“Wrong.” He exhaled. “F-Fenris…” He looked up, hands shaking uncontrollably.
Fenris was still in the water, now surrounded by a green smoke that the skuladr created from canisters it launched. It was unable to get out before the creature attacked it. Now it was further back in, nearly chest height in the water. Its cloak floated upon the splashing surface.
The skuladr smacked the wolf, trying to get it further in. Yet Fenris pushed to go the other way, claws scraping at the loose soil below. The creature shoved its whole body into the wolf, forcing it under the water while it took to the deeper end.
This was its element.
Streamlined fish, with saws for noses, and tall dorsal fins, swam against the bottom of the lake. Some jumped upward, mostly to get away from the skuladr, but that forced them against Fenris, their toothy noses cutting right through the soft parts of the wolf.
Jackal could feel the panic that overwhelmed the valkyrie. It no longer fought. It only focused on getting back to dry land. When he opened his eyes, he saw in a shade of red. Saw what the valkyrie saw. The crisp images of the world. The slow motion of the leaves a hundred meters away dancing in the wind. The cold water rippling against the valkyrie’s body as it clawed through to stay grounded.
Jackal shut his eyes again. This time when they opened, he did not see through Fenris’ eyes, but his own as if Fenris were looking through them.
“He needs help.” Jackal took off, pulling away from his Captain to rush to Fenris’ aid.
“Jackal, wait!” Reaper ran after him for a few meters before stopping.
He spied Yaaranam helping Vactubstein up to his feet. He hurried over to them.
“Are you two all right?”
“Yes!” Vactubstein said, squeezing his daughter’s shoulder. “What is wrong with your wolf?”
“I think he might be hurt. Yaaranam, if you’re up to it, I need you and Mjolnir in the gunner seats.”
“Yes, sir.” She nodded. “I’ll find him. Father are yo---”
“Go. Help them.” He cut her off.
She gave another nod and ran off to where two of the trucks had been pulled up over a few valkria corpses.
Once she was out of earshot, Reaper looked back to Vactubstein. “Are you still battle ready?”
“Please, don’t tell her, but I fear I may be getting too old for this. A hundred years is quite some time.”
“I didn’t know eldiravan could live so long.”
“Many of us die before becoming elders.” He patted Reaper’s back. “Let me get Tunaaka and we will go help Fenris and Jackal.”
Reaper waited. He watched Vactubstein check on his mount for a moment, then looked around. Almost all of the eos had vanished. Only the daring valkria remained, and they stayed at a good distance. If they were not watching the humans and ensuing fight between the valkyrie and skuladr, they were feasting on the fallen, and fighting one another. Even larger theropods joined in to steal the scraps.
Jackal had rushed into the water up to his waist. Black blood seeped into the crystal clear liquid, clouding it over in darkness. He winced as a series of sharp objects sliced into his hip.
"Get up!" Jackal said, grabbing one of its arms. "Come on!"
Fenris didn't budge.
The skuladr was coming right for them now. Its body slithering side to side as it swam through the water. The bones that decorated its metallic spines rattled, growing louder and louder by the second.
"Fen, you have to move!" Jackal pulled on him.
The valkyrie grumbled, pulled on its own frame only to get nowhere. It cringed and snapped its teeth.
"Shit. You're stuck, aren't you?" He figured it was the cloak. Snagged on a log, or a rock.
Fenris reached up towards his face, a claw grazing his cheek. His eyes were still glowing.
Jackal took a deep breath and dove under the water. Through the murk of blood, he went down to the bottom where he found the end of the cloak suspended freely. He tugged on it and it followed his motion. That wasn't the issue.
He looked around Fenris' legs to find one of the looser bits of chains had gotten punctured by some object; long, lightly curved and pointed. Pulling on it showed it was embedded into the ground, caked by mud held down by stones. More similar objects lined perfectly at either side, mirrored across the way, but further into the mud.
Jackal pulled on the chains to no avail. He pulled on the object, shaking it side to side. He opted to kick it. That made the object budge.
