Valkyrie Profile:

Lenneth Novelization AU:

Disclaimer: I do not own Valkyrie Profile or any other tri-Ace properties. Please support the official release.

Chapter Six:

Artolian Mountain Ruins II

"Finally," the rumble of Arngrim's voice ended the quiet.

There was light up ahead. They'd been walking for at least ten minutes through the passageway. It had been a straight shot in total silence and darkness occasionally interrupted by torchlight for longer than he wanted. Then the echoing sounds of ruckus laughter and shouts reached them from much farther within. It'd started barely audible, but soon became almost discernible words and phrases. Soon, the source of the chatter was visible, a small square of light at the distant end of the tunnel. As Lenneth's team closed in on it, they came on another door to their right within the dark hall. That way took them down another long hall of sparce torchlight, stretching into the distance. It was no difficult choice to press forward, even if it meant dealing with the Undead. Besides which, as far as Lenneth and Loki could tell, it was silent down the other way, though it felt no less foul.

Before long, Lenneth's team came upon a well-lit room up. They were close enough to see five undeads sitting at a table, preoccupied with some activity or another. Four Ghasts and a lesser vampire. Thankfully, the half-living were too absorbed in their activity to notice them just yet. So, the group took a moment to observe them. Jelanda leaned forward slightly to see past Arngrim, trying to make out what they were doing. The middle of the wooden table they sat at, there was a pile of bones. But what were they for?

"What are they doing?" she asked.

Then, as if to answer her a red-headed Lesser Vampire stood up excitedly.

"A-ha! Full house!" The vampire proudly laid out his cards in triumphant.

The other undeads at the table just groaned.

"Sore losers," the winner chided them in broken speech. "You… sore losers."

He reached out for the bone pile to gather his winnings. He was stopped by a Ghast, who grabbed his wrist, preventing him for knabbing a single bone in the pile.

"We're playin' Blackjack, not Poker, Thrack," the annoyance was in the Ghast's tone was thick.

"Oh," the vampire uttered sheepishly.

He sat back down and gathered up his cards again.

"Knew. That," the vampire attempted to cover his blunder. Weakly.

"Ugh. Men and cards games," Jelanda scoffed. "Even Undead, they're obsessed."

Arngrim elected to ignore that given it might expose their position if they were overheard arguing. Lenneth turned to them and put a finger to his lips with a stern look in her eyes.

"No more talking," her gaze said.

When she returned to trying to get the lay of the room, they were close enough for the Valkyrie to discern a few details. Directly across from them was another corroder. Likely their way forward. To its right in the corner was another entrance to who knew where. There were also four more doors, two on either side of the room. More importantly, they were all sealed with padlocks.

"One of them will have it," she thought.

She looked the undeads' belts over. Unfortunately, her vantage point was limited without using her Divine abilities. She couldn't see any keyrings from where she was, which meant there was only one recourse. It was time to strike. She was about to motion everyone into position when it happened.

"What in Niflheim?" one of the Ghasts cried.

Loki had dropped onto the table's top and gave an exaggerated bow.

"Evening, gentlemen," he greeted enthusiastically. "Or is it morning by now? We've been at this for a while now."

The five undeads jumped up from their chairs, knocking some of them over.

"The Hel 're you?" the Lesser Vampire demanded.

Loki scowled at it for using his daughter's name in vain. One of the Ghasts whopped vampire across the back of the head.

"This is Loki, the Trickster god! See the antlers?"

"Am I?" Loki asked, seeming genuinely confused.

He reached up, feeling both protrusions coming out of his head.

"Huh, I guess I am," he said with feigned realization.

"Get 'im!"

"FIRE STORM!"

The explosion caught all but Loki off-guard. He leapt straight up from the table just as it was engulfed in flame. With their guard down, the five half-living creatures took the full brunt of the spell, and could only stumble around in an agonized panic, screaming as they burned. One of the Ghasts already collapsed into a blackened heap, burning away. Lenneth and Arngrim charged out from the darkness, swords at the ready, stabbing through the skulls of two more Ghasts.

Loki dropped down from above, stomping the last Ghast's head in. Beside him, Lenneth moved onto the vampire. It recovered just in time to try escaping, but she was already too close to avoid. Lenneth managed to stab it, but she just missed its heart. Howling, it grabbed her by the throat and tried to bite her. Lenneth's head jerked forward, ramming her helmet into its open mouth shattering its fangs.

The Lesser Vampire covered its mouth, muffling its wails, which lasted only fleetingly. Arngrim stepped up behind it and stabbed it through the back, piercing its heart. Like its brethren, the vampire crumbled into dust on the floor. The party stood in silence for a moment, listening for more trouble. The only steps were Jelanda's as she treaded with intentional quietness to join them. Content that no reinforcements were coming after a moment, Lenneth turned to where the Ghasts collapsed.

"Now then," she said.

She got down on one knee next to one fallen fiend and wedged her sword under one of its hips and rolled it over. The faintest visage of a grin adorned her features as she beheld a blackened keyring with two keys. She grabbed it from the ruined belt and stood back up.

"You think we'll actually find something useful in one of these rooms?" Loki asked.

"Perhaps," Lenneth replied as she went to try one of the doors.

The Valkyrie unlocked the nearest door and opened it a crack. She turned to the others.

"Loki, could you watch the corridors for a moment? These fools may have somehow missed our tussle in the previous chamber, but there will be others who will not."

"Ay-ay, Captain," Loki relied drolly.

As much as he loathed being put on guard duty, Loki complied because he understood why. He had the best senses of the four. So, he took up position where he could watch the three archways.

"Now, my einherjar," Lenneth said. "Shall we see if we might not take advantage of our enemy's ill-gotten gains?"

Arngrim smirked and let out a rumbling chuckle.

"Careful, Valkyrie," he said. "You're talkin' a lot like a merc, yourself."

"Perish the thought," the battle-maiden bluntly replied and stepped inside the storage room to begin searching it.

"Huh, the bonfire isn't raging up at the old Trelleborg place tonight."

Aelia leaned back against a tree trunk as she stared up at the mountains. In the distance behind her, the plateau Castle Trelleborg rested on was just visible as a black shape against the night sky. She'd sat herself down facing it with intent to keep an eye on the skies above. One never knew when something unholy might come their way. She had also taken the precaution of carving the Aegishjalmur, or the Helm of Awe, into the trees at the edge of the tiny clearing she'd settled down in for the night. The symbol was a circle of eight tridents emanating from its center. It was a seal of protection against malevolent spirits and magic.

The campfire popped and crackled at the center of the space, giving warmth but little comfort. Aelia almost compulsively reached up and felt the Troll Cross necklace she wore, another protective ward against evil forces. It was a piece of iron bent into a circle. The edges crossed near the ends and then the tips both curled inwards.

Even if Castle Trelleborg was quiet tonight, devoid of the creatures many reported encountering, she wasn't going to trust it was safe to go to sleep just yet. Not even with the landscape a lot quieter than normal. Aelia couldn't count how many nights she'd heard deathly screams whenever she was forced to bed down near the mountains while on a job. Brego snorted as he snuffled at the grass next to her within the confines of the circle of carved symbols. She regarded the stallion almost enviously.

"Wish I could be as carefree as you, boy," she said with anxious humor.

"These Undead certainly stored a lot of magical items," Lenneth commented as she leafed through what they'd found.

The charred table was now covered in the contents of the various storage chests they'd found in the four rooms so far. It had become unstable after Jelanda's blast damaged it and rattled on uneven legs of questionable durability. It was holding, for now. The Valkyrie and the former princess were currently looking for anything useful. Arngrim had gone back into the last room they were hauling things out of to grab a long, thin box he'd spotted in there. Loki had left them to investigate the other passage they opted not to explore earlier. With great reluctance, Lenneth allowed him to go.

"Most of these things must have been stolen," Lenneth theorized.

"Maybe not, Lady Valkyrie," Jelanda answered thoughtfully.

Lenneth lifted a small trunk onto the corner of the table.

"Oh?" the Valkyrie asked.

She opened its lip and looked inside. Books.

"I suppose it might have been expecting too much to find a Dragon Slayer sword on the first try," Lenneth smiled ruefully at the thought. "Not that I would have been allowed to just keep such a fine blade."

"All this might have belonged to the Forkbeards," Jelanda suggested.

She held up a pair of old potions, which were both covered in ancient cobwebs and dust. Lenneth glanced first at them and then the other items Jelanda had laid out on the table. Along with the potions were small crystals changed with different magical energies, which were reflected in their color. A red one seemed to burn from the inside, obviously a fire spell. Another was yellow and sparked slightly. Lightning Bolt. They were all filthy from neglect as well.

"They do seem to have been here long enough," Lenneth admitted.

She reached into the chest again, pulling out a scroll this time. Lenneth unrolled it, skimming its contents quickly. A small grin formed when she realized what the scroll was for.

"The Forkbeards utilized a lot of mages as well as knights," Jelanda explained. "They were part of the artillery against intruders. I understand they were a lot more precise than the catapults. Common folk called them the Forkbeard Cavalry Smashers, because not even an army of horseback riders could stand up the Forkbeards' battle mages at their best."

"Damn right," Arngrim spoke up from behind them.

Both women glanced his way as he emerged with the last box.

"Nothing like a rank of mages letting 'em have it with a bunch o' well-aimed Lightning Bolts to combust the enemy wagons and scare their horses into a total panic," he added. "Classic maneuver and one of Lord Forkbeard's favorites."

"You know your history," Jelanda said, actually sounding impressed.

"My ol' man made sure Roland and I did," Arngrim said. "Anyway…"

He opened the long box, presenting the contents inside to them. It was a white sceptre, seemingly made of pearl. Arngrim took it out and held it up. The shaft was made of one piece about three feet in length. The crown was a pearl orb with four gems set into the sides: red, yellow, green, and blue. There were runes etched into the surface of the rod all over.

