Ongoing Path – The Outlander Universe
By Stargatesg1fan1
Disclaimer: I own nothing of any recognized characters or universes within. I merely play in the worlds and inside the bodies of the characters created by other writers.
Females bonded to Harry Potter in this universe:
Freya is played by Sophia Myles
OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander
709 A.D., Earth, Norway…
When Harry merged with his newest counterpart he found himself with the name Kainan. Kainan was a soldier and settler from a galaxy spanning empire who had crash landed the night before on Earth. The mage awoke and sat up, dispelling the nightmare that had plagued his counterpart. The nightmare had been about Kainan's wife and son, both recently killed by an alien creature called a Moorwen. The same Moorwen had snuck onboard Kainan's ship and hitched a ride off its home-world. Kainan had repaired the faulty internal sensors onboard the ship in-flight only to have the stowaway show up on those sensors. Kainan's comrade Darby had been piloting the craft at the time and had in his terror discharged his weapon into the control console of the spacecraft. Darby had then made the mistake of running out of the flame filled cockpit into a section where the Moorwen had managed to claw through his armored spacesuit.
By that point the inertial dampening systems were working erratically. As the ship began to plummet into the atmosphere of the nearest gravity well the occupants of the vessel were tossed about. As Harry stood and examined the lake he had crashed into, he was quite surprised his counterpart had survived the fall.
"Aristotle," Harry said aloud.
"Yes Sir," the replicat replied as he appeared before his master.
"Begin salvage operations of the crashed vessel. Repair the vessel fully but install a cloaking field generator and cloak the ship," Harry ordered.
"Yes Sir," Aristotle replied, carrying out his master's orders as they were given via directions to more replicats.
Just then Harry heard the emergency beacon giving off its periodic tone. The beacon also contained a few emergency supplies. The sorcerer remote-teleported the object out of the water of the lake to the rocky shore in front of his position. The mage laid his hand upon the beacon unit and downloaded its contents into his archives via a nanite link. According to the beacon archives Earth was an abandoned seed colony. Some paper-pusher in the empire had likely lost interest in maintaining the colony after a few hardships the colonists might have suffered. The beacon also had the ability to download the local language, Norse, into the possessor's mind but Harry didn't need that feature. The Empire's neural interface technology was optically based and quite painful. The deity already knew Norse along with every language on Earth. Harry's universal translation systems were second to none throughout the multi-verse.
Harry telekinetically retrieved the plasma weapon from the beacon systems and analyzed the design.
"Highly inefficient," the fey observed as his powerful mind analyzed the design now stored in his database. "I think I'll stick with my gauntlet," suggested the warlock as his gauntlet activated into his hand.
"A wise course Sir," Aristotle agreed. "Especially given the upgrades you've made to the gauntlet in recent years."
Through his travels Harry had continued to tinker with the gauntlet design even though his personal power was beyond anything he would likely ever need to meet most any challenge. Each of the systems on the gauntlet had gone through an enhancement utilizing a micro-wormhole generator like that used in the miniature stargate network the fey and his wives utilized for pleasure. The plasma repeater now could fire energy constructs ranging in size from those used by Anubis's Kull warriors to blasts the size fired by a Goa'uld Ha'tak. Likewise, the gauntlet could project an Asgard variant plasma beam and an anti-ship green beam like was utilized in the Alteran defense satellites. Additionally, the Gauntlet was capable of remote teleporting a virtually endless stream of upgraded Ancient-drone weapons constructed within the pocket dimension that contained most of its technology. A redundant system of shield generators greater than Atlantis-class responded to the bearer's mental direction to protect the bearer or whatever he decided in a volume of space encompassing a planet the size of Earth.
Harry had miniaturized quite a few of the systems onboard one of his powerful cruisers and incorporated them into his Gauntlet thanks to pocket dimension technology. Even without all of his divine powers the fey could still save or destroy worlds with the power in the palm of his hand.
The sorcerer cast a flame energy matrix at the deceased Darby, cremating the pilot in the fashion of his people. As light began to appear on the horizon, the fey rose into the air. Harry didn't have to fly for more than a half hour at a sedate pace before he came upon signs of human habitation. A Norse village, decimated by what was obviously a Moorwen greeted the wizard's gaze. A whale's carcass showed that the former occupants of the village hunted the aquatic creature for sustenance. The invisible deity touched down in the village and levitated a sword off the ground. The forged steel was bent at many angles, a feat that took great force.
"Do you wish to know the Moorwen's location Sir?" Aristotle queried, having tracked the creature and curious as to why his creator wasn't putting the beast down.
"Not yet, Aristotle," Harry answered. "Study the creature for now. It's the last of its kind. Despite what the Empire may have done I'm not eager to finish the job they started."
The Empire had exterminated the Moorwen's entire race or so they had thought. A single beast had survived and come to seek revenge on a settlement that had included Kainan's family. The extermination was all for some prime real estate. A world close to the heart of the Empire had only been ignored for so long for colonization because of the native creatures living there. Harry would observe the Moorwen for a little while before deciding what to do with it.
"It is no longer the last of its kind Sir. The Moorwen just spawned a single offspring," Aristotle informed his creator.
"Interesting," the mage mused as he heard a human heartbeat approaching on horseback.
The deity saw a man, a Viking to be exact, ride into the village and look around. Witnessing the destruction the Viking, a man named Wulfric, rode on. Harry flew behind the mortal as Wulfric headed towards another nearby intact village. This village was surrounded by wooden walls. Bustling with activity, the village's gates opened at Wulfric's approach.
"Well this is a quaint little universe isn't it…rather boring," Padme observed as she popped into existence next to her husband, invisible to the mortals in the village of Heorot below.
"They can't all be as exciting as your native universe dear," Harry amusedly observed.
"Clearly," Padme replied. "Apparently the beings can't all be as well bathed either," the many times Queen of Naboo pointed out while wrinkling her cute nose. "I can smell that Wulfric fellow from clear up here. He smells worse than he looks."
Harry chuckled and pointed out, "In his defense you do have senses heightened to near-deity levels."
"That's beside the point…he still smells," Padme pointed out primly. "And I think I see my future sister-wife," added the woman from Naboo while directing her gaze towards the main hall of the village.
"I see her too," the mage confirmed while peering through the walls of the structure.
An attractive young woman was sparring against an older man who appeared to be her father if his DNA was anything to go by.
"That's Erika's counterpart," Padme observed.
"Without the vampirism," Harry confirmed.
"Hmm…I wonder how that affects her taste," Padme mused.
Harry turned his head and stared at his wife.
"What?" Padme innocently asked. "Do I have something on my face?"
The beauty knew very well the effect her statement had on her husband.
"Stop teasing me wench," Harry growled.
"But it's so fun," Padme rebutted with a grin. Harry pointed at his mate and sent a pleasure bolt screaming into her body. Padme's orgasm was tremendous and would have knocked her out of the air if not for her husband's telekinetic assistance. "Mmmm…and so was that," the witch purred as she recovered from her ecstasy.
The two immortals turned their attention back to the sparring father and daughter.
"Wulfric will be a good man. Perhaps with you by his side a good king," the current king of the village, Hrothgar, declared as he hammered at his daughter with his blade.
"He's a butcher and a tyrant, just like his father," Freya, Erika's counterpart, rebutted as she parried her father's blows and struck back, kicking him against the opposite wall. "I won't marry him."
