Altarn: Chapter 3, part 1

Sorry for the day late update here, I've had some serious allergy problems recently which I think I've fixed. On with the adventure now.

Luciana went straight back to work in an attempt to finish off her remaining tasks as quickly as possible. Altarn laid back on his bed and wondered what types of problems they were going to run into with Berryl along. Having not only the potential for adventure ahead but the potential for trouble behind as well disturbed him somewhat. He drifted off to sleep and woke up to the crashing sound of metal on metal. Glancing out the window he wondered just how long Luciana was going to be working. From the position of the moon and stars it was an hour or two past midnight. His sleep groggy brain slowly focused on an orange light filtering into the window as well. There must be a fire in town. Quickly throwing on his clothes he headed for the door, upon opening it he finally realized the metallic sound he had awoken to was not blacksmithing but fighting going on someplace within the town. Rushing back into the house he pounded on Luciana’s door and not waiting for answer rushed in. “Luciana, Wake up! Someone is attacking the village!” Luciana slowly rubbed her eyes, “What are you talking about? No-one has ever bothered with the village before.” “Listen” as Altarn paused in silence, Luciana’s eyes opened wide and all thoughts of sleep deserted her. She leapt from bed, no thought of modesty in her mind and grabbed her clothes as Altarn blushed and turned his back to her. “What are you doing in here still? We’ve got to go help the guards, they are only militia with barely any combat training at all.” Luciana pulled on a leather jerkin and grabbed her weapon belt as she headed for the door. Altarn followed, “I don’t know what kind of help we’ll be, we’ve not had any combat training either.” “We’ll be two more bodies to help defend and with my strength and your brains we just might be valuable to them.” Altarn blushed at the off-handed compliment and followed Luciana into the night.

As the front door of the house opened it was like walking into dusk, enough buildings were burning that the light from the fires illuminated everything. Even so Altarn thought the shadows were playing tricks with his eyes as he caught sight of some of the attackers. “Orcs?” he thought, “There aren’t any orc lairs within days of here.” Luciana drew her newly made sword and jumped in to assist the man the orc was attacking. As Altarn pulled his dagger out and tried to get into position to attack the orc Luciana dropped it with a solid thrust to the stomach. “Come on” she said, “Most of the fighting sounds like it is in that direction.” She headed off down the street, Altarn trotting along behind. “Wait a moment” he said, grabbing her arm “We need to make some sort of plan as opposed to jumping into the thick of things.” Luciana turned to face him, fury evident on her face. The fury dissipated quickly as she looked at Altarn’s hand. “Where did you get that dagger?” she queried. “This is the dagger I’ve had all along, the one that has passed down through my family for generations” “Uhh-uh, that is one fine piece of craftsmanship you are holding there, I’ve seen your family’s heirloom, it is just a normal well used dagger. That dagger is something special.” “No, this is the one I’ve wanted all this time, the one my father finally gave me when I was leaving.” Altarn dropped his hand from her shoulder in confusion. “Wait a second, when you let go of me all I see now is a plain old dagger again.” Reaching out to touch Altarn her jaw dropped “Now I can see why you thought so highly of it if this is what you’ve been seeing all along, when I am in contact with you I see the same as you, when not I see just a plain old leather wrap hilted dagger. Anyhow, we’ve got to get to the fight before its over we’ll look into this more later.” Luciana spun and headed off down the street again, Altarn once more following along.

Hope you are enjoying the story...
Tom(Thralen)

chapter two, part two

Sorry for the late post, the 21st is my wife's and my 10th wedding anniversary so we've been doing lots of celebratory type things today.

When Altarn arrived at the tavern it was mostly empty, early afternoon being too soon for the crowds to arrive. Berryl was not yet awake so Altarn sat down at the bar and ordered himself a beer. The bartender responded with a beer, “Aye, you hit your coming of age now haven’t you. You get that fool notion of wandering about the world out of your head yet?” Altarn shook his head and thought that if he had to explain his reasons one more time he might well snap, “Well, you know the farm just isn’t for me. It is well enough and good if you like that sort of thing but I’ve had enough of it just growing up on the farm. I don’t want to do that for my whole life.”

