"He's taken," snapped Matt. "Alex and I rescued his true love. Doesn't seem to stop him flirting though," he grumbled.
"Come on, you heard him, let's get moving," said Alex, hoisting his rucksack onto his shoulder.
They finished cleaning up as best they could, helping each other to wash the blood and grime off their faces and arms in the cool water and then set off beside the river. It was comforting knowing that Grim would be nearby. After thirty minutes of walking they came across a bricked path, which veered away from the river.
"Can't we keep following the river?" asked Sasha, looking longingly into the water.
"No, I reckon we have to follow the path or we'll never get out of here," said Alex, walking towards it.
The others sighed and followed him. The path led them down a narrow gully which had steep embankments covered in thin trees. They looked about nervously; this looked like the perfect place for an ambush.
"Is that something glowing up there?" asked Becca, pointing up to the right.
Alex looked over. He could see a green glow, pulsating from a mound on the side of the embankment.
"That's weird," he said, walking off towards it.
"Alex no," shouted Ellewen.
An ear splitting shriek filled the air, making them clasp their hands to their ears and a terrible stench filled their noses. It was so pungent it over powered the spell Ellewen had cast to mask the smell of death when they first arrived in the Underworld. This stench was like a hundred decaying bodies, coated in sulphur and they all gagged and retched where they stood.
"It's a draugar," gasped Ellewen. "We have to get out of here now, quickly."
"A drag what?" asked Matt, holding his shirt over his nose.
"A draugar. They're the undead who feed off the living," she explained, looking around for it frantically.
"Oh a zombie," said Matt.
"Zombies are pussycats compared to these monsters. They can shapeshift, move through anything, grow bigger. They possess super human strength and it's almost impossible to kill them. Come on we have to go," she shrieked, grabbing Matt's hand and dragging him behind her.
Suddenly the glowing green mound burst open and a pair of hands clawed at the earth. The dead body of a man with a black beard, wearing a long black coat wriggled out of the earth. He staggered down the embankment to block their path. He was hideous to look at, his body was swollen and worms were wriggling out of his nose, eyes and ears. His flesh was decayed, dark blue and he stared at them through empty eye sockets.
"Dudes, I so have this," said Matt, grabbing a fallen stick from the ground and breaking it in two across his knee.
He took a running leap at the creature and stabbed the jagged end of the stick into the draugar's eye. The stick hung there for a moment before the creature reached up, tore it out and threw it to the ground. Matt jumped back confused.
"What? A strike to the brain kills a zombie all the time in the movies."
"Matt, I told you, it isn't a zombie," said Ellewen, reaching into her bag.
The draugar gave a blood-curdling scream and started to increase in height. In no time at all it was the height of the trees and completely filled the path, trapping them.
"Ellewen, what do we do?" shouted Alex.
He held up his arms and started to channel power into them from his stomach.
"Iron," she said. "We need iron. It won't kill it but it will slow it down."
She pulled a small knife out of the bottom of her bag.
"Here," she cried, tossing it to Alex.
"Seriously? That will just give it a paper cut," he said, turning it over in his hand in disgust. It was no bigger than his palm.
"It's iron, iron is always dangerous to supernatural creatures," she explained. "If you weaken it first with the iron, we might be able to take it out."
"Oh well," said Alex, tossing the knife in his hand. "Here goes nothing. Guys try and distract it to let me get close."
They started to wave their hands and yell at the creature to get its attention and it heaved its sagging body forward and staggered towards them menacingly. Alex darted to the side and ran up the muddy embankment, intending to get behind the creature. However it saw him move and swept at him with a large meaty arm. Alex ducked out of the way and the creature's arm crashed into a couple of trees, uprooting them completely. The draugar moved towards Alex, sensing that he was the greatest threat and Alex leapt back down onto the path again.
"Let it catch you," shouted Ellewen. "Then you can stick it with the knife."
"How about it catches you and you stick it," Alex glared at her.
