Rise of Rurik

The Balmerk tribe in the port of Narvik, today's people are ushering in a long polar day.

They don't know why the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and the present time freezes as it approaches the horizon. The sun did not set, and the priests claimed that this was Odin's reward to the people. So the long darkness after half a year is a test from Odin?

The priests also listened to the explanations of their predecessors and agreed with this "reward test theory". The priests were so certain that the people of Balmerk all believed.

Eternal night or eternal day, in the local people's cognition, these situations are normal. The sun does not set all day long, and everyone has time to do more things, such as floating in the fjord for a long time and actively fishing.

But a cold snap from the North Pole killed it.

The strong arctic cold air, its power brought the fog of Narvik Fjord first, and then the sea gradually became violent.

The people of Gashebi, whose settlement is located on the western edge of the fjord's "bell mouth", faces the Atlantic Ocean directly. They noticed that the sky became dark and the sea became violent.

The huge waves slapped frantically on the coastal reefs, like monsters in the sea.

The boiling sea will surely overturn all the ships. Those people who had sailed to Britain a few days ago to find a warm new home are not only discouraged, but also worried that even the big ships of the Rus will face such a violent sea. Will be torn to shreds by the waves.

Some rumors circulated among the tribes.

"Look at this big wave! The gods must have heard our plan and let the sea boil to stop our voyage."

Some people believe it to be true, while others bluntly refute it. This is a coward's self-consolation and an outright lie.

Of course, the unfavorable rumors have spread to the ears of the families who hold the power of the tribe. Now, will anyone back down from the future expedition?

First of all, no one who claims to be noble is willing to stand up and question. The so-called questioning is no doubt a coward and a coward shouting loudly.

Secondly, they all believed in Rurik's beautiful statement about Britain. After the meeting, they all suggested to themselves that after the so-called organization of a fleet to kill Britain, the huge amount of local gold and silver must be readily available.

The thirst for riches takes hold, and their selective ignorance of the sea can also go berserk.

The gale beneath the haze whipped up huge waves, and all the fishing boats rushed to the deepest part of the fjord. There are more than twenty small fjords in Narvik Fjord,

Nearly 20,000 people settled on these small bays. The small fjords are simply the most comfortable water holes, the wind is still strong, and the boat is fixed in the cable and everything is normal.

The Avlora was firmly anchored to the water, her sails tied tightly to the beams. The window leading to the cabin is covered with wooden boards, making the whole ship like a huge wooden barrel floating on the shore of the bay. She has become the most stable existence in the fjord with her solid body.

After the strong wind, the rain came as scheduled!

Rurik lived in the house of the leader Magnut, bound indoors by the wind and rain.

It was an amazing downpour outdoors! The crackling sound frightened him for a while.

Of course Rurik was not afraid of such wind and rain. What he was worried about was the Balmerk tribe who built on the mountains. Will they be attacked by mudslides?

The only thing he can be happy about now is that the house of Chief Magnut is very stable, and this place is really his temporary comfort zone. There was no sign of a leak in the house, and strong winds apparently couldn't shake it.

But when will this rain end?

The port of Narvik has clearly entered the polar day. According to Biyonni, the polar day will last for nearly a month. After countless years of statistics, the priests have accurately calculated the days when the night disappears and how long the endless days will last, thus determining the exact day of the summer solstice.

Daytime? Does this still exist during the day?

A haze enveloped the world, and people hid in dark houses.

This made the leader of Magnut very anxious. He was no more worried about the life and death of the clansmen. Even if some people died in this storm, that was their fate. This is the trial sent by Odin, and only the brave can face the new sun.

Magnut is most concerned that the heavy rain will continue for too long, making the water cloudy and making fishing difficult for a period of time.

But what he worries most is that the wind and rain interfere with the sacrifices on the summer solstice.

Because, for the great plan to be implemented this year, he decided to put up a new altar outdoors and perform a grand sacrifice.

Perhaps the only thing that made him happy was his son-in-law Rurik, who could stick with his daughter Noren for a long time because of the bad weather. He had explained the situation to the priests, and although Noron was underage, the priests were not stupid enough to defy the leader's demands.

The leader of Magnut did not have any pressure, and those priests were very knowledgeable.

The priests and priestesses of the Balmerc tribe, who never established a closed organization. They really don't do production, but some of the materials they need depend on the support of those families.

Soon it will be a wedding!

Rurik felt that this was too magical, and he really could not have imagined that his first wedding would be realized in this Narvik Fjord. After the wedding, Noren is his legal wife, and at least nearly 20,000 Balmers will recognize this marriage.

