Avalon

Avalon—the sanctuary of the Heroic Spirits

Hidden deep within the Spine of the World lay a heaven-sent land. The Spine of the World was a vast mountain range located at the northernmost edge of the entire Faerûn Continent.

It stretched east from the Sea of Floating Ice all the way to the Great Ice Sea, spanning the entire north of Faerûn. No one knew just how vast the Spine of the World was. In any case, no one had ever crossed the mountain range, from ancient times to the present. Many people speculated about what lay beyond it. Some said that crossing the Spine of the World would take you to the gods' realm; others said there was nothing there but an endless void, because it was the edge of the world.

People knew very little about the Spine of the World. They only knew that the air was thin there, the cold pierced to the bone, and few living things could survive.

With the guidance of the Heroic Spirits, the prophet Garul had found Avalon in this forbidden zone. The seasons were distinct here, and it had grasslands, rivers, lakes, and forests. It was hard to imagine that this place lay deep within the Spine of the World.

The Avalon Orcs had lived and multiplied here for thousands of years. Though the land was home to many ferocious beasts, the Orcs were the only intelligent beings around. Solam figured Avalon was probably a vast basin deep in the Spine of the World, though he had no way of knowing for sure. It was all speculation based on what he knew from his previous life.

When the Orcs had first arrived, they had been in a miserable state. Every clan had been reduced to a group of the old, the weak, and the injured. The Bloodaxe Clan, the Blackpeak Clan, and the Frostblade Clan had lost all their men in battle, leaving only women and babies in swaddling clothes. So although those three clans had always enjoyed high status in Avalon, they were not large tribes.

Even after thousands of years of recovery and growth, Solam's Bloodaxe Clan had only just passed a population of two thousand. Of course, that was also because Avalon Orcs had a low birth rate. Orcs from the outside world, after all, were famous for having lots of children.

Perhaps the saying that the land shaped its people really was true. Avalon Orcs were taller and sturdier than Orcs from the outside world, and they didn't have the same incestuous mess or bloodlust as their distant relatives. But they were honestly not much good at having children. Take Solam's second uncle Trick, who stood before him: he'd been married for almost ten years and still didn't have any children.

That was actually normal in Avalon. Few people had three children like the old chief. No wonder people called the old man amazing—he could fight, and he could father children.

Trick, Solam's second uncle, was the clan's chief hunter. He hadn't been appointed by his father; besides, Orc society didn't work that way. If you had no ability, no one would give you the time of day, even if your father was the chieftain—or even the prophet. Trick's skill was recognized by everyone. He was the clan's finest hunter, far better at hunting than Solam's eldest uncle. Fighting was another matter, of course. Solam's eldest uncle, Karut, was the tribe's strongest warrior after the old man.

Trick wasn't especially tall for an Orc, but his eyes were as keen and alert as a falcon's. His muscles weren't as crude and bulging as those of other warriors, but the tautness of them brought to mind a black panther hunting in the forest, ready to explode into motion at any moment. And with the three scars on his face, he looked like someone best left alone.

Solam and Krum stood before Trick, both a little nervous. They couldn't help it. Their second uncle rarely showed any expression, and he was serious by nature. It wasn't just the children like Solam and Krum who felt this way; the other adults in the clan were also quite stiff around Trick, afraid he might scold them.

Trick looked at the two boys, his gaze still sharp, though he felt a little vexed. Krum was no problem—he could train him as hard as he liked. His parents didn't care. But Solam...

When Granny Karom heard yesterday that Solam was going hunting, she'd stormed over to his father's place that evening and made a scene. If everyone hadn't talked her down, the kindly-looking old woman would have pulled out her heavy flail and fought the old man right then and there. She was even older than the old man, but she was so fierce that even he was a little wary of her. It wasn't until Solam repeatedly promised to be careful and run for his life the moment he encountered danger that she finally calmed down.

Granny Karom had made Trick promise again and again that he would keep Solam safe before she left. But the look she'd given him on her way out still made his scalp prickle. He could swear by the Heroic Spirits of Avalon that if Solam got hurt, the old woman would smash that flail, which weighed dozens of pounds, right over his head. And the sight of his own wife and his sister-in-law, both red-eyed as they urged him to be careful, made him even more nervous. If anything went wrong, he'd never hear the end of it.

"Phew." Trick cleared his mind of distractions. Things were the way they were; what else could he do but teach them? Besides, he and his father both knew that their little nephew wasn't as frail as he looked.

