Scroll to the bottom to download the full story as a free PDF file.
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Welcome traveller, welcome!
Ah, do I recognise you? Have you been here before?
Either way, what a story we have for you today.
Grab a seat while I pour you a drink, and prepare for another tale from the Ryngwoode…
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Mocked as a child for his size and the colours of his house, Sir Robert de Mandeville grew to be bigger and taller than any other knight in the kingdom, and embraced the name once used to ridicule him.
It’s a ridiculous name, and I’m not surprised people still find it funny behind his back, but I kind of like the guy from what I’ve heard of him, so you’ll get less sass from me this time around. Plus he’s a big bastard who you don’t want to be on the wrong side of.
This is a tale of the Badger Knight…
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Blood. Bone.
Set free from the stranger’s skull, smashed against the broken wall with little effort by the giant knight.
Over. And over. And over.
His hands dripped red with rage, wrapped tight around a neck with no head. Blood gushed forth as bone and flesh littered the floor by his feet.
The bloodlust had taken ahold of him, and God help anyone who got in his way now.
Behind the wall, a younger man was shouting, pointing across the clearing. He seemed familiar, but his words were just noise.
The knight turned around to see what the man had been alerting him to. Another stranger. Running straight at him. Sword aloft and ready to attack.
As the knight closed his eyes, time appeared to slow. He thought back to his training. Not the training at home with the castle’s swordmaster, but the training he undertook by the hidden crossroads at midnight as a young boy. He took a deep breath, stepped back, lifted his sword to his side and swung it with all his might.
Opening his eyes at the last second, he watched as the stranger’s body crumpled to the floor, its head soaring across the clearing, leaving a red mist in its wake.
More blood rained down on him. A cleansing shower from God above.
His tunic was no longer the colours of his house, white and black, but red and brown. Coloured by blood and dirt.
A noise.
He turned to his right. Two more strangers charged at him, side-by-side.
Idiots.
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For the full story, download the free PDF below (2.2mb):
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The Badger Knight Soundtrack