Birthright Tuornen Chapter Four

[ewancummins]

THE BACK HALL

Safana looks delighted.

"I will gather the children and see if I can get them to forget their cares for a while. Perhaps some warming soup when I am finished?"

As the squire agrees she descends to the manor below, gathering the children who are willing in an appropriate hall. As they sit there, the room around them shimmers and changes, and they are sitting in a Khinasi chamber, with silken drapes, beautiful tapestries and a view over sweeping, grassy plains.

She dances to a sweet music, and tells them a tale of gallant heroes overcoming peril by wit and skill, to rescue imperiled princesses. As she does, the scene around them changes, and they see the characters enacting the scenes, amid caverns and plains, and bowers of flowers and feasting halls.

The baker's dozen of grubby children smile at Safana's every word and clap whenever she finishes a trick or pauses for long in her storyelling.


Ranald sits nearby, eating a green apple and watching the show with an indulgent smile.

[RocEter]

FOERDE

Foerde returns to where the men are shoring up the defenses and uses his skills as carpenter to assist until Cormac is ready to leave.

At first everything goes as before, with the men working alongside Foerde in good cheer.
But not long after he returns to work, a new shift including several of the men that Gunnar had been training comes on duty.
Some of the men stare at Foerde for a moment, shake their heads, and walk away when if comes near them. One older man seems to look right through him as though he were a ghost. Others return his gaze with insolent smirks while mumbling pious language. No one speaks directly to him, not even about the carpentry work at which he is clearly skilled.

Clearly word has gotten around the manor of Foerde's refusal to spar with Gunnar. There is also no doubt in his mind that only a partial truth remains.

While working Foerde speaks loud enough for those around him to hear. "Those insolent smirks should be a face filled with shame. Only a coward would talk about man behind his back and only a fool would believe the coward." He says as if offering words of wisdom.

Foerde will continue to work in silence, unless directly spoken too, and so long as the others do not make it impossible for him to do his work.

[ewancummins]

FOERDE

Foerde returns to where the men are shoring up the defenses and uses his skills as carpenter to assist until Cormac is ready to leave.

At first everything goes as before, with the men working alongside Foerde in good cheer.
But not long after he returns to work, a new shift including several of the men that Gunnar had been training comes on duty.
Some of the men stare at Foerde for a moment, shake their heads, and walk away when if comes near them. One older man seems to look right through him as though he were a ghost. Others return his gaze with insolent smirks while mumbling pious language. No one speaks directly to him, not even about the carpentry work at which he is clearly skilled.

Clearly word has gotten around the manor of Foerde's refusal to spar with Gunnar. There is also no doubt in his mind that only a partial truth remains.

While working Foerde speaks loud enough for those around him to hear. "Those insolent smirks should be a face filled with shame. Only a coward would talk about man behind his back and only a fool would believe the coward." He says as if offering words of wisdom.

Foerde will continue to work in silence, unless directly spoken too, and so long as the others do not make it impossible for him to do his work.

One of the men who smirked walks up to Foerde.
''Shut up coward, braggart, false priest. Shut up or fight like a man."
The sturdy peasant rolls up his sleeves and lifts his fists.
"You pissed all over yourself at the sight of Gunnar, but I'm not such a giant among men. You scared of boxing me too, little kitty cat?"

[RocEter]

Foerde takes the knife off his belt and tosses it aside. "I am going to do more than just fight you boy. I am going to teach you a lesson you'll soon never forget." He says raising both arms. "You wanted to learn to fight with your hands? Then I will teach you, as I was taught..."

[ewancummins]

Foerde takes the knife off his belt and tosses it aside. "I am going to do more than just fight you boy. I am going to teach you a lesson you'll soon never forget." He says raising both arms. "You wanted to learn to fight with your hands? Then I will teach you, as I was taught..."

A quick match follows, and Foerde takes a couple of hits before downing the man with a brutal series of punches to the head and body.

One of the men watching says-
"Not bad Foerde of Elevesnemiere. But don't think you've won our respect yet. Gunnar shamed you. No real Tuor would stand for that. Until you face him like a man and defend your honor with more than just words, you are not welcome among us."

The men pick up their stunned buddy and begin to walk away.

[RocEter]

Foerde nods. "When there is time. We have much to do and very little time in which to do it in, allow me to heal him some." He says.

[ewancummins]

Foerde nods. "When there is time. We have much to do and very little time in which to do it in, allow me to heal him some." He says.