"This is the last of it, I think," he took it out and tossed the container aside. "The rest is junk or old journals."

Both women's eyes became fixed on the sceptre in his hand. Lenneth's, because of the enchantments woven into it. Jelanda, because she recognized it from an illustration from a book.

"That's the Elemental Scepter!" the princess cried in excitement.

She ran up to him. Arngrim opened his hand with an amused expression on his face, letting her snatch it up. She began turning it over, examining every corner of the item.

"This was thought lost forever after the fall of the Forkbeards!"

She looked up at Lenneth.

"This scepter can cast Great Magic even if used by a weaker mage!" she explained happily. "It even augments its master's power for regular spells."

"Most fortuitous," Lenneth commented. "Your good fortune does not end there, my einherjar."

Lenneth held out the scroll she'd found.

"And I found something else to help with your magic," Lenneth replied. She held out the scroll. "This scroll holds instructions for Fire Lance. I want you to take a moment to start familiarizing yourself with it. It will be a useful alternative to Fire Storm in the future."

"Yes, Lady Valkyrie," Jelanda accepted the scroll from her.

She hooked the Elemental Sceptre under one arm and unrolled the scroll to begin reading it. As she did, Lenneth examined the potions. They couldn't move on without Loki, anyway. The Valkyrie zeroed in on the magic crystals. She grabbed a pair of white-colored Holy Crystals for their cleansing power, and a two yellow Thunder Crystals for the bite nature's wrath would give.

Lenneth handed them both off to Arngrim, who pocketed them for her.

"Think Loki ran into any trouble?" the warrior asked. "I've been listening for echoes, but so far I haven't heard… anything. Don't know how, but it's like someone's muffled reverbs down here."

"Likely a foul enchantment to soften the ruckus the undead make," Lenneth replied. "A castle seemingly quiet as the dead is less likely to scare off the adventurous and the foolish."

She glanced to where they'd come from.

"At any rate. If he does not return in ten minutes, we will go after him," the Valkyrie replied.

Then uninvited, Loki's voice spoke right into her ear:

"Aw, it feels good to know you care."

Lenneth actually 'eep'd', while jerking away from him in surprise. She whirled around, red-faced, with teeth and fists clenched at him. Loki just shrugged impishly and Arngrim looked away, fighting off a chuckle at the indignant Valkyrie's expense. Jelanda looked up from the scroll, glancing from one adult to the next, uncertain of what just happened.

Lenneth brought a fist up to her mouth and self-consciously coughed into it as she calmed herself. She willed back the embarrassment before regarding Loki as neutrally as she could.

"Did you find anything down the other way?" though that sounded more like an order.

"Just some more Lesser Vampires attempting to mop up blood and make the place spiffy again," Loki answered.

"They are people down here?" Arngrim's concern was palpable.

"No," Loki stated. "Well, not anymore. Down the other way is… For lack of a better term, a draining room. There are tables that come just shy of being long enough for a person to lay on. Victims are positioned so their heads hang off one end, directly over a bucket."

Jelanda shrunk into herself biting her lip and pressing her fists to her chest. There'd always been rumors about people out in the wilderness just disappearing. Jelanda now knew where they'd gone, and she didn't like the answer at all. Arngrim didn't move, but his expression darkened.

"There were also cages, more the size to put a dog in, but they were empty. They're low to the ground, so as to force the victim to lie in there like an animal. I would assume they were housing their prey in there while they either waited to be drained, or converted," Loki's ton was a bit too casual about the whole thing for comfort as far as Lenneth's einherjar were concerned.

"Was there a way down?" Lenneth asked.

Loki shook his head.

"There were two caved-in passages beyond the chamber. Completely blocked. It's a dead-end."

Then Loki looked to the archways ahead of them.

"Our way forward lies through one of them," he said.

Lenneth gestured to the passage directly across from where they'd come.

"The way straight is caved in," she said. "I checked it while we were waiting for you."

"That just leaves one road," Loki muttered.

They both looked to the passage in the back right corner.

"I did not go far, but there is another chamber through there," she explained.

"By now, they have to know we're coming. We won't get lucky like we did with these imbeciles again," Loki directed a thumb at the piles of dust and bones that had been their Ghast and vampiric opponents.

"Indeed. Come, my einherjar," the order was issued, and Arngrim and Jelanda fell into rank behind her, standing on either side of their Valkyrie.

Lenneth and Loki entered the passageway in the lead. Unlike before, it wasn't lit, and they were left in darkness. Jelanda paused at the mouth of what should have been a black void, still getting used to being able to see in the dark. Arngrim paused just a step further.

"Need to take my hand?" he joked.

Jelanda flushed, not appreciating being treated like a child, and stomped forward with her head held high. The warrior chuckled as he also stepped inside. The former princess looked around, knowing she would have found the unrelenting dark downright transgressive in life. She had never known darkness that wasn't interrupted by some light. Even Castle Artolia at night had windows on evenings when her father was too stingy to have the halls regularly illuminated with candles and torches. Unknown to her, Arngrim was observing her.

"I think Valkyrie chose the little one too young. She's still just a kid. No question," the grim thought invaded Arngrim's mind.

So far her performance was, well, exactly what he would have expected from a fourteen year old who'd never seen battle before. He initially glad to see her, knowing her soul wasn't damned by being transmuted into a ghoul. However, now he had to wonder if she really cut out for this. As he looked ahead at Valkyrie, he questioned why she'd chosen someone who wasn't a warrior and certainly didn't go down in glorious combat on her own accord. In fact, in the short time he'd known Valkyrie, he hadn't been sure what was going on behind her eyes even once.

When they reached the chamber, they found no one barring their path. That wasn't to say the room was empty. Cages hung from the ceiling all around. They were small and round, not big enough for an adult human occupant to stand up in. They'd have to sit curled up or with their legs hanging through the spaces in the bars. Some were empty, some housed the remains of some poor soul who maybe perished of starvation, but more likely from being feasted on. There were the pens with unwilling tenants still clinging to life. Their miserable moans became audible as soon as the group stepped through the door.

Jelanda felt nauseous looking at all the meaningless suffering around her. Even the adults who were used to seeing things like this had to admit it was a grim visage.

"There it is," Arngrim pointed to a staircase leading downward. "One way down only."

"Shall we?" Loki asked.

They all looked to Lenneth, who studied the victims in their cages. She stepped up to the nearest person leaning back limply in his enclosure. He was a young man in his twenties with a now messy ponytail. His fancy dress shirt was now ripped and filthy. His black wool pants were in tatters, held to his body only be the leather closures. His already long, thin features were gaunt from his lack of nourishment, but more importantly, his skin was graying, an indication he was in the middle of turning.

"Sir Edgar!" Jelanda gasped in recognition.

Arngrim looked at her, and then at the man. He at first squinted at him, but then his eyes widened, and his mouth opened slightly as recognition set in.

"Ed?" Arngrim whispered hoarsely as he drew nearer.

The man was a barely identifiable specter of the knight he'd been.

Sir Edgar only barely stirred, his eyes fluttering with a tired reluctance as he forced them to open. He flopped his head in their direction to look at them.

"Arn-grim," he uttered in a wheezing rasp.

As his lips moved, Lenneth caught sight of the half-formed fangs. Then Edgar spotted what looked like wings in the corner of his vision. His pupils moved over to Lenneth and realized it was her plumed helmet.

"Valk…" he mumbled.

His eyes fell shut under their own weight as he smacked his lips thirstily. In this whole time, he hadn't been able to move his body.

"Vvlk-yrie… Kill… us…" he begged.

Jelanda's breath caught in her throat as she looked at Valkyrie in alarm.

"No, please," she pled.

"Before… we be… become them…" Edgar moaned.

"So be it," Lenneth answered him, and drew her sword. "I will lay you all to rest."

"But-but…!" Jelanda started.

She was blocked from approaching Lenneth by Arngrim's arm. She looked up at him urgently, but he only shook his head.

"It's too late," he was firm. "Ed spent his whole life protecting the people of Artolia. Dying before he turns on them is all he can do now."

"But can't she just choose him like she did us?"

"He's being taken over by the hive chief reigning here," was Lenneth's response. "The infection has already contaminated his soul."

Jelanda looked at her, still silently begging her not to kill him. A resigned sigh was Lenneth's response.

"The only thing I can do is free him before his soul is completely blackened," the Valkyrie said. "Now, no more interruptions."

Jelanda dared one more look at Sir Edgar as Lenneth walked around behind where he rested his back against the bars. She knew was what coming and buried her face in her hands instead of watching it happen. Even then, she winced painfully as she heard the stab and Edgar's breath forced from his body for the final time. She kept her eyes shut until she heard the last audible particles of dust hit the floor. When she reopened them, Lenneth had moved onto another victim in the process of turning.

Arngrim stepped up to Sir Edgar's cage with a faintly sorrowfully look.

"Rest well, Ed," he said.

Loki stood watch, silently watching the backs of the entire group while the Valkyrie did her work. As the dying moans of the victims echoed throughout the chamber, he took note that nothing came to try stopping her.

"I don't like this," Arngrim had beaten him to the punch. The warrior had been keeping an eye on their surroundings as well. "Something should have come to stop you by now, Valkyrie."

Lenneth stood near the staircase, and the last half-converted captive. She didn't turn to look down the steps, though. Her eyes were fixed on the girl in the cage.

"They're waiting for us downstairs," the Valkyrie explained. "The hive chief has withdrawn his forces to the bottom floor. They set a trap to overwhelm us."

A girl about Jelanda's age lied curled into a tight ball inside. She was a pale platinum blonde with hair not too far removed from Lenneth's. She stared out at Lenneth with a dull, near lifeless eyes. Lenneth's expression softened from its usual sternness.

