Suicide Kings

Suicide Kings is a short story I wrote between Oct and Dec of 2006. The setting is ancient Norse mythology, and starts in the city of Drächen, somewhere in Scandanavia along the border of the Iceptic Sea. The tale concerns three brothers who love to fight:

  • Brynjolf Gerbjörn - The most outspoken of the group, Brynjolf tries to be the voice of reason and moderation, but he too loves to fight. Preferred weapons are one long sword and one short sword.
  • Vilulf Gerbjörn - Madman. Crazy pit-fighter/berzerker, Vilulf is the youngest of the three. He does not have a preferred weapon, and often flies into a blind rage during battle and has been known to attack opponents with his bare hands, completely forgetting his armament.
  • Thorvald Gerbjörn - The eldest of the three. Tall and lean, he loves to fight, and is reputed to be undefeated with his favored warhammer.

The brothers gain a reputation across the countryside as unstoppable killers, until one day, when they are captured and brought before the King, who finds them guilty. They are hung from the hangman's noose until dead...

...and then the story starts.

Some stats about Suicide Kings:

  • 33 pages
  • 10,758 words
  • 38 – The number of times the word ‘blood’ appears

Suicide Kings

In the fall of 2006, the combined pressures and frustrations of school, work, and the finalization of the Jagged Spiral album (Days From Evil), were overwhelming. Even my typical retreat into my own writing (The Demonslayer's Handbook) was becoming less enjoyable, and more like Work as it neared completion. I was simply editing and proofreading, and not really creating.

So I put The Demonslayer's Handbook aside, and began a new project.

I had been toying with the idea of someone who goes to a multi-layered Hell (Much like Dante's infamous Inferno) but instead of merely a spectator, this person fights their way out; each of the layers presenting a different challenge to be overcome. Lame-O, I Know, but I figured the more preposterous the plot, the more fun it would be to write it.

Anyways, Jagged Spiral were putting the final touches on a song called "The Last Song", and during those sessions, Josh had mentioned it was too bad the song did not have more Longboats in it, and he was going to write a Classical/DoomMetal piece with Longboats and Valkyries and heros named Torbjörn. I joked that the album should be called "Mounting the Valkyrie".

Strangely, my story idea merged with the Viking Mythos, (Oh no! You got your Viking Mythos in my Hellish Afterlife Action Script...!) And after about two months, Suicide Kings was finished.

The story is 33 pages long, and just under 11,000 words. Possibly enough to flush out for a novel, large enough to soak up a couple months of dearly-deserved creativity time, and small enough to read in one sitting. Probably bad enough to get rejection letters based on just the title...