by Troy Snyder
Alexander translated to explain to his men what they had seen. They still seemed very confused. As Alexander began to turn back he saw Antonio was not in his seat. Odin was distracted by Munin, who was giving him information he had. Alexander looked frantically around the room for Antonio.
He spotted him on the far side by two large wooden doors. Alexander got from his seat as quietly as he could and moved toward Antonio. By the time he reached him, Antonio was already opening the doors. Inside was a giant set of armor and next to it the most beautiful spear either had ever seen and they could only stare in awe. Both glinted gold and the armor bared intricate patterns that seemed to go on forever.
Antonio reached out his hand toward the spear, but as he did a giant hand fell on his and Alexander’s shoulder. They both looked up to see Odin standing behind the staring at the armor as well.
“Beautiful is it not?” Odin asked.
“It is.” Alexander replied.
“If I said anything about the Dwarves, they know how to make such beautiful works. Though I, as the leader of my people should not stoop to calling them Dwarves. They are a proud people, and some wonderful fighters.” Odin reached for the giant spear and grasped it in his hand removing it from the hooks. “Gungnir, the finest spear I have ever seen. He handed the weapon to Antonio, whose eyes lit up, but as he grasped it the weapon nearly fell to the floor. At ten feet in length it was an enormous piece of metallurgy. The shaft was covered in runes only broken in the middle by a leather grip and at the base a spherical boss of gold, but the point of the spear was what drew the eye. It curved into an axe shape on either side, but at the top curved steeper into a vicious point making it look like a large leaf, it was as much of a slashing weapon as a piercing spear.
Antonio used all his strength but he could barely lift the weapon, yet he still marveled at the weapon he held, he knew this was truly a weapon of the gods. He looked Alexander right in the eye, “I want one,” he said.
Alexander translated to Odin what his friend had said. Odin let out another of his roaring laughs and he took the spear from Antonio and replaced it before closing the doors once more. He said something in the Craxi tongue and Antonio’s face crinkled not understanding.
“He said maybe when you grow up some.” Alexander translated with a smile.
Antonio, standing above six feet himself, looked up at the giant, “I can take him.”
“Sure you can.” Alexander said patting his back and leading him back to his seat.
Back at their seats Odin had taken on a more serious look. He stared at Raixo with hard eyes causing Raixo to stare at his feet as if in shame.
Odin looked toward Alexander. “You two attacked another faction on a neutral planet.”
“Not so neutral, actually, I recall our two people are at war, and you at war with them.” Alexander took on the same seriousness.
“No, we are leaving your planet. Since you cannot follow, war seems a bit out of your reach.” Odin said sitting back once more. “Additionally, while we may be in a state of war with the Broushin, we follow the rules the nine factions set down before. Earth was a neutral planet for our races, you should not have attacked them.” He was speaking more to Raixo than the human.
“You forget, there is a bigger issue here. Quetzalcoatl has broken free from his prison. You cannot hope to take him on alone. The Craxi will crumble and you know it.”
“You may speak our language, but Do Not presume to know us. We are a people built on war. I don’t know what you expected to happen from coming here, but there is nothing you can do. Besides, who is it that woke the serpent beast?”
“Granted, I woke him, unwittingly. However, I came here to right that wrong. I want to end the war and form an alliance between our two peoples. We can help you defeat him.”
“Humans stand no chance against that beast, especially not in a full war against his people.”
“Then let us help in other ways. Build ships for you, weapons, supplies. We can help.”
“You speak for your people?”
“No, but I can talk to my leader for you. I am part of a group known as the Demon Boys. We are known throughout our entire planet. Our word carries weight. Please, let us help.”
Odin began to stroke his beard in thought. One of the elf twins approached him, Hugin, Alexander guessed, his advisor. He began to whisper in Odin’s ear to which Odin nodded several times before waving the little elf away.
“Very well, we will talk to your leader. You will be the bridge between our people.”
Alexander breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Lord Odin,” He said standing and bowing. Odin was surprised as the entire group that had come with Alexander stood and followed suit. This man must be quite the leader, Odin thought. “If I may make one request?”
Odin’s gave a suspicious look, “And what would that be?”
Alexander took hold of his torc. “One of these, for each of my men.”
“Granted,” Odin said after a moment of thought. “Hugin will show you the way.”
After the long walk back down the barracks hallway, the men reached another elevator, the first one they took after landing. It sent them back down into a hall between the two hangars. Behind them two broad men guarded the door to the engine room. They walked in the opposite direction passed the armory, also guarded, and the training area, stopping and entering what looked like a medical center.
All around tall women seemed to be working on broken bones, lacerations and different sicknesses. Alexander was surprised when Raixo told him the broken bones and lacerations were just from training. They were led to a bed at the end of the room. It was an open area with several beds, no privacy, Alexander noted. What looked to be nurses came and went from double doors swinging open and shut.
Hugin left them waiting with few words. “Your Valkyr will be right with you,” He said before leaving them.