Altarn nursed his beer for a while. In an hour or so Berryl would be out and he needed to decide how to ask her to join Luciana and himself in their travels. The time slipped by all too quickly and Berryl wandered in before he had decided how to approach her. Berryl walked over to Altarn and sat down beside him, “I see you are taking advantage of our refreshments. To what do we owe the pleasure of seeing you here in the middle of the day?” Altarn nearly choked on the sip of beer he had been taking, “Well I kind of came here to see you when it wasn’t busy. I have something to ask you but don’t know how to do so.” With a chuckle Berryl turned to him, “I don’t do that sort of thing, at least not when my dad is around.” Altarn blushed furiously, “I didn’t mean that, not that I wouldn’t like to… but… ummm…errr…” Berryl laughed gaily, “Good to see that you are still the same old shy Altarn even if you are legally adult now. Now, what did you really want?” With a heavy sigh Altarn decided bluntness was the only possible way to take care of this, “Well, Luciana and I are going to leave the village and go traveling. See the world a bit and maybe find some adventure. I would like, I mean we would like you to come along with us.” This time it was Berryl’s turn to blush, “You know I’m not of age yet Altarn. I would have to get my father’s permission and he very much likes the extra cash I bring in as tips when helping out in the bar. I can ask him but I am pretty sure he is going to say no. I don’t suppose you want to wait until fall when I am old enough to not need his permission? Not to say that I would go with you but then it would be my choice and mine alone as to whether or not I went.”

Altarn felt foolish, he never remembered that Berryl was younger than himself. Her poise and grace in any social situation always had him feeling the younger by several years. He knew that Luciana would not want to wait several months, nor would he himself. Although he had a fair bit of cash in the pouch his mother had given him he knew there was not enough to last several months and he certainly wasn’t going back to the farm for that long. His father would only wheedle at him to stay and take over the farm. “Well ask your father and we’ll see what he says. I don’t think Luciana and I can wait that long. I am sorry to ask but you know I never think of you as younger than I.” Altarn blushed again once more and finished off his beer. “We’ll not be leaving town for a few days more at least, perhaps you will be able to get away.” Altarn called out as he left the tavern.

When Berryl broached the subject with her father, the resulting uproar was heard throughout the village. Shouts echoed among the buildings “I’ve got plans for you girl, you’ll not be leaving even when you are of an age. Be glad I am waiting that long on my plans.”

Altarn could hear the screaming over the hammering of the blacksmith’s forge. When he went to the tavern that night Berryl’s eyes were both blackened and bruises showed on her arms, jutting out from under the long sleeves she wore. She looked as though she had been crying on top of everything else. When she took Altarn’s order she slipped him a note: “I have been forbidden to even talk to you unless it is related to serving in the tavern. My father raged when I asked, as best as I can tell he intends to whore me out when I reach my coming of age. Let me know somehow when you are leaving and I will sneak away to join you.” Altarn’s joy at knowing Berryl would accompany them was tempered by thought of her father. If he chose to follow them and caught them Altarn was sure that the result would be bad for Luciana and himself and worse for Berryl. He would have to think of something to obscure their trail or something to keep Berryl’s father busy for a few days. He drank his beer quickly and left to return to Luciana’s spare bedroom.

Altarn showed the note to Luciana when she returned. Luciana blushed and said “I cannot read, would you read it to me?” As Altarn read the note to her, Luciana began to grow red faced, by the time he was done her face was purple and he was certain she was going to explode. “What is it?” he asked. “”I am just thinking about blooding my sword before we leave town is all. Who does he think he is, she is not his property and once she comes of age what is he planning on doing? Chaining her to a bedpost so she cannot leave? Give me a few minutes to calm down, you can be sure we will be bringing her with us.” Luciana recovered her composure and started to plan “We need to get her out of there as soon as possible, I was going to need another three to four days but I think if I work some extra hours I can get it all done in two days. I dislike leaving while exhausted from work but I can recover in a couple of days on the road.” “I had been thinking” said Altarn “we’ll need to be able to cover our trail or find something to delay her father for a day or two else he may catch us and I think he might be a fair bit of a problem if he did so.” “Not to worry, I have ways of obscuring our backtrail that he’ll never be able to track us through.” said Luciana “All those years of tracking game have shown me how to obscure a track as well as find it. It may slow us down a bit but not enough to make a huge difference. We wouldn’t be traveling really fast with me all tired anyhow.”

chapter 2, part 1

Luciana and Altarn stayed up well into the night talking and making plans. Just before they finally went to bed Luciana turned to Altarn and said “I realize that it isn’t going to live up to the presents that you got from your parents but this is for you.” She pressed a small leather wrapped parcel into his hand and disappeared into the sitting room where she would be spending the night. Altarn retired to his bedroom and unwrapped the leather from the gift. It was a small wooden carving of Berryl’s face, it was certainly Luciana’s style but Altarn had had no idea she could carve so well. He went to sleep clutching the small carving, thinking about how he could ask Berryl to leave with him as he went to see the world.

