Out of the harsh and blinding blizzards of the East, tread three heroes, their tired and bedraggled bodies evidences of their trials and tribulations, silhouetted against the low winter sun. Against all odds, this unlikely band of heroes did what no other group of adventurers had done before: slay the evil witch. Eight had set out on this mythic quest. Three returned. This is their tale...
Warriors watched and children stared as Erik the Chronicler helped the strangers drag the frozen body of their comrade into the village's central hut. The frozen man was an assassin of sorts, the sole woman of the trio built like the savage women of their clan, but otherwise strange to them.
Not to the men's lusts however. The full and heavy peaks of her sun browned breasts were cupped in chainmail as silvery as it was skimpy. Many craned their neck to see how the wintry winds blew up her scant chainmail skirt, showing glimpses of round and sculpted cheeks, bouncing together like smooth plums.
The other man of the trio was slight and long of limb, his perfectly manicured mustache moving the bearded barbarians to instant suspicion. That, and they didn't like how he didn't help Erik and the woman carry the frozen man in, instead posing over a barrel with his foot propped up, giving an eye and a smile to the local women.
Their
women.
The Blackskull clan did not like outsiders. When the men, women and children filed into the massive hut, they expected a story... or a death.
***
"There are... rumors. Rumors of more ruin in Camelot. They speak of two kings who once called each other brother now call for each other's death. That the great armies of the Witch Queen are divided and lost to the winds." said Erik. "You tell me the witch is dead. But is it done by your hand, or the is it the mere consequence of evil paying evil unto evil?" The jarl glowed like an ancient bronze man in the light, the fire of torches crackling behind him as they thawed out the assassin's body. "Tell me true."
"Done by our collective hands. And as dead as she'll ever be." replied the mustachioed man, twirling his finger off his lip. "Except in memory of course."
Erik leaned forward, his gnarled hands clasped. "Do not play me false, outlander. We do not suffer liars and cheats. And yet are obligated to give the jewels promised for the witch's death. But we have only your word to go by."
The man nodded sagely. "It is a dilemma, to be sure."
"Do not mock me." growled Erik.
The she-barbarian rose her hand and with it the assembled crowd's eyes fell to her buxom chest, massive mounds cupped in the silken steel of her chainmail bra. "My lord! If the word of a fellow mountain dweller means anything, I swear by my father, Orm Redhand, that what my companion says is true. I witnessed her death myself."
Erik craned his head to the woman, his jowls swinging beneath his wintry beard. "As a matter of fact it means nothing! I would no more trust the seed of Redhand than the man himself! Or did you forget how he came by that title!?"
The woman straightened up, tall and proud, and her large, darkly tanned breasts followed suit, her cleavage on the cusp of spilling free. "He was given it when he slew Juhar Trollking in single combat, ripping out his heart with one hand!" she said with a smile, her blue eyes fierce like a wolf's.
Erik scoffed. "Wrong, you simple wench. It is because he stole my predecessor's sheep! My jarl had a spell laid on his sheep so he would know the thief when next he tried to grab one... and come the next morning your sire's hand was as red as a newborn's!"
The woman stepped forward and pulled back her fur cloak, revealing a gleaming sword hilt next her shapely hip. The mustachioed man gawked at her taut belly, her waist so small it could not help but emphasize the huge globes of her breasts, now heaving to her outrage. "My father was no
thief
." she said levelly.
Before more men could draw weapons the mustachioed man leapt up to his feet and paced around the hut's central fire, between the woman and Erik. "Now now, I'm sure we can all agree, that there are many Redhands! Some noble, some not, and some share the name Orm. And Redhand. But don't let that distract you, Erik... from paying us our due."
"
Your due
..." muttered the old man in a bitter tone. Erik slumped into his chair, and steepled his fingers, his eyes gleaming in the fire. "You said... Morgana might live on in memory... there is another thing too. It might live... it might die." He looked to the man. "Your honor."
The man with a mustache looked bemused. "I don't follow, my lord."
Erik nodded to servants in the shadows, who came forward and began daubing the man's forehead, as well as the she-barbarian's head, in blue paints. "There is an alchemy we do here. We call it Soul Walking. You shall walk us through what your soul witnessed... and we shall see if your words match with what the smoke tells."
Flickering images flashed through the smoke in the fire. "I see..." said the man, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.
Erik smiled. "You must come closer to the fire. It will not burn if you do not lie." He watched the man step forward, and the images in the fire became more distinct. "Tell us who undertook this quest... show us how it began."
The man with a mustache exhaled and then stretched his arms. "Showtime." he said under his breath. The smoky image shimmered to the man's remembrances, growing more sharp by the second. He narrated, his dramatic gestures eliciting 'oos' and 'ahhs' from the women in the audience:
"First of our party was
Princess Sybilla
, leader of our expedition and descendent of Princess Eva, who made her fateful escape from the Witch Queen all those years ago!" The smoke showed an image as clear as if the woman was right before the audience. Her olive skin was complimented by her flowing ruddy amber locks, her full and majestic bosom guarded under a gleaming breastplate, wrought with curved lines of in-laid gold where the armor mimicked the lush shape of her breasts.