Valkyrie Profile:
Lenneth Novelization AU:
Disclaimer: I do not own Valkyrie Profile or any other tri-Ace properties. Please support the official release.
Chapter Twelve:
The Forest of Woe III
"Lady Valkyrie, you've been looking over your shoulder for a while now. I really wish you would tell us what you're thinking."
"'Tis nothing," Lenneth refused to face her einherjar.
She crouched again, letting her senses locate the orb. After a moment, she stood back up and pointed down a path branching off from the main road to the right. It led past a decaying ranch, and then into the trees.
"We are close now," she said.
The party tried to see past where that trail crossed under the cover of the branches, but it became so dark it looked more like the mouth of a cave than a small opening between the trees. Undaunted, they turned from the main road, following Lenneth. The first impression held true once they left open ground and reentered the canopy of trees. If they had not known it was still day, they would have thought they were traveling at night.
"I'd hate to see what it's like in here during actual night," Llewelyn muttered. "What's causing it?"
"We are close to the source of the curse," Lenneth said. "Dark places will be darker yet."
It somehow also seemed to get colder as they went, and the air felt became heavy. Even the trudge through the woods became crooked. They were soon carefully plodding along downhill, trying not to slip on the icy slope as the road became twisty. In the thick snow-covered foliage, that meant anything could be waiting for them. Stepping where there was more snow seemed to help. At one point, Lenneth took a step and found no traction. She was sent slipping down some yards. She nearly fell but kept her balance by positioning herself with one leg outstretched in front with the toe of the boot facing forward and the other leg under her with the knee bent to keep her body level and the foot turned to the side dragging as she went. She stopped herself at first opportunity by reaching up and grabbing ahold of a thick overhanging branch with hands. She found her foot before letting go, and relieved to have prevented an injury. The same could not be said for Llewelyn, who barreled past her, facedown.
"Whoa-oa-oa!" he slid right off trail and into the trees. Somewhere within, there was a crash and an "Oof!"
As Llewelyn crawled out of the brush, Jelanda began shivering.
"We must be getting close. This cold feels… wrong," the princess said with chattering teeth.
Nobody made any comment. She was preaching to the converted. The stench of death also returned with a vengeance.
"Ooh," Belenus pressed his forearm to his nose. "It wasn't so bad on the main road, but now it's like we're being assaulted by it."
"Ah! Why are my eyes tearing up when I don't even have tear ducts?" Llewelyn's voice was nasal with his nose pinched.
Lenneth looked through a break in the flora, spotting what could have been a meadow on the other side of a ditch. Her senses told her the negative energies became stronger down that way. She stepped over a log while leaving the path.
"Eh, Valkyrie?" Arngrim called after her.
She jumped a ditch along the way and waded through some deep snow until she came out the other side, stepping into the open again. She came out near the edge of a tall, steep hill overlooking the lake from her vision. Along the bank some distance away on her left, she saw the twisted tree and something glowing at its base. Although it wasn't visible with the naked eye, miasma poured out of the orb into the sky. With her second sight, Lenneth saw a thin black line reach up to the clouds. Lenneth saw the miasma spread and become the winter storm clouds covering the whole area.
"This is it," she felt triumphant. "Finally found you."
Her eyes trailed the black thread back down the orb, shimmering with every color.
"I will need time to inspect it."
Lenneth motioned for her einherjar to join her. Without another word, she jumped over the side. The einherjar shared a glance after she did. Arngrim shrugged and they crossed into the foliage to go after her. Lenneth hopped down the side and slid down sideways on her feet like before. Once Lenneth reached the bottom of the incline, she hopped away from the slope. The bank of the lake was about thirty feet ahead and no enemies were awaiting them. Lenneth looked around cautiously, but there was no one in sight. In contrast, her second sight told her many evil auras were nearby.
"Just like Castle Trelleborg," Lenneth thought.
"Hey, you," she heard Arngrim call from behind.
"That is, 'Hey, Lady Valkyrie,' to you," she looked unhappily toward the summit where her einherjar had just arrived.
"Whatever," Arngrim shrugged.
Without another word, he sat down and slid down the slope. The others followed suit, with Jelanda audibly complaining about the coldness she felt on her rump. When Arngrim arrived at the bottom, he landed almost standing and starting stomping toward Lenneth.
"You know," Arngrim grumbled. "You coulda just summoned us and saved us the trouble of goin' down and up that ditch."
"Everyone has arrived," Lenneth looked them over. "Good."
She started walking along the bank of the lake toward the twisted tree.
"Hey!" Arngrim protested.
The others walked past him as he stood, fuming silently. After a moment, Arngrim rolled his eyes and stepped in line, too. They kept eyes and ears open the whole trek. They were close now. Lenneth looked around in alarm as she strode right up to the orb until she was standing over it, but no one intervened.
"It really does look like the Dragon Orb, but 'tis a mere imitation," she noted, observing the swirling multicolor mist inside it.
