You can read today's fic for the gathering on ao3, since it's a heavier one and you definitely need to mind the tags! Always take care of yourselves first <3
Carve a Rune, Draw a Rune (1596 words) by YourShiningLight
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Brotherband Chronicles - John Flanagan
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Hal Mikkelson/Stig Olafson
Characters: Hal Mikkelson, Stig Olafson, Tursgud (Brotherband Chronicles), The Sharks Brotherband (Brotherband Chronicles)
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Slurs, A bit more violent than canon-typical violence, Blood and Injury, Mutilation, Ranger Gathering 2025, Ranger Gathering 2025 - day 4: Runes, You'll want to kill Tursgud after this, Don't worry I'm giving Stig enough hugs and kisses for the both of us, Hal's helping me too
Series: Part 3 of Ranger Gathering 2025
Summary:
While out on a walk alone at night, Stig suddenly finds himself surrounded by Tursgud and his crew. The skirl of the Sharks sees this as the perfect opportunity to give Stig the lesson he deserves.
So tonight I've learned from the Edvin prompt that depsite having read these books for over a decade and been a part of this fandom for a bit, the name is in fact Tursgud and not Tursgurd. I've been gaslighting myself this whole time
81. we're in the middle of a storm and you want to stop and feel the rain?
Slaves of Socorro, just after Nightwolf goes down:
Stefan's always been...aware of Tursgud. As an enemy, as a threat, then later as a guilt, a magnetism, a fire that whispers touch me, it'll hurt. It's nothing to how he feels for Jesper, but Stefan and Tursgud have been whirling in each other's orbits for a long time, and that kind of fascination doesn't die easily.
But Tursgud does, as it turns out.
Stefan watches Nightwolf go down with a sort of detached horror. Part of him wants to dive overboard, try to swim for survivors (there will be none). Another part, a much larger part, thinks callously, Good.
But he still can't move from the rail.
The Heron lurches wildly under his feet, and there's a thud beside him as Jesper loses his footing and stumbles against the bulwark, setting the shields rattling. It takes Stefan a long moment to look up.
"Stef, the sails," says Jesper, voice fast and tight, and Stefan blinks at him for a long moment as the ship lurches again, spray from the boulder that just missed them stinging his face. The port sail is up but fluttering against the mast, and Jesper can't raise the starboard yardarm on his own.
"He's just—" he manages, but that's as far as he gets before Jesper catches his shoulder and shakes it.
"Not now, Stef," he says. "This is the storm. Get through this and feel the rain later."
A stray arrow fired from the bank whips past Jesper's shoulder, and Stefan's brain kicks back into gear. He fights past the urge to shove Jesper to the deck and stand over him and defend him because he's not losing anyone else today—
(What does it mean, that Tursgud's death makes him feel like this?)
Instead, he nods once, grateful, and dives for the starboard lines.
concept if you happen to be after inspiration: moodboard for the race scene? yes fine i'm predictable
as ever no pressure!
"Assessment!" he [Sigurd] announced. "Footrace! Ten minutes!"
The racetrack had been laid out the night before, while they slept. It was marked by flags on slender willow poles and led from the training ground down the hill, through the town of Hallasholm, around the harbor and back uphill to the training ground.
"Select your runners," Sigurd ordered. (The Outcasts)
...
"I think Henjak is gaining," Stefan said.
Stig glanced sidealong at him. "It's not over yet," he said. "Jesper can still catch him."
"Even second would be good," Ulf said, earning himself a glare from Stig.
"Blast second! He can still win! Come on, Jesper!"
( @aggressivemacintosh and @brotherbandchronicles made me write something for tursgud because he had so much potential,,,, so here ya go)
Tursgud.
Where to start with Tursgud?
If you asked Hal, he would tell you that he has never met someone as full of testosterone and malice as Tursgud. He could recollect the countless times that Tursgud made himself an absolute nuisance for the Heron Brotherband and Hal himself.
If you asked Hal, he wouldn’t be able to give you a reason for why Tursgud seemed so upset and aggressive towards him all their years growing up. He never knew why Tursgud went out of his way to harm or hinder Hal’s crew in any way he could.
Hal would tell you, with some sorrow in his voice, that he wished he knew what he did to provoke this behavior from Tursgud. Sure, he became a skirl of a Brotherband when no one, not even himself, was expecting it, but Tursgud was combative before that. Hal would tell you that he wishes he could’ve done something different. Maybe things would’ve been better.
If you asked Stig, he would describe Tursgud as the worst pile of flaming horse shit that ever walked through Hallasholm. To him, Tursgud was and always will be the bully who purposefully stepped all over Hal simply because he felt like it. Tursgud would always be the villain.
Of course Stig wouldn’t even try to reason out Tursgud’s behavior. To Stig, his friends, especially his skirl, were everything to him. People who were antagonistic towards his friends would soon learn Stig’s ability and maneuverability with his sword.
If you were to ask Tursgud’s father, he would spare you the monologue and answer tersely, telling you that Tursgud was his worst mistake and a disappointment to all Skandians.
That’s it then. That’s the verdict. According to Hal, Stig and Tursgud’s own father, the Shark Brotherband’s skirl was a nuisance, a bully and a failure.
However.
If you were to ask lovely Hannah, Stig’s thoughtful, kind mother, you would receive a different story.
Gentle Hannah would tell you the story of a frustrated, emotional boy who didn’t know what to do with himself. She would tell you the doubts he confided in her that one night when he came to her house to give her the furniture that his father was throwing away. She would tell you how he cried hot, bitter tears into her shoulder, threatening her weakly not to tell anyone.
She would recount the time when he visited her a second time, angrily giving vent to his thoughts about his father, his home life, Hal, everything.
She had listened. She would always listen to him. She was always there for him when he needed to pour out his pent-up emotions and energy to someone. She seemed to be the only person he had ever had a real conversation with.
She would tell you that Tursgud wasn’t just an angry bully. She would laugh as she remembered the many jokes and stories she and the boy would tell each other. She would recall the times that Tursgud surprised her with gifts and genorosties that she would never have expected. She would recollect the many times that Tursgud had caught her off-guard with his sarcastic jokes and comments that she didn’t expect from such a surly-looking boy.
She would tell you, with tears welling up in her big, brown eyes, that she had wished for so much more for Tursgud. She had wished that he could’ve had a happy life, maybe even become friends with her son. She had wished that he could’ve learned to channel his energy, his frustration, his passion into something that would do him some good. She would’ve wanted to do so much more for him.
She would tell you that she misses his visits.
Tursgud’s story is clean-cut and clear. He was a bully that took things too far.
But was that all there was?
Just a villain?
Just another flat antagonist in a poorly-written story?
Or was there more to his story?
Was there a passionate, frustrated, embittered boy hiding under the guise of a surly wolfship skirl that simply wanted to inflict pain and misery wherever he went?
Maybe.
Our hopes of finding out the rest of Tursgud’s story sunk with the Nightwolf.
The Sharks chart their own fate. (running through the empty streets, night sky, foreign languages, getting lost, laughing with a stranger, fire escape, anonymous messages)
