The House of Lorgswarth

"Move your darn horse!"; Reginald Lorgswarth said; this time flogging his white stallion which as already grown weary from pulling a carriage that has on it two grown men whom are twice as heavy as it's size.

"Take it easy Pa!"; a young voice emanating from inside the coach said; "Poor Brutus has been on the road for days now, we wouldn't want to stress it that much"

"Stress it you say?!; All the darn beast does all day is to eat carrots and grow fat; I ain't feeding my steed to grow soft on me!"; Reginald Lorgswarth said, this time clenching his fists on the horse's reins and this time, slightly hitting the horse's bum for it to move a little bit faster.

Poor Brutus grunted, and obeyed its master's wish; they have been through thick and nail and as such, wouldn't want to disappoint the man who saved him and his mother from ending up at the butcher's shop with their meat carved up and displayed to some of the townfolks that took delight in eating horse meat.

Reginald Lorgswarth on the other hand is a scrwany looking old man; anyone who sees him can boldly say that the man has come to face to face with death quite a good number of times; from his youth, all the way down to his old age, he's been bred, trained and taught he all needed to know on all it takes to hunting beasts such as "vampires and werewolves" which according to him were not not meant to exist.

Though it would interest you to note that poor Reginald didn't hate these so-called beasts because they were unlocky to be born in the form that he despises a lot; no, he hated them because they were largely responsible for the death of his wife, Robertha Lorgswarth.

"Are we there yet, Pa?''; the voice from inside the carriage bellowed again;

"Not yet Ivar, the darn fog is too thick"; Reginald said, this time staring deep into his where his 19-year-old son was laying down; whilst covered in furry blankets.

Reginald let out a deep, warm and gracious smile when he looked at his boy; his son was the carbon copy of his late wife, Roberta and whenever he stared too deep into Ivar's eyes, he always felt his wife soul staring right back at him.

The two men continued their journey in silence until their horse came to a stand still at a passageway that was manned by two armed men, presumably the local town's vigilantee.

"Aye!''; one of the men let out a huge cry to the encroaching party, motioning to them with his hands to stop.

"What brings you to Yakrinia"; he continued, this time approaching the carriage whilst the other guard watched on.

"Business of course, my good sir"; Reginald Lorgswarth said, whilst at the same time showing off a set of teeth that has already been noted to have gone through a lot of ordeals in life.

"What sort of business, sir"; the other guard asked, this time at the top of his voice.

"The kind of business that involves killing beasties my good man"; Ivar shouted; this time opening the curtain that leads to the door of their carriage, jumping down and standing toe to toe with the guard whom was questioning his father.

"By beasties… you mean vamps and furry dogs?"; The guard asked.

"Yes, we are the Lorgswarth family sire, I am Ivar Lorgswarth"; Ivar said, whilst gently striking his chest; and pointing over to his father he continued; "That old man you see over there is none other than the legendary vampire and werewolf hunter, Reginald Lorgswarth"; he said, this time crossing his arm around the guard's shoulders.

"But don't let his old age confuse sir"; Ivar continued; "he is here for a serious business, we are here for a serious business"; he continued, this time staring deeply into the guard's blue eyes.

"3 months ago we received a report that there has been an upsurge of werewolves attacks within your town"

"Why Yes, indeed"; the guard said, this time shrugging off Ivar's arms that were, well, just too heavy on his neck.

"The whole town's been experiencing these attacks at nights, especially on full moons…"

"Yes, please continue.."

"We've hired a good number of mercenaries to take care of this problem but it seems like none of them are up to the task; at the sight of werewolves it's either they shit their pants or they run away…"; the guard said, this time lowering his head in self-pity.

"Interesting"; Ivar said, whilst at the same time whipping out a quill and scroll to jot down all that the man was saying.

"We have already exhausted a greater percentage of our resources in a bid to end this menace but it seems that no matter how hard we try, we always seem to keep being on the loosing end"; he continued.

"Well, don't worry son"; Reginald Lorgswarth said, whilst staring deeply into the guard's eyes; "I and my son are going to make sure that the "doggy" problem your townsfolk have is dealt with, but I'd love to discuss more with the chief of this town"

"You wish to meet the chief?"; The other guard asked.

