556 A. C. The Year Of Ice

Part 1 :A Jump Start

A small armored jeep made it's way through the ruins a small desert town, it's spot light glided over the bodies and blood stained concert. Children screamed in the distance as the cold of the north wind hit them. The fog dwellers howled at the moon. A young brown haired man wondered the through an old hospital in search of something to clean his wounds, he stopped and took a deep breathe as soldiers executed a group of people in the street out front. He fixed the collar of his dress shirt as he dashed in front of a window, soon he stood in a small office line with glass cases. The labels were water damaged and unread able, forcing him to smell the liquids inside the vials. It didn't take long to get light headed, perhaps smashing the useless chemicals on the floor wasn't best idea. When he came across the alcohol he poured half of a vial on to his left hand where he had caught the blade of a sword during the invasion, second was a bullet wound on his shoulder, just a skim over top on the bone. He grunted as he clean his smaller cuts all over his body, so loud a near by soldier heard and rushed towards the room. The young man heard him as he reached the door and pulled out a lighter and set the chemicals around him a blaze, he jumped for the window grabbing some more vials of alcohol. The soldier screamed in pain as the flames took him by surprise.

The young man landed on a sheet of ice, his green eyes looked blankly up at himself, he had just watched hundreds of people die and he felt nothing. His father was right he had no place among civilized people, he should have stayed with the Ice dwellers. He shook his head and made his way over the top of a burned out car, he slipped and feel to the ground landing on top of the body of a small boy who's blood had begun to freeze in the cold air. He grabbed a pistol off a near by corpse and began to run through the piles of bodies, no longer what he considered people he learned not to long ago. He stumbled through the shelled out buildings, the fight was over here, he kept reminding himself.

Before long he had reached the northern forest he slipped on a pond of ice falling and sliding a couple of feet, he lay with his face in the snow the cold reminded him of home with his sisters sledding down the northern hills. He turned over humming a tune and looked to the sky, he was quickly disturbed as a mixture of bows and rifles were aimed at him. The Northern Rangers were all around him, they did not see his scares of the Dwellers only his fresh wounds.

A large gray bearded man dressed in furs and thin armor made his way out on to the ice, he carried a large club, " get to your feet southern scum!" He was quick to so and was rushed across the ice, the second his foot touched the ground his body went limp and his vision went dark.

When he came to he was sitting in a chair facing a wall of ice the roof was a also ice, he could almost make out a stone doorway behind him in his reflection. A man in a suite with a come over stood in the corner to his right, the man had a pipe in hand. He came forward a couple feet and spit on the ground.

"You were captured armed in northern territory, by the Conri Braonan. I am Sgt. Adda of the Caomhnoir, and what's your name, and rank?"

The young man looked up at Adda, wishing he could spit as well, he had the most horrible taste he could think of in his mouth. "I am a civilian from the western tribes, I have no rank, my father called me Erthal Robsin." Erthal coughed to clear his throat, "what the hell is the Caomhnoir?"

"We're one of the three guardians of our Capital, the Wali cover the north as police, The Hand cover the southern cities as assassins and we look over the middle ground."

"You protect Morded from the Crown?"

"Are you sure your a Robsin? Their normally form the Vale and know the history of the Order. It doesn't matter, if your a Robsin we can test it." Adda quickly remove Erthal's cuffs an pulled him to his feet. "You lead the way through the halls, fallow the wind."

The hallways were all carved out of ice, iron doors lined the walls until he reached a spiral staircase leading up wards. He went up nearly thirty feet and came out into an iron building with no walls. He looked around him, the air was clear and fresh. to the south, west and north ice fields and snow covered mountains in cased the building. It took a second to realize what some strange green brown objects were that dotted the ice fields, pine trees were all over the place. A girl dressed in jeans, knee high preacher boots and a frock coat, sat at a table facing the east. The east was a valley the ice field turn to a cliff face, he looked off the edge to the base it was at least a fifty foot drop. The valley floor was covered in ice and snow, a thin flog gave the whole area an uneasy feeling. He could make out a small settlement in the distance. A herd of bulldog bears rushed around the valley, a small group of hunters not to far behind on a odd looking horse like creatures.