Lenneth glanced to her right, feeling a hidden gateway in the fabric of reality just waiting to pop open. It remained firmly closed and it was impossible to pinpoint where exactly it was without getting closer. The Valkyrie took a small step closer to the orb, but still nothing happened.
"Very well," she began to kneel, reaching for the orb.
"That is close enough."
A hole in the sky tore open and out leapt the Lich Knight on his black Clydesdale. They sailed through the air right at Lenneth. She flew backwards, and the hooves came down where she'd been. The Valkyrie and her einherjar backed away from the specter staring down at them.
On either side of the tree, his undead minions were teleported in as well. The party were taken aback when they recognized a number of faces in that crowd. The Lesser Vampire were husks of men they'd seen mere hours before. Now they were vacant-eyed and lined up in a rank before them. Lastly, perched on a large root of the twisted tree was none other than Keith, himself, the only one who still had something going on behind the eyes.
"By the gods," Jelanda gasped.
"That's Keith," Belenus shouted.
"And those are his men and the clergy from the chapel. What even happened?" Llewelyn cried in horror.
"So that is what I felt back down south," Lenneth thought as an angry frown set in.
"They came out to bid me hello," The Lich Knight's light-hearted answer brought no humor. "I was so touched, it felt rude not to invite them into my army."
Keith jumped over the horse and rider, landing in front of them. He straightened up from his landing and stared harshly at Lenneth.
"Puppet of Odin," he sneered. "You dare stir up trouble in lands that now belong to The Lich Knight? Begone from here!"
Lenneth turned up her nose at him.
"You presume much to order me around? Know your place, defiler," she fired back.
Keith's lips twitched as his glare deepened.
"Not yet," The Lich Knight quietly told him before turning to Lenneth.
With a hum in his voice, he spoke: "Same old Lenneth."
That made the Valkyrie become overcome with sudden rage.
"Do not use my name so freely, minion of Hel," she barked back.
"I'll do much more than that," the knight threatened. "I will finish what I started with a plume just like this many years long ago."
He held up the black feather, letting the Valkyrie get a good look.
"Tis a shame I can't show you the one which once belonged to you," he took out his black sword again. "After many sacrifices, it was refashioned into this very blade, made with one purpose…"
He pointed it at her. "To kill you."
"You taint not only the sanctity of these men's lives and souls, but also a piece of myself?" Lenneth demanded, with eyes narrowed to angry slits. "Your sins compound quickly. That black feather. Am I assume you got it from my sister?"
The Lich Knight laughed.
"Hrist? Oh, yes," he held the black feather up. "She was even less entertained than you are that I collected it and allowed my Dark Lady Hel to sanctify it with a new covenant. A covenant that shall be completed when you have fallen for the final time. Attack, my puppets! Crush the souls, but Lenneth Valkyrie is mine."
Keith barked an order as he tore across the snow. His undead minions howled and ran past The Lich Knight, who hung back.
"To battle, dark warriors!" Lenneth shouted. "Show these shadows how the light will extinguish them!"
The goddess, Arngrim, and Belenus all charged forward to meet the eleven revenants coming at them. Llewelyn and Jelanda lined up shots to support them. Lenneth and the frontmost vampire closed in on each other. The creature bounded at Lenneth. The Valkyrie feigned a diagonal downward swing off the left shoulder, but instead dropped into a slide, passing under its outstretched arms. She stabbed the vampire through its stomach and pushed up into the heart. Its dust showered down on her.
As two more came bearing down on her, Arngrim charged in and swung horizontally, making his blade pass over the goddess. The vampires backflipped away. As soon as Arngrim's blade had passed over, Lenneth jumped back to her feet, standing by the large warrior's side as their enemy came in again. Not far off, Keith went straight for Belenus and the two clashed. The duel-wielding undead warrior went into a spin, coming at Belenus altering between his ax and mace, relentlessly beating the Lassen noble back.
One of the Lesser Vampires crept around to the side with intent to jump Belenus and hold him still while Keith finished him. Llewelyn saw the sneak attack on his ally coming and aimed two energy arrows. He aimed low, and fired, shooting the sneaking Lesser Vampire in the knees and bearing him to the ground. Llewelyn drew the bowstring again as the vampire turned to him, screaming. Before it could recover, the young archer loosed his next shot, hitting it dead in the chest.
From the back, The Lich Knight scowled and snapped his fingers. Several lumps in the snow suddenly grew in height before the powdery white split and fell off, revealing more Less Vampires who were hidden underneath. Jelanda and Llewelyn saw them pop out of the snow, and shouted warnings.
Lenneth and the two swordsmen saw them coming as Llewelyn and Jelanda desperately tried to intercept them. As Jelanda held her scepter up, she quickly prayed, "Please, let this work."
Then the young mage aimed it at the incoming rank of undeads. "Icicle Edge!"
Up from the ground burst several ice spears, impaling the vampires through the torso, and forcing those behind them to run around. The impaled undeads however were not slain and frantically tried to free themselves. The ones that got through before Jelanda's spell sprinted toward the three swords fighters. With the additional time, Llewelyn was able to get off more shots at them while Jelanda began casting again.
