by D D Mathews
***
The private moment shared between Colin and Nuri turned into minutes until he heard a groan near the tree line. Nuri joined him as they approached the wounded man, it was Goran Jurgensen. Colin with Nuri’s help got him to his feet and walked with him around the attack site toward the parking lot. As they reached Lovisa and Erika, Nuri noticed a group of survivors emerge from the woods. Nox was leading the pack. Colin helped sit Goran down next to Lovisa who was still unconscious.
“Did you find my Alek?” Erika asked Colin. He shook his head no. “We have to find him,” she urged.
“Nobody is left alive down there,” Nuri said sadly.
“I don’t care we have to find him.“
“Calm down. I didn’t say he was dead,” Nuri started.
“What do you care? You were going to kill him over some petty little thing.“
“Petty little thing!” Nuri shouted, which caused Nox and Gretchen to rush over.
“Stop this!” growled Colin. “This isn’t solving anything. We have to work together.“
“You planned this,” accused Erika.
“I planned to kill my aunt. What is wrong with you?” Nuri asked sarcastically. Nox grabbed Nuri and pulled her away.
Colleen asked, “What have you screwed up now, Colin?“
“Me! I didn’t do anything!“
Colleen spoke, “I’m glad you’re okay too,” and gave him a hug. Colin was struck silent.
She continued, “We need to sort through who is alive and who is dead.“
Nox added, “We can’t stay here. It isn’t safe. That thing might come back or something else might attack. We are vulnerable here,” Nox explained.
“We can’t leave. My husband is down there,” Erika wailed.
“We aren’t leaving yet,” declared Nuri. “The dead deserve to be honored.“
“I agree,” said Erika.
“We’ll need to collect the remains and search for survivors, bury the dead somehow,” Nuri explained her plan.
“My husband deserves a proper Viking funeral, he was King.“
“How are we supposed to do that?” Nuri asked without compassion.
“We could burn the bodies,” Colleen suggested.
“I don’t like sitting here. It feels exposed,” Nox added.
“Okay, let’s pack the wounded and children into one of the SUV. We’ll take both SUV’s down to the beach. We’ll send out a search party through the woods while the rest will prepare a pyre pit and collect remains.“
“Can I help?” asked Elsa
“Sure, you can search every car trunk up here for gas,” Nuri answered.
“Can I help Elsa?” asked Mouse.
Nuri was amazing how teenagers could find friends anywhere no matter the circumstances.
“Of course, but after you collect any gas you find, walk directly to the SUV’s. Understand?” Nuri said and they both nodded in unison.
Colin collected up Lovisa and placed her in one of the Amazon’s SUV’s with Gretchen, while Nox and Erika helped Goran. Nuri put Gretchen in charge of the SUV with Lovisa and the young children, Milly went with them. While Nuri put Colleen in charge of the other SUV. Soon the entire group of the walking wounded was down near the beach, south of the attack.
***
Veronika smelled her brother before she saw him, rancid meat and ashes. She also smelled his fear. She crept around two pines who had grown together to find him curled up in the fetal position. She couldn’t be this lucky, could she? She kicked him in the side and he sprung open crying out, “Don’t hurt me!“
“Hello brother,” she greeted the wretch on the ground.
The dawning understanding in her brother’s eyes made her giddy.
“It can’t be, no!“
Veronika grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up, slamming him into the tree. She removed her knife from her back pocket.
“You can’t be here. You were banished,” Isak said as if it mattered now.
“Fool,” she said and slammed him to the ground. She hopped down onto his chest, her legs pinning her brother’s arms to the ground.
“Say you are sorry!” she demanded.
“Sorry for what?”
“For siding with these Viking fucks and not me.“
“I was…I didn’t. I’m sorry.“
Veronika reached into Isak’s mouth and grabbed his tongue and proceeded to remove it with her blade. The blood pouring from his mouth was dark crimson.
“I’ve wanted to do that for years,” Veronika said standing up off her brother. She started to rant as he gurgled and moaned. “I’ve imagined what punishment would fit your crime against me. It’s two-fold; first I’m going to skin you alive.“
She dropped her blood-soaked knife and changed into her white Were, her human skin slipping off like a snakeskin. She grabbed him by his wet throat and lifted him back up. Still ranting, “After I finish removing your skin,” she clawed through his left flank, skin only. His skin popped away from the muscle, loose. He tried to scream but only a terrified whine came from his throat.
“I will hunt down your stupid weak pathetic wife and skin her too.”
Slice.
“I will then murder each and every one of your disgusting offspring.”
Slice.
“I think I will save little Jon for last.”
Slice.
“I can’t wait to gobble him up.”
Slice.
***
Nuri collected Colin, Nox, and Erika to find remains while Colleen and Laila would prepare a pit. The group of four walked straight into the gory mess. Nuri first searched for her aunt’s missing head with Nox, while Colin helped Erika find both pieces of her husband. He carried one half while Erika carried the other, they lay him back together on the beach. They passed Nuri and Nox carrying her aunt as they trudged back into the blood. The work was horrible and each new body caused the collectors to move slower. Each step felt heavier than the last.
Colin was amazed so much death could happen so fast. He carried Vivian Hexum’s slashed corpse over to the beach. Laila had created a pit by clawing the sand in her Were form and was putting her clothes back on. Colin placed Vivian next to her brother’s top half. He still hadn’t found the rest of the man. Colin and Nuri headed back together for another body.
