What is offered below for your reading enjoyment is a snippet from a short story that will appear in my new book set for publication on or before 11/1/2016.
The crisp autumn air that filled Tarr's* lungs did little to cool his mood. That damned old man, Tarr silently fumed. The old man that frosted Tarr's composure was his chieftain, Vulferam who had removed him from his leadership of the tribe's Mannerbunde.** Maybe, Tarr thought, I said something offensive during Winter Nights. Whatever the reason, being stripped of Mannerbunde leadership and put in charge of Yuletide preparations, Tarr felt, was grossly demeaning to a warrior. He wanted to know what he did wrong to deserve this obvious humility and wished that he was a puss filled pimple on Wodan's ass so the High One could squeeze him and put an end to his misery...... in peace, the real power resided in Vulferam. And as chieftain, Vulferam was the conduit to the Gods for the tribe's luck and prosperity. If Vulferam asked you to do this or that, you complied; it was in the tribe's best interest that you did. No one wanted to be blamed for the tribe's sudden lack of luck and prosperity; a person's neck could be stretched before the chieftains.......
*Tarr - a character I created in my short book, Three Tall Tales. The book introduces Tarr with his various talents, his fighting and leadership during the 30 year Saxon Wars, and his last days leading up to his death. This short story can be thought of as a "prequel."
**Mannerbunde - a group of young men who were the warriors of the tribe.
Copyright @2016 Terry Unger
