by Peter Hall
“Will the doors hold?” Durandal said, sweat beading on his brow.
“No.” Steig replied and looked at the ground. The demons were smashing the door and the sound was echoing through the castle.
Bryn walked over to Steig and grabbed him by the throat. “Where is the steward?”
Steig stared at her not speaking and she pushed him aside. She grabbed her sword and headed for the throne room. Durandal and Steig followed close behind. The steward was sitting in his throne surrounded by his five guards. Bryn walked up and two of the guards stepped forward. She slammed the hilt of her sword into a guards head and he toppled over as Durandal punched the other one in the face knocking him onto his back. The other three came at them and Bryn punched one in the throat as Durandal dodged a sword strike and punched out another guard. The last one dropped his sword and put his hands up. Bryn grabbed the steward by his robe and punched him in the face. He cried out in pain, blood gushing from his nose.
“You god forsaken bastard!” She screamed. “You are dead, you old fool!”
Durandal stepped in. “Is there a way out of here, other than the castle doors?”
The steward looked at him and looked back at Bryn.
Durandal clicked his fingers at the old man. “Hey! Wake up! Is there another way out of here!”
The steward looked at him, shaking. “Yes.” He pointed to a door at the rear of the room. “There is a stairwell in that room, under the rug, you will see a hatch. It will lead you to safety. Go. Leave me.”
“You're not coming?”
The steward just stared off into space. The bats were smashing into the walls and chunks of stone were crumbling and falling from the domed ceiling above.
“Let him stay, let's go” Bryn said and they ran for the door at the rear of the room.
Steig pulled up the rug and sure enough there was a wooden hatch in the ground. He opened it and Bryn and Durandal climbed down. He pulled the rug back and went down into the dark hole. As he closed the hatch, the huge doors holding off the demons collapsed with a tumultuous crash and the bloodthirsty horde of monsters swarmed inside the castle.
The tunnel was just high enough for them to stand and only wide enough for them to move in single file. They ran down the secret passage under the castle and finally came to a wall with a ladder leading up. Bryn nodded to Durandal. “Go.”
Durandal started to climb the ladder as noises began echoing down the tunnel behind them. The demons had found the hatch. As the screeching and hissing got louder, Steig grabbed Bryn’s shoulder.
“The stable boy took the horses to the woods in the north. Go! Get out of here!”
Before Bryn had a chance to protest, Steig turned and walked back into the darkness towards the oncoming demons.
She watched him disappear and then she heard Durandal shouting from above. “Brynhildr we need to move!” She grabbed onto the rusty ladder and climbed.
When she got to the top, Durandal lifted her out of the small well just north of the city walls. He looked over the edge of the well and back at Bryn.
“Steig?”
Bryn shook her head. “Let’s go.”
They ran across grasslands in the cold night as Galadon burned behind them, black smoke billowing from behind the high white walls. They made it to the northern woods and found the stable boy. He had saved about twenty horses that were grazing nearby. Bryn whistled and after a moment Odin came trotting out from the woods. She jogged over to her horse and stroked his mane, resting her head against his neck. Durandal whistled but his horse didn’t come. He found a nearby horse, a beautiful brown mare that was equipped with a black saddle and mounted the steed. They took one last look at the fallen city burning in the distance then headed north through the forest.
Kingdom of Galadon, Siera
‘Kingdoms of Eteria’ from ‘Eterialumen 1320th year since the cataclysm’
Galadon is one of the smallest human kingdoms in Siera, yet it is famous throughout Eteria for it’s legendary Captain of the Guard, Tarnn the Deadly, who was fabled to have defeated an army of five thousand Dokkalfar with a force of only five hundred men using superior strength and tactics on the battlefield. The standard of Galadon is green with a symbol of a gold lion. After the untimely death of King Dristal the Second, the kingdom became governed by an elected steward, Reegus III.
E.
IV
The Wolf
Bryn and Durandal rode their horses through the winding forest paths for hours until they came to wide open grasslands amongst huge hills and valleys. They rode north across the countryside all day and by nightfall they found themselves in a valley where trees and wildflowers were growing in abundance. They set up camp near a small, winding river that ran through the rolling countryside.
Durandal stoked the campfire with a stick and looked across at Bryn as the embers floated up to the sky in the fading light. “There’s nothing more we could have done.” He said, not sure if he was talking to Bryn or himself.
Bryn laid down on her side and rested her head on her arms. “It’s not the first time i’ve seen it happen.” she said and closed her eyes. Her mind drifted back to the night the demons attacked her village when she was a small child living high in the snowy mountains of Asgard…
It was a cold winter's day in the village of Gorik, the winds were picking up and it looked like a blizzard was coming in from across the mountainside. The villagers were going about their daily business, the blacksmith was crafting swords and axes, the woodcutters were high in the hills cutting down trees, the women were making clothing from furs and children were playing in the village square. Bryn was sitting on a log watching the children play and laughing. It was cold and snowy but she had a warm wolf fur coat wrapped around her and a white cotton hat with flaps that covered her ears and tied together under her chin.
