I have been absent for several weeks but return to you with the force of a locomotive....(?)
"Skyforge" is the story of the Mor'Gant family of Tegen Cove, the creation of a powerful sword forged from a falling star, and how it destroyed them all...
Another tale from the Perilous Woods.
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Skyforge
In a remote corner of the vast Perilous Woods lived a blacksmith of noble birth. Fin Mor’Gant was from one of the most renowned families in all the Kingdom. Unfortunately, the Mor’Gants of Tegen Cove had long ago lost their wealth, their land, and their people. Now all that remained was a broken, sordid castle threatening to destroy itself at the slightest breeze, and of course, a famous name.
As the years piled themselves on top of one another and ages came and went, the Perilous Woods slowly, but with monumental force, reclaimed its lost land. By the time Fin was born in a crumbling tower on the highest level of the Mor’Gant keep, it was the only part of his home not yet taken by the forest. In fact, you could no longer see were the woods began and ended. It was an unending sea of green leaves and black branches broken up by the chimney smoke of small villages that dotted across the horizon.
Over the years, as the Mor’Gant wealth diminished, they took to trading away their earthly goods; first for gold and then, in more desperate times, food and clothing. Away went the fine paintings, the gilded bowls, and the ornate furniture. As their belongings dwindled they did what any honorable family would in such a circumstance; they found jobs. Or rather they became tradesmen, more specifically, blacksmiths.
It was Maughlin Mor’Gant who first apprenticed in the small town of Corwyn
On the first day of spring in a year that had seen too many stillborn young, a son was born to Clovis Mor’Gant and his wife Gwyndollyn. He was strong and hearty, quite unlike previous generations of Mor’Gants, and they named him Fin after the legendary hero. Fin grew into the strongest, most steadfast, and kindest man his parent’s could have hoped for. His prowess with the hammer was unparalleled in all the forest. Knights from distant lands came to have a helm of iron that could turn any blade, or a knife of silver that could slip through any armor. Fin slept little and worked late, never a care outside his singular focus. When his mother and father passed away in an unfortunate accident involving a runaway carriage, Fin missed the funeral because he was working on an axe of the finest steel. None blamed the boy, the death was traumatic to be sure, and who wouldn’t bury themselves in work to avoid the pain of it all. Still, some questioned his absence. Before long he had enough coin to patch his crumbling castle. Soon enough after that he had the gold to purchase the surrounding lands, and finally to settle down and have a family.
Rhiannon Githonllwy was the daughter of a baker on the outskirts of the land that had once belonged to (and now again belonged to) the Mor’Gants. She was beautiful; pale skin, long red hair, and the prettiest green eyes that you ever saw. Always quick to passion Fin fell immediately and madly in love. For Rhiannon it took time, but eventually they were wed, blissfully and, remembering his parents, Fin vowed to never neglect his family again. They were dubbed the Lord and Lady Mor’Gant, an honorific that had not been bestowed in nigh on five hundred years.
They had twin sons in their first year of marriage, and they named the pair Cadoc and Rodrick, after the battlemasters of old who first carved the name Mor’Gant into the annals of Tegen Cove’s history. The boys were strong like their father (much to his relief) and never want of separation.
Then a peculiar thing happened. Cadoc and Rodrick had gone from bulky children to hearty young boys, and Rhiannon, nearly nine months pregnant with a new child, was playfully plucking the first grey hairs from Fin’s head when a tremendous, earth rattling sound began to pulsate through the patched stone of the Mor’Gant keep. Leaping to the window and thanking his lucky stars he had repaired his castle, Fin beheld a burning light blazing through the night sky. It lit up the forest like the noonday sun, fizzling, and popping as it approached until it landed with an explosion of such magnitude that, though the object had crashed over a mile away, Fin could feel the blast of heat upon his face through the window. Soon after, dirt, rock and shards of broken trees rained down upon the surrounding area, layering the ground with the dead and scalding remains of ancient arboreal husks.