As the pair locked their blades Hrothgar advised, "Then you had best choose someone else soon, because, when Wulfric is king, it will be too late to say no my daughter."
"Then don't make him King," Freya replied as she broke the blade lock.
In her anger the red haired woman charged and earned a slash on her shoulder in response. The pair dropped their blades.
"Let me look at that," Hrothgar said.
"It's fine," Freya argued.
"Let me see it," Hrothgar instructed. The aging king retrieved a bucket of clean water and a cloth and started to clean the shallow cut. "I'm not getting any younger Freya. I just want to make sure you are well looked after when I am gone."
"I know father," Freya assured her sire while tapping his hand.
"And if anyone can make Wulfric keep the peace, by the gods it is you," Hrothgar pointed out.
Just then the moment was broken as the door to the hall was opened by Wulfric.
"So, I rule Harad and Freya rules me," Wulfric declared, having overheard some of the conversation at the end. "I don't think so. And no queen of mine may fight like a man." Freya just looked at Wulfric in disgust and began to walk past him. The thuggish Viking held up the blade he had picked up from where Hrothgar had set it earlier. "I will take care of you," Wulfric informed Freya.
The redhead pushed the blade out of the way and walked out of the hall.
"She is fiery and spirited just like her mother," Hrothgar declared. "You would do well to tread more cautiously with her."
"There is nothing soft about Freya," the somewhat dejected Wulfric declared as he tossed the blade aside. "Gunnar's village was sacked. I don't know what happened. There were no bodies and too much blood for slavers. Gunnar is still trading with the Ruse so he wasn't there. He'll be back before the snow falls."
"Gunnar will think we sacked his village," Hrothgar concluded.
"It should have been us," Wulfric grumbled.
"Was it?" Hrothgar questioned, knowing Wulfric's penchant for blood.
"No, we would have displayed the bodies," Wulfric pointed out.
"It wasn't human that took out that village," Harry declared from the open doorway of the hall.
Wulfric drew a battle axe and Hrothgar retrieved his discarded blade with the speed of warriors.
"Who are you and how did you get in here?" Hrothgar demanded, knowing the sentries should have spotted an intruder.
"I am a dragon hunter," Harry replied, deciding to call the Moorwen a dragon because that was the closest reference these people would understand.
"He lies. It was him who attacked Gunnar's village," Wulfric decided before charging the apparently unarmed man.
When he was within striking distance Wulfric feinted left before striking quickly towards the right with the flat of the axe, intending to knock the intruder out for interrogation. The sorcerer's hand shot up and grasped the axe by the hilt in a grip that was immovable. Wulfric stared in surprise for a moment before the dark haired intruder's fist connected with his head. The current heir to Harad's throne went down like a dropped sack of potatoes, completely unconscious.
Despite the situation Hrothgar was impressed. Wulfric was an able warrior and this stranger had taken the young man out with no weapon and no apparent effort.
"You won't find me so easy to subdue stranger," Hrothgar warned while tightening his grip on his weapon.
"I'm sure," Harry answered with a grin. "But that is assuming I desired to fight you. I do not. My name is Harry and I would like to talk."
Hrothgar peered intently at the mysterious Harry and tried to judge the self proclaimed dragon hunter's truthfulness. This Harry appeared earnest enough so the king sheathed his blade.
"Very well," Hrothgar said. "I will hear you out. Take a seat," the king added while gesturing towards a seat.
Harry sat in the hand crafted chair across from the king.
"I am from far away. My people call the dragon a Moorwen. It draws its prey in with light it emits from its body in the darkness. The Moorwen kills men, beasts, everything living and smells like death. It stowed away on my ship and killed my crew. We crashed on these lands and the Moorwen escaped. The Moorwen claims a territory and unfortunately I think your village is part of that territory," Harry explained.
"That is an interesting claim," Hrothgar said after several moments of thought. It was obvious the man across from him was an able warrior. There was an air of mystery about this Harry too. Either this man was lying, insane, or truthful. Hrothgar thought it prudent to determine which before acting rashly. "If this Moorwen does come calling then I will consider your counsel and accept your friendship. Until then I would like you to stay as my guest," the king proposed before summoning his daughter.
Freya stepped into the hall to see an unconscious Wulfric lying near the door while her father sat across from a handsome stranger.
"You called father?" Freya inquired.
"Freya, this is Harry. He is to be my guest for now. Please show him where he can sleep," Hrothgar requested.
"What happened to Wulfric?" Freya couldn't help but asking.
"He attempted to attack first and Harry did not take kindly to that approach," Hrothgar explained.
As he stood Freya's gaze swept over the dark haired stranger's form with new appreciation. Freya definitely liked what she saw. The red haired woman showed the mage to a room where he could sleep.
"Are you hungry?" Freya inquired.
"I could eat," the fey replied.
Freya expediently retrieved a pot of some stew from the nearby kitchens and placed it on the fire that Harry had started in the pit in the center of the room. The woman then served the warrior a bowl of the stew while giving him a warm smile.
"Aren't you going to join me?" Harry asked.
"I will eat when you are finished," Freya explained.
"Barbaric times," Padme muttered from her spot on the bed beside her man.
"Nonsense, come eat with me," the god urged as he served up a bowl of the stew for Freya and handed it to her.
"Thank you," Freya said as she accepted the bowl and sat upon a bench across from Harry, realizing this mysterious warrior was not like other men. After several moments of silence and several spoonfuls of stew Freya inquired, "So where do you come from?"
"Very far away from a land you've never heard of," the mage replied.
"Fine, if you don't want to tell me that then what brings you here?" Freya questioned.
"My ship crashed on these shores due to a fierce creature my people call a Moorwen hiding away on my ship," Harry replied.
"I've never heard of a Moorwen," Freya said curiously.
"A Moorwen most closely resembles what your people call a dragon," the god clarified.
"You're serious," Freya probed in surprise, her eyes wide with astonishment.
"The Empire I come from was hungry for land. When we discovered a new land we found it populated by these Moorwen. The Moorwen were fierce creatures so the leadership of my peoples convinced themselves the Moorwen were just animals, beasts. We denied their intelligence and wiped out as many as we could detect with fire. The Moorwen we missed with fire we hunted ruthlessly and destroyed from a distance with our machines; very advanced machines," Harry explained.
"You obeyed your King's orders and didn't have a choice," Freya tried reassuring the handsome man.
Harry must have let slip some of the discomfort he felt with the tale. Kainan's inherited emotions were very strong on this topic and the warlock needed to sift through them.
"A person always has a choice in what action they take," Harry asserted. "My people colonized this new land. As part of my compensation I was given a place on this new land for my family and I to live. I hoped I could forget what acts I had committed to get this new home but I was fooling myself. I had to leave my family to go on a voyage for my leaders. I thought they were safe. Again I was wrong. Three weeks later I received the news that a Moorwen had managed to survive undetected. It got into our colony and slaughtered everyone."
Emotionally upset at the story Freya said, "It was the will of the gods…the destiny laid out to your people."
"We make our own destiny Freya," the god assured the woman. "And most of the gods do not involve themselves in the affairs of mortals."