A torrent of water crashed down over him, threatening to take him further into the lake. He clung at the ground and the rocks that littered it. Massive claws swung through the water. In the haze of black and red blood and the bubbles of rushing water, Jackal could see Fenris’ mass forced away and under the water. The object it was stuck on, lifted up out of the mud, shaken free of dirt and rocks.
An enormous rib cage. Stuck several feet under the dirt. It was lifted away easily, the single rib the chains were stuck on snapped in half and Fenris was taken out of the water.
Jackal hurried back up to the surface to find himself stuck in the middle of the fight. A bleeding and weakened wolf stuck in the jaws of that overgrown monster. The valkyrie was right where the beast wanted it to be. Between those deadly, conical teeth to be punctured repeatedly. Fenris fought back, clawing, biting, and breathing out khexide directly into its maw. A tooth nearly as big as Jackal had been ripping out from the narrow jaws of the monster. He barely dodged it as it crashed into the lake.
Not about to let Fenris go down without a good fight, Jackal, with his newfound sight, waited for the opportunity to scale the beast. When its arm swung back down into the water, Jackal grabbed one of its fingers. Lifted up from the lake, the beast didn’t even seem to notice the puny pest. Holding on tight, he grabbed the blade from his thigh. Up to its face, its claws smacked against one of Fenris’ larger arms which was pushing down on one of its teeth. Jackal stabbed the knife as hard as he could into the creature’s cheek, just a few feet under its eye.
With a snarl, its arms swung down again and its head shook violently from side to side. Jackal clung to his knife for dear life, not daring to look down at the near thirty foot drop. He used his other hand to brace himself, holding onto a spike protruding from its cheek. Knife out, he stabbed it again. It was a small hunting knife and would only serve to annoy and pester the giant.
It was working. Its attention turned to Jackal where it tried to swipe him off its face. Fenris used its larger arms to grab the bottom jaw and the upper jaw and pushed.
Unlike the skaginvar, the skuladr had no real bite strength. Its jaws were designed to eat piscine, not hold onto prey. No matter how hard it tried to close its mouth, Fenris had the upper hand. It pried its jaws open and better positioned itself to stand against its lower jaw. With a cry of pain, the beast picked at its teeth and shook its head, stumbling out of the water and back onto dry land.
“Are you ready, Yaara?” Reaper called into the radio.
“Yes, sir!” She answered.
Reaper and Vactubstein backed out from under the stomping feet.
Finally, the creature grabbed hold of Jackal from the side of its face. With a holler, Jackal slammed his fists into its hand. It only made the creature squeeze tighter. Gasping, he hit harder.
Fenris’ goal was to snap its jaws, but seeing Jackal in its grasp changed its priority. If it let go, it would get chomped on. Jackal was going to pop like a balloon. With clattering jaws, the desperate wolf snarled. It needed something. Anything to get it out of its jaws.
The two trucks accelerated towards the stomping skuladr, who was still shaking its body to get rid of the valkyrie between its teeth. The trucks separated to go around either side of its feet with Mjolnir and Yaaranam holding tight to the makeshift rope of vines. Once around to its rear, the trucks turned towards one another, skirting right by to wrap around the front. This wrapped the vines around the beast’s ankles. As they came around to the other side
, the vines would tighten.
Fenris’ right hand began to twitch and tremble. Bits of the metal and flesh popped upwards and sprouted new veins and tendrils throughout. The metal blades on its arm bent and contorted with new layers growing from the old. Within a few blinks, its entire arm changed into something entirely different. From the elbow down, the limb spread outward, and thinned into a razor sharp edge. Thickest at the elbow, the metal, coated in flesh and veins, curved forward and well beyond where the hand used to be. It came to a bold point, spikes lining the dull side. Black blood oozed out over the surface of the newfound blade. Fenris gave a roar of both pain and a second wind.
It stabbed its transformed arm down into the bottom jaw and ripped it sideways.
The skuladr shrieked. Jackal was dropped to the ground so it could focus on its face with both hands. Its mouth opened up as wide as it could. Its steps forced to shorten from the vines wrapping around its ankles. This was no creature of grace.