In the morning Altarn was awoken by Luciana pounding on his door. Looking up he realized it was only shortly after dawn. “Just a minute” he called. Getting out of bed he pulled on clothes and went to the door. “Ok Luciana what is it?” “I just thought it was time you should be getting up, you did tell your mother you would take care of chores. I thought I’d give you a hand and we could go back to the village together. What’s wrong having second thoughts about leaving now?” Altarn bristled slightly at the implied insult, “No, that is just fine. Let me go tend the cows and gather the eggs and we’ll find my mother and tell her that I’m off.”

A short while and hearty breakfast later they finished tending to the chickens and cows. Both parents, alerted at breakfast, were waiting to see them off. As Altarn made his good byes to his parents a small sack was handed to him by his mother. “That should be several days worth of food that will not spoil quickly.” She said “and I know you have the resources to get more if needed. Be careful and remember you are always welcome to come back here if you want.” Amanda turned away quickly, a glint of light catching the tears on her cheeks. “Son, you know that I don’t approve of this choice, but whatever you end up doing do it well and be a credit to our family. If you do become an adventurer, remember the stock you came from and treat others as they deserve according to their actions and not their station.” Henry gave Altarn a quick hug and returned to the house to comfort Amanda.

Altarn turned for a final look at the house just before the road took him behind a stand of trees. His mother and father were visible waving from the kitchen window, he waved back and turned to Luciana “You know, I never really thought about how it would feel like to be leaving. I’m not sure I am making the right decision but I cannot stay here and commit myself to life as a farmer. It isn’t my style and isn’t anything I could possibly be comfortable with. So why do I feel so rotten leaving my father to work the farm himself?” Luciana pondered for a moment and replied “Well, I think the key there is that you feel responsible for your father’s farm. You’ve lived on it your entire life and you’ve helped him work it since you were old enough to stand. You may feel rotten because you think you are letting your father down. You may also feel rotten because for the first time you are putting your own desires in front of those of your parents. Either way lighten up, you are out on your own and free, we’ll go to the village and stay at my father’s place for a few days while we provision properly then we’ll be off to explore the world.” Altarn’s doubts were visible on his face as Luciana spoke. “If you say so, I still feel guilty but maybe I’ll get over it. Let’s be off to the village and I can talk to Berryl while we are there.”

The trip to the village only took a couple of hours and Altarn quickly found himself ensconced into the spare bedroom in the blacksmith’s home. Luciana went off to speak with her father and Altarn was left alone with his thoughts. After some time thinking he decided that his parent’s would be fine. They had a prosperous farm even before he was born and with him not there they needed the farm to produce less than they had while he was there. They should be just fine. His conscience still nagged him over his decision but less so than before.

Somewhat more relieved than when he had arrived, Altarn got up and left the house. He headed towards the small tavern that the village supported to find Berryl. Normally she was there as she and her father lived in a small shack off the back of the tavern. They spent most of their time in the tavern, Berryl’s father running a gambling game that many of the paid field hands liked to participate in. Berryl herself frequently doubled as a barmaid when the tavern got busier than the barkeep could handle by himself. Evenings were the worse, even though the village itself only numbered about one hundred and fifty folk, a good number of these people were in every night after dusk. Only the outlying farms like Henry’s contributed nothing to the nightly totals and even these folks were normally in at least once a week.

Chapter 1, part 2

Swords and Sorcery, silver and gold, gems and jewelry. The life of an adventurer (as perceived by a young boy at least). I know the dialogue is a little stilted here but bear with me. It's a work in progress:

Altarn woke with a start, his dreams had led him on an adventure where he had single-handedly saved the town of Turrin from an invasion of goblins. All the inhabitants had been most grateful and he had been reaping the rewards of his efforts when he woke up. He heard his name called from the house and looking out of his “tent” he noticed it was well into late afternoon. Getting up, he brushed himself off and headed back for the house. Entering the house he saw his mother, father, and Luciana. His father must have come back from the fields early, normally he would not have returned until dusk or later. Luciana was a friend of his, his parents had tried to urge him to speak of betrothal with her. Altarn thought of her as only a friend, no more, and she shared those feelings with him. His parents never would try to understand this, they thought that because she was of sturdy build, had many out of door related skills and not ugly that she would make a perfect wife for him as a farm owner. Altarn had different thoughts on the matter, Luciana was much stronger than he ever would be, Luciana also had a desire to see the world before settling down and finally Altarn was in love with a different girl from the village. A red-headed spitfire, quick on the uptake with the body of an acrobat. Her name was Berryl and Altarn had trouble even talking to her, never mind telling her his feelings. His parents, of course, thought little of Berryl. Berryl’s father was a “no good, shifty, no account layabout with nary an honest days work to his credit” in the words of Henry. Amanda was a little more soft spoken on the idea, saying that Berryl had never learned any useful trade or skill and wouldn’t make a very good wife. In Altarn’s mind Berryl’s quick wit and beauty were enough to qualify her as betrothal material, aside from that she was slightly weaker than Altarn and Altarn could never handle a woman for his wife that could pick him up and toss him about.

