A Triple Tragedy:

The Tale of the Falmilgaar Family

A Love Lost (Book 2/3)

Much time had passed since the passing of his parents. Balthornalong with his brother had devoted themselves to an art of fighting theyinvented themselves—an art so effective that they began creating a reputationamongst the community of the night—one to be feared, and local inns werestarting to tell tall tales of their exploits. It filled them with pride, butBalthorn in his heart desired to settle down. He did desire to put his pastbehind him—but he was a prisoner of his own fate as you shall soon see. . .

Smoke from a village could be seen from a distance, as oneapproached closer, one could see the remains of a massacre. Bloodsplattered the dirt road, limbs were scattered about as if a once completedpuzzle was tossed about in a rage. The scent of death filled the air.A horse hoof stomped down on a singed sign. The rider rode proud andseemed larger than life itself. His confident aura changed the scene.Balthorn, slowly road through the town looking for any survivors and as hesurveyed the scene he came across a few mutilated bodies with wounds intheir necks. “Vampires” he spoke under his breath. Shortly after sayingthis, a cry (a literal cry) for help could be heard off in the distance.

“Help me!” the shout grew louder. Out from behind a dilapidated shackcame a young attractive woman that looked to be between the ages of 27 to30—close to Balthorn’s own age. The girl asked the stranger who he wasand he answered her, “Balthorn”. She pleaded for help from the capablelooking stranger and told him her story: the thieves’ guild snuck into theirsmall village during the previous night and unlocked the doors and windowsto all the homes. They helped themselves to whatever they could fit in theirpouches and worse yet, let a group of vampires into the homes so they couldfeed. One of the townsmen awoke during the feeding and fought off thevampire and jumped out of his window. He started yelling for help whichawoke the entire little village and a huge fight took place. The townsfolkwere outnumbered and out matched, the thieves and the vampires made

quick work of the tenants and the vampires fed like they were rabid beast.She escaped to the wooded area that surrounded their quant village. Shestayed in hiding out of fear for her life until she saw the young lad who satmounted on the horse in front of her.

This brought back painful memories of his own child hood and the lossof his own mother and father and he volunteered to help the exhausted younglady. Having spent his teen years practicing and creating a martial art thatfocused on joint manipulation, nerve strikes and swordsmanship with hisbrother, Wayrl, Balthorn felt quite prepared to handle any vampire menace.The two brothers had a fighting style that easily overwhelmed the averagebar brawling nord. Further, he and his brother would challenge oneanother, almost nightly to an advance game of hide and seek. They werehoning their stealth skills knowing they were going to be hunting creaturesthat were faster and stronger than they were, and also that thesemonstrosities had very keen senses. They practiced how to approach a teamof this type of enemy without detection and after years devoting themselvesto their fighting style and stealth movements, they became quite proficientat it.

Balthagor, and his attractive new acquaintance setup a temporary campin a nearby cave. “Give me time to devise a plan”, he told her. She wasgrateful for his aid, “my name is Dagney” she told him and then she obligedhim in setting camp. Being a brute does not mean one is not a gentlemanand he showed her the respect a young lady deserves. He gave her the spaceshe needed during the next few days while he came up with a solution, and asolution he did come up with! After a decent meal of deer which he hadhunted down earlier in the day, he told her what he was planning on doing.“The alliance of the thieves’ guild and vampires must be broken down inorder to weaken both sides. As long as they have each other we are at a

disadvantage. I will need you for this plan to work if you are willing?”Dagney was eager to avenge the death of her family and readily agreed.“We shall seek out the thieves’ guild in Riften” he told her, “you shallinfiltrate the guild and become one of them. They are already aware of whoI am so you’ll need to go alone. They hang out in the Ratway. Once youhave established your place amongst them and earn their trust, you will baitthem. You’ll suggest a raid and that shall be their trap. We’ll make it seemas though the thieves’ have grown tired of their treaty with the vampires andfeel they are strong enough now to prowl on their own.” Dagney eagerlyinterrupted, “the vampires will be furious! They will then begin hunting thethieves and maybe even divert their immediate actions in a grand retaliation!”Balthorn in a calm manner nodded and stated a simple fact: “Smart girl.”Dagney smiled as she just earned the respect of the seasoned hunter.

