Dark Storm Rising

Chapter 26

A/N: Ásáheill! Aesir's' Blessing! Thanks for your patience.

Writing is hard, hard work. Despite the roadmap I construct, the characters show me the way. This is where they led me. We're almost there –almost to coronations, an execution, weddings and a birth.

Eric tells Maude, "Í hefnd er gleði," which means "gladness is in vengeance." In Old Norse, Sigfadir means "Victory Father," the giver of victory in battle and, by extension, in all contests. The Vikings called dueling einvigi; literally "single combat." The combatants relied on their strength and personal luck (hamingja) to decide the matter. Surtr is lord of the fire jötunn—a big, bad demon-like guy.

A flamberge, or "flame blade", is an undulating blade found on both long blades and rapiers. In combat, it transmits unpleasant vibrations into the attacker's blade causing the blades to slow contact with each other with each wave. It's a very cool weapon.

Thanks AmaZen and FDM for being my betas. Thanks Amazen for editing this chapter solo.

####

...If you touch me, well I just think I'll scream
Cuz it's been so long, since someone challenged me.
And made me think... about the way things are...
Made me think...about the way they could be.

By My Morning Jacket

#####

After Pam's scouts had rejoined them, Eric led his battalion through the forests and surrounded Maude's estate on the shore of a remote northern Minnesota lake. They took their assigned positions and waited to unleash the final phase of Operation Avalanche and eradicate the renegade queen and her remaining troops. Assisted by troops from allied kingdoms, alarmed by Maude's ambitions, they had stormed Maude's properties, frozen her assets, eradicated their enemies and secured Minnesota's borders. Eric knew that he must find and kill Maude quickly. Kings and queens from neighboring states circled like jackals, waiting to see whether he was strong enough to claim Maude's kingdom. He was. Her properties in Minneapolis/St Paul, her cars and private jet were now owned by Northman Enterprises.

And now he had tracked her to her final retreat.

The last battalion of loyal retainers had retreated with their queen to this remote mansion hidden behind a screen of trees.

Besides magickal wards, Maude's remaining forces were equipped with a variety of advanced weapons including the latest generation of M14s, M16s, body armor, uniforms and helmets. Of course Eric's forces were equally well armed. The surrounding kingdoms were only too happy to supplied the latest military weapons and battle gear in order to end Maude's reign and restore balance and prosperity to the region.

Eric eyed the crest of the hill. It would be a nasty fight. A child of the Nordic line, chosen and trained by Valur Sigurdsson, Maude knew that there was no escape for her or hers. This was her last stand.

Her motto was "battle and glory." If she survived this assault, she would fight him to the death and kill as many of her enemy as she could. It is what he would do in the same situation.

She understood that all control had slipped from her hands—then from her commanders, battalion leaders, and squad leaders; she also knew that most of her Were and human minions had obeyed a visceral impulse to escape destruction.

Pam slipped next to him.

"The woods are secured." She grinned broadly, showing fang. "Soon there will be no living enemies in the whole of Minnesota."

"Kirsten?"

"Finishing her rounds. You should be proud. She's smart, stealthy and lethal. Took out all of the guards in her sector, before heading back."

Eric gave her a grudging nod. "Kirsten's well trained, but stubborn and overly confident. That's why I kept her back."

Pam's brow creased with worry. "I told her to break silence if she thought that she was in danger. '

Eric's mouth twisted wryly.

"Kirsten is very young—very powerful. And difficult! She is queen in all but name and won't let Bjorn cross her if she thinks she's right." He waved his arm toward the mansion. "It was all that I could do to keep her away from this. But Toller and I have taken more precautions than she realizes. She is guarded in ways she cannot detect. I'll meet her soon. She can help oversee the clean up."

The woods and lake were unnaturally quiet. Energy, like waves of heat, pulsed against him. Of course, huge energy had been raised to construct the wards and more would be unleashed when they attacked. Magickal energy always existed everywhere to a greater or lesser extent. Animals were as used to its currents as they were to wind and rain.