Throwing on his coat Fin dashed from the castle, not heeding his wife’s plea to remain, and ventured into the forest to find the thing that had so torn up his land. He did found it in a crater over one hundred feet wide. Trees two feet in diameter had been snapped in half as if they had been twigs, all due to a smoldering mass the size of a boulder, covered in effervescent blue veins. Fin beheld the stone in awe, recognizing it for what it was, the most remarkable metal he had ever laid eyes on.
For the remainder of the night Fin stared at the unknowable object, watching the glowing tracks slowly fade until only a sheen of blue remained. He touched the cool surface and found that it was smooth. Transfixed with its beauty he began to dig, and slowly he revealed the entirety of the thing. Knowing then that he must keep it safe from harm, he gathered the broken wood from the surrounding area and built a mighty enclosure.
Fin worked tirelessly for days on end, never sleeping, never eating until the rock was safe from the outside world. In this way he broke his vow for the first time. On the fourth and final day, after securing the final plank, one of his attendants arrived and dutifully informed him of the birth of his first daughter and the untimely death of his wife.
His grief was great and all thoughts of the rock that fell from the sky momentarily vanished as he raced home. Fin prayed it had been in jest; that his wife waited for him with their unborn child. It was with a false hope that he stormed through his castle and into his bedroom to find his Rhiannon, cold and pale, arms folded neatly across her chest, dead. Cadoc and Rodrick stood nearby, their faces stained with tears, not fully grasping the gravity of the situation or what it might mean for their future.
Fin ushered his family and his servants from the room. When he was alone he dropped to his knees at his wife’s bedside and screamed. The only sound that echoed his wail was that of his newborn baby. Rising from the bedside he followed the sound. Through the halls he walked and into a small room where he found a crib, and inside the crib, his daughter. Raising her up into his arms Fin was comforted and again he thought of the star that fell to earth. “I shall name you Seren, my star of morning.” And for the second time he vowed to never again leave his family.
The years faded one into another and they were happy, or rather, happy enough. Things changed as they always did, Cadoc and Rodrick were no longer inseparable and Seren took to playing peace keeper, her sweet ways and cheery disposition ending many a possible squabble. Rodrick took after his father, becoming cool in temperament and kind in his judgments, but all consuming with his work. Many whispered that he was an even finer blacksmith than his father. Cadoc became a moody and sullen child, prone to great bouts of anger and manic fits of happiness. He seemed to be a young man pulled in a thousand different directions. The trade his father had passed down to Rodrick was lost on Cadoc’s unskilled hands, and he struggled to find a place in the Mor’Gant family. Thankfully, whatever the issue or concern, Seren always managed to calm his moods. With a soft whisper in his ear, or a childish laugh, Cadoc would return to himself and all would be set to right.
Still, try as he might, Fin struggled at keeping his family in check. It happened one summer day that Cadoc and Rodrick got into an argument over a piece of steel. It was a silly thing, Rodrick was fashioning a cutlass for a local merchant when Cadoc, admittedly looking for a fight, criticized the work. Always quick with his own passion Rodrick sprang at his brother. Had Seren not been in town fetching the weekly store of provisions, perhaps her presence would have prevented an injury. But as it was, after a length of scuffling amongst the grass, Cadoc pulled his hunting knife and waved it at Rodrick. Incensed that his brother would dare threaten him with a weapon, Rodrick charged. It was an accident Cadoc later claimed, but what was done was done, and Rodrick lost the thumb on his left hand, forever diminishing his skill at the anvil.
To Cadoc’s credit, it was he that alerted the herbalist and then, bravely and with much sorrow, his father. Fin spent the night with his wounded son, searching his mind for an answer to Cadoc’s actions, but he could think of none. A day later, when a request came from the King to have a Mor’Gant in the guard once again, he broke his vow for the second time and sent Cadoc. Seren arrived in time to see her brother off. There were many tears and much anger at the parting. Unable to convince her father to change his judgement, Seren sweetly kissed Cadoc on the cheek, telling him everything would be fine and how much she still loved him.
He hugged her tightly and in answer whispered into her ear, “I will return to you, for you are dearest to me of all.” He received none of the same sentiment from his father and brother, and he left them without a word.
