The Books of Renly.
Chapter 3: The Road North

Gathered around a large fire our group had set up camp for the night at what seemed to be a regular spot given the bones and debury left littered about the site, the Nomey’s had pitched their fighters with chains and large iron nails into a towering deep rooted oak tree before preparing bedding for themselves close to the fire prepared by some of the fighters for the night ahead. The Nomey’s cooking a half hog they had purchased from a hunter in the last place they had visited along with some of the finest ale they had drunk for some time. Their trust of our fighter was not one of an equitable nature they trust him to fight for them and remain with them if they had food, to that end they would buy a varying array of chains and holds to keep our fighter in as they progressed eventually leading to the purchase of a large hogs cage. A thick black reinforced iron carted cage meant for one or several of a hog’s pups or a sow ready to give birth not a light load nor weak creature and certainly not the fastest of beasts but a tussle with them could see you injured in the blink of eye, though strong as ten men their confinement cage needed to be stronger. Nestled inside the cage atop of some hay our fighter felt safe enough to sleep and enjoy his journey and its views through the slits in his cage as they would travel, sat there he could see the whole camp and the barely lit road reflecting the shimmering pale moonlight from the rains the night before.

The camp was not long into the silence of the dark forest night as the calls of drunken Nomey’s singing the song of the night hounds as they slept grew louder as the night had settled in, the fighters knew it would not be long before they would end up attracting some hounds or scavengers to the encampment looking for a quick and easy meal, the fighters and slaves with no weapons chained to a tree would do just for that. Nestling closer to each other for protection and warmth from the cold damp surroundings they aligned themselves to see different parts of the undergrowth that surrounded them, before one after another falling asleep with chattering teeth and dithering bodies. It was not but a few hours into the night when the sound of several twigs breaking under foot awoke our fighter who gingerly peered out from his cage to see three hounds emerge from the dense tree lines to inspect the camp.

One of them did not wait long before it took off across the camp swiping up the nearest of the fighters by the foot sinking it’s large teeth into it, the fighter trying to scream only let out the sounds of silent screams of horror and pain, clearly not wanting to share such a fresh and tasty meal with its fellow pack members the hound instantly makes a brake back for the cover of the opposite tree line, only stopped dead in its tracks as one by one the fighters were first pulled from their sleeping positions then stretched to their maximum chains length between each leg grew taut as they were pulled clean across the encampment. With two of them now hanging over the fire in what seemed to be a flash of light their ragged clothes caught on fire roasting and burning them as the hound continued to pull on the fighters foot in the attempt to escape. The escalating screaming of pain and horror brings the Nomeys out of their drunken slumbers stumbling almost directly to their feet, weary eyed they swept their gaze across the camp and the strung up fighters, the Nomeys quickly sobered upon seeing the hounds as they stalked the camp, coming to their senses they scope for an escape before seizing a large axe buried in an old tree stump used only hours before to chop wood for the fire and running to the last man on the chain leg still in the teeth of the hound, cleaving him clean through his stretched out arm and leg with the twin blade battle axe the group falling to the ground as the hound scampers off with a leg of the fighter still within its jaws. The hounds quickly rethinking their strategy skulked into the undergrowth not wanting to get in the way of the blade not knowing the fighting skills of the men.

Not to be done out of the slim pickings the hounds could be heard in the tree line charging back and forth only located by the group as they saw the undergrowth swaying as the hounds pushed passed it. The Nomey’s now fully sober knowing the fight is beyond their capabilities to survive alone and in the need for bait to aid an escape or a few good fighters to stand a chance to even the score, one of the Nomeys rummages through the keys as fast as he could as he released the remaining fighters from their chains, while the other picked up a large sack from a horse and rolled out a satchel from inside it next to the fireside it was full of pit weapons, calling for their fighters to claim one and to join the battle on pain of death by them or the hounds if they chose to run and to maybe whittle down this attack to possibly even odds for survival for us all.

The group now armed and ready as they could be for attack surrounding the fire to make use of the light they slowly moved in a clockwise circle transfixed as if each of them were following one creature in the tree line each convinced they had located one of the attackers arguing back and forth with a count as to how many of the hounds there were, with tightly gripped weapons poised in their hands ready to hold off the advance, as if at once all movement from both attackers and our fighters halted as several hounds lept from the tree line moving as fast as a sweeping hawks they scooped up a fighter or two as they leapt into sight from complete darkness in their pass. The fighter’s screams could be heard moving at paces into the distance broken and silenced by the loud sounds of their bodies being ripped into pieces as the hounds fought over their new meals or smashing the failing fighters bodies into trees with a dense thud they fell silent. Over the next few minutes the hounds continued their attack whittling the fighters who had numbered more than ten down to five, and had taken two of the Nomey’s leaving only seven man now standing, edging evermore backwards now almost atop the fire so worried they could not feel the fire burning their legs, quaking waiting for the hound’s next strike, sweat running down their brows so quick you could almost confuse it for running water.