It was the deep unnatural silence of the wilderness that troubled him—no mosquitoes buzzed, no leaf rustled. The source of the disquiet lay somewhere ahead within the mansion.

It was well that they had chosen moon dark. Eric gripped his spear, stood, and lifted it into the air, his silhouette black against the canopy and hazy sky.

He addressed the troops.

"Take their lives and we take Maude's kingdom. Live and you will receive triple the rewards that I promised you. May the gods bear witness. Odin! Sigfadir! Hear me. Give us victory against our enemies! This battlefield and all that is upon it, I claim for Odin!"

He cast his spear. It arched high over the enemy, then hurtled down piercing the earth beside Maude's front entrance.

Then the hosts rose into the air and barreled forward hurling grenades, torching the out buildings with flame throwers.

Maude's retinue fired upon them immediately.

Thick oily smoke rose from the outbuildings as machine gun bursts and battle screams pierced the silence.

Flame throwers roared. Enemy vampires swooped down upon them like paranormal kamikaze, killing as many of Eric troops as they could before they burst into flames or were strafed into flaking ash.

Within half an hour Eric and his troops had gained the hill.

###

Beyond a fringe of dark broken trees that he and his troops had won and secured just moments before, Eric surveyed Maude's mansion.

Nestled behind pines and oak trees and sited on a sloped crest with a spectacular view of the pristine lake, her magnificent estate had offered privacy and security.

Now the air was rancid with the stench of death.

Ashes fluttered like grey leaves and smoke drifted like phantoms.

The decorative gate was rubble and twisted iron, the winding road and tennis courts were lacerated by trenches, and IEDs wired to remote triggers that could be set off by the slightest touch. The outbuildings, guest cottages and viewing gazebo were smoking ruins.

Pagan to the core, Maude had made sure that the house was sited upon the cardinal compass points. But her wards and her warriors were destroyed.

The gods would not protect her from Eric's wrath.

Surrounded by Pam and his troops, he ascended the elliptical stone stairway, where the remains of Maude's elite retinue lay disintegrating on the cream-colored stone. This beautiful mansion was a symbol of Maude's tastes and stature. He would destroy it utterly. Then the wilderness and its spirits would reclaim the grounds and hold him in good favor.

Using shields and body armor for cover, Eric and his forces slowly crossed the Baroque covered porch and forced their way through the main entrance door into the foyer. They shot all of the enemies guarding the front entrance.

Like pawns in an endgame, the desperate defenders flew at them from the twin curving stairways. Pam's flamethrower roared and they went up like shrieking torches while Eric's squads fanned out over the floors.

Someone yelled, "We've lit the place up. It's all clear down here—no supes or human registers are left on this floor or belowground."

Pam caught Eric's eye. "Maude's up there somewhere. No one escaped and she isn't among the dead. I'll take point. "

Eric nodded. "You have the keenest eyes. But I will fight Maude alone. She is Sigurdsson's child and will demand her right to single combat. "

"Master! Remember her gift- the demon she is said to control—and her sword. She will fight with the flamberge."

"It is necessary. She is the last of Sigurdsson's spawn. I will kill her and claim the kingship. My luck is strong."

The floor was utterly dark. Powerful wards deepened the murk, dulling the vampires' keen senses.

Each step was an effort.

Eric felt as though he was walking though muck as they dropped into a crouch and snuck through high-ceilinged, debris-strewn rooms.

Pam hissed and lunged at a vamp who stuck her head above a half wall.

There was a tiny, almost comical, twang like a child's bow string snapping. Ingrid, Pam's best scout, look down with amazement at the narrow wooden shaft protruding from her chest, then toppled to the floor.

Pam cried out. Plaster dust exploded as she fragged the thin divider, strafing her enemy across the back and hamstrings cutting her nearly in two.

Flanked by full length Corinthian pillars, Maude's defender lay flaking in a widening puddle of dark blood on an oriental carpet at the entrance to a vast formal ballroom.

