The universe of A Song of Ice and Fire and its characters belong exclusively to George R.R. Martin. This is a work of fiction created by a fan for fans, made solely for entertainment and the development of creative writing.
Only the characters created by me, such as the protagonist and some other original characters, as well as the changes to the canonical plot resulting from their actions, are of my own intellectual authorship.
I wish everyone a good read!!
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Chapter 8
Year 100 BC
POV: Denovan
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
The rhythmic sound of the hammer echoed in the forge, filling the stifling environment with the strident sound of metal.
Sigh.
I looked back, where there were two blacksmith's helpers, and shouted, "You can start twisting!"
They pulled the incandescent metal from the furnace with tongs and, with a coordinated effort, began to twist the red bar. Seeing that they started working, I returned my focus to the ingot in front of me; the heat was intense, sweat ran down my forehead, but I didn't stop.
Three years had passed. The forge, which was once just a distant wish, was now the pulsing heart of our village. I still carried the axe made by Gorn at my waist, but the quality of what we produced today was incomparably superior. Bronze utensils, agricultural tools, and high-quality iron weapons now circulated among the families most loyal to the Magnar. My father used this wisely: steel was the reward for loyalty, strengthening our political and military position. The quality of bronze had improved greatly, and we used it for simpler things or in armor, which required larger quantities. Steel was only for weapons or very useful tools, like hammers and tongs.
But today... today was about me. I decided to reforge my own axe; I was going to make my own Leviathan.
I had the tools now. In these years, I built a functional vise, hammers of different weights, chisels, and stone molds. My helpers, blacksmiths I trained, already had enough experience to prepare the bases, but the finishing was mine. Today, I wouldn't forge just normal steel. I would make my specialty: Damascus Steel. It was a technique that held an edge much longer and created hypnotic patterns on the blade, like flowing water solidified in metal. That's why I had them twist the alloy back there. It was all to generate these patterns.
I'm curious to see the reaction of my father and siblings. "Hehe," I laughed softly, the sound being muffled by the noise of the metal.
I turned again, panting, sat on a wooden bench, and said to the helpers:
"That's good. Fold it once and put it on the bench."
And so they did.
Thud...
"It's ready, boss!" one of them said.
"Thank you. You can go rest... I'll continue alone here."
"If you need anything, just call us, Denovan," another helper said.
I nodded and watched them leave the forge. When they disappeared, I got up from the bench.
"Let's go," I said to myself.
I took the twisted bar they prepared and joined it with the high-carbon steel alloy I was working on.
Bang... Bang... Bang... Fold...
Bang... Bang...
The rhythm was brutal. It would be impossible for a normal child my age to endure this for two hours straight. But I wasn't a normal child.
I had the body of a 14-year-old, although I was only 10. My muscles were dense, my shoulders broad, and my height far above average; I was 1.60 meters tall. No one looking at me would say I was a child. This was the effect of the bond with Breu. The horse of a breed similar to the Shire, with which I bonded three years ago, transferred part of its robustness, strength, and growth potential to me.
This was what a True Skin-changer is capable of. A "Fake" one only controls the mind. A true one, like me, establishes a biological and spiritual connection that gives us real physical buffs. Our bodies improve, our eyes become more potent. Just like what happened when I bonded with Horus; now my eyes were almost as potent as a falcon's. And, because of the appearance of my eyes, some called me Denovan Hawk-eye. It was funny, the savages had a very cool sense for nicknames; I liked this one.
I continued for another two hours...
Sigh.
I looked at the alloy and now it seemed to be just one; today I had already made three of these ingots.
"Let's rest for today," I announced, dropping the hammer and wiping the sweat with a dirty cloth. I didn't need to pull an all-nighter or wear myself out. Haste makes waste, and I wanted to use something special for the handle, maybe bones, but that was a problem for later.
I left the forge, feeling the thermal shock of the freezing air against my hot skin. It was already around four in the afternoon. I walked straight to the stables.
There he was. Breu.
Years ago, I asked my father to give me a foal, wanted to see if I could form a bond with one. In less than a week, there I was, successfully bonded. Breu wasn't always black; this is apparently an effect the animals have upon bonding with me. First their eyes gain the same shade of gold as mine, and over the next few days and weeks, their fur falls out and black fur grows, and... at least in the young ones, they start having a growth spurt.
Breu was now enormous. At 2 meters tall, he was larger than any horse in our stables. Shires generally reach 1.80m, which is already a lot. Breu grew larger and stronger, but that wasn't all: he was very intelligent, understood any human very well. He let some children in the village pet him, but adults he refused. I find such gentleness funny coming from an animal of that size; it showed how much my animals became more conscious, larger, and stronger than common ones. Horus was also large, compared to his siblings, Wind Wing or Sharp Wing. He didn't seem to belong to the same species as them, seemed like a totally new one.
This solidified my status even more. Many here already consider me the next Magnar and call me chief or lord. Little do they know I won't be Magnar. At least not here...
"Hello, boy," I whispered, petting the massive neck of the black beast. I continued: "Let's go for a ride?"
"Pffffhhhhh!" he answered me.