Alexander took the time to go over the entire conversation he had had with Odin. Everyone seemed to be amazed and confused at the same time. It was so much to take in, their entire world was being turned upside down. They were never trained for things such as this, it was overwhelming. Yet they were all still there, none in the Demon Boys asked to leave, nor voiced their fears, though James seemed a bit off.
Antonio in his curiosity began to explore the room and the interesting instruments the nurses or Valkyries as they had been told, were using. Antonio turned around as one of them exited the double doors and she immediately crashed into Antonio spilling the contents of her silver tray onto him. The liquid in the vials splashed all over Antonio uniform.
In reaction to the liquid Antonio’s military uniform began to dissolve away. It ate through every bit of clothing leaving Antonio standing in the middle of the floor with absolutely nothing covering him.
Antonio placed his hands on his hips and looked toward Alexander. “Does anyone else feel a breeze?”
The Valkyr that had crashed into him covered her eyes immediately and ran back through the doors. All the men in the room, even the injured, laughed at Antonio. They did not know what he had said, but the incident was quite amusing.
“Dude, cover up! We don’t need to see that.” Alexander called to him.
Antonio looked down and saw he had nothing on. “Who stole my pants?” He questioned.
“Just cover up, you moron.”
Antonio looked the injured Craxi warrior in the bed he was standing next to. The man was still laughing at him so he walked over to him and stole his bed sheet. The man put up a fight but ended up losing the sheet. Antonio wrapped it around himself and turned to the Craxi warrior, “I bet you liked what you saw,” He said and strode off to join the others.
After the mess of glass and cloth dissolving material were cleaned, another older Valkyr appeared with clothes for Antonio. She trimmed the end of the brown leather pants off to match his height and gave him a tunic as well that hung loosely off his smaller frame. Antonio’s boots had luckily survived the ordeal.
/>
A few moments later she came back with three of the torcs, a small vial and three large needles on a silver tray. She set them down on a table next to the bed the five men were standing around and adjusted the bed to lay flat and gestured for one of the men to lie down.
Antonio took the gesture first. He lay down on the bed on his stomach as told and rested his arms at his side. The Valkyr took a syringe and dipped it into the vial filling it with the liquid. She pressed the needle into Antonio’s spine and injected the liquid and when Alexander asked he was told it was to numb the pain, but he knew it would not help.
The Valkyr removed the black box placed the torc around Antonio’s neck. The box was aligned and then it connected. Antonio let out a small grunt, but nothing more, and after a moment he was up off the bed as if nothing happened. Alexander looked to Raixo with a glare.
“Why didn’t you bring that stuff for me? That was hell.” Alexander asked speaking in Craxi.
“You just take pain like a child.” Raixo laughed.
Antonio’s torc kicked in an analyzed the language. He shook his head as it connected to his mind and infused the language to him. He translated what he had heard between the two. “I’m with Raixo,” He said in Craxi. “Alex is a big baby.”
Trent went next and it connected easily as well, much to Alexander’s chagrin. Trent activated his torc by talking to Raixo for the first time in the Craxi language and the two began to joke about each other’s flying on the way there.
James was last, he asked for the others to hold him down because of his fear of needles. They did so, he fought as the needle touched his skin, but the four held him strong. After his torc was around his neck he seemed to ease, but as it connected he let out a yelp in pain. The others laughed as James sat up rubbing the soreness away. They all began to speak in Craxi to one another.
Chapter 11:
Sweat dripped down Alexander’s brow and his breathing was labored. Antonio and he had woken up early that morning and decided to make use of the Craxi ships training area. Odin gave them a barrack room to themselves that night to sleep in, and now offered not only the use of his training facility, but the use of one of their trainers. His name was Athils. He was built like all other Craxi, a huge muscular figure, but Athils was only six foot five tall, short for a Craxi but only an inch higher than Antonio at six-four and both stood above Alexander’s five-nine. His family was high-born, meaning they were high ranks in Odin’s council, but Athils chose to be a trainer of men rather than work his way into the council, much to his parents’ disappointment.
Athils now stood above the two panting humans. His long fire red beard and hair seemed to light up his extremely pale orange skin. At a distance he would seem human, a very large one, but close up the orange skin showed. Unlike the other warriors, he seemed to have no scars, and it was only now that Alexander noticed why. This man was their best fighter, or at least the best on the ship. No matter how hard he and Antonio tried they could not lay a hand on him. The two also learned the Craxi had no fighting style at all, they fought on pure instinct, experience, and in some cases, rage.
“Are you weaklings done trying?” Athils asked with a haughty tone. He stared down at them with his hands on his hips.
“Not yet,” Alexander rasped and looked toward Antonio.
His friend nodded to him and the two-charged in. Antonio threw a vicious right hook straight toward Athils’s jaw. Using the distraction Alexander went around and swung his leg at the back of the trainer’s knees. Athils dodged Antonio’s strike with ease and sidestepped even further giving Antonio a shove straight into Alexander. The two collided and fell into a heap on the floor.
“Enough,” Athils said as the two humans began to rise. “The warm up is over. I was told to instruct you in the use of your energy.”
The two smiled. “Ready?” Alexander asked to Antonio.
“Not him. Odin gave me instructions only to teach you in these ways. However, he said Antonio may keep the brace he currently has as a gift, but you, Alexander, need these.” He produced two more braces.