To live a moment of do or die is any true fighter’s dream the feeling of victory felt inside to see your opponent driven to the ground before you, but to be outnumbered in a pointless conflict or to be food or not is not the job of a fighter, that was for the keen tactics of the hunters who knew the weaknesses of many of the creatures that lay in these woods. The uneasy suspense and silence as the group stood poised was broken by the alpha pack leader when he lurched out from the undergrowth and then leapt atop of the carted cage containing our captured friend, as if at once all eyes had transfixed now on this giant hound. Locked in fear as they were staring deep into its toxic green eyes that were reflecting the campfire light twinkling and dancing with the flames, the fur of the beast glistened a deep red and brown from the blood running down the sides of its giant jowls the blood now adding to previous kill stains covering the teeth, jaws, snout, breast and front paws. Hounds usually only grow to a few feet tall no more than five feet or so but this one was large enough for several men to ride standing nearly nine or ten feet with its head held high, its paws so large as they could cover a fully grown man’s face with claws wider than most men’s fist, its legs looked strong enough to topple trees at a push of them, its body full of muscle and fur, the hound looked to be big enough to eat several oxen and have room for a man or two.

The cage began creaking and waning under the pressure of the hounds weight bearing down upon it as it sat there surveying the campsite and its occupants, before letting out a rage filled growl as it lowered its eyeline directly towards its remaining victims, the fear stored up within the group took no special skills to see, but when this hound growled it stirred their very soul into ice. It twitched upon hearing a sound from the undergrowth whipping it head to the side setting one the Nomey’s in a panic, he swung one of their battle axes through the air to strike the hound and possibly put him down. The hound in no mood for the quick draw antics of the Nomey snatched the spinning axe from the air shattering the shaft in a fury swinging its head from side to side the sound of the wood shattering its teeth coming together echoed about the camp a bitter reminder for what lay ahead if they failed, the head of the axe flies free bouncing from a large rock upon the floor and buries itself into the doors hinges of the cage with a haunting screech as it stopped short of cleaving clean though causing our fighter to retreat to the back of the cage to avoid it holding his ears as he was almost deafened by the noise it made as the two pieces of metal cried in anguish.

Shaking off the sound he looks out to see the hounds head within his grasp seizing the enraged hound by his ears through his open vantage point from under the vision of the unsuspecting hound, our friend dragged the whole neck and face using his legs against the front of the cage as leverage pulling the hound towards the now wedged axe head in front of the cart. The hound begins a new tactic as it grunts, whines and growls as it thrashes back and forth trying to release his ears from the grips of our fighter growing even more enraged, his wild shaking slams our friends head and body repeatedly into the top and door of his cage, our fighter was none too happy either as he was slammed bout the cage like a rag doll. As it lost its footing slipping off the cage its body slammed into the top of the cage as it lay there with what seemed like the strength of ten men the fighter began slamming the hounds head against the cage repeatedly with every ounce of strength he had until the hounds body slumped and fell lifeless on the top of his cage. The group could do little else as they watched the two of them fighting on looking with open mouths as these two combatants took each other on. The attack quieted quickly as the hounds could see their alpha was down, circling the undergrowth looking at what now seemed to be a losing situation for the pack, who had now started to rethink their strategy and their chances of a crushing victory and a decent meal.

With only a few fighters left standing the cheering in victory was not within them as the screaming of the other less fortunate fighters could still be heard from somewhere off in the tree line, not content with allowing this attack to go on without him our fighter begins kicking frantically at the cage door. It did not take him long before a loud clank sounded as the lock finally gives way the door swings open and our friend stepped out stretching himself one way then the other, replacing his shoe strap swiping up an axe before he runs off disappearing into the treeline. The two Nomey’s and few remaining fighters apparently left behind by the best fighter of them all now were quaking at the knees as to what could or what was about to happen. Their minds playing over and over with I don’t want to die this day a thought that had not left their mind since this attack began, they did not have to wait long before another deep bellowing growl shook the bushes to the north side of the clearing, the party now transfixed on the moving undergrowth three of our remaining men had the fortune to not be in line with our friend being hurled back through the air and trees slamming into one of the Nomey’s with no loss of momentum they flew like a speeding arrow, the Nomey’s feet leaving the floor as they were sent across the clearing crushing him and our friend against a broad oak tree to the south side of the camp.

