The Saga of King Jorling

A long time ago, the people of Ateenia would fight among themselves for trivial things like land and wealth, paying for them with the blood of those they loved. Anyone could call themselves king or queen. The sons and daughters of Ateenia would often grow up without a father or even mother. They would fight among themselves for the disputes of their gods. Eventualy the allfather Vrjoln had enough and wanted to stop the killing of his creations over the conflicts of the gods. He destined for a King to be born that would unite the Ateenians and finaly bring peace to the beautiful snowy hills and forests, valleys and mountains, seas and lakes, rivers and waterfalls of Ateenia.
Eventualy a child was born that was named Jorling. He was the descendent of Vrjoln himself with stories on how Vrjoln came to the world of men and fell in love with Lida which resulted with her being pregnant with Jorling.
One night Jorling as a child, got lost in the woods when he went to search for his dog. He found his dog next to a strange man who had was surrounded by his pet wolves, with them was Jorlings dog, the dog refused to go back with Jorling and acted as if it never even seen Jorling, being loyal to the strange man and his wolves. The old man said "My child, its dangerous here. Go home!" and then the fog came out of no where untill the strange man and his wolves, including Jorlings dog, disappeared. Jorling returned home, heartbroken and told the story to his mother who was angered by the childs careness and did not belive the story was true and blamed him for losing his dog.
His life continued with sadness that he lost his most beloved dog. Years later, when he was old enough to hold a sword, he decided to go back to the forest where he had lost his dog. He spent days and nights looking untill one day, the old man appeared once more, with Jorlings dog beside him, but the dog was changed, he was battle scarred, he did not recognize his old master. Then the old man walked up to him and told him "You have to keep those you love close to you or risk losing them forever." Jorling was angry at him for taking his dog and tried to pierce the sword through the old mans heart but out of nowhere, the dog jumped to protect the old man and the sword ended piercing the dog. When Jorling realized what he had done he dropped on his knees, once more heartbroken and angry. He could not belive that he killed his own dog that he loved and missed for all his life. As he looked up the old man was once again, gone. He took the dog back home, where he buried his old friend.
When Jorling finaly came of age, he recieved his armring of Valdahöll, a armring all free sons and daughters of Ateenia recieve when they come of age. He was finaly able to join the next raiding party to raid distant lands in the name of his Jarl.
One day, when he went on a raid with a ship full of men from his village, he saw the old man appear on the beach, telling him not to go, he did not heed the warnings of someone who he blamed for the death of his friend. When he stepped on the ship, the old mans voice whispered in his ear "You will regret this!". The Ship finaly took off and went on a long voyage lasting months. One day, while at sea, Jorling saw a large serpent swimming in the ocean, he saw Mörungah. Jorling did not belive what his eyes clearly told him, but as he looked again, the serpent was gone and the ship was heading into a storm which claimed the lives of his many crewmen and he thought that it claimed even his. As the storm cleared, the ship was left with a skeleton crew that had no choice but to turn back.
The crew and the ship was lost for months but eventualy they found their way back to Jarldom of Aar, Jorlings home. When Jorling went to Jarl Horling to tell what him what he saw, the Jarl did not belive him and blamed the surviving crew for cowardice and failure. Jorling made it home and informed his mother for his failure but Lida did not care for she was glad that her son had returned alive. As Jorling was hugging his mother, he heard horses and soldiers near his family farmhouse, he took his mothers sword and went to greet these soldiers while letting his mother retreat to the woods. The soldiers said that he must be punished for his cowardice infront of the gods and attacked Jorling. He made sure to kill a few of Jarls men before he was pierced by an arrow from one of the soldiers. It was then when Jorling saw his horse come to him. He jumped on his horse and retreated to the cold forests where he sent his mother, who he found lying dead in the fields, pierced by three arrows.
Jorling spent days in the forest, healing, where the old man he saw multiple times through out his life, appeared again to him and told him that greatness lies ahead if he is to take revenge for his mother. Jorling did not understand how he was to take revenge against the Jarl and his men alone and went to find his friend Bröll.