Fin took to spending long hours walking the paths of his forest, mumbling to himself as he went. His time with his children diminished even though he loved them beyond measure, especially Seren, for she was the living image of her mother in both spirit and form. Rodrick continued on the best he could, but as the years went by and his skill with a hammer grew no greater, his mind darkened, the missing thumb on his left hand a constant reminder of the limits of his ability.
Fin never forgot about the stone in the forest. Often he would wake in a panic and race off in the middle of the night to the structure of broken trees deep in the forest. Though his love rested firmly on his children and nothing could change that, the stone still weighed on his mind.
“I must do something with it,” Fin would think when he had a quiet moment. Perhaps he would forge a statue of his wife, or use it as an anvil to create his masterworks upon. Surely, when he had crafted it into a magnificent item, its power over him would cease. On a fine day, when Rodrick had taken Seren into town for the annual summer festival, Fin Mor’Gant made a decision that would shape the future of his family for all time.
Choosing his five sturdiest men, Fin arrived at the metallic boulder and began his work. It was a slow and difficult job, one which involved complexities that would have been beyond all but the most genius smiths. But, Fin was more than a blacksmith, he was an artist, and when his hammer sparked upon the metal there was no doubt in his mind what he would be forging. Bending and folding, heating, bending and folding, heating, bending and folding…and so it went until the metal could be hammered no longer, and a blade of such crafting as will never again be seen on this earth emerged from the fire.
The blue veins shone like ripples of light upon the sea and the five men that had helped in its creation marveled at the thing. Then Fin did a thing that he would never speak of again. In truth, he had very little knowledge of the deed for it did not seem to come from him but from the blade he wielded.
The first man struck had no time to react as he was cleaved in two, nor the second. The third man managed to turn his head at the splash of blood on the ground and was thusly cloven in half. It was the forth man that started to run but the blade severed his legs and he fell in a heap, crying until his blood ran out. The final terrified man armed himself with a sturdy hammer, but when the sword met the iron weapon it shattered in to a thousand pieces. Fin drove the man into the earth with the sword that had named itself Skyforge.
Stepping away from the terrible deed he wept in despair. For the third time he had broken his vow and in the most terrible way imaginable. As the blood pooled on the floor Skyforge seemed to drink of it deeply, for its blue veins grew the deepest red and it seemed to sing a horrible song. Screaming, Fin overturned the furnace of burning coals and ran, letting the building burn to the ground as Skyforge continued its dark melody.
It was in the sixteenth year of Seren’s life that Cadoc returned, now a famously brave and humble knight of the realm; but of his many legendary deeds this tale does not tell. He had been summoned by his sister, for their father lay dying. Cadoc arrived on a horse of pitch in silver armor that gleamed in the sun. It was Seren that greeted him eagerly.
“Oh brother, you’ve come just in time, I fear father only has a few hours of life left in his body and he has been calling your name.”
Startled Cadoc kissed his sister on the cheek and took her in his arms. “It’s alright little one, I’m home.” Seren wept.
“Are you well? Where is Rodrick?”
Seren did not answer. She merely gazed at the window on the highest level of the Mor’Gant castle and took Cadoc by the hand.
Rodrick watched from the high window of the room were his father was spending his last hours on earth. Resting his hand on the hilt of a familiar sword he watched as Seren led Cadoc by the hand through the open oak doors, and a pang of jealousy stabbed at his heart.
When Cadoc finally arrived, Rodrick had taken a seat at the far corner of the room, a mocking grin on his face. “Here is the famous Knight, come to bid his dying father adieu. He has been calling for you, brother. Why have you kept him waiting?”
“I’m sorry, Rodrick, for everything.”
Rodrick marveled at the change in his brother’s temperament. No longer was he the angry young boy of memory. In his place stood a confident, strong man, wise beyond his years; this vexed him all the more. “You have changed Sir Cadoc, for the better I hope?”
“Aye, for the better,” spoke Cadoc, but made no mention of the change that he now saw in his brother. Turning to his father, he knelt by the bedside. “Father, I have come when bidden, what do you wish of me?”
Fin opened his unseeing eyes at the sound of his son’s voice and smiled. “Cadoc? Is that you my son? I have missed you.”
