Horl (c)1999 by David Nett
Vyerra Lyntel, the mother of Horl's older brother, Karrum, was so distraught over the fact that Hiram would have nothing to do with her, other than nightly pleasures, that she began to harass him, and later attempt to diffuse his business deals and anything else that Hiram held dear. Vyerra was very bitter, and would sometimes stand outside of Hiram's holdings, yelling and cursing his name whenever she saw him enter with another woman. This continued for a period of months, until Hiram grew tired of her rantings, and ordered her demise. The man who was hired to perform the dastardly deed set out to do so, tracking the woman for weeks, seeking to learn her life patterns in order to carry out the grisly instructions.
Vyerra's killer found before long that the woman he sought to kill was pregnant. And his disdain for being asked to kill such a woman outraged him, and he decided that he would confront Hiram. He returned to Hiram's holdings, and as he barged in the doors to Hiram's bedchambers, he quickly closed them, for fear of embarrassing the lady that accompanied Hiram into his chambers. The Hunter decided that he would wait in the lobby of the manor, and not shortly after, Hiram came down to see the Hunter, the displeasure at being interrupted readily apparent in his eyes.
The Hunter cared little for the man's antics, and went on to confront Hiram about the woman's pregnancy. The aggravation in Hiram's eyes dissipated instantly, to be replaced by a smirk that can only be explained as being born of greed. "Finally, I will have a son with which to rule, someone to take the reigns of my holdings, and to carry out the family name. We shall wait until she gives birth to the boy, before disposing of her." The anger in the Hunter's eyes grew less fierce, but did not disappear entirely, as he still regretted having to kill a woman only to leave the child motherless, to be raised by this man of questionable motives.
"I tell you what I will do," Hiram interjected suddenly, dispelling the Hunter's thoughts of pity, "In light of this most recent information, I will double your pay, which you will receive not once, but monthly, for the purpose of keeping watch over this woman, and when she does give birth, kill the woman, and bring the child to me."
The Hunter set out on his way without another word, and when birth was given, he kidnapped Vyerra in the middle of the night, and began the long voyage back to where Hiram's current holdings lay in wait. He left the body of Vyerra burning on the roadside, her child screaming its disdain, as if it knew the implications of the feat at hand.
As the Hunter rode up to the gates of Harim's manor, the man behind the deed was there to greet him. "Excellent! I have another job for you, loyal assassin. It seems that a similar event has taken place, one which calls for similar actions, one which I trust your services would once again be of use. I will pay you upon completion, same as before."
The assassin agreed to the terms, for he knew no other way to make ends meet. He found the woman within the tenday, she was just beginning the second trimester of her pregnancy, the woman was the same that he had walked in on so long ago, In Hiram's bedchambers. He watched the woman grow for half a year, when she gave birth to Hiram's second son. The Hunter found the woman, and felt a pang of pity for her, and for the child, and thusly decided to confront the mother with the situation. As he did so, Dyra, the child's mother, grew frantic, and began to attack the Hunter, her futile attempts at driving him away taking full precedence in her mind.
The Hunter grabbed the frantic woman, tied a bag around her head, and began a long trip to a not so nearby city, a place he would hide the mother from the malevolent nobleman. As they pulled up to the city gates, he told the woman that if she valued her life, or that of her child, that she should never return from where she came, as Hiram would surely take action to dispose of her, just as he was doing now. Dyra agreed that this was the best course of action, but little did she realize that the Hunter had every intention of taking the child back with him. As the woman slept, so did the child, only it did so on the carriage that brought the Hunter to this place in the first place.
Once again, as the Hunter pulled into view of Hiram's holdings, he was there, watching and waiting, as if he always had been. He proceeded to give instructions for the Hunter to take this child and the last to his father's lands, and to return to him when the work was completed.
The Hunter did so, glad that the children at least would not be raised by Lord Hiram, and as he returned to his place of business, Hiram bade of him to enter. As the door to the manor closed, Hiram spoke, "I do not know what you have done with Dyra, but you shall pay for your insolence." The statement was spoken so calmly that the Hunter hardly took him seriously, and brushed the comment off without so much as a second thought.
They continued to walk through the manor, and as they reached the lower levels of the keep, the Hunter felt a sharp pain in back, the pain of ones lifeblood erupting from within. Lord Hiram withdrew his sword from the Hunter's back, and used the tunic worn by the Hunter to wipe the blood from his nary used blade.
Horl grew up along side his grandfather, who in contrast to Hiram was a very kind and gentle man, having put the years of his warlike days far behind him. Neffon Fenteris was glad of the opportunity to raise the children of his bastard son, if only to get them away from the clutches of Hiram, so that they would receive the least amount of influence as possible from the nobleman.
Neffon had not talked to his son in many ages, and is not even sure if he would recognize his son if he saw him on the street; it had been so long. Hiram himself did not even escort the boys to his lands, nor did he have the decency to at least send a letter of discourse with the boys. Instead, all he sent was the word of a messenger, who only told him that these boys were indeed Hiram's, and that he was to take care of them, and that he would come for them again when the time was right. Neffon thought it just as well, even as it saddened him that he and his son had grown so cold toward one another. They had had a falling out when Hiram was just a young man, and had failed to speak to one another since that date. Neffon desperately wanted to talk to his son, to lead him away from the paths he had chosen, but he was much younger then, and twice as stubborn as that. Now he was old, and Neffon had wealth and power, it was too late for them. He vowed to himself that he would not let the same happen to his grandchildren.
Horl grew up alongside his older brother, Karrum, in relative solitude from the rest of the world, knowing well only their grandfather, and his closest associates. Lord Hiram visited only slightly more often than infrequently, and demanded of his father certain strictures in the upbringing of his children, attempting to ensure that they were taught what they would need to know to assist him in the future. Hiram himself never talked to his children, instead relating information to Neffon, in order for him to refer it to the children in an easier light.