"It's alright now. Close your eyes," the gentleness in Lenneth's voice surprised both einherjar.

The girl's mouth hung open.

"When I'm gone, can I just want to forget it all?" the girl asked.

Lenneth's face turned blank. She stood staring out into nothing, still as the stones she stood on as her mind seemed to travel a million miles away. After a moment, Arngrim and Jelanda shared a glance. Behind them, Loki's eyes narrowed. Right before he could do anything, Lenneth shook it off, blinking rapidly a few times before focusing on the girl again.

"It will be over, and you will rest peacefully in a second," the Valkyrie vowed.

Her sword plunged between the bars, stabbing the girl through the chest. She crumbled to dust as well, leaving another set of empty clothes. With all the victims freed, the stairs leading to the lowest level took center stage in everyone's attention.

"Time to finish this," Lenneth said.

Arngrim took step before both gods seized up and Lenneth waved him off.

"Wait," she ordered.

The sound of deep hooting and high-pitched roars echoed up with an underlying, faint beat like a drum at first. Then it grew louder, as did the hooting screaming cacophony.

"They are coming," Loki said.

Lenneth ran over to the top step and looked down. Her long braid into whipped out in the air as she looked toward the others.

"Yes, they come," she warned. "Inbound pongos."

"Pongos? Those big gorilla things?" Jelanda yelped.

"To me, my einherjar," Lenneth ordered. "We will use the stairs as a choke point."

"Shit," Arngrim growled as he and Loki ran past Jelanda, joining Lenneth at the steps.

While the adults crowded around the stairs, Jelanda reached into her boot, pulling out the Fire Lance spell and trying to frantically to go over it.

The stairwell was wide enough for many people traverse at once, but for large, dark violet-furred pongos, they'd fit two at a time at most. And sure enough, when Arngrim looked down the stairwell, he saw two large, lumbering figuring charging them on all fours from down below and more coming in behind them. Next to him, Loki picked up a rock, tossing it up and down in his hand a couple times.

"Dear Valkyrie," Loki said. "Think you could hit this in mid-air?"

"Yes."

Loki flicked the stone down, almost dead center through the passage. Just before it reached the peak of its arch, Lenneth fired a shot of frosty energy and hit it dead center. The ice crystal formed in mid-air and flew right into the large purple apes at the front of the pack. They both let out scratchy screams as it slammed into them with bone-crunching force, knocking them back and flattening them against the stone steps. It barreled through, doing the same to the next two pongos. The third, final pair flattened themselves against the walls, allowing the ice crystal to roll past.

The two survivors glared up at the intruders who dared to kill their kin. Their roared loudly, beating their chests with their fists as to a challenge to Lenneth's party. Behind them, the ice crystal kept rolling, bouncing down busting apart and breaking off chunks of the walls and roof as it went. Further below, more pongos made similar alarmed cries before the ice crystal rolled out of view at the bottom.

Loki picked up another stone, balancing it on one of his fingers. He looked at Lenneth with an impish grin, waggling his brows, and she grinned back holding up her fist, shimmering with cold power. As the two remaining pongos climbed toward them, the gods waited until they were nice and close. This time, Loki pitched a curved throw. When the crystal formed around it, the bounced between the walls on its way down. It shot left, absolutely smashing one of the beasts into a red paste against the wall, but almost completely missing the other one. The remaining ape ran past with it receiving only a few scratches and leapt to the top of the steps.

It raised both fists to crush them. In the same moment those massive, clenched paws were coming down, Arngrim's stroke swung up. The pongo screamed, holding up the bloodied stumps where its hands used to be. The former mercenary jumped forward, using the ape-beast's knee as a steppingstone, and propelling himself up its body. His momentum drove him up far enough to impale the beast through its mouth and out the back of its head before splitting its skull altogether. The pongo fell backwards, and Arngrim braced his boots against its body and shoved off, launching himself backwards over Lenneth and Loki.

Jelanda let out a startled scream as he crashed into the hanging cage next to her, bounced off, and slammed into the floor right in front of her. She dropped onto her knees next to him and held out the Elemental Sceptre directly over him.

"Ah! First Aid!" she cried.

Aided by the Elemental Scepter, she was able to fully heal him. Arngrim shot up into a sitting position.

"Heh. Thanks, kid," his easygoing smirk was not indicative of a man who'd have just suffered a fatal injury he had still been alive.

"Take this seriously!" Jelanda hissed.

"Shall we send down another?" Loki picked up another loose piece of debris to punctuate his question.

"No," Lenneth answered. "They have ceased trying to reach us through the stairwell."

She beckoned Jelanda with a flick of her index finger.

"Jelanda, to me," she ordered.

Jelanda trotted over and stood stiffly with her hands folded in her lap before the battle-goddess who looked at her contemplatively.

"Yes, Lady Valkyrie."

"How quietly can your Familiar scout ahead for us?" Lenneth asked.


"Why master? Why you order us back?"

"I won't waste time on a choke point they intend on using to its fullest advantage. Let them come. When I present the Valkyrie to Lord Brahms, Lady Beliza, and Count Orlok, they will finally aid me in making those Villnore pigs pay."


"Your bird's back."

"Oh, Goldie!" Jelanda held out a finger for the Familiar. "Come here."

Her Familiar, the same golden parrot from before, landed on the back of her hand and perched there. It let out a seeming series of squawks to Lenneth, Arngrim, and Loki's ears, its words only discernible to Jelanda, the Mage who summoned it.

"Goldie says the way splits again at the bottom of the steps," Jelanda reported. "To the left and straight ahead, but it doesn't matter which way we go. The area's one big square. The paths both converge again, both leading to the same large chamber. Goldie sensed something very powerful and dark in there. Also, Pongos, Lesser Vampires, and Ghasts in wait around the corner at the end of both ways."

Lenneth suppressed a groan. She'd been afraid of something like that.

"A classic ambush," the Valkyrie commented. "It matters not where we go, they will box us in."

"We should turn back and find another," Arngrim said. "They got the numbers and perfect setup."

"The other ways are blocked," Lenneth stated firmly.

"Still gotta be better than trying to get through the mess waiting for us down there, Valkyrie," Arngrim insisted.

Lenneth glanced down the stairwell.

"No, the fiend lies just below. That's the dark presence 'Goldie' detected. This is the straightest path to the hive chief," Lenneth said.

She took the first step down.

"Fall in, my einherjar," she ordered.

Arngrim shared a glance with Jelanda and shrugged.

As they started down, the last bits of Lenneth's ice crystals had dissolved, leaving the bloodied and crushed remains of the pongos they bowled over in their wake.

"Ugh! Disgusting!" Jelanda whined.

She covered her nose and mouth with both hands as the rancid smell of the bodies hit her.

"How can you warriors stand it?" she demanded.

Arngrim just chuckled.

"You get used to it," he answered. "Some even grow to like it."

That got him an appalled side eye from the little former princess.

"That's just beastly!" was her muffled cry of revulsion.

At the bottom, they came to the fork in the path. They could hear the pongos growling in the dark around the corner down both ways. It was mixed with the hiss of Lesser Vampires. Their dark auras were everywhere, to the left, ahead, and all around in other places unseen.

"Now?"

"Not yet. They'll just flee back to the stairs if we charge now."

"Left," Lenneth ordered.

A Ghast peeked around the corner and saw the Valkyrie's party turn and go the other way. It chuckled, feeling quite pleased. Their prey had fallen for it. It motioned its fellow Ghasts to follow. There were ten in all who followed after their leader to sneak up on the intruders. They left eight Lesser Vampires and a quartet of pongos to hang back. The apes hooted and shifting impatiently on their knuckles, wanting to charge but unable to. Some unseen force held them back from moving prematurely.

The Ghast's lightly treaded as they could down the corridor, but they could not help the clack of their bones as they moved. They only slowed when they reached the corner. The Ghast acting as leader went flat against the wall beside the bend while the rest gathered around behind him.

He leaned forward to check on their prey. The instant his head was around the corner he found Lenneth's face inches from his own, staring into its blazing eyes with her own deep blues. The Ghast had barely gotten off its alarm shriek before it became incased in icy crystal. Its hive fellows recoiled in shock as the Valkyrie briskly stepped around the corner and proceeded to unleash several blasts of her crystalizing energy against the mob, trapping them all and completely blocking the way.

Lenneth held up her shimmering fist, quite pleased with the wall of crystal she'd erected. A shriek from her left rang out, echoing against the walls of the underground. She turned and saw the enemy mob dash around the bend up ahead. She leapt forward, and her feet never touched the floor as she flew past Loki and her einherjar to intercept the enemy. She unleashed another freezing blast, forming a crystal around a vampire running at the lead of the pack. The mob behind it ran right into the obstacle that appeared from nowhere before they could stop, packing them together.

"Jelanda, now!" Lenneth ordered.

"FIRE STORM!" Jelanda screamed.

The explosive blast shot went straight up their crowded bodies and shattered the crystal. The instant the way was cleared, Lenneth, Arngrim, and Loki sprang forward as a unit and began mowing down their remaining enemy. Jelanda heard the crystal behind them start to crack under the abuse the pongos were giving it. Instead of becoming worried, Jelanda grinned puckishly. Arngrim had given her one of each crystal he was carrying. She held them both up, ready to use them in case they had trouble from behind. She readied the Thunder Crystal first.

In another moment, the wall of crystal broke, sending Ghast parts and crystal shards everywhere, showering the base of the stairwell in the debris. The pongos tore around the corner so fast they failed to negotiate the turn and slid right into the wall before correcting themselves. They, followed by the Less Vampires, stampeded at Jelanda, roaring.