"I will be right back," Freya assured as she rose quickly and left the room. The redhead was back quickly and unveiled a sword from cloth. "This is a king's sword. It has been passed down through my family line for generations. My father gave it to me and told me that one day I would know the man to give it to, a good man. Freya passed the sword to the warrior and closed his hands around it with hers. "If you truly believe you write the tale of your own life then the end is up to you and I for one look forward to seeing it."
"She's certainly smitten with you," Padme informed her husband.
"Gee, I couldn't tell," the mage replied sarcastically. Aloud the warrior proposed, "How about we see if you fare better against me than your father."
A grin stole over the woman's face, surprised and delighted this warrior would deem her worthy of a spar, and replied, "I would love to."
The duo spent the remaining hours of daylight sparring. The fey stayed at just above human levels of reflex and speed. Freya quickly realized she was outmatched.
"Would you show me some of these techniques you are employing," Freya requested.
"I'd be delighted to," the mage agreed.
Freya found she enjoyed Harry's teaching methods very much. The woman was constantly being touched and embraced as her instructor came up behind her and physically positioned her body in the pose he desired to obtain the proper form. Several times Freya thought she felt his manhood pressing against her body but thought no man could be that impressive. The warrior's musky scent was invigorating to the woman and set her loins atingle with heat.
"Share a meal with me again please," Freya requested after the training had ended.
"Of course," Harry agreed.
Only partway through the meal the warlock abruptly stopped his end of the conversation while glancing towards the perimeter of the village.
"What is it?" Freya queried.
"The Moorwen, it's here," the god announced while standing and drawing the blade Freya had gifted him.
Moments later the watch horn was blown, signaling an attack. Already several of the watch guards had been killed.
"I'll alert my father," Freya suggested.
"Take the path to the left. The Moorwen is on the right," Harry instructed, his tone confident and brooking no disagreement.
"How can you possibly know that?" Freya demanded.
Harry turned his gaze upon the woman. Freya could swear she saw the gorgeous warrior's eyes flash green for a moment.
"I know much information you might learn the origin of with time. Now go," the deity ordered as he ran out the door and disappeared into the shadows.
Harry caught up with the beast as it prepared to attack an older man who had just run into his home in order to retrieve his blade. The immortal blurred forward with a burst of super-speed greater than even a Kryptonian could have managed and caught the Moorwen's highly prehensile and deadly tail before the appendage could spear through the mortal within the nearby structure.
The Moorwen was somewhat intelligent and recognized one of the creatures that had brought it to this world after having wiped out its race. She, for the Moorwen was female, also recognized that this creature was different than before. The two-leg was now a predator. The Moorwen had just enough time to process this fact before it was whipped by its tail through the air, over the wall of the village. The creature snarled as it struggled to its feet swiftly after recovering its breathe. The two-leg had leapt over the wall and was striding towards the Moorwen with death in its eyes and demeanor. The Moorwen recalled how swiftly this particular two-leg's people had dealt death to her race. She chose to turn and run in order to come up with a better method of attack. She would pick off the weaker ones in ones or twos without facing the two-leg from the stars.
Harry let the Moorwen go for now and turned his attention back to the village. Already Hrothgar and Wulfric had discovered the two dead watch guards the Moorwen hadn't had the opportunity to claim as its prize. The fey could hear the men convincing themselves that this was a bear attack even though no mere bear could have scaled the village walls. The sorcerer would not try to dissuade the men of their notion for now. They would see the truth of the matter soon enough.
Freya found the warlock as he reentered the village.
"What happened? Where's the Moorwen?" The redhead asked, believing the handsome man's story because he had that earnest demeanor about him.
Freya considered herself a good judge of character and nothing about Harry suggested duplicity in the matter of the Moorwen. Yes there was much the man was not saying but she was not concerned about it.
"I fought the Moorwen off. It might return at some point but not tonight. Your father and Wulfric think this was a bear attack," the mage explained.
"I tried telling him it was the Moorwen but he didn't believe it," Freya explained.
"He doesn't want to believe it," Harry pointed out.
"They'll go hunting for a bear tomorrow then," Freya surmised. "Will you go with them?"
"Of course," Harry assured.
"I'm glad. I have things to see to before then. Goodnight Harry," Freya said.
"Goodnight Freya," Harry replied as he watched the woman walk off.
Hrothgar doubled the guard for the remainder of the night but the Moorwen did not return.
The next morning Harry spotted a small blonde boy hiding around the corner of a nearby home nibbling on a hunk of bread.
"He's a cute thing if not a bit scruffy," Padme observed. "Erick is his name and he's an orphan. He's very curious about you."
"You've gotten better about your use of telepathy," Harry told his mate.
"I don't know if I'd call it better. But I see your point of view now," Padme replied.
Padme had been hesitant to read minds freely because she considered it a violation of a being's rights. But Padme had no intention of using the information she gained from the boy's mind to harm him, quite the opposite.
Turning to look at the boy Harry amusedly watched the lad try to hide. The wizard stepped around the corner and looked directly at the short youth.
"Hello there," Harry greeted. Erick didn't say anything in response but the lad had learned to keep silent around adults. "Try this," the fey suggested as he produced a chocolate bar wrapped in newly conjured cloth from his fur coat.
"You're going to make his day," Padme told her husband as Erick hesitantly accepted the chocolate and took a nibble.
Erick's face lit up in a wide grin and Harry had to suppress a grimace at the state of the boy's teeth. Luckily the chocolate bar had also been laced with medical nanites. The nanites would repair any flaws in the boy's health. The sorcerer sensed Freya observing him and she made herself known at this time.
"Harry," Freya said as she stepped around the corner.
"Good morning Freya. I was just talking with my young friend here," the warlock greeted.
Freya half smiled. She knew Erick didn't talk much, not since his parents had died.
"Good morning," the redhead greeted.
"Would you like to try some chocolate?" Harry asked as he produced another bar of freshly conjured chocolate, this one laced with a special kind of crème.
Freya took the offered treat and sampled it. Upon the first bite Freya moaned and experienced a small orgasm while her taste buds signaled to her brain to be very happy with the chocolate.
"This is amazing," Freya declared. "Run along Erick. Harry has been requested to attend a meeting with my father."
Erick scampered off but not without accepting a red confection from the tall warrior.
"He'll love licorice," Padme observed.
OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander
Harry entered the hall just as the village's smith, Boromir, declared, "It was Frankish raiders. They climbed over the wall and…"
"And what Boromir," Wulfric interrupted. "We all saw Beuen's body. He was clawed to death. It was an animal."
"No, this was the hand of Satan. We are being punished because you buried King Hulgar like a Pagan, not a Christian," the local priest announced.
"That's definitely a difference in this universe. Most universes didn't have Christian priests in this region in this century," Padme observed after having perused her multi-verse spanning database.
"My father was a Viking and worshipped Odin, not some woodworker nailed to a cross," Wulfric declared as he got in the priest's face and took hold of the cross around the holy man's neck. "I'll be damned if it was anything but a bear."
"My daughter tells me you think last night's attack was the work of your Moorwen, outlander," Hrothgar announced.
"I will not waste my words trying to convince you of what I know to be true. You believe in the old gods yet you do not believe when presented with a demon like those out of the old myths. Persist in insisting the attack was carried out by a bear all you want. Soon enough you will see the Moorwen that plagues this realm with your own eyes," Harry said.
