10
A wave of Black Knights rushed forward, two dozen warriors strong. Backing them up were a handful of magical specialists, most of them focused on healing the front line and causing whatever mayhem they could for the giants in between heals.
Sam took a step back to catch her breath as the Knights went by. The sound of the two battle lines colliding was audible, like thunder. The screams of the wounded moments later were even louder.
“What happened?” Sam asked Jorge.
“No idea. This started yesterday. Every giant in the entire realm headed for Jordheim all at once,” Jorge said. “Everything thought it was a cool event at first. But they kept coming, even after we killed them.”
“Wearing you down,” Sam said.
“Yeah, but we’re at the do-or-die moment here,” Jorge said.
Sam looked around at her people. She could get some of them out with Gurgle’s new ability. He could seat maybe three extras, four if she stayed behind to hold the line a little longer. Two trips would mean he could carry out seven, plus herself.
That would still leave dozens of Black Knights behind. She already knew Jorge would never agree to it. If there was one thing she’d drilled into her guild from the moment she formed the group, it was that they all won or nobody did. Win or lose, the Black Knights would always do it as a team. Sam could see from the way they supported one another in the battle that her original ideals were still alive and well. None of them would run away and leave their fellows behind.
Not to mention all the hundreds of other people who would remain stranded. Sam couldn’t empty out the zone. There was no telling how long this attack would continue before a human admin noticed the problem and took action.
Her arrows were slowing the attack down. Each giant she erased was one less respawning to run back into the assault. Killing all of them that way would take forever, though! Sam wondered if that might not be the point. Time wasn’t on her side. The longer they delayed her in Jotunheim, the more time Hel had to prepare or even make good her escape.
She needed to resolve this mess.
Sam drew an arrow out and shot a giant threatening to break through the lines. It vanished into tendrils of smoke, and the warriors of the line closed ranks to fill the gap.
“My god! What sort of weapon is that?” Jorge said.
“One that nobody is supposed to have, ever,” Sam snapped. “But I have it now, and it’s our best chance of clearing these giants out.”
“They won’t respawn from your arrows?”
“No.” Sam’s voice was flat as she fired another shot, taking down another giant.
“And if you shot a person with that?” Jorge asked, his voice quiet.
“These are the arrows Thorsten tried to use to kill Harald and I. He almost succeeded. He lost. They’re mine now. It’s more complicated than that, but I don’t think we have time for a detailed explanation right now, do we?” Sam asked.
“No, but after,” Jorge replied with a meaningful look at her bow.
“Great. Looking forward to it.” Sam shot again, erasing another giant.
It was a good thing the pouch seemed to have unlimited arrows. Otherwise she would already have run out of the things! Sam fired again and again, arcing the shots high, so they landed in the middle ranks of the enemy force. It was working. The combined effort was driving the giants back.
In that avenue, anyway. Sam heard a roar from behind her and looked back over her shoulder. Another group of people fighting the giants on one of the other streets was hard pressed. They were giving up ground, slowly being pushed back.
“Jorge..!” Sam warned.
“I see them. I can’t pull people from this road yet without losing all the ground we’ve gained,” he replied. “Can you?”
“On it. Gurgle!” Sam shouted.
The dragon swooped in low, slowing as he skimmed just above the ground. Sam put a palm on his neck and vaulted into her saddle. They were airborne a moment later, winging their way toward the next fight.
It was like sticking your finger into a hole in a dike. Plug one hole and another one opened up. The battle was taking too long.
Gurgle swooped low over the ranks of giants, unleashing his frozen breath on them. A dozen fell in the first pass. A few frost giants mixed in among the others survived his breath, but those Sam targeted with her arrows. Below her the human fighters were cheering and waving their weapons at her. That brought a smile to her face. She was making a difference.
But not enough of one. There had to be a way to put a stop to this once and for all.
“Gurgle, take us higher. Up to just below the cloud cover,” Sam said.
“Can’t fight giants there,” Gurgle warned.
“No, but I have a hunch I want to follow.”
Gurgle sped skyward without another word. His wingbeats carried them far above the city, high into the air. From this vantage, Sam could see the countryside for miles around Jordheim. Giants were still streaming in toward the city from every direction. Had she slowed the pace even a little? Sam knew she had, but in the face of all these thousands of giants it seemed like a hopeless battle.
But this couldn’t possibly be a coincidence. It was way too neat. If Hel was behind the attack, then she had to either be somewhere in Jotunheim herself — which Sam doubted — or she had a vector for her power here. Find whatever she was using to influence the giants, stop it, and the whole assault might crumble apart.
“What we look for?” Gurgle said.
“Something weird. That looks out of place,” Sam said.
“Thousand giants not out of place?” Gurgle asked.
Sam laughed. “Yeah, they are. Something else, though.”
As Gurgle circled over the city, Sam scanned the ground, watching for patterns in the giants’ movement. They poured in a steady stream from every direction. It was remarkable, really. She’d never imagined there were so many giants in the realm. It made for a neat distraction, and if it happened to trap Sam there that was all the better for Hel.
Then she saw it. A clump of darkness half a mile outside Jordheim where the steady movement of the giants wasn’t flowing. In fact, they seemed to pass around it, moving like water would around a large rock in a river.
