Prologue
Thor's Fury
The sharp winds are tearing at our sails, aggressive waves pounding against the ship's hull, and stark lightning is striking the towering masts overhead; the sky is full of angry and dark clouds while our minds are full of worry about what else this storm has in store for us. My clan is running all about the ship, trying to manage the stray ropes, bringing our sails up, and tying down loose barrels while our leader, a man of great height and greying of hair named Havald, is doing his best to keep us from capsizing in this storm at the ship's wheel. I as his second-in command am helping as I can, getting the children below deck, storing our provisions in storage lest they be washed overboard, and trying to calm and direct the crew; however, it feels as though the sea is out for our very blood and I fear this voyage may be our last.
It has been a few hours and the sea has seemed to calm, or at least as calm as a storm could get. My name is Ymir, and as clan Hemlock's scribe and story teller I feel it upon myself to take account of the current happenings here in my journal. Our clan has been sailing for over two months to explore the new lands Leif Eriksson has found, land full of game and resources with few claims. Ideal for a fresh start for the clan, away from a home that we have been cast out of. We launched off the west coast of the northern islands with the only two ships we could manage to get to. The ships were a hybrid of Roman/Viking make incorporating viking speed with roman storage and style. They were built with the most balanced oak the clan could find with shields decorating the sides with our clan's symbol, a pair of antlers with a deer hoof in the center, on every other shield face. The ships had two levels and were large enough to hold around forty clan members total on each, albeit while being packed into tight quarters.
Unfortunately, our voyage has been ravaged by harsh storms for the past three and a half days that seemed to have come out of nowhere. Earlier today we suffered a great loss as we lost track of our sister ship when a wave the size of a Jotunn came between us and sent her twisting away to the north. That blow hit many of us deeply as that ship had many loved ones on board, but also the few livestock we stored for the voyage. It hit the chief hardest as his son, Thorum, was acting captain of the ship. Some of my clan have begun to lose hope of making it to this promise land, and the storm is giving us no chance to even turn around. Thor himself must be throwing out these spindly arcs of lightning and causing these gale winds to throw us crashing against the giant, hungry waves that have been harassing our ship.
I have stolen enough time to write this, I have an unnerving feeling in my gut about the coming hours and need to help prepare for the worst. Even now I can feel the waves returning to their former rage. Our clan's seer/ wise woman said that they have seen Jormangunder in the water, others claim to see Thor and Odin in the clouds, and most have the outlandish fear that the time of Ragnarok may be upon us. I pray to the sea goddess Ran to stay her hand so that we can weather this storm long enough to find this new home and live another day.
"Ymir, the wheel!" shouted Havald as he gave control of the ship to me. I had just finished lighting lanterns, so I rush to put my flint away into my vest pocket as I grab the wheel to ease our course through the angry waters. The large man barreled through the crew to a lad that was about to be washed overboard. The waves had come up onto the deck and threatened to pull the young man down into the depths. Havald managed to get to him before he went over, held both him and a mast, and stood fast against the hungry waves.
I watched with anticipation as the waves receded and left the two men still on board, the young lad coughing up water and Havald watching over him.
"Get the lad below, it is too dangerous out here and he should not have been on deck during this storm." commanded Havald.
"B-but sir" the boy managed, "The seer sent me."
The crowd that had gathered stopped their mutterings and paid full attention to the boy. Our most recent seer was Valka, a thin and pale woman always adorned with gems weaved into her dark braids that fell to her waist. She took over the role during the past few months due to her mentor being killed in a skirmish. Although new to her post, her visions and predictions have not been wrong thus yet. Her gift has helped us evade our pursuers on most occasions and without her guidance, our casualties would have been far worse than what they have been.
The lad continued, "She has been with the spirits and they told her to give warning that a great danger was on its way, even greater than that of the storm! She sees dark tendrils lurking in the depths, visions of them wrapping around a ship and threatening to pull it down into the sea."
The crew on deck whispered nervous words to each other while Havald furrowed his brow and stroked his dark beard at this grim fortune. "Return to her with my thanks lad," he said "and see to it that all the children and elders below deck are well off. If a great danger is to come I want you and the other apprentices to be their swords and be ready at a moment's notice to defend them."
The young man went back below deck as the crew went back to their duties with fresh worry upon their shoulders. While walking back to the wheel, Havald gazed over the ship's railing with his spyglass and saw dark figures in the waves about five vika out, slowly and eerily getting closer to the ship.
"We should rally the crew and fetch our weapons should the threat be one we could fend off." I suggested. Our clan were esteemed hunters back home and could fend off even the greatest of animals, but unfortunately we had lost many of our warriors and the best of our hunters fleeing to the ships. Now we are down to only a handful of fighters; many of our number are mere apprentices that have not even been on their first hunt yet, children all under twelve years of age, and a few elderly members of the clan. It seems that our ill fortune continues to follow us.
He gave me a knowing look and I could feel the dread in his eyes. "We may be making our last stand here Ymir," he said "After all those weeks of running like prey, hiding in what shelter the earth could give us, mourning on the road while our fallen lay rotting in fields. For it all to end here at sea, far from our home, all because I couldn't swallow my pride or make peace." He sat on a barrel in such a defeated manner that it surprised me. The mistakes of the past must have pained him greatly, for the stoic man would have never given up this easily.
"This is not the end." I declare. I give Havald the wheel, grab my spear and axe, then turn to face the remainder of our fighters. Yngard and his two twin sons, Myra and her wife Brigette, and Draven our acting master hunter. All of them have lost kin and suffered losses too great to just end here for naught. Not to mention the younglings and non-fighters below deck who have gone through similar torments. Even now the fighters on deck are mockingly saying their goodbyes to each other to make light of the situation, but I can see past these facades. They are scared one and all, they have lost much on this hope of a promise land and I will not let this hope fade from their hearts.