Now Fenris held onto its upper jaw to stay where it wanted to be and slashed at the lower jaw a second time. Right into the back of its mouth. It slashed again, and again, until the jaw fell, held to its face by a single tendon. What remained attached at the cheeks raised and lowered repeatedly as it gave a blood curdling screech. The vines finally pulled tight. Its feet forced together.
The beast came down. Jackal barely got out of the way, tripping over the shaking ground right between its webbed claws.
It kicked, tail slapping against the ground. Several trees had toppled under its weight and more were knocked over by its tail.
“Where is it?!” Fenris roared, standing on its cheek to look it directly in the eye.
“You will never find it!” The skuladr wheezed. Its tongue flapped uncontrollably, hanging in the open.
Fenris jabbed the end of its blade into its eyelid.
“Where is artifact, sniveling whelp?!”
It cried, shutting its eye for a moment.
“Let me live.” It said.
“Better dead.” Fenris’ jaws snapped.
“We are much alike. Power is all you want. Strength. I will tell you. Let me go.”
“Artifact.”
“To the north. A cave.” The skuladr clawed at the ground.
Fenris lifted the blade. The beast winced. The wolf jumped down from its face. The skuladr wasted no time in kicking itself free from its bindings. It hurried to its feet and limped back towards its cavern.
Fenris howled its victory song, its otherworldly voice echoing through the fjord.
To its surprise, the remaining soldiers joined in, each one howling as loud as they could. Some shoved their fists and rifles into the air, others cupped their hands around either side of their mouths.
Mjolnir was even howling with them all, and Vactubstein joined. Jackal even felt pressured to do it and gave his best rendition of a wolf’s song.
FORTY-EIGHT
Fenris dropped down to its knee, stabbing its sword arm into the ground. Now that it was no longer in the heat of battle, the pain was prevalent; blackness poured out from its wounds, some well blended into the armor. On a closer inspection, the valkyrie was missing entire chunks of its armor. Some teeth were missing, a claw here and there. Some of the blades that layered its armor were broken and chipped, some missing completely. Even a couple of its horns had cracked and a tip was cut away. The lights upon its armor flowed unevenly, moving upward in quick succession.
The others watched it momentarily with Jackal and Reaper approaching it from behind. A few of the other soldiers whispered among themselves and slipped away from the group.
Yaaranam sat herself down on the ground, elbows upon her knees. She pulled her helmet off and took a deep breath. Everyone was hurt. Some more than others. Her armor held up well to the attacks.
Vactubstein let Tunaaka lay down and rest, patting the beast on the side of its neck. He gave a once over to the others, checking on them and making sure they had what they needed before tending to his mount’s wounds.
“Exhilarating!” Mjolnir cheered with his fists in the air. “I haven’t experienced such raw combat my whole life!”
“How can you be so excited?” Sparrow asked, letting her emptied rifle hang against her chest. “So many of us…”
Mjolnir frowned and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Such is the way of war,” He said as sweetly as he could muster. “Some will fall. Some will stand with their flag. It’s not about them, little Sparrow, it is about you. You triumphed, so carry their memory with you and your flag.”
Sparrow gave a faint smile and squeezed one of his fingers. She sighed, lowering her head. “Wish it could have ended differently.”
“Chin up!”
“Fen, are you all right?” Jackal asked, stepping around the front of the wolf.
The valkyrie took in a slow breath and lifted its head to look up to him.
“Let’s rest.” Reaper said from its other side. “We have injuries that need to be treated. We should eat, have a drink, and...try to relax for a minute before we move on.”
Jackal gave a soft smile. “He’s right. We have time. The other eos should leave us be with so much food lying around.”
“Must find artifact.” Fenris grumbled. It pushed itself up to its feet only to collapse back down to its knee.
Jackal supported it out of fear it would face plant.
“Fuck no.” He snapped. “You’re hurt. You need to get patched up.”
Fenris waved him off.
