The Glade of Vaprak

[The cover of this book is stamped with the symbol of Brandobaris, a hin's footprint.]

One of the cherished hinnish gods is the god Brandobaris, the Irrepressible Scamp. From him, the hin get their cunning and bravery in the face of the most frightening dangers. Most hin have a bit of Scamp in them, read to trick the great of foes - or friends. This is the tale of Kalidair Swiftfoot, first champion of Brandobaris or possibly Brandobaris himself!

Centuries ago, back at the founding of Luiren, there was a small hinnish village within the Lluirwood. Unfortunately the woods have a problem, they were populated by ogres and trolls. Worse yet, they were led by Vaprak the Destroyer, the demon god of these foul creatures. There was little that the hin of the village could do, coming up to their ankles at best. Nor were they fighters, but mostly farmers and weavers, a friendly folk.

Fortunately there was a hin with a hero's heart, named Kalidair Swiftfoot. He sat beneath a tree as the ogres and trolls laid rampage to the forests and fields. He was trying to build up courage, the courage to stop this chaos. He climbed that tree and looked for the biggest of the ogres. The one taller and stronger than them all. If he could defeat their leader then the rest would flee. He had to show them that the folk of Luiren were the strongest.

This ogre was an avatar of Vaprak the Destroyer, demon god of trolls and ogres. So tall was Vaprak, that Kalidair wasn't even as tall as his smallest toe. Kalidair's sword would be as annoying as a gnat, his arrows as bad as a mosquito. So instead, the clever Kalidair grinned and decided on a plan worthy of the Scamp. He chucked a pebble from his sling into the ogre's eye. He repeated this again and again until he finally received the Destroyer's attention, and receive it he did. The ogre raged, the roar so loud that it knocked down trees. Vaprak gave chase to the annoying little hin, trying to stomp him flat with his fearsome club.

Kalidair fled instantly, scattering like a deer. He wasn't called Swiftfoot for no reason however, and he outran the ogre - after all his life depended on it! Through a maze of spiked traps and other pitfalls that slowed the ogre down, Kalidair always stayed out of reach of the ogre with a grin on his face.

Kalidair ran for ten days and ten nights, toying with the Destroyer. League upon league of the woods were travelled, quite a bit of it demolished. Finally after ten days of chasing, Vaprak collapsed from exhaustion. He wasn't yet beaten, but nor was he strong anymore; his chest heaved and his eye tired yet burning with lust for destruction.

Meanwhile Kalidair danced around the ogre, taunting him for his weakness. After all how could an ogre god tire after only ten days? It was here that the true scamp cunning came into play, for as Vaprak tried to rise in anger at the taunting, Kalidair challenged the ogre god to a competition.

The victor would keep the forests and surrounding area, the loser would claim the mountains. Of course, the hin didn't want the mountains, and the ogres wouldn't let them leave anyways - so it was a dire gambit, but Kalidair knew he would win. The competition was a feat of strength, to uproot a single tree, roots and all, without damaging any of it.

Vaprak agreed, laughing with evil delight at such a foolish wager. It would be easy for him to beat this little hin, and he would finally get to eat this annoying hin that wouldn't stop running.

So, Vaprak went first, and uprooted a tree. The tree had wide roots and he destroyed them, failing immediately. He tried another tree, and another! Each and every tree he uprooted was a failure, either he squashed the tree to powder in his mighty hands, or the roots would splinter when he pulled it up. Eventually he ran out of trees without succeeding once.

This is when Kalidair laughed, as he had been standing over a tree. As the Destroyer sat down, having destroyed an entire glade of trees and frustrated for the failure, Kalidair leaned down and uprooted the tree. A single sapling with a single taproot. It came out easily, in perfect condition.

Kalidair showed Vaprak, the mighty demon god of ogres and trolls, the tree. The god was humiliated and shouted in rage, but had to concede the defeat. After all, a god's word is binding, and the deal was done. Vaprak, the ogres and trolls all left to inhabit the mountains and never bothered Luiren again; other than eating mountain travellers of course. The hinnish folk settled and so began the city of Beluir. Saved by the cunning heroics of a single champion of Brandobaris, a scamp. A reminder that you don't need strength of steel and sword if you have a keen wit.

Kalidair lived the rest of his days protecting the village as it became a city, and sometimes pranking it as the scamp he was. To this day, scamps of Brandobaris retell this tale whenever a tree falls to the ground outside of Beluir, in a place known as Vaprak's Glade.

Originally told by Digo Hillofies during the second Day of Stories. Also originally written by Joric Featherfall, date unknown, told from memory and written by Minto T Fuzzypaw during Open Stage Night at the Fool's Clover. Recorded, written, combined and embellished by Minto T Fuzzypaw.