“Brynhildr! Come inside child it’s time for supper!” her mother called from the doorway of her home.
It was a small log cabin with a fireplace and chimney made of stone. The cabin only had one room, but it was cosy and warm and Bryn had her own corner with a bed and some toys. She was a happy child and her parents were kind and loving. Bryn ran back to her house and when she got to the door her mother held her hands.
“Oh my my my, look at you child! You look like a snowman!” she said, brushing the snow from Bryn's furs.
She was a fiery redhead from Valhalla with a stocky frame, she had emerald green eyes and a kind smile. Bryn giggled and ran inside. She took off her coat and sat at a small wooden table in the corner of the room. Her mother brought her a bowl of soup and sat down at the table.
“Eat child. You will catch your death being outside in this cold!” She said and smiled.
Bryn smiled and had a spoonful of the chunky vegetable soup. The door opened and snow rushed in from outside. It was her father, a fierce looking Northerner with long blonde hair, long beard and a large, muscular frame. He quickly shut the door and embraced her mother, then sat down at the table. Bryn was watching him and smiling.
“Hello my little angel!” He said as he leaned over and kissed Bryn on the forehead. He made a surprised face, reached into a pouch on his waist and pulled out a small figure of a boy carved out of bone. Bryn’s eyes lit up. He smiled and put the doll on the table in front of Bryn. “I carved this for you today my sweetheart!” he said.
Bryn grabbed the figure and she looked at her father. “Oh, it’s a little boy, father!” she said.
“Yes sweetheart. The stargazer told me the baby will be a boy. You are going to have a little brother Brynhildr!” her father said. He looked over at her mother and they held each other’s hands. Bryn jumped off her chair and hugged her father. She ran over and hugged her mother’s round belly and then she went over to her bed. Sitting beside her bed was a small wooden block with three little bone figures standing on it. The figures were of a man, a woman and a little girl. Bryn sat the figure of the little boy next to the figure of the little girl an
d laid on her bed. She smiled and gazed at the figures, excited at the prospect of having a baby brother. She soon fell asleep as the red sun set behind the snowy mountains and night fell over the village.
Bryn woke in the middle of the night to her mother and father arguing and then he opened the door and went outside. The freezing wind and snow rushed into the cabin as her mother stood at the door shouting “Come Back!”. Bryn sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes. She heard a loud noise coming from outside. At first she thought it was thunder but then it got deafeningly loud and she started hearing screeching and screaming noises.
Her mother looked back at her and shut the door. She ran over and grabbed her arms. “Get under your furs my child, stay there and don't move!” she whispered.
Bryn hid herself under the small pile of furs she used for a bed. She peeked out as the cabin door burst open and her father stumbled in. He shut the door and collapsed on the ground. Her mother dropped down by his side and she was crying. Bryn wanted to run over to her father but her mother had said to stay there, so she waited. She could hear her father gurgling and trying to talk but she couldn't hear what he was saying. The door burst open and a tall, pale man walked into the cabin. He looked as tall as the ceiling. He had long black claws and dark veins all over his hands. He wore a long black cloak that billowed around unnaturally. He pulled back his hood and his eyes were black as night. He was bald with pointy ears, a flat nose and a huge mouth full of sharp, jagged teeth. The monster grabbed Bryn’s mother by the throat and lifted her up. Bryn’s eyes were wide, she watched the monster sink his claws into her mother's belly as she screamed, then bit into her neck and drank her blood. When it had drained her it ripped her neck out with its teeth and ate her flesh as her lifeless body dropped to the cabin floor.
Bryn was trying not to make any noise as tears poured down her face. The monster looked down at her father who was still on the ground, bleeding to death from a deep wound to his throat. It picked him up and ripped his arms from their sockets. The monster turned and walked out the door as her father slumped to the ground. Another white monster came to the door and looked inside the cabin. Bryn was terrified it would find her. It started sniffing the air and then it looked straight at her and started to growl. Suddenly one of the villagers, a large man with a black beard and a huge axe came running past and decapitated the monster. He ran off into the night and Bryn stayed still under the furs as her mother had told her to do.
After some time the tumultuous noise from outside started to die down and the screeching and screaming stopped. The sun was rising over the mountain and Bryn decided to go over to her parents. She came out from under the furs and saw their bodies. She sat down next to her mother and cried, holding her as the cold wind and snow rushed into the cabin from the open doorway. She was shivering in the cold, wearing only a white cotton gown and hat. She had no shoes on her feet and she was covered in blood from sitting on the floor. Then she heard something outside. She got up and went over to the door and saw a white monster standing in the snow, it’s back towards the cabin. She froze. It looked like it was sniffing the air. Bryn thought it was going to sniff her out and find her, so she ran.
She ran around to the back of the cabin and then she kept going into the woods. She was puffing and panting and running as fast as her small legs could carry her. She got to the bottom of a hill and fell over. She looked up and there was a giant grey wolf standing in front of her, dew glistening on it’s fur in the morning sunlight.