"Warriors give your attention to me!" I shout. "The time draws near in which we must face and pass another test given to us by fate's cruel hand. Our clan has suffered much already yes, and it feels as though our gods have a sick vendetta against us, but I for one will not let all our strives and struggles be for nothing. We will survive this creature as we have survived all other odds thrown against us. We are the Hemlock clan, the clan of a proud lineage. Our ancestors hunted the wilds for centuries before us, mastering the skill to teach it to the other fledgling clans. We will not go down to some beast when we are the most famed hunters of the isles. Thor himself has thrown storms against us and we have not fallen to even his might yet!" I pause to let my words sink into the men and already I can see the speech taking effect.
"If we do fall, know that we are not alone. Our ancestors surely have been by our sides since the very start of our struggles. They have been watching us as the gods tested our mettle and offered support by sharing to Valka the unknown threats that would have stopped us from reaching our ships. If you are to fall today know that you will be welcomed into Valhalla's doors with open arms! By Odin himself I personally will take that creature down with me if given chance. Now, who else here are willing to join me in this hunt? Who else here has the nerve of iron that it will take to fell this beast?! Who else here are a proud member, of Clan Hemlock?!" I raise my spear and axe in unison and all the fighters on deck follow with their weapons, belting their war cries and pounding their chests in anticipation, daring the creature to fight the might of the Hemlock clan.
Just then a screech that could shatter glass and pierce minds erupted from the sea below and thunder rang against the clouds. We all ran to the ship's railing to see the water bubbling and watched as one huge amber eye the length of a man rose to just under the surface and stared back at us. "It seems the beast has heard our challenge" said Myra. Without waiting for it to lash its tentacles at us or flip our ship, I threw myself over the edge and clung to the railing. Using the movement of my vault I threw my spear down into the water with great strength into the leviathan's eye.
My spear struck true and a sickly dark red bile came from the penetrating wound. The creature shrieked in pain and sunk below the ship, only for its dark slithering tentacles to creep aboard the other side and for deafening arcs of lightning to strike overhead. The dark tendrils snaked themselves up the two masts and constricted, causing the large pieces of lumber to creak and moan in protest. Havald was there before us and with his great axe he chopped through the tentacles that were squeezing the main mast, biting a quarter of the way into the wood. The sliced pieces of tendril flew off into the air as the rest of the wounded arms withdrew back into the sea. Draven and I made it to the other group of slime covered arms and hacked at them with our axes. A fifth tendril slid through the railings and caught one of Yngard's sons off-guard. It wound itself around the boy and tightened until blood came from his eyes and bones could be heard snapping throughout his body. His twin stood in horror as his father cleaved the aggressor with his sword, releasing the creature's hold on his son. The crushed boy fell into his fathers' arms with a thud as Yngard embraced his fallen son.
Thunder cracked across the sky as the waves erupted in an explosion of water. The beast pulled itself up from the waves using the ship as leverage, threatening to tip our vessel. The creature's head was shaped like the underside of a ship with sail like fins hanging off its sides. Its eyes were an eerie otherworldly yellow with the stabbed one facing away from us, while the other eye faced the ship and held us all in its piercing light, captivating us in a trance like state. The shadowy figure loomed over us like a gluttonous lord over a bountiful meal.
Brigette and Myra had mustered the will to break away from the trap and began firing arrows into its flank. The beast blinked, breaking our trance and astounded by the offense, rose one of its tentacles over the ship and brought it down with great force onto the women. Havald rushed to the couple to find them unconscious, though still breathing. As Havald tried to care for the women, two twisting tendrils worked their way onto the ship's deck and seized both him and Yngard, taking advantage of their distractions. Leaning backwards, the sea creature unveiled its razor-sharp beak and started to pull the two men towards their gruesome deaths.
"We have no hope of killing the giant in this manner" I yell to Draven, "its voracity and determination for a meal is too great!" As I scoured my brain for a solution, one of the barrels that was not tied down rolled to Draven's feet. From the smell I can tell that it is full of lard and coated in oil from a lantern that must have broken. "Its enough for a small powerful explosion, but this is our only chance!" suggested Draven. "It must either be loud enough to scare the leviathan off or kill it outright. Lightning does not faze the creature, so I doubt a small explosion will."
It was then an idea struck me. I recovered Myra's bow, strung an arrow onto its string and fired a well-placed shot it into the creature's wounded eye. It screamed its disorientating and ear popping shriek, dropping Havald and Yngard while focusing its gaze solely on me.
In less than a second the beast lunged at me and I only had enough time to shove Draven out of the way as the monster gathered both me and the barrel into its maw. It bit down, and I felt my waist tear and my lower half dangle outside the beak. The pain was something from a nightmare and I almost fainted from the agony, but I could not let go just yet. My entire clan's future was riding on these next few seconds. Not daring to look at the wound, I grabbed the flint from my vest pocket and struck the barrel's metal reinforcements with the little strength I had left.
In those last moments I was gifted a glimpse of the future. My clan landing on the shore of a new home with both ships in tow, finally free from the struggles of the past. Leif Eriksson welcomes the clan as the children run from the ship's holds and begin to frolic in the fields while the hunters and apprentices begin to prepare for their first hunt of the new land.
This vision comforts me in my final moments as the barrel catches the sparks from my strike. All I hear in those last few moments are shouts calling my name, the explosion, and the bastard monster shrieking one final time.