Dagney and Balthorn were successful at implementing their plan.Months went by in order to assure Dagney was accepted as one of themembers and did in fact gain their trust. She had to be completelycommitted to the part and even aid in the robbing of the innocent in order toaccomplish this task. She was somewhat ashamed of herself and at thesame time proud she was going to aid in the destruction of an alliance thatnothing but evil could stem from—more importantly, aid in the direct attackagainst the very people who killed her family. Further, Balthorn andDagney were in a way growing closer. He would frequently meet with heroutside of Riften to check on her and ensure she was safe. She never feltalone the entire time she was carrying out this clandestine operation.When weeks would go by that he was unable to visit her, he would sneak inclose to the Ratway at dusk and leave a single white rose lying where shewould see it the next day. This gave her the confidence she needed. And toBalthorn, he was considering the fact that this confident and brave youngwoman may—just maybe—be an acceptable lifelong companion.

While Dagney was involved in her own mission, Balthorn was seekingout a local legend that would greatly aid him in dispatching the many foes hewould soon to be up against. The legend was of “Hurlevent” a wordmeaning stormwind. This was a legendary blade that belonged to thefamily of the Stormbringer line of swords. This type of sword was veryrare and bound with a soul gem of a daemon. The daemon’s soul cursed theblade and whatever the blade struck into; it was capable of “drinking” thesoul of its enemy. It was an ebony blade inscribed with runic text that heldthe bound soul enslaved to the blade. Very few swords like this existed, thegreater known of this type of sword was the Stormbringer and Hurleventwas its sister blade. Hurlevent was forged by a warlock named, Majuro,whom imbued this blade to act as the ultimate weapon which could absorbsouls to soul gems to aid in his necromancy. This blade was said to behidden in the Ruin of Angarvunde which lies to the west of Riften. A bladethat can pierce through any armor and drink the soul of its victims seemedlike just the sword Balthorn would need to successfully dispatch theenemies he was about to show himself to.

He sought after the blade in Angarvunde and using the sneaking andstealth skills he and his brother perfected was able to maneuver around theruins fairly undetected. The Ruin had Draugr which would aid nicely whenthe time came to spring the trap on the vampire vermin and thief rats.During his exploits in a crypt deep within the ruin, a decaying corpse laynear the exit. The room was dark and the pathetic torches on the walls werenot doing too great a job in lighting the place. Balthorn took a silent stepand heard a slow moan, “That can’t be good” he thought to himself.Right after thinking this a cold hand laid itself down on his left shoulderand began pulling him toward the darkness. He immediately reacted: heturned inward quickly and used his momentum to shove the draugr back.He was now face to face with an ugly menace that looked as if though it hadseen hell itself and cursed to represent it in physical form. He kicked theDraugr in the left knee quickly which broke the leg. The Draugr stumbledto the left, Balthorn slid to the right of the Draugr creating enough distance

that the Draugr was unable to reach him—perfectly executed. He drew hissilver sword (which was given to him from a friend of his father’s after thefuneral) and quickly struck down on the left side of the Draugr but theDraugr evaded! The creature stuck in between two worlds lunged with itsbroken leg toward the skilled hunter.

Balthorn leaned back and intercepted the Draugr’s arm that was reachingfor him and guided the Draugr toward a torch hanging on the wall behindhim while he dashed to the side again. The Draugr smashed into the walland when he turned around quickly to face the seasoned fighter, he was metwith another sword slash that took off his arm. Balthorn always preferredbeing the aggressor in a fight—a tactic he and his brother practiced wholeheartedly. He rushed the draugr slamming his sword into his chest withsuch force that the blade jammed into the wall behind him. Balthorn grabbedthe torch and while the draugr was stuck, he held the torch to the draugr’sface and lit him ablaze. Balthorn knowing that a lit corpse would easilydraw attention scurried off with his sword and hid back into the shadows.