She threw the Thunder Crystal and it sailed through the air at one of the pongos. The creature batted it with the back of its hand on instinct. The impact broke the shell, letting loose several trillion volts of energy. Jelanda clapped her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut before the deafening, blinding force unleashed. When it was over, she reopened her eyes. The pongos and vampires all writhed in agony on the floor but were still alive. The stench of their charred flesh filled the air, making Jelanda gag.

One of the pongos recovered and rolled over, painfully forcing itself up onto its knuckles and feet. It snarled as Jelanda, taking a step forward. She raised the second crystal and hurled it at them. It broke against the ground in front of the approaching ape-monster. Several cross-shaped blasts burst from the busted shards of the Holy Crystal, striking the horde of beasts.

Under the purifying power of the spell, the vampires turned to dust, and the violet gorillas fell dead. Jelanda breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the enemy disposed of.

Up ahead, Arngrim and an ape-beast charged each other. The instant the warrior was in range, it tried to punch him with its great fist. Arngrim veered left, stabbing Beast-Killer into its arm, pressed forward, he carved a long gash right into the ape's bone all the way up to its elbow. Then in the same motion, Arngrim drove the tip of his blade into the thing's neck. Its blood splattered all over him, but Arngrim cared not.

The severed head of another pongo rolled past his boots. As Arngrim withdraw from his downed foe, he saw Lenneth next to him standing over the headless form of her own opponent. Those violet gorillas had been the end of their enemies, much to Arngrim's disappointment.

"That was too easy! Come on, who's next!" Arngrim shouted into the darkness.

Lenneth turned back to check on Jelanda and was quite pleased to see the enchanted crystals were enough to cover their rear flank.

"We press on," Lenneth said. "Come, Jelanda."

"Yes, Lady Valkyrie."

The group left the scene behind, rounding the turn.

"Fine, then. If they won't fall to my horde, they will fall to this."

Lenneth stopped and motioned for the others to halt as well.

"Do you sense that, Loki?" she asked.

Loki raised his sword protectively.

"Yes," he answered.

From up ahead, several long tendrils of flame flew at them like missiles. Lenneth erected a shield of protective energy, but at the last minute, the fiery missiles turned and blasted the ceiling, instead. Everyone stood perfectly still and listened. It wasn't loud at first, but there was a definite rumbling in the ceiling.

"It's going to come down!" Loki shouted.

The first chunks of falling debris were already beginning to rain down on them as the ceiling began to rumble and bits of dust fell. The noise increased, like a stampede going on above them.

"Run!" Lenneth shouted.

Arngrim scooped up a protesting and thrashing Jelanda under one arm and took off after their Valkyrie. As they ran, Loki held his hands over his head, trying to shield them as they went. Not far behind them, the deafening impact of the roof starting to come down shook the entire underground. They were thrown about as they tried to flee.

Up ahead, they could see the hall ended and a large room laid beyond. They burst into the large chamber none too quickly. Although the tremors weren't so bad anywhere, dust erupted from the mouth of the collapsing hallway as though blown by a mighty wind. They slowed to some yards away and looked back on the way they came. It was now jammed with rocks and broken brickwork, utterly congested.

As Jelanda wiggled her way out of Armgrin's grip, Lenneth looked around at colossal, round chamber. The ceiling was high, and it was easily the size of a colosseum, held up by great pillars which had weathered the wheel of ever-passing time well compared to the rest of the underground.

"'Tis a good thing these under-cellar floors likely connect to the mountains," Lenneth thought.

There were about a hundred entrances all around them, leading to who knew where. It was a perfect place to hold their final battle against the hive chief inhabiting Castle Trelleborg.

"The hive chief is very near now," Lenneth stated.

She stretched out with her feelings to find their way. She had almost pinpointed a heading when she interrupted again. The hive chief was coming to them. Lenneth whirled around, eyes flitting from one door to the next.

"…Here they come," she warned.

Jelanda raised her scepter, preparing for battle. Arngrim's sword was already out and ready. They looked all around, waiting to be attacked. However, their foe appeared not from one of the many entrances but materialized from nothing in the air over their heads. Lenneth was already looking where his form emerged, hovering above them.

"There," she pointed.

Jelanda and Arngrim looked up and beheld their enemy. His skin was white as snow instead of the gray tones the Lesser Vampires had. His dark blue robes swayed in a wind that did not exist and they saw the glint of armor beneath the fluttering ends of his garb. He bore the Forkbeard emblem upon the front of his tunic, a pair of crossed axes under the profile of a horseback rider with a raised double ax.

While Lenneth and Arngrim stared down their enemy with intent to kill, Jelanda watched at the man's face, knowing him to be familiar somehow. The Elder Vampire before them was a large, thickly built man. He had a long, white forked beard and wrinkled features, reminders of how he had been of advanced age before he turned. His hair was almost completely shaved off. Deep scars had been slashed across his face, left by a five-fingered hand with claws. It started at his right cheek and stretched along that side of his face onto the left side of his forehead. His right eye was stitched shut and his right ear was deeply notched in two places. He was armed with a spear which rested across his back.

"You dare disturb me?" his aged voice was gravelly, but nevertheless powerful enough to be heard from where he floated in the air.

Lenneth pointed her sword at him in challenge as a response.

"Yes, I dare! It is my task to hunt those creatures who prey upon the living," she answered. "Abomination!"

The disgust practically radiated off her.

"You have no place in this world," Lenneth pronounced.

The Elder Vampire merely gave her a derisive lop-sided grin.

""Hunt," you say? You amuse me, Valkyrie," the chuckle in his voice only made Lenneth seethe more. "Very well then."

He hovered lower to the ground, leaning toward Lenneth with intent to menace her. She gave no indication she was impressed in the slightest.

"Let us see if you have strength to match your boastful words," he taunted.

As he got closer, his features only became clearer. It took Jelanda a moment, but she gasped when she at last realized who the beast before them was. Paintings and illustrations of his likeness were everywhere in Artolia, as were descriptions in many historical documents.

"Can't be… Lord Harald Forkbeard," her shocked voice was just above a whisper.

Lenneth gave the girl a quick glance before going back to staring down the Elder Vampire whose name she knew now. Arngrim's eyes also widened when he realized the same before his face contorted into a scowl again.

"You, beast. You are the former master of this stronghold?" Lenneth queried.

"Former?" Forkbeard growled. "This is my home, and you are intruding!"

The Elder Vampire floated directly over them, eyeing them like raccoons to be chased off with a stick. While the silver-haired Valkyrie looked up at him with a steely gave, the large, scarred warrior with her just seemed disgusted and disappointed. The girl was still in shock, unable to move.

"And you souls!" Forkbeard jabbed a finger reproachfully at Arngrim and then Jelanda. "I'd recognize the Artolian blood in the two of you anywhere! I watched our Northern border for forty years, and this intrusion and destruction of my property is the thanks I get?"

"'Thanks'?" Arngrim was in disbelief. "You've been leading an Undead horde to prey on folks all across the West Central countryside and we're supposed to thank you?"

"Intruders on our Northern border!" Forkbeard shouted.

"Farmers, ranchers, huntsmen, and traders!" Arngrim shot back. "Many of them Artolian! Our own! And it ain't our northern border anymore, old man! We lost it to Villnore when you fell at the Battle of Oddrock almost twenty years ago, remember?"

"Silence!" Forkbeard ordered.

"They sacked your castle, killed your knights, and almost charged south to take Artolia," Anrgrim had been utterly undaunted. "They only stopped because somethin' in the Oddrock Caves spooked 'em into running back North."

Forkbeard growled at the warrior, seething in rage. Drool rolled down from his lips onto his beard.

"Invaders! Villnore rats and murderers! Their people shall see my vengeance every night!" Forkbeard bellowed.

"You're insane," Jelanda half-consciously uttered.

"Insane? Might I be insane for hating them for killing my family? Insane for hating the gods who abandoned us that day!" Forkbeard bellowed.

He pointed at Lenneth with sickened indictment.

"You left my family to those northern barbarians when we needed you the most! Yet now you come only after all life has been snuffed from these halls? To judge me? For what? For refusing Odin's call after he ignored our pleas for deliverance?! What do I owe a devil playing at being king of the gods?"

"Such insolence!" Lenneth snapped. "Know your place, human! You have not only sinned against the gods and nature, but blaspheme as well? Your judgment has come, defiler. Prepare yourself."

Forkbeard howled, stretching his mouth far wider than it should have been able to open, flashing his vampiric fangs for all to behold.

"You will find my own judgment to be quite harsh, Devil's soul-snatcher," Forkbeard retorted. Then a twisted, vicious smile far too large curled up past his ears. "Lord Brahms will be quite pleased when I present you to him as a gift. Another loss for The Devil Incarnate to suffer on his high throne."

He looked Arngrim over in the corner of his good eye.

"And you… I will not tolerate the Artolian countryside being colonized by those Villnore savages! I will do my duty no matter what your politics or your gods say!"

"Come thee hither then, to your doom," Lenneth challenged.

Forkbeard drew his spear from its holder, training it on Lenneth. He snapped his fingers, and immediately the whole room felt heavier. Lenneth tensed up, sensing a doorway in reality open. She hovered away from Forkbeard in alarm, inspiring her einherjar to also take a few cautious steps from the Elder Vampire as well. Behind Forkbeard, a black hole was torn open as though reality itself was mere cloth which could be ripped in twine. Jelanda let a terrified cry as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

"What in Hel's name?" Arngrim yelled.

Loki glared from the sidelines.

"I beg your pardon?" the Trickster was displeased. "Must you all use her name so?"

"What have you conjured, parasite?" Lenneth shouted at Forkbeard.

The Elder Vampire just smiled as something large stepped through the portal. It was big, at least eight feet tall. It stepped with enough weight to make the ground tremble. Then it was followed by a second, identical entity.

"D-Dragon Servants?" Jelanda whimpered with both fists pressed to her chin.