"We will hunt down this bear or whatever killed our sentries. You will come with us," Hrothgar declared.
Harry simply inclined his head in agreement. Horses were prepared for the hunt.
When he was presented with a mount Harry said, "That will not be necessary. I have my own ride."
The warlock whistled loudly and seconds later a black stallion burst through the open gateway of the village. Aristotle was resplendent in equine form. Harry vaulted to his companion's back with little effort.
"Where's your saddle?" Hrothgar asked as he steered his mount closer to the outlander while eying the recently arrived mount.
"I don't need one," Harry asserted.
The god could fly and manipulate his position with a variety of powers at his disposal. There was no way he would fall off of Aristotle's back unless the wizard wished it. The band of hunters rode out of the village and into the woods in search of their prey. Boromir rode up to Harry at one point and held out that century's version of a flask. This wine skin was the body of a baby lamb or goat with the head cut off. The legs were still attached.
"Take a swig or two of this. It will cure everything from sores in the gut to a broken heart," Boromir declared with a laugh.
Harry quickly wove an illusion around himself to make Boromir think he had taken a drink.
"That's good mead," Harry declared. "Thank you."
"No problem. I just wanted to warn you to be careful around Freya. She once stuck me with a fork here," the smith explained while pointing to a spot near his elbow. "I got a bit too frisky when I was drinking."
"I don't think that will be a problem for me," Harry assured.
"Fair enough," Boromir agreed before urging his mount on to the front of the hunting party.
Hrothgar rode up alongside the outlander at that point, a smile of amusement at Boromir's antics plain on his lips.
"Boromir does like his drink. I doubt that will ever change," Hrothgar announced. "My people trade in every direction for a thousand miles except for north. There is nothing there."
"There is if you look far enough," Harry asserted.
"I'll have to take your word for it. But what brings a man from so far north to these seas?" Hrothgar queried.
"My people have an outpost near here," Harry replied.
Hrothgar had been told much of the outlander's account from Freya.
"Is that outpost where this Moorwen snuck onboard your ship?" Hrothgar probed.
"Yes…and it did to my village the same thing it did to Gunnar's village," Harry confirmed. "My crew and I were transporting the bodies back to our homeland for burial and that was when the Moorwen must have boarded."
"Hold up," Wulfric called at that moment from the head of the party, diverting Hrothgar's attention.
Harry and Hrothgar joined Wulfric at the front and dismounted.
"The bear came this way. The tracks have been distorted somewhat by many animals since. We need to split up and search away from the main trail," Wulfric suggested after examining animal remains.
"The Moorwen will easily pick us off one by one," Harry pointed out.
"We'll go in pairs then," Hrothgar decided. "You can go with the outlander Wulfric."
Boromir and Hrothgar paired up. Harry had a replicat watching over the two men because he liked them both. The pair located a trail of blood strewn over the leaves on the ground and followed it on foot. Their horses were voicing their protest at whatever the animals could sense but the two men ignored the sounds. Hrothgar led the way with spear at the ready into a clump of fallen trees and overgrowth. The two men suddenly heard a high pitched pinging sound and noticed drops of blood dripping onto the metal point of Hrothgar's spear. Suddenly a severed horse head dropped out of the trees above, causing the pair of men to jump back in fright.
Some distance away two of the members of the hunting party, men who Harry really didn't know, had discovered a clump of other remains at the entrance to a cave. Meanwhile Harry and Wulfric were at the edge of the lake where the sorcerer's ship had crashed.
"A bear wouldn't do this," Wulfric concluded while kneeling and examining the blood stains from the mage's copilot.
"Get away from the water Wulfric," Harry instructed as he stared at the younger of the two Moorwen swimming in the lake just beneath where Wulfric was crouched.
Just then a man's scream could be heard off in the distance issuing from the forest. The two warriors raced to their mounts and sped towards where the scream had come from. As they arrived the body of one of the two men who had discovered the cave was tossed out of the cave mouth like a rag doll, his throat slashed. Wulfric followed by Harry rushed into the cave as Hrothgar and Boromir road up. The bear came out of the darkness and swiftly knocked Wulfric aside with a swipe of its paw. Hrothgar charged into the cave past Harry and jammed his spear into the bear's gut, breaking the front half of the spear off. The angry bear knocked the ruler aside just as it had his heir.
Just as the bear was about to finish Hrothgar off, Harry stepped in front of the downed king. With a powerful swipe of the sword gifted to him by Freya Harry beheaded the Kodiak.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked Hrothgar while pulling the king to his feet.
"Yes, I just got the wind knocked out of me," Hrothgar assured.
A quick scan of the king proved this assessment. Wulfric and the others drug the headless bear out of the cave.
"Now that's definitely a bear," Boromir declared, causing the group of men to laugh.
Hrothgar exchanged a look with his heir before declaring, "Outlander, fanciful you may be but you are a true warrior. Let us celebrate!"
OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander
Harry found fur clothes waiting for him in his size when he returned to his quarters after the hunt.
"I like the look but not the smell," Padme commented. "Try these instead."
The witch had conjured an identical outfit which was made of fresh synthetic fur and which fit her man perfectly.
"Thank you," Harry replied as he donned the outfit.
When he entered the dining hall several minutes later the entire assembly quieted and turned to look at the outlander.
Boromir stood and cheered, "Harry!"
The long drawn out cheer was quickly joined by the voices of everyone in the hall with the exception of Wulfric and a smiling Hrothgar. The king waved the outlander to join him. Many of the village men smacked the mage on the back in congratulations as he approached the head table.
"Be my guest tonight," Hrothgar invited. "Daughter, Harry needs some drink," the King called to Freya. As Freya poured a cup of mead Hrothgar declared, "Now you look like a Viking. Doesn't he Freya?"
"Perhaps," Freya agreed as she glanced admiringly over the outlander's form. "Perhaps he looks like something else."
"Nobody cooks this better than my kitchen," HHrothgar said appreciatively as a cow's head was set on the table in front of the two warriors. "Eat."
"Thank god I can vanish this crap before it even touches me," Harry told his wife who was hovering nearby and observing the Viking feast.
"You still have to pick it up to make it look like you're eating," Padme pointed out.
"No I don't," the sorcerer assured as he layered his grasp in a telekinetic barrier and used that same telekinesis to pick up the beef.
Just then the King caught a small hand attempting to reach up from under the table for food.
"What's this?" Hrothgar asked as he pulled Erick from under the table. "Creeping into shield hall uninvited," the king said without any real malice. "Off you go boy."
"Wait…why did you come in here Erick? Are you hungry?" Harry inquired.
Erick shook his head in the negative and instead looked at the mage's sword in its sheathe.
Chuckling Hrothgar answered, "He wants to see the sword that killed the bear."
Harry drew the sword and handed it to Erick, saying, "You can see it but bring it back shortly and don't damage it."
Nodding agreement the blonde boy hurried off with the blade.
"His parents were killed by raiders a year ago," Hrothgar explained sadly. "We take care of our own. The boy will be fine."
One of the hunters from down the table threw down a drink horn and roared, "Shield."
Hrothgar chuckled as others took up the call.
"Shields it is," Hrothgar declared.
Men rushed to pull shields off the walls. They formed an ellipse around the main table and held their shields up so that the surfaces formed a circuit around the ellipse. Wulfric climbed up onto the tables.