Belenus broke from engaging Keith and saw a vampire dive for him. He ducked under its tackle, but another rammed him from the side suddenly, knocking him down. Keith leapt high into the air with his weapons raised, ready to chop and bludgeon his opponent into oblivion.
"Lightning Bolt!"
300 million volts of electricity hit Keith dead in the stomach and sent him sprawling onto the frozen lake. The former princess huffed at Keith's poor form.
"Hmph!" Jelanda scoffed. "What a cheater! Did you see that, Llewelyn? We was going to hit Belenus while he was down!"
"Less talking, more casting!" Llewelyn cried frantically.
He shot an incoming vampire through the face with one of his arrows, causing it to crash into the snow at his feet. Llewelyn quickly drew the string again and shot it through the heart.
With one swing, Lenneth sliced open two vampire stomachs, knocking one over and making the other collapse on its knees. She stabbed it and then turned to the other as it got it, holding its guts. It lunged toward her leading with its open mouth to bite her but stepped right into her blade.
Meanwhile, a single angled swing from Arngrim cut down three, one at the waist, one through the chest, and beheaded the third. A fourth charged him from the side just to be incased in crystal. It dropped to the ground short of its intended target. Lenneth walked up, dispelling the crystal, and stabbed the vampire before it knew what happened. With her back turned, another vampire ran in on all-fours to assault her from behind. However, Arngrim charged in, planting himself between them and kicked the fiend in the face, sending it rolling away.
The mercenary and the goddess stood back-to-back again, glancing at each other over their shoulders, giving silent each other recognition before returning to their circling foes.
From where he watched, The Lich Knight's eyes narrowed, and he knew he was going to have to hit them with something harder still. He looked toward where he knew a troop of yetis lived nearby and smiled. He held up the black plume.
"Shadow over the battlefield,
To my will the beasts shall yield,
Drive them to hate and wrath,
To tear asunder all in their path!"
As Arngrim stabbed his latest opponent through the chest, the next vampire jumped at him from the other side. The big warrior simply yanked his sword back as hard as he could, whacking the beast in the ribs with the hilt. A sickly crack sounded through the air as the undead collapsed, clutching its chest. Arngrim turned his sword over and impaled it where it fell.
With his back turned, a pair of Lesser Vampires circled in quietly to get the drop on him. When they went in for the kill, Lenneth dropped kicked one, slamming it into the snow. She landed on one knee and swept her sword low at the ankles of the other vampire as she slid to a stop, tripping it up hard enough it did a full flip in the air before it landed on its back. The other recovered and slashed at Lenneth with its claw-like fingernails. The goddess nimbly ducked and side-stepped the attack, allowing the undead's own motion to drive it into her blade.
"That's my cue," The Lich Knight spurred his horse.
Lenneth heard the approaching hooves and stabbed her sword into the snow. She then flicked the blade up, knocking several clumps of the sleet into the air and shot with them several icy blasts, creating a short wall of ice crystals with intent to slow the Lich Knight down. However, his horse jumped the ten-foot crystalline obstacles, bearing down on Arngrim and Lenneth.
"Move!" Lenneth shouted.
Arngrim didn't need to be told. He dove into a roll one direction, and Lenneth flew in another. The Clydesdale's hooves landed with a loud stomp. Arngrim righted himself and turned around, mid-slide and saw the knight was among them.
"Shit," he scowled.
He jumped to his feet and charged towards the unholy rider. Any vampires who got in his way were mowed down. The knight gave him a dismissive look and snapped his fingers. Several more figures burst up from beneath the snow, revealing themselves to be frostbitten revenants who had been planted there far longer than any of the others. They'd been rendered stiff and inexplicably skinny, but they were many. Arngrim was forced to slow down in the face of their sheer numbers. They moaned and shambled toward the Heavy Warrior as a mob.
Arngrim looked around, his lip curling up in a silent growl. His eyes landed on the knight again.
"That's just fightin' dirty, you bastard!" he roared at the Lich Knight.
The rider ignored him and spurred his horse. The large black steed charged Lenneth with unnatural speed. After the knight sped off, Arngrim heard a familiar hooting in the distance. He looked across the meadow to see what looked like a family of rabid yetis coming.
"Well, shit," Arngrim grumbled.
Lenneth dove to the side only to be surprised when the Clydesdale turned sharply and kept right in pace with her. It jumped at her, forcing her to move away at full speed just to avoid being stomped by its hooves. The horse turned toward her again and reared up, kicking it front legs at her. The goddess swung her sword to keep the stallion at bay. The horse dropped back to all fours and turned itself at an angle before tearing through the terrain. As it ran past her, its rider swung low at the Valkyrie. Lenneth dropped to her knees, under the Lich Knight's stroke. The horse turned again and lowered its head as it tried to butt her in close quarters. Lenneth responded by shooting one of her icy blasts at its face. A crystal did not form, but it encrusted the horse's head in ice.