The dark green reptilian creatures stared down their prey with cold, near lifeless eyes as their forked tongues flicked in and out of their mouths. Their long snouts were like those of a comodo dragon's. Two large horns protruded from the back of their skulls. All over, they were covered with natural scale armor from head to their feet. They were bipedal, standing on thick, triple-jointed legs with two-toed clawed feet. Their human-like forelimbs gripped the hilt of large crescent blades which they dragged along the ground.

Lenneth gripped her sword in both hands, watching the Dragon Servants. Their hard scales made their natural defense very strong. It'd be difficult to break through.

She glanced at Loki, who'd taken up sitting cross-legged on the floor with his sword laid across his lap.

"Loki, what are you…?" she shouted.

"I will not be participating in this fight," he answered. "Brother Odin and the royal killjoy herself, Freya, gave express orders to watch how your powers are awakening. You have to win this one on your own. But…"

Then he tossed her his sword. She caught it and resheathed hers'.

"Use this! My Reiter Pallasch packs extra bite!"

Lenneth drew the Reiter out and tossed the empty sheath back to Loki. She faced the Dragon Servants again as they approached. Fine, then, if she had to do this without Loki, so be it.

"To me, my dark warriors," she beckoned to her einherjar. "The battle has begun."

In an instant, Arngrim and Jelanda were behind her on the left and right respectively. Forkbeard hovered back behind his reptilian servants, pointing at his enemies with his spear.

"Shatter the souls, my pets, but leave enough of the silver-head to present to Lord Brahms."

The Dragon Servants opened their mauls menacingly, showing off snake-like fangs to go with their flicking tongues. Lenneth's stare remained fixed on Forkbeard even as he hid himself behind the draconian beasts, knowing he had something foul in mind he needed time and space to perform.

"Jelanda, watch Forkbeard," Lenneth ordered. "You are the only one who can reach him."

"Yes, Lady Valkyrie."

"Arngrim, you and I will sort these ones," Lenneth could see him grinning next to her.

"Thought you'd never ask," he replied.

"Finally done prattling and ready to fight, little demoness?" Forkbeard asked with no small amount of distain.

The Dragon Servant's curved blade scraped against the ground as they pounded toward the trio. Lenneth and Arngrim charged to meet them, leaving Jelanda watching all the enemies from farther back. She put Forkbeard front and center, feeling a knot in her stomach. She forced her feelings aside and focused, mumbling the chant to bring perhaps the subtlest trick she could to the battle.

"From the mysterious astral beyond, come forth, my little Goldie…"

The first dragon servant bore its blade down on Arngrim, expecting to chop the man in half. It was nearly stunned when the large warrior simply blocked it. Arngrim's legs buckled for a moment, then with a guttural, pained grunt, Arngrim parried his enemy's weapon to the side with a powerful push. The Dragon Servant acted on instinct and jerked it head forward to take a bite out of his face. Arngrim drove the butt of the hilt into its lower jaw, snapping it shut. The Dragon Servant yelped and whined in pain as it bit down on its own tongue, retreating from him.

Meanwhile, the second dragon servant's angled stroke came at Lenneth swiftly, but she shot down legs first into another slide, using her momentum to bear her boot right into the lower joint of her enemy's leg. The beast stumbled and fell onto one knee next to her. Lenneth rolled away and hopped to her feet. She ducked under a clumsy slice from her opponent and stabbed the creature through the jugular from the side. The gash sprayed blood, bearing the creature down onto all fours as it clutched at its bleeding neck, choking on its own fluids. It rasped in agony as Lenneth broke off the attack to go assist Arngrim.

Forkbeard frowned, and snapped his fingers again, opening another gateway. Jelanda looked up from summoning Goldie, who sat perched on her finger, hoping Forkbeard hadn't seen her do it.

Arngrim blocked another attack from the first dragon servant.

"Damn, he's really trained these things!" Arngrim couldn't help but be impressed by his opponent.

The dragon had recovered and was going toe to toe with him, exchanging a barrage of swings, jabs, and thrusts with him. For having such an inhumanly large and heavy crescent sword, it was sure quick, and keeping up with him. Arngrim skillfully countered the creature's every attack, but it was difficult to break through its defenses.

From the side, the reptilian beast saw Lenneth leap in, sword drawn high. It stepped back and parried her attack. Her momentum carried past it, and as soon as she was out of the way, Arngrim dashed forward put on the pressure against the scaly monster. He was followed closely by Lenneth. As they went on the assault in tandem, the Dragon Servant was driven back another step, and then another, forced onto the defensive.

From behind his front-line fighters, Forkbeard discreetly aimed his spear at Lenneth, and it began to glow with the power of a spell he was casting. He knew the young mage was watching him at the Valkyrie's behest.

"Go, Goldie," Jelanda whispered.

The little gold bird Familiar chirped and darted around the battle while Jelanda raised her scepter, beginning to cast, herself, unknowing she had failed to notice when he summoned again. Somewhere behind Forkbeard in the dark, another portal opened, and out stepped a third and a fourth Dragon Servant.

"Hold it right there, you fiend!" Jelanda shouted at Forkbeard.

The Elder Vampire turned his spear from Lenneth to Jelanda, but just before he could unleash his spell upon her, Goldie swooped in from the side and pecked him. He flinched and the end of his spear pulsed brightly. He was almost unable to contain the spell to stop it from misfiring. Forkbeard uttered a few words, cancelling the spell before turning around and letting loose with a flurry of swings from his pole weapon, trying to hit the small annoyance.

"Away, fool bird! Away!" he barked.

But Goldie just dodged around his strokes and kept jabbing him with her beak.

"Fire Storm!"

Forkbeard felt the magic coming from beneath him and fled. He curled up almost in the fetal position, but still felt the burn of the flames even as he retreated higher into the room. He lowered his arms from his face, glowering at Jelanda. The little pest was becoming very annoying, and he knew he was going to have to deal with her immediately.

Lenneth and Arngrim split up. She took to the air, and he ran around to the side of the beast. The Dragon Servant tried to compensate turning to the side so it could swipe at Arngrim with its tail while slashing at Lenneth. Its blade met Lenneth's, and Arngrim jumped clean over its tail and kept running, slashing the beast along its side as he went. The creature howled in pain, falling back with a nasty limp.

Lenneth flew further upwards, and then dove back down, driving her sword through the back of dragon's neck at the base. The beast went still as she yanked the blade from its spinal cord and jumped away, joining Arngrim standing by. It stood motionless for a few seconds, before its limbs buckled and it fell onto its stomach. After a few seconds, its breathing stopped, and its eyes rolled up into its head.

Lenneth and Arngrim didn't even have a moment to give their fallen foe a glance to ensure it was dead.

"Lady Valkyrie, watch out!" Jelanda suddenly shouted.

They followed where the teen mage pointed to see the two fresh Dragon Servants bearing down on them quickly. They had no time to think, or to question why Jelanda hadn't warned them earlier. Only time to react.

The one nearer to them ran with its body low and its mouth wide open, sucking in a deep breath. They both knew what that meant and darted off in opposite directions. In that same instant, a stream of fire shoot from its jaws, engulfing the spot where they'd just been standing. The dragon turned its head and the stream of fire chased Lenneth into the air. The Valkyrie cried out as the fires bit at her legs, upper arms, and hands. She fell back as the heat began unbearable.

The other Dragon Servant gave chase after Arngrim. The warrior saw it barreling at him and jumped to the side. Its blade slammed into the floor right where Arngrim had been. Seeing the beast struggle to pull it back out, Arngrim saw his chance and took it. He stomped down on the beast's weapon, wrenching it from the creature's grip. Arngrim then pressed his attack swinging wildly at his opponent and forcing it to back away. Before he could kill it, Arngrim heard the other dragon preparing to breathe fire again after chasing off Lenneth. He saw it aimed at him now, so he turned and retreated.

Behind him, the stream of fire shot across the chamber like a clothesline and his enemy turned its head to pursue him. Arngrim dove flat to the ground, feeling the nick of the flames as they passed over him. Not far away, Jelanda screamed as she was also forced to turn and run. She was thankfully near the end of the flame's reach from her distant position.

Forkbeard smirked, seeing his opening with the big man down and the girl's back turned. He held out his spear once more. This time, black energy formed at the tip.

"SHADOW SERVANT!"

Three blacks spots appeared on the floor around Jelanda. The former princess skidded to a stop before she ran into the one which appeared in front of her. Sensing the evil, she turned to flee another direction only to spot two more around her.

Above, Lenneth righted herself in the air and detected the dark magics surrounding the young einherjar. She saw Jelanda attempting flee only to be blocked as three dark entities resembling globby three-dimensional shadows emerging from the Hel gates surrounding the girl. They attacked, bodily slamming the girl and knocking her to the ground. Lenneth dropped into a dive to stop the three entities before they could harm Jelanda. The second Dragon Servant charged to intercept Lenneth and breathed another string of fire at the Valkyrie, forcing her to take evasive maneuvers to avoid it. The beast gave chase after his flying adversary, firing off stream after stream of fire.

As the three piled on Jelanda, pounding her with their pitch-black fists, Arngrim jumped to his feet, sword readied.

"Bastards," he shouted.

He heard the first Dragon Servant stomping up behind him, and he was forced to quick-step to the side. It had recovered its sword and took a swing at him. Arngrim blocked with his sword braced with both hands at either end and his heels dug in. The beast was expecting to send him sliding backward, but the warrior stopped its momentum, fast. Under the weight of the attack, Arngrim struggled to remain upright and to push the vile thing out of his way.

"Out of my way, you Devil!" Arngrim roared and pushed against its blade with his own, harder.

Jelanda lay on the ground, parts of her physical form turning translucent at random as parts of her physical form broke off from her as wisps. Her spirit form was beginning to lose shape. The three shadow servants vanished as the spell holding them to Midgard faded, leaving the former princess curled into a tight ball on the floor, fighting against the tears that ran down her face. Her entire body was pain and yet, at the same time, she felt herself fading.