The room beyond him displayed a barbaric beauty. Marble floor mirrored the mounted heads of tigers, boars, wolves, and lions. Gilded candelabra reflected a massive collection of weaponry.

An exquisite mosaic of handmade tiles depicted Maude, eviscerating and decapitating an enemy while groveling retainers knelt reverently in the background.

A tall regal woman gripped a lethal rippling blade of polished steel as she sat waiting upon her throne of rose marble. Eric's skin prickled; the air crackled with the sharp register of something dark, ancient and evil. It wasn't coming from Maude.

Eric inclined his head in a mock salute. "Hail Maude Valursdottir! I have come to claim your head and your crown. "

Her emerald eyes glittered with hatred. She cried out one harsh syllable and the energy in the room thickened. Dark magick hissed and crackled. Her hair fanned out and undulated as she drew back her blade and rose slowly above Eric. She pointed the lethal sword at Eric heart.

"So. I am all that is left now." She smiled evilly. "This is Flame-Tongue, blessed by Loki, lord of all consuming fire. Flame Tongue will rip you to your marrow, and you will join the glorious war bands that died in my defense."

Eric gripped his spatha and rose into the charged air, fighting the powerful magick pushing against him.

"The Jottun is bound and broken. Í hefnd er gleði! I grind my enemies to dust and avenge my own! There is no turning back."

Her fangs descended as she shot towards him. The air whooshed as her blade struck.

Sparks flew as Eric parried her blow then grunted as she kicked him in the stomach and flipped over his head nicking his cheek as he whirled aside. He whirled toward her, his mighty arm drawn back for a killing stroke.

The marble walls echoed and the air throbbed with the clash of weapons and ancient Northern battle cries.

Flame Tongue rang out as it struck Eric's spatha and slowed his stroke. They joined in a deadly circular dance as they thrust, slashed, cut, and parried. But Eric was the more powerful fighter. Blow by blow he forced her back towards the wall.

Again and again their blades clashed until Eric twisted her sword arm and sliced. Flame Tongue flew from Maude's hand and clattered to the ground. She snatched a long curved spear from the wall , cried out, "Rasha! Demon lover, Surtr's flame! Aid me!" and slashed ar at Eric.

Waves of heat encompassed him as a powerful tide of dark magick hurled him across the ballroom.

Maude screamed in triumph as his head crunched against the marble wall, just missing the spike in the center of a small medieval shield. Maude screamed again and dove- thrusting at his heart.

He dodged her thrust, lunged, and slammed the spiked shield deep into Maude's chest.

Her back arched like a lover's. Then she crumpled onto the cold marble. The dark magick scattered and dissipated.

As Eric raised his blade for the killing stroke, she rasped, "The crown is yours. The price is high. A life you prize for my life. "

Eric grabbed her hair and placed the blade against Maude's throat.

"Speak!"

Maude glared at him with unvarnished hatred.

"Only because your pain gives me pleasure. With my final death the spell that bound Surtr's child to me will break. It will seek the talisman that opens the portal to its home in the realm of fire."

Pam cried out. "Kirsten!"

"Go to her!"

Maude smiled and stared far beyond the marble walls. "Your English slut and her squad will find your daughter's corpse. My security cameras still work. I saw your dirty work... watched my Were guard steal the talisman that holds the demon Rasha to this world. I watched your daughter kill him and take the stone. Rasha did not kill you, but he did not fail me entirely. He is drawn to the stone. He will kill your daughter to get it back. And so I rejoice in your fear and sorrow. Your 'victory' will give you no joy. "

He pulled her head back further until his eyes held hers and pressed the blade against Maude's throat.

"This gives me much joy."

A fountain of dark blood erupted as he severed her head. He flung it at the base of the throne then hurtled out of the ballroom, toward Kirsten.

#####

Hope you enjoyed.

Working on the next chapter right now.

Bright Blessings