The equine recoiled, whinnying in agitation as it tried to shake the ice off. It turned to the side, allowing its rider to attack. He cut straight down at her. Lenneth parried his arcing slice, and looped their swords around in a circle in attempt to break his grip on his accursed blade. However, the Lich Knight's arm strength was greater than her own and he stopped her attempt, mid-loop. Then he began to push down her.
Lenneth realized she'd be shoved down onto her knees if she allowed this. So, she broke off and retreated. The goddess quickly doubled back with another attack, jumping high into the air with her sword raised up. The Lich Knight braced his counter with both hands. When their blades met, her momentum carried her over him through the air. Lenneth pivoted as she flew past over him, landing on her feet on the other side of the horse.
By then, the horse had shaken the last of the ice from its face. It quickly turned to attack her. Lenneth slashed at the animal, making it rear up again. It tried to come down on her, but the Valkyrie raised a protective dome of energy. The Clydesdale's hooves stomped harmlessly against its surface, making the bubble-like fiend flicker wherever it was kicked. The Lich Knight raised one of his hands in the air, summoning a ball of pitch black energy.
"Dark Flame!" the orb hit Lenneth's shield, but it still did not break.
The knight reined his horse in, making it step back and drop to all fours again. Seeing an opportunity, Lenneth dispelled the shield and cut loose with a series of slices and cuts aimed at the equine, forcing it back off further. The horse sidestepped and ran from the Valkyrie, who gave chase while being mindful of its hindlegs. The Lich Knight turned on his saddle, firing more Dark Flames at Lenneth, but she deftly dodged them all while chasing them. At one point, the Clydesdale stopped and kicked out with both hindlegs, but Lenneth never got close enough to be struck by them. The horse then pranced and jumped away while getting turned around. When it faced her again, Lenneth shot it in the face with another icy blast, forcing it to back off even more.
The stallion could still hear her in front of it, and so it tried again to headbutt her. Lenneth floated to the side, evading the charge. The Lich Knight again swung low, aiming to behead her. Lenneth was however too quick, and the sword only cut falling snowflakes.
Realizing staying in the air was her best bet, Lenneth propelled herself straight up. The Lich Knight's eyes followed as she looped around and began swooping at him from above and behind. He parried the overhead strike, but she landed standing on the horse's rump right behind him. For a moment, they struggled against each other with their blades crossed again. Finally, the knight succeeded in redirecting her sword to the side, but Lenneth still managed to stab him in the thigh. He screamed and shoved her off the horse with his shoulder. Lenneth tumbled through the air but caught herself before she landed. As she was righting herself, the horse doubled back, coming in fast.
Lenneth saw it coming and shot forward on a seeming collision course with it, sword drawn back to the side.
"Let us kill her, boy! Charge!" The Lich Knight shouted. "If she wants to joust, we'll give her a jousting she won't forget!"
The Clydesdale lowered its head as it sped up aggressively, snorting.
Lenneth held her sword low, intending to strike up and leftwards. The Lich Knight's was raised to come down at an angle. Just as they were within five feet of each other, Lenneth flipped feet first at him, sailed right over his horse's lowered head, and slammed her full weight into the knight's chest. She knocked him right off his saddle. As his Clydesdale galloped away, the knight was sent bouncing off the ground roughly, grunting with pain each time he collided with it. His velocity eventually slowed enough that he was only rolling head over heel and then head over heel again until he came to rest on the bank of the lake. He lay prone for a moment, groaning out the agony across his body.
His helmet now lay some feet away in the snow, leaving his long gray twin ponytails blowing in the wind. He painfully forced himself up onto his hands and knees and shook off the daze. The Lich Knight heard the Valkyrie's approaching footsteps and turned his head up towards her, glaring. Lenneth stopped upon seeing his face. His pale face was so youthful that looked not even twenty years, possessing straight and sharp features, and an aquiline nose. His eyes still glowed yellow, hiding whatever they originally looked like.
"Recognize me now, Valkyrie?" he sat on his knees.
Lenneth tilted her head to the side but drew a blank.
"You are, or were… human. But no, I have no recollection of ever meeting you. Who are you?"
Shock registered on the knight's face at first, but then he began to shake with rage as his face contorted in a hateful snarl. He leaned towards her aggressively.
"How dare you!" his voice strained under a torrent of searing fury. "How dare you forget me! I who you took everything from! 'Twas my hand that slayed you nearly twenty years ago and you dare forget me?"
"I seriously doubt both of those things," Lenneth scoffed. "Hmph! I would never fall to one such as you!"
"Oh, well perhaps I need remind you!" He reached out his hand.
Sensing something behind her, Lenneth whipped around, firing an icy blast on instinct. It hit and incased his sword, which did not slow down. The Angel Slayer still flew through the air past her and stopped, hovering before its master. The Lich Knight clenched one of his fists, activating the dark powers within the sword, which blasted outwards, shattering the ice crystal coating it.
He grabbed it from the air as he stood. He held it up, with the hilt cross-guards level to his eyes.
