Summoning Annika_The Viking Witch Trilogies

by Lizzie Vega

  He just looked at her, “Are you always this way?” She thought for a moment and pursed her lips, “Yeah, pretty much.”

  Parker put his hands on his hips, “Outstanding.” He said and turned around and walked away.

  Samantha looked at Michael and smiled, “You chatted with him?” Michael raised an eyebrow, “Not exactly. More like he chatted with me.”

  Iris came out of the bathroom after she had changed clothes, Stefan teased her, “Oh look, skin tight black with just a hint of extra-black. You’re looking very hot ninja tonight, my dear.”

  She grinned as she spun in a runway turn. “Thank you, Luv. I don’t want to be seen until I need to be seen.” She parted the front of the loose fitting black shirt to reveal a black sports bra and her tattoo.

  He laughed, “I am looking forward to that.”

  Mac and Allie changed into dark outfits as well. They would be at the computers running both the video screens as well as filming the events and monitoring the police scanner for alerts.

  Everyone had their roles to play.

  Except Alec.

  He sat quietly on the sofa as he watched the others prepare. Annika was showing Samantha and Katie how she learned to handle a sword. They stood in awe of her speed, but they were laughing as well. Like sisters.

  Stefan and Michael came out of the bathroom. Parker followed close behind. They wore dark robes with hoods. Iris walked to Stefan and pulled the hood up over his golden locks. “That should help keep your face hidden from Amund,” she said as she looked him over, “Better to keep him guessing as long as we can.”

  Alec pointed to the long boxes he had leaned against the wall. “Help yourself, gentlemen.” Michael opened the first box and laughed out loud, “This is amazing,’ and he swung the large bladed weapon around for them to see, “A Klingon bat’leth. Alec, this is so great,” he exclaimed, “Weirdest Christmas ever.”

  “Don’t look at me,” he said with a grin, “Iris is the one that ordered them. Just keep in mind they are only props from a movie. They look good and formidable, but they might only stop a sword once or twice.”

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  Iris began to layout the protection circle that would set the stage for Amund’s arrival. Given the guessing game as to when it would occur, she worked quickly. She paced off the outside perimeter but then back-tracked to review a section she had just completed.

  She made several adjustments to allow for both the suspended screens as well as the three spaces necessary for Annika and her imposters. She allowed extra space in the event there was something unforeseen. Something wasn’t right with the first layout.

  Without a word she walked quickly to the maintenance closet and grabbed a floor broom and erased a section and then replaced it quickly with a minor outward adjustment. She repeated the extension with each point of the five-pointed star. The resulting circumference was perfect.

  Alec watched as she completed the protection rings and he walked over to her as she finally gave the appearance of taking a break. “You’re very exacting in your preparation, may I ask a question?”

  She smiled curtly, “Sure.” Her tone had a distracted edge to it, but Alec continued, “You have amazing focus. How long have been practicing?”

  That got Iris’ attention. For the many years she had been part of the craft, no one had ever asked her that question. She stopped what she was doing and faced him directly, her hands on her hips, “Since I was eight. With my family background, I was sort of born into it.” She returned the question, “How ‘bout you?”

  He grinned, “About the same, but unlike you, Iris, I started with the equivalent of rocks and sticks. I wager you are light years ahead of me in your abilities.”

  Iris just smirked but she could see that he was being sincere, “Hardly. I can’t change my image at the drop of a hat. No one in my family can do anything like that. I could only imagine bringing that little trick back home.”

  Alec didn’t respond other than to raise a suggestive eyebrow to her. It took a moment to register with Iris. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Alec. You can teach me? I, uh, would you teach me?”

  It was the first time that Goodmund had seen her in anything other than her standard take-charge defiant character. He smiled as he thought back to imagine what Iris might have been like as a child. Her current expression certainly helped.

  “It’s not easy,” he said quietly, “and, it’s not without risks. You’re basically becoming another person. You bring the best of you into the person you become.” He narrowed his eyes, “you bring the worst of you as well.”

  “Mmmm,” she mused, “I do have some not too nice parts to my personality.”

  Alec pondered her statement, “Not that I have seen. Do this for me, we’ll hold off until this Amund episode is hopefully passed. In the meantime, visit with those not too nice parts, awareness of them is key. You don’t want them showing up without some control, or bad things tend to happen.”

  Iris sighed, “It will be quite a list. I have worked hard to put a lot of that behind me.”

  Alec leaned in toward her, “I see what you’re doing for your friends and I see what an impression you have made on Stefan. I knew from our first meeting that you were capable. I would say you have put your past behind you.” He cocked his head, “Let me guess, you’d like to drop in on your family as someone else? But I would guess, not for a laugh, right?”

  “Not entirely, but nothing sinister, if that’s what you mean,” She smiled and looked toward the circles, “More like an, I told you so moment.”

  Alec grinned, “Yeah, good, I thought so,” he chuckled, “I can work with that.”

  He looked at the protection circle again, “You’ve put a lot of thought into this. Where will you stand?”

