In the moments leading up to the gate opening, Herleif was beginning to wonder if it was a mistake to allow Ragna to join Priscilla and Skuld on infiltrating the fortress. A capable woman, Ragna, and a capable fighter, but prone to her fits of rage just like any Odin-touched Berserker.
The minutes waiting had passed on into hours, and each time Herleif closed his eyes he could just see Ragna trying to bury one of her axes in the Peacekeeper's skull for some reason or another. It was too late to change things now though, and he would simply need to follow the same advice he had given Judith and have some faith that the three women would succeed.
Then came the loud creaking of gears from the gatehouse, and Herleif lifted his head over the barricade and saw with a great sense of relief that the gates slowly opening.
"Weapons ready!" he shouted, leaping up onto the barricade to rouse his warriors to battle. "We move to attack!"
With a great clamor of steel and hefted shields, his warriors all emerged from their hiding spots behind the deserted buildings of Cinder Mill, a great war cry given up to be carried on the wind over the high walls of the forge to their enemies.
Herleif smiled, watching the gate open more and more. They had done it. A gamble to be sure, but one that had paid off in the end. "Prepare to charge!"
There was the clanking of armor as someone climbed up next to him, and he turned to see Judith ready to lead her own Knights towards the gate. She looked to him and nodded, longsword in hand. He frowned at her but nodded back.
With a point of his sword he roared out his command. "Charge!"
All at once they rushed forward, Vikings and Knights together, the pounding of their feet only matched by the cries of their warlike screams.
Never one to lead from the rear, Herleif bounded up the path to the gate at the head of the charging horde, hearing Judith's armor rattling just beside him as she kept pace. It was something he never would have thought to experience in his life, rushing at an enemy with a Warden by his side, but now he found that he was glad to have her there with him.
It was when they were half way up the path that his determination shifted to panic, surprised to see that the gate was beginning to close again. He saw it sliding shut, but couldn't hear the gears turning for all the stomping feet and mad yells of the warriors rushing up behind him. Even if he had known how, there was no way he would be able to stop all of his warriors from making the charge now that they were so close to the walls and still make it clear of arrow fire in time, leaving only the option of getting there before the gates shut completely.
"Hurry!" he shouted over the cries, putting on a burst of speed to reach the shutting gate in time.
"Come on!" Judith encouraged, pointing her sword up towards the walls just as darkly armored figures appeared between the merlons.
Moments later arrows hissed through the air, followed quickly by the screams of those they struck. Men and women fell shot to the ground, leaving gaps in the crowd where they had stood before being swallowed up like stones thrown into the ocean.
Herleif gave a growl of frustration as he ran for the gate, but just when he began to fear that all hope was lost it began to open again. Whatever was going on up in that gatehouse, he hoped that it would happen just a bit quicker. He was nearly there, heart pounding in his chest, desperate to see his warriors through the gate and into the forge, but it just wasn't opening fast enough.
Running head long at the gap, he held his shield tight against his chest and slipped through. The wind rushed against his face, and suddenly the wall that had loomed up before him was now behind as he passed through the archway of the gatehouse and into the yard beyond. It was only after he was inside and saw the gathered soldiers of the Divine Pyre standing before him that he realized that he may have acted a bit rashly in his haste.
"Shit..." he muttered just as a foot soldier ran at him with a lowered spear.
Knocking the spear point away with his shield, Herleif stepped in and slashed at the soldier's face with his sword. The foot soldier screamed as steel cut into flesh, but there was no time to see if the wound was fatal or just a graze before another came at Herleif from the left, and another, and another behind him.
Herleif blocked and cut, back stepped and stabbed, giving out a roar of challenge as he felled one man only to have take their place.
A Pyre Warden step up and give two quick slashes that knocked against his shield. Herleif snarled, forced backwards by their attack, only to slam back into the fortress wall as the Pyre soldiers closed in around him. With a savage cry he swung out with his sword and shield together, trying to give himself some space. One soldier took the shield's rim to the chin and fell, but the Warden simply blocked Herleif's sword and came again, pressing his advantage to run him through.
Just as Herleif thought he would give up his last gasp of breath on Midgard, the Warden was swept sideways by a shining blade that sheered into his neck. Blood splattered over Herleif's face and helmet, but he was already moving on instinct as he stabbed one surprised foot soldier right through the chest.
A gap was made open for him, and he fought like a cornered animal to be free, severing another soldier's sword hand at the wrist as he pushed into the fray.