"Shall we?" he asked.
Lenneth answered with her own vertical sword salute, accepting his duel before assuming a stance.
"You never told me who you are," she said.
The knight's lip curled in a slight snarl, but he answered. "Wylfred, son of Theodore. Does that name at least ring a bell?"
Lenneth said nothing, further provoking him. His breathing became interlaced with the sound of growling and his voice became nearly the bark of a wild wolf.
"You took him away from us! When you killed my father and made him one of your slaves, you left his family destitute! For my mother and sister, I will uncover a way to put you down so that you'll not come back up!"
Lenneth was taken aback by these accusations but recognized the pain in his words. He at least thought his words were the truth.
"Such nonsense," she scoffed, covering her emotions.
Then he charged, and so did Lenneth. When they blades clashed, the powers of the holy and the profane reacted, sparking off each other as the two opponents wrestled for dominance. Wylfred gave her a hateful crooked smile.
"I wonder," he said as they blades remained interlocked. "Will you again offer yourself to my Angel Slayer in exchange for ending my rampage?"
As their blades broke contact, a "Hmph!" escaped Lenneth's throat.
"I might have," she confessed with a stern look. "Yet here you stand, still spreading pain across these lands despite this alleged sacrifice of mine. According to you, we last met nearly two decades ago. Based on this, nothing can sate your lust for domination over others."
"I stand here today only because you are still here," Wylfred's voice was low and gravelly. "When last we met, I was but a learner. I have since mastered My Dark Lady's gifts."
"You are a master of only your own delusions," Lenneth shot back. "A mad dog Hel has let off the leash."
Her eyes narrowed to deadly slits. "One I intend to put down."
As soon as the Lich Knight rode away, the frozen undead closed in around Arngrim. He knew he had to act fast before he was overwhelmed by both the undead and the incoming insane yetis.
"That dirty bastard," he held Dáinsleif aloft, which was shining like a beacon among the miserable creatures surrounding its master.
As the undead ran in to consume him, some of them shielded their eyes from the brilliant light of Arngrim's sword. As one outstretched its bone fingers to grab Arngrim, the warrior's body ignited into a flaming aura.
"I grow tired of this cold, and all these devils!" he readjusted Dáinsleif, holding it horizontal and level with his eyes. "Finishing Strike!"
In the same instant, he shouted "Final Blast!"
He began tearing through all the surrounding undead like a cannonball as he sped around, slicing, hacking, and stabbing every gray skinned thing in sight. Steam rose from his footsteps as his blazing body burst through the snow. Within a few moments, piles of dust peppered the frozen wasteland. However, the blundering reanimated corpses seemed to stretch into the distance around them.
As his finisher dowsed, Arngrim turned and watched as Lenneth drop-kicked the Lich Knight off his own horse. A glance at Belenus yielded that he and Keith were locked in combat with Llewelyn keeping the lesser undeads from interfering. Jelanda and Llewelyn were on a ridge, with the former princess holding the Elemental Scepter aloft as she cast, causing a ring barrier of rocks to shoot up from the ground high enough to keep the undead away from them.
Satisfied his comrades had their opponents well in hand, he turned his attention to the rabid yetis. Seeing their numbers, however, he realized he'd need a bit of help.
"Hey, Princess!" Arngrim called out.
Jelanda turned towards him.
"A little artillery over here?" the large warrior pointed to the insane yetis.
Jelanda looked towards the snow apes, already having an idea what of she wanted to do.
"It's already worked once today," she thought.
She held the Elemental Scepter up and began casting while Arngrim faced them, Dáinsleif at the ready. As the yetis neared, he could see their mouths were covered in phony drool and there was just something not right in their eyes. After another glance towards Jelanda and Llewelyn, he came to a decision. He took off, running at the inbound rabid apes stomping towards him, hooting and shrieking.
"Hey, you ugly demons!" he shouted, putting himself dead center in their attention. "Here I cooommmmme!"
"Icicle Edge!" Jelanda cast.
She aimed the scepter at the ground instead of the air. Several ice pikes burst up from the earth in a line right in the yeti's path. Their tips were angled toward the inbound yetis, who were too close to stop. The entire front rank of snow apes impaled themselves on the spikes, slumping over on the cold shafts.
As Arngrim charged them, he used the back of a dead yeti's head as a foothold to run over its body and leap off toward the nearest insane yeti. He slashed its throat deeply as he ran past. He came on his next opponent, which tried to punch him. Arngrim stepped back and the massive fist punched the ground in front of him. He lobbed off its extended arm before the snow ape could withdrew it. Then Arngrim quickly spun around in a complete circle, using the additional force to slash the beast deeply from the lower right side of its stomach to its left shoulder. The yeti fell onto its back, dead.
The next lunged in with its mouth open to trying biting him, but Arngrim backhanded his gauntleted hand right into its maw, shattering its teeth. Instead of backing off like Arngrim expected it to, it gave him a back-fisted punch in return. Arngrim flew out onto the frozen lake. The big man landed hard and slid several yards further out onto the ice.