The girl got to her feet, "welcome to Aldin's Keep, the Forsaken Sea." She offered him her gloved sword hand.

He took shook it proudly, " I'm Erthal of the Blacach tribe, sorry for the smell." He grinned before looking down at his feet.

"Roisin of the Caomhnoir," she stepped back and looked him over. "How did you talk Adda into letting you live, the Conri Braonan said he found you armed in north of a raided town."

"The crown were searching for rebels I was staying in the first building they raided. I'm a Robsin, that seems to mean something to him."

"In our history two families lead our people from streets, Talogran low ranking soldiers and brothers of the tribes leaders of the hand. Then there's the Robsin family strange lot dwell in the central mountains

nearly wiped out the Crown a hundred years ago." She went silent, and looked out to the settlement,

" Four brothers rallied the tribes into an army and were the first to march south against the Crown, they burned the Crossed city to the ground, ruled the land for thirty years. They crowned a new King, the king of the Horn." She looked at the mountains and pointed to a large tower, "we retreated here after the Horn fell, Dawn Robsin was the only son of Alexander to survive the rise and fall of our king. Dawn promised us a new throne and hero to guard it on that promise our order was formed."

"Watch it Roisin we don't know who he's loyal to." A small colored man dress in a brown leather flight coat and black jeans, hand come up from the stairway. "The Sergeant will take travel on seabear, I'm to take you to now."

Roisin picked up a sword from next to her seat and fallowed the man out on the snow, Erthal began to fallow but stopped as the ice started to shift. A opening began to appear several feet away, a biplane appeared before them from under the ice. Roisin fallowed the man into it, Erthal got into the rear seating area.

The man put a headset on, "you'll have an army of men and women ready to lay their lives down, when they find out your a Robsin." A soldier readied the plane from the outside before jumping in beside Erthal. "Ready to go Will?"

"Would I be here if I wasn't, sure you got the room you need to take off." The soldier Will opened up a duffel bag and took out a support rifle and loaded it. "If we get spotted they'll regret it the second the call it."

The plane was in the air before Erthal knew what was going on, the landscape changed after an hour or so. The deep western forests over took the ice fields, the herds of bears were replaced with stag-moose, the hunters replaced with dire wolves. Hilltop keeps were the only sign of man, soon a large mountain grew in the distance. A great walled sat at it's base, a tower stood two hundred sixty feet tall in the center of the city, it's base seventy-four square feet. A second tower stood to the west of it two hundred feet tall a bridge connected the two. The pilot aimed the plane for the bridge soldiers lined a landing strip as the plane touched down. The sun was setting in the west when they exited the craft a group of well dressed men and women met them, one took their weapons, the others guided them to a near by stairway. The stairway lead them down into the interior of the bridge, from there the walked through a great hall pf portraits. Erthal noticed that none of the guards were armed with fire arms, he noticed that none of them carried any guns, swords and spears seemed to be the favored weapons of these people.

A group of men and women dressed in a light red trimmed with gold, they were armed with finely designed spears and short swords, both stained red, approached them. Roisin looked back to the plane as the young man readied it to leave, the people around the dropped to their knees as the group of red guards part allowing a boy dressed in red robes to come forward. Will's right hand was on the hilt of a small sword Roisin turned as the boy reached her.

"Roisin Sutherland returns home," an old man who walked behind the boy mumbled. "His Majesty, guardian of the Western-Vale mountains , lord of the cruised lands, Harris Sutherland, has sent for you my lady."

Roisin looked at Erthal, "we're traveling with a Robsin today, Harris should speak with him before myself."

The old man turned and looked Erthal over, his face changed slowly to a frown. "If you wish to travel to the Vale, you may have some trouble with that." He turned to face Roisin, "your father lead a scouting party through the western tunnels nearly a month ago, he managed to seal it off after a group of Water-Walkers attacked them. I'm sorry we haven't spoken to them since," he turned and began to lead the group back towards a staircase.

He lead them down into a hallway lined with grand paintings of families, mothers and fathers standing behind their dozens of children. One of the larger portraits caught Erthal's eye, it was of ten people standing in front of a great throne, in the center was a finely dressed woman with four young men kneeling in front of her dressed in black robes, they were flanked by three knights on each side dressed in a deep green leather, all were armed with swords of different lengths.

