Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Frost Giants


 Umyard and Skleeome, they are Frost Giants, they are brothers and their age unmeasured. They themselves can not remember when they came into the world as those memories have disappeared beneath too many snows and icy peaks. They have wandered the northern wastes for centuries, sometimes resting for decades in abandoned keeps, castles and caves and at other times traveling to the far flung reaches of the Holmgrad Mountains.

On one such trip several decades past, Umyard and Skleeome happened upon a small town, Yinsfeeord, which they intended to pillage. They waited for nightfall and planned to plunder the town as the last lights of the village blinked out. However, early in the evening, the inhabitants of Yinsfeeord gathered in a local temple and began a celebration. As Umyard and Skleeome waited, they heard a singularly beautiful voice rise up into the nights sky and enchant the blackness about them and cause the stars to dance. Or so it seemed.  Umyard and Skleeome were hearing the remnants of the “first song” that had coalesced into a daughter of Yinsfeeord.

Valyana, the first of three daughters born to Neemord and Hana, was gifted as no other in Aihrde.  Her voice had a luminescent quality, like a diaphanous gown it hung like a gentle shroud upon those who heard her voice. With it she could enchant and calm the minds of even some of the most vile creatures in Aihrde.  But the minds Umyard and Skleeome are ancient things and are accustomed to both the beauty and ugliness of the world and, though enchanted by the sound of her voice, they did not fall under its spell. 

They did, however, find that the voice reminded them of days long passed, before the coming of Unklar, when the – Mountains were emptier and the winds and snows, as they twisted, swirled and spun around the mountain peaks, made a music all their own.  In a moment the two giants decided to claim this voice and make it their own. 

They stole into Yinsfeeord like a violent storm and laid low all those who stood in their way.  Umyard faced and challenged the brave warriors of Yinsfeeord while Skleeome broke into the central hall and snatched Valyana from the arms of her screaming mother.  Having captured their prize and knowing the men of Yinsfeeord would eventually overwhelm them in such a match, they broke and ran into the clefts, valleys and crags that make up the Halmgrad Mountains . . .




Frost Giants by Frazetta




Frost Giants by Dede Putra!



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This may seem strange, but the final battle in The House of Flying Daggers always reminds me of that Frazetta painting.

--Jeff

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