Pagan Ironfist
The story so far...

I.

With a thunderous crack a bolt of lightning illuminated the night's sky as the ship swam through the clouds towards it's destination. Pagan gripped the rails of the ship and grinned as the unsuspecting galley came into view through the tangled mists of the thunderstorm that raged around it and the drakkar,
"'tis a good night for raiding, They will never see us before we are on them." he said to the massive almost stone-like form of his first mate, Rockstorm. Pagan had been born in a crystal raider village high in the twilight peaks in the skyclaw clan of trolls, no-one knew his father and his mother had perished in an attack by a rival clan, so he had been raised by the trolls as one of their own and now he had his own command, a wooden drakkar barely 60 yards in length.
"De'abor abora!" the troll replied,
"Aye," Pagan chuckled as the drakkar broke a cloud bank and surged towards the opposing ship, "While we live, let us live!"
The ship shook as another bolt of lightning arced down between the two ships, now barely twenty yards apart.
With a cry of "Ra kat'ral!" Pagan leapt across the shifting gap between the two ships, swiftly followed by the trolls, slamming his ax into a hapless sailor watching in stunned amazement as the boarding party jumped the distance between the two ships.
Drawing his ax from the corpse Pagan looked swiftly around, fierce melee had broken out around the ship now it's defenders had woken from their initial surprise, he noticed a elf wearing fine looking chainmail and carrying a slim looking broadsword in the aft of the ship, shouting encouragement to the sailors arrayed before him. Taking a short run forward Pagan leapt over the battling sides and landed next to the man who turned quickly to face him.
"Raider scum!" the elf snarled as he dropped into a combat stance,
"Thera'in va!" Pagan replied and lunged at him with his ax, the elf caught the haft of the ax easily with the hilt of his sword and twisted it away to his side, flicking a cut across Pagans leather chest armour, leaving a trail of red.
"Is that the best you can manage?" the elf taunted as Pagan lunged at him again, and once again the elf deflected the blow, this time slashing his sword over Pagan's leather gauntlets. Blood swam in his eyes as each of his blows was turned aside and the elf's blade slowly wore him down. Another riposte from the elf nearly tore the ax from his hands and he staggered backwards pain screaming from every limb as the elf casually wandered towards him with a wry grin on his face.
"Had enough?" said the elf as he stood in front of him. Pagan concentrated and felt his blood burning from his wounds and let it grow, encouraging it. His blood hissed and boiled sealing his wounds and easing his pain, the elf raised an eyebrow in surprise at this but easily parried Pagans attack as he renewed his assault, this time lifting the blade to the side, twisting pagans arms so that he could barely hold the haft from the pain in his arms. Staring face to face the elf plucked a knife from his belt with his free hand,
"I can see it is time to end this," he said holding the knife in line with Pagan's eye,
Pagan grunted as he kneed the elf in the groin sending him staggering back, following up with a chop from his ax that sliced into the elf's arm, forcing him to drop his sword and knocking him to the ground.
"'Tis ended." he said as he brought the axe down on the prone elf.
Looking back across the ship Pagan could see that the now few remaining crew were proving no problem to the trolls, a few jumped from the ship rather than face them, falling down through the clouds until they passed from sight.
Pagan nodded to Rockstorm as the final sailor was despatched and smiled to himself, fine pickings for a first raid, it boded well.

II.

Smoke hung in the air above the shattered remnants of the once proud mountain village. Huts, animal pens and docks all lay in ruin, the pale tongues of flames licking around the edges of a few charred remains of the structures casting haunting shadows across the lifeless bodies scattered throughout the settlement.
Pagan watched in silence as the crew disembarked to hunt amongst the wreckage for survivors, knowing in his heart they would be none, the minutes feeling like days as they picked their way through the ash and stone hoping against hope to find someone, anyone.
Rockstorm returned to the ship carrying a ripped piece of silk, Pagan ran the material through his hand feeling it's fine quality knowing what it meant, soon the other drakkar's would return, then the work would begin. As the day passed and the rebuilding continued reports from other villages filtered in, it seemed a large fleet of Theran warships had attacked the villages whilst the raiders had been out after a merchant galley. The galley had turned tail and fled, much faster than the drakkar could follow so they had returned, to the destruction that was once their homes.
Four vedettes, stone flying fortresses, had attacked the mountain villages killing or enslaving those that resisted them, with the villages drakkar's away the ships had only suffered minimal damage, although the reports suggested that one of the vedettes was in difficulty.
"He is but a no'a'g'ral." spat the troll captain as he looked at Pagan, using the semi-derogatory term used to describe an adopted member of the clan, the suggestion to let Pagan lead the attack had not been popular.
"You speak against kat'ral and katrorr." Pagan snarled back, referring to the clans and his own honour, trolls surrounding the two backed away, in ways of honour there was only one way to settle things;
The troll threw a punch at Pagan but was surprised by his speed as he rolled aside and twisted his legs under the trolls using the weight of his opponent to bring him crashing to the ground. Standing clumsily to his feet the troll turned to face Pagan and swung another punch at him, clipping his shoulder as he turned to the side sending him staggering backwards. Ducking under another wild swing Pagan hammered a punch into the trolls chin unbalancing him for the first time a second punch sent him staggering into the surrounding crowd before slumping to the ground.
As he started to stand again Pagan offered his hand to the captain, the troll paused for a moment as if to prepare to punch again, before taking his hand and clapping a friendly slap to Pagan's back. The assembled trolls roared with approval as the two shook hands and dispersed towards the ships.

