Scratch

I finished reading Beowulf today, and was talking about it with my friends. We wondered who would win in a fight between Shield Sheafson and Beowulf. I decided that we should find out, and to find out who, I wrote the story where they meet.

Note that this story probably won't make too much sense unless you've actually read Beowulf.

Beowulf Meets Shield - a Beowulf fanfic by Jacob G.
    Shield was a very powerful man. He was king of the Danes many years ago. He was a scourge of many tribes. He came to power by rampaging his foes, wrecking mead-benches, and just plain force. Many tribes knew of his awesome power, even those beyond the seas knew to yield to him. He was one good king.
    Shield’s son was named Beow. There is not much of an interesting story to him. However, Beow also had a son, named Halfdane. Halfdane doesn’t have much of an interesting story either, but his son was named Hrothgar. After Halfdane died, Hrothgar became king. To exemplify his power, he built a grand mead-hall called Heorot. While all of his people were happy with Heorot, there was one guy who wasn’t so down with it. He was a demon named Grendel. He was mad that the people were having all this fun in Heorot, but he was having none! He decided that he would capture the hall and terrorize it for several years. Hrothgar tried to get him out, but wasn’t able to do so.
    In another tribe (the Geats), there was a warrior named Beowulf. When he was younger, many people looked down upon him. When the Geats heard about the plight of the Danes, a band of warriors, including Beowulf, went down to meet the Danes and help fight off that awful demon Grendel. They went over, and told Hrothgar that they were there to kill Grendel.
    Before killing Grendel, Beowulf’s army spent the night in Heorot. They knew Grendel came nightly. Sure enough, after only about an hour, Grendel came and ate Handscio, one of Beowulf’s men. Beowulf was not too pleased with this, so he went to Grendel and pinned him down. Grendel was able to escape, but Beowulf pulled his arm off as he tried. Grendel went away and died.
    After Grendel’s mother heard about her son dying, she was very annoyed. She quickly went to Heorot and took Grendel’s arm back. Beowulf’s army followed her back to her lair, but then she decapitated one of Hrothgar’s men. His name was Aeschere, and Hrothgar saw him as an advisor. Seeing this, Beowulf said “Ok, Grendel’s mother, whoever you are. You killed that man, I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!” To help out, one of Hrothgar’s men gives Beowulf a very valuable sword used in battles past. The sword was called Hrunting. Beowulf thanked him, and then went down into Grendel’s mother’s lair. They got in a fight rather quickly. Beowulf tried to stab her with Hrunting, but that didn’t help. Grendel’s mother then tried to stab Beowulf using her knife, but Beowulf was wearing armor that prevented that. After a long fight, Beowulf killed her.
    When Beowulf entered the lair, he failed to notice a sign that said “Warning: anyone who enters here that is not a permanent resident may be randomly thrown into a different time and place”. After killing Grendel’s mother, he started walking out and saw that sign. When he saw it, he started running, hoping that he wouldn’t suddenly be moved. However, he wasn’t quick enough, and was teleported to a place not far from the lair he was in, in a time he did not recognize.
    Beowulf found himself standing on a medium sized road, far from any recognizable civilization. However, he figured that the road had to go somewhere, so he decided to take it. Randomly, he chose to go left on the road. He walked down for several miles, seeing the occasional bird. Not too much later, he realized he was very thirsty. Luckily for him, there was a sign pointing out a path to a small pond. He followed the path, and quickly arrived at the pond. He was very thankful to have water to drink, and he drank a large amount. After his thirst was quenched, he headed back to the road.
    Back on the road, he was continuing down. He went on his journey for several days, getting food by killing birds with his bare hands, and getting water from the ponds by the road. Eventually, he reached a sign saying “Welcome to Danopolis”. He figured that was a sign of civilization, so he continued down the road. Eventually, he spied a large building. He walked towards it, and found the entrance. He knocked on the door, and promptly a person came to answer it. She asked Beowulf a few questions.
    “What is your name?”
    “My name is Beowulf”
    “Why are you here?”
    “I do not know why I am here”
    “What do you mean you don’t know why you’re here?”