“There’s also the issue of, you don’t have a hand anymore.” He pointed at the blade.
Fenris looked and huffed.
“You haven’t been able to do that before, have you?” Reaper asked.
“No.” It swung its arm. “Evolved. Stronger.” Another swing. The blade split apart, each of the pieces sunk into themselves and shifted back to their original place, recreating the arm.
“Whoa…” Jackal’s eyes widened.
“Evolved? Doesn’t evolution take millions of years?” Reaper questioned.
“For humans, yes.” The blood stopped flowing as quick as it had been. The more minor wounds stitched themselves shut. “Valkyrie, eos? No. Take from what is eaten.” It stood up now, though the lights still shifted unevenly.
“Wish I could do that.” Jackal crossed his arms over his chest.
Reaper almost laughed at him.
Fenris gently touched his cheek, just under his eye. They were no longer glowing.
“Odd.” It mumbled.
“What?” Jackal slowly pulled back and touched his eye.
“Yeah, you know, he’s right.” Reaper raised a finger. “Your eyes started to glow, what’s with that?”
“I’m...not sure.” Jackal shrugged. “It’s like when you gave me that vision,” He looked up to Fenris. “I wanted to save you from that thing and it sort of just happened. I saw what you saw, then I could see like I was...using your eyes for myself.” He shook his head. “It happened earlier, the other night when we were looking for food.”
Fenris’ head tilted to the side. “What Jackal see?”
Jackal’s brow furrowed as he tried to decipher what he remembered. “Blood. Meat. You were eating something. I tried to talk to you, but some woman started to talk.”
“Woman? What did she say?” Its head tilted the other way.
Reaper crossed his own arms and leaned in.
“Don’t stray into the Abyss.” Jackal waved his hand. “Return to the Cradle.” He shook his head. “Just nonsense. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Fenris hummed, looking away.
“Could be a metaphor.” Reaper suggested. “In the Book, the abyss is the bottomless pit of chaos from which we were all born and created.”
“Are you about to break into another sermon?” Jackal raised a brow.
“You may not believe in its tales, but I believe my faith is not misplaced. With everything that has been happening...This new information and these discoveries, the Abyss is
probably a tangible location.”
“What about the Cradle then?”
“It’s never been mentioned as a place. Most of the time it’s referenced towards Christ himself. This woman could be telling you to turn to the book, or to return to where you came.”
Jackal scoffed and waved him off. “A bunch of bullshit. I’ll believe in an invisible man in the cosmos when there’s proof.”
Reaper shook his head. “We may have all the proof standing right in front of us.”
Jackal rolled his eyes.
“Can’t trust...all you hear.” Fenris said. Then it changed the subject rather abruptly. “Artifact north.”
The two men paused and watched the valkyrie in silence. How could it say something so ominous and then forget about it as soon as it was said? It sent chills down their spines. Fenris must have known more than it let on, or possibly had the ability to say.
“We’re going to rest for a little longer. You’re still...healing.” Reaper raised a brow, looking the creature up and down. “Your wounds are closing up on their own?”
“Yes.” Fenris looked down at itself. “Learned to heal own wounds.”
“Learned? You mean evolved?” Jackal questioned.
“Yes. Taking longer now…” It huffed.
Reaper frowned then took a couple steps away.
“Sparrow!” He called. “Pass out MREs to everyone. Make sure everyone eats and drinks. We’ll take off in five.”
“Yes, sir!” She saluted and ran to one of the trucks. In the back was a strapped down crate marked with MRE on either side. She opened it and carried it around to each soldier, even Vactubstein. They had plenty to spare now that only eight of them were still standing.
Those that were wounded were sat in the dirt, resting against the wheels of the trucks. None were too badly hurt and the help of painkillers numbed their bodies.
When Reaper turned to look at Jackal and Fenris, he spied just in the distance the alpha reldul. It was lying upon the ground in a pool of its own blood. Its head lifted briefly. Then it tried to stand to no avail.
The Soul Eaters (The Thin Hex Line Book 1) Page 41