"You," Wulfric declared while indicating Harry with the tip of a dagger.
"Harry, Harry, Harry," the villagers chanted while clapping.
Harry removed his coat while Wulfric stepped up onto one of the shields, keeping his balance as the shield wobbled. The god followed suit, having no trouble maintaining his balance with his advanced physiology. The deity decided against using his flight abilities. Wulfric had to be given some chance.
"And how does this game work now?" Harry questioned.
"Follow me," answered Wulfric before he started walking slowly and carefully from one shield to the next, the shield's holder attempting to keep the shield stable.
Harry walked from shield to shield without trouble.
"Let's pick up the pace," Harry called before he began going faster around the circuit.
Wulfric also went faster as well.
Harry heard a surprised Freya say to her father, "The outlander is good."
"Care to wager some gold?" Hrothgar tempted.
After several moments of pause Freya replied, "No one beats Wulfric at shields."
As the two competitors ran around the circuit Wulfric upped the ante by grabbing a horn of alcohol and tossing it back. Harry followed suit.
"Now you try this," Wulfric challenged before bracing himself and running over several shields before doing a front flip across a gap in the next portion of the circuit.
"Are you ready for this Boromir?" Harry asked after gauging it was Boromir's shield he would land on.
Boromir downed a cup of mead before replying, "I am now."
Looking down, the mage told the person holding the shield he was standing on, "Brace yourself."
Moments later Harry gave a powerful leap and flipped through the air twice rapidly before landing on Boromir's shield solidly. There was stunned silence for several moments before a loud cheer rose up from the observers. Wulfric knew when he was beat.
"A draw then," Wulfric proposed.
Harry decided to accept the draw with a nod to allow Wulfric to save face. After the game of shields the sorcerer stepped outside to get a breath of fresh air. He approached the water pool in the town square and saw his reflection inside.
"What brings you outside during a celebration Freya?" Harry inquired without turning his back to look, startling the approaching beauty.
"I wanted to thank you for saving my father's life and bringing him back to me safely. I heard Boromir's tale of what you did today," Freya explained.
"Your father is a good man. I wasn't about to let him get killed by a bear," Harry assured.
Harry sat down on the edge of the pool and Freya approached it to look inside.
"All the women are talking about you," Freya informed the warrior. With a smile of amusement as well as many other emotions Freya added, "They say you are from a place far beyond the ice. I heard one say…from the home of the gods."
"And what do you think about that Freya?" Harry probed.
"I think…she was a little drunk," Freya replied.
"You should have a little more faith," Harry said before switching topics. "The villagers all think it was the bear that killed your two watch guards. It wasn't the bear."
"I believe you. I believe it was the Moorwen you spoke of to me before," Freya assured, trusting the mysterious man for some reason she couldn't quite put her finger on.
Just then Harry looked to the walls of the city.
"Guards, get down," the god shouted to the two guards nearest the attacking force with such intensity and magic laced into his tone that the guards immediately dropped down and narrowly avoided receiving arrows to the guts. "Rouse your people," Harry instructed Freya while turning to face one of the attackers that had managed to get within the walls and was charging at the fey.
Padme telekinetically deflected the arrows which got too close to Freya as the mortal woman ran towards the hall. Harry caught his attacker's sword by the blade and with a grin delivered a swift blow to the head that saw the mortal fall unconscious within a second. As other invaders opened the gates and let in a flood of enemy warriors, the villagers rushed from the hall ready to meet the invaders in battle. Harry was standing right in the middle of the two opposing forces.
Harry faced the invaders and opened his mouth. What issued from the warlock's mouth was a terrible screech so deafening the invaders immediately dropped their weapons and clamped their hands over their ears. When several attempted to regain their weapons Harry intensified the sonic bombardment granted by the mutant and meta-human powers of both Banshee and Black Canary. The front line of enemy warriors was thrown back into the lines behind it. The enemy forces rapidly scrambled to flee the way they just came in.
When the last invader had fled Harry closed his mouth and turned to face the stunned villagers he had just dined with.
"What are you?" Hrothgar asked.
"Are you a god?" Freya added.
"I'm a friend. Those people attacked because they think you slaughtered their villagers. I passed through their village on the way here. It was no bear but a Moorwen that did that. What we killed today was not what killed your sentries. I hope you'll take me more seriously now," Harry explained.
Hrothgar nodded his agreement slowly.
"How can we defend against the Moorwen?" Freya asked solemnly, looking the man she had befriended with a whole new outlook.
"Well the Moorwen is in a strange land and will probably use the cover of darkness to hunt and attack. It will rely on picking us off in smaller groups or alone if it can. I suggest we all sleep in the hall. It will be less likely to attack us together at night. I can fend it off if I see it. I've already sent it running once. No guards should be on the walls either. The Moorwen has a long whip-like tail that it can use to skewer other creatures."
"Everyone into the hall," Hrothgar ordered before beckoning over several men whom he ordered to collect furs for sleeping in a group so the Moorwen would be less likely to attack them.
"Hrothgar," Gunnar shouted, his voice carrying even from the edge of the forest.
The king made for the city wall above the gate and several of his men followed. Harry stayed at an equal distance from the hall where the villagers were getting settled and the king stood, able to reach either place easily if the Moorwen came. But the deity's senses were currently extended to encompass the whole village and so he would know when the beast came. Padme, sitting while floating in the air next to her husband, had her senses extended further so that his adventure wasn't ruined by too much foreknowledge. It was enough excitement for the witch just being in another universe.
When he saw Hrothgar, Gunnar demanded, "Where's my wife? Where is my boy? You didn't even leave me their bodies. You may be protected by that…thing…but I'll find some way to carve your rotting heart out of your chest!"
"This is the man you want to make peace with," Wulfric said to Hrothgar before spitting into the wind.
The villagers were getting settled down in the hall shortly after.
"You should get some sleep Harry," Hrothgar urged. "My men will keep watch and wake you if something occurs."
"That is quite alright Hrothgar. I do not actually require sleep although I may enjoy it if I wish," Harry assured.
"I see," Hrothgar replied, amazed at another revelation of one of the Outlander's abilities.
"You should rest Hrothgar," Harry urged, his voice layered with arcane energy and causing the mortal to desire sleep.
The rest of the mortals with the exception of one within the hall felt sleep and soon drifted off.
"That was quite a display you put on earlier with Gunnar and his men," Freya said as she took a seat beside the mage while he gazed out the window at the starry sky.
"Why is there such animosity between Gunnar and your father?" Harry inquired.
"King Halgar, Wulfric's father, called all the tribes together for a raid on the Francs. Gunnar never showed. There was an ambush and Halgar was killed. Wulfric thinks Gunnar betrayed his father. And now I'm sure Gunnar thinks his village was sacked in revenge," Freya explained.
"Gunnar thinks Wulfric will attack near dawn," Padme informed her husband while listening in on the bald man's meeting held in the forest.
"Wulfric might have tried, which is one reason I put him and the others to sleep," the god pointed out.
"And what is another reason?" Padme asked with a knowing smile.
"More time spent alone with Freya means more time to woo her," Harry replied.