"Follow me and learn to hunt. I have only two requirements. First, remember everything I teach you. Second, be extremely careful. No matter what happens, never let your guard down." As he spoke, he pointed to the three scars on his face. "These are what happen when you let your guard down. I was lucky. At least I didn't lose my life." He then told them how he'd gotten the scars. "I was young at the time, and went hunting in the great forest with a few hunters from the clan. We came across an Alpine Snow Leopard, and chased it all day before finally shooting it down. I was careless. I thought the leopard was injured and had been chased all day, so it had no strength left to fight back. I didn't pay much attention. But that thing was playing dead. I got too close, and nearly paid with my life."

Hunting wasn't a dinner party. There was no room for the slightest mistake. And Avalon was no paradise. Long before the Orcs arrived, all sorts of creatures had lived here, and few of them were easy to handle. Every year, hunters died while out hunting. Better to be careful than sorry.

Solam and the others weren't just learning hunting techniques. They also had to learn how to identify poisonous plants and avoid dangerous creatures. Orcs were warlike, sure, but when hunting, they looked for prey that was easy to catch. They weren't smart, but they weren't stupid enough to go after ferocious beasts for no reason. That wouldn't be hunting—it'd be risking their lives.

In Avalon, the winter winds and snow were fierce. Hunting became especially important to the nomadic Orcs then. They couldn't herd livestock, so the animals they hunted became a vital source of food. That was why every Orc man had to learn to hunt. It was a combat skill, but even more importantly, it was a survival skill.

And so Solam and the others began learning to hunt from Trick. From then on, people saw them heading out every day with enormous battle axes on their backs, following their second uncle. Sometimes they brought back small prey like rabbits and squirrels, but more often they returned covered in mud and looking worse for wear. No one thought anything of it. Everyone had gone through the same thing.

Solam had to carry his battle axe every day, and he had plenty of complaints about that. Picking it up was no problem, but using it in a fight was a joke. The thing weighed at least eighty pounds. It was exhausting just to carry, let alone fight with. It was nothing but a burden. Most of the time, it was the reason he came back looking so bedraggled. But the old man wouldn't let him leave it behind. He said a weapon was a warrior's second life. Who could afford not to know their second life inside and out?

So, even though Solam thought that was complete nonsense, it didn't matter. He still had to carry it. He might as well think of it as weight training.

Two years later

Winter had come to Avalon. Not long after the season began, heavy snow blanketed the whole land. The beasts that spent the summer in the mountains came down with the snow and migrated to lower ground. Alpine Goats, Snow Deer, and Giant Strength Deer, which were rarely seen at other times, all came to forage in the forests below. Of course, the ferocious carnivores that usually lived above the snowline also came to the forests to spend the winter. So the danger in the forests increased severalfold when winter came.

Frost-Free Valley was a valley in eastern Avalon. Its steep cliffs kept the wind and snow from reaching the valley floor, so the Bloodaxe Clan came here every winter, ensuring that their livestock could get through the harsh season outside in this sheltered haven.

It was barely light in the chieftain's tent area. Trick rubbed his hands together and paced in circles, staring anxiously at his tent. His face looked tense. The chieftain's second son had been born expressionless, and he always looked stoic, making everyone else afraid of him. They never expected to see any other expression on his face. But no one was thinking about that now. The old man and Karut were also watching the tent anxiously, occasionally glancing outside.

Women's cries of pain came from inside the tent, along with the voices of other women comforting and encouraging them. Now and then, women carried hot water in and out.

"She's here, she's here!" Suddenly, Aunt Solari's voice came from nearby. She was helping Granny Karom along as they hurried over.

"How is she? Has the baby been born?" Granny Karom demanded as soon as she reached Karut.

"Not yet. She's been crying out, but the baby still won't come." Trick hurriedly answered, then asked anxiously, "Is something wrong?" He didn't even give his older brother a chance to speak. But Karut had no time to mind; he was also watching Granny Karom anxiously.

"What could be wrong? It means the baby's big and is having trouble coming out. It's fine. I'll go take a look." Granny Karom quickly reassured them, then entered the tent with Aunt Solari.

After hearing Granny Karom's words, Trick seemed somewhat reassured, but he still watched the tent nervously. His older brother patted him on the shoulder. "It'll be all right. Granny's here. Zaira will be fine, and so will the baby."