III.

The sun cast golden scintillating rays through the clouds as the twelve drakkars sped towards the five vedettes, one limping slightly behind the others.
"Kat'ral ga'i" Rockstorm rumbled as they neared the stone ships and the first flashes of fire-cannon blasts arched towards the flimsy looking drakkars.
"For our fallen kin, their honour and ours." Pagan replied.
Only nine drakkars survived to actually board the enemy ships, two of the ships being caught in a barrage of fire-cannon blasts and the third torn to shreds by a magical whirlwind vortex conjured above the lead ship, Pagan's target.
Pagan watched the ship roll slowly below his drakkar as it shuddered violently at the impact from the blast from a fire-cannon,
"Abora kat'ral!" he bellowed as he led the assault on the ship below, the skyraiders leaping from their ship to the other one the wind whistling past the as they fell the 50 yard drop to land safely on the deck below.
Pagan landed behind an unfortunate air sailor, his blow nearly cutting the man in two, all around the ship fierce combat had broken out as the initial advantage of their unusual assault dwindled. An arrow cut down an unfortunate troll standing next to him as he despatched a second opponent, glancing towards the source Pagan noticed a trio of archers raining arrows down on the deck. Pagan took a short run up an leapt over to land amongst the surprised archers, knocking one overboard with a blow from his ax.
One of the archers hastily withdrew as Pagan booted the second to join the rapid descent of his comrade, his scream quickly vanishing amidst the clamour of battle. As Pagan turned to face the last of the three the elf loosed an arrow at him, catching him in the side, his armour scarcely stopping the impact sending him staggering backwards, the elf loaded his bow again and Pagan gritted his teeth and dashed towards him, his feet scant inches above the stone floor of the ship as he manipulated the air about him to speed his attack, the elf managed to half-catch the blow from Pagans ax on his bow, breaking it in the process, Pagan's follow up blow nearly ripping the elf's arm from his shoulder, knocking him flat before Pagan gave him a bone crushing kick in the gut to ensure he wouldn't be a problem any more.
Snapping the end of the arrow shaft off as the pain threatened to overwhelm him Pagan let the warm burning sensation increase as blood burned and bubbled away from the wound, that was going to be painful when it was removed he thought as he scanned around, the skyraiders seemed to be gaining the upper hand - despite being outnumbered when suddenly the doors to the main cabins were flung open and a elf in black sinister looking robes emerged and surveyed the melee about him. A troll who had just finished his opponent gave a battle cry and charged towards him, the elf gave him an almost cursory glance before raising his hand as if to crush an object in his hand, the troll screamed and stumbled to a stop, clutching his side and screaming in pain as waves of agony overtook him.
Pagan felt a lump rise in his throat as he glared his hatred at the nethermancer, with a few steps he was gliding through the air towards the mage, who deftly stepped to the side dodging his blow which hammered into the deck with a sharp ringing noise. Rolling to the side he jumped to his feet to strike again but too slowly as the elf raised his hand to crush once again, his mouth twisted in a sardonic smile as the spell took effect. Waves of pain rose through Pagan's body as the magick took hold, every nerve in his body screamed in agony as he dropped to the floor in front of the mage, dropping his ax to the ground beside him.
"No..." he groaned as he struggled to shake the spell, his vision clouded by mists of nausea as his stomach twisted in concert with the spasms wracking his body.
The elf gave a humourless chuckle as he turned to work his spell on a fresh opponent, through his clouded eyes Pagan could barely recognise the face of his comrade Rockstorm as the nethermancer's spell claimed another victim. A sharp stabbing pain in his chest snapped him to his senses, his mind throwing off the grip of the magick, as his eyes cleared he saw a sailor pulling his arm back for another strike at him.
Now the spell's hold on him had been broken the pain in his stomach and side burned as if they were on fire, he rolled to the side to avoid the next blow but too slowly as the sailor sent a glancing slash across his ribs, digging through his armour.
Staggering to his feet Pagan faced the man before him who raised his sword for another blow, swaying slightly he forced the pain from his mind to watch the sword as the sailor swung it round towards his neck, with no time to dodge Pagan brought his arm up to block the blow, a loud cracking noise sending shudders through him as his arm broke, swinging round with his other hand he punched the sailor full in the face making a second crunching noise as the mans nose broke sending him sprawling to the ground amongst a pile of barrels.
Pagan turned to face the mage, the pain from his wounds becoming nearly unbareable, the nethermancer seemed surprised to see him standing again and raised his arm to cast his spell again as Pagan staggered towards him, waves of nausea overtaking Pagan again as he finished his spell, an agonising scream reached his ears as time seemed to slow and he realised it was himself screaming. Staring ahead of him through his bloodshot eyes the mage seemed so far away as he moved closer and closer, steeling his mind against the spells assault.
Suddenly as soon as it had started the agonising waves of pain vanished, leaving only the sharp ache from his side, chest and broken arm. Lunging towards the startled mage Pagan swung his one working arm to catch the mage across the neck, sending him tottering sideways. Pagan curled his arm round the nethermancers neck and drew him close as his legs finally failed him, the two of them falling to the ground in a heap as Pagans arm kept it's vice like grip around the mages neck as he frantically clawed against the arm choking him, trying to pry it away, but too late as Pagan gave his arm a twist and a sharp snapping noise sounded as the mages neck broke.
Red mist welled across Pagans eyes as he lay, the dead mage on top of him, the world seeming to spin above him before slowly fading from his eyes as he finally gave up the struggle to stay conscious.
When he finally came to the first sight that greeting him was the grinning face of Rockstorm,
"Vod'arr g'ralnak" the troll rumbled, Pagan smiled weakly at him by way of reply as the troll explained how the battle had finished. Two of the vedettes had put sail to the wind and fled, two of the remaining three ships including the lead ship had been captured although the previously damaged ship had been destroyed along with two more drakkar's. Their honour had been avenged and their villages were safe once more - until the next time.