Her vision distorted into a haze of indistinct shapes all around her and it seemed like all sound was happening a mile away. Her half-conscious mind still worked just enough it could still be jostled back from the brink by a heavy vibration that shook her. Her head snapped up from the floor in alarm. She blinked in confusion trying to see through swirling vision. Another tremor, followed by a loud noise, and an even more violent shake rolled her painfully onto her back, which just made her sore body hurt worse, further dragging her out from slumberland.

Jelanda looked down at herself and saw her body vanishing as the wisps of astral energy continued to break away. She screamed, not knowing what would happen if she fully disappeared. She turned to her companions to help, but Lenneth and Arngrim were still busy with the Dragon Servants. Arngrim had kicked his onto its side. It tried to stop him by breathing fire at him, but he punched it in its lower jaws, making it misfire. It also tried feebly block his next stroke, but Arngrim put his weight on it and the thing's arm began to buckle.

Forkbeard's cackling filled Jelanda's ears.

"Dark Savior!"

As Jelanda's vision cleared, she saw Three phantasmal swords materialize over the Elder Vampire. Then she watched them fly at Lenneth and Arngrim. Lenneth felt something coming and instinctively shot straight up in the air again. Below, she heard Dragon Servant yelp in surprised as a pair of objects impaled the stone floor in front of it. Arngrim, however, barely had time to see it coming. The great blade came and when he tried to block, it shattered his sword and sent him flying with a deep slash across his torso, spewing wisps and glittering mist. He bounced painfully off the stone floor and kept tumbling until he hit one of the pillars.

"No!" Jelanda gasped.

Forkbeard took center stage in her sights as fury bubbled up from the depths of her core. She looked back down at her nearly dissipated body.

"Not yet!" she decided. "Stay together, Jelanda. But how…?"

She squeezed her eyes shut and focused. Whatever she did, whether by meditation or sheer bullheaded stubbornness, she drew the scattering spiritual energy back, willing them to shape her into tangible form again.

She shakily climbed to her feet, nearly tripping, and falling as she focused on Forkbeard. She looked down at the Elemental Scepter her still clutched it with a mostly solid arm now. Her form still flickered with transparency in spots but remained stable. There was one spell she knew might just do the trick. Valkyrie had told her not to cast anything she hadn't mastered, but desperate times and all that. Determination filled her eyes, having decided on a course of action.

"Elemental Scepter, you had better live up your reputation of allowing your wielder to cast Great Magic, or I'll chuck you into the deepest pit I can find where you will die a thousand deaths," she mentally threatened the inanimate object in her hands.

She raised it horizontally, clutching it at both ends.

"Enough of this!" Lenneth decided.

Seeing Arngrim lying injured had also spurred her on. She eyed the second Dragon Servant which was coming at her. Behind the creature, she saw Forkbeard closing in to assist it. She had a narrow window of opportunity to kill the draconian beast before she had to fight both master and pet.

She saw Jelanda rise shakily to her feet behind the enemy. Forkbeard hadn't noticed her yet. Lenneth resisted looking at the girl fully, not wanting to give her away. She could see Jelanda's focus was on the Elder Vampire, which allowed Lenneth to focus on the giant lizard before her.

"Ha ha, we have them routed!" Forkbeard jeered.

He turned to the first Dragon Servant and called it over.

"To me, my pet. We'll lay Odin's whore low together!"

The beast hissed at the prone Arngrim one more time and began to return to its master. The eight-foot reptilian stopped dead in its tracks, spotting Jelanda. It let out of a low growl. Forkbeard looked at his beast in confusion, and in that same instant he felt something immensely powerful behind him.

"The girl!" his mind screamed.

When he reeled about, Jelanda was wreathed in flame.

"I invoke the rites of fiery Muspelheim and give thy soul up to the inferno's embrace!" her words filled the chamber, echoing wall to wall with the weight of a judge casting their gavel.

The flames around her glowed brighter.

"IFRIT CARESS!"

"No!" Forkbeard cried.

The ground beneath him and the returning Dragon Servant instantaneously heated and ruptured. Both master and servant were swallowed a typhoon of flame and rock. The pillar of fire shot clear up to the ceiling. The screams of its victims were muffled under its roar as the whole underground again shook. Lenneth feared another cave in.

The other Dragon Servant watched in horror and tried backing away. It stumbled and fell onto its back. It had no time to recover before something silver and blue zoomed past, carving its throat wide open.

With the creature dead, Lenneth ran over to Arngrim, dropping onto a knee next to him. She touched her hand to him, uttering "First Aid". The restorative energies flowed into him, and his body fully reformed as well. It didn't completely heal him, but his form wasn't on the verge of collapsing into scattered spiritual energies anymore.

"Thanks, Valkyrie," the warrior muttered heavily.

He tried to move, but Lenneth put her hand on his chest.

"Not yet," she shook her head.

He simply nodded and lied still, catching her breath.

The light from the Great Magic as the pillar faded until it was doused. Jelanda fell to her knees, exhausted and hyperventilating.

The other Dragon Servant lay on the floor, a blackened, charred lump still glowing red from the heat. In the middle of the blackened section of floor Forkbeard sat the hunched over, just as charred and rock solid as his minion. All his clothes, hair, and any distinguishable features had been scorched away, leaving him looking like a piece of obsidian modern art meant to represent the pain of all man. Lenneth stood back up, sensing the evil still within him.

The featureless thing Forkbeard had become moaned pitifully but remained perfectly still. A second moan followed quickly, much louder this time.

"Shit, that guy's still alive?" Arngrim couldn't believe it.

Cracks appeared all over the surface of the Elder Vampire's seared body. With a painful, jerking motion, he stood upright. Bits and pieces of himself broke off, like rock debris. His muffled attempts at speaking were trapped by lips that had been sealed shut. He grabbed at where his mouth should have been and dug his fingers into the rock-like surface until they broke through. He pulled down, splitting the skin open where his mouth had been. It cracked clear up his jawline like a skeleton's grin. He let out a bloodcurdling scream as he did so, and nearly collapsed from the agony.

He experimentally opened and closed his jagged makeshift lips before looking examining himself further.

"You still breathe?"

Forkbeard bristled at the sound of the Valkyrie's voice, facing her with anger locked behind a face that could no longer emote. With his spear incinerated, he had only his strength and he was still in too pain to spellcast.

"Od'n'th whare," Forkbeard sneered.

He cared not that he did not possess the tongue or movable lips to speak correctly. Odin's whore would know his contempt by his tone. His satisfaction died quickly when her lips displayed a hint of a smirk. Lenneth cared not what he had to say, only that he fell.

"Surely you realize, resistance is worthless now," she said.

That elicited another hiss from him, to which she gave no reaction. Forkbeard ran at her, at first dropping onto all fours like an animal. He climbed clumsily upright again with a fist drawn back. Lenneth readied herself as he threw the first punch. She quick-stepped, leaning away as his right hook passed harmlessly by her. Then she ducked when he brought it back in a clothesline. Only then Forkbeard realized his mistake. He was open, exposed, when she pushed herself up from crouching, she threw all her weight into the stab which skewered him through his core. More pieces of him broke off when her blade burst from his back.

He shuddered, as his body turned very cold. It was over. The Devil's Pawn had beaten him. Even as he felt himself slipping away, he only regretted not having the spittle to cast upon the silver-haired witch's face. When his body had crumbled up to his head, he watched the world rise around him as he fell. His head powdered the instant it hit the floor, and he was no more.

In the same instant Forkbeard passed, Lenneth felt the darkness lift from the Castle Trelleborg. She looked around, taking a deep breath.

"The air isn't so foul now," she hummed pleasantly.

She lifted her eyes to the ceiling above. Her second sight and sixth sense detecting the darkness thinning out in the upper levels as well. She could hear Arngrim's heavy footsteps approaching, nearly drowning out Jelanda's. They stood and waited for their Valkyrie to finish doing… actually, they had no idea what she was doing.

"Man, who knew you could still feel that much pain as a soul?"

Both women watched as he rotated his shoulders, getting several satisfying pops in his vertebrae.

"Why are popping joints still a thing?" he demanded.

"Pain is a constant in any level of existence," Lenneth answered.

"And the popping joints?" Arngrim asked.

"Psychological," Lenneth shrugged. "You still think as a human with a mortal body, and the form I've given you accommodates. It will pass."

"If you don't mind me asking, Lady Valkyrie, what were you doing?" Jelanda asked.

"Sensing the area," Lenneth stated. "With Forkbeard's passing, the Undead stronghold over Castle Trelleborg is broken. The Undead will no longer be drawn here by a unifying hive chief. Some will even pass on without the negative aura maintain them."

"So, it's over, just like that?" Arngrim sounded dubious.

"'Tis never over where the Undead are concerned," Lenneth was blunt. "Some will still haunt your forests and countryside, but not like before. However, another hive chief will rise to take Forkbeard's place soon enough, and we will be there to slay them as well."

"So, the people don't have to live in as much fear now?" Jelanda asked hopefully.

"Not as much," Lenneth replied.

"Understood, Lady Valkyrie," Jelanda said.

As she finished speaking, Arngrim instinctively reached for his sword just to feel the handle. Except this time his hand came up with nothing. He turned, looking unhappily at the empty sheath as he remembered.

"Well, shit, I already forgot," he muttered.

Lenneth looked at him, wondering what his problem was, and then remembered how his sword had shattering when she also noticed how empty the sheath on his back was.

"Well, I'm not gonna be much good until I get another sword," he grumbled.

"We will get you a replacement when we return to Valhalla shortly," Lenneth assured him.

