Macrendil-Ysmir

Finally the time has come. Do you think it fits the 'new' Isabeau?

Jarl Ingolf felt conflicted as he felt the ocean’s waves crash against the mighty prow of his ship.

Raiding was a necessity of life for Norscans, but this necessity also cost lives. Ingolf did not delude himself, the Frost Wolves had had a rough couple of years.

Every year, the Marauders raided and adventured across the world and every year, the weak or unlucky died on foreign shores. This was natural and helped the tribe weed out the unworthy, but it also made it difficult for their tribe to truly prosper.

The number of warriors setting sail each year numbered around 10.000, including the forces guarding the tribe. And every year, young men took on the Trials of the Winter Hunt and a couple of hundred strong new warriors were added to the Marauders.

Of course, just those few hundred could not make up the losses they suffered each year so there of course were additional sources of manpower. In fact, there were two worth mentioning:

Young men that did not participate in the Winter Hunt but waited another year to come of age and simply joined as regular Marauders. These people were more numerous than the Hunters and while not necessarily weaker, it remained true that they ignored a worthy challenge which does blemish their honour.

And the second way of reinforcement were wanderers, vagrants and other warriors without ties to one of the larger tribes. Sometimes a single warrior would pay a tithe to join the Frost Wolves and at other times a small tribe from the Norscan heartlands decided they’d had enough of contending with the harsh wilderness and came to swear allegiance to a tribe willing to take them in.

All in all, the manpower gained and lost had been in equilibrium for the Frost Wolves these past years. And this didn’t sit well with Ingolf, who had always been ambitious and was well aware of his beloved wife’s ambitions as well.

Then Erik appeared literally by lightning sent by the Gods and Ingolf felt convinced the time for the Frost Wolves to rise was nigh. And Erik had more than proven his potential to Ingolf as he watched the fledgling warrior rapidly develop his sharp claws and spread his wings as a soaring dragon.

Now this man was his son-in-law as well as a proven Thane of the tribe, making Ingolf even more assured of the Frost Wolves’ future prosperity.

‘Perhaps I need to pull a few strings to guide his path… Not by making things easier but simply by providing good opportunities, worthy challenges and ample rewards to keep up with his progress.

Helles was right, Erik requires weapons and equipment of good quality to withstand his power and not impede his growth.

Now… what does he need the most right now? A good ship and men to crew it I suppose. Scaldar’s Warband has been depleted after their surprise attack to open the gates and he also came to see me regarding Erik’s newfound Magical powers… Perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad call to let the Vikti accompany Erik for a while?

Scaldar seems as interested in Erik’s development as I am and he can guide Erik along the proper paths of Magic to prevent nasty accidents. Two Thanes also died in the fighting, leaving their ships leaderless and Erik has already absorbed some of their men into his personal Warband so I might as well push the boat along.

Yes, Scaldar will be tied together with Erik as teacher, advisor and supervisor and Erik will gain command of one of the Dragonships along with command of those men currently without leader. I need to talk with Helles to see if she can provide additional insights…’

And as Jarl Ingolf stood at the prow, deep in thought, he continued to gaze at the dark ocean spread out before him.

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Erik also enjoyed the cool sea breeze, except he wasn’t enjoying it alone. It was already dark and in less than a day the slow, heavily laden ships would arrive back home at the settlement.

And in this darkness, Erik and Isabeau decided to play a game outside. They had played this ‘game’ numerous times before and funnily enough, it was often at Isabeau’s insistence.

The dark grey cloak covering the two blended in very well with the dark night as Erik squished Isabeau’s lithe body between the ship’s railing and his own hulking mass.

Overwhelmed by the closeness of her ‘enemy’ and excited by the knowledge there were people sleeping beneath the planks she stood on, Isabeau couldn’t help but shudder as she felt a familiar heat take hold of her. And as a very familiar warm object pressed up against her, she once again decided she could ‘take her revenge’ at another time as she allowed the length of pulsing meat to enter into her gushing folds.

Erik stretched a naughty hand over to fondle her breasts while the other maintained a tight hold to prevent them from falling as he rhythmically thrusted up and forward, releasing barely audible grunts as he too enjoyed the exciting scenario.

The only sounds audible on the deck was the crashing of waves and the fluttering of the sails in the wind as the two barely visible shadows continued their lovemaking.

Until, from below, a loud snort broke their passion and replaced it with a moment of dread.

Both Erik and Isabeau froze up, not daring to move, but the fright caused Isabeau to tighten around Erik’s member, pushing him over the edge as he came deep inside her.

“Aaahn, phuuu…” – Isabeau lowly keened as she struggled to stop herself from moaning too loudly.

Whomever it was that snorted just now must have been asleep but the excitement once more got deeply etched within her as Isabeau enjoyed the afterglow.

Erik too released his breath he didn’t realise he was holding. The daring nature of his trysts with Isabeau truly provided a new thrill. And while she was still enjoying the warmth settling in her belly, Erik regained rigidity once more.

This time however, he wasn’t content with thrusting into her from behind. Instead he pulled out, causing a thick glob of cum to dribble out and down Isabeau’s fair thighs, before hoisting her up and setting her back down on the railing and thrusting back in.

Now the two were face to face and while Isabeau was still processing what had happened, surprise written all over her tomboyish face, Erik resumed his passionate thrusts while engaging in a fierce kiss.

Her mind blanked for a moment before Isabeau reciprocated the kiss, engaging in a fierce ‘duel’ of tongues in the battlefield of her upper mouth while her lower mouth was assaulted relentlessly and eagerly awaiting the second ‘final wave’.