Together they found little Lina Leif, she looked like she had been crushed by the initial panic. Her tiny body was face down in the bloody mud. Her arm and a leg were broken, also her skull was crushed. She must have been so afraid before dying. He turned her body over and brushed the dirt off her face. Her eyes were closed tight. She looked scared even in death. He had played “superheroes” with her and her brothers at the beginning of the week and now she was dead. It wasn’t fair.
Colin carefully pulled Lina from the muck and placed her in Nuri’s arms. She walked the innocent child to the beach. He followed and watched as she placed the dead child in between her parents, Acke and Kristina. The reality of the moment overwhelmed him and he wept.
***
Mandy flipped and flittered between awake and sleep, between the real world and the dream world she had been knocked into. Her memories were sharp and bright one moment and then dull and grey. She was crying during the Ephemeris while Colin held her then she was with her dad learning to swim in the ocean. Next, she was flying through the air in pain, the next moment she was winning an award at primary school. Pain again then she was fighting a crazed blond woman over the body of a wolf. Pain again then she was a child skipping home alone with the Irish sun on her back.
***
Nox left before the ceremony for those who found solace in such things. She hoped a final search in the woods might find a survivor. She moved quickly through the trees, using her nose more than her eyes. She jumped and wove around pines sniffing. She headed mostly north believing anyone trying to escape would head one direction. She smelled normal forest smells until a sharp acrid smell hit her nose, blood.
She zeroed in on it and approached slowly. The scent was abnormally strong, a simple death would not cause this much odor. She walked slowly around two pines together and found a Viking in human form, barely alive. His skin had been stripped from his muscles. His chest barely rose up and down. His eyes were open in stark terror, he was beyond pain. A few strips of his skin lay nearby along with his tongue. He gurgled something to her which she couldn’t understand. Nox had seen many horrible things and while this wasn’t the worst, it was worse than most. She knelt down trying to hear his words. He moaned with his last bit of strength, it sounded like, “Save him.“
His chest inflated and deflated. He should be dead; however, his werewolf constitution would allow this to last a long time.
“I will end your fear.“
Nox used her speed and strength to rip out his throat, quick and clean. His breathing stopped and his eyes lost their glimmer and their terror.
***
Eleven bodies lay in the shallow ditch: Lukas Nygaard, Kai Falck, Vivian Hexum, Hallbjorn Hexum, Soren Jurgensen, Inge Erikson, Kristina Leif, Acke Leif, Finn Leif, Lina Leif, and Tamara Marszalek. The brutal violence of their deaths was less apparent now with their bodies in the grave. Darkness had arrived completely hiding the crime scene nearby. All of the survivors huddled together, Vikings, Celts, and Amazons. A dozen torches strategically placed lit the scene.
Erika spoke for the fallen, “Loss is natural; we all must deal with it when it happens to us. And today we all have lost. We’ve lost friends, family, and soul mates. It makes my heart hurt to look over the faces of these Viking young and see how much they have lost today. I wish I could change that, but I can’t. Loss is the fastest way to grow into the proud strong Viking werewolves we are supposed to be.” She wiped tears from her eyes and looked over the dead, “Vikings never die, we only move on to Valhalla. And these warriors who fought and died to protect us deserve it more than most. They fought against an incredible danger and while they lost their mortal lives, in Valhalla their story will be amazing and we, those they protected should remember it every day.“
Erika stepped back and let Nuri take over, “Thank you, Erika. I only wanted to say goodbye to my aunt, my sister.” She stepped forward from the crowd and walked over to Tamara’s body. She performed a simple ritual of hand gestures and prayers her aunt had taught her a few weeks ago. Afterward, she said, “Sister you died too young. You died protecting me and our sisters and there is no death better than that. I love you, Tamara. I will never forget you.” Nuri removed her necklace. A simple silver cross, she held tightly for a moment saying a silent prayer to herself and tossed the necklace down onto her aunt’s body. She stayed standing over her as a few other wolves approached loved ones, saying goodbye and placing necklaces, rings, flowers or other sentimental items.
Colin noticed both Laila and Erika left their wedding rings on their husbands’ bodies. Lovisa had found a flower and had it placed onto her father Lukas. The two remaining Leif children held each other and offered prayers for their baby sister, twin brother, and parents. Colin and Colleen stood apart from the rest. They had been unable to find Mandy so there was no one to say goodbye to.
Erika finished the ritual, “We send our loved one’s souls up to the sky.” She took one of the torches and tossed it onto the grave. The gasoline caught fire quickly and the flames starting burning a couple feet out of the shallow ditch. The survivors stepped back and watched the dead turn into smoke and float into the sky.
Colleen stepped forward; the flames bathed her face in reds and oranges. She sang. Her voice mourned the dead, hauntingly beautiful:
Óró, sé do bheatha ‘bhaile,
Óró, sé do bheatha ‘bhaile,
Óró, sé do bheatha ‘bhaile
Anois ar theacht an tsamhraidh.
‘Sé do bheatha, a bhean ba léanmhar,
Do b’ é ár gcreach tú bheith i ngéibheann,
Do dhúiche bhreá i seilbh méirleach,
Is tú díolta leis na Gallaibh.
Óró, sé do bheatha ‘bhaile,
Óró, sé do bheatha ‘bhaile,
Óró, sé do bheatha ‘bhaile
Anois ar theacht an tsamhraidh.
Tá Gráinne Mhaol ag teacht thar sáile,
Óglaigh armtha léi mar gharda,
Gaeil iad féin is ní Gaill ná Spáinnigh,
Is cuirfidh siad ruaig ar Ghallaibh.
Afterword
Thank you for reading this novel, I hope you enjoyed it.
Please write a review, I will appreciate you even more.
Until next time…
Live wild.
www.ddmathews.com