There was a flash of white and red with the glimmer of silver steel, and Herleif thumped his shoulder into Judith as the two went back to back together against their foes.
No words were said between them as they pressed up together, one warrior supporting the other. A life time as hated enemies was forgotten in an instant, moving and fighting together as one, Herleif blocking as Judith stabbed, the Lion Flame Commander parrying a sword strike to let the Bilrost Jarl spill the soldier's guts.
Judith shoved a solider away with her shoulder and swiftly struck him down before sidestepping a spear thrust that narrowly missed her head, grabbing the shaft and yanking the wielder close to strike at them with the pommel of her sword. Another Pyre soldier rushed up on her from the side, but Herleif saw and stunned them with a quick headbutt before thrusting his sword into the man's side. The world was a blur of red steel and surging black armor, all of it happening in mere moments as the Pyre came to overwhelm them with their numbers.
Herleif put himself in front of Judith and pushed her back, holding his shield firm against a flurry of hacking blows, not letting anything past but knowing there was no way he could keep it up his defense for long.
"Come to me, you nithing bastards!" he howled, stabbing over the rim of his shield while Judith guarded his flank.
"Brother!" came a loud roar that rose up over the clamor, and Herleif looked to see Gunnar coming through the gatehouse, deadly axe already held in mid swing.
His axe slammed into an oblivious soldier's back, cleaving him from shoulder to waist, and Gunnar quickly grabbed another soldier by the back of the neck before tossing him away like a petulant child. Ragnar appeared behind him, all feral passion as he threw himself at the enemy without care, twin axes cutting a shower of blood in his wake. Helge came after, laughing as she dropped down on all fours and lunged at a screaming man, stabbing at him wildly before going for another.
Herleif beamed at the sight of more Vikings appearing out of the gate, like the Einherjar rushing forth from the halls of Valhalla for the last battle of Ragnarök.
It was just a trickle at first, one or two at a time, but then the trickle turned into a stream, and then a flood of screaming mad warriors. Among them came Marcelo, Coal and the rest of the Lion Flame Knights, standing shoulder to shoulder with the warriors of Valkenheim against the usurpers. A strange sight to see in these strange times, but to Herleif nothing could have been more glorious.
"They did it!" Judith cried out excitedly, leaning against the fortress wall to take a breath as the Pyre soldiers who had hemmed them in were pushed back by the unstoppable horde, giving them a moment's reprieve. "They opened the gate!"
"I never had a doubt." Herleif panted, but gave the Warden a sly grin. He looked about at his warriors that surged in from the gate, watching as they spread out to take on the Pyre Knights who had come to stop them.
"Push them back!" he shouted, thumping his warriors on their backs as they ran passed through the gatehouse to join the fight. Then the terrible hiss of arrows began to rain down on them once again as the Pyre archers upon the ramparts began to fire down into the yard. Herleif quickly diverted the next few warriors to rush in, pushing them towards the stairs to deal with the archers. "Go! Take the ramparts! Cut them all down!"
A hand fell on his shoulder, and he whirled about to find Judith leaning in close, still having to shout to be heard over the battle din.
"The Pyre line is about to break!" she said, pointing with her sword towards the wavering line of Pyre soldier's, and the Bilrost warriors about to overwhelm them. "We need to find the hostages before they are caught up in this!"
"We fight until the forge is ours!" Herleif shouted back at her, not wanting to lose any of their momentum against a weakening enemy.
Judith shook her head, metal gauntlet gripping his shoulder tight. "And will your warriors stop to see who is an enemy and who is innocent?"
Herleif bared his teeth, neither appreciating Judith's insinuation that his warriors would commit mindless murder, but not wishing to hold his warriors back from the task at hand. "My business is finding Chaldeon. You and your Knights are free to do what you must!"
Judith cocked her head as if she wanted to argue, but the sight of movement above her made Herleif look up and found a sight that brought a smile to his lips.
"There!" he shouted, directing Judith's attention above. Up on the ramparts, screaming like warriors of the Allfather's own Wild Hunt, was Ragna, Priscilla and Skuld along with a dozen furious looking women all stabbing and bludgeoning at the archers with pickaxes and shovels. "No need to worry about the hostages it seems. Your task looks to be complete already!"
Judith simply stared up at the group of fighting women, as if witnessing Freya's magnificent Valkyries descend upon the battlefield with her own eyes.
