In Earth Season 1615 some men of the Arrow Star clan were uprooting a tree on their land when they heard the sounds of battle coming from the hole the tree had left behind. Blood curdling grunts and squeals came from the hole as if two great boars fought. The men withdrew from the hole in fear. One brave man crept close to peer into the hole peeked in and recolied in fear. He said that he saw two great forms at the bottom of the hole, one red as blood, the other as white as snow. None other dared to approach the hole and for three days and nights the sounds of the mighty battle continued. Sinwists gathered to try and determine the origin of these beasts. Divinations were cast and spirits and ancestors were consulted. They learned that the two beasts were the sons of Mralota who hated each other unto death and had been imprisoned beneath that tree to keep them from each other's throat. A priestess of the goddess was summoned and she asked the goddess what was to be done to separate the two. The goddess responded in a clear and unambiguous manner (which was quite unlike her normal rede). The goddess told them to "cast my sacred image into the pit". The priestess sent to Trilus for the image of the goddess. King Yalaring himself arrived with the goddess' image. When it arrived at the hole with great ceremony it was carried by the priestess and her helpers widdershins around the hole seven times and then cast with great prayers into the hole.

The two boars leapt forth from the pit and were seen clearly for the first time in the light of day. They were massive beasts the size of ponies. They had huge tusks and mighty bristles and both were rampantly male. The wounds of their mighty battle were clear on their hides and their tushes were smeared with gore. The red boar snorted and raced off in the direction of the rising sun while the white boar pawed the ground and raced off in the direction of the setting sun. King Yalaring and the hunters let fly with their javelins and spears but either they missed or their darts bounced off the beast's hides. Dogs and men chased after the great beasts but quickly lost their trails.

For the next year the two boars were frequently sighted and often chased but never caught. That Earth Season both boars were sought as the prize in the Great Hunt but no one saw them so they remained unslain. Yalaring Monsterslayer and Skilfil Heartpiercer both desired to slay the beasts and instructed their hunters to alert them when the beasts were sighted. The white boar was soon spotted near Trilus while the red boar was spotted at the same time near Dykene. Both kings collected their trackers, their hunters and their packs of dogs and set off in pursuit. The events of the two chases seemed to parallel each other. Each chase lasted for seven days and nights. On the following day it seemed that the boars allowed themselves to be cornered. The dogs raced in to attack the boars and were quickly repulsed with savage wounds and fatalities. The hunters let fly with their javelins, spears and darts. None of these weapons seemed to damage the beasts and they stood there shaking their skins with the missiles sticking out of their hides like so many extra bristles. Spells seemed to bounce off of their mighty hides as well. King Skilfil hurled his might spear Heartpiercer at the red boar but somehow his cast missed! Yalaring flung a mighty weapon at the white boar and his shaft bounced off of the beast.

At each battle a young hero took up his spear said his prayers and charged the boar. The mighty creatures leapt easily aside from the hero's charge, turned as quickly as a mighty cat and tore the hero's side open. Once the boar's tushes were covered with blood they became strangely tame. The hunting parties were stunned by this turn of events and were uncertain as to what to do. Since the boars just stood there a sinwist crept forward and dropped a lasso around the boar's neck and led them off. A great cheer went out and the dead heros were picked up and borne in triumph back to their citadels.

Neither boar would allow themselves to be led into the citadel itself and instead they were kept in enclosures outside the citadels. Each boar was put in with the sows at Trilus and Dykene and the litters borne to the sows were wondrous. Each litter had twice seven piglets, all large, all healthy. The wealth each citadel received from this increase in their herds was great. And each king wondered what their herds would be like if they had both beasts. And Glyptus the Good cast greedy eyes at his brother kings...

Thus began the Boar Wars.

This page last modified October 23, 1997

Email me at oliver_bernuetz@hotmail.com.