Arngrim's throat still rumbled unhappily as the Valkyrie turned away. As for Jelanda, she eyed the pile of ashes that had been Lord Forkbeard. Sorrow filled her features as she beheld it.

"How could this have happened?" Jelanda asked.

Lenneth studied the girl for a moment.

"You refer to Forkbeard's turn?" the Valkyrie asked.

"The man was a maverick in life, and a legend in death," Jelanda answered. "One of Artolia's last great heroes before… the slow fall."

It was a heavy heart Jelanda admitted the state of her kingdom as she stared at his burned remnants. Artolia wasn't unlike Forkbeard himself, a shell of its former self. Arngrim scratched the back of his head as he considered what to say.

"The fool succumbed to his own human weakness," the Valkyrie harshly asserted. "Little more than a rabid dog needing to be put down."

Jelanda just hung her head sadly.

"Yeesh, for someone so well-spoken, she sure lacks the gentle touch," Arngrim thought.

He lightly scowled at the Valkyrie.

"All heart, ain't ya?" Arngrim's droll tone was not appreciated.

Lenneth's annoyed side glance was her only response. Arngrim turned to address Jelanda.

"The man said it, himself. He lost everything in the Northern invasion," Arngrim said. "It pushed him over the edge, and… he became that. Behind the legend, there was just a man, like any other. Just a damaged man who let his hate and need to blame someone get the better of him."

"We did the right thing putting him down, right?" Jelanda asked.

"It was too late for him, like it or not," Arngrim said. "There's no going back from becoming undead."

"Indeed," Lenneth muttered. "Forkbeard made his choice, young one. We were left with none."

Arngrim fell silent, having no more to say. Lenneth looked to Jelanda and then back to Arngrim.

"You both did well."

Jelanda smiled a little, having mixed feeling over the compliment. Still, though, she held the Elemental Scepter closely. She had cast Great Magic.

"I did it. I really did it," her thought turned more upbeat with pride.

Lenneth left the girl to her thoughts as she addressed Arngrim.

"Your sword work is reliable and even excellent," Lenneth told him. "But you are also reckless."

Arngrim just smiled and shrugged.

"And that personality could use some find tuning," she added.

Now it was Jelanda's turn. She stared sternly down at the girl. The former princess gulped, remembering now she had disobeyed orders by casting Efrit Caress.

"That Great Magic spell was a dangerous tactic," the Valkyrie sounded like she was scolding her.

Arngrim began to protest, but Lenneth held up a hand to stop him.

"But it likely saved us," the battle-goddess admitted. "Even with the aid of an enchanted tool like the Elemental Scepter, many Magi struggle when they cast their first Great Magic spell. You not only did it successfully but maintained control. Well done."

Jelanda's smile returned along with a blush.

"I, uh… don't actually know how I kept control," she stammered.

"We will find the answer, then," Lenneth responded.

Jelanda nodded her head energetically. Lenneth nodded in return and began looking around.

"Now, an exit," the Valkyrie muttered.

"Uh, Lady Valkyrie? Where did Lord Loki go?" Jelanda piped in.

"Mm?" Now that she thought of it, there was a distinct lack of his congratulatory antics occurring.

They all scanned the area for him.

"~Yoohoo~!"

Arngrim looked up and pointed to top of one of the taller broken pillars. The Valkyrie and princess turned and saw Loki sitting with his legs hanging over the side and casually kicking. He pushed off with his hands, jumping down towards them. Jelanda's breath hitched as she momentarily forgot he was a god, and then felt sheepish when he landed safely. The old Jötunn skipped with flamboyant merriment over to them. Lenneth held out Reiter Pallasch, relinquishing the sword back to him. He took it and resheathed it.

"Good show!" he cheered.

"I trust you saw enough to evaluate us?" Lenneth asked.

"Room for improvement," Loki answered. "Particularly in the young one."

Lenneth and Arngrim both made sounds with their throats as they agreed.

"And your powers are acclimating nicely, Valkyrie, but still a ways to go," Loki concluded. "I will tender my report to Freya shortly. Thusly, I must take my leave of you all now."

"Yes, you will be serving with the army again soon. We may not see each other again for some time," Lenneth responded.

"Ay," Loki nodded in agreement. "Speaking of time, though, tick, tock, goes the clock."

Lenneth tilted her head to the side, unsure of what he was getting at.

"Always be mindful your allotted time is not limitless, Valkyrie," he said. "We each have schedule to keep, and this is yours'. On the first of each Lunar rotation, you will report in for an evaluation by Freya, or myself. Perhaps sometimes both of us. You will also be updated on the status of the war and any einherjar you've sent us."

Loki paused, and added with a firmness his voice had previously lacked:

"They will be mandatory. We may also have new orders for you at the end of these assessments."

Lenneth blinked. Monthly evaluations? That had never been considered necessary before.

"Thank you. I understand," she chose to just accept it.

"I have one more bit of business with you before I go."

"Yes?" Lenneth was uncertain if she liked where this was going after finding out about the regular reviews she was to endure.

"Yes, I was contacted by Freya during your battle. She has a request of you," Loki explained. "We need archers. Fighters who can move silently and unseen, who can gather intelligence. They must be skilled at reconnaissance and assassination. To strike from a distance before the enemy even knows they're there."

"I understand. It will be done," Lenneth complied.

"Good. May Fate guide your hand," Loki held out his hand for a forearm shake.

Lenneth accepted.

"We pray for your good fortunes," he added.

With that, he stepped away from the group and bowed low. Then like Freya before him, he disappeared, seemingly rippling out of existence. The trio was left in the base level of the Castle Trelleborg to find their own way out.

"Monthly reviews?" Lenneth cringed internally.

"Ahem," Jelanda coughed loudly. "Lady Valkyrie. How do we get out of here?"

Lenneth pointed to one of the many archways that surrounded them.

"That way," she answered.

"How do you know that?" Arngrim asked.

"I heard wind faintly down that direction," Lenneth answered. "Come along, my einherjar."

Jelanda stared at Lenneth in wonder as they started toward the door.

"You could tell which one of these passages the wind came from?" the confusion was evident in Jelanda's tone.

Lenneth could have told her how it became second nature after wandering the caves, keeps, and castles of Midgard for millennia, but instead, she gave the girl a simple:

"Yes."

The two humans followed her through a short passage until they came to another room. Arngrim's jaw actually dropped when he saw what was inside.

"Ah, man," he uttered.

He gave an impressed whistle as he looked around at the stockpiled treasure, much like that of a dragon's den. Piles of gold coins, precious jewels, and other things had been collected and scattered haphazardly around.

"Wow, if the guys back home knew about this, everybody would be trying to storm this place," he chuckled.

Lenneth however, looked upward the ceiling.

"There it is," she pointed.

There was an opening above them, a crack upon the face of the mountain. They could see the night sky above them beyond the lips of the rift. Lenneth also spared the treasure a curious glance. It looked like the undead had simply dropped the lot of it down the hole into the natural chamber, but she couldn't fathom why.

"Strange," Lenneth looked around inquisitively. "It's not like the undead to hoard riches like this."

She scratched her chin as she considered this conundrum.

"Most curious," she murmured.

"Hmm," she heard Jelanda hum next to her.

Lenneth watched the girl examine one of the treasure chests with interest. It was a dusty, rusted old thing which at one time had been decorative. There was a crest upon the lid. Jelanda wiped the dust from it with her gloved hand.

"Ah-ha!" Jelanda let out of a pleased cheer. "The Forkbeard family crest."

The princess gestured all around them.

"This must be the Forkbeard family treasures! But why is it all down here?" she asked.

Arngrim gazed up at the stars, deep in thought.

"The guy was obsessed with his old life," Arngrim said. "If he's been tormenting local farmers just for being Villnore folk, then he probably also spent the almost twenty years since he died tracking down all the treasure General Thales' men stole when they sacked this place."

"But they ran back to the Villnore capital almost right away," Jelanda refuted. "How could he possibly have been able to find it when they would have been spent or given to the king? All this wealth would have been scattered all over creation by being used as… money."

"The undead normally become undead because of their obsessions or hatred," Lenneth spoke up. "Forkbeard had plenty of both to spare, and the time to pursue retrieving what he deemed his."

Jelanda glanced around the trove again. An unpleasant thought came to her.

"Is his search why there were so many undead down here?" she asked.

"Likely," the Valkyrie answered.

"What was worth going to so much trouble to get back?" the princess asked.

Jelanda dropped to her knees and grabbed the chest's lid. She lifted it, revealing the contents within.

"Oh, I think I just found another one!"

Lenneth and Arngrim watched as Jelanda held up something she'd found for them to see. It was a chain choker with a center lapis stone embedded into the head. Glancing inside the chest, Lenneth also saw a large sword fit for Arngrim resting inside as well.

"Look! I found a Lapis Lazuli necklace, Lady Valkyrie," Jelanda said excitedly. "Now my magic will be more powerful!"

The excited girl then pointed at the sword.

"And I think that might be the Dáinsleif! It's supposed to be able to kill anything, and it looks big enough for Arngrim's sheath!" she excitedly exclaimed.

Lenneth froze, gaping when she also recognized the blade.

"Let me see that," Arngrim snatched it up.

He smiled with anticipation as he looked over the weapon. This sword was also silver-lined just like Beast-Killer, perfect for killing unholy monsters. Enchanted runes adorned both its sides, giving it the bite it was always famous for. It was still in pristine condition, with the black leather binding the hilt showing no traces of wear. It was perfectly comfortable to hold, too. A ruby was imbedded into hilt between the cross-guards. It was much nicer than his old Beast-Killer, despite being locked away in a box for who knew how long.

"It must have Unbreaking cast on it," Arngrim thought.

He didn't hesitate to cast off his old sheath and replace it with the Dáinsleif. Lenneth almost protested, but she stopped herself.

