Farming for Vengeance: A story of a Nord
Chapter One: When Peace Reigned
Loedrin Vassir and his mate Brithna had once been the hairs to their respective families farming monopoly in the southern counties of Skyrim. Rival families who were always feuding for dominance within each others county, the two were destined to be bitter enemies. However, a sinister twist of fate brought the two together while still in their youth. A local noble of Falkreath made a decree that all major land owners and merchants had to "donate" their principle heirs for a minimum of five years service to his house. Reluctantly the greater common families of Southern Skyrim obeyed for fear that the noble house in Falkreath would force the issue with soldiers. Loedrin arrived a day earlier then Brithna as he was older and knew better than to take too many of his belongings. Brithna however wasn't yet of nubile age and still wanted her precious treasures and cloths.
Brithna was a pretty young girl born 11 summers earlier. Her rather long brown hair and deep brown eyes promised to make her a very attractive women when she came of age. That mixed with her father money in the farming trade would have found her a suitable companion, perhaps even an impoverished noblemen if she were to grow up and be so inclined. Loedrin wasn't as blessed in appearance as the men in Brithna's family. He did however inherit the family wit and intelligence. He was a strong young man even as Nords go, but had a curious black; almost dark blue hair that had often been the subject of much conversation within his home. Some said his mother laid with an Imperial and the mix in blood caused this curiosity. A local mage however had officially rebuked such a notion. All his training in the arcane arts lead him to see Loedrin's blood was pure Nord.
When Loedrin arrived, his horse was taken to the stables and what few belongings he did bring with him were taken and placed in "safe keeping" for the day he would be allowed to return home. Loedrin's first impression was one of dysfunctional malice. It was apparent the noble family had its issues with the wealthy merchant community and simply felt that farmers were slaves to be used, not citizens to serve. Lord Falkreath's Butler personally oversaw the placement of each "donation" including Loedrin. At first, his background as a farmer placed him in the Lords Irrigation fields. It seemed the noble family had an odd affinity for wines which did not produce naturally in Skyrim. It was believed that by mixing the soils of the southern counties with the warmer soils of Cyrodiil and irrigating the cleaner Skyrim waters might allow the grapes to flourish in spite of the cold conditions.
Brithna arrived a day after Loedrin with a small wagon full of personal effect. The noble family had allowed their officers to be a bit more rough with the girls for they feared that the wealthy commoner families had allowed their girls to grow too soft for the work that had been planned for them. Brithna watched with teary eyes as her fathers wagonmaster was turned away from the city with all her personal affects still loaded. She had only the cloths she wore and the doll her mother had gotten for her two summers prior. To her great indignity Brithna was taken to large water mill with several other girls who had also arrived that same morning. They were given no food and no directions or orders. Seven girls between the ages of 8 and 13 sat inside the cool mill listening to the water of the man made creek that turned the great wheel of the mill and filled a pond just over a small cliff below the mill. Brithna did not recognize any of the other girls and was afraid because of such. As the hours drew on however, the girls began to converse a little. Brithna was amazed by all the different towns they had all come from. Somehow she thought only her town was supposed to send their children to Falkreath.
It was early evening before anyone came into the mill to check on the girls. By now they were already mulling past fear to simply being nervous and hungry. The man that walked in however was a frightful looking sort; the kind of man a mother would warn her daughter about when passing them in the town streets on the way to markets. The oldest girl in the group, Mosha stood up to respectfully ask for some food. "Food eh? You girls are hungry are ye? Well, you'll just have to wait until tomorrow morning. The last batch of you girls have already taken the last of the food rations for the day and since they all arrived a day before any of you, they got what was left. For now young ladies, you can use the blankets in those boxes over there to cover with for the night. But I warn ye, don't be tryin to leave in the night. It won't be ye that gets punished, rather yur families that pay yur price for ye."