Padme was amused at her husband's actions. When he had first started off into the multiverse he would seduce a woman within hours of meeting her on some occasions. On other occasions the green eyed god would take days or longer to seduce his future bride. Apparently this would be a universe that required days. Even now the deity could take the blonde princess with everyone else asleep. But Padme did admit to herself that a hall crowded with people whatever their conscious state wasn't exactly ideal for a woman to lose her virginity in. Padme's inner musings were interrupted as she sensed Gunnar's men being attacked by one of the Moorwen.
"What was that?" Freya asked as the sound of the death cries of Gunnar's men was heard even in the village of Heorot.
"Death," Harry answered as he stood. "Rouse your father and the other men please. I think we're going to have company soon," the sorcerer urged as he stood and strode towards the hall's large double doors.
Even though he had only been talking with Freya for around an hour the people of Heorot would feel well rested when the blonde roused them from their enchanted slumber. Harry threw open the doors as Hrothgar came running up.
"What's going on?" Hrothgar demanded.
"The Moorwen is attacking Gunnar and his men," Harry explained. "Come, I'll show you."
The mage led the way with Hrothgar and several of his warriors following behind up to the village wall above the gates. Harry touched the side of the king's head and Hrothgar became instantly aware of a new component to his vision.
"How is this possible?" Hrothgar questioned.
"You can see body heat," Harry replied.
"What is going on?" Wulfric asked his king.
Moments later Hrothgar's features grew alarmed and he shouted, "Open the gates. Hold you fire," the man added to the archers.
"It's a trick," Wulfric objected.
"Damn it man…do as I command," Hrothgar shouted as Gunnar and several of his men came running out of the forest.
Flashes of red light could be observed not far into the tree line accompanied by the sounds of dying men. As several men hurried to open the gates Wulfric grabbed a bow from a nearby archer and prepared to shoot Gunnar. Harry was quicker though and reached over and snatched the bow out of the mortal's hand with strength Wulfric couldn't hope to match.
"Wulfric, no," Hrothgar barked, glaring reproachfully at the man.
As Gunnar and his surviving men ran into Heorot what the king had observed in the woods which had so visibly disturbed him became apparent to the other men of the village. At the tree line a struggling man who was screaming his lungs out was lifted in the air in the middle of circling blue lights. Harry took the bow and notched the arrow. Taking aim the deity let loose with the projectile and achieved his target. The man in the grasp of the Moorwen's tail died just before the large beast's body lit up in a glowing red light and its jaws came up and clamped down on the corpse. The villagers of Heorot were horrified as were Gunnar and his men at their first clear look at what they faced. The Moorwen clamped its prey in its mouth before taking off back into the woods.
"Now that was definitely not a bear," Boromir declared from where he stood in front of the open gates of the village along with many other warriors of Heorot.
OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander
Heorot's main hall several minutes later…
"It was like hitting a stone wall," Gunnar announced as he threw his shattered war hammer on the table before him. "I hit it with all I had."
"You ran, just like you ran from my father," Wulfric accused.
"I'll cut your tongue out boy," Gunnar threatened.
"There will be no violence among humans in this hall," Harry said, his voice deceptively calm and sending a shiver down the spine of every aggressor within the hall. "Your enemy is the Moorwen, not each other."
"The gods have cursed us all. We should leave this place while we still can," One of the villagers of Heorot suggested.
"This is our home. We're not going to let that thing chase us out," Freya interjected.
"She's right. We're going to hunt this thing down like Vikings," Wulfric declared.
"If you hunt it down you won't be able to kill it. In the open it will slaughter you. An entire village of Vikings tried to stand against it and we all know what happened to them," Harry pointed out, meaning Gunnar's people.
"Then what should we do?" Gunnar demanded.
"We can try a trap. We have none of the weapons my people used to kill the Moorwen here so that option is out. But if a trap doesn't work we can pursue other options," Harry suggested. "We should try a trap first though. I can keep anyone from getting hurt should the Moorwen escape a trap."
"Why are we listening to him? He isn't even one of us," Wulfric shouted to those assembled.
"That's right…he was sent by the gods," Freya asserted.
"I think the Outlander is correct. We will build the trap," Hrothgar declared as he took his throne. "Where do we start?"
"I'll show you at daybreak in a few hours," Harry replied.
The council deliberated for awhile longer but Harry had already departed the room. He went outside and leapt to the roof, sitting perched on the edge. Freya came outside shortly and looked around for the warrior. The god concentrated and Freya was suddenly sitting beside him. She clutched at his arm when she realized how high they were perched.
"How did you do that?" Freya questioned.
"Magic," Harry answered simply.
"Surely you could make this creature simply disappear," Freya suggested.
"I could," Harry admitted. "I would appreciate you not telling anyone else that. The younger races only learn and grow through adversity. Your people will never reach their full potential if the gods intervened and did everything for them. And if the gods were readily accessible to mortals then the mortals would constantly be asking for things as they do in their prayers. Most of the immortals work in more subtle ways than I do."
"Why do you tell me this?" Freya questioned.
"You're special," Harry asserted, turning to look away from where he had been gazing into the forest to stare into the blonde's eyes.
Freya's breathe caught in her throat and she found herself drawn into the warrior's pools of power and knowledge that were his eyes. Before she knew it his lips were against hers, his tongue penetrating into her mouth and exploring passionately. Freya eagerly returned the kiss. The couple spent quite some time on the roof making out. The blonde experienced several climaxes just from this act. But eventually the other villagers came looking for them.
At daybreak Harry stood at the open main gate.
"We'll dig here, here, and there," Harry directed while outlining a rectangular shape on the ground with his sword.
"Well what are you all waiting for…dig," Boromir urged before driving his wooden shovel into the ground.
"I'll need a great deal of whale oil and wood," Harry informed Freya who had been assigned by her father to assist him in whatever he needed to build the trap.
The fey could tell the king was hoping his daughter would mate the outlander from the gods. Even though he had never directly confirmed his origin as from the gods that was what most of the villagers believed.
"I'll take you to the stores," Freya replied.
Harry deemed they would need more wood so led an expedition of men to the edge of the forest where they began downing many trees.
Hours later Harry returned to find a pit had been dug a dozen feet deep and asked the tired Boromir, "How is the digging going?"
"Is this deep enough for you?" Boromir asked.
"No…it needs four more feet of depth. When that is done I need two rows of post holes dug along both sides," Harry explained.
As the outlander spoke Boromir could have sworn he saw the mysterious man's eyes glow. Suddenly the smith felt as if he was completely renewed with a surge of new energy. He could tell the men around him felt it too. Boromir assumed it was something the outlander had done. As the work progressed Padme projected an amusing image to her man's mind of Erick cutting his hair off.
The young blonde boy ran up to Harry when the hair cut was complete. Harry smiled and winked at the boy approvingly. Soon two rows of posts lined the pit on either side with one post between them at both ends. A massive wooden cage topped the pit with an opening big enough for a man to fit through at the end inside of the walls. The outside end of the cage was a gate which was currently raised but which could be dropped with the swipe of a sword severing the rope holding it open.
"Are we done yet?" Boromir asked as Harry examined the progress so far.
"Not quite," Harry answered.
"What else is there to do?" Boromir probed.
The wizard pointed towards where Erick was leading a line of the village's boys carrying the shields.
"Now I need to go get the whale oil," Harry added.
"I'll get some men to help you," Boromir said.
