CHAPTER 15
Halvard squinted against the wind and spray as a rocky island came into view in the south. He had expected to feel nervous, but now that the Storm Bringer's lair was in sight, all he felt was a strange kind of resignation. Everything in his life had built up to this moment, and success or failure teetered on the edge of a blade. Halvard had never put much stock in fate or the whims of the gods, and he wasn't about to start now. Whether or not he died here was entirely in his hands. One misstep was all it would take for him to meet an untimely end.
But he had danced on the precipice of life and death many times. This was nothing new.
Uthald rumbled beneath him, a vibration Halvard felt in the soles of his boots and up through his clenched teeth. A fork of lightning split the overcast sky, throwing the crags on the shore into sharp relief for a handful of heartbeats. "Arceus have mercy," Dismas chirped on Halvard's shoulder.
"Wulfric's god can't help us now," the jarl said. "Where we're going, there's only one god that matters."
Uthald adjusted his course and slowly swam up a narrow inlet that reached to nearly the center of the island. Like the fjords back in Rovngalad, the inlet ran deep, with a sharp drop-off only a few feet from the shore. Uthald drew as close to the drop-off as he could, and Halvard jumped down from his perch on the leviathan's skull, splashing to the shore. He took Dismas from his shoulder and set the air aligned down on a nearby boulder. "We've come this far together, lads. But the next steps are ones I ought to take alone." He met each of their eyes in turn, Dismas's wide and inquisitive, Uthald's resolute and cold as flint. "But I need you both ready to fight. Can I count on you?"
Uthald growled low in his throat, and Dismas puffed up his feathers. "That's my boys." Halvard slung one of the stone spears he had made over his shoulder, leaving the rest in a bundle near Dismas's stone. They had stopped on the forested shores of northern Kalos the previous day, where Halvard had hewn the spears from the sturdy branches he found there, affixing them with stone heads he had carried from Rovngalad. He had seen what happened to metal in a thunderstorm, and did not want his fight with the Storm Bringer to end before it had even begun.
Halvard carefully picked his way across the island, keeping his eye on the large crater in the center. Lightning continued to streak across the sky, followed by percussive booms of thunder. Fortunately, the rain was only a fine mist, not enough to make the rocks treacherous. Soon Halvard crested the rise of the central crater and saw the Storm Bringer in all of its glory. The massive bird raised its head and held Halvard's gaze for a long moment.
The beast screamed in anger and indignation, spreading its golden and black wings and beating them furiously. Halvard cringed as its feathers rattled together in mimicry of the thunder above, and the gale from the wingbeats was enough to make him stagger back a pace. "Storm Bringer!" he roared as loudly as he could. "I have need of your power!"
The god screamed again, shooting into the sky. Lightning crackled around it, creating a halo of white and blue light. Bolts scorched the ground near Halvard, and he felt the heat even from several feet away. The stone cracked under the lightning's fury, leaving smaller craters. Halvard began to wish he'd thought of a better plan.
Well, too late for that now.
He threw back his head and roared again, a wordless shout of defiance. Zapdos swooped toward him, and Halvard took off at a sprint, vaulting down the rocks. "Come on, you oversized Fletchinder!" he called. "Hit me with your best shot!" Halvard had a moment of sudden inspiration, and he jumped at a rocky spar just before him. He grabbed on with one hand and pulled himself up to the shelf before running to the highest point he could reach. "Hey!" the jarl shouted, waving his arms. "Over here!"
The Storm Bringer whirled about in the air, finally spying Halvard. As it swooped towards him, Halvard settled his stance and let out a breath. As soon as Zapdos came within range, he hurled his spear, striking the god in its flank, just below the wing joint. The god of thunder howled as the missile found its mark, breaking off its dive and winging up into the air. The lightning around it shone brighter, and Halvard felt his hair stand on end. The wooden spear embedded in the Storm Bringer's side burst, the heat from the lightning causing it to explode.
Halvard jumped from his precipice and took off running again, but not before taking a heartbeat to check that he had actually wounded the god. A spot of crimson blood stained the Storm Bringer's golden feathers, and Halvard couldn't help but feeling a flush of triumph. The gods might be monstrosities powerful beyond his comprehension, but they weren't invulnerable. And that was all he needed to know.
