The Skullfall Throne Part 1: The Troll Wars

 The Skullfall Throne

        The Beginning

    The Troll Wars, like all other wars, had taken a toll on the people of Nororafell, but no one had it worse than the losers. It is known as the darkest day of Nororafell’s history when the trolls came down from the Jagged Peaks and began the slaughter. 

    The trolls marched across the Great Plains going from village to village. They left a devastating path of destruction in their wake, leaving not one soul they crossed alive.

    The trolls were rumored to be incredibly fast. It was said that once the billows of black smoke of the neighboring village were seen, it would already be too late. Many of the villagers of the Great Plains sought the refuge of the forest to the west, while some of them retreated to the hills to the north. Few of the people lost all hope and sailed away from the land of Nororafell, never to be heard from again.

    With the Great Plains desolated, the trolls turned their sights on the land beyond the forest to mighty peaks of Avonrial Summit in the south. It was said that whomever held control of the mountain would have control of all of Nororafell.

    Tired of running from the ferocity of the trolls, the humans decided to rise up and fight back. They forged steel weapons strong enough to pierce the thick hide of the trolls and taught every person —both men and women— who were able to wield them.

    The people marched to Weyfell Lake at the base of Avonrial Summit and held a line of defense against the oncoming trolls. The trolls attacked with brutal force, but still the humans fought mightily and brought down a few of the tough skinned trolls. But many more of the humans fell until the water ran red, and they were forced into a retreat to the Four Falls.

    There a blacksmith’s apprentice took up a steel great axe and led the remaining soldiers into the last battle that lasted throughout the night. Marseden swung the axe with the might of a legendary dragon. He brought down hundreds of the trolls with the steadfast swings of the great axe. The trolls tried to shy away from the axe’s blade, but none could escape from it’s attacks.

    At dawn, the sun rose on a brutal battle between Marseden and the leader of the trolls. Marseden was drenched in the blood of both troll and human, green and red mingled together, and a deep gash replaced where his right eye should have been. He disarmed the troll leader and with a heavy blow of his axe, and brought victory to the humans. The grunt trolls retreated back to their caves in the Jagged Peaks and were not seen again for many years after the war.

    The humans were triumphant and cheered for their champion, but the wounds that Marseden sustained were too great, and he perished shortly after the battle was won.

    The victorious humans built a castle at the place the Hero of Nororafell had fallen and named it Marseden Palace in his honor. The steel great axe that he used to fell the troll leader was thus named “Troll Vanquisher” and was set into the stone above the castle gates to serve as a reminder of the might of the humans. The next strongest warrior was appointed king, and it became tradition to have the strongest warrior in Nororafell as the king.

    Years passed by and the humans rebuilt their villages and began to thrive and their fear of the trolls in the mountains was replaced with ease.

    Eventually, the trolls came down from the mountains under the white banner of peace, the humans accepted their banner, but their distrust of the trolls ran deep. As a punishment of their past revolution, the trolls were fixed into the very bottom of society and treated poorly by the humans as well as the other species that began to migrate to the flourishing kingdom. There was still a general distrust and dislike for the trolls by the humans that the immigrants quickly adopted.

    The repentant trolls were downtrodden and hated, but the trolls stayed submissive to the abuse they were subjected to. There were a few people who chose to just ignore the trolls and not outright beat them down, but most of them wanted felt it was only right to treat the ones that had slaughtered so many of their ancestors with disdain. They believed that the trolls were waiting for the people to lower their guard to begin another slaughter, and were not going to be fooled.

...to be continued.