Suddenly the draugar darted forward with super human speed and grasped Alex around the waist, trapping his arms tight against his sides. The knife was trapped in his hand. Alex gasped and struggled to free himself but the draugar held on tightly and slowly started to squeeze. Its black eye sockets looked directly into Alex's eyes and it opened its mouth in a wide grin. Hundreds of bugs, spiders and worms poured out of its mouth onto Alex's chest and he yelled in disgust as they scampered over his body and dropped to the floor.
"Alex!" screamed Becca.
There was a loud snapping sound and Alex screamed in pure agony. The draugar had broken both of his arms. It continued to squeeze and he struggled to breathe. Tears of pain and frustration poured down his face and he let out an agonised yell with his final breath. The others were jumping around hysterically, trying to get the draugar's attention but it was solely focused on Alex and torturing him. It could easily have snapped Alex in two, but it wanted to torment him and cause him as much pain as possible.
"Alex," screamed Sasha. "Use your power, focus."
Alex's head felt fuzzy and he couldn't feel the upper half of his body. He lifted his head and pain was etched across his face. He nodded weakly at Sasha and stopped trying to fight his way out of the draugar's hold. He concentrated on drawing power from his inner core. He could feel it tugging at his stomach and the torshammere on his chest started to burn fiercely. Every cell in his body felt like it was on fire. Sparks arced from his eyes and rained down onto the path and suddenly he could feel the energy course through his body. It shot up his arms and he released the power from his hands. The draugar dropped him immediately and Alex went rolling to the ground, crying out in pain as he fell onto one of his broken arms. The iron knife fell uselessly from his hand and Becca leapt forward, grabbed it and stuck it into the draugar's foot with all of her strength. The draugar wailed so loudly the ground shook. He lifted his bloated foot into the air and Sasha dived in and kicked out at his other leg at the knee making him fall flat on his face. Bugs and spiders flew everywhere and Sasha screamed when hundreds landed in her hair. As soon as the draugar was down, Matt and Ellewen jumped onto its back. The draugar was whimpering, weakened by the iron embedded in his foot.
"We have to separate its head from its body," shouted Ellewen. "It's the only way to kill it."
Matt looked at the creatures neck, it was dark blue and as thick as a tree trunk. His hands couldn't reach around it let alone take its head off.
"Alex," he shouted. "The sword."
Alex lay curled in a heap, his arms hung uselessly by his sides and his head roared with the pain of the broken bones and the energy he had released. Becca ran to his side and gently placed his head in her lap.
"Alex, you'll be ok. Look you're healing already. We need the sword," she said reaching for it by his side.
"No," he mumbled. "Don't touch it. It will kill you."
He took a deep breath and winced. He could feel the healing process take hold as the power of the golden apple kicked in and he moaned in agony. He may be healing but it hurt like hell. His arms snapped back into place and the bones knitted together quickly.
"Alex, we can't hold him," yelled Ellewen.
The draugar was heaving up and down trying to throw them off his back but they clung on tight. It looked like they were riding a bucking rodeo horse. Suddenly, the draugar started
to shrink rapidly and change shape. It's back started to rear up and it's arms turned into legs. The draugar’s face became elongated and a long swishing tail sprouted from its rear. It looked like some kind of horse but had no ears. The draugar reared up on his hind legs screaming in fury. It's hooves beat the air and tried to swipe at Matt and Ellewen. The iron dagger had come loose and was lying on the ground near Matt. He bent down carefully, trying to avoid the heavy hooves and managed to grasp hold of it.
Alex could now feel his hands again and he pushed himself to his feet, staggering slightly with dizziness. He unsheathed the sword hanging from his side and held onto the snakehead pommel with both hands. He caught Matt's eye and nodded. As Matt lunged at the draugar's hind leg with the dagger, Alex swung the sword up and over in a sweeping arc at the draugar's head. He struck true and severed the head completely with one stroke. It fell to the ground, bounced a few times and lay to rest staring at them malevolently with empty eye sockets.
They all stood around the head staring at it, trying to get their breath back.