"Yes, I need to reveal to him our terms and conditions before embarking on this risky adventure"; Reginald said, this time stroking the back of his valiant steed, Brutus.

"Very well then"; the first guard continued; "we will take you to meet him"

"Splendid!"; Ivar shouted; "well Tally Ho! then, we ain't got all day to waste!"; He said whilst reaching forward for his sword and portions.

"Some folks say you Lorgswarths engage in the dark arts, is that true?"; The second guard asked whilst keenly observing the bottles of portions that Ivar was stuffing in his backpack.

"Well isn't that a mystery for you to solve?"; Reginald Lorgswarth asked; whilst at the same time jumping down from his carriage's driver's seat. He reached out for where his sword was, grabbed it and strapped it to his belt.

"One more thing"; the first guard continued; "Before we visit the chief, we would have to see to it that none of you are carrying any thing that could be harmful to the community"

"Oh right then; be my guest"; Ivar said, making way for the town's guardsmen to go through their properties that were within the carriage.

When the it dawned on the two town guards that there was nothing within the two Lorgswarth's carriage that could prove to be harmful, they asked the two Lorgswarth's to leave their horse and carriage at the gates; and then, it didn't take long until they called upon a young lad, to take the horse and carriage to a nearby shed and see to it that the stallion, Brutus, was well fed; when that was done; they led the two men to where the Town's chief office was located.

On getting into the town, the Ivar and Reginald noticed that the streets of the town were bare; dogs which looked underfed (or malnourished) roamed the roads and the air reeked of blood, piss and vomit.

"Gracious me would you look at that!"; Ivar said, whilst at the same time whipping out a handkerchief to cover his nose in a bid to protect himself from the putrid stench that was coming from the already "dead and decomposing" bodies of some townsfolk that was littered across the street.

"They were the victims of a werewolf attack last night; poor things couldn't defend themselves"; one of the town guards said; "and the animals ripped them to shreds".

"Well, you could have at least buried the dead; that's the least you could do for them in such a very sad situation…"; Reginald said, this time fastening his grip on his scabbard and looking sideways as if he is expecting an attack from an unannounced enemy.

"We think their bodies are cursed sir"; the second guard chipped in; "atleast that's what the townsfolk within this community thinks"; he said.

The four men walked in silence, admist creepy peeps from some of the town locals whom barred themselves within closed doors and watched as the four men (all armed) walked on.

On getting to the Town Chief's office, the first guard gently knocked on the door and cried out in a thunderous voice to announce the arrival of the two Lorgswarths.

"Greetings Sire, there are two Lorgswarths out here with me whom wishes to have an audience with you"; the first guard said.

"Lorgswarths you say?!"; The chief's voice rang out from within the building.

"Yes sire, they have come to offer their services…."

The Town Chief didn't give the first town guard to opportunity to finish his statement and he swung open the door to see the men whom came to visit him at such a very foggy day.

"What took you all so long?"; The Chief asked, this time with spit (or saliva) pouring out from his mouth.

"As you can see there are no much Lorgswarths left alive today to handle these kind of dangerous business, kind sir"; Ivar said, looking deeply into the eyes of the chief whom was already sweating.

"And coupled with that"; he continued; "the roads leading to your town are bad, filled with all sorts of bandits and cutthroats that won't mind robbing us of all our hard earned money and slicing our throats''; Ivar Lorgswarth said, this time mimicking a throat being slashed with his middle finger.

"Chief! are we going to talk about what's happening in your town or are you going to continue asking us more questions on the adventures that we experienced along the way?''; Reginald chipped in, this time with a stern look on his face.

"Apologies, the recent happenings within this town has already messed with my head; forgive the ramblings of this old fool!"; The Town Chief said, whilst scratching his bald head.

"Please"; he continued; "come inside and make yourselves comfortable"; he said, motioning on the two Lorgswarths to come in; turning over to the two town guards whom were watching the whole drama that was taking place; he said:

"Don't you two Ruffians have any place better to be at the moment?, God!, This goes a long way to show that I am indeed wasting money on you fools ?"