The hallway widened into a grand staircase, at the bottom was a giant throne room. Two long tables ran the length of both walls, men and women of the class sat near the throne and the lower classes sat near the entryways. three dozen guards were spread through out the room, looking everyone over. Roisin walked towards the throne and knelt, Erthal went to her right and Will to her left both standing.

In the throne sat a great beast of a man dressed in red plate armor, he had a great red beard and one dead eye, one hazel. On his right sat a blind woman dressed in gray leather armor, her hair was gray though her face was young. To the man's left sat a young man dress in a dark green waist coat, white dress shirt and black dress paints. The bearded man eyed the two young men in front of him before getting to his feet, "who are you, to not kneel before a king is death for most."

Will looked him in the eye but remained silent, Erthal on the other hand wouldn't stand for some man ordering him around based on just his blood. "I'll show my respect by listening to you, I don't have to be here." He looked the people over again, "why don't any of you have any guns in this city?"

"Sir allow me to tell him what we're about here in the western capital of the north." The man in the waistcoat stood up and placed a hand on the kings back. Two guards came from behind the throne, they were dressed just as the knights in the portrait, but with red bands on their shoulders. "Take him into the office and wait for me."

The guards took Erthal's arms and lead him behind the throne, and through a pass way into a large study. It's walls were lined with bookcases, Erthal had been taught to read when he was young but never enjoyed the Black Chief's books. A man dressed in ragged armor stood in the right far corner his hand on his daggers that hang on his belt, he was clean shaven and had long braids in his hair. He stood in silence as the guards left Erthal in the room, who looked him over out of the corner of his eye. The Travellers of the northern plains were an odd people, the northern trades men said they had no allies, and were dam good brawlers. The spoke an old old world tongue that no one understood, they knew more then they should and used less then they needed. They had great caravan's pulled by stag-moose. They were the law of the plains and patrolled on the backs of cave lions.

This one was large and silent, not a good sign for a woodsmen. The Back Tribe ordered many attacks on the southern Travellers, an if this man was loyal to the other nomads it may mean trouble.

The door behind him closed as the waist coated man entered, he went around behind his desk and sat down. "I know who you are as does my friend here," he nodded towards the Traveller. "We are your best chance of getting to what you need, the king hates the name Robsin. My brothers died in the south fighting for him and he repays him by signing treaties with our enemy, and sending my sister as a gift the Blacach Chief as a gift." He took a piece of paper from his desk, " Blacach is looking for his third son."

Erthal thought back to he's escape and began to think aloud, "I was hunting in the central forest with my half brother, my father heir. He had a six man guard, the were armed with guns, I had a dagger and bow, the spotter. That needed someone silent to cripple the boars before the took the kill shot. I did cripple a beast just not a boar, I sent a shaft through his stomach. His men weren't hunters and were no challenge to take out. My horse was a dumb beast and ran home, so I headed north." He stopped and looked at the Traveller, " and some how I got here."

"Your the last Robsin, I really don't care what you did. He most likely had it coming judging by what little you told us." The Traveller said moving forward, "that is not the way a man hunts." He looked to the waist coat man before returning to his stance.

"In addition to that your brother was a southern, those are the people that killed your uncles and my brothers. He would have fought in the next war, and may have killed more of our people." He looked down at his desk, "I didn't introduce myself, I am Jacob the King's ears and blade. I commanded his troops during the last war. I also design new tunnels and building for the city, I was also a Robsin once upon a time. That makes me your best friend in this city."

"You said the king delivered my mother to Blacach, and surrendered after my uncles laid their lives down for him. Then you dropped your last name and continued to serve this king?" Erthal began to pace the length of the table. "Do we have and loyal men left in the west?"

The Traveller was smiling now, his hands limp at his sides. "My people serve no king as of now, but if how you act towards the man who offers you his help, is any sign of how you'll treat your enemies, I will fight for you. If you defend our lands as your uncles did."