Clutching his aching side, Arngrim rolled over one more time to keep the rabid animals in his line of vision. He watched as the yetis lumbered towards him. The one with broken teeth still came despite the blood dripping from its mouth, which was intermixing with the foamy slobber.
Arngrim tensed as he watched them
"Damn it all! Where's Dáinsleif?" he growled.
He looked around frantically and saw it resting in the snow near to where he'd been before being cuffed out onto the lake. There was no way to get to it with the snow apes between him and his weapon. He centered them in his vision as they stepped out onto the ice. The instant one of their fists pressed down on it, cracks began to form. Seeing this, Arngrim's mouth pulled up into a wicked smile, and he knew what to do next.
Carefully, he pulled himself to feet, and stood on the ice.
"Well, come on, then!" he shouted, motioning them over. "The water'll be great!"
The unwell animals hooted and pounded onto the ice, even as the sounds of it straining and breaking under their weight filled the air. Arngrim turned and looked for the nearest spot where the ice was thinnest. He spotted a good place a good few meters away. Arngrim glanced over his shoulder, knowing he could make it. The way the snow apes were slipping and sliding around like infants trying to walk, they weren't closing in on him quickly, at all.
He started by taking careful steps and then sped up by pushing himself into a forward slide with his boots, almost skating. From solid ground, Jelanda looked over and felt her non-existent stomach churn at the sight of Arngrim leading the yetis farther out onto the ice.
"What is he doing?" she cried.
As Arngrim neared the thin ice, he prepared for his next move. Behind him, the yetis had picked up the pace as well and were keeping up with him now.
"And… dive," Arngrim threw himself down onto his stomach, spreading his weight out as he flew over the weak ice.
It still cracked and whined underneath him, but it didn't collapse yet. Arngrim dug in with one of his hands, turning his body around so he could keep an eye on the yeti. He began to slow down as he passed onto thicker ice. The first of the rabid yetis thrust its fists forward and slammed them down on the thin ice, breaking through like it'd punched paper. It let out a startled scream as it plunged into the icy cold. The others didn't even notice in their madness until they'd also broken through. Now, there a jagged, round hole in the ice the insane snow apes were thrashing around in and trying to climb out of, but their weight only broke more of the ice at the edges. Cracks spread like a spider web and spread out as far as Arngrim had slid.
The large warrior looked around and scooted himself away from the cracks, all the while keeping the yetis in his line of vision as they made the hole bigger and bigger. Finally, one of them clamored over the others and hopped onto the ice on the same side of the hole as Arngrim. It roared at him and stood to beat its chest, concentrating its weight under its hindlegs. The ice particles burst from the cracks around its feet as it did, creating more fissures and deepening others.
The roar of the ice beginning to break apart sounded off all around Arngrim. The yeti tried to charge, but when its massive hands pounded against the surface of the compromised ice, that was the final blow needed. Arngrim felt the chunk of frozen water he sat on shift and sway left and right as it came loose from the rest. He watched the others do the same. Two plates of ice the yeti stood on tipped over under its weight. The snow ape frantically tried to climb out, but it was too late. It was swallowed by the freezing oblivion and the ice chunks fully flipped over, sealing it under the water's surface.
Arngrim, meanwhile, sat perfectly still on his chunk, which was moved only by the ripples of water created by the yetis thrashing at this point. After a moment, all went still, and Arngrim was left stranded in a place of questionable safety.
"I guess I can just enjoy the show from over here," he decided.
Elsewhere, Jelanda unleashed a "Fire Lance" upon one of the remaining Lesser Vampires as it tried to sneak around behind Belenus. When the shot hit its mark, the unholy thing shrieked and dropped into the snow. Jelanda took the opportunity to check on Arngrim again. When she looked out onto the lake, her jaw dropped as a stupefied expression set in.
"Did he really just strand himself out there?" she asked.
She turned to Llewelyn.
"Hey, watch Lady Valkyrie and Belenus! I have to go get the big dummy!" then she ran towards the bank.
"Huh?" Llewelyn turned after firing his latest shot and spotted the Heavy Warrior sitting out on the ice. "Huh?!"
The scream of a Lesser Vampire brought Llewelyn back to the fight. It clamored over Jelanda's stone barrier and jumped inside the ring of stone before running at him on all fours. Llewelyn smacked the beast in the face with the corner of his bow, stunning it. The boy allowed his momentum to turn him into a full spin. He dropped into a crouch with one leg extended and swept the vampire's feet, knocking it down. Then in the same motion, he stood back up and drew the bowstring, generating another energy arrow, and fired the cleansing shot through the creature's chest. Llewelyn stumbled back.
"Did I… really just do that?" even he couldn't believe it.
Jelanda dropped over the side of the stone wall, leaving the protection of the circle. She ran over to the bank of the lake, stopping at the edge of the ice. She held up her scepter vertically with the crown facing downward. The different-colored gems began glowing as they gathered elemental energy as she concentrated.
