Preordained.
Just because it has already been woven does not mean that is how it will be.
There is no sex in this story.
The blade moved smoothly across his skin with no drag or pull, the sword shaving the hairs off his arm better than any razor. Satisfied with the blades sharpness he sheathed his sword. Having finished mending his battered armor as best he could and seeing to his blades he looked after himself. With water heated in a small iron pot over his campfire he scrubbed himself down cleaning and rewrapping his wounds in the process.
Using a highly polish bit of metal he set to trimming his beard and hair. Looking at his reflection he saw a lot of gray, his beard, hair and eyes. His face would have been more wrinkled had it not already been heavily scarred. Finished with his grooming he glanced at the sky an estimated he had another two hours till sundown so he pulled out the last of his food, a few strips of salted horse meat, and began to eat while awaiting his expected guest.
His quest had begun three weeks ago. As a senior warrior in the kingdom he had been dispatched on a mission to deal with a beast that had been ravaging the remote farms and settlements of the North region. The beast had been feasting on both human and livestock causing an exodus from the area.
The King's command had been clear, destroy the beast. Why send only one warrior? Well there was only one beast and he was arguably the best warrior and certainly the most experienced. At least that is what the King told him.
For sixteen days he had tracked the beast catching only occasional fleeting glimpses of it as he followed it deeper into the unexplored Norr Forest. By day two he was convinced that the beast was deliberately drawing him deeper into the forest and further away from any assistance. During his pursuit the weather grew colder; no snow yet but in the morning it was bitterly cold and everything was covered with frost. The vegetation under his feet crunched when he walked upon it being brittle with frost. During this time the warrior had noticed there was no wind, not even the slightest breeze and the sky was perpetually overcast. The nights were dark as a mine without the stars and moon to provide light. His only fires were small ones. He built one in the evenings to fix himself a warm meal after which he put it out and traveled for another hour before settling in for the night into the cold dark camp of a warrior. He did not feel the need to advertise his exact resting location to the beast with a fire and the smell of food. He also did not need a fire degrading ability to see in the darkness. He had a fire in the morning to warm himself.
The game began to decrease till finally there was none; not a deer, rabbit, bird or even a squirrel did he see. He also thought that it was odd that he had found no sign that the beast was stopping to feed. He began to become concerned about his own food supply since there had been no opportunity to replenish it by hunting.
Five days ago the beast attacked. He had been forced to dismount because of terrain and had been following the beast on foot for hours and it was near dark when it attacked. With a roar it had leaped at him from the high rocks that were above and behind. Being an experienced warrior and recognizing an ambush situation he was prepared. He swung around quickly planting his spear shaft firmly into the ground. The beast having already launched itself at him could not change course in mid-air was impaled on the spear. The beast's massive weight drove the spear through its breastbone, heart and then spine ending with the half the spear protruding from its back when it finally came to rest on top of the warrior. It was dead almost instantly.
So heavy was the beast that it took the warrior a full five minutes to free himself from under its dead body. This was his first good look at the beast. The fleeing peasants' descriptions we varied and, as was normally the case, widely exaggerated. Their descriptions had been of a creature anywhere from twenty to fifty feet tall that resembled either a two legged wolf or bear with massive claws and teeth. The one description that was universal was its eyes of fire. He knew from tracking it that it always moved about on two feet.
The warrior examined the beast before him. It was about the size of the larger white bears of the north but its torso, arms and legs were closer to that of a man except for the matted grey and brown fur and the long claws at the end of its hands and feet. He could also see that it was a very muscular animal despite the fur covering it. The beasts head resembled that of a large wolf though the teeth were longer and more closely set together. Its eyes were solid red orbs that seem to glow even in death. It did not escape his notice that if the creature's arms were but a sword hilt longer it would have sunk its claws into him before his spear had done its job.
He contemplated taking the creatures head with him but that was a lot dead weight to be carrying and he had far to travel so he settled for its hands. He returned to where he had his horses tied; a war horse and a pack animal. As it was quite late he went without a fire and made another cold dark camp. The next morning he hiked back up to where he had left the beast body only to find it gone. He checked and found the hands he had taken were also gone. All that remained was a dark spot on the ground where its blood had seeped into the soil. The tracks showed that it had not been dragged off by scavenging wolves or bears but had walked off on its own. Even more disconcerting was the second set of tracks, similar to the beast's that left with it. He could not see where the second set of tracks had come from to join the beast but there were definitely two sets that departed. He followed the tracks for the better part of the day before he lost them in the rocky terrain and diming light. It was almost dark when he had returned to his camp and the beasts attacked. One went straight for his horses while the other attacked him.
The pack animal was beheaded with a single swiped of the beast's claws. His war horse gave a better account of itself kicking and biting at the beast before it was disemboweled as it was rearing up.