Despite all of this, Karrum looked up to his father, and believed every lie that Hiram sent to them. He cherished the letters that were sent to the boys, even though they were penned in Hiram's hand in name only.
Much to the disdain of Neffon, the elder boy cherished the lessons sent to them by servants of Hiram; various aspiring noblemen in the employ of the Lord. They would arrive at least twice a year, bringing with them lessons that Hiram hoped would breed them into molds of himself.
Karrum held close to these teachings of power getting, so much so that he began to act much as Hiram did in his youth, finding anyway possible to make himself look better than anyone else. He began to despise the weakness of the old man Neffon, cursing his tender ways as a form of inadequacy. He grew of age a mean spirited youth, disliked by everyone, including the teachers that had taught him so well. Neffon saw far too much of his son in the boy, and it disturbed him far more than he let on.
The lust for power that his father instilled in him so well sent him on the path of wizardry. He investigated every rumor he heard of spellcasters in the area, going so far as to capture some of them to release their secrets and spellbooks to him, so that he could rise in power as soon as he was able. He dabbled in the arts of blood magic, sometimes escaping his grandfather's lands in order to raid nearby graveyards and cemeteries for fresh corpses and spell components.
Horl hated his brother for this, thinking his actions abhorrent, but held his displeasure within himself, hoping that his brother would grow out of his foul deeds. He watched slowly as his brother fell farther and farther from the grace of morality, becoming more dark and twisted with each passing day. He continued on his dark path, until the day came when his madness went too far. The best of Neffon's friends fell victim to the frosts that covered the countryside late one year, and the old man grieved terribly for the man, one he had known since childhood. Karrum saw this as a perfect opportunity to exercise a newfound spell that he had been working on, as the man's corpse was fresh, and was already well preserved due to the freezing that had slain it. Karrum concentrated all of his efforts on animating the man from his grave, and succeeded in doing so. The shambling corpse was sent across Neffon's lands, as Karrum exercised his ability to control the creature. It did not last long before the noises made by the creature stumbling into things was heard by family members resting nearby, who awoke the startling fact that their newly buried friend was again walking among them.
Neffon was outraged at the fact that someone he had cared for and brought up would betray him in such a way. Horl was horrified that his brother was capable of doing such a thing, and while his grandfather set out to destroy what was left of his best friend, Horl sought to exact justice on his brother. He found him, standing behind some shrubbery, oblivious to his surroundings. Karrum was so involved with controlling the automated corpse that Horl had little trouble sneaking up on him. As he approached Karrum from the rear, he realized that he could not strike at him, not while he was this vulnerable, despite the rage that flowed within him. He circled around his brother, until he was within eyesight, at which time Karrum lost his concentration, and the corpse dropped to the ground. Karrum immediately lunged at Horl, and the two punched and kicked at each other until they were broken apart by their grandfather and some of his friends. After it seemed that the boys had calmed down enough to be released, they were let go, at which time Karrum struck with all of the hate that had been welling up inside of him for as long as he remembered, and he kicked at Horl's left leg, and Horl crumpled to the ground, a silent scream of pain etched onto his face. Both of the bones of Horl's left leg had snapped cleanly just below the kneecap. Neffon immediately had the elder boy locked up until they could figure out something to do with him.
They awoke the next morning to find the cell within which they had locked Karrum to be all but destroyed, the boy nowhere to be found. Horl nor his grandfather, or anyone associated with them, has seen him to this day, although they believe that he may have contacted his father for some reason or another.
Having had to watch a boy that he had raised grow so foul had aged Neffon terribly, and it was not long after Karrum's disappearance that he died a broken man. Horl does not know why, but he blames his grandfathers premature death on his father, although he can not name a single reason for this assumption. Horl was terribly distraught by this event, as Neffon was the only man with whom Horl felt a close relation, they were kindred spirits, he and Neffon, and his death made Horl a bitter young man. He was brooding and temperate, impossible to speak to, let alone get along with for any length of time. His anger was at the world, and at the gods, for letting a just man die for no apparent reason. He was distraught with grief, and may have driven himself into the ground of despair had one of Neffon's closest friends not approached him one fateful day. "Horl, come now, what seems be your concerns?" The man who approached him asked, a courageous man, daring to brave the trip across the bar to where the brooding young man sat, alone, nearly every night for the past half cycle.
"Leave me be, old man, I have not time for your games tonight, I am busy,"
"Horl, come now, you are wasting yourself away into nothing, and for what, I ask?" The man took the seat next to Horl, so that he could get as close to the youth as possible, as if that would help the boy to hear him more clearly. "You have secluded yourself from everything since your grandfather died…." The man was cut off abruptly, as Horl stood quickly from his chair, knocking it to the floor, "Do not speak of Neffon in such a manner, you have no right!"
"Refer to him in what manner? Sit down and think about what you are saying lad, your grandfather would not have wanted you to continue like this, and you know it. What exactly is it that you are so upset about?"
"What am I upset about? What kind of question is that, I ask you? Who would not be upset to find the only person they cared for dead because of the meddling of some bastard, who happens to be your father?" Horl's voice was more calm now, his self control taking over for his rash reaction of moments before.
"Listen Horl, your father is better off now than he was at his happiest times here, and you must come to realize that as well as the rest of us have. Why do you not come with me, and a few of your grandfather's friends, and we will enlighten you more on the subject. What say you?"
The words of the old man felt somehow calming, and Horl felt that they contained more than a kernel of truth. "I will accompany you to wherever you wish for me to go."