"No need," Harry assured before walking towards the storehouse containing the massive caskets which were wider than a man was tall and contained many gallons of the flammable liquid.
Boromir followed curiously. Harry walked right up to the first casket and grasped it with his hands. Even though his arms weren't long enough to encompass even a quarter of the casket in his grasp the mage's grip easily held the barrel. The sorcerer carried the barrel through the village as the mortals watched on in awe. While Harry retrieved the rest of the barrels several of the men rolled the ones already repositioned onto a ramp and broke open the stoppers. The whale oil filled the pit quickly. On top of this oil was layered straw. The shields had been secured to the top of the posts.
The villagers cheered loudly when they saw the finished cage.
Later, as darkness overcame the last of the day's light, Harry was sitting on a rotting tree on its side looking into the forest. The tree was positioned in the circular clearing separating the forest from the village walls. Hrothgar joined in the immortal and sat on the other side of the tree.
"When the Moorwen is dead there is a place here for you," Hrothgar suggested. "Should you wish it," the king added when the sorcerer examined him.
"I have grown quite fond of Freya. I shall have to think on it," Harry replied.
"She's a fine woman," was all the king said before he departed, jumping for joy on the inside at such a statement from the powerful male.
That fine woman as her father put it was waiting for Harry when he returned to his quarters with a meal ready to share with him. The pair shared a good meal with quite a bit of conversation. Harry holographically showed Freya her world. The young woman hadn't traveled very far from her village while Harry could see every bit of that planet with his divine senses, his cruiser's sensors, and through various other means. Freya was enthralled by the sight.
"I think someday in the future I can show you this world and more," Harry suggested.
"I would like that very much," Freya replied before leaning over a stealing a quick kiss, smiling at the handsome warrior afterwards as she went back to eating her meal.
After the meal ended it was time to trap a Moorwen. Night had fallen swiftly during the meal and the villagers lit torches and prepared their weaponry speedily and efficiently. The arrows would do the humans no good against the creature with such a tough hide.
"The gods be with you," Hrothgar declared to Harry and Wulfric as the two prepared to trap the Moorwen. "Boromir close the doors." At the smith's hand signal the villagers in the town below closed themselves within the hall. "Open the gate."
The metal gate on the front of the cage was raised while Harry stood in the center of the shields which covered the pool of whale oil. Wulfric stood at the back of the cage ready to assist if necessary. The sorcerer wove an illusion so convincing Wulfric actually stepped back in alarm when it materialized. What appeared to be a young but growing male Moorwen appeared and began to wail in pain. The injury on the creature's side was evident.
Suddenly the female Moorwen revealed her presence at the edge of the forest by lighting her hide with red glowing stripes in a pattern which covered her form. Her instincts were both screaming at her to run to the aid of another member of her species while attacking the greatest threat to the survival of her kind yet those same instincts were also telling her to run far and fast. In the end when she caught the scent of the crying Moorwen at the edge of the village the instinct to attack overwhelmed her instinct to flee. She walked forward cautiously, snapping her whip-like tail menacingly.
When the Moorwen had made it across the small bridge in front of the village gates chanting was suddenly heard. The priest walked out of the mist saying a prayer in his native tongue. The terrified and foolish man walked right up to the Moorwen carrying a large cross. He lowered his hood while the female Moorwen covered the last few feet and stared curiously at the prey which would so readily walk up to her. This had never happened before. Raising his hand the priest began to pray once more. The glow on the Moorwen's body began to increase in intensity until she looked like volcanic magma. A high pitched sound could be heard in the air that even the mortals could pick up.
"Damn fool," Padme declared from where she sat floating next to her husband in midair under phase cloak.
"The best thing about fools that are that stupid is that they tend to eliminate themselves from the gene pool by getting themselves killed. We're about to see that in action," Harry replied.
As the Moorwen's tail curved along the ground like a snake and went towards the priest the man shouted, "I command thee Lucifer, quit this place!"
The next sound that escaped the priest's throat was a cry of pain as the tail impaled him through the back. The glow increased to such blinding intensity the mortals had to look away. But Padme and Harry could sense what was happening as the Moorwen channeled a charge of energy through its tail into the man. The light went out momentarily but then returned along the Moorwen's neck while the priest's body exploded in a flash of gore. In response Harry made the younger Moorwen scream louder. The large female roared and charged towards the wizard waiting in the trap.
"Ready," Hrothgar shouted, causing the archers to take aim.
As the Moorwen made the final lunge towards his position the warlock did a back flip through the doorway where Wulfric stood next to and watched as the Moorwen fell into the pit of whale oil. One of the villagers cut the rope holding the metal gate open.
"Fire," Hrothgar commanded.
Dozens of flaming arrows shot into the cage, setting the pool of whale oil ablaze. An explosion of fire resulted which set a ball of flames expanding outwards fairly rapidly. Harry drew Wulfric behind him and kept the mortal from getting hurt. A high pitched cry came from within the cage moments before the large female burst through the wooden poles which made up the cage. At the same time Harry heard the villagers which had been hidden away in the hall running out in fright.
"The younger Moorwen is in the hall," Padme warned.
"Freya's replicat won't let any true harm come to her," Harry replied as he leapt at the bleeding and still burning Moorwen.
A powerful blow to the Moorwen's body just above her front right leg sent her hurtling towards the village wall.
Seeing Wulfric standing nearby ready to assist Harry directed, "No, I've got her. Go help Freya and Hrothgar in the hall."
Wulfric nodded his agreement and ran off. The creature on fire picked herself up from the blow and whipped her tail menacingly. She charged the god and managed to strike with her tail from a distance while leaping over him. The attempt to impale the wizard met with failure as the tail couldn't even cut his skin. The female landed and lashed out with her tail to whip it across the sorcerer's throat, channeling energy like crackling red lightning into his neck. Harry grinned and caught the tail of the beast before pulling hard. The Moorwen swung towards the deity and was met with a swift strike to her skull right between her eyes. There was a loud crunching sound as the skull gave way to the force imparted by the reality traveler. Another blow saw the previously stunned Moorwen's skull smashing into its brain. The Moorwen hit the ground dead.
"Harry," Erick yelled as he ran up just then. "There's another one and it took Freya. It killed Wulfric and knocked Hrothgar out."
The sorcerer turned his attention to the hall and ran inside to see that indeed Freya was missing while the king lay unconscious next to what remained of Wulfric. Harry walked over to Hrothgar and scanned the older man. There were some internal injuries but the deity knelt and quickly repaired the damage. Harry revived Hrothgar. When Hrothgar sat up and saw Wulfric a sound of dismay escaped his throat.
"Wulfric…no," the king finally managed. Suddenly noticing his daughter wasn't in the hall the grief stricken man demanded, "Where is Freya?"
"The second Moorwen took her. She is still alive. I can tell that much. My kiss will keep her alive long enough for me to rescue her," Harry assured.
"Your kiss has the power to do that?" Hrothgar asked.
"For a person I have come to love my kiss can do many things," Harry replied.
A replicat was keeping the unconscious Freya from being harmed.
"Then let us not delay," Hrothgar growled as he climbed to his feet. "You shall not go alone," the king added as he strode out of the hall and spotted Boromir and many of his men trying to put out fires. Harry gestured with his hand and the fires were extinguished, drawing the attention of everyone to the sorcerer. "Wulfric has been slain by the second Moorwen and Freya has been taken to its lair. Harry is going after her and I will go with him. Who will come with me?"
