To Steal a Kingdom
This story is about none of them. Instead, we look to the villiage weakling, the thrall Kongur. He had scrawny arms, barely able to lift himself out of bed in the morning. He had scrawny legs, that betrayed him when he failed to keep pace with the fisherman along the docks. Even the task of pulling a log up the river was insurmountable for Kongur.
Because of his weak stature, Kongur was sent with the villiage mystic, to the partly frozen river banks to find strange herbs and medicine, which seemed to suit him just fine. He spent days upon days talking to the villiage mystic, learning about the wilds, the healing herbs of the river, and, more often than not, the gossip of the townsfolk.
Kongur learned of each person in town, their wants, their fears, and desires. He took this knowledge back with him after every trip, speaking to each person in town. Then, one day, he heard stories of the Karl's daughter. Long, flowing brown hair, the temper of a dragon, and the fighting spirit of an Orc. Kongur was but a thrall, an orphan even, but he found himself captivated by the thought of someone near his own age in such a small town.
One night, shortly after becoming a young adult, he decided to see the Karl's daughter himself. Though he wasn't strong, he was quiet, and managed to sneak through the window of the daughters bedroom. It was there, he saw her, sleeping soundly.
Though Kongur had seen many a pretty woman before in the town, he never saw someone so pretty, his own age, so close to him. He felt he could not help himself, but at least give a thankful kiss to the sleeping woman. Upon his lips touching hers, the woman woke up, and immediately got up, and threw him out the window like he was little more than a pile of twigs.
Crashing through the window, Kongur began to try running away but the Karl's daughter called after him. "Stop Kongur!" to which he pauses. "Thats right. I know who you are. What's to stop me from having you killed for stealing my first kiss?" After a short moment, Kongur turns back to them, and replies, calmly, but firm. "Only that you stole mine as well."
The chieftains daughter looks at Kongur, who, despite being a twig in human form, had the sheer audacity to respond in such a way. "Return tomorrow night with a gift worthy of my first kiss, and I will consider letting you live for committing this slight." To which Kongur bows to the daughter, and proudly walks away.
The next night, Kongur shows up at the Karl's house again, the window still broken from the night before. The Karl's daughter came up to the window, this time a wooden plate in hand as she threw it like a discus as Kongur, who deftly dodged the blow. "I brought you as you demanded!" he said before placing a single flower on the windowsill. "I am but a peasent as you said, and so, I give you my rarest find of the day, as one would give a queen. A flower, a tulip in fact, found this far in the north is as rare a sight as can be." The daughter, looked at the flower with a sigh. "It is not a worthy enough gift for my first kiss. Come back again with a proper gift." And she went to sleep.
Each night, Kongur came back, barely sleeping while still helping the villiage mystic. And each time, he deftly avoided something being thrown at him, gave a different plant, told a story, and recited poetry, and each time, she told him that it wasn't enough for stealing her first kiss. But after a while, the Karl's daughter began to smile when he arrived. And after an entire year, she told Kongur her own name. Linnéa, like the pink flower that grows in the mountains.
Linnéa came to the window the night after she told Kongur her name, and he was not there. She came again the next night, and still, he had not appeared. It was on th third day that Linnéa, worried for his health, came to the window yet again, to see a battered, bruised, slightly frozen and exausted Kongur, carrying the pink flower she mentioned in hand. Kongur traveled a days journey to the mountains to the east, the Grey Mountains, spent half the day climbing them, finding the pink flower, and another day and a half bringing it back, the flower still alive and thriving in the soil from the mountaintops.
Linnéa was more than impressed, and for the first time, she smiled at him, and said, "This was worth my first kiss."
Distraught, Kongur pleaded with Linnéa, begging her to run away with him, away from her duties, but Linnéa refused. "Should I leave, then Jarl Elak will surely send his armies to wipe our villiage from the map. I do care for you, but my duties as the daughter of a Karl demand that I cannot see you again. I'm sorry Kongur, but, I no longer wish to see you at my window." to which, Linnéa closes her window, leaving Kongur to his fate.
