Chapter 6: Prelude to War
Eight years later...
*Bang* *bang *bang* *psshhh*
"Hahahaha, it's finally completed!" I shouted as I held up a shiny one-handed sword; the blade was 71cm long with a black leather wrap around its hilt and a silver wolf pummel on the end. "Finally, I have a good sword that isn't going to break after a day of fighting," I said, swinging the sword around and testing its balance.
It has been a long eight years since that day my father called me to start my training, and I have turned 15 this year. After eight years of training in both magic and battle, my body has become a lean, athletic build with incredibly defined muscles, already having an eight-pack with a V-line going down my torso. I managed to keep my hair short with only the two bangs that drooped down over both my eyes landing on my cheeks on either side of my face.
As for why I am in a blacksmith hut forging a sword, well, there are two reasons. After completing my training from both my parents by the age of 10, giving both a colossal shock, Mikael started to take me with him and the other men on their raids of different villages in the surrounding area.
Over the five years I started going with the raiding party, we left many villages in flames, with their residents either captured, enslaved, or killed. In doing this, we inadvertently caused alarm to a big village settlement about 100 km west of our village, which got wind of a raiding party attacking the surrounding villages unimpeded. Although they noticed us, they didn't take us as a significant threat as we were still quite a distance away from them until one day, we attacked a village under the protection of the bigger town.
Remembering the events of that day that led to the current situation, I could not help but put my sword down and take a seat as I thought over my memories of that day.
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Flashback to 3 years ago, a fishing village 50km west of the home village...
"Alright, men, this is a fishing village with minimal protection and should be a rather easy conquest for us." The village chief and leader of the party stated as we stood in the woods on a hill looking over the village below.
"What about the women, sir!" I heard one man from the back of the group shout as we checked our equipment.
Hearing this, the village chief smiled while still looking at the village with an evil glint, "What about them? When we conquer this village, everything will be ours, whether food, coin, or women."
Once he said that, many men in the group had evil grins plastered on their faces as we prepared to move down the hill and begin the attack.
As we got to the bottom of the hill and hid behind the bushes on the edge of the village, we waited for the chief to signal the start of the attack.
Suddenly, breaking the tranquility of the surroundings with an out-of-place sound, the village chief blew his war horn, signaling the start of the attack as we all ran out of the bushes and started attacking the nearby guards.
*slice* *pierce*
"AHHHHH"
As I started my attack, I ran through the middle of the enemy, cutting down all those who came close. Screams could be heard from all around me as I swung my sword with great precision gained from the years of training with my father and raids completed over the years before this. With every swing of my blade, an enemy either lost a limb or his life; I was like a reaper coming to claim the souls that were rightfully his as blood covered my body from head to toe.
After an hour of fighting, we finally killed all the opposing warriors and started to search the building in the village for whatever valuables we could find.
While looting the village, we heard a sudden cry and saw the village chief exiting the enemy's village chief hut, as only the leaders have a right to loot the other chiefs' dwelling. He was dragging a man by his hair into the middle of the area; once there, he threw the man to the ground, earning the laughs of the surrounding men.
"Men, here we have a coward of a chief who, instead of fighting to protect his village and people, chose to cower and hide in his chambers like a mouse!" the chief shouted, and all the surrounding men burst into laughter.
"What do you think we should do with this lowly rodent, huh men!" he shouted once more, and immediately you could hear the shouts in reply from the others.
"Hang him!"
"Slit his throat!"
"Drown him in the river!"
Hearing the men's shouts on the different ways to seal his fate, the man on the ground grew frightened, "You can't. My uncle will not stand for this!" he said while tears started to stream down his cheeks.
"Oh? And who is your uncle, boy, that we shouldn't kill you?" the chief asked the man crying on the ground.
Seeing a glimmer of hope, the man mustered up some courage, "My uncle is the Jarl of a settlement to the west of us, and this village is under his protection in exchange for providing food to his village." he said, hoping that knowing this information would deter us from killing him.
"HAHAHAHA" The chief just let out a boisterous laughter hearing what the man said, "You think I am scared of some Jarl!? Let him come, and we will cut him down the same way we did his men here!" the chief replied firmly, earning the shouts of agreement of his men.
"Now, how should we deal with you?" the chief asked again as he looked at the now crying again man who had lost all hope of getting out of here alive.
At this moment, I raised my hand. "I have a suggestion, chief."
"Ah, you are the Mikaelson boy, the pride of our younger generation; what is it that you suggest, boy?" he said, looking up towards me along with all the other men and my father, who was waiting to see what I would say.
"I suggest that we give him the blood eagle chief," I said, not letting all the attention bother me.
"Blood eagle? I don't think I have heard that one before, now I am intrigued, come boy, and demonstrate what it is for us, and we will see if we are satisfied afterward," he said, calling me towards him.
I walked over to where he stood, pulling out my dagger; I asked the chief, "We need to tie both his hands to two wooden posts so that they are spread out as he sits in a kneeling position."
The chief looked at me with an interested gaze and then at his men. "You heard the boy; tie him up to the posts the way he said!" he ordered as two men came forward to complete the task.
A few minutes later, everything was ready as I stood behind the kneeling man and started cutting open his rib cage from the back while he let out the most horrifying screams any of the men watching ever hear. After cutting open his rib cage and folding them backward to make it look like he had wings, I reached inside, gently took both his lungs out, and placed them on his shoulders.
When i was finished i stood up and looked towards the chief "This is the blood eagle" i stated as i saw the looks of fear mixed with respect shown on all the men's faces after they saw what could only be described as a torture method from the depths of hell
(end of flashback)
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A.N.: big time skip this time, next is going to be the war and then the night of turning. No the MC will not save henrik as his death is essentially the catalyst that starts the whole originals story