2: Of Vikings
See previous warning and disclaimers. And in case anyone's wondering why the Ghost Writer isn't in jail, it's because he wrote himself out. Let's see Walker stop that one!
Danny Fenton and his two friends were standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. A mass of sharp pointed rocks lay at the bottom and indigo waves were crashing against the bottom. There was a sort of shallow beach off to one side, and a path leading down the cliff face to it.
"Man, I can't believe he actually agreed. He must really like you, Danny."
"Quiet. Let's try to figure out where we are."
"How are we going to do that if your ghost friend has the booklist?"
"Sam's read the whole thing. Any idea where we are, Sam?"
"Half the books on the list involve water. How am I supposed to know which one this is?"
"D-d-does that help?" Tucker grabbed Danny and tried to use him as a shield, pointing towards a very large man in chainmail riding towards them on a very large horse carrying a very large and nasty looking spear.
"Hail, visitors to our land! What adventure has brought you to the land of Hrothgar Healfdane?"
"Ah, Beowulf."
"Huh?"
"Epic poem. Old English. Monsters. Vikings. Lots of fighting."
"Beowulf hath brought you to Denmark? But he is the Prince of the Geats and lives across the whale-road. We have never set eyes on him here." The guard, if that was what he was, looked puzzled. Sam pointed out to sea.
"Good friend, we but bring tidings of his arrival. Lo, for his ships are seen on the horizon e'en now." Danny gave Sam an odd look. Where on earth had she learned to speak like that? At least the guard seemed to understand her.
"I shall alert the king of his arrival. Wouldst thou join us at Heorot?"
"We must stay and await our lord, good sir."
"Fare thee well, then, strangers." The guard nodded and rode off.
"Why'd you tell him that, Sam? I wanted to go to the castle." Tucker flopped down on the grass and pulled out a PDA.
"It's a mead hall, Tucker. They haven't invented castles yet." Sam said, annoyed. "And we'll be going there anyway when that ship docks."
"Seriously, Sam, what's the point of waiting for that ship?" Danny couldn't understand the point of sticking around for Vikings.
"If we stay here you're going to get to see the main character close up. And it gives us the added bonus of actually looking like we belong with him, in case anyone gets suspicious."
"Fine. But isn't he going to notice we're kind of teenagers and not huge guys in armor?" Danny looked worried, despite being half-ghost and therefore practically invincible.
"Point. We'll get a better reception if we're with him, though."
"How do you know?"
"I read the poem and paid attention in class, unlike some people. He's this really big hero with a great reputation, and he's coming here to kill the monster that's terrorizing the kingdom. Everybody loves him," Sam said, raising her eyebrows. "Wow, that was fast."
Another horseman was riding towards them. He gave a brief nod before heading down the path to the beach, where the first of the ships had already landed. Sam motioned for the three of them to follow.
By the time the friends had reached the bottom of path and hidden themselves behind one of the many rocks at the base of the cliffs, the man with the horse had finished welcoming the men with the boat, particularly a youthful blonde man with an elaborate helmet in his arms, a scarily large sword at his side, and more muscles than Danny had ever seen.
"That's Dash, isn't it?"
"No, Danny. That's Beowulf, the hero."
"Hate to say this, Sam," quavered Tucker, "but that looks a lot like Dash."
"Tucker, Danny's friend is probably just building off our memories or something." Sam was met with two blank stares. She sighed, and translated. "He just looks like Dash because that's the closest thing we know."
"Can't we just call him the Ghost Writer?"
"Who? Beowulf?"
"No, the guy who's doing me the favour."
"Fine. Now, are we going to follow them or not?" The Vikings were being led past their hiding place. The three teens snuck out behind them and followed cautiously.
Geez, does anyone in this story not carry a really big weapon? thought Danny. Why did Sam just poke me? Danny turned to look at her.
"They're going to get on horses for the trip to the hall. We won't be able to keep up on foot."
Danny nodded. He grabbed his friends' wrists, turning them invisible. Then he made a small jump and they rose into the sky. Once they were flying smoothly above the convoy of horsemen, Danny had a chance to look around. The first thing he noticed was the lack of buildings. There were a lot of gently rolling hills and some forests off in the distance. The only sign of civilization was the path, and a building up on the highest hill shining in the afternoon sun. That must be Heorot, the, what did Sam call it, the "mead hall"?
Danny was enjoying the flight. The air was completely free of pollution and the breeze was fresher than he'd ever smelled. A scent of clover and grasses wafted over him, and he inhaled. Then he started coughing and almost let go of Tucker.
"Woah, dude, you okay?"
"Hrack! Yeah I, ugh, kind of, eyech, inhaled a bug."
"Eww. You sure you're okay?"
"I know we all feel really sad for the bug, but I really think you should take at look at the setting before we phase through it."
The mead hall was as tall as Danny's house, and about as long as the football field. It was made of wooden planking, ornately carved at the edges. The trees must have been enormous. Several much smaller buildings were scattered around it, and all showed extensive signs of damage and repair, including the mead hall itself.
"Why is there grass on the roof?"