Bröll and his wife Heidi helped Jorling to heal and allowed him to stay in their home untill he was healed. Jorling told them about what has happened to him and also told them about the old man. Bröll and Heidi recognized the man Jorling described and told him that he was clearly blessed if the allfather Vrjoln has appeared to him. They also told Jorling that he can take revenge by invoking the Einhefn, that, if invoked, lets him to challenge Jarl Horling to a duel to the death. They told him that he meets the requirements to invoke it, for he has served his Jarl loyaly, who then repaid him by killing those he loved.
After getting well, Jorling decided to heed the suggestions of the old man and his friend to take revenge against his Jarl, who had betrayed him and so he made his way back to Aar where he openly challenged his Jarl to a one on one combat to death. Horling laughed at him, telling him he has no right to invoke the ancient law and ordered his men to take Jorling captive. After taking down few of the Jarl's men he made it clear to Horling that he does infact meet the requirements to invoke the law and told Horling that should he refuse to accept it, he will forever remain a coward in the eyes of the gods and the halls of Oranhulla will forever remain close to him. Jarl Horling, who very much wanted to meet his long dead brother in the afterlife, accepted the challenge.
Jorling and Horling met on the village square where they were given a sword and a shield and were told to remove any armor they had. They then began fighting and Horling began aggressivly, giving Jorling little chance to counter. The fight lasted minutes and when Jorling finaly fell on the ground, Horling thought himself a winner and boasted his victory to the whole village before finding Jorlings sword in his chest, which Jorling placed there when Horling was too busy boasting over his victory that was not yet gained.
When Horling finaly dropped on the ground, taking his last breath, he told Jorling that he fought well and thanked him for letting Horling finaly meet his brother. Lady Sigrid, wife of Horling announced Jorling the winner and announced that as the ancient laws say, he who defeats the Jarl in a Einhefn, will take the burden of rulership from the one he defeated. As such the village chanted "All hail Jarl Jorling!" Jorling could not belive it, not only had he taken revenge for his mother but he was forced to take the burden of being the jarl of Aar. He promised a fair and just rulership to his people and declared Aar, open to trade to all traders around Ateenia, something Aar has never been.
Years passed and Jorling found himself a wife, a beautiful long haired blonde who had green eyes like those of the goddess Frell, voice as soft as snow, beauty like never seen in Aar before and the body of the goddess Inger, lady Siri, a huntress, shieldmaiden and daughter of Jarl Hjalmar of Jarldom of Jork. Jorling had 3 sons and 2 daughters with her, the sons were named Eluf, Gunnar and Asger, the daughters were named Astrid and Freja.
After years of turning the village of Aar into a trading town and spending time with his family, Jarl Jorling decided to continue the ancient tradition of raiding and in that summer, gathered the raiding party of warriors and shieldmaidens to take sail towards nearby lands for their wealth. This time he took five ships full of men and shieldmaidens with him and sailed through the rocky and dangerous coast towards distant lands to raid. His fleet spent weeks on seas untill they finaly made to a distant city, which they then succesfuly raided.
Once the fleet returned back home to Aar, their greetings were cut short by a battle horn being blown and soldiers from the Jarldom of Yönnür, attacking the town. Jarl Jorling gathered all men and women who were able to fight and made a plan to retreat the population to the forest, where him and his wife Siri could lead their men and shieldmaidens to victory against the outnumbering foe. It was then that Jarl Jorling invented the tactic Orrustuskó (the fighting forest) where he and his men would hide in the trees both above and below where they would shoot arrows at the chasing foe, making it appear as if the trees were shooting arrows against them without a single soldier of Aar being seen. Eventualy the Yönnür soldiers retreated back to the open valley, to the town of Aar to take hold of it and loot it but not without losing more lives on their way out of the forest. The men and women of Aar followed them out and after realizing the enemy no longer outnumbered them, they fought the invading force on the open field. The battle was won by the brave men and shieldmaidens of Aar.
Jarl Jorling was enraged by this invasion sent a messenger to Jarldom of Jork where Jorling asked Hjalmar for help against Jarl of Yönnür. Hjalmar refused help, telling Jorling that he lost too many of his fighters in his last raid and as such Jarl Jorling was left alone against Yönnür.

To be continued