"Hahah... ok, ok." I opened the stable gate, held onto the base of his mane and, with a jump, mounted.
"Let's return before it gets dark..." I said looking at the sky.
"Hiiin!" he neighed. He liked to talk. I would like to know what would happen if I bonded with a crow or a parrot. It would be interesting...
"Let's go!" I said mounted bareback. For short rides like this, there was no need for a saddle.
We started trotting out of the village and, when we left the gate, I felt a mental pulse. At the same moment, Breu stopped, sensing my feelings of confusion.
"Horus..." I immediately thought of him, but the pulse didn't convey a feeling of fear or anything like that, so I was calmer, curious. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, letting my consciousness slide into his. Each time I did this, it got easier, that's why I was looking for a new bond, but I'm being selective, especially after the growth spurt I received from Breu, I'm afraid of becoming a chimera or something totally different, was waiting for my body to mature more, or, to find a really interesting animal.
Returning to focus, I didn't try to control him like most times, just hitched a ride in his eyes, one of the several tricks I discovered with practice. I expected to see interesting game or maybe a bear near the village. But what I saw made me hold my breath.
From above, the white landscape was stained by dark and gigantic shapes. A herd of mammoths. But they weren't alone. Humanoid figures, enormous, walked among them, herding the beasts with spears that looked like tree trunks.
"Giants..." I murmured smiling upon returning to my body.
They were coming in our direction. I didn't panic, giants were peaceful, but mammoths had the power to destroy the village if they decided to pass through here.
"Let's go back, boy," I said turning Breu. "To my house... fast."
Neigh. Breu, fast as an arrow, went crossing through the village. While Breu ran, I closed my eyes and, sensing the golden thread that connected me to Horus, spoke to him: "Thanks, partner... come back to me, I need you to show the way..."
"PIAA!"
As soon as we arrived, I dismounted the horse, opened the door, and shouted:
"Father!" I tried to find him at home and arrived in the hall. I found Sigorn talking to some men. He saw my expression and stood up immediately.
"What is it, Denovan?"
"Giants. A whole herd, with Mammoths. They are coming here."
A murmur of fear ran through the hall, but my father remained stoic.
"Are they attacking?" he asked.
"They don't seem hostile. They are just... walking. Herding their huge mammoths."
My father's face softened slightly, an old memory passing through his eyes.
"Sometimes... very rarely... they appear. When I was a boy, a tribe of giants came down from the Frostfangs to trade some items... I don't even remember what they were looking for... it's been decades."
"What do we do?" asked Halgar, who was nearby.
"Let's meet them. They may be peaceful, but the mammoths, if not guided, can trample our houses."
"Get ready, but do not attack," ordered Sigorn. "Halgar, Ulfar, get the horses. Let's intercept them before they reach the houses. Denovan, guide us."
"You two also come with us," he said looking at the other two who were sitting at the table.
With a nod, we ran back to the stables. We saddled the horses quickly. I already had my old tomahawk at my waist. It wasn't much against a giant, but it was better than nothing. As I mounted Breu, I felt that childish excitement bubbling in my chest. I was about to see giants. Mammoths. The living legends of this fantasy world I loved so much.
We set off at a gallop, snow flying under hooves and above us, was Horus.
It didn't take long. The herd wasn't far and the ground trembled slightly as we approached.
"PIAA!" Horus descended from the sky and landed on my shoulders.
I petted him and said: "Good thing you warned us, boy... Could have been dangerous." He didn't answer with sound, but I felt him snuggle into my touch.
When we noticed, we were already beside the gigantic beasts. The mammoths continued their slow and inexorable march, ignoring our presence. We skirted the mass of fur and ivory until we were before one of the immense figures that was on the flank of the group. We stopped the horses. We kept our guard up, but weapons sheathed.
My father took the lead, shouting to be heard above the wind and heavy footsteps.
"What do you seek in my lands?"
The giant stopped. He looked at us from above, his small dark eyes evaluating our small entourage.
"Trade," his voice boomed, deep as rolling stones. "The chief will speak."
"I will be waiting," replied my father. "But the herd cannot continue. If they get closer, they will destroy our houses."
The giant looked at the village in the distance, then at us. He nodded slowly.
"Herd will stop." The giant said already turning towards the middle of the herd.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Everything worked out. And I would have the chance to see these creatures up close. The giant cast us one last look as he headed into the middle of the herd, passing between the mammoths with uninhibited grace for a creature of that size. In an instant, we heard a horn.
"HOOOONNN!"
And we saw the giants moving among the mammoths. The sound seemed to be to alert the giants and not the mammoths. In less than 10 minutes, the mammoths were completely stopped.
"Let's move to the front of the herd," said Sigorn. We began to skirt the herd with watchful eyes to see the giants. A group of them came out from the middle of the herd and headed towards our group. My eyes shone seeing them approaching.
Sigorn looked up, but not with fear. His face was serious, but showed an almost childish fascination in talking to those living legends.
"Are you the chief of the small ones?" the giant's voice sounded.
My father looked at us and said: "Yes. You must be the giant chief. What do you want in these lands?"
"Furs for sharp points. And bags." The giant's voice was deep, like rolling stones in a cave. "Our females want bags to carry the young, food, and stones. You... small ones make good stitching."