At one point the cloak hiding their naked, sweaty bodies slid off and if anyone were to step on-deck right now, the two would be clearly visibly but luck was on their side and they finished their second round undisturbed.

Sadly at this point, Isabeau was thoroughly exhausted while Erik was still raring to go. This sort of endless stamina was a boon back home, where Erik had to please numerous thirsty women every night. But when he only had one partner, Erik had to hold back or risk hurting her.

Still, releasing twice was far better than not at all and it wasn’t like sex was all about the physical exertion. Well, it is but Erik found that the mental healing he received from the release and the closeness of a loved one after the passion passed were at least as good as cumming to exhaustion.

Seeing Isabeau’s legs were shaking, Erik then carefully lifted her back up again and carried her to their private sleeping quarter on the ship. Once there, they both lay down on the soft bed and soon after Erik could hear the soft, rhythmic breathing of the woman curled up in his arms.

Erik remained awake, a clear case of sage-mode which drove him to think about many matters.

First of all was the new addition of Divine Missions issued to him by the System in name of the Four Chaos Gods.

‘Blood must flow akin a river amidst the snow.’

‘A taste of the Exotic is a gateway to many pleasures.’

‘Death stirs stagnant waters. The stirrings need be tended.’

‘Relics of Cold Blood, Relics & Magic make Change.’

Cryptic messages, but there were hints within as well. Actually, the hints were quite clear in some aspects but without further context Erik could not take action upon them. For example, the first one could be as simple as slaughtering livestock in winter or as difficult as raiding a Kislevite city in mid-winter.

For now, Erik decided to wait and see what crossed his path. He believed things like these could and should not be rushed and would eventually fall into place on their own.

Then, Erik’s thoughts turned to Magic. During the last couple of days he had spoken at length with Scaldar regarding Magic. The first thing he was taught by the old Vikti was that as soon as a person was linked to the Winds, a mage had to take care with his words. A carelessly uttered sentence could have dire consequences if the local Winds were strong or fickle.

Magic, or the Winds of Magic, blow into the world from the Chaos Wastes where the Winds are tangible and terrifying. In its essence, it is a pure form of Chaos and can be harnessed mages, wizards and sorcerers to cast spells of great power, empower vast spell matrixes and arrays or imbue an object with terrifying might.

The Wizard Colleges of the Southerners recognise various types of Winds or schools and named them after the rainbow colours the Winds of Magic can sometimes be seen in. Blue, brown, red and every colour in between is represented by a recognised school of magic.

But aside from these ‘safe’ schools, fine-tuned over many years of research to minimise the risk of accidents or other mishaps, there are other forms of Magic.

The Greenskins have their Waaagh! Magic, imbued by their mad Gods, Gork & Mork.

The Vampires and Necromancers of Silvania harnass the power of the dead to have undead hordes rise from the grave and unleash terrifying, blood-red Winds of Death.

And the nearby Kislevites uniquely managed to tame the Winds imbued with Icy cold rolling over their snow-covered tundra’s to create their Ice Magic, which is only practiced by a select few Ice Witches in their realm and a carefully guarded secret that not even the High Elves of Ulthuan managed to learn it.

On the topic of Elves, they hold the secrets to the incredibly powerful yet dangerous arts of Dark Magic, Magic that requires vast knowledge of multiple of the Coloured Winds to cast incredibly powerful spells.

Finally, and most usefully, there is true Chaos Magic. Magic in its purest form cast forth not by meticulous, safe studying of tomes but through experimenting directly with the multi-coloured Winds and cast spells however one imagines. As long as one’s imagination is sufficient, the spell can be completed and cast. But to those among the Norscan tribes that practice this form of raw magic, few survive the risk of mutations, loss of reason and other terrible curses.

Still it was this Chaos Magic that drew Erik the most. For the System gave him access to a safe way to cast spells and he already had a decent level of Proficiency in it. Not to mention that only this form of Magic would allow a mortal, a human, to cast spells associated with Daemons and the Dark Gods themselves.

To cause agony or ecstasy with a whispered word, burn to cinders with a gesture, rot an opponent from the inside out or imbue one’s allies with unquenchable bloodlust. Or even to summon a horde of Daemons from deep within the Chaos Wastes to fight your battles and thus spare your own men.

“Hmm… Summon Daemon sounds like quite a useful spell to have. Would it require a Contract beforehand or does it simply grab some random Daemons onto the battlefield?”

Suddenly, Erik felt a strange tug from within as if something left him and the blue line denoting the Winds currently at his disposal reduced by a small margin while Erik’s newly gained ability ‘Magic Sense’ rang out in alarm.

Then, a small swirling vortex appeared above Erik and soon after a shapely, familiar ass fell down on top of Erik’s head.

“Ouch! What the fuck just happened?! Where in the Pits of Ecstatic Agony am I?!” – The new arrival immediately began to curse as she sat herself up, coincidentally sealing Erik’s mouth with her voluptuous behind.

Usually, Erik would definitely enjoy this situation but the surprising development had baffled him and the sudden movements caused the peacefully sleeping Isabeau to spring awake.

Anticipating a bout of screaming and confusion, Erik acted quickly and shoved the woman covering his face forward and put his hand over Isabeau’s mouth before she let out a sound.

Looking over at the woman he’d just shoved, Erik wasn’t sure whether to be surprised she showed up here or relieved he didn’t accidentally summon something unknown from the Chaos Wastes. So, to get the ball rolling, Erik decided a simple greeting was in order first.

“Hi Skadi, how are you doing?”

“Oh, hello dear. Ehm… I’m good? I suppose… Now, what the hell just happened?”