“Well that’s totally gross,” gasped Matt.
"We need to burn it," said Ellewen, looking at it and screwing up her nose.
Bugs were crawling out of the mouth and eye sockets and she physically shuddered. She waved her hand over the head and muttered "ligr, ligr, ligr."
It burst into blue intense flames and disintegrated into ashes within moments. She turned to the body, which also had insects pouring out of it and repeated the spell. Flames shot up high into the sky and they all took a sudden step back to avoid the blast of heat.
"Hmm barbecue zombie. Doesn't quite smell like burgers does it?" said Matt, covering his nose with his hand.
The stench was unbearable; a combination of death and rotten eggs. Alex stood surveying the mountain of glowing ash, which was all that was left after the flames had died down.
"Excuse me for asking the obvious but couldn't you have done that in the beginning? Burnt it to death?" he asked Ellewen.
"It wouldn't have worked. The draugar was too powerful for my magic. The spell would only work when it's dead,” she said, shaking her head. “We should really scatter the ashes in water to make sure it doesn't come back but I'm not going back to the river. Let's just bury them in the mound, hopefully that will stop it reforming too quickly and coming after us."
"Reforming? That doesn't sound good," said Matt kicking at the ash. "Anyone got a spade? I'm not touching that with my hands."
"Stand back silly," said Ellewen, pushing him out of the way.
She closed her eyes. "Vedr, vedr, vedr."
A mini tornado whipped up from the ground, moved across the ashes and picked them up in its path. The ashes swirled around in the air and Ellewen directed the tornado to the mound of earth with a flick of her wrist. The tornado settled over the mound and disappeared into the sky, scattering the ashes onto the upturned earth.
"There you go," she grinned. "We just need to kick the earth over it now, come on."
An ear splitting shriek made everyone jump and look around quickly in panic. Sasha was jumping up and down and running around in circles.
"They're on me, there're on me," she screamed.
Matt leapt over to her. "What? What?" he cried, looking at her. He couldn't see anything.
"Spiders," she sobbed. "In my hair."
She was shaking her head frantically, pulling at her hair. A couple of spiders flew out and landed on her leg. She squealed and beat at her legs with her hands.
"Stand still, I can't help if you're jumping around," said Matt, trying to flick the spiders out of her hair and off her shoulders.
She stood still shaking, her eyes screwed shut whilst Matt picked the remaining spiders out of her hair.
"Seriously? It's just a couple of spiders," said Ellewen, scornfully.
"I hate spiders," hissed Sasha.
Ellewen tutted and rolled her eyes as Matt pulled Sasha into a tight hug and whispered in her ear. "Don't worry, worms scare the hell out of me."
She sniffed loudly and wiped her eyes on his shirt. "Worms? Gee Matt that's a bit lame," she giggled.
He pushed her away gently and grinned at her.
"Right, we're done here," said Ellewen, stamping down the earth on the mound. "I'm pretty sure that will hold him until we get out of here."
"That was a great team effort guys," said Alex high fiving everyone except Ellewen, who just glared at him. "Go team Scooby!"
"Let's keep going, hopefully this is it for Vaskr. I mean what else can she throw at us?" asked Matt.
"Oh there are a ton of creatures down here you don't want to meet. That draugar will seem tame in comparison," said Ellewen, looking around for her rucksack.
She found it under a bush and shrugged it onto her shoulders grinning at Matt's pale face.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you," she winked at him.
"Cheeky," he said, knocking into her arm as she passed him.
They set off down the path quickly, trying to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the draugar.
Chapter Seven
The path soon opened up and they found themselves standing on the edge of a marsh. Tall thin reeds, which reached above their heads, rustled in the breeze and a musty, boggy smell, permeated the air. The road ended and turned into a muddy path, which meandered through the reeds.
"Well I'm not going into that," said Matt, indicating the marsh with a nod of his head. "It's just crying out danger. I bet a bunch of bleedin' aliens are waiting in there, ready to pounce on us."
