Draconia Chronicles: Warriors of the North

Chapter 1: Asja (The Varyags)

When one swears an oath to another, one must defend said words with their flesh and blood. We defend our lands, swear undying allegiance to our chief, and defend our lands. By the sword, by the axe, by the spear, the greatest death one can be granted is a death in battle. That death will come for me one day, and I shall welcome it. My name is Astra

My kin are called 'The Varyags', but in truth we are Eurasian Lynxes. Our homelands are mountainous with great forests, fjords, and grasslands. The winters can mean death to the unprepared, but the spring and summer are nice and mild. Our kind raise reindeer, sheep, and goats. We also enjoy the hunt for game like wild boar, and take part in fishing.

"Good hunting?" I asked my sister Elli

"No, just a pig for the spit" she offered to me

"Mother would be so proud" I replied, our gold blond hair and brown eyes came from our mother's bloodline. She died in battle against a rival village when we were cubs, and we were raised by our Aunt Frida. With her light brown eyes, and a fluffy mane of ginger curls, she calls us the very fairest of all shield maidens, but I believe wholeheartedly it's her

Auntie's hair is orange like forged iron, thus she is called 'Frida Ironlocks'. She is a buxom and heathy warrior, but soft and gives hugs with the strength of a she-bear. Elli and I are twins, but we have our differences. I have a little mole in the lower left corner of my left eye. Elli has a very small dusting of freckles on the bridge of her muzzle, and I don't

"Hey, it's auntie" said Elli pointing to her

"Oh! There are my girls" she said with a hug

"Come, our chief has summoned us" said Aunt Frida, at the longhouse of the chief, we leave our weapons at the door and come in our traditional clothing with only a knife at our belts. Our chief is as old as our auntie. She has brown-blond hair in cornrows. She wears lines of black bandage over one of a lost grey eye. She wears a hauberk and bear skins.

"Hail to Chief Eir" said our aunt as we kneeled in the presence of the chief. On the sleeves of her tunic, she wore steel armbands, earthen colored leather leggings, and boots with wolf fur boot covers. She made a light tilt of the head with a warm smile and nod, gesturing us to rise. As Frida is our elder, she speaks first "why have you summoned us?"

"My friends, I present with Kiriad" she said

"A tiger? How fascinating" said Elli looking at her

"She has braved the mountains and cold to come to us for aid in the war against the dragons" said our chief, she stood up and rested her hand on the pommel of her sword. To us, a sword is a weapon of high honor and status. The chief's sword has sterling silver mounts with a sterling and enamel hilt. The blade is 33.5inches long and is pattern-welded

With that being said, swords are expensive so many warriors turn to other means for weapons. Two examples are the spear and the axe. The spear measures a combined 24 and 3/4inches long with the socket and spearhead. The pole is 2m long, and typically made of ash. The axe has a 7.5inch long steel head with a single edge and a 30inch long handle

"Please...I come looking for the best" said Kiriad

"Well, you've come to the right village" said Elli

"What she says is true, we of the Varyag pride ourselves as warriors" said Chief Eir "I will see to your request, which is why I have summoned these warriors to assist you, I will come should the situation call for it...the Dragon has been a...nuisance as of lately, to that...I say that your war is our war, so please fill your belly and rest, tomorrow we depart"

I chuckled seeing Kiriad help herself to portion of the leg on the suckling pig, and she seemed to like the taste of mead. We left with a bow to the chief and prepared to travel. Getting to the lands of the tiger is a long trek through the mountains. Aunt Frida, my sister and I all come from noble blood. Thus we carry swords. My aunt and I prefer the axe.

"Dragons-Bane" said Elli, holding her spear

"That's good name, good strong name" I replied

I patted her on the shoulder. We Varyags believe that every weapon has a spirit. If one works with the spirit of the weapon, it will not fail you in battle. My sword is named 'Leg Biter' and my axe is named 'Skull-Splitter'. Elli's sword is named 'Neck Cleaver'. Our helmets are called 'Spectacle Helmets'. They come with a chainmail aventail and face guard.

Armor often consists of chainmail hauberk or a short-sleeve lamellar scale armor cuirass with scales made of iron or stiffened leather with a round shield made of wood, backed with leather and with an iron boss. Elli and I prefer chainmail armor, but Frida wears both chainmail and lamellar scale armor. At the dawn, we went to be blessed by the shaman

"Gá is nurna gangan yng yng pjar

Hang hang gang gang

Hymir ganda skadla hym hym gan

fold fold Har har

ou mi galdr maðr áss áss æt

Óm óm gal gal

fu thork haniast bjamlyr futh fu thork

Futh futh bjam bjam

Hyndla horskr móðr má má kat

Hap hap tak tak

Ásjá, angan, bjarga

ást standa ok fár hverfra

ásjá, anga næ næ næ

Ok þú e er truir truir truir

Ásjá, angan, bjarga

ást standa ok fár hverfra

ásjá, angan, tjá tjá tjá

Ok þú e er ár ár ár

Ásjá, angan, bjarga

ást standa ok fár hverfra

kann ek galdr at gala

ønd og heidl sjá er kan

Ásjá, angan, bjarga

ást standa ok fár hverfra

jafnan sædl órlausn

friðr, maðr, opt opt opt"

The drums are soft, but sound in the deep. The voices are beautiful, and echo of times long ago. We closed our eyes to their blessings as we were gathered the community circle as we were wished save travels. We joined in the chanting, though with the shaman it takes a special talent to do throat singing. We were allowed a companion warrior to join us

Frida chose Idunn to accompany us, a family friend and shield maiden of the spear that looks like me but Frida's age with brown hair and brown eyes as her traits. Elli has picked Rúna to follow us on this journey, an archer of the longbow and skilled with a sword. She has black hair and brown eyes. I chose Sigrid, Rúna's older sister and an archer as well.

"Many battles will await us, my friend" I said to Sigrid

Sigrid smiled "Should we die, we'll meet again in Valhalla"