Aorocféd

Aorocféd /aɔrɔkfed/ is a Terchne, and as such has fighting in the blood. His father owned a small sheiling in the hills where they grazed some livestock. It wasn't much to graze but they had enough eat or to trade for other food, and when they couldn't make ends meet they would form a small raiding party and find some unfortunate village. Raiding wasn't quite to Aorocféd's own liking however, while he loved a scrap with his friends or bouncing his fist of a deserving enemie's face, raiding preyed upon the innocent at times. So Aorocféd mostly took part in revenge raids, which were formed when other settlements raided Aorocféd's village and to regain lost supplies and to show power a revenge raid or meuge (translating as 'angering') which would hunt down the offending raiders and kill them. But a time came when his village was struggling due to wolves preying on the livestock and some storms blocked the pathways down to the fishing villages which temporarily stopped trade until the blockage was cleared. Until then people still had to eat so a raiding party was formed, with Aorocféd in it. Usually he would make an excuse to not join an offending raiding party (called dobú or 'first') but his family was hungry so he felt he had no choice but to join. His dobú was nearing the target village and was ready to lead a charge, when all of a sudden a large group of soldiers charged at them from the nearby forests in a sneak attack. Aorocféd was first met with confusion as to how they knew about the attack, but then he was met with a feeling of opportunity for glory, to feed his Terchne bloodlust. He drew his sword and charged towards the enemy with his sword raised high. As he ran he started to feel tired before he even reached the enemy, but not one to give up he found some energy in him and pounded his feet against the ground, or rather into it. The ground gave way under Aorocféd and the warrior found himself in an underground tunnel. He tried to get out but the hole he made was far too high for him to reach as the tunnel was quite high. While the battle raged on above him he wandered through the tunnel to find a way out, but before he found that he found something else...a large 2 and a half metre long reptile sleeping soundly, it had a long body with 4 short legs protruding from its side and a long tail behind. The creature which Aorocféd had the misfortune of stumbling upon was a laneúrma, a large reptilian whose name means 'hill dweller' which borrows underground during most of the year and surfaces in late spring to bing feast and mate. But these creatures won't eat for months when sleeping underground, so if you wake a sleeping laneúrma you will find yourself with a hungry laneúrma...which is exactly what Aorocféd did. One misplaced step sent an echo throughout the tunnels and awoke the beast. Its eye's fluttered dosily as it was gaining orientation, though they quickly focused on the intruder. The Laneúrma struggled out of its bed of loose sod which gave Aorocféd a head start to bolt through the tunnels. Though it didn't give him much as when the beast warmed up it was quickly on his heels. He ran and ran and ran and ran but the tunnels led nowhere so he decided to turn around and fight, he was a Terchne after all. He used his shield to bat off the Laneúrma's snaps at him with its unforgiving jaws. Aorocféd bashed its head with his shield and leaped over it and quickly got on its back where it struggled to bite or claw him. With his sword he slit its throat and put it into a much deeper, more permanent sleep. He then dragged the body to under the hole he fell through and shouted loudly to his fellow warriors on the surface. Luckily he was heard and someone threw down a rope which Aorocféd tied around the Laneúrma to be hoisted up. When he surfaced he was met with good news that his people had won the battle and managed to raid enough supplies to last them, to which Aorocféd could add the meat of the large bulky beast. When he returned home he was met with praise for slaying such a formidable and worthy opponent. Its meat fed his family and its skin served as a battle cloth for Aorocféd, he made arm guards, shin guards and a helmet decorated with the beasts face skin which made an impressive sight when worn.