He continued with his adventure in the ruin and at last reached a wideopened room. He quietly explored further in and saw several Draugrsleeping in small chambers which was supposed to be their final restingplace. In the center of the room a whirling wind sound could be heard and aglowing aura was swirling around a blade floating in the air. Sure enoughthe legend was true—he had found Hurlevent. But could this be? A swordof such great power guarded by only draugr? He knew his plan of action, hewould lead the thieves down here with the vampires and once Dagneyinitiated a small civil war within the two parties the surrounding Draugrwould awake and attack both vampires and thieves together. It would be anultimate deadly encounter of pure chaos. While the chaos ensued, he wouldmake his claim of the sword and once he held this weapon of pure power, hewould dispatch any surrounding enemy. He would let a few run for sure soeach party would tell their comrades what took place. This would plant theseeds of hate in both camps which would ultimately be the end of an alliance

that has been held together for far too long—the perfect plan.

Within a few days Balthorn was rested and prepared mentally andphysically for the fight which was about to ensue. He left a lily near thestone stair path that led up from the living quarters of Riften which wasDagney’s sign to invoke the plan of action. She mentioned to the leader ofthe thieves’ guild, Sarlow that she had overheard of a party of adventurersthat were seeking a legendary demon sword that could drink the very soul ofits victims (the bait). This intrigued Sarlow immensely. He simply said“imagine what one could do with a treasure like that!” Dagney continued totaunt the leader’s greed. She said to him she had a plan. The party she waswitness to was fairly large and obviously veterans. She wasn’t sure thatwith the minimalistic weapons the thieves had that they were going to be anymatch for them. However, with the aid of the vampires they should be able tosucceed in dispatching the party of heroes. She continued “we should tell thevampires that this party, we suspect will attempt to invade the Ratway andoust our guild, we will need their help in preventing this and have baited theadventurers to go into Angarvunde with stories of treasures. Once they aretrapped inside, we along with the vampires will sneak in behind and attackthem. The vampires don’t ever have to know about the real cause of ourbeing there and their “pay off” will be that the vampires keep any treasurethis party has.”

Sarlow thought through this plan and decided he very much liked it; infact he even offered her a promoted rank within the guild if this was able tobe pulled off. He was quite impressed with the thought out details of heringenious scheme. (If only he knew that this scheme was much deeper, andthat he was just a pawn on a chess board that had been beautifully setup fora check and mate.) He told her he would send word to the vampires and thatshe should begin readying the guild—they would be ready to leave within afew days. They would let the adventures delve into the ruins first and thenfollow suit.

The couple days passed and everyone was ready. The vampires and thethieves were being led to the ruin by Dagney who had supposedly kept an eyeon the adventurers (that didn’t really exist). The draugr were resting insidetheir chambers guarding the legendary artifact and Balthorn was alreadyinside Angarvunde patiently waiting for his cue to strike. Dagney led theparty of unsuspecting thugs and blood suckers down into the ruins and anycursed monsters were quickly dispatched by thieve bowmen or by the pureevil power of the vampires. The ruin was windy and full of dark, danktunnels. It wreaked of the rotting dead and the noises that echoed off in thedistance was enough to make a man go mad. Finally however, they reachedtheir destination, a map that Balthorn gave Dagney a few nights before wasexact and aided her greatly in her finding of this treasure room. All thepieces were in their proper place. The game was about to begin. . .

After the thieves and vampires entered the main chamber the vampirescould instantly sense the energy which was emitting from the blade floatingin the air. Their keen sense warned them of its power. Dagney made herway to the side and very loudly shouted “Guild, they’re here! Attack now!”Both parties drew weapons though they were confused as neither knew whatwas taking place. She continued with her propaganda, “Kill the vampires!Kill them! No longer are we under their rule!” Shortly after this a silverarrow (shot by a hidden Balthorn) landed right between the eyes of a bloodsucker—killing him instantly. That was all the vampires needed to see, theyimmediately attacked the thieves which were of course retaliating for theirlives. All the shouting and fighting commencing had in fact awakened thedraugr which hungered for anything alive or dead to eat. Dagney tried herbest to evade the massive slaughter that was taking place around her andmake her escape out of the ruin while Balthorn made haste to hisself-proclaimed prize.

