Visions - Chapter 11
They had spent the rest of the day in the war room, discussing strategy and tactics. The group had come to the decision to attack Muspelheim. They wouldn't be expecting it and wouldn't be prepared. It would be best to beat them back, defeat them completely to prevent any return and avoid any further damage to Vanaheim and it's civilians. The whole thing was mentally exhausting. Everyone filed out except for Vallera who hand both hands on the table, resting her weight on her arms.
Thinking everyone was gone she let her head drop and closing her eyes to think. "Something troubles you."
Vallera instantly righted herself then relaxed when she saw Loki. "Am I so obvious?"
"Just a little," he teased. Vallera chuckled then spoke. "I wasn't made for this."
"Few are made for war."
"Not war. Death, whatever the form, is a common enough sight. It's all this," she gestured to the room. "The politics, the people. There's too many damned people." It was Loki's turn to chuckle. "You don't need to be here." Loki eyed her suspiciously. "You've held up your end of the bargain, and since I'm now queen I can guarantee your freedom here. You protected us, invading Muspelheim isn't your burden." When Loki didn't respond, Vallera smiled reassuringly and said, "You're free."
Loki gave her a half-bow in thanks. "Then if it's all the same to you, I think I'll stay," he said and exited, leaving Vallera to her shock.
XxX
There would be no sleep that night. Soldiers readied themselves for an early march. The activity in the halls never died down. It was still before dawn when her army had gathered at the city gates and marched for Muspelheim. Vallera was mounted on her brother's silver stead, dressed in black armour, her silver hair braided to keep it out of her face.
Loki rode up beside her on an ebony stallion dressed in full armour. "You could stay at the castle," he suggested. Vallera raised an inquisitive brow. "No queen is expected to fight. You could wait here."
A mocking smile curled her lips. "Dear Loki, do you worry after me?"
"I was merely making a suggestion."
Vallera scoffed then leaned over on her horse towards Loki. "Don't fret. You're secrect is safe with me," she said quietly with a wink before straightening herself again. Loki glared at Vallera, which she found amusing.
The army emerged in the fiery desert before first light in Vanaheim. The fire giant army hadn't emerged yet when Vallera made her way through, but in this expanse of land, they would be spotted in seconds.
Sure enough, when they reached halfway between the path exit and the jagged castle, an army began forming outside the castle walls. The armies met a short distance away from the castle. Battle was instant and fierce.
Vallera stabbed at jotun from her mount, charging towards the heart of battle. Her determination and hate burned in her veins. The ground trembled from the fire geysers roiling beneath their feet before blasting through the vents. Cheers from a group of jotun errupted off to the right. Vallera looked to see their cause for celebration and froze. Half a dozen struggling jotun holding chains brought forward a large beast. A dragon. Covered in black scales with fiery yellow eyes that seemed to burn like the sun, it roared. The sound was low and rumbling from somewhere in the depths of its extensive throat. Each vertebra jutted through its hide in a sharp spike and its face was framed in an intimidating frill. Vallera could see the long healed stumps where its wings used to be. The jotun must have amputated them to control the creature. The handlers released the chains. It roared again, this time spouting a stream of fire.
"Shit," Vallera cursed briefly before charging towards the dragon. She only got so close before her horse reared, refusing to go any closer. She leapt from its back and it ran in the other direction. Vallera rolled as a talon from the serpentine beast struck out at her. She jabbed at the base of its throat from her knees before rising and dodging another strike. The dragon's long neck curled and struck like a snake, narrowly missing Vallera's leg. She brought her spear down on its neck with a sharp smack, the dragon hissed. She vaulted herself over its neck and poised herself, ready to strike. The beast opened its pointed maw and roared.
Vallera stabbed at its throat with her spear. The dragon launched itself forward with its rear legs. One of its front arms tore Vallera's spear from her hands. It snapped it up in its jaws and with a flick of its long neck, tossed it across the battle field. "Damn," Vallera sighed.
