Ragnineorak

Perditus was born into a nomadic family, who wandered far in the northern regions of Skjoldier often crossing the borders of The Queen’s Domain. His Father told him his mother died giving birth to him, but Perditus never quite believed that story. Out of love for his father though; he did not pry. He still was a happy young boy following his father out everyday on his hunting trips. On a particularly cloudy day his father took him further in the wilds. While taking aim at an elk fog began encroaching on the two nomads. They could nary see more than a few meters in front of themselves. Wandering aimlessly them found themselves at the tip of a blade. The blinding fog lead them deep into The Queen’s Domain. Armed shadows approached from all sides out of the forest, and then nothing. Perditus awoke by a fire in a small shack with an aching head and large bump on the back of his head. His father lay on the other side covered in bandages and a splint on his leg. The door was locked when Perditus tried to look outside. He waited inside with only the sound of his father’s shallow breathing to break the silence. So afraid he could do nothing but cry. Voices began to approach a raspy one, and a feminine one.  Suddenly the door opened letting in a freezing wind that bit the young boys cheeks. Two figures stepped in, a large man covered in ragged clothes, and a woman wearing a cowl. The man gestured toward the father and son saying, “Here are your offering my lady. I hope they please you.” She never never said a word, but instead waved the man away. She knelt down to reveal to eye level with Perditus and asked, “Are you okay my child.” Perditus nodded his head quickly for fear of angering this strange woman, who even he knew was a witch from his father’s stories. She touched his cheek and the clod from her palms made him jump. She smiled and told him to stand. As his did two more men came in to grab his father. The pain shocked him awake with a scream. He frantically looked around the room before zeroing in on Perditus and the witch who now rested her hands on his shoulders from behind. “Come now we have a long journey ahead of us, and must be under way,” she said with an eerily calm voice. Both Perditus and his father loaded onto a cart, and shackled their hands with freezing iron. For days they rocked back and forth in their seats with one of the men guarding them. He had a blank expression, and almost seemed to stare through them. One night after they had stopped for the night. The witch approached them she removed Perditus’s shackles and walked him into the woods. “Leave him be. He is just a boy,” his fahter pleaded. She said nothing and guided an afraid young Perditus into the woods. they walked for what seemed like hours to an old frozen pond. She knelt beside and patted the ground for him to come sit beside her. “Look into the ice my child, and tell me what you see,” she said. He sat down next to her and leaned over the ice. He saw his distorted reflection, but nothing else. “Just me,” he said. She gestured toward the lake, and said, “Try again, be patient my child.” He stared long and hard, but still saw nothing when he turned to tell her again she had a dagger raised over here head. Screaming in terror Perditus struggled, kicking her over and over. She tried to grab him, and in doing so dropped the dagger. It slid out on the ice. They both raced after it. Fear forced his legs faster and faster until he slid to take the dagger. He turned and cut the witch at her belly. She screamed in pain, and in her agony Perditus ran off back where they came. He ran and ran until to his surprise his father grabbed him from the bushed. His hands were bleeding, and bruised. He broke his hands to get out of the shackles. Together they crept back past the camp to the main road. It was there Perditus saw the two guards on the ground. One dead and the other stabbed through the shoulder pinned against the cart. His father’s doing most likely. They began rummaging through the sacks and create for food and supplies. As Perditus tried to show his father the clothes and food he found a blade pierced his back. The witch had made it back and her wound had healed. His father mouthed the words “run,” and so the boy did. He took off like lighting running faster and faster. Jumping over rocks and roots, and doing his best to not leave tracks when he could. He ran for days never looking back. Eventually he reached the coast where he saw a ship moored along a shabby dock. He ventured closer and closer. He saw men in plate armour guarding sailors loading crates onto the ship. He had never seen their insignia before, so he thought they couldn’t be with the witches. He came out of the brush only to be ambushed by a sailor who grabbed him by the arm. “Oi look ye here this lad is trying steal our cargo!” Soon he was surrounded being shouted and screamed at by other sailors. Eventually the Captain of the ship screamed out, “Enough,” from the deck of the ship. “Bring me the boy,” he called out. Perditus was escorted on board only to be met with a tall, bearded man with a tricorn cap upon his head. A heavy brow glared down at the boy. “Who are you?” Perditus did not answer right away, and instead cowered in fear. Realizing he would get no answers from the boy he sent the sailors back to work. He guided Perditus into the cabin and sat him down. It was there Perditus answered the Captain’s questions. He told him everything about his escape from the witch. The Captain nodded and offered to let the boy hide on board and masquerade as a cabin boy. In a week the the ship left the island to sail for Talons Grotto where the ship would drop of its cargo to sell. Perditus worked hard on the ship for months. He took well to the sea. The Captain took notice of this, and offered to officially the boy a permanent position among the crew. For 14 years Perditus served in that crew until the Captain under went a mutiny and was killed. Perditus mourned his mentor and when the ship eventually landed once again in Talons Grotto he stepped off the ship for the last time. Now he works the docks when they are offering work, and drinks away his wages as fast as he earns them.