  Iris pointed to the point of the star behind the chalk mark. “I’ll start there and then move as I need to. We just have to get him subdued first. After that, it will be hopefully easier to get him where we need him to go.”

  “I see where you have added some boundaries for the others, that was smart, Iris,” the he sighed, “I wish I could take a more aggressive stance in all this, Iris. I fear I have done too much already.”

  “I know, Alec.” She put her hands of her hips and faced him. The visible tendril of her vine tattoo suddenly curled and quickly circled her neck. A sudden red flare from her eyes surfaced and then quickly dissipated, “It’s Ok, I’ve got this.” She blinked at him with a grin as her tattoo snaked back to its original position.

  “Iris,” he said smirk, “Please don’t ever get mad at me, ok?”

  She just laughed but then winked at him, “Sure, but that’s more on you than me.”

  “Seems fair,” he said. “I think we can learn a lot from each other. When you’re finished here, you should run through the game plan with the rest of them, Ok?”

  She nodded, “I understand.”

  Chapter 49

  There was now, only a single strike remaining to complete the constellation. It would likely be tonight.

  To add to the distractions, a large storm front had moved into the city that evening and a series of cells paraded through the cities complete with more thunder and lightning.

  “Great,” commented Katie, “It’s not like we need more interference.”

  They rehearsed a couple of dry runs for the first encounter. If everything went as planned, they would allow Amund to materialize. If he came alone, as was hoped, they would try to subdue him but not before he was made aware of the three women portraying his bride.

  Each bride would have a protector. Parker would stand behind Annika. If Amund moved toward them first, she would be able to mount a defense to allow the others to move to protect them both. Stefan would stand with Katie. He could defend her with Alec’s replica sword in the event Amund chose her first.

  The wild card would be Michael standing with Samantha. With their lack of fighting experience, It would certainly mak
e them the most vulnerable until Stefan and Annika could move to defend them.

  Having seen Amund fight in tournaments gave Annika some insight into which direction he would likely favor and, consequently how the trio of princesses would position themselves. “He’s left-handed, so he will favor that side,” she told them. That would place Michael and Samantha to his far right adding a small margin of safety. “There are two other things about him,” Annika added, “In tournaments, and even in practice, he usually waits until his opponent commits to the first move. It will give you a moment to think.”

  “The other thing is an odd one,” she said thoughtfully as she picked up her sword and held it down at her side with the tip touching the floor. “He will size up the situation and then draw his sword out slowly like he is baiting you. He holds his sword low to the ground. Then, just before he attacks, he will tap the sword on the floor.”

  “It’s a tell, like in poker,” offered Parker, “He’ll show us what he is thinking and not even know it.”

  “Yes,” agreed Annika, “The master swordsman in his army is the one who trains Amund. He hates Amund and has never told him about the error. Amund isn’t exactly undefeated in his contests.”

  Chapter 50

  They waited.

  Allie had cued up some music in the laptop to keep them entertained but after a while an agitated boredom crept in.

  Mac suddenly took off his headset with a frown on his face, “I’m getting some interference on the radio channels, Allie, are you getting this?”

  Iris thought to swing her head around and look at Samantha just as Sam turned and looked out into the darkened warehouse. She instinctively reached for Michael’s hand, but she looked at Iris. “We need to get organized,” she said quietly as she stood up.

  Iris looked toward Alec, “See what I mean?” He looked out into the warehouse just in time to see a small green orb materialize in the metal rafters of the building. “Well isn’t that interesting,” he commented, “that’s quite a gift she has.”

  “Mmm, Sam doesn’t quite look at it that way.” But Alec was quick diminish her concern, “Maybe not yet, but with some guidance, she will. Yes,” he repeated, “Quite a gift.”

  Allie cut the music and Mac flipped off the lounge lights anticipating the lights from the ceiling would begin to light the prepared circle. Only the lights from the scanner and laptops gave them a small glow in the corner of the warehouse. He and Allie could work unobserved.

  The single bright orb descended quietly through the warehouse rafters and stopped about ten feet off the floor. It began to rotate in a large arc following the perimeter of Iris’s circle. Seconds later, a second orb dropped into place. Larger and brighter than the first, it traveled in a smaller diameter toward the center of the protection circle. Unlike Annika’s summoning, the next orb was red. Smaller than the other two, it pulsed quietly as it fell and joined the others in their celestial rotation.

  Michael commented to Sam as they assembled, “That’s different.” More stars fell into their rotation as the group moved into the main warehouse. It had happened much faster than the first time, Michael shrugged to Sam, “I guess no stargazing for us tonight.”

  Samantha looked at him carefully, “There’ll be plenty of time for that, soon.” She could feel his confidence rising, “You feel good, don’t you, Michael?”

  He looked at her and then back at the stars above them, “I do. I don’t think this is about me anymore. It’s about all of us now, with Anni.”

  He moved to stand behind her but took her hand in his. Samantha could feel his strength and she backed into him gently for support.

  The orbiting stars began to slow their rotation. They had taken their assigned positions and waited. The one red orb pulsed brightly and the rest of the stars quickly followed suit. A small drizzle of light began to fall toward the center of the circle. As with Annika’s summoning, the hum and vibrations returned as the stars came to halt.