These braces were much different from the one he currently wore, Alexander admired them thoroughly. They were much larger braces that went half way up his forearm and they bore the intricate never-ending swirls that almost all Craxi items possessed. Alexander removed his small brace and put on the two new ones. They had a surprising weight to them, but they felt much sturdier.
Antonio moved to the wooden bench on the side of the room and watched the other giants train. Alexander stood in front of Athils waiting for next instructions.
“Form a weapon and shield.” Athils said.
Looking around the room Alexander noticed all the others training with weapons had shields and axes, but only trainers carried swords. So, he concentrated his efforts into forming a shield and axe. The axe took shape in his right hand smoothly and solidified into a dangerous weapon, but his shield would not form. Instead it formed into a circular blob.
“A weapon and shield are only as good as the user makes them.” Athils said. Without warning a sword formed in his hand and he struck. A vicious side swing sent the top of Alexander’s ‘shield’ flying away and dissipating into the air. “Concentrate harder. Work until it becomes natural. Let your energy flow back and forth between you and the shield. Craxi are one with their weapons. Control the energy within, it is not just a weapon and shield you are forming, but an extension of yourself.”
Alexander concentrated even harder. His body and mind were weary from the previous training they called a warm up, but he was not going to give in. He shut his eyes and forced his body to relax but kept his mind fully on his shield and axe. Alexander did not know why, but he could feel his instincts telling him to raise his shield, like the energy within it was yelling for him to do so. He followed the instructions and as he did so he opened his eyes just in time to see the strike from Athils slam into his shield. The force of the blow numbed Alexander’s arm but the shield held and gave a metallic clang as it forced the strike back.
“Good,” Athils yelled. “Now the training begins!”
Athils charged in swinging blow after blow onto Alexander’s shield. The clanging lit up the room even more, and Alexander knew from the force of the blows it was not just muscle power. Somehow the Craxi trainer was using energy to make them stronger, he needed to figure out how to as well. If these strikes kept up, Alexander knew, his body and energy would give out. He could see Athils approaching preparing a downward blow, it was as if things slowed.
Once again it was as if his energy was speaking to him, and he quickly moved forward under the blow and braced himself behind his shield. With all the force he could muster he pushed forwards and up feeling energy flowing from him and into his shield. Noticing the move Athils put his shield up but did not have time to brace himself. The impact sent him staggering backward and that was enough to give Alexander an opening.
Pressing his advantage, Alexander let out a roar much like that of the Craxi warriors. His mind went blank as the rage and instinct took over. He began hammer blows on Athils, but the practiced warrior took them easily and fell back. Cheers began to rise from the gathering crowd. A human had the best warrior on the ship falling back, this was the best show the men had seen in some time. Back and forth the two went, one never getting a full advantage over the other and bets began to be passed around at how long the human would last, but never doubting Athils would win, unscathed.
In the fervor no one noticed Odin and his two elves enter the room. He stayed in the back to avoid attention and watched the two men spar, surprised at the human’s abilities. His energy was so strong and his natural ability was amazing, he was holding his own against a man who had seen many battles without so much as a scratch.
Alexander’s blows began to slacken and Athils decided it was time to counter. With a strong push outward with his shield he sent Alexander’s axe flying out of his hand and disappearing. Knowing that the axe would need to be ref
ormed Athils did not want to give him the chance. An overhead strike came down hard on Alexander’s shield, but instead of falling back as Athils had expected Alexander moved in.
After the blow connected to his shield, Alexander swung his it out and up, crouching down and moved inward. It was only now Athils saw the new axe in Alexander’s hand but it was too late. Alexander sliced up diagonally from Athils’s stomach to his chest and spun out and away with shield up and axe ready for more.
Gasps rose from the crowd, Athils had been struck. Not only struck but wounded. Athils looked down and saw blood dripping from the wound, if Alexander had not pulled the blow it would have been fatal. The broadest smile broke out on Athils face. Now this was a fight, he wanted more.
Athils roared back at Alexander and started to move forward, but a voice broke through. “Enough,” Odin called. Immediately everyone stopped what they were doing and cleared a path for their leader.
Odin eyed the wound on Athils body and was amazed he had been cut by a human and would have been killed if it was an enemy.
“Alexander,” Odin called. Alexander let his axe and shield be absorbed back into the braces and stood up to face Odin. “That was quite a show. I applaud you. Athils, go to the medical bay and get that seen to. Alexander, you and your men wash up, we must be going soon.”
Doing as he was told Alexander walked out of the crowd of Craxi with Athils at his side, Antonio followed.
“Athils,” Alexander said when they were in the hall. “Why don’t you simply suit yourself up and heal your wound that way? I did it before with a weaker brace.”
“We conserve our energy. We have been at war for so long we never know when we may need it. A full-bodied suit would take too much energy to maintain and healing with it, even more. That is why we have Valkyries, they enter the battlefield and take the wounded away to be healed. They are goddesses of the field, so a fair warning to be afraid of them.” He laughed.
“I see, well thank you for the education and the sparring.”