She pulled a long dagger from her hip and faced down the demon serpent. It lashed its tail at her like a whip. She leapt away but the tip caught her upper arm, splitting open a good sized gash. Vallera hissed from the vicious sting followed by a deep throbbing pain. The dragon took advantage of her pause to coil and strike. Vallera yelled out as her other arm ended up shoulder deep in the creatures mouth. She could feel the long slimy muscle that was its tongue, feel the heat from within its body. It was like putting her arm in an oven with fangs. She had a total of three long dagger-like teeth embedded in her shoulder, two from the upper jaw, one from the lower. She panted in pain, kicking at its throat to release her.
It raised its head, dangling her high off the ground by her arm. Vallera cried out again, her weight hanging from her arm tore the teeth within her like twisting a knife in a wound. She grabbed onto its jaw with her free hand to help bare her weight. She pulled herself up and kicked at its lower jaw, at one specific tooth, repeatedly until it became loose. With her free hand she grasped the tooth near the root and ripped it free. The dragon growled, making its mouth hotter. Weilding the fang like a dagger, Vallera plunged it deep into the creature's eye. With a high pitched roar, it dropped her. Vallera's arm was covered in blood and dripped crimson. Her skin red and blistered with third degree burns. The three large holes went straight through like tunnels in her arm and gushed blood. Her vision was starting to blur. The beast roared, mouth wide, and Vallera knew this was her only chance. In one move she pulled out a throwing dagger and tossed it down the dragon's throat just as a spark lit at the back of its mouth.
The dagger struck with its throat and the dragon's jaws snapped shut. The beast clawed at its throat, talons ripping scaly flesh, trying to remove the blade. It only succeeded in quickening its own death. When the beast collapsed to the ground, Vallera fell to her knees panting. She grabbed at her shoulder, but the wounds were too big to stop the bleeding.
Her consciousness was fading fast. As she fell sideways, she felt arms catch her. Her body had begun shivering uncontrollably and she peered up. Through her fading vision she could just barely make out Loki's form.
"Loki?" she choked out.
"Silence, foolish girl," he snapped. He put a hand on her wounds and set his magic about healing her. It took a long moment, but eventually her wounds did close. Loki grabbed her chin and turned her face to his. "Wake up," he commanded. "Wake up."
Still weak from blood loss, but starting to come around, Vallera managed a smile. "Did I scare you?" she teased.
"Oh, not at all. A walk in the park," he smiled down at her. "Can you stand?"
"I think so." Every passing moment pumped more blood in her veins. Loki helped her to her feet then released her to cut down an encroaching jotun and engage two more. Vallera caught just enough breath to get moving and faught off a fire giant with her dagger. Hurting, but fully concious, she was back in the fight.
Armed with a long dagger, Vallera leapt about, having to dodge more and get closer to strike. It mattered not, she was better with a dagger than a spear. Vallera just slashed the throat of one jotun when another caught her with a wooden club, sending her flying backward. Her feet hit orange sand and she skid until she ran into something behind her. A metal shaft closed around her, trapping her against whatever she crashed into. "Ready to call it a day?" Loki mocked, releasing her.
"Surely not. This is just getting fun," she smirked before charging a jotun. Vallera caught the jotun across its abdomen, eviscerating it. Fire giant blood was black and thick, as though it were made of liquid ash, and Vallera was covered in it. Black was splashed across her face and hair, her hands and forearms were covered in slow rivers of it.
Then Vallera saw him, the jotun from her vision. Seeing him like this, in battle, she recognized him as the jotun who killed her brother. She knew engaging this giant would end in her plummeting to a river of lava, but she really didn't care as she ran at him. The jotun swung its sword at her, Vallera rolled to the side. Springing to her feet, she kept low and charged the giant, aiming for its stomach. She managed to gash its side but had to pull back short to dodge a strike. As they faught, Vallera noticed they were slowly edging closer to where the ground dropped away. She dropped to her knees to dodge a swing and plunged her dagger, hilt deep into the jotun's thigh. It yelled out in pain and fury as it backhanded Vallera, the force sent her slamming into the sand. She pushed herself up and somersaulted away from the jotun's blade.