Luciana had come by to celebrate his coming of age day. Altarn’s parents, knowing that at the very least they were good friends, had invited her. His mother had cooked his favorite meal, ham steaks in a honey sauce with all the trimmings and then had spent the last several hours baking pastries for desert. After dinner Luciana pulled Altarn aside “Are you still planning on leaving this place?” “Yes, sometime in the next few days.” “Good, I’m going with you.” “You’re certainly welcome to join me” Altarn replied, the question evident in his voice. Luciana chuckled and said “I’ve used my father’s forge and the skills he has insisted I learn over the years and have made myself a sword and dagger. I’ve also traded a few pieces of ironwork for a small bow and some arrows. The only thing I still need to get is a suit of armor, I’m thinking of boiled leather to leave myself freedom of movement. Unfortunately, there is no armorer here to make that for me so I need to go to Turrin, is that still your first destination?” “It is, and I’m impressed with your preparations, I thought you wanted nothing to do with your father’s forge.” “Well, since I told him I had no intent to become a blacksmith before I came of age he has been much nicer and allowed me to work on some items for him in exchange for the use of his forge for my own items. If I ever make another nail it will be too soon, I made several thousand for him so I could make my sword and dagger. Then had to do some other stock work for him so I could make the items I traded for my bow and arrows. I certainly hope they were worth the effort.”.

Altarn and Luciana returned to the kitchen where Henry was devouring one last piece of pie with great effort. “If I ate like this all the time, I’d never be able to plow the fields.” He said, “Now boy, one last chance. Are you sure you don’t want to inherit this farm or do you insist on running off and getting yourself killed? I tried to beat some sense into you while you were still not a man, but you’ve reached an age to make your own decisions.” “I want to keep on good terms with you father, but not at a cost of being tied to this farm my entire life.” “Then you’ve decided and I shall respect your decision.” Henry rose and walked into the sitting room. Amanda said “Here is the surprise I was talking about son.” Henry walked back in with a brand new hand tooled leather scabbard, the old dagger from over the fireplace protruding from the neck. Handing it to Altarn he said “Here you are boy, your request is fulfilled, I also have a few other items for you if you insist on wandering off.” Henry pulled an oiled leather backpack from behind hid back and handed it to Altarn. “Inside you’ll find a bedroll, sheet of canvas to use for a tent, some flint and steel, a couple of waterskins and a few other miscellaneous items that no one should be on the road without. I’ll be going to bed now.” Amanda looked at Altarn , commenting “He really did think he could talk you out of it, but I know you better than he. For the last year I’ve been scrimping a bit on supplies when I go into town and as a result I have something else for you that no-one should be on the road without.” Amanda handed Altarn a small purse which jingled as he shook it. Looking inside he saw many coins, mostly copper with a few silver scattered about inside. “Thank you mother, this will come in just as handy as anything else I’ve been given.” Altarn hugged his mother and noticed a few tears coming from her eyes. “I love you mother and always will. Do not worry, I will return for visits from time to time.” Amanda stood and replied “Well off to bed for myself as well, we’ll have an early morning tomorrow. Remember you are always welcome here and can stay for while longer now if you like, although if you do we’ll expect you to help with the chores.” “Good night mother, I won’t be leaving before morning at least so I’ll take care of the cows and chickens then.”

Altarn: Chapter one, part one

Fantasy stories: Swords and magic, adventure and flight of fancy. I decided not to wait and to just go ahead and slowly post the portions of this story I've written. In time, hopefully, I'll get some comments and hopefully interest as well.

The morning sun could be seen in a single ray crossing the room. Particles of dust danced in the sunbeam as Altarn walked into the kitchen. For a moment he wondered why he had been allowed to sleep so late, normally by this time he would be up and about doing chores. Finally the thought surfaced in his sleep fogged brain, it was his birthday, his coming of age day. His father had let him sleep in to celebrate.

