Campaign Log: A Doe Among Wolves

[coronatiger]

8. My First Kill

26th of Høylys

Rune banged on pots to wake everyone. He was going to his regular morning meeting, and he wanted Snobben, Koldan and me to accompany him to explain what we learned about the poison trap we found. Grimleif was allowed to sleep in, presumably so his stench or his foul words wouldn’t upset the delicate diplomacy of rivaling groups trying to cooperate.

At the meeting were Bjorke the rumormonger, and Bjørg the potter, as well as a woman in her forties that I didn’t know. The first topic of the day was the saboteur, and Rune looked to us to tell what we knew. I looked at Snobben with puppy eyes and he did the talking. He described the trap and the tracks we had found around it, saying we suspected the elusive, little local with the red knitted cap, although we had no actual proof of their guilt. When he was done, Snobben asked Koldan and me if he had forgotten something in his tale, but I shook my head, and Koldan said no.

Rune dismissed us when the other leaders didn’t have any questions, and we went back to the house. Karl Egil cornered me and said he wanted to take me outside and show me strength exercises for my throwing arm. I had seen no reason why Karl Egil might be untrustworthy, but I asked if Koldan could come with us, just in case he was up to no good. We exited the back and entered another house across the alley, and Karl Egil set us to do exercises that made my whole body burn, not just my arms. If he insists on keeping this up, I might not like him very much in the end, but I will be the strongest kid in Feidvang, or at least on this island.

Finally, it was time for breakfast. Rune said we had two days to show our mettle, if we still wanted to join the Jaggard. He said the Brothers of the Warg would accept our presence if we could find the “saboteur” and take care of them. He meant whoever was responsible for setting up the poisoned traps. Furthermore, Hvaltann, a baker recently recruited by the Honorables, disappeared yesterday, so if anyone figured out what had happened to him, there would be a small reward.

King Sivir’s ghost said it would be nice to take a trip to the job fair, so he wouldn’t have to think about politics for a while. Koldan yelled something I didn’t understand, waking Grimleif, who sat up and rubbed his eyes. Rune asked what was wrong with Koldan. Koldan said he was going crazy, which Grimleif thought had already happened. Rune said he didn’t tolerate such outbursts.

With Grimleif up, Rune wanted medicine. He had seen how well Grimleif’s remedies had worked on Koldan. I had no idea if Koldan had recovered more speedily than he would have without the medicine, but the grown-ups seemed to think it likely, and Grimleif started a new brew immediately. I sat down in a corner after I finished eating and began to juggle, but the others were doing chores and giving me the stink-eye, so I went to help.

When it was time to go out, I suggested we went up to where we found the last trap. Maybe we could find the “saboteur” if we foraged around there? I brought a shovel in addition to the javelins, so we could dig a pit trap for the wild boars and/or the guards. Koldan hefted his axe, which now had a handle. Karl Egil had done a good job with it. I thought it looked balanced enough that it could be used as a throwing weapon.

We discussed whether to recruit Snobben to help us follow tracks, but Grimleif thought he and Koldan should be able to handle it, since they didn’t go around with their heads in the clouds like us humans.

It was a bit of a walk to get back to the trap, and we looked for food on the way. I found berries, but not more than we ate as we walked. Koldan felled a grey beast with funny stripes on its head that Grimleif said was a badger.

We found the remains of the trap as we had left it. The footprints in the mud nearby led further into the forest, and we started to follow them. After a couple of kilometers, Grimleif had led us to a clearing, and we had to stop and spend some time looking around to see where the tracks went from there.

Just a couple of minutes after we left the clearing, I spotted a tripwire. I asked the others if they thought it was a trap. Grimleif cursed and said yes, but I noticed that the string continued into the woods on both sides of the track. I followed the string a few steps. It looked to be going around a large anthill just ahead. Suspiciously, another string tied to the first went inside the anthill. I wasn’t so sure it was an anthill anymore. The string looked more like an alarm than a trap, I figured.

Grimleif asked if he could borrow a weapon from Koldan or me. I offered a javelin, but Grimleif spat and said that respectable dwarves didn’t use such flimsy weapons. He looked around for something he could use, a stick or a rock, perhaps, but eventually pulled out his tooth medallion. I didn’t think it looked very sharp, but Grimleif looked so confident holding it, I guess he knew how to fight with it.

