his head. “Mother, does the High One have a name? You’ve never talked about him much.”
Lorna got up, hiding the coin in their secret spot under a floor board. “Yes, the High One is called many names throughout Kraawn. But you should not use any of them lightly,” she said as she sat back down at the table. “I only know several of his names; we call him Ulren, but I know that in the West he is called Toolm. It is believed that our goddess, Shyann, has a palace in his realm.”
“So Ulren is the most powerful of the good gods?”
“Yes. It is believed that the lesser gods all have a place at his great hearth,” Lorna said as she ate.
“Is our goddess, Shyann, a lesser god?”
“Shyann is a saint. That means that many, many years ago she was just a normal person like you and me, but she performed a great feat of selflessness and bravery, catching the High One’s attention. Ulren rewarded her by granting her sainthood, power, and a place at his hearth.”
“What did she do that made her a saint?” Jonas asked before he took a long drink of water.
“I don’t know exactly. The tales say she took a small village, like our own, and fought back against an army of boargs, orcs, and other monsters.”
“What do boargs look like?”
Lorna smiled, Jonas loved hearing about boargs. “Boargs are strong, fast beasts that inhabit the high Tundren Mountains. It is thought by some that they are related to the big mountain boars that live there. Some think they are the result of a wizard’s magic, but no one knows for sure. They have pig like faces with tusks like a boar, sharp teeth, and two great horns that protrude from their bony heads. They are taller than a big man, but they look shorter because they are bent over and their long arms usually rest on the ground. Short, rough hair, covers their muscular bodies, and they are said to be stronger than several men. And I’ve heard they run on all fours and are swifter than deer. They are ferocious animals that will eat anything they can get their claws on.”
“When was a boarg last seen around here?” Jonas asked, never short of questions.
“The last one I can remember was when you were just a baby. Jornath Longhorn went hunting and he never came back. His brothers went out into the Tundrens to investigate and found his ripped and torn body. As they wept over his body, a boarg who was coming back to finish its meal attacked them. Braal, the bigger of the two eventually killed the boarg, but not before he was seriously wounded and his other brother was killed. Braal still has the boarg’s skull mounted in his home.”
“I hope a boarg never shows up at our cabin. Keep going, Mother, tell me about Shyann,” Jonas said excitedly.
Lorna, smiling at her son, drank some more water. “She was just a normal girl that went off to become a soldier, which was rare for a female in these parts. She fought many battles and finally came home to serve her family on their little farm in the Tundrens, not far from here I’ve heard. I guess they raised cattle and hunted and grew food that they sold in the local markets. There came a year when her village and the other villages nearby were raided by boargs crossing the mountain ranges towards Finarth. This was one of the great wars that you’ve heard about.”
“Yes, I remember. Go on, Mother, what happened?”
“I don’t know the details, but the story goes that she trained and united the many mountain towns all across the Tundrens and fought back this horde. Evil men who were trying to unite with the forces of Malbeck led the boarg army and she crushed them, marching her ill-equipped group of hunters, farmers, and herders, to help Finarth combat this evil. I have no idea how she did it, but the stories and songs say that she could inspire anyone. She was good with a sword but her real skill was convincing ordinary men and women that they had something to offer, that their blood was just as strong as another’s.” Lorna took another spoonful of soup and smiled at her son who had stopped eating altogether, entranced by her story. “I’ve told you this story before, Sprout,” Lorna said as she swallowed her stew.