Tryndamere: The War for Freljord – 2

He felt guilty. He knew his wife would be furious when she found out what he had done, but he had a bad feeling about this mission. While Olaf was a more than capable warrior, he knew that there was more to this mission than appeared on the surface. The newly crowned Freljordian king had to admit to himself that this also provided himself with a long awaited excuse to get out of the burden of the royal clothing. Just being back in his barbarian pants, with the skull hanging from the midsection and his trusty shoulder armor, made him feel a rush of vitality. His sword was hanging at his side, where it belonged, not on the wall as decoration.

He pushed away his feelings and concentrated instead on the mission ahead. As he left his beautiful ice castle he shared with Ashe and many other powerful people in Freljordian society, his anxieties melted for him. He knew he was doing the right thing, and Olaf would not say no to his company. The two had initially disliked each other, both being used to alpha male status. Despite this, Olaf and Tryndamere had gone hunting together one day in an effort to get past this and found that the two men were very similar. By the day’s end they had been laughing and were as close as brothers.

He didn’t catch up to the berserker and company until they were almost out of the canyon that the city-state of Freljord was located in. They had built their new society there to shield it from the constant storms, and it had gone rather well so far. Only the tallest towers in the castle had a large view of the surrounding areas. He hailed the captain when he was in sight, “Oi, Olaf, ya big git! Got room for one more?” Olaf turned and exclaimed with delight when he saw who had addressed him so roughly. “Of course! But do you really think you’ll be able to help out? I’m thinking you’ll just slow me down old man.” The two shared a laugh and set off towards the caves.

The caves were located outside the canyon, on the icy cliff face that faced outward. There were a dozen caves and each had housed ten men. As the two approached the entrance to the innermost caves, the sun had just set and produced a brilliant orange glow in the sky. Olaf put a hand out and said, “Let me go in first, you bring up the rear.” He cautiously looked inside the caves, and saw nothing in the antechamber. Each of the caves contained four rooms, an antechamber and two side rooms, along with a large room in the back that served as sleeping quarters. As they went inside, they could tell the walls were splattered with frozen blood, and it gave Tryndamere a foreboding feeling.

After searching all the rooms, but finding nothing, Tryndamere said, “Well, I don’t want to leave a detachment here. I fear that whatever did this to our men will be back.” He looked thoughtfully over at Olaf. “I know it isn’t the most effective way to search, but it will keep us the safest if we check all the caves as a group.” Olaf nodded his approval and the group set off. They checked the caves one by one and found more of the same in each one.

After they had checked all the caves on the east side, they headed towards the west and Olaf and Tryndamere walked ahead of the group so they could talk quietly. “What do you think did that?” Olaf asked under his breath. “Could it have been the yeti’s turning on us?” Tryndamere quickly said, “No. I don’t believe the yeti’s would ever as long as Nunu’s around, plus we’ve treated them quite well lately. I doubt it’s the minotaurs, because even if they don’t wish to join us, they don’t gain anything by declaring war on us.” He paused, and looked at Olaf before saying, “I think this is the work of the Winter’s Claw, but that’s also what troubles me the most. They shouldn’t be this powerful, and our warriors are very well trained.”

Olaf looked somber upon hearing this news and Tryndamere shared his feelings. The Winter’s Claw were the biggest threat to their newfound stability in Freljord. As long as that group opposed their rule, friends and families would find themselves on opposite sides of a feud and that could never end well. Soldiers could hesitate before striking, and that one moment could mean their deaths. Both warriors were deep in thought as they approached the caves and began to check them one by one. They found the same thing in each of them until they came to the fifth cave on the west side of the canyon. Lying on the floor, they found what looked like a crystalline horn from a helmet.

Tryndamere was immediately on alert. Other than the blood on the walls, there had been no trace of an attack in any of the caves. He kept his eyes roving from side to side, taking everything in without looking away from the entrance. Suddenly one of his men yelled from one of the side rooms, “We’ve got something here!” He told Olaf to keep watch and ran in to see what the commotion was about. As soon as he entered the room he knew that things were going to be taking a violent turn soon. On the wall, dripping in blue war paint was a giant claw print, and Tryndamere knew that this was Sejuani’s warning shot.

As he stood there, staring at the claw with a heavy heart, Olaf yelled out, “Intruders are upon us!” Tryndamere pulled his massive sword off its spot on his belt and the weight felt comforting in his hands. ‘Well,’ he thought, ‘I suppose this is why I wanted to come. I will show them what it means to attack Freljord.’ A sort of manic grin spread across  his face as he entered the antechamber. He grew excited with the thought of battle. There were already at least a dozen men and women attacking, each of them wielding a battle mace, the weapon of choice for the Winter’s Claw. Tryndamere was heartened to see two of them fall, and all of his men were still standing.

He charged headlong into the fray, slashing this way and that, his fury rising with every strike. As he struck them down, he lost himself, giving into his rage. Before he knew it, all the Winter’s Claw in the cave were dead, and he led the charge recklessly outside. Before him stood a group of fifty warriors, and at their head was Sejuani, riding her armored boar. He called out with a mocking shout, “Sejuani! Why do you disturb the peace our land finally has?” She looked incensed and barked back, “I will never bow to your pathetic rule. I was born to unite Freljord!” The two adversaries stared at each other for a few moments before Tryndamere lunged his sword forward and yelled, “Charge!”

With that he used the weight of his sword to fling himself forward, spinning and cutting down two warriors as Sejuani lumbered away. Tryndamere kept attacking left and right until he was no longer in control of his movements, his every motion a brutal attack. He was receiving many cuts, some rather deep, but he knew his barbarian blood would be able to hold off death and his rage caused him to heal some of the more critical wounds. As he slashed back and forth, he realized the enemy number was thinning.

His undying rage kept him going in the middle of the enemy army, and he gave a deep booming laugh. Looking towards Sejuani he said, “I am your worst nightmare. You made a mistake opposing us.” He threw his head back and laughed louder, attempting to goad his enemy into making a mistake. Sejuani was enraged and threw her mace with full force at him. Olaf yelled, trying to warn him, but it was too late.

The mace struck Tryndamere and he gasped. A prison of ice was forming around him, and he fell over to the ground, unable to move. He was dragged across the snow covered ground towards Sejuani by the chain on her mace and he knew he was in trouble. His last thought before being fully encased was, ‘Ashe will come after me, I have failed my country.’

This one took a long time to write. I’m not sure why. Usually I sit down and crank ’em out in one sitting, but this one was split amongst 3 different writing sessions. I’m fairly happy with how it turned out though, so no worries :). Have a good day summoners!

Also, I’ve been meaning to say this. If you haven’t taken the poll yet, go do it! I’m interested to see what everyone likes to play! 🙂

-Tale Master