He raced towards the inlet where Uthald and Dismas waited. "Get ready!" he called. "It's coming!" He reached down and scooped up another spear "And it's angry!"
Zapdos shot out over their heads, glowing like a second sun. The Storm Bringer soared out over the ocean before looping back around. Thunder filled the air, echoing the god's furious cry. Uthald shifted his coils and reared up, a white light gathering in his maw. The Storm Bringer unleashed a column of lightning at the Gyarados, but the water aligned answered with a blast of pure energy. The two attacks met and detonated with a boom that drowned out even the thunder. Dismas's feathers bristled as the smoke from the explosion cleared.
Uthald slipped beneath the waves and into the safety of the depths to recover from the attack while Zapdos flew forward drunkenly, listing too far to the left. Halvard turned to Dismas. "Uthald won't be able to save us for a little while. Looks like it's just you and me."
Dismas fluttered his wings and launched into the sky. "Once more to break the shields! Once more and forward!" he screamed as he ascended. "Once more to fight and conquer!"
Halvard couldn't help but admire the Chatot's spirit. He ran back up the rise and waved his arms. "Zapdos! I'm not finished with you yet!"
The Storm Bringer whirled towards his voice and shrieked. Halvard hurled the second spear, a near miss. Zapdos unleashed all of the lightning it had gathered in its feathers, and Halvard barely managed to dive for cover. The exploding stones threw him from his feet and sent him stumbling and off-balance. The Storm Bringer was no longer glowing, and Dismas saw his opportunity to strike.
Stiffening the feathers in his wings, he ascended in a flurry of wingbeats and began to attack the god. Zapdos merely turned in the air and swatted the Chatot away with a contemptuous flick of its wingtips, making Dismas scream in indignation. The Chatot managed to right himself, but Halvard lost him among the roiling storm clouds. He fetched his third spear and climbed to another rise. "Uthald, any time you want to get back up here," he shouted. "I'd certainly appreciate it!"
This time, he waited to cast his spear. He couldn't afford any more misses; once this one was gone, he would have only three left. He ducked into the shadow of a rock formation, out of the Storm Bringer's line of sight. The god of thunder soared up, scanning the ground for the interlopers, but it saw no sign of them. Halvard watched as the giant thunder aligned cruised lower, lower, until finally it landed on the ground just beneath Halvard's vantage point, surveying the rocky crags with its startlingly blue eyes.
Halvard leapt from his hiding place and attacked the beast from above, managing to score a slash just above the Storm Bringer's left eye. Half-blinded, the Zapdos screamed and tried to find Halvard, but the jarl was careful to stay on its left. The bird lunged, and Halvard dropped his spear in his haste to get away, the weapon clattering down the rocks. At that moment, Uthald surged up from the depth, sinking his teeth into the Storm Bringer's right leg. Disoriented and in pain, the Storm Bringer did not even think to lash out with lightning, instead beating at Uthald with its wings until the Gyarados let go and slithered back into the sea. Halvard cringed when he saw that the sea serpent's coils had knocked two of the remaining spears into the depths. Zapdos shot back up into the sky, making the heavens shake with its pain and anger.
A lesser pokemon would have fled to nurse its wounds, but the Storm Bringer was a proud and haughty god, and it would not let an indignity such as this go unpunished. The interlopers had come into its territory, and had gone so far as to wound it. It channeled the power flowing through its veins and rained lightning down on the island. Halvard snatched up the final spear as he ran for cover, sliding over the rain-slick stones as he tried to avoid the Storm Bringer's one-eyed gaze. When the god of thunder passed overhead, Uthald unleashed another blast of white light at its undefended back. The beam went wide, only singeing Zapdos's right wing. Halvard clenched his teeth as he watched Uthald slip back into the darkness beneath the waves to gather his strength again. Until the Gyarados returned, he was on his own with nothing but a single spear and his wits.
It wasn't much, but it would have to be enough.
He flitted from shadow to shadow while the god of thunder whirled overhead, flashes of brilliant light punctuated by echoing booms. Halvard couldn't afford to stay in any one place too long, not with the Storm Bringer's lightning striking everything in sight. It was safer to keep moving, so move he did. As he ran from hiding place to hiding place, he slid on the rocks and tumbled into a crevice. He heard the spear snap, but could see that he was still holding the end with the stone head. Small blessings. Halvard was reasonably sure the Storm Bringer could not see him, but he wasn't about to wager his life on it. The jarl tried to extricate himself and felt a searing pain in his right arm, and only barely managed to bite back a scream.
