BEYOND THE NORTH WALL

I was once called Ross Wulfstone – I was born of mixed blood. My Mother was a native of Cumberland on the north-west coast of England. My Father was a second- generation Norse invader, whose people, after years of raiding and pillaging the coasts of Britain had settled in the northern counties of the land. Northumberland, Cumberland and Yorkshire had all seen the Norsemen settle and develop their towns into busy market centres for trade and commerce. My Fathers’ clan settled on the outskirts of new Carlisle – old Caerluel, the main trade gateway to the northern lands of Scotland.

While the native Englishmen frowned upon contact with the Scots, the Norsemen, having kin both sides of the borders, traded freely and without prejudice. This brought wealth and power to the Norse that quickly earned them respect and allegiance from the native Britons.

My Father, Alver Wulfstone, met and married my mother – a millers’ daughter, thus establishing further trade links within the county. My father was a large bear of a man and his fierce temperament and his excellent sword arm quickly set him above the smaller sized dwellers of the region. My mother Sarah Rosemurghy, was a kind and gentle woman, who provided a contrast to my fathers’ fiery nature and kept the whole family together with her unending support and guidance. While many in her position dared not speak their mind for fear of the men folks’ rebuttals, she spoke out when she deemed a wrong needed righting, often much to the booming amusement of my father.

It was from my father that I inherited my natural size and fighting ability. From my mother I learned to think as well as I fought. Most of the time, my native Cumberland was peaceful, but every once in a while a family brawl or a drunken disagreement would inject deadly violence into the northern-province. It is on such a night that my weird tale begins…