The next day, Linnéa set out on horseback with a pair of chaperones, the great fighter Krigare, known as the best warrior of the villiage, yet a true pacifist, he refuses to kill any man, and wields a shield as its own weapon. The second chaperone, happened to be Kongur's only other friend, another apprentice of the viliage mystic, Betyda. A powerful spellcaster in their own right, able to command the forces of nature with but a flick of his wrist. Even at such a young age, able to produce magics that bring many who see it to awe and wonder.
Knowing that Kongur was to be a chaperone, he begged his friend for a favor, in that to read the Jarl's mind as to what he plans to do. Knowing it was a simple task, Betyda agreed. Kongur, meanwhile, knowing the fate that could fall upon the villiage, abandoned his own duties to train for battle as best as he could with such a weak frame.
It took three days for Linnéa and her party to traverse through the snowy fields to Jarl Elak. Upon arrival, they found all three legions, ready and preparing themselves for battle, before they took Linnéa To Jarl Elak himself, offering her marriage as a gift to the great warlord. Jarl Elak accepted the gift, and promised that their villiage was to be spared. Following his promise to Kongur, Betyda saw through his ruse, and discovered that in one months time, his army would march west, and destroy the villiage and take their resources, forcing everyone to become a thrall. With that, Betyda and Krigare marched off as quickly as they could back to town.
Linnéa was unhappy with her new husband, as she quickly learned she was but the fourth wife, to an unloving, uncaring husband. She could not attack him directly, as that would ensure her death with his legions of followers, so instead she hatched a plan. She convinced her husband to drink heavily each night, and instead of her, convinced her other wives to bed him instead, telling each of them in turn that she had bed with him the night before. Instead, she spent each night stealing away, and practicing how to swing her rown weapon, outside of the eyes of any other man.
Meanwhile, Kongur trained each day until Betyda and Krigare returned. Betyda explained the plans of the warlord to Kongur, who, despite his aprehension to killing another, was furious, and wanted to protect his town the best he could. Although Betyda was smart, he know that Kongur could conjur up a plan given his quick wit, and the time constraints. And so, the three of them sat, and spoke with one another.
As Kongur was informed of the plan, he told his two companions that he knew how to defeat each of the three legions, but would require the assistance of as many people as they could. And so, the three of them went around to each member of the town, and pled for help. Each time they were turned away, informing that should they be attacked by three legions, they were doomed to fall no matter how many people would help the three of them out. And so, the three of them came up with a plan of their own.
"I will need three things." Kongur said after a week of planning. "First, we will need food, fresh berries from the forest to the south, as many as you can carry to feed us and the army." He says to Krigare. "But, I have no knowledge of herbs and plants." Said the soldier. "Thats allright, the two of us have more important things to grab, and I will make sure that any berry you gather is safe to eat on your return." And with that, Krigare went south to gather berries.
"Seccond, I will need a tool that will always point to the west, using your magical powers." He says to Betyda. "But no tool of navigation has ever been created before!" Says Betyda. "A challenge for the smartest man in every room he goes in." Replies Kongur, and with that, Betyda nearly set himself off for the challenge before stopping himelf. "But what of your third thing?" "That, I will gain myself, it will be a sword strong enough to stop a mortal blow, and one other thing I believe I can find to the north. I shall set out immediately myself." He says before all the trio fully parted ways, off on their own quest.
Kongur traveled as far north as he could, through the frozen, bitter wastes of the dangerous, nearly inhospitible lands before he came upon what he was looking for. A cave, overlooking the frozen ocean of the north, and inside, a frost dragon, barely awake and looking bored. Before the dragon could make his first attack, Kongur held his arms wide open and shouted to the creature, "I can cure your boredom oh great ancient lord of frost and sky!"
Intrigued by this prospect, instead of the prospective meal before him, the dragon listened. "In but a few weeks time, there will be a great army, freezing, dying in the frozen tundra just within your domain, but on the mainland instead of near your own lair. One where you can pit your armored hide against the weapons of those who have never faced a dragon before. It will be a grand hunt the likes you will remember for hundreds of years." The dragon agreed to this challenge, intrigued by the humans words. "In payment for this information, I wish for one item from your horde." To this the dragon grew angry. "Payment for fun is well and good, but my horde is vast and filled with wondrous treasures. I require additional payment for your service. What would you offer a dragon as great as me?"