    “I randomly got teleported to that road over there and started walking, and eventually got here”
    “Oh. Ok. Would you like to stay here for a few days to rest before you journey back?”
    “Yes please. That would be great”
    “Ok, I’ll see to that. Sit down here, and I’ll be back in a few minutes”
    Beowulf sat down on a bench in the entrance hall, and started trying to figure out where he was and how to get back. He remembered that he was teleported from Grendel’s mother’s lair to this place, but not much else. A few minutes later, the woman who answered the door came back to Beowulf. She told him that he would be able to stay in the building he was in for a few days, and they would provide food and drinks. She then showed Beowulf to a bedroom, where he would be sleeping.
    The room Beowulf was in was a nice room. It had a large bed, a shelf of manuscripts, and many other things. Beowulf set his eye on the manuscripts. He decided to read one of them, and it was called “The Good King Shield”. He read through it, and learned about what Shield had done. Indeed, he was a rampager. To gain all the land they had, Shield’s army would simply go to a village, surround it, start burning buildings, and not too soon after, they would give in. After doing this to a bunch of villages, Shield started getting bored. As he went on to conquer more tribes, he used more and more complex methods. Eventually, they were using long-range catapults to take down castles, and many other war tactics.
    After Beowulf finished reading about Shield’s exploits, he was told it was time for dinner. He was guided to a large dining hall, where all of the residents of the building he was in ate together at one big table. He asked the person next to him who the man sitting at the head of the table was. The reply was “That man? Why, he’s our king! That’s Shield!” After thinking a bit, he realized he had been transported back in time, and was in Shield’s castle. After dinner, Shield wanted to talk to Beowulf. Shield asked Beowulf “What is your name?”
    “My name is Beowulf.”
    “How did you get here?”
    “I was killing a demon, and a curse on her lair teleported me here”
    “Interesting. Where are you from?”
    “I am a Geat. I am a retainer for my lord, Hygelac”
    Beowulf forgot that in the time he was in, the Geats and Danes were great rivals. While they were more or less friends after Beowulf killed Grendel, they were bitter enemies before then. Shield said “What? You’re a Geat? Do you have any idea how much my people will make fun of me if I allow a Geat into my castle? Out with you!” Beowulf didn’t seem to like that idea much, so he said “Maybe if you knew more about me and what I have done, you wouldn’t just kick me out like that”. Shield replied “I somehow doubt that. No Dane would be caught dead housing a Geat.” Beowulf replied “Hey, maybe I may be the first exception. Did you know that I killed a demon that was deemed impossible to kill prior to me?” Shield was not impressed. He replied by saying “Oh, big deal. You may have heard about me, and if you have heard anything about me, you would know that I am much more powerful than that! I am a rampager, a destroyer, a wrecker of mead-benches!” Beowulf was not impressed either, and replied “Then let’s fight. Bring it.” Shield said “Oh, it’s on. I’ll wreck your mead-bench!”
    The two started to fight. Beowulf had his armor on and a sword with him. He attempted to stab Shield using his sword, but Shield’s armor was too strong for it. The armor was so strong that the sword snapped in half. Beowulf threw the remnants of his sword away, and decided to try a hand attack. Before he had the chance, Shield socked him in the jaw. Beowulf went flying backwards, blood flowing out of his mouth. Before Shield made it across the room to punch him again, Beowulf got back up, jumped off the wall, and flying tackled Shield. Beowulf with his armor landed right on Shield’s head. Beowulf landed safely on the ground, while Shield fell to the floor. Shield was barely conscious, but he decided to strike back. He got out his sword (which wasn’t that helpful against Beowulf’s armor), and Beowulf laughs at him. “Do you have any idea how useless that sword is? My armor is so much more awesome than that.” Shield replied “Watch me.” He then proceeded to smash Beowulf’s helmet with it using all of his strength. Beowulf fell to the ground, unconscious.