He could move a few of his fingers, so the arm was not broken, but it was at the very least dislocated. With his spear-throwing arm injured, he would need a new plan. Working as quickly as he could, he climbed out of the crevice, his left hand still clutching the final spear. It was useless to him now, impossible to throw straight, or even with any accuracy. But he felt better having a weapon in his hand.
He tried pushing his shoulder back into its socket, but he couldn't manage it on his own, not with the rhythm of battle hammering in his ears and his body numb with cold. Halvard crept along the rocky shore to the inlet, where he could see Uthald rising to the surface. Zapdos had spotted the Gyarados too, and was beginning to glow as it summoned another blast of lightning. "Uthald, no!" Halvard screamed, knowing it would give away his position, knowing that he didn't care. "Stay down, damn it! Stay down!"
But if the Gyarados heard him, Uthald gave no sign. The serpent burst from the waves with a roar, and the lightning around the Storm Bringer grew blinding. Halvard turned to avert his eyes from what was inevitably going to follow.
A boom louder even than the Storm Bringer's thunder made Halvard stagger back. The blinding flash of lightning never came, and so there was no agonized roar of a dying Gyarados, no stench of charred flesh. The boom sounded again, and this time Halvard raised his eyes skyward. The Storm Bringer was wheeling about in the air, disoriented and confused.
A small dot of green fluttered around the Storm Bringer, and then the sound came again, nearly knocking the god of thunder from the sky. "Dismas!" Halvard gasped, nearly crying from relief. "Dismas, you've saved us all!" He cupped his hands to his mouth. "Keep it up, you mad bastard! We'll win this yet!"
He sprinted down to the water's edge while the Chatot continued to harry the Storm Bringer, keeping it dazed and unable to focus. "It's time to finish this," he panted to Uthald. "I have a plan, and you aren't going to like it." The Gyarados rumbled deep in his throat, large eyes narrowing to slits. "But I need you to trust me." The jarl extended his hand, palm out. "All right?" Uthald inched forward, putting his head against Halvard's hand. Halvard pressed his fingertips against Uthald's scales. "Thank you."
He was sure that by now all of the warriors of Rovngalad had written him off as dead, and if they were not themselves dead already, they soon would be, crushed under Ingmar's superior military might. He had the power to change their fates, to save all of them. He could subdue a god, reclaim his birthright, avenge Runa, save Wulfric, save Svein, save Ragnhildr and Torvald and everyone else. He was the Fool of Rovngalad. He was the rightful king of the north. He would be the first man to tame a god. He had to.
Wulfric was counting on him.
Halvard clutched the broken spear in his left hand. "All right, Uthald. Are you ready to help me pierce the heavens?"
In the air above, Dismas sparred with a god. The Chatot beat his wings furiously, trying to keep up with the Storm Bringer. He fired off a constant barrage of explosive sound, a technique that Ragnhildr and Sigrund had taken pains to teach him. Each burst sent him tumbling head-over-tail feathers through the air, barely giving him time to fill his lungs with air before he had to fire off the next blast. The Storm Bringer's confusion was quickly giving way to anger once again, and Dismas was getting fatigued.
A three note whistle pierced the air, a sound Dismas knew well. It was the tune the shepherds of Rovngalad used to call in the Mareep from the pasture, that Torvald used to summon Dismas and Branna back from an aerial sparring session. That song was a call for pokemon to return, to come back to the sheltering arms of the humans who cared for them. Dismas folded his wings to his sides and dove.
He shot through the air towards the inlet where Halvard and Uthald waited, and the Storm Bringer followed. Dismas spread his wings to increase drag and alight softly on Uthald's crown, where he had expected Halvard to be. The Chatot had barely managed to find his footing before Uthald lurched forward, swinging his coils around and whipping his tail towards the Storm Bringer.
Halvard pressed himself against his partner's tail fin, letting go when it reached terminal velocity and allowing himself to be flung through the air towards the god of thunder. He opened his mouth and screamed as he raised the broken spear in his left hand. Lightning flashed and thunder crashed as he flew through the air, straight at the Storm Bringer.