"Apologies sir"; the two town guards shouted in unism and hurriedly left the chief's abode en route to where their duty posts was located (The town's gates).

"With all due respect sir"; Reginald said; "It is not right to address the men whom are sacrificing everything for the safety of your people in this manner"!

"At ease now father, that's in the past"; Ivar cut in, turning over to his old man and without words, motioning on him to stop talking and calm himself down.

"I believe that you two are here to rid my people off the menace that has been disturbing them for weeks now"; the town Chief said, ignoring the remarks that Reginald made not too long ago.

"Of course we are!"; Ivar shouted, whilst placing his two legs at the table; "and as such, we are here to discuss our payments with you"; he continued; "Are you ready to listen to our demands?"

"Go on"; the Town Chief continued, this time placing his hands on his chin to listen to what the two "beast hunters'' had to say to him.

"Good, now we're talking"; Ivar said; " we would like receive one thousand gold coins; all in full payment for what we are about to do tonight"; he continued.

At the mention of a "thousand gold coins" as a means of payment, the Town Chief stood up from where he was sitting and stomped his fists on the table; to show his distaste at Ivar's huge demands.

"One thousand gold coins?"; He should, "My God, Mr Ivar do you any atom of pity within you at all; all we have in our treasury is none other than five thousand gold coins!"; The Chief fumed, this time with more and more sweat trickling down his face.

"Do you think we are running a charity group here old man?"; Ivar continued; "It's either you take our offer or we will leave you to the fate of the "furry beasts" who come here every night to attack, pillage, kill and rob your town folks as they deem fit…."

"We will collect seven thousand gold coins from you"; Reginald Lorgswarth cut in

"But father…!"

"No more buts, Ivar"; Reginald said, whilst preventing his son from completing his sentence; "We are going to see to it that all these beasties are eradicated from your community and that the good people of Yakrinia can comfortably go about their normal day to day activities again"; he said.

To Ivar Lorgswarth, killing Werewolves and Vampires was a lucrative business that meant the inflow of more money to their purses (or wallets) to his father, Reginald, it was more than that; ever since he lost his wife to a coordinated attack from Vampires and werewolves (both termed Beasties in the Lorgswarth Book of Monsters) he was sworn to hunt and kill as much as possible before he dies.

"Very well then, we will pay you seven thousand gold coins for your services"; the Chief said, this time revealing his set of brown teeth to Ivar whom looked away in disgust.

"One more thing Cheif, there is something that I would like to say"; Reginald continued.

"Yes, my good man, go on"; the Chief replied, with smiles bubbling all over his face.

"I want you to call an emergency town meeting, every man, woman and child are to assemble at the Town's square, I would love to address them"; Reginald Lorgswarth said; whilst looking at the man whose smiling face was slowly resorting back to its default settings (A grumpy face).

"What for"; the Chief asked

"You will see soon"; Reginald Lorgswarth said; "Just do as I instructed, you need not bother yourself that much over what and what I have to say to the crowd that will be gathered before me"; he continued.

Turning over to his son whom was 100% fixated on all the activities that was going on within the room, he continued; "you have always wanted to know what it felt like to wear my family's armour and ardour the Lorgswarth family crest on your chest; well, now you do, this night boy! You will have your own fair share of "Wolf" blood''; he said; turning over to the Chief he continued; "I will be waiting for your people at the Town's square"; he said, stood up and immediately left the Chief's office.

"What is with your father boy?"; The Town Chief asked, with his eyes still fixed on the Lorgswarth whom was walking down the road to where the Town's square was located.

"I am his son, that is true, but sometimes, I really do not understand him at all, my old man is a mystery, one that even I his flesh and blood can not solve"; he said, and with this statement, he stood up, gave the Town Chief a formal bow, left the room and ran after his father.

—------------------------------------------------------

The Town Chief did as Reginald Lorgswarth instructed and it didn't take long until life forms (humans) started to appear at the Town's square where they saw an elderly looking man and young man both with unsheathed swords sitting under a tree.

