The Northmen

No more than two days ago three griffons claiming to be survivors of an attack on a coastal trading village in the north of the griffon empire had appeared in the Capitol. The first survivor was a hardy male who's left arm had been cut off, he was still in recovery. The second was a female, overweight and still hysterical, she wouldn't be reliable if they questioned her. Lastly there was a young girl who seemed the most level headed of them all. The empire concerned about this incident sent a captain to investigate and question the girl so they could know more about what exactly happened.

Captain Ray was a respected soldier known for getting the job done, his feathers were black and he had a long scar across his face. When he was tasked with this assignment he couldn't of been more pleased, for him it was another chance to further his career. He was to question the girl in a castle on the outskirts of the Capitol itself.

Right now he stood in a stone room in front of the disheveled girl that could of been no more than ten. At the moment he looked upon the young griffoness with disbelief," You're saying, a group of twenty or more creatures killed and looted you're entire village?" So far the story he could piece together was that a group of twenty of these things attacked in broad daylight killed all the guards ransacked the village and all the merchant ships.

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes," Yes, t-they killed my father right in front of me." She shook slightly holding back the sobs that came with that memory.

Ray didn't want to hurt her anymore than she already was but he had to know," Why are you still alive then, if they killed him in front of you why didn't they kill you too?"

"I-I don't know I j-just ran," she broke down sobbing as she remembered the events of that night, Ray saw that she was still terrified of the raiders had ransacked her village.

Squatting down Ray's Golden armor clinked as he reached out and touched his claws comfortingly to her face," I'm sorry I have to ask these questions but I have to know something before we send out soldiers to deal with this." His stern face softened as he looked her in the eyes.

She wiped her tears and nodded as his hand pulled back," W-What do you need to know?"

"Well..." He paused deciding where to start," What's you're name?"

"Relia."

"Okay then Relia what did these raiders look like?"

"They were really tall, I've seen minotaurs before on trading ships and not even they could be as tall as these Northmen," Ray held up a claw to stop her.

"Northmen?" He asked

She nodded," I've named them that."

"Because they came from the North?" He guessed.

"Yeah do you like it?" She smiled slightly enjoying this small distraction.

"Of course I do but of you could please continue describing these "Northmen" to me."

"Well they wore animal skins over their armor and had metal caps, nothing fancy like those pony soldiers have on their armor."

"Alright what kind of weapons did they use?"

"They had big battle axes and others had spears, a few had swords and shields." She explained her demeanor drooping all of a sudden," The one who killed my father had a sword and shield."

He reached out and grabbed her shoulder, "Don't worry about that we'll make them pay for what they've done Relia." He assured her,"Now is there anything else you noticed about them?"

"The ones that didn't have as much armor they didn't have feathers or fur or scales, whatever it was it looked like the color of a peach." She grimaced at the thought,"It was really gross."

"I agree," Ray nodded the thought of these things disgusted him.

"Yeah and from the few that weren't wearing helmets I could see they had manes like ponies but they grew them really long and had beards," her eyes narrowed in concentration, "A lot of them had brides in there hair too, not like those prench braids ponies put in there hair but these seemed more like they meant something."

He nodded,"Anything else?"

"They were organized." She stated solemnly.

"Huh?" He cocked an eyebrow at her.

"I've seen soldiers train before, the guards in my village, the guards of merchant ships, I know what it looks like to be organized and these Northmen were organized." She looked up into Ray's eyes," Don't let them fool you I saw them take down fifty guards and there were only twenty of them."

Ray was taken back by her sudden seriousness," Twenty of them took down fifty guards?!" His jaw hit the ground as he ran that over in his head, they must be dangerous and theres no telling how many more there are out there he thought to himself," Okay uh one last question then you can go, how did you meet up with the others?"

"After I started running I eventually found myself in the road just outside of my village and the other two were already there." She clasped her claws together," The guy said we'd head for the Capitol and we walked for a while before we came across a caravan and now I'm here."

"Alright Relia thank you for your cooperation." he stood up and walked to the wooden door, tapping on it the guard outside opened up.

"All done here sir?" He asked

"Yes private now could you please escort the young miss to her quarters at once."

He saluted slamming a fist to his armored chest," At once sir." Walking through the door he left the private and the girl behind and made his way through the dark stone hallway, reaching a wooden door he pushed it open and stepped outside into the castles courtyard , the sky was overcast and it smelled as though it might rain soon. Ceasing his observation Ray made his way to the main hall, pushing the big double doors open he saw the off duty soldiers playing cards and waiting for there shift.

Turing to a sergeant a the table nearest to him he called out," Sergeant do you know where general Unlan is?"

The soldier stood up to attention as fast as he," Yes sir he's in the war room sir!"

"Thank you soldier," he walked to the left end of the hall and opened the door, making his way through a series of corridors lite only by torchlight he came upon an oak door. Pushing on it he stepped inside to find a table with a map of the empire and Unlan standing over it.

Looking up the generals eye scrutinized Ray," Well what do you want?"

"I wish to report my findings on the destroyed village sir."

"Alright then on with it."

He explained what had happened and told the general what the girl had told him about the Northmen, he'd also made sure to mention the girl was very cooperative as well as intelligent.

"Northmen bah!" The general yelled in digust," they are nothing more than savage barbarians."

"But sir they killed fift-"

"I know that's what the little girl said and I don't believe it, I'll give you a battalion of one hundred men and that's it." He pointed a claw to the northernmost village on the map," You will camp there and wait for an attack, if these barbarians are to attack another village than this one will be it."

"Sir I must request more me-"

"No means no you dumbass now you have a job to do so do it!"

Ray couldn't help but feel as though something bad was going to happen.