"That cannot be all of them, so there are surely more to find, and I am going to find them," she said, looking back to Herleif. She paused, eyes shining from within her helmet as she lingered. "Normally this is the moment where I would wish that God be with you."
Herleif gave an amused snort.
"Normally I would wish you victory or Valhalla." he grinned.
Judith glanced over to where her Lion Flame Knights were pushing the Pyre back alongside Bilrost Vikings, the two forces fighting together just as she and Herleif had done at the start.
"It is the thought that counts, I suppose," she mused.
They looked at each other for another moment then, and she offered Herleif her hand. He narrowed his eyes at her warily, then gripped her forearm at the elbow while she did the same to him.
"If you die, die well," he said to her, "and I will hope that your Heaven is as much the paradise that you say it is."
Judith nodded, giving his arm a squeeze. "And if you find yourself drinking ale from a goats teat with your gods, make sure you sing about how hard the Lion Flame fought alongside your warriors this day."
"Its mead, not ale," laughed Herleif, squeezing Judith's arm and giving it a shake before they parted. "But perhaps I will sing of your saga to the gods and my ancestors, Commander. It would be an honor."
Judith touched her longsword to her chest as she backed away, then turned just as Marcelo came up to her, and she quickly went with him to give her orders to those who gladly followed where she led.
Herleif was still chuckling as he turned to his own warriors, rather surprised a Knight would know anything at all about the goat Heiðrún and her wonderful teats full of mead.
There were still yet more of his warriors rushing into the fortress, but the arrows had stopped falling from above. The Great Forge was surely theirs, even if the Pyre didn't know it yet. The fight still raged on, and he had no doubt that just like before the Divine Pyre would fight to the last man.
"Gunnar!" he shouted, looking about until his brother appeared from the crowd, gore spattered, and with Coal accompanying him looking equally bloody even despite all the red he wore. Herleif raised a brow at that, knowing Judith would be rallying the rest of the Lion Flame Knights to her cause, but said nothing about see the Conqueror standing with his brother instead. "I have a fortress to claim, brother. Find me Chaldeon, alive."
"It goes against my better nature, but alive it is." Gunnar assured him, then looked to Coal and gave a jerk of his head towards the imposing keep of the fortress where hammers could still be heard ringing over the battle.
Herleif watched them walk off together, silently wondering to himself what sort of future the Lion Flame truly had in store once this raid was finally over. Judith had already expressed her intention to settle in Valkenheim, forsaking Ashfeld for the rest of her days. Whether she and her Knights would live as disgraced exiles, or perhaps indentured servants to Erik was hard to say.
What struck him though was the odd thought that perhaps there was just a small chance they could exist together in peace. Maybe as friends even. But he knew that was a far fetched idea at best. More likely for the Allfather to regrow his missing eye and give up Asgard to the jötunn than for Vikings and Knights to live together as neighbors in harmony. But it was a nice enough thought none the less.
Now was not a time for friendship though, but a time of war.
Gripping his sword tight in his hand, he rolled his shoulders and pushed his way into the crowd of his warriors to head towards the front of the line where the fighting was the fiercest. He wondered how many would be drinking mead from a goat in the Allfather's hall by the end of the day, and no matter how badly he wished to return home to his family he could simply not bear the thought of letting them fight and die while he stood safe at the rear. A Warlord is the shield of his people, and a Jarl doubly so. How could he ask them to lay down their lives to take this fortress, or for Judith's people, if he was not willing to do the same?
"You call this a fight, you sniveling mange-ridden pups?" he called out as he made his way to the front, stepping into the battle line as casually as if joining a table of good friends having a drink. A cheer went up as the Bilrost warriors saw their Jarl joining them, raising his sword and shield with theirs, and gave a cheer of his own as he met the Divine Pyre in a storm of steel and blood. "Lets show these piss-drinkers what a real fight is! Earn your place in Valhalla my brothers and sisters! This day is ours!"
Emboldened by their Jarl's words, the Viking warriors gave a great war cry that drowned out even the most agonizing of screams from their enemy. The call to push rang out through the line, and as one they pressed against the weakening strength of the Pyre as more and more black armored soldiers fell dead at their feet, the bodies left to be trampled beneath the Viking advance.
"Victory or Valhalla!" Herleif shouted, rushing forward with his shield and feeling the soldier in front of him fall beneath the power of his charge. His warriors rushed with him, breaking through the Pyre line like a spear point through chainmail and into the body beneath.