"Sir Reginald!"; A voice cried out from the mammoth crowd that has gathered before the two Lorgswarths; "The good people of this town have all come together to hear what you have to say"

Reginald Lorgswarth, upon seeing the mammoth crowd that assembled before him, stood up to adress them; "My name is Reginald Lorgswarth, and the man whose sitting beside me"; he said whilst pointing towards where Ivar is sitted; "is none other than my own son, Ivar"; he said.

Turning his face sideways to assure himself that the people were indeed listening to his words, he continued; "we come from a far away land and when the news of your sad misfortune got to us, we decided to travel all the way from the Lorgswarth family castle to render our help to you lots!"; he said.

"What difference are the duo of you going to make"; a timid voice rung out from the crowd.

"A lot of difference folks! We are here to help you, but we can not do that without you people's cooperation too"; Ivar said, whilst at the same time springing up from his seat to help his father in the addressing of the good people of Yakrinia.

"Each and everyone of you are not sheep"; Ivar continued; "each and everyone of you are warriors, before me all I see here are none other than men and women whom are bent on redeeming themselves from the people whom are bent on oppressing them''; he said.

"Your Town's Chief revealed to I and my father as to how these beasties are always having a field day whenever night time approaches on Yakrinia"; he continued, this time with a louder voice; "But I want to let you all know that together, we are going to drive these vermins back to where they come from and by God and everything you hold dear, this is a promise that I and my family are making to you"; Ivar said, this time repeatedly landing heavy blows on his chest.

"They will regret ever setting foot here!"; Reginald Lorgswarth shouted; "Now, who and whom would wish to volunteer to join us in fighting against the horde that will attack this town by nightfall"; Reginald Lorgswarth asked, turning his head to see whether if they was any man or woman whom was willing to offer their services to the grand cause; but to his surprise, six men, stepped forward and offered their support to the two Lorgswarths.

"How many of you knows how to use a sword"; Reginald asked, whilst accessing the men who stepped forward to show their support; five of the men indicated that they were good swordsmen by raising up their hands, except one.

"What is your name my good man"; Reginald asked, this time walking towards the man, whom from his facial looks was probably in the same age bracket with his son, Ivar Lorgswarth.

"Syrio Sir!"

"That's a very strange name Syrio, now tell me, what does it mean?"

"No idea sir, my beloved mother, God rest her soul, never bothered to reveal to me what it actually meant"

"Enough of that Syrio"; Reginald Lorgswarth said, this time placing his hands on the young man's shoulder; "What kind of weapons are you good at using, Syrio?"; He asked.

"I am good at using bow and arrows; as a child, I have been hunting wild game with these weapons; I doubt there's any who can use those weapons as well as I do"; he said, with a voice and spirit that reeks of nothing other than pure guts and sheer will to survive.

"Excellent Man!; Your skills will be well needed tonight"; Reginald Lorgswarth said, whilst giving Syrio a warm embrace.

Turning over to the other nine men, he demanded that they introduce themselves to him.

The first man to introduce himself to the Lorgswarths was the Town's blacksmith apprentice, Yuri; he was a young man, with golden locks of hair and red shot eyes which speaks volumes on the kind of extreme working conditions the poor man has subjected himself to.

The second man to do his own formal introduction was none other than, Berbatov, the gardener; a gentle gaint as most folks would call him; he is a good swordsman, and as some say, was also good with spears too.

The third and fourth menn to reveal their identites to the Lorgswarths was none other than the twins, Lucius and Luther; they had chiseled bodies, all thanks to years of working tirelessly at their old father's vineyard, and probably wouldn't have been allowed to join the Lorgswarths if not for the fact that their father already has 4 other sons whom are ready to take over from where the twins were should they fall in battle. They looked tough and were more good at using their fists than they do with their blades.