Locking eyes with his brother lying on the floor beside the tree and fearing his end was close the remaining Nomey took out a white fire spell boom ball a last resort choice as this spells blast could melt even stone. Lighting a match with shaking hands was no easy task as he struck it across several of his metal charms before it lite sparking and hissing into life. The Nomey lit the fuse while ordering our friend to take it and deliver it to the hounds personally, no sooner had the words left his lips the alpha hound awoke and raised his head shaking off the blows from our fighter, fixing his eyes back upon them as he regained his senses and chose to rejoin the fight with not another moment’s hesitation. Our fighter jumps up to his feet taking to almost flight as he heads straight for the now fizzing spell in the Nomey’s hand and kicks it, directly in the face of the hound causing it advance to be halted and it to be spun back facing the opposite direction, the spell ball ricocheting off the hounds face now heading straight up into the air. Our fighter knew there was only just enough time to duck and cover, with one hand pulling his would be master out of range of the blast while scooping up and hurling a large stone towards where the spell was about to land, in an attempt to direct the blast and to absorb at least some of the devastation it was about to unleash on the camp.

What was to happen next was a twist from the norms of what is known of the elements in the world of man, as the spell fell down atop a cluster of white stones gathered to protect the fire from spreading. Exploding, stone and spell contacted instantly shattering the stones erupting them from the ground melting them mid fight as they flew in all directions as the spell expanded rapidly, it ignited and lit the night’s star filled skies with a pure and brilliant white light for but a few moments. Looking away from the blast as their eyes could not stand the brightness no longer the party could see reflected back at the camp a thousand pairs of eyes looking towards them startled by the spell as it burst into a crack of thunder. The stones of the fire pit now broken into a thousand pieces rained back down upon the camp and surrounding trees. A hot pool of molten stone now lay where the fire pit was once sitting as bits of ejected molten rock now dripped from trees spitting and hissing as they made contact with the cool ground, flames could be seen sparking up randomly as the debris around the camp began to catch fire from the searing heat.

The alpha hound not escaping the blast was crying, wailing and spinning in circles in pain as its flesh and fur began to melt under the blistering heat of the white hot stone seemingly glowing brighter as the hound tried desperately to cool itself, letting out what seemed a hell churned final deathly howl it slumped at once to the floor, as it hit the ground our group observed its body kicking up a wave of dust choking out several near by fires as it rushed over the camp. All other sounds were drowned out by the ringing in their ears, as that fell to a dull tone it was almost silent. Slowly as the ringing dulled each of them could hear the hissing flesh of the hound, fires spitting and crackling and then the low whimpering of a survivor of the attack, the group looking about to see the Nomey upon the floor by the tree now sitting up was holding his head reaching out to them calling to be pulled to safety. One of the fighters was sent to bring him back, heading over to him sword drawn as he crossed the camp checking to see if any attackers still lurked about the treeline, before dragging the crushed but dazed Nomey by his feet and to safety before checking his injuries,which were superficial at best. A few Nomey’s and several fighters were said to have made it through that night clambering together in the remaining bits of cage as protection. As our fighter climbed inside he thought to himself what a strange twist of fate from the beginning of the night, when they had locked him inside to protect them from him, now they choose to lay inside his domain for his protection.

The morning sun had barely broken over the horizon before a loud crash awoke the six of them, startled and wary eyed they quickly stood back to back circling with weapons drawn inside the cage, looking through the slits into the now lit undergrowth for the source of the noise. Seeing nothing but the empty blood soaked clearing and plumes of smoke leaving almost dead fires dotted from place to place. They began to move for the horses to escape seeing the coast was clear clambering over the piled straw in the cage. Seeing them was a blessing as it would be there only chance of survival if another attack was to follow the events of the night before. None of the men could surely leave alive with too few to fend off another attack, before leaving they spent a short time looking around in the daylight which revealed a detailed map in blood filled dirt from the skirmish and exactly what had happened in the depths of the night, still smoldering charred to a crisp mouths open from screaming in the remains blown out of the fire was two of our fighters that surely had a lucky albeit painful exit, the tree line disturbed and broken in patches where the hounds had leaped through on their waves of attacks. Large paw prints of the alpha compressed the dirt wide enough to sink both feet of a man. Most of these things did not worry them as much as when their eyes met a void of unspoiled dirt. One of the fighters pointed shaking and speechless at the very dirt where the alpha laid apparently dead the night before he was gone.

They knew the smell and amount of blood would have attracted all manner of blood thirsty scavengers to pick clean all what was left by the hounds. Not content on being the next meal their pace quickened as they began to hear the scavengers getting closer and the ripples of sounds and calls of the approaching creatures grew louder. Gathering weapons and what they could as they hurriedly passed, mounting a horse each they headed out for the road looking back at the camp just in time to see the treeline burst with creatures scurrying over the site. Ripping and tearing the scorched bodies between them as they all fought for a share of the scorched meat, while some of them had set their hopes on catching the fleeing group. Who by now had taken to horses with fists and hands trying to get them to run faster from the approaching stampede of scavengers, escaping only when the last of them grew tired of chasing the horses along the dark forest road.