  Iris called out to them. “Ok, here we go. Remember your parts.” Then she hollered, “If it goes to hell, just get out of my way.” She walked over to the work table as the others assembled and took something out of the small suitcase and clipped it on the back of her belt.

  As the trickle of light from the warehouse ceiling became a deluge, the vibration increased as the intensity of the light column grew. This column was larger and spilled out in bold rivulets as it hit the floor.

  As a last-minute addition, Stefan had the women hold their swords down toward the floor with the tips touching the concrete. Katie put her hand on top of Stefan’s while he held the sword. While it may have looked as though she was holding it directly, in the event Stefan had to deflect Amund’s advance, it would be easier than handing it to Stefan.

  For the same reasons, Annika held her sword with Parker holding his hand over hers. As they had stepped into place, Parker had gently clasped his hand over hers, but in doing so, Annika detected a small tremor in his hand. She turned to face him and reached up and kissed him right on the cheek, “It’s going to be alright, Parker.” He just looked over at Michael and nodded, “Yeah, I think we will be.”

  Sam had seen the exchange and turned to kiss Michael, causing Katie to complain loudly, “Hey, no fair, mine’s taken.” she turned and gave Stefan a quick peck on the cheek just the same. Iris just raised an eyebrow and grinned at them. It seemed to take some of the fear out of the moment.

  The calming interaction proved brief.

  A second light column burst forth from the ceiling and began to pound the floor closest to Michael and Samantha.

  “Shit, that changes things,” Michael began to move from behind Samantha to stand at her side. Stefan had also begun to step in front of Katie but Katie would have no part of it and, to his stunned amazement, tried to take the sword out of Stefan’s hand.

  Iris shouted, “We’ve got two visitors,” She moved forward and stepped into the circle.

  The entire warehouse was illuminated by the downpour and, as before, a figure began to distinguish itself inside the first column. A clap of thunder could be heard from down the street as another storm cell made its way across the downtown business district.

  Iris suddenly pointed at the ceiling, “Look.” There was a large pulse of light from the second light column and along with it, a brief dimming of its light intensity. As the sputtering of the second column continued the figure could be seen in the first column.

  Suddenly the second column flickered weakly and disappeared altogether. A command came from Stefan, “Down to one, get back in your places, please.”

  Katie once again, took her position in front of Stefan, while Annika and Samantha did the same. They would have only seconds before the warlord would be able to see them.

  “Blue flash,” Mac hollered out from behind their table, “Watch for the blue flash.” The words had barely left his mouth when an intense blue flash gently rippled across the ceiling. This time, it’s silent beauty was marred by what would follow.

  Iris stepped back to her position directly behind where Amund would appear and took a deep breath. She was struggling. All her life she had been a loner as well as a rebel. Now here she was, a mother hen for an odd group of people she barely knew.

  She peered into the darkness of the warehouse looking for Alec. She knew he was there, watching. His role would come later. Now it was all on them. She couldn’t help but draw a comparison to her past.

  She heard her father’s voice in her head, You knew the rules, you’re too wild for the craft. Too wild for this family. She could feel the power beginning to well up in her eyes and she made no effort to keep it concealed. Damn him, she thought, I’m not too wild. I am just wild enough. This is my family now. She couldn’t help the smile that spilled across her face. She was ready.

  She looked at Stefan, his bright blue eyes still visible despite the hood. He was calmly focused. His tall broad shoulders framed Katie perfectly. His sword in one hand and, even though it was a Hol
lywood prop, his Klingon battle blade in the other. He looked dazzling. Katie caught her eye. Her expression looked as though she was ready to say something sarcastic. She thought back to their school days. Always loyal, always protective of Iris’s secrets, Katie was fully committed.

  Annika’s eyes were fixed calmly on the center light column. They narrowed, and Iris could almost feel the hate rising from the young princess. For a second, she reasoned that Annika could probably take him on single handed.

  Iris looked at Michael and Samantha, and found Sam staring right back at her. Her eyes were brimming as she looked back at Iris. The intensity of the light shifted suddenly signaling the final seconds before Amund would complete his arrival. Sam didn’t react to the change, her eyes remained locked on Iris’s. She simply nodded her head to Iris and, with a sober look, mouthed the words, “Do it.” Then turned her head to look at the figured appearing out of the light.

  The figure stood in the center of the circle. The center orb brightened to illuminate him further. His hand moved slowly and drew back the hood that cover his head. He pulled at the clasp that held the robe across his shoulders and it snapped in his hand. The robe fell in a pile at his feet.

  Mac looked over his laptop just to make sure what he was seeing was real. “He’s fucking huge,” was loud enough to be heard by all of them.

  Both arms were draped in chain mail and held with leather straps across his wide chest and back. Long tangled black hair spilled off his shoulders. A roughly cut animal hide tunic was cinched at the waist with a wide leather belt. Thick muscular legs padded with thick metal thigh plates dropped into almost knee high black leather boots.