The warrior charged the other beast with his spear but it grabbed the shaft and snapped off the spear head. Tossing aside the now useless spear he drew his sword and continued to pressed his attack. This seemed to catch the beast by surprise as it back peddled to try and gain some space. It tripped over some rocks and as it was falling the warrior planted his sword in its skull like a cleaver. The second beast seeing the other one go down launched itself at the warrior from a distance of 30 feet. The warrior ducked underneath the beasts hurtling body at the same time drawing his knife from his boot and thrusting it up. The second beast was disemboweled in a manner similar to the war horse.
He made his way over to what was left of his scattered supplies and pulled out a torch. It took some time to get it lit in the darkness because of the horses blood on it but once lit he examined the beasts' bodies. The one he had killed first had the markings of healed wound centered in its chest and back. This was the one he thought he had killed earlier. He sat back to recall the old legends of various monsters and demons and what one had to do to destroy them. He could recall no tale of such creatures he now faced so he decided to improvise.
He built a large fire then severed the heads of each beast from its body and threw the heads into the fire. He piled tender and wood around the bodies of each beast, as they were too heavy to drag to the fire. He ignited both piles of wood and watch as the bodies burned.
He gathered up a few supplies and moved up into the nearby rocks watching the fires burn down from a distance. He woke the next morning to find himself and everything else covered in a light dusting of snow. He shook the snow of his muskox cloak and moved down to where the fires had been. He found nothing but ashes, the remains of his horses and supplies. He poked around the ashes and found no sign of the beast remains, no bones or anything. He did find four separate sets of the beasts' tracks leaving the scene. This time he did not attempt to follow.
He sat down to prepare a meal and think. He had several problems. First was that his enemy was no dumb beast but had some intelligence. They had drawn him deep into their own territory where he could not receive assistance. Once doing so they killed his horses trapping him here for he could not walkout through the forest as long they lived to hunt him down. He was trapped here at the only defensible terrain till he killed them all.....or they him.
Second was that while he could kill them they did not stay dead and seem to double in number after they returned to life.
Third, they seem to have their limitations. They only attacked in the dark or near dark, not the light of day. They also seem use to attacking but not being attacked. He could attempt to track them and kill them during daylight but they seem too smart to let that happen. Yesterday they seem to deliberately wear him down tracking them and then followed him back to attack him as night fell.
He finished his meager rations and began to gather his scattered supplies. It took two trips but he was able to find a place high up in the rocks accessible only up through a single narrow path. He was surprised that the beast had not feasted upon the remains of his horses. The cold had preserved their carcasses so he cut off some meat to supplement his meager supplies. He was no overly fond of horse flesh but it beat starving. He used the reaming salt from his supplies to preserve what he had cut from the horses.
He had retrieved the head from his broken spear and fashioned a new shaft from the forest. He also cut four more shafts, sharpening the ends and hardening them in the fire. He figured he would need the reach advantage. He inventoried his weapons; besides the spear and four make shift spears. He had his sword, a three foot straight sword with a rounded tip, making it safer to use from horseback. His knife was also a straight blade with an 8 inch blade. He had a simple wooden bow and 17 arrows. He was not particularly skilled with it but it came in handy for hunting. He assumed he would be engaging the creatures at close range so he would not have to be particularly skilled to get a hit. The darkness, woods and surrounding terrain ruled out any chance of long range shots.
His protection was a coat of plate armor, alternating strips of metal and leather sewed together with a wool shirt worn underneath as padding and for warmth. A skull cap helmet with leather hanging down covering the neck and ears offered protection for his head. He also had a simple two foot wooden shield.
Both weapons and his armor were unadorned with jewels, or precious metals. He was after all a warrior not some perfumed prince of the court or southern realms. His armaments were not for decoration but for battle.
Unusual for his people was the lack of inscriptions or decorations on his armaments offering prayers to and praising their Gods. He maintained it was better for a warrior to use his time training and perfecting his skills than to offer prayers that may never be heard much less answered. A strong sword arm was better than a prayer he often said.
That this was upsetting too many, particularly the temple priests, was to be expected and there were whispers of blasphemy and even heresy. However his skills as a warrior made him of more value to the kingdom than his apparent lack of faith and he made sure to attend all the required observances and ceremonies. The truth is that there are no non-believers on the field of battle and he would offer his own silent prayers as he headed off into battle.
There were two more attacks by the beasts. The first was relatively easy to counter. The beasts came up the narrow trail he could hear their approach by the growls and snarls and soon was able to see their red glowing eyes. This gave him a place aim his arrows. He was not a skilled archer but the eyes gave him a reference to put his arrows were he guessed center of their body mass would and he was shooting at 50 yards or less. Through a combination of arrows and spear he was able to kill all for beasts. The narrow path forced them to engage him one at a time. One thing was obvious; one on one he was a match for the demons.
