Krieg

In the last couple of years I've come up with what is so far my favorite sword and sorcery character. I call him Krieg, which is the German word for war. I've created quite a few other S & S characters over the years--Thal Kyrin, Jaal Harkest. Jedess of Seth-Loeril, Jys Martel. Most of them can be found in Bitter Steel, which collects the majority of my older S & S stories. But Krieg has become my favorite. If I had to compare him with any other heroic fantasy character out there, I'd say he was closest to Karl Edward Wagner's Kane. But Krieg is not Kane. He's the product of many years of reading heroic fantasy and striving to write it. He's his own man, so to speak.

I hope to write many adventures for Krieg. So far I've completed three. Only one has been published, A Whisper in Ashes, at Heroic Fantasy Quarterly. The other two, "Where All the Souls are Hollow," and "The Rotted Land," have not yet been submitted. I'm looking for the right place to send them. One of the things that I've done to characterize Krieg in these tales is begin each one with a short poem that describes the character from the point of view of an outsider. Below are the three openers that I've got so far. What do you think?

A WHISPER IN ASHES

Down from the death-lands of snow

came a warrior with eyes

like scars.

No one knew his origins.

None could foresee his end.

He had no name.

The barbarians called him Krieg.

WHERE ALL THE SOULS ARE HOLLOW

Out of choking dust and black smoke

came a warrior with eyes

like broken blades.

Wherever he journeyed,

war followed.

None could say why.

The survivors called him Krieg.

THE ROTTED LAND 

He arrived on a fetid wind,

with eyes black as fractured onyx.

Blood flowed the paths where he walked.

Some thought him angel.

Others claimed him demon.

Only the whisperers named him   

Krieg.