But Noren has her own destiny. Her identity is not a wife at all, but a concubine with musical talent at best.

Due to the wind and rain, Rurik, who was closed, had nothing to do, except to get together with Noren to study new songs.

Including but not limited to "Sacred War", "Troubled Youth", "Borowitz", "Kalinka" and "Katyusha".

Compared with the ethereal, soothing and mysterious Nordic tunes that the girl Noren was used to, she was shocked by the fact that her fiance was a musical genius when faced with the new tunes that Rurik hummed. , also under pressure!

Because these pieces have a new style that is different from traditional music (Nordic key), another notable feature is that her fingers must press the sound hole of the bone flute faster to adapt to the brisk rhythm of the new piece.

And when she learned that there were more songs in Rurik's mind, she literally broke into a cold sweat.

But Noren was an unquestionable genius, and Rurik was convinced that the girl had an absolute sense of sound, and her control of the bone flute was at its peak.

For example, in a short period of time, she has put together the most beautiful excerpt from the graceful "Borowitz Dance" (which is also the part that Rurik is most familiar with) on a melodious bone flute.

Daughter learned a new piece from Rurik! And it's different than ever!

Outdoors, the wind and the rain are still unabated, and the Magnuts, as well as the Biyonni brothers, the leader and the family have the honor to listen to Noren's playing.

The sound of music dispelled any unhappiness in Magnut's heart. When the tune of the "Borowitz Dance" ended, he felt emotional and couldn't help but sigh.

In the dim light of the oil lamp, he stared at Rurik: "This is your Rus music? How wonderful."

"Yes! This is indeed Ross's music."

Rurik did not point out that the new tune Noren had learned was actually the musical style of the Slavs, which was essentially different from that of the Nordics, but the sense of celebration of the vast and mighty northern world contained in the music was the same. . Rurik also did not say that the wife that his father Otto personally chose for him was an extremely beautiful Slavic girl.

Who will be his wife? Rurik was indeed willing to choose a girl from the Eastern Slavic world.

Because this is the fate of the Rus people, although the Nordic homeland should not give up, but Rus must conquer the Eastern European world and rely on the Slavic population to achieve great things. As for the dilution of the Rus tribe by the huge Slavs, Rurik himself would not reject it, but decided that this was the most correct path. A new, hugely populous nation will be born and grow in northern and eastern Europe. The father of this nation should be a group of down-to-earth Nordic golden-haired men.

Perhaps the gods heard people's prayers, and just as the summer solstice was approaching, the wind and rain finally showed signs of subsiding.

For many days, people lived on the fish caught before, and people struggled and were even forced to go hungry. But those families who bought wheat were instead gorging on wheat porridge.

Powerful families, their lives have not suffered much, and they have selected expedition warriors in their own families, among the people who depend on them, and a "great and noble man".

What is "great and noble"? They think it is like this, if you sacrifice your life to the gods, the soul will directly ascend to Asgard, and then be selected by the Valkyrie. If you are not qualified to enter Valhalla, then the "great and noble" soul will also be Can turn into a resident of Asgard.

This group of Balmers, their concept of sacrifice and death is very different from the Melalen people who live in Lake Melalen.

Dedicate a slave to Odin? Pooh! The blood of slaves can only be sacrificed to sea monsters. The so-called sea monsters have gluttonous mouths. The monsters create huge waves only to eat those who fall into the water. If the sacrifice of slaves to satisfy the sea monsters in advance, the voyagers will be able to keep safe.

However, if Odin is sacrificed with a noble soul, the great god will definitely suppress the sea monster, so that it does not dare to make mistakes.

The people of Balmerk are naive, and in their naive worldview, this is the truth of the world. Each family can only choose one person to worship the gods, knowing that it is death, there are still a group of people vying to sign up.

This also happened in Magnut's family, and a strong man stood out from some of the people who depended on his family.

It was a sturdy young man who could be trained to become an "Iron Warrior" after being armed, and to become an unparalleled slasher on the battlefield. Unfortunately, he actually wanted to sacrifice himself with joy.

This is the culture of the local Balmers, and Rurik doesn't want to talk too much. After all, it is his own opinion to kill and loot to Britain and explore as well. If they die as a result of their self-sacrifice, they have a great responsibility.

The storm was supposed to end, the darkness of the outside world was suffocating, Noren meant Rurik to sleep, and her cheeks were sore after a few days of intensely fiddling with the flute.

Sudden! Everything came without warning!

The earth is shaking!

Rurik grabbed Noren and jumped up, "Damn it! Is there an earthquake in this place?"