"I want to see every last one of those bastards dead. I'll go," Gunnar volunteered.
"And I," Boromir agreed followed by several other men.
"Let us leave swiftly," Hrothgar urged.
"We'll go down the well. We will find a passage to the Moorwen's lair there. I can sense Freya," Harry announced while walking over the well village's well and securing a rope down to the bottom before climbing in. "Those who are coming, approach," the sorcerer added as he hung on the lip of the well. The men indicated approached and Harry laid a hand on each of them, casting a shimmering bubble of energy around their heads. "Now you will be able to breathe under water.
The god needed no such aid as he dropped into the water and transformed himself with his shape shifting abilities to mimic the effects of Gillyweed. The mage waited for his companions to enter the cistern and guided them through the dark waters, his body glowing to light the way. Harry summoned the Infinity Blade to his hand and the sword glowed brightly to light the way for the rest of the men as they climbed out of the water. The sword's light seemed to fill every nook and cranny of the cavern the group was in. The god hit them with drying charms.
"You are downright handy my friend," Boromir declared.
"This way," Harry indicated while leading the way after several others had lit torches in the hopes fire would deter the Moorwen more than their blades had.
After several minutes of walking, Harry led the group into a hellish chamber filled with stalagmites and stalactites along with numerous holes in the rocky terrain where glowing light filtered up from a magma chamber below. Through his telepathic connection with Padme he could tell Freya had awoken near the edge of a field of human corpses and body parts where the Moorwen had deposited its kills. Suddenly the woman heard a tearing noise off to her side and saw the Moorwen that had taken her ripping at the flesh of one of the corpses.
"Freya…do not worry…I am coming for you," Harry's voice suddenly projected into Freya's mind. "The power of the kisses I have given you allows me to establish this minor link with you. I will help you escape. Start running this way."
Harry directed Freya as she ran while Padme disoriented the creature with a powerful confundus spell.
"Stay close to me," Harry told his companions. "The creature is beneath us."
Half a minute later the Moorwen's tail snaked up through one of the openings and tried to pull Boromir through. Harry's blade was faster though and severed through the creature's tail. The wounded Moorwen screeched in agony. Suddenly the Moorwen leapt out of one of the pits at Gunnar. Moving with the speed granted by his physiology Harry intercepted the creature and drove it back through another hole. The duo dropped, twisting with the Moorwen attempting to bite and claw its enemy for a moment, before slamming into the river of lava beneath. As it splashed in its death throes Harry squeezed the creature's head and was rewarded with an explosion of green blood and alien matter.
Freya ran into the chamber where her father and other men who came to rescue her were staring into glowing pits in the ground in time to hear what she recognized as a Moorwen dying. Freya looked through one of the vents and saw the man she had come to love in a short time half submerged in a river of molten rock. The beauty's heart clenched as she thought he was dying. When she saw him sick into the glowing superhot liquid she thought she would never see him again but then moments later he shot out of the fluid like a dolphin propelling itself above the waves. Harry shot through one of the holes and landed, the glowing magma sliding off his form. Freya wasn't the only person staring at the warrior in slack jawed amazement. She was the only one present who began to admire his naked form for his clothes hadn't survived the dip in the liquid rock. The warrior's sword however did survive and still glowed brightly with some magical light.
"You are truly a gift from the gods," Hrothgar declared.
Harry merely inclined his head before smiling warmly and saying, "Hello Freya."
Until that moment the others hadn't realized she was there. Hrothgar turned and rushed to embrace his daughter.
"I won't forget what you did Outlander," Gunnar said, realizing he would have likely died if not for the incredible warrior.
Harry nodded in acknowledgement.
"There is something you should all see," Freya declared after breaking from the embrace with her father.
"Show us," Hrothgar suggested.
Freya led the way back to where she had woken up.
"By all the gods," Hrothgar whispered as he stared at dozens upon dozens of corpses.
It was especially hard for Gunnar and his men to see the sight because their families were probably among the body parts.
"You don't want to see this. Let us burn them and let their spirits rest in peace," Harry suggested.
After several moments of staring at the horrible sight Gunnar nodded his agreement. The god gestured towards the cavern where he had drowned the last Moorwen in magma and summoned forth a stream of the liquid rock.
"How will we get out?" Freya inquired.
"There is an opening this way," Harry replied while leading the way towards where he could sense a waterfall fell over the cliff face up ahead. The group found the opening. A ledge opened up out under one of the smaller parts of the waterfall on the side. "I will climb up and lower a rope."
The god easily scaled the cliff face and lowered a rope like he said he would. Freya was the first one up and took the opportunity to step up to her savior and embraced him, nakedness and all.
"I love you Harry," Freya declared before crushing her lips to his, channeling all of her feelings into the kiss.
After the beauty broke the kiss so she could breathe, Harry brought his right hand up to the side of her face and stroked it gently.
"Oh my dear Freya…you shall forever be mine," Harry assured. "You are mine to love and mine alone."
Freya's heart soared at the gorgeous man's words.
When the others had climbed up the rope the group returned to the village where a celebratory feast awaited. After the feast Freya came to Harry's bed.
"I am yours to love…so love me," the redhead pleaded as she slipped under the fur used as a cover, having already slipped off her coverings when she entered the dimly lit structure.
"Gladly," Harry replied as he leaned over and kissed the beauty.
Smut Scene Redacted (See Hpfanficarchive or Ficsite for erotic version)
OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander
In the coming years Hrothgar chose to pass on to the afterlife so that he would be reunited with his deceased wife, Freya's mother. Freya only felt grief for a moment before her glorious husband crossed the veil and let his wife visit with her parents. Now that his powers had increased sufficiently the barrier between the realm of the living of a universe he visited and the afterlife of that same universe did not hinder the sex god. Freya, Harry, and Padme ruled Heorot and that Earth would never be the same which most definitely was not a bad thing.
OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander – OP – Outlander
Rev 0 Posted 8/27/2014
Rev 1 Posted 11/19/2014 (Thank you Mad about the Boro for pointing out my wrong spellings of Hrothgar and Gunnar)
Author's Note:
So yeah…it has been a while since I posted in this universe. I have come to the conclusion that what I should have done with this story is to split it into a series and just done the later verses as sequels in the series so that I have a lot of it finished. I might do that if I ever rewrite the story but right now I don't want to do that simply because I will lose all of the read counts and other counts if I try doing that. Originally I had planned to end it on the Supernatural verse but I keep on wanting to add new verses to the story. So what I think I am going to do is try to slug through the big verses I want to get through before "ending" Path with the Supernatural verse but then I will probably just post other verses later as sequels. I'm not sure if I will ever want to end Path. It is so fun to write in but I want it officially "finished". The big verses I have to get through yet are Star Trek Voyager, Charmed, and Supernatural. Those three verses will probably take me years if I tried to tackle them all. I'm already at S4 E21 of Voyager and 142,000 words through that verse. So hopefully that won't take me too many more years. I'm starting at the end of season 5 of Charmed. Supernatural…I think I will start at the beginning but I'm not sure how much of the series I will cover and given how long the series is I still have to work out the details. That being said don't bug me for updates. I'm a slow writer. Bugging me tends to make my muse run away from a story.
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