The man said this last phrase with a particular bitterness. The truth of their dire situation came suddenly when Mosha asked where they were to sleep. "...certainly you don't expect is to sleep on the dirt floor of this mill sir?" The man who hadn't even enough dignity to tell them his name laughed a short, almost contorting laugh before slapping Mosha to the ground. "Listen her girly and listen well. Ye will do what yur told without question or more fists will follow that one." He leaned down to the crying Mosha on the ground, his contorted face smiling villainously, "and remember this girly, if ye was just a little older, just a little, I would and could do far worse to ye then just knock ya one on that precious little cheek of yurs." He finished silently just for Mosha to hear.
Loadrin spent his first few weeks sleeping on the hard ground of the Irrigation fields. It wasn't a bad thing really, especially after the long hours of tilling and digging. His fathers various farm lands never needed so much work. Being the son of a wealthy farmer wasn't exactly the easy life by any means, but actually having to continue tilling and digging the same area over and over again seemed ridiculous. However he saw the need for it. The Lords lands weren't separated and independently operated like his fathers lands. It was one huge whole spanning nearly 4 square miles with the only breaks in the system being what was called the island. The island was a slightly elevated smooth flat patch where all the necessary silo's and tool sheds and operation houses had been built. It was really the only place that could effectively hold the mass of buildings as the Irrigated valley was bordered on the west by a river at the north and east were large man dug ditched that were fed by other creeks from the nearby mountains. Only the southern area was free of waterways only because the town was just down the way a mile or so. Loedrin wondered who the Lord had employed to do that massive ditch digging project.
However the large mass of land was, like any other place, at the whims and wills of nature. And being so large a place, there was a lot of nature to contend with. The river often brought in debris, fish, and insects which attracted smaller predators, snakes, wolves, frogs and various birds. All of which found it necessary to die in the same places they hunted and usually block various water ways in the process. The water ways would fill and overflow, damaging some of the work from weeks previous. It created a daily and ongoing problem to keep the fields working the way it was intended.
Unlike the girls, most of the boys kept to themselves. Some stuck together because they came from the same towns and knew each other, but the rivalries of the fathers tended to keep the boys of different towns away from each other outside of their work. Loedrin was the eldest boy in his family and so spent most of his days at his fathers various farm projects, learning how to manage them instead of being out with other boys and making friends. Loedrin simply didn't make many friends while working and wile not working, he was to busy sleeping to care about the lives of others. If it hadn't been for another twist of fate Loedrin might have scathed through his 4 or 5 years of servitude without ever being noticed. The guards of Lord Falkreath weren't exactly slavemasters. They themselves had to work the fields and none of them were actually soldiers. Most were indentured servants who had at some point owed the nobleman a debt they couldn't pay. So they were put in charge of the Wine production undertaking. As part of an effort to keep the workers safe from the predators coming in to feed on the fish, frogs and snakes of the field, several small hunting units had been formed. When they managed to produce good results, it was also decided that they could bring back the animals they killed to supplement the rather small food stuffs the workers were expected to live off of. Certainly not the finest fare of food, but there was much more food to go around and it made the days work more bearable when one didn't have to sleep every night still hungry after the last meal.
Loedrin was startled awake in the middle of the night by the sound of screaming. He wasn't sure what was going on, but knew something was wrong. He listened again and heard the scream and what sounded like a demon outside in the fields. He ran outside and off in the fields he saw one of the new boys who had come in and been recruited for one of the hunting units. He was being mauled by a Mountain lion while two other older boys stood watching, petrified by the sight. Loedrin saw the unit captain and a small group of older hunters running to meet the threat, but they were to far away to have any hope of saving the boys. Forsaking his anonymity, Loedrin ran towards the boys. Between himself and the group was a small tool supply shack he knew would gift him with a weapon of meager origin, but a weapon non the less. Running past without stopping, Loedrin grabbed a shovel, nearly dropping it as he grasp for it in the night. This slowed him down slightly, but once righted, Loedrin knew the he would be to late to save the young hunter. But the other two still stood their, dumbfounded and ready in the natural way to be cast down by the Mountain Lion if it so chose to kill the whole group.