He took Noren's arm and rushed to the lobby, where Magnut had woken up.

"Don't panic, it's nothing major." Magnut tried his best to appease his family and those servants and slaves. It was still light rain outside, and the gloomy world was bleak.

The wooden door has been opened, and Magnute finally said: "The earth is shaking, and our house is very strong. Don't worry, if there is a danger of collapse, we will rush out immediately. This must be a new test from Odin, rest assured, everything will pass."

Rurik scolded inwardly that this Magnut knew nothing about the risk of earthquakes. Everything is blamed on God's punishment and test. Although it is a simple explanation of the matter, it is clearly superstition.

This was indeed the case, and Rurik could only continue to hold Noren's delicate arm. He remained vigilant in order to run with Noren as soon as possible before a disaster occurred.

However, this is not an earthquake!

The tremors of the earth were over, the time was really extreme day, the sky was darkened by the dense dark clouds, and the people who breathed a sigh of relief continued their rest.

But for some, it's all over!

The rainy days are over, although the sun is looming, the rain has stopped completely!

The cold wind from the north had blown away the summer warmth, and the temperature seemed to be freezing, and Rurik was wrapped in leather again.

Magnute stood in the increasingly dry outdoors, looking up at the sky and laughing, because the summer solstice sacrifice could be held as scheduled!

But as five longboats paddled to their home port of Balmerk, people were shocked to see the disembarkers, a horrific group of attack, running to inform those they encountered.

A horrific sad news begins to spread in the harbor!

"It's the people of Little Sheepfjord in the southeast! There's a landslide in their territory! All their sheep are buried in the dark mudslides! Most of them are dead! The whole settlement has collapsed!"

Now that the case has been solved, it turned out that the rumbling sound was a terrible mudslide.

The terrifying news led a large number of people to row boats to find out and try to rescue.

And Rurik was also extremely shocked, and took Noren and all his men on a longship. More than a hundred ships headed for the so-called "Little Sheep Fjord", hoping things weren't so bad, but when they reached the murky waters of the little bay, they saw a mess.

In a settlement of more than 500 people, there are as many as 1,000 sheep breeders here. The people here are better off than others, but they encountered landslides and mudslides, and everything is over!

Rurik's eyes widened, and Noren knew that his arm hurt.

"Rurik, my wrist will be crushed by you!"

"I'm sorry. You see, this settlement, they're all dead." Rurik didn't feel sad, all he had was pure shock.

His people were on the same longship as the Magnut family, and everyone was stunned. Look at this serious situation, the dark rocks flooded all the houses, and the seaside pastures where the sheep were grazing were covered with silt.

In fact, when these dead people settled here, they used the excellent pastures here at first. They never thought that behind the fertile land here is the weak foundation! A violent storm brings disaster, and it's all over!

A moment later, a long ship approached Magnut.

It's Barda's ship.

"Leader, look! It seems that our expedition, Old Gorm can't participate."

Magnut pouted and shook his head: "They are all dead, they did not resist Odin's challenge."

"I discussed with a few other brothers, those who escaped the disaster, I will include them."

Magnut nodded: "Anyway we have a fight with the old Gorm brother, our brother incorporated his remnant. What a disaster, I feel that Odin is doubting our strength. It seems that we must use a victory. Prove it to God."

Barda understood: "I originally planned to gather up to seventy brothers on two ships. I changed my mind, and I wanted to organize three ships with a hundred brothers."

"Then I will organize 200 people. If we organize an army, there must be at least 1,000 people." With that said, the serious-looking Magnut dragged Rurik beside him: "My son-in-law ( In words, he will directly call his son) will lead our army to expedition to Britain, and we will surely win. When the time comes, we will build the old temple and get gold and silver to worship Odin. Besides, this expedition, my son-in-law was taken The one whom Odin favors, he alone will lead us to victory."

Staring at Rurik's clean, handsome and meticulous face, Barda saw a lot. Through Rurik's eyes, he determined that the boy's hands must have been stained with a lot of enemy blood, and that this handsome boy indeed hides the soul of a great hero.

Barda nodded and asked Rurik: "My little brother, are you ready to lead us Balmerk warriors to victory? You know, we are allies."

"Of course!" Rurik asked bluntly: "Have you formed an army yet?"

"A few days directly, a hundred warriors!"

"Very good! Let your warriors prepare more food, more spare weapons, and more sacks."

Barda nodded, he already understood that Rurik, the brat from Ross, was already planning the transportation of a large amount of spoils. Some bland words, really refreshing!