“And I you.”
“You have grown into a fine young man, a fine man.”
“Thank you, father.”
“I wish to apologize to you. It was wrong of me to send you away. I was weak and I missed your mother.”
“It is forgiven, father.”
“Thank you, my boy. My love for you has never wavered.”
“Nor mine.” A tear ran down his cheek and a sad smile drew across his face. “I was a despicable little child.”
“No my son, you were merely a young boy without his mother.”
“You will be seeing her soon.”
“No. There is a darker fate for me. Listen close, I must tell you something.” He leaned in and whispered so that Rodrick could not hear. “I fear for your brother. He has not been well.”
“What do you mean, father? He looks well enough.”
“You do not understand. How could you?”
“Help me to.”
“Skyforge…it has brought tragedy to this family thrice before and I fear the cycle will begin again.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I feel it call out to me, it is close. Protect Seren…” and with that, Fin died.
“What did he say?” Rodrick had risen from his chair, a gleam of something in his eye, blood red.
“Nothing that I could understand. Where is Seren?”
Rodrick motioned out the door. “She has taken to hiding in her room, as if I could not find her there.”
“What do you mean, brother?”
“Hmm? Nothing.”
“Where are the servants?”
“They have all run away. Well, most anyway.”
Cadoc rose from his place and stood ready. “And the others?”
“I know not.”
“Are you well, brother?”
“I am.”
Cadoc took a step toward the door and Rodrick blocked his way. “You have changed, Rodrick.”
“For the better, I hope.”
“Move brother, we must prepare the funeral rights and I must tell Seren.” Cadoc stepped toward the door and again Rodrick blocked his path. “What is the matter with you, Rodrick? Have you lost your senses?”
Smiling, Rodrick took a step back toward the door and drew the blade from his hip. “Do you remember the day you drew your blade on me?”
Cadoc nodded. “I do, and I would give anything to take it back.”
Rodrick cackled. “This is Skyforge. I heard it singing to me in the night and I found it amongst skeletons and ash in a great crater, far into the woods.” The blade gleamed blue. “It calls out to me even now.”
“Are you mad?” exclaimed Cadoc, drawing his own blade. Rodrick laughed.
“I have missed you brother. And so has Seren, thought I know not why. She does not look at me anymore. I frighten her.”
“Put away your weapon, brother. You have my humblest apology.” But Rodrick did not answer for he was caught by a fever.
“But I love her. Perhaps it is my love that frightens her?”
“Perhaps it is your blade? Please, sheath it and speak to me.”
“I found it some years ago but dared not move it. Did you know that it was buried in a man’s spine? Ha. I finally had the nerve to retrieve it only a month ago. Why I left it alone for so long I do not know.”
“Brother, that weapon has cast a spell over you. Please, drop it and speak to me.”
“It calls out to me. It calls out to me for your blood.”
“Brother…” but Cadoc’s words were cut short as Rodrick lifted the blade over his head and sent it crashing down. Cadoc lifted his own weapon to deflect the blow but it was to no avail. His blade shattered and Skyforge delved deeply through his chest.
A scream rent the air and Rodrick pulled the blade from Cadoc’s limp body, slashing at the disembodied noise. In horror, Seren’s wide eyes stared back at him as she held the gash in her throat. Dropping the blade to the floor Rodrick’s senses returned and he beheld the deed he had wrought.
“Seren!” He cried. She opened her mouth to speak but blood poured out instead and she fell to the floor, dead. Her blood pooled on the floor with her brother’s and Skyforge drank deeply.
Rodrick fell to his knees in silence, watching his blade drain the essence from his family, and it spoke to him for the final time. “More.”
Rodrick nodded and fell on the blade in despair, letting the sword end his misery.
The ruins of Castle Mor’Gant still remain, rickety and ancient, threatening to crumble to dust at the slightest inclination. If you are brave enough to venture through the ancient and untouched land you will find a crater were nothing grows. And, if you are foolish enough to go past that boundary and into the keep beyond you will find the bones of three men and one young girl. But you will not find the sword that fell from the sky. It has passed from legend into myth, and where it went this story does not tell.
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