The Tyr Chronicles

The Seeds of Greed

"Beware son of Leon, son of Alva. For you'll be deceived by one whom you once called 'friend.'"

Götz woke up with a start to those cryptic words. His head was racked with pain; it felt like a smith beating an anvil with a hammer.

"Oh, the irony..." he groaned to himself, gripping his head with his lone left hand. Everything happened so fast before he blacked out.

He had been locked in a sword fight with an unknown warrior, during which he lost his lower right arm. Yet, somehow, the warrior had been disarmed, and the moment Götz's bloodied hand gripped the warrior's blade, it glowed a holy white, and the wound on his right arm had healed.

Looking at his right arm, he realized the vulnerability he felt with only one hand. The stump took up what used to be half of his lower arm. The most disturbing part was that Götz could still feel the phantom movements of his missing hand.

"You done lookin' at your stump?"

The sudden voice caused Götz to jump in surprise; however, when he saw whom the voice belonged to, he gave a sigh of relief.

It was Fafnir, an old friend of his. The man's most defining feature was his height, or lack thereof. The man was a dwarf, no questions asked, and he had the stockiness of one as well. His hair was a pitch black while his eyes were a bright blue. Yet, they laid sunken inside a blocky head, the lower half of which was covered with a thick, braided beard.

"Heh ... yeh, I mean ... I did just lose my hand. By all accounts that's a new experience for me," Götz said, gesturing to his stump to emphasize his point. "Where are we anyway?"

"The church," the dwarf said so matter-of-factly, "Where else would the villagers take refuge?"

Picking himself off the sandy dirt, Götz looked back at the building he had been propped up against. It was a church all right, with its white wood and polished stone, along with the stained window with their holy cross over the door. Looking towards the left of the pale door, he saw Eret, Astrid, and Torunn. All seemingly waiting for someone or something.

'Why haven't they broken in yet?' Götz pondered as he walked over to them.

"Götz! You're finally awake," Astrid said, rushing over to him with relief. Eret and Torunn followed close behind her to their friend.

"Thought we lost you there for a second," Eret remarked, patting Götz on the shoulder. Torunn, being his usual silent self, didn't verbally greet Götz; instead, he pulled him into a bone-crushing bear hug.

"Okay," Götz groaned, "Good to see you too big guy." After a bit of struggling, Torunn finally let him go.

"So, what's the plan Eret?" he asked.

"Well ... We've got two main options: burn the building down, or just break down the door and bull rush them," Eret explained, turning towards the oak door. "Though to be honest, we were waiting for you to wake up. Just to make sure we got your input as well."

Götz could only bring himself to sigh in response.

'Gods dammit Eret ... Sometimes I question your ability to lead,' he thought, looking down at his blond raid leader. "Let's just bust down the door and be done with it. We don't need to kill any more people than we've already have." Götz stated bluntly, "Now, where's my sword?"

"Zword?" a voice croaked as Götz searched the exterior of the church for the sword he had won from the soldier. Everyone turned in the direction of the voice to find a girl embracing it as if it were a toy.