Grimleif wondered if we should attack at once, or if we should take a more friendly-seeming approach. I didn’t want to fight anyone, so I said we should try to resolve the situation peacefully, but Grimleif ignored me and asked Koldan’s opinion. Koldan said he would fight if we were attacked, but he didn’t want to be the first to strike a blow. Grimleif muttered that if Koldan started to fight, it might be difficult to get him to stop. I frowned at that; did Grimleif possess some dwarven insight about this? I didn’t think either of us had ever seen Koldan fight. Oh, he must have meant when we were fleeing the sinking ship. There had been a brief scuffle in the stairwell that I hadn’t seen since I had been told to get out of the way for those who actually could fight, but that had lasted no more than a few seconds, and Koldan had seemed quite normal afterwards.

We sneaked up to the hut. Suddenly, Koldan walked into a trap and fell down a hole. There were sharpened sticks at the bottom and one struck him right in the face. Most of the sticks had poison on them, Grimleif said, but Koldan had been lucky and avoided those. Koldan ripped the sticks from the ground and tossed them up, and I lay down the javelins so I could start digging steps for him to get out.

A small hatch opened in the hut and two eyes peeked out at me. “Who are you?” a voice asked. I put on a smile. “Hi, I’m Edel. Who are you?” “Nobb. What’s your name?” the voice retorted, and I got the feeling he was trying to be funny. “My name is Edel,” I repeated. “What’s your name?” “How nice,” said the voice. “Where are you from?” “Rødvik,” I admitted. “Does your mommy and daddy know you’re here?” “No,” I said, suddenly saddened. “Who’s your friend?” Nobb asked. “That’s Grimleif, and Koldan is down in the hole,” I explained, pointing. Nobb offered to come outside to help. I smiled and thanked him.

Grimleif was kneeling on the ground, reaching down to Koldan with one of the sticks from the trap. A fully-grown human might have been able to reach high enough to pull themselves out without help, but not a dwarf. I lay down beside Grimleif and stuck the shovel down. Koldan started to climb, and it was going well when Nobb came and bumped into Grimleif. Nobb apologized immediately, but his trickster nature shone through. Nobb backed away, and we were able to get Koldan up.

The creature Nobb was about the same size as my friends, but he had no beard. He had the red knitted cap we had observed earlier, and simple clothes. “My name is Nobb,” Nobb said to the dwarves, who gave their names to him too. I asked why Nobb was making traps for us, but he explained that he wasn’t making them for us; he was making them for the snorting beasts and the big two-foots who hunted in packs with their hounds. Nobb didn’t think we were wise to venture into the forest where so many scary beasts roamed. I said we had to, to gather food.

Grimleif cut in. “Listen here, you red-capped buffoon! Your traps are getting in our way!” Nobb rose to the challenge. “No, you listen, you short-bearded smarty-pants! My traps keep the dangers away from you too!”

Nobb had stood with his hands hidden behind his back, but all of a sudden, he proffered a yellow flower to me. I took it, dumbfounded at the unexpected gallantry. Grimleif leaned in to look at the flower and then asked Nobb why he had given me a poisonous flower. I dropped it immediately. “Oh, no, take this instead!” Nobb said, holding out a purple one. I accepted the offer, but dropped it on the ground. Grimleif advised me to rinse my hand as soon as possible, before the poison penetrated my skin. He wasn’t particularly nice in the way he said it, though.

Koldan asked to see Nobb’s hands, for it was clear he was hiding something more behind his back. Nobb showed one hand and then the other, but not both at once. Koldan warned him to drop whatever it was he was hiding, or he was going to sit on him. Nobb thought it best if we parted ways now.

Grimleif suggested we captured Nobb and brought him back with us. Koldan gave Grimleif the axe, then went over to Nobb and swung a fist at him, but Nobb ducked away from the blow. Grimleif followed Koldan and Nobb around the hut, but I just climbed right over it.

On the other side, Grimleif warned Koldan not to step into another trap, but that was just what Koldan did. Grimleif took aim with the throwing axe, and Nobb focused on him, ready to dodge, so he barely noticed when I launched myself at him from the roof.

Hitting someone with my body hurt, and I fell. Luckily, Nobb only made a half-hearted attempt to strike me with his stone axe before he ran into the forest, laughing. I had left the javelins on the other side of the hut, but I still had the shovel, which I found myself in an excellent position to thrust down to Koldan, getting him up. He had avoided the sharpened sticks in this trap completely.