    Shield was dragging Beowulf’s body out of the castle when Beowulf suddenly regained consciousness. Beowulf wasted no time in kicking Shield in the stomach. Shield, very surprised, flew backwards as a result of the punch of unbelievable strength. Shield got back up attempting a final strike on Beowulf, but Beowulf punched him even harder, causing him to fly off a cliff. Shield fell in the water and died. Shield did not get any good from his lack of hospitality to Geats.
    The king Shield was killed, so the alarm was sounded. Anyone who had any fighting skill came out to try killing Beowulf. Beowulf picked up a long and strong stick from the ground, and wasted no time sharpening it into a spear before the Danes came to kill him. One Dane charged at Beowulf with his sword out, but he was quickly stopped by the point of Beowulf’s spear. Another tried throwing heavy rocks, but Beowulf hit them out of the air with his spear. Someone attempted stabbing him from behind, but couldn’t get through Beowulf’s armor. After much effort, the Danes decided that they couldn’t kill Beowulf.
    After the people realized they couldn’t kill Beowulf, they saw that their ruler Shield was not the most powerful man around. He had been killed by a Geat, the rival tribe. They were angry, but knew that if any more people attacked, that would mean certain death. They decided that instead of trying to avenge Shield’s death, they would try to appease Beowulf. They asked him what he wanted. Beowulf replied “To tell you what I truly want, I need to tell you my story. I have traveled long and far to get here, and I did not kill your leader because I am a rival. I killed him because he threatened me.” He proceeded to tell them the story of how he helped Hrothgar with his demon problems, how he got there due to a curse that caused random time travel, and the fight he had with Shield. The Danes told Beowulf that they knew of the curse that was on Grendel’s mother’s cave, and knew a way to reverse it.
    A few of the smarter Danes told Beowulf that he needed to recite a certain prayer, go back to where he originally showed up right after the curse took effect, and then recite the prayer again. They gave Beowulf enough meat to last a man for two weeks, and told him where all the ponds were. He recited the prayer, and then left. As he trekked down the road to find the spot where he originally showed up, he looked at the trees. He remembered that he showed up in a spot where two trees fell down to form an X shape. Several days later, he found a spot that looked just like it. He recited the prayer at that spot, and… nothing.
    Confused, he tried again. There were still no results. He then realized that he walked for five days from the spot to get to Danopolis, while he only walked for three days to leave. That’s when he realized that the downed trees were at a different spot. He kept on walking for another two days, and found another set of downed trees. He recited the prayer one more time, and found himself back in Grendel’s mother’s lair.
    As he left, he saw that the forest was empty. None of Hrothgar’s men were there. He walked for several hours back to where Heorot was, and found Heorot. All of the damage done by Grendel had been repaired, and there were men having a party inside it. He looked around for Hrothgar, but he was nowhere to be found. Tragically, Beowulf realized that in killing Shield, Beow would never be born, which meant Hrothgar would never have been born. He also realized that because of that, none of his men had come to help Hrothgar. That night, he decided to sleep outside, away from anybody else, so that nobody would see the man that kept their great king from being born.
    Very early the next morning, he is woken up abruptly to Hrothgar’s voice. “Hey, Beowulf, I’ve been wondering where you’ve been these last few days! We’ve all missed you!” At that point, Beowulf realized what had happened. He killed Shield after Beow was born, and the curse returned him eight days after he had left. Hrothgar told Beowulf that his band of warriors was going to leave three days later. Beowulf just wanted to go back to sleep, as he hadn’t gotten much rest in days prior. Hrothgar granted Beowulf that request, and returned to his castle. Beowulf slept for two straight days. At the end of that time, he woke up, and wandered back to Heorot. He was given food to eat, mead to drink, as well as some stuff to take home. He got a really nice new sword, new armor, a new helmet, and a lot of other stuff.
    Beowulf and his men boarded their boat to return home. The journey back to Geatland took several days, but went without any problems. While on the boat, the warriors talked about various history events. They talked about the story of Heremod, Finn and Hengest, and Sigemund. However, one story stood out in particular. It was about a man with the same name as the warrior Beowulf. Many years before, he killed Shield, the Dane king who was considered to be the most powerful man of the time. When Beowulf heard that story, he just started to laugh, and nobody else had any idea why.