"Without my usual einherjar entourage, I have only these two until I can choose more," she realized. "Arngrim and Jelanda need every advantage I can afford them until our numbers grow."

As Arngrim drew it out and tested out the balance of the blade, Lenneth examined it.

"These runes…" she murmured, looking it over. "It will glow when evil is near."

This made Arngrim grin even more.

"That's right, you should know this sword. The dwarf Dain forged it," he said.

"Indeed," Lenneth replied, looking it over from end to end. "Gifted to the king of Villnore's precursor, the old Arkdain Kingdom."

She paused a moment, trying to remember who he was.

"Hagen," she said. "Hagen was his name. Third king of Arkdain."

Jelanda gaped at her.

"That sword goes all the way back to the Age of Turmoil?" she blurted out in shock.

Lenneth just gave a half-smile and turned away.

Arngrim stepped back from them and began going through a sword drill with it to get a feel for using it. While they watched, Lenneth fastened the Lapis Lazuli choker around Jelanda's neck. Despite her reservations, the battle-maiden felt good about this boon. Between the Elemental scepter and the other enchanted items, her new einherjar had just become much better equipped for the days ahead.

She stepped back and looked up at the stars as she prepared to take flight.

"Come, my einherjar," she beckoned. "For now, we shall return to Valhalla to rest. On the morrow, our task resumes."

"Ready when you are, Lady Valkyrie," Jelanda said.

"Done already? I was just getting' started," Arngrim's tone matched his lopsided smirk.

Jelanda regarded him the way she would an escaped asylum patient. Lenneth just ignored him and took to the air. The einherjar were pulled up after her as they rose above the mountains, leaving Midgard far below in their ascent.


"You felt that just now, right? Our stronghold in the Artolian Mountains has been broken."

"Who would dare slay our hive chief? Not the people of Villnore, surely?"

"Nay, dear Count Orlok. The mountain plateau is nearly impossible for humans to reach now. This must be the work of The Black Valkyrie."

"Incorrect."

"Hmm?" Both Vampire Lords looked up the third voice who interjected.

"'Twas not Hrist, Lord Brahms?" Orlock asked.

"Nay," The Lord of the Undead answered.

Brahms was at the large, broad-shouldered figure of rippling muscles who put even Arngrim to shame. He sat upon an ornate dark stone throne with a red velvet seat and backrest. The room was bathed in the golden glow of the large candle pillars, which gave the stone walls a warm aesthetic, an ill match for the infernal beings which dwelled in those halls. A long decorative carpet stretched from the throne steps, across the room, and into the halls outside, adorned with golden designs.

Brahms wore only baggy gray pants, black boots and a faded green vest, putting his arms, chest, and stomach on display. His skin was stone gray, his long black hair was thick and harkened to the mane of a lion, and his copper red eyes stared down at his subordinates. Yet he wasn't looking at them. His sight took him far beyond the halls of his castle. When he was finished, he turned his attention the man and woman standing before him.

Count Orlok, a youthful looking vampire with snow white skin and wavy red hair with bangs. He was a thin man with effeminate features, dressed in all black. Between his dress pants, shirt, vest, and long coat, he had fully embraced the look of being a thing of the night. And Lady Beliza, a sandy blonde petite woman, also inhumanly pale. She wore a low-cut black dress with a hooded cloak. They both bore the same copper red eyes as their master.

"This is the work of the other one? The Silver Maiden," Brahms told them. "So, Odin has turned to the mightiest of the three in his hour of twilight. Heh."

"How shall we answer this clear and present threat to our kind, Milord?" Orlok asked.

"I suggest swift vengeance," Beliza's chilly voice answered.

She flashed her fangs as she spoke.

"Do not act in haste, or you will suffer the same fate as Forkbeard," Brahms warned. "For now… continue as normal. We will simply observe her for the time being. Odin's favorite daughter will find her way to us soon enough without provocation."

"Yes, Milord," Orlok bowed.

"Yes, Lord Brahms," Beliza curtsied.

"Very well. You are both dismissed."

Both Vampire Lords became transparent before disappearing. Brahms was left in the throne room to consider this development. The Lord of the Undead's gaze found its way to the fixtures above his throne. Among them was a large object hung by chains, swaying slightly in the wind blowing in through open windows high up in the room. The rustle of chains echoed throughout the room.

"You would probably think I'm being too passive," he said.


"I don't like it. Even if Lord Brahms says we should wait, I'm nervous about just letting the battle maiden roam freely," Beliza said.

"I concur," Orlok softly replied. "We need to draw the Valkyrie in, though. We should face her on our terms, not hers'."

"We should also bolster our numbers," Beliza suggested.

"Yes," Orlok muttered.

A small but malicious grin grew on his face then.

"And we can start by fulfilling our pact with that noblewoman from Lassen," he said.

"The timetable isn't for another week after tomorrow," Beliza muttered.

"Not good enough? Well, I may have some other ideas in the works. Do try to be a little patient, Lady Beliza," Orlok said.

"Easier said than done with Odin's attack dog running loose," the vampire lady blunted rebuked.

Orlok chuckled.

"Always so feisty," he chided.


"Good night, Milady."

"Goodnight, Frida," Lenneth bade the servant girl.

The maid closed the door behind her, leaving the Valkyrie alone in the bedroom the active Valkyrie of the era slept in, whether it was Lenneth or Hrist. It was on the small side for being the bed chamber for an Aesir warrior who dwelled within the golden halls of Odin, but Lenneth had never had a complaint with it. The queen-sized bed was ever comfortable. The window came with a good view of land and clouds. There was a small set of bookshelves filled with works of either her and Hrist's choosing, a walk-in closet, a wardrobe, a chest of drawers, and a body length mirror. On top of that, the servants had remade the bed to have blankets and sheets of Lenneth's favorite color, blue. She removed the blue night robe, untying it and letting it slide off her shoulders, revealing a plain white nightgown. She hung the robe up on the coat hanger by the door.

Lenneth wondered over to the bookshelf. It was three-tiered, each row filled with the books of each sister's choice. The top tier of literature in their small collection belonged to Hrist, all of which were strictly practical in nature. The middle tier was Lenneth's, which also contained books of practical knowledge, but also some collections of poetry and a few novels.

Lenneth glanced down at the bottom tier, which was barren, except for one small envelope addressed to her. She stooped down and opened it, finding a note with but a single line.

"In the future, please refrain from attempting to fill the bottom row. It may be empty, but it does not belong to you, sister. -Hrist"

Lenneth blinked in surprise. A message straight to her from her sister?

"That has never happened before," she thought.

She eyed the empty bottom row, devoid of all books. Something in her mind told her there were supposed to be books there, but who's? In fact, she could clearly remember times past when it had been filled.

"Yes, I remember looking them over out of curiosity, just to see what they were," she recalled. "But why? And what were they?"

She thought a moment.

"Animals," Lenneth uttered as recollection came. "This row had books about animals, especially birds and horses. But there were also… Oh, yes, the girl in the tower. There were all sorts of stories about knights, adventurers, and wicked enchantments. As if we fail to get our fill of that. Wait…"

Lenneth concentrated as she tried to remember something else that was coming to her.

"Did the owner of these books also not send me a message?" she asked herself. "I found it when I was rereading my favorite book on evening?"

"Really, Lenneth," it'd read. "Romance novels? You're a battle maiden. Come on, get something less sappy. Guess now I know what you dream of, sister. -S"

"'Sister'?" Lenneth thought incredulously. "No, that does not sound like a letter the woman who addressed this new note would write. Hmm…"

After she thought about it a bit more, she could recall nothing else, and shrugged.

"Might have been one of Frei's pranks," she dismissed it.

Lenneth turned from the bookshelf and approached her bed. She pushed back the bed drapes as she climbed in and snuggled under the blankets. Although her body never became fatigued, her mind did. And at the moment, an evening of dealing with Arngrim, Jelanda, and a castle full of Undead had exhausted her on her first day back. She lied down under the covers, sighing contentedly as her eyes shut and she drifted off into her dreams.


Outside, Arngrim lay flat on his back in the grass, gazing up at the Asgardian sky above him. His head rested in his hands and a blade of grass was clenched between his teeth. He had never seen such clear skies in all his life, and watching the clouds pass by the floating continents like they were Asgard's ocean was a fascinating sight for him on his first day, to say the least. Dáinsleif lied in the grass next to him, although he knew he wouldn't be needing it, not while he was there.

"Not a bad deal," he thought.

He adjusted himself into a more comfortable position and closed his eyes. He paid no heed to the two figures passing him on the road to the golden hall.

"So… is sleeping in the grass a human thing, or…" one asked.

"I think it is more that human's thing than anything else. Come, it is late," the other answered.


"~Ooh!~" Jelanda hummed happily.

She sat on the edge of her assigned bunk holding a pile of spellbooks in her lap, with a lit candle by her bedside. Her eyes were lit up like the stars as she smiled down at the tomes their Valkyrie had gotten her from the palace library. She hugged them close, looking forward to getting caught up on her studying. Her sleepwear consisted of a simple white knee-length sleeveless gown. She had been given the bottom bunk near the exit in the einherjar women's quarters.

"Hey, would you douse that. We're trying to sleep here," one of the other female einherjar muttered.

"Humph! Rude!" Jelanda scoffed. "Can't a girl read in peace?"

"Keep it down," the same woman retorted.

"Why you…!" Jelanda started to yell.

In an instant, several angry glares from various warrior women from throughout the ages were all directed at her as they sat up in bed. Jelanda squeaked and held up her stack of tomes as though they'd protect her. After a long moment of silence and stillness, Jelanda surrendered.

"Oh, very well," she fussed.

She leaned over and blew out the candle, enveloping the barracks in darkness again. Jelanda set the books on the desk by her bunk and got under the covers. She rolled over, pouting.

"They're fussier about sleep than I am," she thought sourly.