"We want the ivories," said my father pointing to the ivory of a large mammoth.
The ivories could be used to make trinkets, weapon handles... At the moment, I thought of the axe I was making. And... sleds. That was something new I was implementing. We had caught some wild reindeer and were having the trouble of caring for them; fur, milk, antlers, leather, locomotion... they could be many things. I changed more than just the Thenns' forge, I've been improving various things in our village, some of which have already started to spread through the valley, some villages already managed to reforge steel with their improved forges. But that's not important now...
The giant, a mountain of fur and muscle that must have been almost four meters tall, grunted in agreement. He pointed a finger thick as a trunk to the bronze spears some of our guards held.
"We can do that," assented Sigorn. "We have what you seek." He then looked at my brother and said "Ulfar... my son, will organize the exchange." He said with a smile and hands on his shoulder.
It was in this gap that I approached.
"Greetings," I said, looking up.
The giant lowered his small and suspicious eyes to me.
"The small one speaks our language," commented the giant, without much surprise, but with curiosity.
"This is my other son," introduced my father, with a touch of pride.
I seized the chance. My mind was already working on a thousand possibilities. I looked at the mammoths grazing further back, watched by another giant.
"They are magnificent," I pointed to the beasts. "Have you ever thought about... trading some? Heavy cargo transport. Wood, stones for construction."
The giant let out a laugh that made the ground vibrate slightly.
"Mammoths walk where they want. We follow the herd. If the herd stops, we stop. Not the other way around, small one."
He said a sentence much longer than I expected.
"What if they had a safe place? Guaranteed food without needing to walk so much?" I tried to pitch the idea of a fixed settlement, thinking of Hardhome. One of my biggest and most ambitious goals.
"Giants do not like walls. Walls trap." He shook his head in the negative, discarding the idea of a fixed home as quickly as it arose. But then he looked at me with more attention, bending down a little.
"But you smell of beast. What are you, small one?"
He noticed. I smiled. What a keen sense of smell...
"I have an affinity with them, with animals. I am a Skin-Changer. Speaking of which... I am looking for a creature. Perhaps you, who walk with the herds, and so close to nature have seen it."
"A skin-changer...", he murmured thoughtfully, his eyes wandering the sky until they returned to me. "What does the small hunter seek?"
"Small bears. Rabid. The size of a dog, but fight like demons."
The giant laughed again, this time louder.
"Everything is small to us, small hunter..." He pointed to the direction they came from, pointing to the mountains further east. "Over there, there are many herds of mammoths. There are Saber-Tooths over there. Maybe that's it?"
This caught me by surprise.
"Saber-Tooths?" I murmured with a small smile. This was much better than a wolverine. "Are there many?" I said curious, since in all of ASOIAF there was never a mention of them.
This is what I was going to do when I was going out with Breu earlier; I am looking for animals to bond with. I'm being very selective. After the growth spurt Breu put me through, I'm being careful bonding with animals.
"Few. But the packs follow the weak of the herd. They kill, eat, and move away, but never take their eyes off the herds."
My eyes shone. It wasn't what I was looking for, but they were exactly what I needed. And I still haven't given up on finding the wolverines, they would be great pets since they were small and kinda cute, but were very fierce "hehe" I laughed internally, already imagining some of them at home. But the Saber-Tooths were even better. They were already apex predators. Predating a mammoth wasn't easy; they were large and also walked in a pack. Social animals were easier to care for, and they would be the best combat companion I could have, that is if I ignored the direwolves.
"Have you seen any recently?"
"Not here. They don't like us... big ones. We scare them away."
"I understand...", I murmured.
I already have my next destination: it was the east. The coldest places were over there. I would have to prepare...
"Thank you... Big friend... still don't know your name..."
The giant looked at me and said: "Don't thank me. I did nothing... My name is Trasg."
I extended my hand and said: "An honor to meet someone so big... Trasg."
"HAHAHHA, I like you, tiny one... I will remember you."
Trasg's voice was strong. "I will stay here until the bags and sharp points are ready."
My father replied: "I will send someone to bring them to you."
Trasg grunted in agreement. We turned back towards the village and left.
"Are you still looking for the small bears you told me about?" my father's voice sounded.
"I am... After the effect Breu had on my body, I am wary of bonding with larger creatures."
"That is important, Denovan. Be careful. The gods gave you a powerful gift. Never heard of a skin-changer like you... but I really don't know what creature this is that you seek, son."
"Maybe they don't even exist anymore," Ulfar said.
"That might be true...", I said a bit discouraged.
"But now there are these Saber-Tooths," said Ulfar. "They seem interesting. Animals that predate mammoths... could they be the size of direwolves?"
"I've seen these Saber-Tooths... they are large, but direwolves are larger. Saber-Tooths are the size of a bear and look like a shadowcat with a short tail and very large teeth," my father said.
"Maybe I'll go to the east to try and catch some," I said testing my father's reaction.
"Maybe...", he said somewhat amused.
"I would have to go with you... brother... so father won't worry," said Ulfar.
"Yes yes, and we should call Sig too..."
We burst into laughter.
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