"That's called thatch, Tucker. It's what they used before they knew how to make anything fancier."
Danny paused above the entrance, and they watched as the horsemen, led by Dash, dismounted and entered the hall. Danny phased his friends through the wall, and stopped dead. The interior of the hall was elaborately carved and outlined in gold. Around the edges of the hall were plank tables and benches. In the center was a fire pit half the length of the hall, on which several very large animals were being roasted on spits. One of the tables at the far end of the hall had been moved off to the side, and an aging man wrapped in fur was standing in front of a throne.
"Um, Danny, love the moment, but could you maybe set us down? It's starting to hurt."
"Oh, sorry." Danny let himself drift down into a corner, and let go of his friends. They became visible again.
Beowulf had entered the hall and was walking purposefully towards the man with the throne. After a lot of ceremony and language that Danny couldn't quite understand, the other Vikings who had arrived on the ship were led into the hall. Servants appeared with pitchers to fill the goblets set on the tables, and soon there was the loud uproar of a party.
"Look at all that meat. Wonder if I can just stay here while you guys go on to the next book." Tucker started drooling. "Hey, Danny, d'y'think you could go invisible and grab me some? It looks good."
"And while you're at it, try to find me some vegetables. Not that they know what those are, of course."
Danny returned several minutes later with a platter of meat.
"Sorry, Sam, no vegetables. — Tucker, hands off! I get some too, you know. — I did get you bread, though. You could go outside and make a turfwich if you want."
"Jus bread's fine. Too much hassle getting outside. You might miss something." Sam took the bread and broke off a piece. "Hmm, not bad."
They sat in the dark corner and watched the scene for a few minutes. A lot of Beowulf's men had gotten drunk, but Beowulf himself was barely touching his drink. Smart, thought Danny, he'll be conscious for the fight.
The hall fell silent as the king stood up, and announced a gift giving ceremony. Danny snickered.
"You have got to be kidding me!"
"It's how they kept their people loyal. I give you gifts, you help me out in battle."
"Would you look at that babe!" Tucker had noticed a young woman in a simple white gown standing near them at the back of hall. "Ow!"
"She's the princess. Those," Sam pointed to two burly men with pikes, "are the king's bodyguards. She's getting married in a couple months. Hands off. Watch the guys in the leather."
Tucker fell silent again, but kept looking at the girl. The ceremony ended, there was an argument between Beowulf and a guy at the head table about who was braver, and a guy with a harp sang a really long song about a battle, which Danny tuned out. Then the tables were moved against the walls so the king's guests could lie down. Danny, Tucker, and Sam nodded off as well, despite their best efforts.
---
Danny woke up suddenly to a crash outside. In the moment it took him to get his bearings, the door exploded inwards and something the height of the hall stomped inside. It reached down and grabbed a sleeping man. Danny watched in horror as the man was consumed by the monster before he even woke up.
"Grendel." Sam was awake and at his side.
"Those people... in danger ..." Danny turned from Fenton to Phantom and flew determinedly towards the troll.
"Danny, it won't work! He can't be hurt! He's not a ghost!"
But Danny wasn't listening as he shot ectoblast after ectoblast and they just glanced off the monster's body. Grendel roared at the flashes of light in the darkness. The men in the hall woke up at the noise, unsheathing their swords and finding their quivers. Danny was forced to go intangible at the rain of arrows that followed, and watched as the men's swords actually broke against the force field or whatever the monster was using. He spotted Beowulf's blonde hair running towards the melee and watched as the man tackled and pinned the giant to the floor. The rest of Beowulf's men ran out of the way as the hero and the monster began to wrestle along the length of the hall. Danny flew back down to Sam and Tucker in their corner, panting, eyes wide with horror.
"Didn't you say this was a poem?"
"It's an epic poem. There's always got to be a battle. This is only the first one."
"You mean we have to watch more of this!" Danny made the trio intangible as a beam from the ceiling was shaken loose by the stress of the fighting and crashed to the floor.
"Man, if this goes on every night, no wonder the place looks so beat up. You'd think they'd use steel supports or something."
"This is the Iron Age, Tucker. Iron's precious, and better used for weapons. They don't even know how to make steel. Wood's the easiest material to get and use, and it works for pretty much anything. Except a demon attack."
There was a piercing scream of agony and the building stopped shaking. Grendel was out the door and limping before this could be taken in, and a blood-covered Beowulf staggered to the front of the hall to face its remaining occupants. He raised an arm as tall as himself over his head and yelled in triumph. His men yelled back.
Hrothgar, the king, appeared in the doorway and began a speech of gratitude.
"Mind telling me what we're up against here, Sam? What happens now?"
"Grendel's mom comes back for revenge. Beowulf goes after her, kills her, goes home, becomes king there eventually. Years later he goes out to fight a dragon and ends up dying."
"We're going to have to watch all that?"
"I hope not. Lancer only assigned up to this point."
"And you know the rest how?"
One of the men standing near Danny turned to face him. He had the Ghost Writer's face.
"Time to go..."
A purple fog engulfed them once again.
Please review, so I know how I did with my first book! Next up: Frankenstein