“Who are you?” Ragnarok asked.
The screams were getting closer and Ragnarok could feel the threat in them.
He was surprised at the voice that answered him- a woman’s! “Perhaps you would be better to worry about what is making that noise?” The woman spoke Norse with an accent the Viking had never heard before.
“They sound like dogs from hell,” Ragnarok slipped the ax off his shoulder and held it in front of him with both hands.
“They are,” the woman said. “Valkyries and their creatures of the night.”
All Vikings knew of the Valkyrie- the demon-goddess of the lord of the underworld, who did his bidding on Earth. Who feasted on the corpses of those killed in battle.
“Then I will die bravely fighting the demon bitches,” Ragnarok said, the moonlight glint off the edge of his ax.
“It would be better to flee quickly,” the woman said.
“A warrior does not flee battle.”
“You cannot stop them,” the woman stepped forward and placed a hand on his heavily muscled forearm. “They have killed many brave warriors like you.”
The howls were getting closer. Ragnarok had heard stories of the Valkyries and many other strange and frightening creatures from his mother, but he had never seen any of them. He had no doubt that such creatures existed though- or else his mother would not have told him of them. And he had seen Duartr’s body. To fight an emissary of a God- even a demon God- would be quite a challenge. If he won there would be glorious stories to tell. If he lost, the gate to Valhalla would surely be open to such a warrior.
“I cannot run,” Ragnarok said.
“I am a Disir,” the woman pulled her hood back. Her hair was pure white even though her face was young and unlined. Ragnarok had never met someone with skin so dark. And the eyes! They were angled as if the skin on the side had been pulled back, unlike any he had ever seen. “My name is Tam Nok. I demand your assistance in escaping my enemies.”
Ragnarok needed time to think, but as in all battle there was no time. “I thought it was the other way around- Disir’s are supposed help us?”
Tam Nok stepped closer. Ragnarok knew there was danger close by, but his gaze was drawn to her eyes, their strange slanted shape. Deep black, even darker than the night around them, they drew in his very being.
“I am trying to help more than just you,” she said. “Every Viking- all of mankind is in danger. If I die here, we all die. Make your decision now, Ragnarok Bloodhand.”
A distant part of Ragnarok’s mind wondered how she knew his name. “I cannot-” He whirled as an unearthly growl ripped the air to his left, the ax leading the way. The blade impacted in the chest of a beast in the midst of its leap. Ragnarok had a brief glimpse of bared teeth, a thick body, outstretched arms with claws at the end as he followed through the swing, throwing the body past him. A serpent’s tail flickered by, narrowly missing his face, as the beast made a dying attempt to kill.
Ragnarok shoved his boot into the creature’s chest and pulled the ax out with a cracking of bones. It had the body of a lion, the tail of a serpent, and the head of a monster with fanged teeth. Ragnarok had never seen the like.
“We need to leave,” Tam Nok pulled on his arm. “Now!”
Looking past where the creature had come from, Ragnarok could see a tall figure- over seven feet in height- cloaked in red, with blood red hair cresting over shoulders. The face was white and long and hard. No mouth that he could see, just two red eyes that bulged outward. The Valkyrie’s scream chilled Ragnarok’s blood, although there was no mouth from which the sound could emanate. The scream came from the entire being, twisting the air the surrounded it. Ragnarok squinted. The air was shimmering next to the Valkyrie in a way he had never seen. The creature held up its right hand toward him. The hand was covered in the same sort of white armor as the face with a bright gold stone held in the palm.
As Ragnarok stepped forward toward the Valkyrie, both hands holding the ax over his head, Tam Nok cried out “No!”.
A gold beam flashed up from the Valkyrie’s hand, hitting Ragnarok in the chest, searing through the leather. He screamed in agony and staggered back. The hand pointed toward him once more. Tam Nok stepped between them, whipping something shiny from under her cloak. The gold beam hit the object and ricocheted off into the darkness. Tam Nok jumped back, into Ragnarok, and the two of them slipped off the stone, falling.
The pain in Ragnarok’s chest was forgotten as he tumbled down the rocky slope. He came to an abrupt halt at the bottom, Tam Nok on top of him. Both were bruised and battered but still alive. He rose up, pulling her along with him.
“They cannot see well,” Tam Nok hissed. “We must go now!”
There were voices below, the men on the boat alarmed by the commotion. Ragnarok looked across the pebbled beach. His longship was in the water, oars manned, several warriors standing behind their shields slotted along the side, arrows notched to bows, peering into the fog and dark.
“Let us go,” he ordered, but Tam Nok was already moving. Ragnarok frowned and hurried after her. Something flashed out of the dark and Ragnarok reacted instinctively, pulling the ax up in front of him. What looked like a red rope lashed around the haft. There was a sizzling noise and the ax head fell off, the haft cut through.
Ragnarok stared in the direction the rope had come from. A very dark shadow, a pitch black huge blob in the darkness, was about twenty feet away on the shore. More rope, arms grasping for a victim, came lashing out. Ragnarok threw what remained of his war ax, spear tip forward at the dark mass. He rolled under the groping arms and came to his feet, running full out now after Tam Nok. Several arrows flickered by just missing him, aimed toward the monsters behind him.
The scream of the Valkyrie behind was echoed to the left and right, other Valkyries closing in. Something leapt out of the darkness at Ragnarok, a small whirring ball of claws and teeth that he caught and threw over his shoulder, feeling a slice of pain along his right shoulder.
He scooped Tam Nok under his right arm, tossed her over his shoulder and splashed into the water as his bowmen continued to shoot over his head, their eyes wide at the glimpses of the inhuman targets that they could make out in the dark.
Ragnarok tossed Tam Nok over the edge of his boat and jumped up, Hrolf grabbing hold of his arms and hauling him aboard.
“Row!” Ragnarok yelled. “Row!”
Ragnarok peered backward. The beach was disappearing into the dark. The howls of the Valkyries echoed across the water, as they discovered their prey had escaped. The wind was picking up again, as abruptly as it had stopped earlier.
“Drop the sail,” Ragnarok ordered Hrolf. Ragnarok wrapped both large hands around the worn wood for the rudder adding his strength to that of Bjarni, the helmsman.
The old warrior looked worried. It was a dangerous move in the narrow fjord with such a strong wind blowing, but he did as ordered. The wind grabbed hold of the cloth and the ship picked up speed. Ragnarok leaned into the rudder, helping Bjarni steer a course directly between the outcroppings that defined the entry into the fjord.
Hrolf threw his powerful shoulder against the wood, helping Ragnarok and Bjarni as the wind pushed them further to the left, toward the southern rocks. Ragnarok was surprised when Tam Nok joined them, her lean form next to Hrolf.
A chill ran down Ragnarok’s spine. He looked up.
“Beware!” Tam Nok screamed.
Ragnarok let go of the tiller and spun about. One of the Valkyries swooped out of the dark fog, clawed hands outstretched, ruby eyes glistening in the otherwise blank face. It was closing rapidly on the ship.
Ragnarok grabbed a spear and held it up, braced against his chest. The Valkyrie swerved at the last second, narrowly missing being spitted on the spear and flew along the left side of the ship. Thorlak the Hardy swung at the beast with his sword, his shield held in his other hand, and the beast dipped a wing under the metal. A clawed hand grabbed Thorlak’s extended arm and snatched him off the deck as a mother might grab a child. Thorlak swung with his iron rimmed shield even as his feet cleared the edge of the boat.