יורין מאנשי ההרים חלק 1 – אנגלית

Jorrin of the mountain clans – Part 01

“A rider approaches!” the cry was heard.
The people of the Snowhammer mountain clan murmured between them. Voices of doubt were raised. Another village burned? Was there any resistance? some were just muffled wales of fear. This was Jorrin’s home. He was one of the villages council members. A stern men with a stern look. His brow always furrowed with thought. It was a small village of wooden houses surrounded by a kingdom of white snow. The ground, the roofs, even the air was a milky mist. In this region of white mountain tops lived the hardened people known as the mountain clans, simply because they were the only ones to live in this harsh nature. The people of the village gathered in the town center, which was marked only by the snow covered well. Jorrin stood silently amongst them. The weary rider stepped down from his horse. Its one of the fighting men of the frozen river clan. Jorrin thought to himself. He was himself a warrior, though he only trained and fought small skirmishes. Now was the real war none of them was prepared for.
“The fight has reached the people of the mountainside” he managed with his spent breath.
It seemed he has rode long and hard.
The war began two dozen years back, when Jorrin was still a small boy at his mothers side.
Many wars broke out for hundreds of years. the people below the mountains would gather their armies for some high lords personal cause and his people suffered under him. A few wars were on a survival basis, over water resources and lands of crop. This war was no exception at first. So the people of the mountain clans weren’t alarmed. No full scale war has ever climbed atop the mountains. These mountains were very steep, shaped like sharp fangs and every mountainside was shaped by cliffs and sharp rocks. When the war started engulfing all the lower region then the people of the mountain clans grew curious. They sent representatives of each respective clan to converse with the people that lived in the hills surrounding the fang mountains. They wanted to know if it might be a concern of theirs. And to their horror it was far worse.
A mysterious lord from the mainland declared himself the ruler of all, and wished to put all the population of every region from coast to coast under his rule. Some resisted and were wiped clean, others surrendered and found themselves under a tyrannical rule. A kingdom of slavery and misery. The cities that gathered armies to fight were crushed by an army of sadists. It was better to die in battle than to survive under their rule. Many claim the lord had aid of some dark magic that brought this swift rise to the largest empire the region has ever seen. Rumors of strange creatures storming to battle alongside the warriors grew as whispers at first. Then it was agreed by all who encountered this dark army. Some form of monsters that their horrific visage changes with the tales telling of the nightmary creatures. The cities under the new lord’s rule were a charred ruin with black land and no fields of crop, and water was black mud. No one knew of his name or his visage, but the darkness over his empire gave him the nickname ‘dark lord’.

Now the war was starting to creep up the fang mountains. the only place in the known land to remain at peace from the spreading darkness.
Here there was no organized army. Only small clans. They didn’t need to know nothing beyond some skills with an axe and a sword for a fight against no more than a few dozen men.
There was one city over the other side of the mountain that was also perched high above the fighting. It was highlake. A mysterious place protected by the spells of the witches ruling there. some reasoned it was not magic, but a council of old women that managed to build this glorious city with their talented minds and diplomatic skills. But not much was known of them or this place, and so they were rumored to be witches. Yet the people of the mountain did not know what transpired there with the onslaught of the dark lord.

“How far does this go?” asked one of the elders of the council. A man of grey hair, and lined skin yet with a firm look and a firm standing.
“A small raiding party.” The rider got his breath back and spoke hurriedly. “They slaughtered the village of the singing trees. Our combined attack force was ready for them in the next, and we repelled them back. Captured one of these hideous men. But we were a hundred men, and we fought hard to repel three dozen. And those were the unarmoured ones. I assume they travelled light in order to climb the mountains. If their armoured men could reach the cliffs the battlefront is lost. None withstood against them in all of the regions below.”
The thought of the creatures was in everyones minds as he finished. The unspoken word was the worst. more than the armour clad men.
“what of the wounded, how many have we lost so far?” Jorrin broke in. His long yellow hair swayed over his face as the wind blew on his direction.
“The entire village of the singing trees. They were caught from an ambush. none survived. Of our fighting force a third were injured, and we lost four men.”
His eyes met Jorrin’s hard gaze.
“They seem to be at a disadvantage while fighting in the mountains.”
The slaughter was a sad horror, yet it was a village of people who were not warriors, but farmers and fish hunters. So their loss didn’t testify to the invaders advantage.
“I have some measure of brighter tidings.” the messenger added slowly.
“It is why I rode here as fast as my steed could carry. An envoy of the armurians has reached us. Their army it seems did not flee, but withdrew to gain a tactical position”
Armure was one of the old kingdoms. It was a fortress city with a reputation of survival. The city was sacked to all of the mountain clan’s knowledge. It was a surprise that it happened fast and with no apparent resistance.
“They ask us to rally to them with haste, they called all the villages to bring their council members at once. The ones that know a thing or two about fighting. We are planning a blaze ambush”
Some eyes wandered to look at Jorrin. He was warrior but also a strategist. He fared well in small fights but he had a sense to him that could be useful. At least that’s what the eyes that looked on him wanted to believe.
“I’ll go with Thunbar” Jorrin answered their silent thoughts. Thunbar was a battle hardened man, not even a council member, but he had strength in him. Even to challenge monsters.
They will descend the mountain, and maybe strike with their newfound ally the first counter blow.
A ray of hope lit the white village of snowhammer.
Jorrin allowed his lips to curve into a smile