"I don't think we have much of a choice," said Becca, looking behind them. Thick thorns had grown over the path they had followed through the trees, blocking their way back.
"My chest isn't itching, that's a good sign," said Alex, rubbing his chest with his hand.
"Come on then, let's get this over and done with. Everyone look out," said Sasha, walking towards the path. "Something is bound to jump out on us, we just need to be ready for anything."
On either side she could see stagnant water lying between the reeds and she wrinkled her nose at the boggy, mouldy smell. They all followed behind her in a long line, looking into the reeds, expecting trouble at any moment. A loud sucking noise off to the left made Matt jump to the side. He lost his balance and slipped into the murky water. He immediately sank down to his knees and became stuck in the glutinous mud, which lay beneath the surface of the water.
"Oh my god, I'm stuck," he cried, trying to lift his legs up. The more he moved the quicker he sank down into the water. It was up to his thighs now and he was completely trapped.
"Help me, quick," he said panicking.
He was sure something just moved against his leg. He tried to heave a leg up but it wouldn't move at all.
Alex reached out his hands and grabbed onto Matt's. His muscles bulged as he used all of his strength to heave him out of the water. Finally he came free of the mud with a loud squelching pop and his top half fell onto the muddy path with his legs dangling into the water.
"Man, you stink," said Alex reeling back.
The lower half of Matt was covered in thick dark mud. He rolled onto his back and was splashing water over his legs to clean the worst off when suddenly a large snake darted out of the water. The snake had red beady eyes and green horns protruding from its diamond patterned head. It curled its body around Matt's legs and dragged him into the water in the blink of an eye. Matt didn't even have time to scream, it happened so fast.
"Matt!" shouted Alex, kneeling down and feeling around for him under the water.
He was gone; just a few bubbles broke the surface and drifted away from them.
"Matt!" screamed Sasha and Becca together.
They ran frantically up the path, following the line of bubbles in the water. The surface broke and Matt's head came up gasping for air. It was literally seconds and then he was pulled down under again, his arms flailing in the air.
"Matt, hang on," yelled Alex.
Alex slipped into the water, careful not to put his feet down into the thick mud. He tried to float as best he could and searched around frantically for Matt with his hands. His fingers brushed against something slimy and he tried to hold onto it but it slipped through his hand. A burst of bubbles broke the surface to his left just out of reach. He plunged through the water towards it and dipped his head into the murky water. It was so dirty he couldn't see anything. He spread his arms about and hit something solid. Looking under the water again he could just make out the shape of Matt. Alex reached out and grabbed Matt under the arms. He heaved him backwards and brought Matt to the surface. The snake was still curled around his leg and it thrashed about trying to drag Matt further under. Alex's muscles burned with the effort of keeping Matt's head above the water. He kicked his leg out at the snake and caught it on its head. The blow was powerful and completely stunned the snake. It released its hold on Matt and drifted off onto the surface of the water. Alex pulled Matt closer to his chest with one arm and used the other to swim back to the path where the girls were waving frantically. They helped Alex haul Matt out of the water and onto the path.
"He's not breathing," cried Sasha.
"Here, let me see," said Ellewen, pushing Sasha out of the way.
She felt for his pulse but there was nothing there so she turned him over onto his side and cleared out his mouth to clear his airway. Ellewen laid him back down and started to do chest compressions. After thirty compressions she pinched his nose, tilted his head back and breathed into his mouth twice. She repeated this three times and suddenly Matt coughed and spluttered. Water poured out of his nose and mouth.
"Matt, thank the gods," cried Sasha, relieved.
He groaned and rolled over onto his hands and knees, retching up dark, muddy water.
"Oh, that's gross," he croaked, spitting a few times and rubbing his hand across his mouth.
He sat back and edged away from the water. "Thanks Ellewen, you saved my life."
"Joint effort, Alex did the harder part," she smiled at him wearily.
Matt looked across at Alex; he was shaking the water out of his hair and wringing out his shirt.
Helheim (The Nine Worlds Trilogy Book 2) Page 9