"Alright, basic freezing spell on a bigger scale than usual. I can do this," she told herself.
As she began meditating, she heard the shuffling footsteps of the frozen undead stiffly shambling through the snow behind her.
"Jelanda, look out!" she heard Llewelyn cry.
Jelanda knew what had to be done. She began chanting, generated a small funnel of swirling ice around the crown of her scepter.
"I am she who calls upon the waters of the land, to invoke the right to make creek and ocean still; hard as stone, and arctic cold! Crystalize!"
The Elemental Scepter gleamed like ice reflecting the light of the sun. She first turned around, unleashing an icy blast upon the undead. A continuous beam of shimmering frost incased her foes and grew a solid wall of ice behind her with them trapped inside. Then Jelanda turned to the lake and fired on the lake's broken ice sheet with the remaining charge of power.
Arngrim heard Jelanda shout from the shore and carefully lifted his head. He beheld her erect a wall of ice with a bunch of undead inside it. His eyes widened when she pointed the scepter at him.
"Hey, whoa!" he raised his hands as though that'd protect him.
"Crystalize!" she shouted again, unleashing the second blast.
Arngrim felt a chilly wind pass over him, but he did not ice over. However, the ice chunk he lied on stopped moving. When he looked around again, the lake was refrozen.
"Well, get over here, you big lummox!" Jelanda shouted.
"You've got a way of making me not want to," Arngrim grumbled as he carefully maneuvered himself to get up.
Belenus raced toward a pair of Lesser Vampires up ahead of him. As soon as he was close to the first, he dodged its claw-like fingernails and slashed it across the ribs, forcing it to stumble away. Then he weaved around the next one's hand swipes and stabbed it through the heart. The first recovered and scrambled to get up only to receive one of Llewelyn's arrows to the chest.
Another ran in, leaned forward with its arms extended. Belenus flipped his sword into a reverse grip and cut upwards in an arc, slashing his opponent across the face, stunning it. He then pivoted around to face away from his opponent with the grip on his blade still reversed and stabbed straight back along the side of his body, thrusting the blade deep into its heart.
Another undead circled around behind Belenus.
"Fire Storm!"
Belenus felt the heat of the flames burning right behind him. He turned and saw the Lesser Vampire sneaking up on him was screaming as it dropped into the snow and began rolling. Belenus jumped in, stabbing it and ending its half-life.
A shadow fell over him, and the Lassen noble had no time to breath as Keith was suddenly on him. The redheaded warrior's mace came straight down from the top. Belenus blocked it, and then jumped back, avoiding a cross stroke from Keith's ax as well.
Then Keith swung horizontally with both weapons, going into a full spin and alternating between them. Belenus flipped his sword over back into a regular upright grip to block and was soon parrying a flurry of strokes that were forcing him back. Belenus tried to make himself as a stone, standing up to Keith's unrelenting attacks. As the two struggled each other, they fought for dominance in this fight, but the odds were in Keith's favor with him being bigger, undead, and wielding two weapons.
The tall warrior stepped forward, leading with his ax coming down, but his mace was already raised to follow up quickly. Belenus swung up from below parrying first the ax to the side and then also catching the mace. The Lassen man then threw his weight against Keith and shoulder-checked him.
Keith snarled and struck back with his own shoulder, sending Belenus stumbling off to his left. Keith was about to press the attack when he saw the gleam of one of Llewelyn's arrows sparking in the corner of his vision. The tall vampire stopped and leaned backwards, allowing the arrow to whiz past harmlessly. This gave Belenus his chance to recover and lunge at him, cutting across and down from the right. Keith blocked with his ax, causing Belenus's blade to bounce off it, upwards. He immediately tried to clobber the nobleman with his bludgeon, but Belenus swiftly sliced downwards, hitting Keith's mace from above hard, almost knocking out of the undead's hand altogether. Then Belenus turned the blade over, sliced across, catching Keith across the chest, however shallowly.
Keith almost fell down. He grimaced from the pain the silver-laced blade caused by burning his unholy flesh. He stared down the wicked-looking wound before looking up to Belenus again.
"Not bad, puppet of Odin," he said with surprising earnestness.
Llewelyn hopped over the stone wall and ran around the duel Belenus and Keith, giving the two fighters a wide birth as he took aim at any lesser undeads that shambled up to the swordfight. He knew the best he could do was keep the fight fair for Belenus. One of the Lesser Vampires ran on all fours towards the boy, growling ferally, denoting nothing of the warrior Llewelyn had seen in the chapel earlier.
Llewelyn aimed and fired, but the vampire dropped flat into the snow. As soon as his shot had gone over, the undead fiend jumped back up and tackled the boy. As soon as Llewelyn had been born to the ground, the Lesser Vampire looked down at its own chest in astonishment. In its haste, it'd leapt right onto the knife Llewelyn had drawn, and in a moment, its leftover dust covered the boy.
Hearing the approach of another enemy, Llewelyn sat up, aimed, and fired, getting covered in more dust as his foe crumbled, mid-jump.
"Not bad, puppet of Odin."