Bryn got up and stood there frozen, looking at the wolf. It let out a deep growl and bared its teeth. Bryn dropped to her knees and started to cry. The wolf lunged forward and Bryn felt it’s fur brush her face as it leapt past. She heard a screech and turned around, her heart racing. The monster was running down the hill towards her but the wolf lunged at it and ripped it to pieces. Bryn got to her feet and ran far into the snow covered woods until she couldn’t run any more. Eventually she lied down in the snow, puffing and panting. She was burning up even though it was freezing cold. Her heart was pounding and she was too exhausted to move. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.
She felt something sticky and wet on her face and she squinted. She opened her eyes and saw a huge tongue licking her face. She screwed her nose up, turned away and fell asleep.
She woke up and she was bouncing around, the wind was blowing in her face and she felt freezing cold. Something was pulling at her gown and she felt like she was choking. All she could see was snow. She couldn't move or breathe and she fell asleep again.
She woke up and she was lying in the doorway to her home, shivering in the cold. She slowly got to her feet and hobbled over to her bed, stepping over her parents frozen, mutilated bodies. She lied down on her furs and wrapped herself up in them. She started to feel a little warmer and she fell asleep listening to the wind howling across the mountains.
It was daylight when she woke up again and the wind had died down. She put her boots on and her fur coat and spent the rest of the afternoon dragging her parents bodies outside and covering them in snow as best she could. She took her father’s sword and drove it down into the snow near their bodies. She saw bodies all over the village, frozen and half buried in the snow. She walked around to every house but there was no one there. As night fell she sat in her cabin and ate a carrot and some berries she found in a box near the fireplace. She layed in her bed wrapped in her furs staring at the little figures standing on the wooden box. She cried for a long time before she finally fell asleep.
The monsters came back the next night. Bryn was hiding under her furs listening to the hissing and growling noises coming from outside. They were getting closer to the cabin. Then she held her ears as a deafening howl echoed through the mountains. She could hear something heavy, bounding through the snow. There was growling and snarling and then the noises stopped and the monsters were gone.
After a week or so had passed, Bryn had eaten all of the food in the box she had found. She searched in the other cabins but everything she found was going rotten. She found some stale bread one day and another day she found some apples that were buried in the snow and still fresh. After another week passed there was no food left in the village and Bryn was hungry. She started to venture out during the daytime to find berries. She remembered picking berries with her mother one time. She found the place she had been too with her mother and filled a small basket with the juicy blackberries that were growing wildly there. On her way back to the village she saw the big grey wolf again. It was standing still up ahead on the path she was following. She stopped and stared at the huge beast, her heart racing. The wolf looked straight at her, then walked off into the woods. Every now and then, the monsters would come back at night and the wolf would always be there to scare them away. Bryn lived for more than a year like that, alone in the cold mountain village of Gorik.
One day, a stranger passed through the village. Bryn was sitting on a log near her cabin playing with her dolls. She didn’t realise the stranger was there until she looked up and got a shock. She was holding the figure of the little boy in her hand and she squeezed it tightly, the other dolls fell in the snow as she jumped up from the log and backed up from the strange person standing there. The person pulled their hood back and Bryn saw that it was an old woman. The woman kneeled down and gestured to Bryn. “Oh dear child, come here.”
Bryn stood frozen, not knowing what to do.
The lady smiled and spoke again. “Come child, everything will be alright.”
She walked up to the lady, still gripping the figure of the boy in her hand and started crying. The lady embraced her and then held her hand as they left the village on the mountain and Bryn didn’t look back.
When Bryn opened her eyes, the campfire was smouldering in front of her and she could hear birds chirping. It was morning. She sat up and yawned, stretching her arms out as she looked around. Durandal was gone. She looked over into the woods and saw his horse was still there, standing next to Odin. She st
ood up and walked over to the horses and stroked Odin’s mane as she looked around. She walked down a small hill near the treeline to the river that was flowing through the valley and looked out at the water. Durandal bobbed up out of the water with a splash and rubbed his eyes. He started floating along on his back, blissfully unaware of her presence. Bryn smiled and folded her arms.
“How’s the water?” she called out.
He grabbed his crotch and looked around like he had been caught stealing the king’s crown. “Oh Brynhildr! I didn’t see you there, I was just, you know… it’s fine! The water’s fine.” he said, bumbling his words.
Bryn saw his clothes were piled up next to his armor and sword on the shore of the river. She unstrapped her cuirass and put it on the ground, took off her clothes and boots, then walked up to the river completely naked. Durandal floated in the water, his eyes were getting wider by the moment. She dived into the water and swam up to him.
“Hey it’s freezing in here you said it was fine!” she said and put her hands on his shoulders.
Durandal held her by the waist and she wrapped her legs around him. “I lied.” he said with a grin.
“I thought you lived by a code?” Bryn said moving closer towards him, their faces almost touching.
“Mhm, code…” he said and kissed her, as they slowly floated down the river in eachothers arms.
She wasn’t sure if it was the leftover adrenaline from battle, the fact that she had been alone for so long or if she was actually starting to have feelings for this man. She didn’t care, for now it was a welcome distraction.