The argument had raged for months, Henry wanted him to stay on the farm and eventually inherit the land. Altarn was his only son and should be the one to inherit the farm. Altarn had no desire for farming, having read several books and deciding that there was far more waiting for him in the world than the farm and attached livestock. As a young child Altarn had been given some minor schooling under a traveling priest. He was taught of the gods and more importantly to him, he had been taught how to read and do basic mathematics. He was sure that he could make his way in the world. In the past few months his dreams had come to a crux. His father had talked about splitting up the farm by gifting Altarn a twenty-five acre section to start farming on. Altarn had told him straight out that he had no desire to farm or even to stay on the farm. Several months back Altarn had admitted his dreams to his mother and father and as a result had to listen to his father’s tirades about his several times removed great grandfather. This ignoble ancestor had been a common adventurer according to his father, a man of little repute and less grace.

Eventually Altarn had been able to point out that it was the profits from this ancestor’s adventuring that had purchased the farm they lived on but his father would not budge. ‘No account, good for nothing, take what they want when they want louses” he called adventurers. Altarn hadn’t really thought much about taking up adventuring until his father’s stories but as Henry told of battles, thefts, and magics; the dedication they required and the disregard for the salt of the earth that seemed to emanate from all adventurers, “save priests” quickly added his father, Altarn felt a desire to explore this new possibility. He had previously thought to travel to a large town and use his command of basic mathematics and writing to secure a position as a scribe for some large merchant company. Perhaps even get to travel with some of the caravans some day and see more of what the world offered that way.

Adventuring seemed a far better way to see the world and like most teenagers he thought that the dangers surely couldn’t apply to him. The one item of his ancestor who had provided the farm that was still about the house was a large dagger, nearly a short sword, that hung on the wall over the fireplace. Altarn had been strapped several times for playing with it when younger. He knew the dagger well, the runes and etchings inscribed on the blade, the very keen edge and the superb balance of the weapon when in his hand. His father claimed that the dagger was poor craftsmanship and would barely stay in the hand when you tried to wield it but for Altarn it felt as though the leather of the grip had adhesive on it. Having never held any other tool that was only designed as a weapon he had nothing to compare it to but felt that no other weapon would be nearly as fit for his hand. He had asked his father for it as a coming of age gift and his father had merely snorted.

It seemed now that his father had made the final fatal error, in letting Altarn sleep in he had sealed the fate of his son. Altarn was determined to never be up before dawn again. In all the arguments Altarn had never thought of the chores and work he did about the farm as a deciding factor but having slept in once, he wanted more. Altarn puttered about the house for a while then went out to do the close in work that was necessary around the farm. Cows to be milked, eggs to be gathered; all the while his father was out in the fields preparing them for the spring planting. Altarn would have been out there with him had he not been allowed to sleep in.

Several hours later his mother, Amanda, returned to the house, she had been to the small village nearby to pick up some supplies. “We’ll have a surprise for you tonight son” she said. “Now shoo, out of the house so I can get to work.” Altarn left the house and drifted about the yard. He wandered off to the small outcropping of rocks near the stream that ran through the yard. This was his private space and he had created a small tent-like structure out of leftover canvas using the rocks for one side of the structure. It was only the size of a small lean-to but in his daydreams it was far more. It was a portal to the world about him that he had never seen. He sprawled back inside and his dreams took him away to Turrin, a large town several days travel to the northwest.

Altarn: Introduction

Fantasy stories: Magic, combat, and flights of fancy. I was thinking I'd like to put some of my stories online but that they would not reasonably mesh with my regular blog. With the availability of blog space, I thought I would jsut start a new one dedicated to the stories. Here is the intro page of one I'm about 5 chapters into written but have had the whole story running through my brain for a few years:

A bright glow lit the room though no one was there to see it. The wall over the mantle shown like a tiny sun. The glow grew brighter and strengthened , finally to begin dimming as the wail of a newborn was heard echoing throughout the house. As the glow faded it revealed the same dagger that had been mounted on the wall for years. While any light remained from the glow the dagger looked quite different from its normal appearance. A gem-studded hilt protruding from a finely tooled scabbard was visible, the gems on the hilt giving off the slowly dimming light. When the light faded the gems gave a tiny eye-wrenching twist and mounted on the wall was once again an ill-used but intact dagger, rough leather-wrapped hilt protruding from a crumbling, shoddy leather scabbard.

Moments later the proud new father came into the room, pacing back and forth with his newborn leaning over his shoulder. The father’s eyes never even glanced above the mantle but were there one there to see they could have noticed that the newborn’s eyes almost never left the dagger mounted there and the reflection in his eyes showed not the common weapon all else saw but flickers of lantern light reflecting off of the fine jewels in the hilt.

As the child grew older and was chastised for his “make-believe” many times, he ceased telling anyone else of the fine dagger over the mantelpiece.

Please, let me know in the comments if this is something that you'd be interested in reading more of. I will continue to write/post them for as long as there is a decent request for more.
Thralen (Tom)