The fifth person to present himself to the Lorgswarths was none other than Jacoda the dwarf; whilst some folks might look down on his because of his small size, Jacoda has, in quite a good number of occasions proved to people "How Giant of A Man He Is Irrespective of His Size"; at the age of 6 he was known to have bashed the head of a giant python after the wild beast tried to devour his baby sister; how true is this, is what his family has always told the townfolks; tonight, his actions will reveal to all and sundry whether if those rumours were true or not.

These 5 men of valour, along with Syrio presented themselves to the Lorgswarths and after accessing the qualities of these men, Reginald Lorgswarth continued;

"On our way to the Town Chief's office, I realized that there were a lot of dead bodies that are littered on the streets of this town"

"Yes! Each and everyone of them were killed by this cursed fiends";a voice cried out from amongst the crowd.

"Is there no priest amongst you all?"

"I am a priest sir!"; A man dressed in a black sutan bellowed whilst raising his hands to indicate that he indeed was truly the one that Reginald Lorgswarth was looking for.

"You are a man of God, you have the divine authority of even St Peter himself, bless these men, women and children whom were slain by the hordes of these beasties and render them from being unclean to clean and when you are done, I want you to take some people along with you and give these people are proper befitting burial, Padre"; Reginald Lorgswarth said, this time placing his palm on the priest's shoulder.

"Okay Mr. Reginald Lorgswarth, I will do as you have told"; the priest said and left to do as he was told.

It didn't take long for Reginald to dismiss the crowd and called upon the Town's Chief and the 6 volunteers for a Tete- a - Tete- meeting.

"These "beasties" are immune to normal swords"; he began; "they can only be killed by swords or weapons which have been blessed with holy water by priests or by weapons which has been blessed by the druids.

"To kill one"; he continued; "You will need slash it with all your might"; he said, at the same time looking at all the men whom were keenly observing and taking notes of all that he was saying.

"And apart from being able to die after being slashed by holy weapons, you can also use fire to your own advantage; they are creatures of the dark and as such, they fear the light….."

"That explains a lot as to why you lots have never been attacked during the daytime"; Ivar cuts in.

"Exactly my point!"; Reginald continued; "But aside from holy weapons and magic, the only normal things that can be able to harm them, this time just the vampires are none other than stakes and for the werewolves, we would need to have more and more of wolfsbane poison to be available"; he said.

"Towm Chief"; he continued, this time turning over to where the man whom bears that title was sitting and at the same time fanning himself; "Does this town have any kind of ditch or moat surrounding it"?

"Moat, you say?"

"Yes, a moat"

"This is not a castle, Mr Lorgswarth!"

"But you do have cauldrons don't you?"

"That big ol rusty bucket! Yes we do"

"Good, it will prove to come in handy tonight, make sure that you fill it with as much as holy water as possible and place it above the gates; any spawn of hell that dares to cross will be burnt by it once it spills over it's contents"; Reginald Lorgswarth said.

"Sure, I will see to it that all you have stated here is carried out"; the Town Chief said.

"Forgive me for asking too many questions sire"; Ivar said, this time turning over to to the Town Chief whom was even sweating more than he was sweating before.

"But aside from all these defense mechanisms that we have already outlined; what other things do you feel you wish to share with us?"

"I will ready the town guards"

"How many of them are there in total?"

"Atleast 100 men in total"; the Town Chief revealed, this time scratching his bald head to know whether if he's stats were right or not.

"Splendid!"; Reginald added; "That will be all gentlemen, if you are married, go home to your wife and make love to her; once the darkness encroaches over this town, I need each and everyone of you to present himself, armed, at the entrance to the city gates…."

"Some of us may not live to see the next sun; some of us, may not live to know what it feels like to taste and feel the warmth of our wives and lovers, tonight we shall brawl as gods, but come the morning, we are going to rise as titans!!"; Reginald Lorgswarth said, stood up and shouted "Hoorah" and all the men sitted with him joined him in doing the same thing.

After he (Reginald Lorgswarth) was done with addressing the brave volunteers whom were sitted before him; he dismissed them and he and his son, Ivar, saw to it that all the defensive plans they made was put in place.

*Weapons of war were blessed with the holy water

*Holy men and women within the town raised up their heads to the heavens and prayed for divine help..

