Mountain and Stone (Excerpt for the Bluestripe/Long Patrol Origins theory!)

[Free Thought]

This is just a short excerpt from one of my FanFics that explains the Bluestripe theory and how Badger Lords came to the mountain of Salamandastron.

Excerpt from Elderstar (Which is being rewritten as The Red Prince
(Author's Note- To clarify: Martin= Martin the Elder Warrior.

   Luckily for Martin, the line of beasts was gone from the forge doorway. Now that they had told the young smith what they needed, they had left him to his work and made a sort of camp a little ways away waiting for their commissions to be completed.
   "Jonalin?" Martin said as he came into the smith hut.
   "Hey, Martin!" the young mouse replied and ceased his hammering on the anvil. "Come to pick out some armour finally? If you don't hurry I won't have any left!"
   "Ah, no Jon," he said softly and held out his sword. "The blade is loose."
   "Not surprised," Jonalin grinned at him and took the long sword. "Seasons, Martin look at the years on it!"
   "Careful, Jonalin!" Martin said strongly. "It's always been in my family. Be careful with it!"
   "I will Martin, relax," Jonalin smirked and tossed the blade on the hot embers. "It's not a babe!"
   "It's never been touched... it's..."
   "It's alright Martin," Jonalin laughed.
   "Don't touch the hilt!" Martin said quickly remembering Donovan's words. "Strengthen the blade but don't touch the hilt."
   "Couldn't if I tried," Jonalin replied looking down at the blade. "This is amazing."
   "What?" Martin questioned as he moved to stand beside the mouse.
   "Look at the steel," Jonalin pointed out. "See how the colour is waving? It should just go black and then red."
   "So why is it running with blue and green?"
   "I don't know," Jonalin gasped. "It looks like Starstone!"
   "Starstone?"
   "Aye, Starstone," Jonalin nodded. "Badger steel. If it is, I won't be able to get it hot enough to bend."
   "Why?" Martin asked and without thinking turned the sword over to show the colours waving on the other side. It took a moment to register the hilt was still cool to the touch despite the heat coming from the fires.
   "Because Starstone can only be forged from the fire of a dragon!" Jonalin said plainly and used a poker to rake more hot embers on the blade. "I've never seen this before; it really does look like northern lights!"
   "Northern what?"
   "Northern lights- you know the colours that light up the northern sky at night in the winter?"
   "Australis?" Martin said scrunching up his nose. "Do you mean Australis?"
   "If that's what they call them in the west, then yes!" Jonalin laughed and looked back at the sword. "I've only heard about weapons like these from the legends.
   "It is said that in the dawning days, the Seasons granted the Badger Lords with a special gift. A gift that would make them stronger than any creature in battle; making them protectors of good creatures against vermin. But their weapons kept failing them in battle. Their wrath was too strong and they couldn't pull back despite their injuries. Eventually, their weapons would break under their might and they would be left defenseless, leaving the badgers to their deaths. The line of Lords started to fall and in one great battle, the last of the Badger Lords lay sorely injured on the field after his sword was broken by an evil wildcat. The Seasons were angry with the path the Fates had drawn for its sacred line of creatures and shed tears of sorrow. But it wasn't water tears, but large stars that fell from the sky.
   "The stars fell to the land, killing the vermin and their wildcat leader, but magically the Badger Lord survived the shower and was nursed back to health by a band of healer mice by the family of Voh. The creatures gathered the stars that fell on the field and the Badger Lord tried to mould them into metal for they couldn't be broken, but he could never get the fire hot enough.
   "Then he heard from some travelling hares of a mountain where a fire lizard lived. A dragon. The Badger Lord got an idea. Anything could be melted by the fire of a dragon and so he set off in search of the mysterious place."
   "Salamandastron," Martin nodded knowingly, thoroughly enthralled by the tale as he recalled the myth from his Eutrusian history lessons.
   "So they say the name is," Jonalin nodded and opened another vent on the forge to see the embers glow brighter. "Before he left, he sent the healer mice north to a sacred haven that would be forever hidden from danger as the Season's payment for their help in healing the Badger. He also took a mate and ensured she was carrying before he left- so that the line would continue should he die on his quest.
   "And with that he left the wilds of his homeland and travelled to the fire mountain with the hares. Legends say they found it and were able to forge the stars into a metal with the dragon's fire. He continued at the mountain forging weapons for future Badger Lords out of the steel he called Starstone. Forever have the great Badger Lords wielded his weapons and continue to keep creatures safe."
   "What was the badger's name?" Martin asked. "What was he called?"
   "Bluestripe the Wild," Jonalin smiled. "The hares that helped him in the forge called him that because Starstone gives off a blue dusk when it's pounded. The white stripes on his face took on a blue tinge he was never able to get off."
   "You know a lot of history, Jon," Martin complimented him.
   "I know a lot of bladelore," the mouse countered. "It interests me."
   "And I," Martin smiled. Getting to his feet he walked over to the fire. "It's still waving colours."
   "And it will for a while yet!" Jonalin laughed. "Martin, go get some more wood and let's see how hot we can get this ol' forge!"

[Shadowed One]

Yeah, when I read this part I really liked it.