When Loedrin finally arrived, he had been running so fast he didn't even think to slow down. He ran up to the side of the beast and swung the shovel at its head, breaking the shovel and crushing the animals nose into the face. Loedrin fell twirling to the side with the force of the blow and the sudden stopping sensation on that side that it caused. The Mountain Lion was stunned and bleeding heavily from the wound. Loedrin was a little dazed himself, but unharmed. He got up and used the broken shovel handle to finish the job by stabbing the beast in the neck behind his head, severing the animals vertebrae, killing it instantly. Loedrin shoved himself off the animal, to the ground where he sat breathing heavily until the older hunters arrived. The two younger boys fell to their knees and began to cry once the animal was dead, asking Loedrin to forgive them of their inability to help him or their companion.
"Holy Mystara!" one of the older hunters exclaimed. With a torch held in near, all the boys saw the awfulness of what had happened. The victim, a boy of perhaps 12 was eaten upon from the stomach and arms. The Hunter Captain walked up to the other two boys, still sobbing, "what in Oblivion happened here you two! Why didn't you kill that Cat before he killed little Jarol!" The boys looked up at him indignantly, but did not speak. "Sir, they were scared petrified. I saw it all from my sleep pad over there. But Wild Cats rarely attack without a reason." Suddenly everyone was quiet, like a dead. The boys knew Loedrin was right, they had done something. The older hunters were silent, thinking what could have provoked the attack when suddenly the answer called to them all. An irate hiss and small clawing movements emanated from both of the remaining boys packs. Loedrin was simply too exhausted to get up and look himself, but the hunter captain was in peak shape and though he ran half across the width of the fields to get to he boys, he was barely out of breath. He forcefully turned both boys around and opened their packs. Each one had a single cougar cub in their pack. Loedrin knew what the captain would find, but having it confirmed drove some energy into him to check the dead boys pack as well. It was empty. The oldest boy of the group, Torr exclaimed that they had only found 2 of the cats. "We thought the mother maybe abandoned them so we thought we could keep them. I swear, we didn't know this would happen!" Torr said through his muffling sobs.
The hunter Captain hit the boy upside the head, "what did you think was gonna happen boy! You think wild mothers just give up their babes to natures adoption services!"
Thinking quickly, Loedrin realized the best course of action would be to kill the cubs so as not to breed any further fear in the worker camps. Fear would cause lesser production and the Lords foreman's wouldn't be to kind about that. "Captain, I'll take care of these cubs. We don't want any problems in the work camps afterall." The captain grimaced at the idea that Loedrin was gonna kill the cubs away from prying eyes."
"Very well young man." The Captain directed at Loedrin to take both cubs, then turned to the two survivors. "Now to think of a suitable punishment for you two!"
Loedrin spoke up once more, "Sir, have them dig Joral's grave, and dig it deep. Enough so the frosts don't bring him back up. They can perform the burial service as well. Maybe then they will grasp the awful price of cowardice." This time it was the two boys who grimaced. The Hunter Captain and his men felt two rushing emotions. First and most importantly, they felt relieved. The gory task of a burying a hunter fell to the hunters themselves and none of the men relished the idea of burying the morbid remains of Jarol. Secondly, though none cared for the idea of Loedrin killing the two cubs, they did however see a leader in the young man. He kept his head on even if he wasn't the best trained in fighting. He still managed to kill a grown cougar mother, even if he seemed to nearly take out his shoulder in doing so.
It was late morning before Loedrin was awoken by the call of his name from the entry his new camp tent. He woke with a start as he felt the warmth of near mid day rush over his consciousness. "Damn!, I slept to long!" He exclaimed before looking at his caller with a little disdain. Why after all would they allow him to sleep so long! He'd be punished by the Lords Forman's for sure. "Loedrin, the Hunter Captain has asked for you. You need to meet him in the auxiliary storage house." The unknown boy said.
Loedrin was worried, not only was he likely to be punished for over sleeping, but the captain would likely want a report on what he did with the cubs and where he left their remains. When he entered the storage building, the Hunter Captain and two different men who were known to be his sergeants stood talking. The captain turned when he heard the creek of the storage door. "Ah, Loedrin isn't it? Yes, Loedrin. I was just explaining your adventure to my Sergeants here. They are, well, rapt in this story I can tell you. I understand your 17, correct?"