He dashed in and out of people locked in combat and slid jabs and cuts inwhere he needed to in order to buy enough time to get the blade. He ran hisway up the stair case and felt a deadly chill pierce through his body as hepassed the aura that was circling Hurlevent. He reached for the sword.A vampire took notice of this and quickly recognized the blackened armor cladBalthorn. He was the hunter that had been responsible for the many deathsof many vampire brothers. He wore a unique armor that was easilyrecognizable. It was sort of a trademark, a sign to be noticed—a warningto all. The vampire yelled in a frightened and panicked voice, “Grab thatblade!” While still locked in combat, many of the lesser skilled combatantsdid look towards the top of the chamber to witness a black knight grabbingthe floating sword. However, since they took their eyes of their opponents,they were fairly quickly dispatched.

Balthorn’s hand grabbed the sword and as soon as he had a grip on it,the chamber began to shake and a low rumble could be heard echoingthroughout the whole ruin. A mass amount of unknown energy swirledbehind the place the blade was hovering in and a low lit mist looking energybegan to take on a very distinctive shape—that of a daedra! (So there is theguardian to the blade.) With the adrenaline rushing through his veins andhis heart pounding to the clashing of iron and steel behind him, he didn’t needeven a moment to respond to his unexpected circumstance and swungHurlevent into the forming daedra. Success! His strike damaged the powerthat was forming the evil being and weakened the metamorphosis. Still,the daedra continued to form and a weapon being unsheathed was visible.Balthorn quickly rushed the entity backwards and sliced upwards towardsthe daedra damaging it and then using the momentum he had expelled, drovethe blade back down in a diagonal motion cutting the daedra right as he wasfinishing materializing.

The daedra fell back to his knee and looked confused and agitated as hecould feel his physical essence being drained by the cursed blade. He let outa growl as he once again materialized into a ghostly form and light emergedfrom his body. Multiple beams of energy ejected out of him and flew intothe blade that Balthorn was holding. Quickly Balthorn pivoted around tosee a couple thugs and a vampire rushing him.

He immediately threw his silver sword into the air towards the thug onhis most right side. He took a quick step in the direction of the thug andbegan a spinning pivot holding his new sword near his waste creating avery powerful slashing motion that cut the thug into two splitting the torsofrom the legs. He reached up in time to grab his silver sword in the air andfinishing his spin executing a double wielding kill move where he droveboth swords down in a crossed “X” decapitating the head of the second thug.He then proceeded to throw the silver sword at the vampire who wasjumping at him and managed to pierce the body but missing the heart.He tucked and rolled to the side of the vampire as the creature landed on itsside—unable to land properly from being wounded in the air. Balthornquickly stood to his feet and jumped towards the vampire slammingHurlevent down into the creature’s heart upon landing. A low rumble couldagain be heard as streaks of light emitted from the vampire’s body andentered into the blade.

Balthorn glanced up and saw a small army before him clashed in battle:vampires fighting draugr, while defending against thieves at the same time.Thieves scattering about trying to stay alive while engaged in a battle fortheir own lives against the dead. The draugr protecting their ruins andattempting to feast for the first time in only God knows how many years.He took it all in and felt an overwhelming desire to slam the blade down tothe ground. He heard a voice echo inside his head, “release me…”. Thevoice continued and although he didn’t want to, it was as if his arm waspossessed and as the voice commanded him, he slammed the sword down

into the stone slab beneath him. At that very moment a blindingly brightlight burst out of the runic text inscribed on the sword and circled aroundthe room. It was as if though a sun had been born from the darkness of theblade. A low rumbling growl mimicking the sound of an angry lion echoedfrom around the demonic sword. It was the raw power of the spirit of thedaedra being forced out of the sword in a focused attack. The daedra areburdened to take lives and this daedra had only little time in its physical formand therefore unable to feel satisfied since it was unable to claim lives.Before it was forced to return to Oblivion it harnessed itself into a mass ofenergy to claim as many lives as it could before dissipating.