*Cauldrons were all laced with the holy water and every man, woman and child in Yakrinia knew that the hour these beasties would attack their beloved town was almost at hand, things were about to get messier, bloodier and dark….

—------------------------------------------------------

It was already full moon, and on the horizon, the town's watchmen saw a wild bunch of mad werewolves and blood thirsty vampires all racing towards Yakrinia.

The time has come, he was ready to act now, all his whole life has already led him to this moment; Reginald Lorgswarth, along with his son, Ivar Lorgswarth, the volunteers and all the town's guards "armoured up" and each man took up battle (or defensive positions) and at Reginald's commands, a volley of arrows, all touched by the holy hands of a priest and laced with wolfsbane descended on the wild and blood thirsty horde of vampires and werewolves alike.

The unlucky vampires who were hit by these arrows immediately burnt up and turned into ashes; whilst the werewolves who got hit fell and died immediately.

For once, it seemed like the humans were winning as the wild hordes immediately stopped at their tracks and watched as their colleagues lashed out in pain and anguish whilst burning up or dying; some even called out to their colleagues for help to end their sufferings, but none ever dared to approach the gates of Yakrinia until three vampires, all clad in golden armour took the bold step.

"Archers, Ready your bows"; Reginald Lorgswarth said as he saw the 3 gold armoured vampires whom were on vampire horse backs riding madly towards them; "Aim….. Fire!"; And at his command, another volley of arrows rained down on these beasts of hell.

Certainly, they are done for, he thought out loud to himself, until he realized that the 3 gold armoured vampires were unscathed by the arrows and this time were already close to the city gates of Yakrinia.

"Could this be some sort of dark magic at work here"; he thought out loud to himself; but the time and current situation that he found himself in didn't give him the opportunity to think out a possible answer to his questions.

Within the twinkle of an eye, the 3 golden-clad vampire horse men stopped riding and with a force so great, leapt from the saddles of their horses and jumped onto the town walls, where Reginald Lorgswarth, his son Ivar and all the defenders of Yakrinia stared at the 3 vampires in utter shock and disbelief.

"Foolish humans"; the vampire in the biggest armour continued; "do you each and everyone of you truly believe that your toys have an effect on the 3 vampire swordsmen of Lord Balalaika!!!"; his voice roared; unsheathing his huge sword, he looked up to the heavens and shouted; "Father! Watch me as I turn this city into a pile of nothing other than rocks, blood for us to feast on for years and more dead human skulls for you to add to your collection!"

Turning over to the other two vampires he said; "Save your strength and do not interfere; for I Balomor, the Dreadful will end this is one single sweep and with these words he charged on to face the defenders of Yakrinia.

Any man who dared to face him was cut in half; one of the volunteers, Berbatov the giant engaged in a brutal brawl with Balomor, they fought so hard that the ground trembled and the skies wept; sadly, in the end, with his huge sword, he impaled Berbatov and split him in half.

This death of Berbatov demoralized all that defenders of Yakrinia that was present on the walls that fateful night; dismembering Berbatov's head from his body, Balomor raised the "gentle giant's head " and drank out of the blood of the human that he has just slain.

"The blood of a warrior"; he (Balomor) continued; "so sad that he chose to remain in this lowly form, he would have made a fine soldier in my father's court"; he said.

Now, turning over to the men whom were all staring at him as he was carrying out his barbaric acts; he sat down on Berbatov's dismembered body and said; "If anyone of you could defeat and kill me, I will pull my forces back and have one of us gold armoured vampires stay back as your prisoner…."; His mighty voice thundered.

"Who will be man enough to step forward and challenge me, delay is dangerous, I might be moved to singlehandedly raze down your whole town!!"; Balomor roared.

All was quiet, but then, a voice rang out; "You think you all that armour makes you strong, tonight, I am going to make sure that you walk the depths of hell headless, your eyes gorged out, your vocal chords bashed and your spirit humiliated!"

The defenders of Yakrinia turned over to see whom has uttered such a ''provoking statement, it was none other than a Lorgswarth, armed with his "long morning star" and was ready to spill blood…..