Chapter 6: Setting out
*10 years old*
In the palace dining hall Brynhidr, Fafnir, Hermodrs, and Agnar were sitted amoung themselves enjoying their dinner after a long day of learning and training (as required of the children of high ranking Clan members), that was before their friend came barging in.
"My friends! Rejoice! As I come with great tidings" Thrain having just pushed open the door spoke loud enough that everyone in the hall looked at him..
"Brother!" Hela come running after him "You might want to do this somewhere else"
"Hmm, what do you mean sister?" with that she motined Thrain to the rest of the room.
"Hahahahaha it seems that the Prince was too eager, again!" with that snide comment, the rest of the room laughed out. With how the guards were not afraid to joke with the son of their patriarch's, this showed how he ruled.
"Ahh! That's my bad, so my friends would you come with me for bit?" feeling embracement Thrain offered to relocate to a different room.
"But I'm still eating Thrain" hearing Agnar whine Thrain already had a response already figured out.
"Agnar, if what I'm planning bears fruit, then I swear to you this will be the start of our legends." This seemed to be enough to have Agnar reluctantly leave his food.
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Now in the resting room in Thrain's room.
"So for what godly reason did you have me leave a perfectly good dinner Thrain" and to no one's shock Agnar was the most vocal about them leaving dinner.
"Do you ever think of anything except food Agnar" – (Hermodrs).
"Will you just tell them, Brother, I would like to go to sleep tonight please?" – (Hela).
"Well as my darling sister requested I will try to make this quick, I overheard a conversation between my father and yours Fafnir (It's Hundingr), it seems a beast has been the cause of great suffering to the villages at the base of the Þrymheimr (Thrymheim)Mountains."
"And as everyone here knows beast are animals that have the ability to draw in ásmegin (asmegin) which is divine energy produced by the holy metal álfkipfer, which then allows them to live exponentially longer lives, they have stronger and lager bodies."
"The spoken of beast is a lion, and it is said to be eight times larger than ordinary lions, that is why it has given the soldiers in the region trouble, a few have even lost their lives to the beast."
"Ok while that is a tragedy, and more so for the residents of the area, what is the point of this story Thrain?" Fafnir asked in a voice eerily similar to his father.
"Father is planning to send in his strongest of soldiers, and a few of the Einherjar under him to take it down, they ride out in five days"
"My idea is that we ride out 'in secret of course' a few days before they do and take the beast down ourselves" with his words a shock spread through the room, except for Hela, she with how she knew her brother she had already understood what he wanted from them.
"Wait, wait, I ask you give me the chance to fully explain, you can make your choice then"
"This is our chance to make names of ourselves, just think beast slayers at 10 that sounds like a great start to a great legend" Thrain spoke with a contagious fervor that with every word he spoke the warrior spirits of all the children present grew exponentially, that was before Brynhidr and Hela reigned in the boys spirits with the cons of the idea.
"What if, the beast overpowers us we could die" – (Brynhidr).
"What excuse will you use to explain our absence, the journey there alone is a week optimistically" – (Hela).
"Hahahahaha! I already have answers to your queries" – (Thrain)
"if the beast overpowers us, all we need is to retreat and reconvene with the guards, that's why we are not going to be putting that much of a gap between us and them, but bear in mind that without a win under our belts we would be in for a worse punishment." – (Thrain)
"And as to your question sister, Father and both of our Uncle Heimdallr are to depart tonight for an inspection of the fort near the border we share with the snack clan, they will be gone for a few days, as for your father Fafnir he will be busy preparing for his expedition, so all we need is to convince a few people that we will be going for a hunting trip, a simple letter will do." The group exchanged glances. The danger was real but the lure of Legend and of a glorious battle was real.
"Fine" Fafnir grunted, a shadow of his father's sternness on his face. "But there's no way we enter this battle using training swords, if we are to face off against a beast we will need real swords."
"Not only swords we will need armor" Brynhildr followed along with the idea.
"And horses" this came from Hela.
"Food!" at Agnar's sudden proclamation the whole group laughed.
"Like my brother said we will need food, and loads of it, cause if we carry too little I promise you by the gods he will finish it before we leave the plains of the Capital" –(Hermodrs).
With that they were off to find the supplies they would need for their journey.
Thrain went to prepare for their daring midnight escape
Fafnir went for the Armory
Hela and Brynhidr for the cloths they would need.
Agnar as the one with the most experience of sneacking into the kitchen and pantry food procurement was his job.
*the next few hours were were a blur, as under the cover of the moonless night, the six children moved through the palace like the very shadows they cast*
They now stood in front of the inconspicuous carriage they would use (as none of them was yet able to ride a horse for long periods of time.
As they exited the capital gates Thrain turned back to his friends and spoke, "Last chance to turn back" they all just smiled at him.
"Forever till the end brother" Hela said as reassurance.
"Yes forever till the end, WE RIDE!" – (Thrain).
With that their carriage slipped off into the night in the direction of the Þrymheimr Mountains.