The thieves were unable to see and the vampires’ pale skin wasbeginning to burn. The draugr were slowly melting and the grotesquedisplay of their skin falling off their cracked bones was a sickening site tobehold. Though many of them were killed by the arcane blast of the daedrathey were not all dead. Balthorn rushed into the midst of battle. A thiefcaught glimpse of him and blindly started swinging his sword outward.Balthorn dodged the random swinging and trapped the brigands arm bywrapping his left arm around his elbow—a joint lock which extended thebrigands arm all the way out and caused the inside of the elbow to faceoutward. He then pulled down on the wrist with his right hand which brokethe elbow of the brigand. The brigand’s scream of pain was loud butinterrupted quickly with a blood gurgling sound. The brigands own swordwas just thrust through his chest since the breaking of his elbow made himdrop his blade. Balthorn was posed in proper stance as he continuedrunning the brigand’s own sword through his body. He then began to runforward causing the brigand to struggle by keeping up running backwards.The skilled hunter had targeted a vampire that was behind the brigand andpierced into the vampire with the tip of the sword that was protruding out ofthe back of the brigand. Balthorn released the handle of the sword andsnapped the neck of the thief that was crying in front of him. He thengrabbed the handle of the sword again and quickly jerked the sword out, asthe thief’s body dropped down in front of the vampire the sword was once

again thrust into the air and pierced through the neck of the glowing-eyeddemon. While the vampire struggled with his pierced neck, Balthorn pulledout a silver tipped steak which was tied around the thigh of his armor anddrove it into the vampire’s chest.

After a loud growl was let out, Balthorn dropped to his knees and rolledout of the way of a melting draugr attack. Balthorn reached up as he stoodup and grabbed a rib of the draugr and spun beside the draugr ripping therib out from his left side and shoving into the temple area of his rightside—the draugr dropped dead and continued falling apart on the floor. Atthis time, a bandit and vampire both targeted Balthorn. The vampire raisedhis right hand in the air and a force of red blood magic began to materializearound our hero. The energy rode on a slight draft within the ruin andflowed into the vampire himself (he was stealing Balthorn’s life force).While this took place the determined brigand quickly disarmed the seasonedhunter displacing Hurlevent and causing it to fall to the floor. The brigandcontinued to fight against the dazed Balthorn and eventually got the best ofhim and caused him to stumble backward and land on the floor. However,this apparent victory was the very action that would save Balthorn. As hefell backwards, he was no longer under pressure of the vampire’s bloodmagic spell which was draining him. He quickly rolled over on the floortowards the brigand. He reached around the brigand’s leg trapping it withhis left forearm and with his right elbow pushed in the front of the thief’s shinbone causing his back forearm to cut into the nerve that is located behind theleg. The brigand stumbled backwards and Balthorn quickly crawled up onover him and open palm struck him in the nose causing the bone to lodgeitself into his enemy’s brain. He glanced up and saw the vampire runningtoward him as well as his sword lying on the floor. He dashed toward hisnewly found weapon and using the tip of his boot kicked the sword up in theair towards his right hand. As he was able to grab hold of the base ofHurlevent he jumped toward the vampire with blade extended. The tip of theblade cut into the top of the vampire’s skull and with the momentum of thejump he had acquired, he continued to force the blade clean through all the way

down to the vampire’s groin—splitting him in two as he landed.

Balthorn continued to use his specialized skill and finished off whatthere was inside that ruin. He stood in the middle of the main chamberbreathing heavily and sheathing his new weapon. He stood formoments to rest from an enduring battle and was interrupted by astrange sound coming from outside the main chamber. He summonedwhat energy he had left and went to see what the source of the disturbingsound was. It was Dagney! She was unable to avoid the combat asshe had tried to do and was leaning up against the wall outside thechamber. She was in bad shape, her legs were cut, and her arms hadblood running down from her shoulders onto her fingers. Her eyesmet with Balthorn’s and displayed such a tiredness that showed shewas ready to give up on life. What were even worse were the woundson the right side of her neck that Balthorn noticed.