Kongur peels back his clothing, and holds up his arm in the air, bare. "I give you this knowledge in persuit of love, taken from me. For that, I cannot give you life, but limb is all I have to offer as trade, for a thrall such as myself." Taken by surprise for the offer, the dragon pauses, and decides that even for one as cold as himself, the mere act of bravery warmed the heart of the great dragon. "You gave me a story to remember till the end of time. Take one item, and only one, and I will see your enemies vanquished."
Kongur took this acceptance without fear, going into the dragons layer, taking an old, dirty sword, and making his way back to the ship, heading back home to meet up with the rest of his friends.
After a days travel, the trio came upon the first legion of Elak, one with light horses, and made for scouting. Kongur took the two compass, and approached the camp, showing off how the compass could always point north, allowing the scouts to more quickly find their way to their destination. Happy with such a valuable tool, the leader of the scouting legion traded Kongur a bag of silver for the compass, which lead the legion north to its doom.
After another days travel, the trio came upon the second legion, one filled with great and skilled warriors. It was there that Kongur took the bag of berries, and offered his services as a cook, so no warrior would be forced to soil his hands with a meal on the eve of battle. The legion accepted, and Kongur took all of the poisonous berries that his companion had unknowingly gathered, and fed it to the warriors, as they slowly died off in the night. Krigare was concerned that nobody was waking up the next morning, but Kongur had them march forward just the same.
It was on the third day that they came to the third and final legion of Jarl Elak. With a wide swath of capabilities for all of the legion, he asked his friends to make a simple distraction for him to take on the Jarl on his own. Krigare decided that he would challenge every fighter that he could to a duel, making a large commotion that he was the most powerful fighter they could face, and indeed, he was, as his shield kept anyone from true harm.
For Betyda, the scholars were quick to realize something was amiss with no reports from the previous legions, and being on high alert, they were ready to deal with a powerful foe. But Betyda was not one to give them a fight, as with a wave of his hand and a few words, he forced the soldiers in direct route to Jarl Elak into a slumber. Needing to make sure that more wouldn't follow them, Kongur rushed ahead into the tent of Jarl Elak himself.
As kongur entered the tent, the strongest two soldiers of Jarl Elak's entire nation were there, ready to fight him, as kongur held up his sword. "I do not wish harm to your Jarl, instead, I will fight for the honor of having my loves hand in marriage, for she was stolen from me as she had stolen my heart." Looking at the scrawny man, the soldiers laughed, but agreed that he should be given a chance against the great warlord, and pushed him through.
Jarl Elak was not amused by this. He stood his ground, taking out a sword fit to be wielded only by giants and slamming it into the ground. "You are but a weak child that is throwing his life away for someone far above your station." He says before watching as Kongur charges forward, attemping to strike the Jarl. The jarl picks up his blade with ease, and though he tries to end the fight with a swift cut to Krogur's neck, the sword raised up and blocked the blow instead, throwing Krogur to the other side of the room. He was prone, but quickly stood his ground.
Linnéa steped forward. "If you find him so weak, perhaps he could call for a champion against you my dear husband?" She said, breaking herself away from the Jarl's other wives. The Jarl laughed and looked to his two soldiers. "Allright, who would face off against the great Jarl Elak?" To which Linnéa grabbed the sword she had been using to practice at every waking hour of the day when she could, standing between Elak and Kongur.
Surprised by this sudden betrayal from his new wife, Jarl Elak begain to fight Linnéa, but with each swing, her fury and skill were unmatched against his might, slowed down by ages of food and drink. The battle was tense, and only after Elak lost both his crown and his sword in one swing, did he fall to his knees, admitting defeat, and allowing Linnéa to marry Kongur.
"No." Said Linnéa, turning to Kongur. "He got the right to ask for my hand, but now he must earn the right to take it." She says squaring up to Kongur, ready to fight him. Kongur knew he was defeated long before he could pick up his sword. Linnéa was bold, strong, beautiful, and someone he had no intention of hurting. So, he picked up his sword in the middle, and charged at her. As Linnéa took one bold swing against him, Kongur slid directly between her legs, and stabbed into Elak, just before he stabbed a dagger into the woman who bested him in combat.
"I yield!" Kongur said, the warlord dead and lain upon him as Linnéa, once again gave him a smile. "This was worth my hand."
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