The man answers- ''Excuses are for women. There is time now. One of us will go fetch Gunnar and you can box him."

Several of the men nod in agreement. A couple of them whoop and stamp their feet.
The commotion draws peasants and servants from inside the house.
Men shout-
"Yeah, fight, fight, FIGHT!"

[RocEter]

"Very well go get Gunnar." He says. "We'll end this one or another." He says.

[ewancummins]

"Very well go get Gunnar." He says. "We'll end this one or another." He says.

One of the men runs to fetch Gunnar.

[ewancummins]

Foerde tries to cast spells before the match, but his prayers are interrupted by hurled stones, loud curses, and violent shoving. The little crowd of men is fast growing into a large, angry mob.

"Don't let him cheat! He tried to cheat before, with those magic claws! No magic, no magic!"

...


An soon Gunnar comes round the side of the manor home, the barest trace of a grin on his craggy face.

He puts up his huge fists and advances upon Foerde without ceremony...

[Varrus the Ethical]

Roald pulled his cloak around himself to drive away the chill as he made his way through the streets of the city that he helped save. He paid no mind to the people and their revels, he was too focused on his own troubled thoughts.

Probably just some drunk. He thought. But he couldn't shake the feeling that the guardsman had been on to something. It If what he said was true, that Roald did look like a Flaertes, then that would explain the queer looks people had been giving him ever since he originally arrived in Haes. And there was still the matter of the letter from the late Duke himself that had summoned him to the city in the first place...

Roald quickened his paced. The sooner he put this nonsense the rest, the sooner he could get back to drinking.

[ewancummins]

THE BOXING MATCH



Foerde gets a couple of good licks in, but Gunnar proves to be a lot faster than he looks and his punches hit like sacks of rocks. The Northman seems perhaps more skillful at boxing than Foerde; certainly no less. The bigger man grunts and sweats, working the priest over with well-aimed blows. Through the pain and the raw animal fear (only a madman doesn't fear some degree of fear in a fight like this) Foerde dimly perceives that Gunnar is pulling some of the blows just a wee bit, not quite using his full force. But the power he brings to bear is more than enough to drive the wind from Foerde’s chest again and again, and send the priest reeling across the hard dirt. A mighty haymaker smashes into Foerde’s head, stars explode in his eyes, and he passes out before he hits the ground.


After Foerde falls down, unconscious, Gunnar walks over to the boy who serves as his helper and takes a sack from him. He then walks back to the face-down, motionless form of 'the beastman' and reaches into the sack. Pulling a sheepskin jacket from the bag, he drops it on top of his erstwhile opponent and walks off without a word, as some of the peasants clap and holler in excitement while others just stand there with their jaws hanging open.

[ewancummins]

CORMAC, THE STABLES


The stable-master, a thin, greasy-beareded man with a limp in his right leg, explains the offer.
''So, like I was saying, Squire Ranald told me that you can borrow any one of these four horses. Take your pick. All he asks is that you take real good care of it, comb it daily, and try not to let those damned goblins or their twice-damned wolves catch and eat it."

...

Cormac has had just a little time to examine horseflesh when Dietric sticks his head in the stables door.

"Hey, Boss? Foerde is brawling with Gunnar in front of the manor home! I aint got the details, but it sounds like this fight's been brewing for a while. "

[ewancummins]

FOERDE



After Gunnar beats Foerde senseless the priest sleeps...


Rain lashes his face and hands, tumult of wind and wave fills his ears. Foerde stands alone on the rocky shore of a storm-swept island, amid tidal pools clustered with strange sea creatures and stands of jumbled stone like castle ruins. Looking inland, he sees pine-capped hills rising from the heart of the little isle; looking seaward he beholds only the fury of the green waters.
Through the gray sheets of hard rain, Foerde spots a glimmering light near the center of the inland hills, atop the highest mound, the source shrouded by tall trees.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

[CAER HAES]

"Haelyn keep His Late Grace safe," Renn says ritualistically, making the gestures of the faith.

"Right," he says almost immediately after. "Now there's still a matter of the prisoners. We can't keep them all locked up, but if we draft them into the army they'll need somebody to lead them. And draft them we should--whether to fight goblins, Carilon, or the brigands who will inevitably spring up, we'll need boots on the ground."

"Perhaps the sell sword would be interested in a command? Roald, was that his name?"