"Yes captain. I was born in spring." Loedrin explained as if anyone in the room would care.
One of the Sergeants spoke up briefly. "A Spring chic eh? Hmmm." Then the captain again took control, "My Sergeants here have decided to accept you into our ranks. We need a replacement for poor Jarol's spot, however, the fact that you have actually killed also means you have the steel inside to do so when the need comes. So you are to be a Sergeant Hunter. Your new duties start this very evening. Mid day we train with bows, tracking and running. At Dusk we spend an hour each night training with knives and hatchet's so that we are prepared with something better then shovels. So get yourself cleaned up. One of the girls from the town will be in your tent within the hour to get your measurements for the hunters outfit." The captain ended with a rather joyful tone that also bid Loedrin to take his leave. It suddenly occurred to him that the Captain may not have been just an indebted merchant, but perhaps a former soldier. He had the size and though the Hunters were more laxed then what Loedrin had seen active soldiers being, it was obviously still run more militarily then what a simple commoner merchant would run things.
When Loedrin entered his tent after bathing in the nearby river pool the hunters themselves had dug several months before Loedrin even arrived, he saw a little girl no more then 11 or 12 standing in his tent. He looked around a bit confused at first, before he realized she must be the one the captain told him would come for his measurements. "You here to measure me girl?" He said calmly to the obviously frightend child. She didn't speak at first, only mumbled something under her breath. "Child, its alright. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm a servant just as you are."
The girl smiled shyly at Loedrins kindness. It had been nearly a month since she had seen a kind man, and the first time she had ever seen any man without a shirt on.
"What is your name child?" Loedrin asked calmly.
"Brithna. I hail from the southern county." She said with more jubilation then Loedrin expected.
"Really? What town?"
"Oh, my father owns many farms out in the country south of this town." Brithna speaking with a little pride. Then it dawned on Loedrin, "Who is your father?"
"Oh, my fathers name is Tirress Sickle. Do you know him!" Brithna asked with excitement.
Loedrin didn't say anything at first. This unknowing little girl had just confessed to being an heir to his fathers rival, his rival when the time came. He had the urge to be unkind to her, to show her that his family was the dominate one and that her father was the lesser of any man. But his senses came back to him as he felt a light tickle on his side where the girl was trying to read his chest size. He then realized this girl was just to young to understand the rivalry between their families and frankly, it didn't matter anyway. They were both here because better families then their fathers had ordered it and thus, it was made so. Proof enough indeed that the rivalry of the fathers meant nothing to Lord Falkreath and his ilk.
"Well Brithna, my father owns the farm and ranch lands next to your fathers. So I guess we are both farmers from the same area." Loedrin said more warmly then he had expected himself too. Brithna wasn't sure what to think really. She knew her father rarely spoke anything nice about his neighbors, but Loedrin seemed to be a nice enough man. And she liked that Loedrin knew about her father and what her family owned. That they came from close quarters in the country put her at ease as well.
After about 20 minutes, Brithna had written down Loedrins chest, shoulder, leg and waist measurements and confirmed them so there was no mistake. Mistakes were costly for the girls afterall. "Okay Loedrin. I'm all done." She said calmly. Loedrin put his tattered shirt back on and Turned to gaze at the girl. He noticed several bruises, most of them older, a few smaller ones perhaps more recent. "Why are you so bruised Brithna?" He asked, honestly believing she simply had a run in with another girl.
"Oh, nothing really, just bruises from my lashings. They are a bit more strict with us then I'm used too. But I'm learning so I don't get hit as much anymore." She said as if it were common place.
(This is my first story in the fanfic realm. Please, any comments or critiques are most welcomed. I am working on the second chapter as well so look out for it, "Reckoning by Fire" FYI: This and the coming 2 or 3 chapters are a character build up towards what I intend to write, a full thieves guild questline with some hints of Necromancy which will also help lead into other guild questlines.)