Ragnarok Rising: Desolation: Book Five of the Ragnarok Rising Saga

by D. A. Roberts

  “Why are you telling me all of this?” I asked, surprised. “Isn't this going against your plan?”

  “It is,” he said, nodding. “But the Eldjötnar had plans of their own. Instead of joining Loki, they struck out in a bid to overthrow him and take control of all of the Nine Worlds. They are close to succeeding, as well. If they do, all of the realms will be bathed in fire.”

  “What if we defeat them first?” I asked, watching him closely.

  “Defeat Surtr,” he said, “and the Eldjötnar will abandon this world and return to Muspelheim. He is their most fierce and terrible warrior. Without him, they will not dare to stand against Loki.”

  “Where will that leave us?” I said, already sensing the answer.

  “My mission will be the same as it always was,” he said, frowning. “Defeat you and bring about the end of this world.”

  “I don't plan on letting you do that,” I said, resisting the urge to reach for my swords.

  “Nor would I expect you to,” he said. “If you defeat me, you will have to face Loki or another will take my place and his plans will continue. Loki is the key to restoring this world and ending the corrupted cycle of Ragnarok.”

  “I don't understand,” I said, shocked. “You do realize that by telling me this, you'll ruin your chance to surprise us with an attack?”

  “I know,” he admitted. “I felt that I owed you that much after what you did for my people. Those riders were looking for my camp. If they had found it, they would have called in the rest of the Eldjötnar to destroy them. You kept them from reporting back our location. Fair warning though, I will do my best to kill you once Surtr is dead.”

  “Understood,” I said.

  “But until then,” he said, eying me cautiously, “I will fight by your side and no harm will come to you or yours, by our hands.”

  “What about your people?” I asked. “Will they abide by that, as well?”

  “They will,” he assured me. “When this is over, I wish for us to do battle. One warrior against the other in honorable combat.”

  “Winner takes all,” I said, smiling.

  “Yes,” he agreed. “If you win, my people will not stand in your way. You will face Loki without interference.”

  “Fair enough,” I said.

  “Now, on to more pressing news,” he said. “My scouts have informed me that they lost the trail of the riders a few miles east of here. It is clear that they deliberately avoided your camp, searching for ours.”

  I took a deep breath and held it, blowing it out slowly as I thought.

  “Alright,” I said, after a moment. “Send word to your people. Tell them to move their camp inside our perimeter walls. Once inside, any attack against you will be an attack against us. We're in this together now.”

  “Agreed,” he said, nodding. “But how do we locate where the Eldjötnar base of operations is at?”

  “Easily enough,” I said. “We'll go over the map and see what's in the direction that they came from. East of here, there isn't a lot. They had to have come from one of the larger towns around here.”

  I knew that we were going to have to send out scouts to check the places on the map, but the problem was trusting the Hrimthurssar to tell us the truth about what they saw. Despite his promise to fight beside us, I knew that Thrym wasn't above letting us walk into an ambush so that we took the worst of the damage. The trick was, finding a way to balance our suspicion with the necessity of working with them. It was a fine line to walk.

  “I can send patrols to check them out,” he said.

  “Your patrols have an advantage in speed against them,” I said. “We'll use your people to check the more distant locations. Closer ones will be scouted by us, on horseback. We'll rendezvous back here and report our findings.”

  “Agreed,” he said. “We can search more area if we move quickly.”

  “We'll go out in groups of two,” I said. “Do not engage unless you absolutely have to. Get away from them as fast as possible and report back to the group. If we can get in and out without being seen, so much the better.”

  “I will begin organizing my people,” he said, turning to head off.

  “Meet me in the communications room in an hour,” I said. “We have a big map of the area in there and will plan our search patterns from there.”

  “We do not have your radios,” he said.

  “You will,” I assured him. “All teams will be outfitted with radios to keep us in contact for as long as possible.”

  “Good,” said Thrym. “I shall see you in one hour.”

  With that, the massive warrior headed off to find his people. I was already thinking of the teams that I wanted to send out to investigate possible locations. My people would take Lebanon, Phillipsburg, Bennett Springs, and Buffalo. Thrym's people could go much farther away with greater speed. The Vargr were much faster than our horses. They could check Rolla, the ruins of Fort Leonard Wood, Grovespring, Lake of the Ozarks and maybe even Springfield. If we found nothing in any of those places, we would mark them off the map and start over.

  An hour later, all of my people and several of Thrym's were seated around the big table in the communications room. I was standing by the map with a yardstick to use as a pointer. Spec-4 and I were going to check Buffalo. Our best estimates on the weather were predicting relatively calm skies for the next few days, making travel by horseback safe enough to risk an overnight trip. After marking off our routes and assigning teams to each location, I was about to dismiss everyone to head out.

  “There is one more thing,” said Thrym, standing to face the room.

  I stopped and turned towards him, motioning for him to take the front of the room. I took a seat beside Spec-4, curious to see what it was that he wanted to tell us.

  “As you know, Grant destroyed a laboratory beneath the military base to the north of here,” he began.

