Hakon
“You hear the news?” Frea asked Hakon as they cleaned their gear after the endless drills on the ‘Axe Tooth’ during their travel between Jom and Ironspine.
“No,” Hakon said simple but didn’t look up from his long rifle.
“The lord of Ironspine is bat shit crazy,” Frea said.
“Most lords are,” Hakon said simply again.
Frea laughed at that. “Does that include exiled lord?” Frea asked.
Hakon nodded.
“Anyways,” Frea continued. “Lord Lum refuses to leave her estate. Fears that the people of Ironspine want her dead, and too frightened to go to her small fleet in orbit in case the Skoll return.”
That got Hakon’s attention, and to looked at Frea. “The Skoll? Creatures of myth and legend which haven’t been seen for over four hundred years in the Old Ruins, and longer in the rest of the Settled World? Those Skoll?” he asked.
“Yeah those Skoll, what other Skoll are there?” She asked with a sigh.
“Well, even a crazy lord’s credits are good,” Hakon replied with a shrug. “Although if the Skoll were still around, I’d much rather be on a ship than stuck on a world when they invade.”
“Like I said, crazy,” Frea agreed. “She says there is more, Draven, Nir, and Vault Bots as well. That they come out of the Old Ruins and raid the sub systems sworn to Ironspine, but have yet to attack Ironspine itself, but she fears the attack coming.”
Hakon scoffed. Dravens were almost as big a threat as the Skoll. Humans from the world of Draven itself. They edited their genes for centuries until something went wrong. Their long life came at the cost of the hunger for human flesh, and a bite could transform any human into one of them, although the pure bloods were said to have been killed long ago. The Hom had hunted many down as they did the Skoll in days gone by.
Nir hadn’t been sighted for in the Settled Worlds of Mann even longer. Fearsome beasts which could survive space, and the oldest and largest were said to eat whole worlds.\, and destroy fleets of starships.
“The Old Hakons is filled with nothing but outlaws, abandoned and decaying worlds, and trade, those things haven’t been seen for generations if they were ever real to begin with,” Hakon finally said.
“You don’t believe in the Skoll?” Frea asked curious.
Hakon shrugged. “Our histories and legends are filled with them and worse. They make for a good story, but if they were real, they are gone, and of no importance. The real threat is Mann,” he said firmly.
“Aye,” Frea agreed to the last. “Mannkind is a threat to itself, but so are the Skoll,” she said quickly. “They will be back, always are, and always will be.” She let out her own shrug. “Maybe tomorrow, maybe in a thousand years or so, but they will be back.”
Hakon scoffed again. “Perhaps, but it’s been thirty thousands years since legends say we broke those shackles. You think they would be tied by now.”
“Twenty Seven thousand,” Frea said with a grin.
“If you say so,” Hakon replied. “Doesn’t matter, whatever Lord Lum fears, no doubt we will meet it soon.”