"The are rangers in the Vale who served in our army in the last war, their oaths hold them to us. The Sutherland do not want another war, so they will not fight for you. The Braonan said he'll fight for a Robsin when the time comes, as will the other people of the Forsaken Sea. I'll go to Morded and request an army. The Wali stay in the north, but they'll send a small guard."

"How many men, do you believe we'll have when I march south?"

"Four thousand if we're lucky, nothing compared to the crown army." Jacob got to his feet, "before you think of that you should get cleaned up. Stephen you wish to help him in the war then be his guide until then." He picked a dagger up from a nearby shelf, "I carried this when I first gave up my sword, take it and keep it hidden you'll be mocked for has a such a small blade."

Erthal took the knife and fallowed Stephen through a narrow door way leading downwards into a small living area, where he ran himself a bath and cleaned up. Stephen had left and brought back some plain dark green clothes for Erthal, he himself had changed into some green armor.

"It's best people know that we're back, and we're ready for what ever comes."

Once dressed Stephen lead him down a flight of stairs into a narrow hallway and out into an empty, sun lit courtyard. Vines covered it's walls and a great oak sat in the center. They walked around it to a small stone gate on the far side, it opened up into small pond or blue water below street level. A woman was balled up under a bridge that crossed over head, as the approached her Erthal noticed she wasn't breathing. He had looked at her face she, she was in the early stages of discomposing, he touched her hand, it was warm.

"She's a Water Walker, she killed herself, they get warm after death. Most likely fell for a soldier or officer, who threw her aside when they grew bored of her companionship." Stephen knelt down and picked her up, he sad a quick prayer and threw her into the water. "A shame." He passed by Erthal and climbed up a narrow flight of stairs to a back alleyway.

Erthal glanced down at the blonde haired corpse, before turning to fallow Stephen. The alley lead to the back entryway of a misty pub, it was filled with smoke, the tall Stephen had over a foot of clearance above before the large beam rafters began to form the roof. Soldiers, servants, mercenaries and merchants sat around long wooden tables, well exotic natives, from Water walkers to the burned southern plains people, served them. Some militia men had a small table in a corner to themselves, they were drunk and uncaring of their actions towards the servant girls.

Stephen drew one of his blades, "there's no need for you to act like a bunch of southerners in this city. Move along," one of them looked like he was about to draw his own weapon, but Stephen slapped the side of his face with the flat of his blade. "Move now!" He pointed his blade towards two double heavy oak double doors, they were quick to comply with his order this time.

The seats were warm, but considering he had been freezing in the Forsaken Sea he was happy. The servant girl that came to them was of the Burned nation, scars covered her body, pale blotchy skin, thin gray hair, her face untouched by the flames. Some men found this attractive, Erthal did not find it to his liking.

They ordered a platter of beef and a mug of beer, "what do you know about these tribal folk?" Stephen questioned waving his hand about the room.

"Not to much other then other then that the burn women are from a southern desert that was invaded decades ago. Why does it matter these women are the filth of the city," he knew he was wrong but he disliked places like this, his brothers enjoyed inflicting pain on the week and those that owned people had very little along the lines of morals. He thought back to a cowering young girl, he had once seen beaten and burned. There was very nothing he could do to ease her pain, he spent the next three day alone in the dark of the family crypt at his mother's side.

"The is not mercy in this city boy," Stephen sadly smiled, " most of them are content on being here. It's better then the streets." He pretended to inspect a dirty mug for a moment, before the girl walked by that set him off. "You were in the throne room right? Well that witch on the kings left hand side is to blame for how the city is. Jacob try's to spread the money around and she pays off the city guards to allow her people to raid shops and rape women. Those men I just kicked out were some of her lot they dress like militia but they're mercs fallowing her orders." He eyed another group of militia men sitting around a young girl spitting on her. "They have smuggling tunnels all over the city, they bring these girls in from the slave camps in the south." He looked down at Erthal, "she works for the southern Kings and priests, she won't stop you. A southerner has never killed one of my people in a fair fight, we not of this world," he laughed at the lightly.


Note: Water Walkers are a race of tribal s that seem to walk across water, in truth they have trained for years to command strange aquatic animals that they walk across. They are a pale race as are most from the Vale, their eyes are pure black and seem empty, blonde is the most common hair color among their people.