipe at him, but Alda came from behind and plunged her blade into its neck.

The bear roared, but it was gargled from the blood pouring into its throat. Damon's sense came back to him, and he slashed at the bear with Winter, leaving red gashes along the bears face.

The bear stepped back from the reach of their blades, and coughed up blood all over the rocky floor. It stumbled around, weak and drained of life, and then finally collapsed with a loud thud.

Alda and Damon were both breathing heavy, hands on their knees. "Is it dead?" Alda asked.

"Gods above, I pray it is," said Damon. He stepped towards the bear with caution, Winter gripped tightly in his hand. He poked at the bear with the tip of his steel. To his relief, the bear didn't move.

From behind them, Cedric came barreling down from the caves entrance. "Are you all alright down here?" he shouted.

Alda glared at him. "Where were you when we needed you? Lord Cullen is dead!"

Cedric's eyes widened. "Oh shit."

Alda shook her head in anger, and blew past him as she left the cave. Cedric turned back to Damon. He didn't look happy either.

Cedric scoffed. "Well, it's not my fault! Lord Cullen himself told me to keep watch by the entrance! And your fat bannerman took forever to climb out of this damn cave!"

Damon only grunted at him. He set his gaze upon the mangled body of Lord Cullen and shook his head with sorrow. He still saw his pleading eyes, gripped with fear. He knew in that moment he was going to die. And Damon just watched.

Damon looked towards Cedric. "Grab Lord Cullen, and let us leave this place."

Cedric nodded. "I will. What about the bear?"

Damon glanced at the bear with scorned eyes and shook his head.

"Fuck the bear."