He stroked her hair gently as he kneeled beside her. She was too weakto even speak. They both knew what was about to happen. She was alreadydead looking, she had taken too many wounds and so much spilled vampireblood was covering her that the change was already beginning to take place(normally two or three days is what it takes for the cursed disease ofSanguinare Vampiris to take full affect). She looked at him calmly. Shehad her vengeance and could die happy now, she smiled. Further, she was inthe arms of the one man she had come to love over the past few months.He pulled out a dagger. . . She reached her bloody arm up to his face andgently stroked his cheek with her finger. He put the dagger against her throat. . . She gently rested her head against his bicep and closed her eyes.There they both waited in the dark. It was only moments but it felt likeforever. Neither said a word to the other, she was too worn out and he waspreparing to commit the cold act of mercy. Her whole body went limp, asingle tear rolled down his cheek and again he waited—it wasn’t quite timeyet. What was he waiting for? Her body jerked quickly, and then it stopped.

He felt a second jerk, this time more violent than the first. Now, it wastime. The girl he had begun falling in love with was truly no longeroccupying her body, now a monster was awaking inside of her. He wasskilled enough that he knew exactly where to cut. It was quick and all shecould feel was a prick piercing her skin, followed by tiredness (the only painfelt was emotional and this was endured by Balthorn). She slowly openedher eyes and nodded as if to say “thank you”. Shortly after that, her eyesrolled up and her breathing became fainter and fainter—then suddenly itstopped.

He took her in his arms and carried her outside of the ruin. As luckwould have it, it was raining outside now. He gently set her down andbegan digging a whole with his hands. Half an hour or so went by and thehole was large enough to place Dagney into—which he did. He covered herand out of the corner of his eye he saw a single white rose. She set it thereas she was entering the ruin. She must have known that she may not makeit out alive. He took the rose and grasped it in his hand. He squeezed it ashe was squeezing her hand. A moment passed and his proud posturestooped down. He leaned over and placed the rose on her grave. He stoodagain and was silent as he watched the rain pour down. If he were sheddingany tears the rain was hiding it. After a few minutes had passed a wagonbeing pulled by a large horse was passing by and all of a sudden uponseeing him it stopped. A head popped out of the door of the wagon and askedif he needed a lift. He gently shook his head back and forth and in a low tonesaid “I’d prefer to walk”. The man in the wagon looked confused and said"you are a strange one, what’s your name? I insist you let me give you aride in this weather, stranger”. Balthorn paused for a moment. He lookeddown toward where Dagney laid rest, he remembered the heartache andhorror he suffered as a child during his parents attack, he felt sickened toproudly claim a name that had seen so much death with, and a name he wasplanning to share with the woman he buried earlier. He then recalled thefear in the vampire’s voice inside the ruin as it shouted “grab that blade!”He liked that, he liked the way the vampire sounded afraid—trembling.

He looked back at the man in the wagon and in a low tone stated:“I’m Blade….and I’ll walk.”

Balthorn’s genius plan was a success. The few members of the twoparties that were able to escape reported to their respectful camps what hadtaken place. According to the vampires, the thieves had attacked them andthey were unsure if the thieves hired Balthorn as a mercenary to aid them.To the thieves’ guild, confusion was spread amongst them as the leaders ofthe raid were dead now and unable to shed any light on the occurrences—theywere just unsure of what happened and why it took place. They knew thishowever, the vampires were quick to attack them and a black knight withfighting skills unlike anything they’ve seen before made off with theirtreasure. The alliance was broken

Many days had passed and Balthorn was restructuring his armoroutside a small abode he owned. He was hardening it, adding toit—perfecting it. He looked up and saw the sun setting, a time most nordstry not to tread outside. If anyone was around they would have sworn theycaught a glimpse of a smile cross his face. It was not a satisfied smile; no,it was a smile that belonged on the face of a man who was destined to changehis world. This is the story of triumph, of a love lost, this is the story of aman who could see clearly now his sole purpose in life,this is the story of… Blade.

The End