ABOUT THE TARNSMEN OF HAAKON OF SKJERN
"Far
away, through the sky, from the east of Laura, following the forest line,
there came a flight of tarnsmen, perhaps forty of them, mounted on the great,
fierce, hawklike saddlebirds of Gor, the huge, swift, predatory, ferocious
tarns, called Brothers of the Wind. The men seemed small on the backs of
the great birds. They carried spears, and were helmeted. Shields hung on
the right sides of the saddles."
"Targo came forward on the barge, and, shielding his
eyes against the early morning sun, looked upward. He spoke to the one-eyed
guard, who stood behind him. "It is Haakon of Skjern," he said.
The one-eyed guard nodded.
Targo seemed pleased.
The tarnsmen had now, somewhere behind Laura, brought
their great birds to the earth.
"The compound of Haakon is outside of Laura, to the north,"
said Targo."
"Beyond the compound of Haakon of Skjern I could see
the compound of his tarns, where, hobbled, the great birds beat their wings,
threw back their heads and screamed, and tore at the great pieces of bosk
thrown before them. Sometimes they tore at their hobbles and struck at their
keepers with their pounding, snapping wings, with hurricanes of dust and
small stones, could hurl a man from his feet. Those great rending beaks and
pressing, ripping talons could tear him in two as easily as the great thighs
of bosk on which they fed. Even separated as I was by three walls of bars,
that of their compound, that of the far wall of Haakon's compound, and that
of our common wall, these birds terrified me."
Captive of
Gor, Chapter 8
His name is feared among some of the smaller villages. The cities publically
declare his band a nuisance, though in secret watch the skies when outside
thier own walls. He is Haakon of Skjern, of the Torvald Isle just west
of Scagnar, come to the mainland to make his way through the fruits of others.
He resides in a compound just north of Laura with his Men and fierce
saddlebirds, plotting and planning plunder. Not much is known of Him
other than His general whereabouts. Few have seen His face, though
the helm He wears is His trademark....
He has contacts in Laura, though none will take You to Him heedlessly, lest
They fall under the shadow of His sky-borne raiders...
