former, and so, journeying deeper into the core of the beast, hiking along its stony bowels, it was said that they met the kind mountain dwarfs--who helped them defeat the pursuing horsemen by crafting and forging great, mighty weapons for them. In the end, the men and women and children decided to stay with the dwarfs, and lived happily ever after... If you choose to believe that kinda shit.
What seems more likely is that the retreating survivors came to the opposite side of the mountain by some "road-of-the-high-way"--as they were known in the days of old, during the reign of the Ones--and escaped the grasp of their pursuers--who got lost in the dark tunnels, and starved to death. Now, the wife and child of Rosan the Grand apparently either made it to the other side, and left again; or they didn't make it. Either way, the mother and her fatherless son traveled to the opposite side of the mountains again, for it was then that they were allowed into a band of nomads, who treated them, protected them, and fed them. And, from this band of nomads, the son of Rosan--Robald, the name of the Great Eagle, lord of all birds--was given a father.
His mother had met a man by the name of Kent--a warrior of the east who had opposed the NEW High Lord, and had barely escaped from the Imperial Tower and the city of York, as it was called "new" in the days of the Old Ones. He, too, had been accepted into the nomadic band. He was the one to take Roan, the wife of Rosan and mother of Robald, in with her son. Soon, at the hand of the shaman, they were married, and husband and wife.
Robald had originally loved his "new" father, who taught him how to hunt, fight, track, and survive. Kent had lost an arm while escaping the Imperial Tower, but that hadn't stopped him from nothin. But, as Robald grew older and stronger, and as Kent grew weaker and older, as well, he began to despise him. He wanted to know who his TRUE father was, the one who "fought like a knight in armor, with sword in hands, and a bow at back, arrows piercing the sky as he volleyed them off, one by one, and smote down men at his feet." He wanted THAT father--his REAL, TRUE father. And, never having been told of his valiant death, Robald grew older wishing to meet him.
One night, when he turned the age of eighteen--twenty, in the sense of the nomadic--and had passed the test of the warrior--having defeating Mastiff the Hunter, the greatest warrior of that specific nomadic group--he lay awake that night, in his own hut. As was the nomadic tradition of laying with a woman for the first time when one is appointed a true "warrior," in one's newly appointed hut--the following day having to be stranded purposefully out in the barren lands, and forced to survive a week alone, to pass the FINAL test of the warriors
What seems more likely is that the retreating survivors came to the opposite side of the mountain by some "road-of-the-high-way"--as they were known in the days of old, during the reign of the Ones--and escaped the grasp of their pursuers--who got lost in the dark tunnels, and starved to death. Now, the wife and child of Rosan the Grand apparently either made it to the other side, and left again; or they didn't make it. Either way, the mother and her fatherless son traveled to the opposite side of the mountains again, for it was then that they were allowed into a band of nomads, who treated them, protected them, and fed them. And, from this band of nomads, the son of Rosan--Robald, the name of the Great Eagle, lord of all birds--was given a father.
His mother had met a man by the name of Kent--a warrior of the east who had opposed the NEW High Lord, and had barely escaped from the Imperial Tower and the city of York, as it was called "new" in the days of the Old Ones. He, too, had been accepted into the nomadic band. He was the one to take Roan, the wife of Rosan and mother of Robald, in with her son. Soon, at the hand of the shaman, they were married, and husband and wife.
Robald had originally loved his "new" father, who taught him how to hunt, fight, track, and survive. Kent had lost an arm while escaping the Imperial Tower, but that hadn't stopped him from nothin. But, as Robald grew older and stronger, and as Kent grew weaker and older, as well, he began to despise him. He wanted to know who his TRUE father was, the one who "fought like a knight in armor, with sword in hands, and a bow at back, arrows piercing the sky as he volleyed them off, one by one, and smote down men at his feet." He wanted THAT father--his REAL, TRUE father. And, never having been told of his valiant death, Robald grew older wishing to meet him.
One night, when he turned the age of eighteen--twenty, in the sense of the nomadic--and had passed the test of the warrior--having defeating Mastiff the Hunter, the greatest warrior of that specific nomadic group--he lay awake that night, in his own hut. As was the nomadic tradition of laying with a woman for the first time when one is appointed a true "warrior," in one's newly appointed hut--the following day having to be stranded purposefully out in the barren lands, and forced to survive a week alone, to pass the FINAL test of the warriors