Something was moving around down there, but it wasn’t the giants and it wasn’t going anywhere.
“Gurgle, you see that?” Sam asked. “Any thoughts?”
“Dark alfar,” Gurgle replied.
“You can see them from here?” Sam asked, surprised.
“Drake vision much better than kobold,” Gurgle said. “We go quash nasty elves now?”
“Better believe it,” Sam growled. That had to be the source of this mess! “Let’s go!”
Gurgle stooped and dove, rocketing down at an angle toward the little camp. As they drew closer, Sam could make out their shapes and saw Gurgle was right. It was a large party of dokkalfar. Maybe twenty of them surrounded one figure in the middle of their ring.
Was she wrong? Had Hel herself come to this party? Sam shoved away her doubts. If it was Hel, so much the better. They could finish this right away.
11
There were too many dark elves down there to fight them all at once. That was clear before Gurgle had even gotten close to their little ring. A frontal attack would be suicide. But thanks to Heid, Sam had an extra trick up her sleeve. Now might be the ideal time to pull it out.
“Gurgle, I’m going to try making us both invisible, OK?” Sam asked. “Once we get close, you freeze the ones on the left, and I’ll blast the ones on the right with fire.”
“They never know what hit them,” Gurgle growled.
That was the spirit! If the plan worked, anyway. She’d never tried using the invisibility spell under combat conditions. Would it work against the dokkalfar? Would it keep her hidden even from Hel? There was no way to know for sure, but it was time to find out.
Sam cast the spell without difficulty, like she was a master of t
hat rune, even though she’d only used it once before. That was more than strange. Usually one had to build up skills slowly, by using them. Heid had short-circuited that process by granting her master-level ability in the rune and spell. It ought to keep her hidden from just about anyone.
As the magic locked into place Sam and Gurgle both vanished from ordinary view. She could still see him, and herself, but to Sam’s eyes they both looked like ghostly outlines of themselves.
There was no sign anyone below saw them coming.
Sam brought Gurgle in low. They’d need to be close to get maximum advantage from this strike. This was where things got dicey. Invisibility didn’t mean silence and flying made noise. The wind from Gurgle’s wingbeats would be noticeable from the ground once they got nearer, too. But would the ruse last long enough to surprise their enemies?
“Glide,” Sam whispered to Gurgle.
He understood, and stretched his wings out straight to either side, curving them to slow their descent. They settled into a sloping approach, the wind rushing past them. Sam smiled. Now there would be almost no sign at all they were coming!
The figure in the middle didn’t look like Hel at all. He appeared to be another dokkalfar, maybe the commander of the unit. Or perhaps he was the one generating the spell that sent all the giants into Jordheim. Either way, he needed to go down.
Sam wasn’t sure if she ought to feel relieved or upset that it wasn’t Hel. The sooner this task was done, the better. But she wasn’t looking forward to going toe-to-toe with a goddess-AI.
Gurgle was almost directly above the enemy formation when Sam struck.
“Now!” Sam shouted, calling magic to her hand at the same moment.
The invisibility spell snapped away, revealing them. Before the dokkalfar could react, Sam released her pent up flame spell. Fire arced over the right side of their formation, drenching the elves there in searing heat and light.
On the left, Gurgle blasted the dark elves with frost. Some of those hit directly were entirely encased in ice. Others were luckier and caught glancing blows. But even those were severely wounded, rolling clear to avoid the drake’s deadly breath.
The figure in the clearing's middle was directly ahead. Sam snatched up her bow and reached for her pouch to draw an arrow. But the strange elf held up a hand to her and spoke a word that hurt her ears.
It was like Gurgle had flown into a wall of air. The drake smacked against the spell and tumbled toward the ground. Sam unclipped herself and flung herself clear of Gurgle just before he hit the ground. The impact jarred her legs. Sam felt something jerk hard in her right leg, a stabbing pain as a muscle gave out on her. She rolled to her right, trying to soak impact from the fall like she would have after a parachute jump.
She thought it helped, a little at least. Bruised, battered, but still holding her bow, Sam rose back to her feet to face the enemy. All around them the outer rank was still in disarray. Some of them were dead. Those who survived were all wounded, but they’d be back in the fight soon enough. She needed to finish this one.
Sam reached down for an arrow, but her fingers found nothing. She glanced down at her belt in horror. The pouch was gone! A quick look at her saddle on Gurgle’s back told the story. It had caught there when she unclipped herself.
Gurgle seemed all right. He was stunned but breathing. As Sam watched, he shook his head and tried to stagger to his feet before falling again. Ouch. Her friend would need a few healing spells. But more than that, she needed to get those arrows. Sam took a step toward Gurgle, then heard a voice she knew calling to her.
“We meet again,” Inglalf said from the center of the circle.
“Iggy!” Sam said. She thought he’d looked familiar. “Is all that mess back in Jordheim your doing?”
“I’m a channel for my mistress’s magic, but you might say so, yes,” the dark elf replied.
“Why? This seems like a lot of effort for very little return,” Sam said. She took another step. A couple more feet and she could get the pouch.
