The Saga of Thorunn Lace-Cuff: Skull Smasher by Octavio Ramos Jr

Author:Octavio Ramos Jr. [Ramos, Octavio Jr.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery, TV; Movie; Video Game Adaptations
Amazon: B000FCKF2G
Publisher: PageTurner
Published: 2005-09-23T04:00:00+00:00

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PART FOUR. THE TROLL

The Black River had cut its way through the great forest of Blackwood for more generations than could be easily counted, and in the early days of Fria it was said that no simple boat could cross its torrid length. The advent of the long boat changed things, for these craft, with skilled navigators on board, could successfully traverse through the thundering rapids. In time the thanes of the Great Farms built a number of crossings, using as a starting point a relatively mild tributary that led north to the Emerald Lake. Surrounding the lake was the expansive Bri Marsh, which only the imprudent dared enter. It was at the mouth of the lake, where the tributary to the river began, that Thorunn Lace-Cuff walked along a sand- and rock-infested bank.

A pale, slightly flushed face stared across the roaring river. Tresses of silver hair fluttered with a gentle breeze, the streams of cool air drying off what tears remained on frost-coated cheeks. Once powerful ice-blue eyes were tainted red with the melancholy compression of eyelids shut in pain and pallid lips showed the wear of multiple bites. Although only eleven festivals old, Thorunn no longer felt like a girl, but more like a woman, or at least an adolescent, principally because of the multitude of emotions raging inside her. Clutching a long sword with both hands, the young girl looked to the sky, her eyes yearning for any sign of her father. But there were only clouds up there, and without the foresight granted from Murmir's Well, she would have to be content with the finality of it all.

"Why did you leave me, father?" she spat out, her chest heaving after releasing an intense spasm of breaths. "Why?"

Still dressed in lamentation garb, Thorunn adjusted the sheathed blade onto her back, pulled the leather strap taught, and began to walk along the surf, her soft leather boots leaving tracks soon eaten by the subtle waves breaking upon the shore of the river. She would have to find suitable clothing soon, for the sable gown would not last long in the icy realm of Fria.

It had taken her father three festivals to die, and in that time he had been confined to his chamber, his once massive form shriveled and dried like meat jerked for a journey. She had watched this man – a slayer of giants and trolls and the original wielder of the untamed blade Skull Smasher – whither away despite her mother's formidable powers of sorcery.

At the dawn of Kveld-Ulf's death, Harald of the Long Axe, who long ago had given the "Evening Wolf" a long boat with which to explore the Ice Lands, had returned to the warrior's farm and for a second time had given of his own accord a long boat, this one for the Wolf's final journey. Thorunn's mother Gudrin, whose alabaster countenance had aged considerably since the warrior's demise, had accepted the gift with thanks and praise, and later

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