Dark had no real family. When he was a baby (or so he was told, how could he remember that far?) the other Norns had just found him wandering around the incubator, cold and hungry. He was an orphan. A female Norn named Astrid adopted him. Astrid had had only one child, a baby boy named Kalin, and Dark and Kalin grew to be fast friends.
When Dark was a child, though, Astrid passed away. Dark and Kalin were taken under the wing of a kindly old Norn named Bilbo. Bilbo’s children were all dead, so Bilbo grew very close to Kalin and Dark. Bilbo was a retired Norn guard, so he tried to raise Kalin and Dark to be Norn guards as well.
Dark adored Bilbo’s teachings and he quickly adapted to being a Norn guard-in-training. Kalin, however, despised the new trade, and refused to take any part in it. Bilbo strictly ordered Kalin to practice fighting with Dark, but Kalin shouted back, “I won’t! I’m not going to become a guard; I hate fighting and I don’t think Grendels are all that bad!”
Bilbo finally realized that Kalin was not a fighting Norn. Kalin was a peacemaker. He could shatter arguments like snapping his fingers. He had never, in his entire life, hit another Norn, and Bilbo knew that Kalin would never make a good guard if he could not bring himself to stike an enemy. Despite their differences, Dark and Kalin remained close.
Time went by, and Dark and Kalin grew up. Dark became an experienced guard. Kalin became a gardener and he spent his days planting beeclaneeth seeds.
One day it was Dark’s turn to be lookout guard at the windmill. Dark took his trusty Grendel-zapper and set off. To his astonishment, somebody had left a hootch glass at the beehives. He shrugged. He would never drink hootch. Why, just the other day, Aries, the Norn leader, had held another “Anti-alcohol in Albia” campaign.
The day slowly lulled by. The cable car, which prevented the Norns and Grendels from meeting, stayed put. This was very important. If the Grendels got a hold of the car, they would reach the beehives and harm Norns.
As the day passed, Dark got incredibly thirsty. The honey did not help either. It just made him thirstier. Finally he slowly picked up the hootch.
Dark glanced around. He felt incredibly nervous. “What’s wrong with me?” he scolded himself. “It’s not like I’m addicted to it or anything. I’m just going to take a little bit! I shouldn’t be afraid of this! In fact, I could drink this whole cup if I wanted to!”
As if to prove that, Dark threw up the glass and gulped the hootch down in one swig. All of it.
Dark checked himself. The way Aries talked, you’d think his brain would be warped by now. Dark grinned stupidly and hiccuped. There was nothing wrong with this hootch. It was GREAT! He staggered a little as he walked onto the lift and went into the cellars to gather more.
Monica, a pretty female Norn, was at the cellars gathering cheese. “Hiya Monica,” said Dark, swaying to and fro as he tried to regain his balance.
“Dark,” Monica asked in shock. “Are you drunk?!”
“Ah’m not drunk,” Dark answered with a foolish grin. He staggered over to the hootch shelf and grabbed a glass. He glugged it down, talking between gulps. “Ah’m just firsty! So hot out today, doncha know…”
“Aren’t you supposed to be on guard duty?” Monica asked suspiciously.
“Nothin’s gonna happen. Nothin's been happnin. It’s a dull day out!”
Dark answered hoarsely as he groped for another hootch glass.
“Hey, I think you’ve had enough of that,” said Monica as she snatched the hootch away from him. “Dark, I’m surprised in you. You know better then to drink hootch.”
Dark glared at her. “Gimme that!”
“No. You’ve had enough.”
Dark smacked Monica hard and grabbed the glass. Monica got up and said something, but Dark wasn’t listening. He was already going back up the lift.
When he finally reached the windmill again, he was exhausted. He tried to stand for a moment, but then fell flat on his face in the mover and began snoring.The bees curiously circled the Norn guard, who had foolishly fallen asleep while on guard duty. One of the bees landed on Dark's nose. As Dark swatted it off, he accidently smacked the lever.
"Crank Crank" went the mover as it swayed gently from side to side. Dark was heading straight out of Norn territory and into the Grendel trees!
COMING SOON! In "Dark and Kalin Chapter 2: Kalin" meet Dark's friendly step-brother Kalin!