Daseem's page

About Daseem

”I am not afraid,” replied the lad solemnly, ”For in a vision Our Lord in Iron promised I would die in glorious battle!” With that he broke cover and charged the enemy, a marauding band of Orcs down from the Mindspin Mountains. His oversized sword flashing among them as if where a twig rather than almost six feet of steel, and then the orkish screaming started… The Lieutenant exchanged a shocked look with the Sergeant, before racing up the hill after Daseem who was sure to be outnumbered and killed!

After the battle was over, they found him meditating in a circle of corpses covered in blood, none of it his own. The lad noticed their approach and got to his feet, ”Sir! Engagement successful Sir!” He glanced down at the gore that covered him and frowned, ”Strange. I trained for ten years at the Iron Temple of Korholm yet this was my first time… I find it disconcerting.” The sergeant misunderstood, and because he had a kindly heart he replied, ”You never get used to it, but it does get easier with time, lad. Anyway no need to be quite so eager next time, I only said it’s normal to feel afraid, I wasn’t casting aspersions!” The Lieutenant agreed, ”Aye he’s right fear is good, it keeps you alive provided it doesn’t master you. Anyway fall in private, we have a long march ahead.”

That evening around the fire, the officers took stock of the days events ”What do you make of Daseem, Sergeant?”
”Doesn’t talk much, but there’s a fierceness to that one, Gorum touched or so the whispers have it. Had a difficult upbringing."
”Orphan isn’t he?”
The Sergeant nodded, ”Yes Sir. He watched it happen, damndest thing by all accounts. Daseem’s family and several others had travelled from Braganza to Korvosa for a wedding. On the way back they chose one of the more direct passes as the crow flies over the Last wall.”
”Giant country, risky that…”
”Aye sir, and they came a cropper. Was twenty of them all told, safe enough from bandits and giant kin, or so they thought. I guess it was bad luck, but they blundered into the path of one of them really massive ones.”
”Oh gods, I take it that ended poorly?”
”Indeed. The giant squished them like bugs with his enormous foot, for the fun of it. Daseem must have been about six or seven at the time.”
”How many survived?”
”Two. Daseem and a girl, Tessa I think. They both ended up at the Bright Smile Orphanage in Korholm. Not sure what happened to the girl but the Battle Priest’s talent spotters found Daseem and bought him from the Orphanage.”
The Lieutenant rubbed his chin before asking, ”That explains a few things. Do you think we’re going to have problems with him? Considering they got their hooks in early, and his background…”
The Sergeant thought about it for a while, ”Yes and no. He’ll follow orders in battle Sir, the Gorumites always do. Thing is, I can’t imagine him staying. That one wasn’t made for a regimented army life, he’s going to go out in a blaze of glory.”
”The candle that burns twice as bright…”
”My thought exactly Sir.”

-*-

In the end I was in the army for almost five years, surprising everyone, most of all myself. Another month, or so they told me, and I’d have been a Molthunei citizen… Nobody could believe I just walked away, but my beloved Tessa was going to work with her aunt Lessie Crumkin in Trunau. A dangerous place, I could just let her travel there alone. The thought of her being caught and ravaged by Orcs was too much for me to bear, so I resigned and chased after her. You should have seen the look on my old Sergeant's face! Before I left told him, ”Sergeant do you remember that first time with the orcs?” ”Aye” he replied, ”I could hardly forget.”
”It wasn’t the killing that upset me sir, it was their lack of skill. I was embarrassed for them. There was no glory there.”
”Oh…” replied the Sergeant not knowing how to respond.

-*-

We’ve been in Trunau for six months now, staying with Tessa's aunt. You see Tessa is working in the Countinghouse and I’ve found myself an on-off apprenticeship with Sara Morninghawk in the Clamor when I'm not out on patrol with the militia. You could say I was steeled down, the thing is though I’m torn. I love Tessa and I promised myself I’d marry her once I save enough money to buy us a farm, but I could never quite find the words. You see I love something else as well, the thrill of combat. It’s only during battle that I feel truly alive, the glory of combat is what I live for. She doesn’t understand, I see the hurt in her eyes every time I go on patrol and it breaks my heart, yet I yearn for the chance to fight! At night when all is quiet I can faintly hear our Lord in Iron calling, it gets louder night after night. Something’s going to happen, something big. It will be reforged me in it’s white heat, and temper me in battle, nothing will ever be the same.

-*-

Daseem is dusky skinned with black curled hair cut very short, with deep blue incongruous eyes. No longer in the first flush of youth, the first hint of grey has appeared at his temples. Powerfully built, his features are crisscrossed with a latticework of scars. Not much of a talker, he could never find the right words, although his inner monologue is as eloquent as he is taciturn. He fights with a single minded determination, his economical movement a mixture of savagery and grace.