Vallera's dagger remained embedded in the jotun's leg. She was down to a few throwing knives. She tossed a blade at the jotun, but a geyser of fire shot upward, taking the blade with it. The giant charged around the geyser toward Vallera. She leapt out of the way and threw another blade, this one stuck in the jotun's shoulder but didn't seem to phase it. Vallera readied her final knife then sent it threw the air and burrowing into the fire giant's stomach. Now unarmed, Vallera scanned the ground for any sort of weapon. Finding none, she could only dodge the attacks. Unfortunately, she knew what would happen next. Vallera stepped back onto air and plunged down. For a moment, jagged red rock rushed passed her face. But then she heard her name and her body stopped with a jolt.
Vallera felt someone grasp her wrist, she clutched her lifeline back. Looking up she saw Loki.
"Must I put a leash on you, woman? Everytime you leave my side you manage to find trouble," he taunted, pulling her up. Vallera's smile quickly vanished as a blade appeared through Loki's shoulder. He involuntarily released Vallera, but had already managed to pull her high enough that she was able to clutch the edge and uneasily pull herself up.
She knelt next to Loki and looked him over, "I swear if this is one of your tricks..."
Vallera picked up Loki's spear and blocked a strike from the jotun. She rose to her feet and stabbed at the fire giant. She needed to heal Loki but there was no doing that with this jotun alive. She blocked a strike, then returned with a jab. Her three blades still stuck in the jotun and it was slowing him down. Vallera dodged a swing and ducked in close. She stabbed Loki's spear into its chest then grabbed the throwing knife she had left in its stomach and pulled it across its abdomen. The jotun fell to its knees and bled out in seconds.
Vallera turned and rushed to Loki's side. He had gone sickly pale and his lips blue from the blood loss. Her hands shook as she placed them over his wound as flashes of Freyr's death played out before her eyes.
Loki's wound was through the right shoulder, just above his heart. She couldn't heal her brother, doubt weighed heavily on her mind and it was affecting her magic.
Vallera closed her eyes, desperately hoping that this wasn't happening. Loki's cold hand grasped hers and brought her back to reality. She couldn't loose him. Determination replacing desperation, Vallera set about healing Loki with renewed focus.
After what seemed an eternity, Loki was healed, his color started to return. He had passed into unconsciousness sometime during the healing, he remained so from blood loss but she relaxed as his breathing evened out.
Vallera heard Thor land beside her and knelt to check on his brother. "Is he...?"
"He's alright but he's lost a lot of blood," she assured.
"Battle is dying down. Victory is within reach," he informed her.
Vallera nodded. "Thank you." A few soldiers had found Vallera and Loki's mount and brought the horses to them. Thor hoisted Loki onto his, slumping against its ebony neck.
From atop Vallera's silver stead she got a good view of what remained of the battle. Bodies littered the fiery desert, both jotun and vanir alike. A group of the most elite soldiers had broken through the jotun gate and was working its way through their city. A soldier bowed then addressed Vallera. "Your grace, we have the jotun king in custody."
She nodded. "Take me to him." The soldier led them through the carnage. Most of the fire giants had given up at this point, kneeling before vanir captors. The few that still fought would fight to the death and would be dealt with soon.
Vallera was brought to the city gates where a dozen soldiers held a single jotun at point. The giant wore a blackened metal crown, the king. "Surt, the jotun king," her general introduced as she approached. "What would you have us do with him, my queen?"
Thinking it over, Vallera weighed her options. Kill him and be done, but then there was the possibility of the remaining jotun coming for revenge, their king turned to a martyr. Or let him live. He could rally what was left and attack or rebuild and attack later. "Release him," she decided. "Let him live with the humiliation of defeat. Release what prisoners we have."
"Your grace..." her general started to protest.
"They don't have the power or resources to attack again. Even if they try to down the road, his people have lost faith in their king. Leave them here to rot. Bring our men home." Her orders spoken, the soldiers bowed and set about their work.
XxX
*Sorry about only one chapter again this week. I've been busy and I'm just catching up to where I was when everything got deleted. Hope you like the chapter anyway.
-Hel*