“To lure you here, of course,” Iggy said with a toothy smile.
Well, shit. That didn’t sound good. If Hel wanted her in this spot, then it probably wasn’t to toast her health. She needed to get out of there!
“Should I be flattered?” Sam asked as she took another step. Almost there!
“Not everything is as it seems. My mistress wants to give you something, in the hopes that perhaps you might see the truth,” Iggy said.
“I’m not likely to believe anything she says,” Sam replied. She reached out a hand and snagged the pouch. The cool leather felt good in her fingers. It was incredible how much relief Sam felt, just holding the thing again. Having such a potent weapon at her disposal was calming all by itself.
“She knows. Which is why I am to give you this!” Inglalf said, raising his voice for the last word and throwing something Sam’s way. It glittered as it arced through the air. There was no way she could dodge in time.
The object struck the side of her face, the touch as light as air. It didn’t hurt. There was barely even any sting from the impact. But suddenly Sam wasn’t there on the field anymore. She couldn’t see Inglalf, or Gurgle, or even the hillside.
For a moment gray clouds surrounded her, like a roiling fog that seemed to go on forever. Then there was a green light rushing toward her through the mist. Sam raised both her arms to deflect whatever it was before it could hit her, but nothing did.
When she opened her eyes again, she was looking at — herself. Sam saw her own face staring back at her. The image was of her, wearing her old Army uniform. Behind her was the familiar old office where she’d worked every day. The clock was the same. Even the calendar on the wall was the same as she recalled.
No — the calendar was different. It was the same one she’d bought from the PX at the beginning of the year, but this one was three months after she’d arrived in Valhalla Online.
That wasn’t a memory she was seeing, Sam realized with a start.
She was seeing the human her, the one still out there in the real world.
Then there was a roaring in her ears, and the vision slid away from her like she was falling into a bottomless pit. The mists swirled around her, the whole process repeating in reverse. Then she slammed back into her Valhalla body, fingers digging into the soil and weeds on the hillside. She was shaking with reaction from the journey and had to struggle back to her feet.
Gurgle loomed over her, a concerned look on his face. Of the dark elves, there was no sign at all. The ground was still scorched and frozen, but not even the bodies of the dead dokkalfar remained. They’d all vanished while Sam was down.
Why retreat when they had her at their mercy? They could have taken her prisoner right then, or worse. But the better question was what the hell had she seen? What had Inglalf done to her?
12
Sam was groggy as she clambered back to her feet. The ground felt unsteady, but it was only her legs shaking in reaction to her experience. She could recall with good clarity every moment, from the short trip through the fog to the strange encounter with herself.
Heid hadn’t lied about that, at least. Sam would have preferred it if she had. The realization struck her like a blow, and she sank back to her knees again. It was true. Her real self was still out there in the real world. This version of her was just an uploaded copy.
Ever since arriving in Valhalla Online, Sam had kept alive the hope that she might somehow get back out. She hadn’t known how she’d come to be there in the first place, but it was certainly under unusual circumstances. Sam hoped that her body was still alive out there, perhaps hooked up to a machine that transmitted her consciousness into Valhalla.
Even when Heid told her the truth she’d clung to the last bit of hope. Perhaps the AI was wrong. Or lying. It wouldn’t be the first time for either.
Now she knew it wasn’t so. She was only an echo. A digital remnant of a person who was still alive out there in the world. There
was no getting out. She had no life to get back to. The real Samantha was already out there living it.
The grief was like a stabbing pain that wouldn’t go away. Sam tried to think of something else, but the memory of her own face kept coming back.
“Is Great One all right?” Gurgle’s voice came from behind her.
Sam turned and looked over her shoulder into his concerned eyes. At least someone here believed in her, even if he was as imaginary as herself. She let out a sigh and tried to collect her thoughts.
“I think so,” Sam replied in a quiet voice.
“What they do?” Gurgle asked.
“Threw something at me. It gave me a vision,” Sam said. She cast her eyes down to the grass, looking for the object. It took only a moment to spot the gleam of metal. “How long was I out?”
“Maybe minute? Two, tops.”
Long enough for the dokkalfar to all pack up and leave. More than long enough for them to have finished her off if they’d wanted to. Sam peered closer at the shining object, trying to see what it was without touching it. She had no interest in a repeat of the first experience. Ever so carefully, she brushed aside blades of grass to get a better look.
“Be careful,” Gurgle warned.
Sam gasped when the item came into view. It was a pendant. But not just any jewelry. It was a tree woven from wire and set with a tiny emerald. This had been her mother’s necklace. Sam’s mom had given it to her when she turned eighteen and went off to West Point. She’d worn it every day since.
In fact, the version of her still living in the physical world was likely still wearing the actual pendant. This was just a digital version. An object crafted to look like a cherished possession, presumably to tug at Sam’s heartstrings.
She had to admit that it was working. Seeing the necklace made her think of her mom, which brought tears to her eyes. For months now Sam had worried that she was missing and her parents thought she was dead. She’d wanted nothing more than to find a way to let them know she was still alive.
Valhalla Online 4: Hel Hath No Fury: A Ragnarok Saga LitRPG Story Page 5