  There were nods of agreement around the room and I couldn't help but see the last few moments before the explosion flash through my mind's eye. I saw the fight against Vigdis and Grimnir in the chopper. The horrific undead gorillas emerging from the hospital and then the massive fireball that rolled into the sky. Yeah, I remembered it all too well.

  “You also know of the abominations that were created in that laboratory,” he continued, a dark look crossing his face. “What you may not know is that our people could not control those monstrosities. They were completely immune to our powers.”

  “I noticed that,” said Marko. “They attacked your people as fiercely as they attacked ours. Maybe a little more so.”

  “That is true,” admitted Thrym. “But what you do not know is that many of those creatures escaped the explosion, and with them came the mutated virus. I believe your people called it the Reaper Virus.”

  “That's the shit that brought the dead back to life, right?” asked Snake.

  “Exactly,” said Vigdis. “A creation of Loki's.”

  “But the laboratories that created the ones you call Stalkers and these apes,” said Thrym, anger rising in his tone, “somehow caused the virus to mutate. The virus has spread to all of the undead throughout the area. It will only be a short time before it spreads everywhere.”

  “How can it infect the dead that were already turned?” asked Spec-4.

  “I do not know,” he said, shaking his head. “All that I know is that we can no longer control the undead that have been affected by the new virus.”

  “That's good to know,” I said, sitting up in my chair. “That means you have to be as careful around them as we do.”

  “Agreed,” said Thrym. “Let that be a warning to us all. The dead are now a much bigger threat than before. Especially if we should encounter any of the undead apes.”

  “Let's hope that doesn't happen,” said Marko. “I've already had enough of those things to last a lifetime.”

  “Haven't we all?” I agreed.

  Standing up, I moved back to the front of the room.

 
“Alright everyone,” I said. “We all have our assignments. We should be able to scout the areas and be back here in a day. We all meet back here in forty-eight hours to share what we find. If you run into any of the Eldjötnar patrols or find their camp, make a note of it on the map and get the fuck out of there. We're not ready to engage them yet. If you can avoid letting them see you, do so. We have a better shot at beating them if they don't know we're coming.”

  With that, everyone began heading out. I knew that we had a long ride ahead of us, but it would be worth the effort if we could gather any intel on the Eldjötnar. If we rode hard, we could be back some time tomorrow evening. That meant, if I played my cards right, I would only have to sleep out there in the cold for one night.

  Fortunately, luck was on our side.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Hearth and Home

  Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.

  - General George S. Patton Jr.

  Two days later

  I slipped out of bed and quietly got dressed. As much as I hated leaving a warm bed and my wife's arms, I knew we needed to get everyone together to find out what the scouts had seen. After shouldering my bag, I grabbed my weapons and gear then headed for the communications room. It was at the far end of the hallway, past the kitchen and just before the big cavernous room where we stored all of the vehicles.

  When I entered, I could see that Luis Ramirez was on communications duty. He glanced up and smiled at me when I walked in. Gesturing towards the coffee pot, he held up his empty cup and shook it at me. I took that to mean that if I wanted coffee, to get him one too. I was more than happy to oblige. After pouring us both a cup of the rich dark liquid, I headed over to the map and started studying it intently.

  “The radio was quiet last night,” said Ramirez. “I heard some garbled traffic early on, but nothing for the last few hours.”

  “Keep listening,” I said. “The Eldjötnar have got to be communicating somehow.”

  “If they are, we'll find it,” he assured me, smiling.

  “I'm counting on it,” I replied. “We need as much intel on these guys as we can get. Did any of the scouts report contact?”

  “I don't know, hombre,” he said, shaking his head. “I wasn't on duty when they came in.”

  “I want to get all the teams together for a debrief,” I said, sipping my coffee. “Think you can arrange that?”

  “No problem,” he replied. “I'll send one of the guys to get everyone together.”

  “What about the Hrimthurssar?” I asked. “Are they still inside?”

  “Nope,” he answered, shaking his head. “Once they moved their camp inside the walls, they went out to stay with their people.”

  “That was probably for the best,” I said, nodding. “No sense in them staying here with us when their camp is just outside the door. Why keep up the ruse that they're all that's left of the Hrimthurssar?”

  “True,” he said, taking a drink of his coffee. “Want me to send someone out to get them?”

  “No thanks,” I said, setting down my empty cup. “I'll do it, myself. Just put another pot of coffee on. I'll be back in a bit with Thrym and his people. I want to get started on the debrief as soon as we have everyone gathered. The sooner the better.”

  “They'll be ready,” he assured me. “I should have them all here by the time you get back from their camp.”

  With that, I headed for the end of the hallway and the heavy steel door that led to the surface. Sergeant McDonald was on guard duty. Laconic as ever, he only nodded curtly as I unlocked the door and prepared to head topside. He helped me to swing open the massive door and stood by to close it.

  “Want me to keep this open for you?” he asked.

  “No,” I replied. “Might as well continue with OP/SEC and keep it secure. I'll either knock or radio when I'm ready to return.”

