The Dell Bran Mak Morn Series: Fragment and The Night of the Wolf by Robert E. Howard

by Gary Romeo

“Fragment” is an incomplete story featuring Bran Mak Morn. It was first published in Bran Mak Morn, Dell, 1969. It has been reprinted in every subsequent collection of the Bran Mak Morn stories.

Art by Frank Brunner

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on “Fragment” as it is very short, incomplete, and adds no new information about REH’s “Picts.” The story would have been interesting if completed. Bran is travelling under his Partha Mac Othna alias and encounters a Norseman, Thorvald the Smiter, and more interestingly; a red-haired, deep-bosomed female, whom Bran variously calls “wench” and “hussy.”

Bran sure knows how to charm the ladies! Bran and the woman get fed up with each other’s sweet talk and start grappling with each other. Bran is embarrassed by the whole ordeal. “I should rip the skin from your loins with my sword-belt. It is no small shame to a warrior to be forced into striving with a woman – and no small shame to the woman who thrusts herself into a man’s game.”

Not exactly a “meet cute” situation but nevertheless one gets the impression that they will end up romantically involved. She states, “I am no common woman. I am one with the winds and the frosts and the gray seas of this wild land.” The fragment ends here. (There is a little “The Frost’s Giant Daughter” vibe going on.) Maybe someday some enterprising author will complete the story.

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Comparing the Dell version to the pure-text version published in Bran Mak Morn: The Last King, Ballantine (Del Rey), 2005 shows the following differences:

Dell: A gray sky…

Del Rey: A grey sky…

Dell: The tall dry grass…

Del Rey: The dry tall grass…

Dell: surprising

Del Rey: surprizing

There are difference in hyphenation and “grey” is consistently changed to “gray.” The Del Rey version drops the final quotation mark at the very end of the story (undoubtedly this is a typo).

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The next story appearing in the Dell paperback is “The Night of the Wolf.” This story also appeared for the first time in this paperback. It was subsequently reprinted in various Cormac Mac Art collections. The first of which was Tigers of the Sea, Donald M. Grant, 1974.

“Night of the Wolf” starts with Thorwald Sheild-hewer mocking a Pict. The Pict is short, dark, but well-muscled. He is not the typical misshapen Caledonian Pict we’ve seen before. He is more like Bran Mak Morn. The Pict, Brulla , chief of Hjaltland, is imploring Thorwald to leave Golara, his Shetland Island’s home. He talks about the raping of Pictish women (apparently short, dark, but normal looking as well), the murdering of Pictish youth, and the arrogant attitudes of Thorwald’s men.

Thorwald basically says, over my dead body; and Brulla says, if that’s the way you want it. Thorwald strikes Brulla and Brulla is tossed out and beaten to a pulp. Thorwald realizes that the Picts could be planning an attack and Thorwald decides that war is declared.

Hjaltland is a Norse term for the Shetland Islands meaning hilt-land. Viking control over the islands lasted from the 8th century to the 15th.

Among the Norseman, using the name Partha Mac Othna is none other than … Cormac Mac Art. (I guess Bran never trademarked that alias.) Cormac is part of a crew of Irish reivers, that are waiting offshore, while Cormac tries to make a bargain with Thorwald. Cormac is trying to purchase a prisoner held by the Norse chieftain.

This is a very well-plotted story and I do not want to giveaway any spoilers. Brulla’s people are forest Picts. Forest Picts were mentioned in “The Lost Race.” Apparently forest Picts are of the pure Pictish bloodline. But they are allied with the half-Pict brutish types that show up later in the story.

Suffice to say, Cormac and Brulla become allies. The brutish Picts join the fight and slaughter and mayhem provide entertainment for the rest of the story. There is a surprising twist in the finale. This story is well-worth the read.

Placing the time period of this story is difficult for me. Usually, the Cormac stories are said to take place around 450 A.D. My understanding is that Norse excursions to Scotland took place around 700 or 800 A.D. There is a mentioning in the story of a Dane-mark civil war between Eric and Thorfinn. The first major civil war in Danish history was around 1131 A.D. But there were plenty of civil wars in earlier time periods. Eric and Thorfinn were common names. One famous battle involving an Eric and a Thorfinn was the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 A.D. too late for Cormac’s presumed era. REH, of course, wrote about the Battle of Clontarf in other stories. Eric Haakonsson joined forces with Brian Boru to defeat Mael Morda mac Murchada and his son-in-law Thorfinn Sigurdsson.

Only slightly confusing the issue is the (probably) mythical King of Ireland, Cormac mac Airt, who ruled Ireland during the 3rd century. No doubt this historical figure was REH’s inspiration for this Cormac.

This story adds a little to the saga of the Picts. We learn that there are more of the pure bloodline left than we would have guessed from the core Bran Mak Morn stories.

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I did not notice any textual changes between this version and the pure-text version published in The Ultimate Triumph, Wandering Star, 1999.

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Dark Horse Comics adapted this story in Cormac Mac Art #3 (of a 4 part series). The story was by Roy Thomas with art by Erne Cruz. Other Cormac Mac Art stories were adapted in other issues.

Cormac Mac Art pastiche began with Andrew J. Offutt’s Sword of the Gael, Zebra Books, 1976. Later Ace Books packaged a seven-volume series incorporating REH’s stories as part of the series in an attempt to emulate the success of the Lancer/Ace Conan series.

This series will be reviewed in due time. But I’ve plenty more Pict stories to review first!