IV.

Pagan shielded his eyes against the glare of the sun as looked far above towards where the fight between the two ships crews drew to a close, this had been the third time this week he had missed a jump and he was at a bit of a loss to explain what had been gnawing at his concentration so much as to miss-time his leap from his ship to the Theran galley.
As he wandered back towards the drakkar as it landed after successfully looting the enemy ship Rockstorm waved at him as he approached, a massive grin splitting his face. The troll chuckled as Pagan climbed aboard,
"What is it?" he asked, the troll merely chuckled again and shook his head continuing to grin as if he had personally defeated a squadron of Theran Kilas.
Back at the ga'ar he leant against the side of the ship to watch the unloading and to collect his thoughts, a single answer kept coming into his mind as he dismissed others and thought of more, and as the sun cast golden rays of light across the village as it dipped beneath the tips of the mountains he smiled to himself as he made his decision. He had known her only a few months but he had enjoyed every day of her company from when her sister had introduced her to him to yesterday when he had seen her last and now he was certain of what he felt.
"Rockstorm!" he bellowed towards the troll as he ambled back to the village, a barrel of Theran red wine casually slung under each arm, the troll turned towards him and gave him a half smile by way of enquiry,
"We set sail to the inn this evening." he said, the troll grinned and waved the crew back towards the ship as Pagan leant back as his mind filled with the thoughts of Gwen, their conversations together, her beautiful almost musical voice, her sparkling sapphire blue eyes and the feelings he had for her that he could no longer hold inside.
A scant week later the two were bloodmated in a brief ceremony at the inn, exchanging oaths and blood as was traditional, and although he was spending more time with her now than he was raiding he hadn't missed any more jumps and he was happier than he could ever remember being before in his life.
More as it happens...

A quick guide to trollish

Some of the story above uses Pagan's native tongue, trollish. Below is a rough translation of some of the more important words and phrases.
Abora! Let us live! (life to the limit)
De'abor abora!While we live, Let us live! (A trollish toast)
Ga'ar Kaer or troll settlement
Gai Excellent/well done
G'ralnakh Family/family member
Kat'ral Clan honor
Katrorr Personal honor
No'a'g'ralAdoptive member of clan
Va Multipurpose interjection and expletive
Vod'arr Troll greeting, literally "I see you."
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