  McDonald only nodded and started shutting the door behind me. Once it clanged shut and I heard the locks engage, I headed up the stairs. Before I stepped out, I checked my weapons to make sure that they were all ready to fire and adjusted my shemagh. Stepping out into the open air, I could feel the sudden chill drive into my bones like a spike. It was damned cold outside and the north wind only added to it. Fortunately for me, it wasn't snowing. Immunity or not, it was fucking cold.

  I headed for the cluster of tents and watched for signs of movement within the camp. All around, I could see men and women tending to their morning chores. Some were getting water by chopping holes in the frozen surface of the river while others gathered wood for the fire. Smoke could be seen streaming in the wind from the tops of all of the large tents.

  The largest of the tents had two guards posted near it, so I assumed that it belonged to Thrym. Adjusting my course, I headed for it while watching my back for the Vargr. We might be temporary allies with the Hrimthurssar, but the Vargr are still predators. I had little doubt that they would take any opportunity to eat one of us, if the Hrimthurssar weren't around to stop them.

  I noticed that one of the guards standing near Thrym's tent was Suttung. When he saw me, he began talking quietly with the other guard that stood beside him. I could see he was holding up three fingers and pointing at me. I assumed he was relating the story of the battle with the Eldjötnar. From the wild gestures he was making, I think the tale was getting bigger with each new telling of the story. That was fine with me, let them all think I was invincible.

  As I approached the tent, Suttung leaned inside and announced me to the occupants. Motioning for me to step through the flap, I did so without hesitation. The thought occurred to me while I was doing so, that I really didn’t want to interrupt Thrym in the middle of anything important. Or anyone, for that matter. I breathed a silent sigh of relief when I discovered that he was just eating his breakfast beside the fire. I had half expected to see both Vigdis and Valdis with him, but they were nowhere to be seen.

  “Good morning,” I said, as I straightened up.

  “Indeed,” he replied, then casually went back to his breakfast. “What do you want, Grant?”

  “I want to get all the teams together and discuss what we saw on our scouting missions,” I said, crossing my arms across my chest.

  “When do you want us there?” he asked, then shoved a mouthful of something meaty into his mouth.

  “As soon as we can get everyone in the communications room,” I replied.

  “We will be there as soon as I have finished breaking my fast,” he said, still chewing.

  “Good,” I said, turning to leave. “See you there.”

  “Before you go,” he said, halting me in my tracks.

  I turned around slowly, not sure what to expect.

  I saw he was reaching into a large pack that sat next to him on the ground.

  “I thought you might want this,” he said, taking out a bundle of cloth and tossing it to me.

  I caught it and was surprised by the weight of the bundle. I turned it over in my hands, half expecting it to somehow bite me, before untying the leather strap that bound it. As I unrolled it, I was stunned to see it was a ledger that was constructed of parchment bound with leather. On the front was writing that I couldn’t translate. It looked similar to Old Norse, but different enough to remain utterly alien.

  “What’s this?” I asked, glancing back up at him.

  “This was in the saddle bags of one of the Eldjötnar that you killed,” he explained through a mouthful of whatever it was that he was eating.

  Although it smelled somewhat enticing, I was almost afraid to ask what it was. For all I knew, they were eating the Eldjötnar.

  “I believe it is some sort of journal,” he said, glancing up from the bowl in front of him. “Although, it is in their language. I cannot read it, but I believe that Bergelmir can.”

  I noticed that he said Bergelmir’s name with unnecessary emphasis. Just because he had to work with us didn’t particularly mean that all was forgiven. I would have to keep
an eye on that situation before they took an opportunity to try to kill him. I had news for them though. Bergelmir was worth far more to me than any alliance with them. If they touched him, there would be blood.

  “I’ll have him take a look and see if we can gain any information from it,” I said, turning and heading out the door.

  Just because we had to work together and get along, I didn’t want him to get the indication that we were friends. It was still fresh in my mind that when the battle with the Eldjötnar was over, I was going to have to kill Thrym. I had no doubt that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill me, so I had every intention of giving him the same consideration.

  By the time I made it back inside our complex, I could smell breakfast cooking and coffee brewing. I found Bergelmir sitting in the kitchen area, sharpening his sword. I handed the bundle to him and waited while he studied the writing on the front.

  “Where did you get this?” he asked.

  “From Thrym,” I replied. “Apparently, it was in the saddle bags of one of the Eldjötnar.”

  “And he just now decided to give it to you?” he asked, his face darkening.

  “He told me that he couldn't read it,” I said, shrugging. “No doubt, he tried to figure it out before he gave it to us.”

  “There are a few among our people who can read the language of the Eldjötnar,” said Bergelmir, darkly. “He gave it to you only after he had learned all it contained. Frankly, I am surprised he would even acknowledge that it was in his possession.”

  “Now that you mention it,” I said, scratching my beard, “I am, too. What do you think he had to gain by giving it to me?”

  “He should know that I am aware of the fact that there are others who can read this for him,” said Bergelmir, opening the book slowly.

  “So, sharing information but only after he had a chance to use it first?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest.

  “Unlikely,” said Bergelmir. “I anticipate a much greater deception than the obvious. Either there is nothing to be gained in this book…”

  “Or they left out certain passages,” I mused, frowning darkly.