"Thank you for the compliment," Belenus politely answered.
Keith scowled at the deflection of his insult. The two men squared off for a moment.
"Do you mind telling me who you really are?" Keith asked.
"I doubt you'd believe me," Belenus found himself letting a chuckle slip out.
"Try me," Keith insisted.
Belenus sighed. "You look upon Belenus, noble from Lassen and proprietor of East Lassen Spices, himself. Now dead for about a week as of this moment, and in the service of the fair Lady Valkyrie."
Keith's eyes narrowed. "I thought it might be you. I didn't quite buy that whole spiel about leading a team to cure the land for him."
The hate began to overflow now, and Belenus could just about feel it radiating off Keith.
"These past months, I've wanted nothing more than to get my hands on one of you rich folk after you all abandoned us up here," Keith pointed his ax at Belenus with murder in his eyes as his voice became shaky. "After loyally serving nobles like you by taking care of your wares, your men, sometimes your women, your wagons, and your damn horses when they was stopped here, it still wasn't enough to get a little loyalty in return."
Belenus couldn't say anything. He just swallowed down his guilt as he looked upon this broken man.
Keith's voice broke into a furious scream. "The instant things got rough, you all left us to rot up here without a care!"
"You lost someone?" Belenus now understood.
Keith's lower jaw trembled in rage before he laughed madly. "Lost. Someone? I lost everyone! Everyone lost someone up here! And for that, I'll drag you down to Helheim with me!"
Keith took a big step forward, throwing his weight into a cross-chop with his hatchet, swinging his body with his weapon, which Belenus countered by parrying and falling back, instead of trying to stand up to the bigger man's weight. Keith then swung his mace out to the side to strike across the center. Belenus caught this stroke, too, but when sword and mace met, it was enough to stagger the Lassen man.
Belenus ran to the side, trying to keep himself from falling down. Keith grinned as his opponent's back was shown to him. Remaining mindful of the archer on the sidelines, Keith a faked a step forward. On cue, one of Llewelyn's arrows passed by where he'd thought the big ginger was going to step. With the momentary reprieve this bought him, Keith charged Belenus, intending to cut him down before his window of opportunity closed. In the moment Llewelyn's intervention bought, Belenus found his footing. He heard Keith coming and as he saw the ax swing in from the side.
The ex-noble dropped onto his hands and knees right in Keith's path, too close for the bigger man to avoid running into him. When the undead warrior's shins collided with Belenus's hunkered form, the forward thrust carried Keith right on past, throwing his body forward and his feet back. He was sent sailing a short distance through the air before slamming face-first into the frozen earth.
Belenus uncovered his head and stood up, brandishing his sword while he waited for his opponent to stand. Keith rolled over, feeling embarrassed for being had like that.
"Alright, Fancypants. You know how to fight," he reluctantly admitted.
Keith raised his feet high into the air and then kicked out, arching his body first backwards and off the ground. Then he threw himself forwards into an upright position and landed on his feet again. He crossed his weapons in front and swung them down to his sides, getting back into a fighting stance.
The two men circled each other again. Keith stepped up to Belenus and unleashed another series of alternating blows between both weapons. Belenus seemed content to block and parry. He swung his sword back and forth, catching each cross strike and every downward swing from above Keith dished out, backing away each time. The redheaded warrior grinned, thinking he had his opponent on the defensive.
In truth Belenus was anything but simply staving off the inevitable. As he observed Keith's motions, he caught onto his patterns. The man's body telegraphed what he was about to do every time. Keith always followed his torso's position, allowing it dictate how his strokes were angled. He rarely feigned, choosing an aggressive, straightforward attack style to overwhelm his enemies. It allowed a tall, muscular, and broadly build fighter like him to simply batter most opponents into submission under his raw power.
At the moment, Keith arched his back forward as he turned his body with a forward step, swinging his ax down from above as the mace withdrew. Meanwhile, he had already raised the bludgeoning tool high to strike from above with it as well. Belenus could see the attack coming a mile away. Keith's strokes were also simplistic, but the fact he alternated between weapons, keeping a quick, steady flow of blows coming made up for it. With that, Belenus decided to on a finishing strategy.
In the corner of his vision, Belenus spied a nearby tree. Glancing between it and his opponent, he broke off from combatting Keith and ran for it. Behind him, Belenus heard both weapons whooshing through the air Keith still tried to attack him while giving chase. Belenus banked right, running hunched under some branches that'd give Keith more trouble than him. The tall ginger slowed down and tried crouching under them, too, but then found he could not. So, he instead took off running around them. Belenus emerged from under the branches ahead of him.
Belenus stopped and turned in front of tree's trunk, dropping into a low, wide stance that was good for moving to the sides. Keith swung down with his ax, which Belenus parried with an upright arcing stroke from below, and he used a similar swing to block the bigger man's mace, which also came from above. Belenus saw Keith's ax arm stretch out to the side as he swung it across the middle. As it came in, Belenus faked a block, but then threw himself to the side.
As soon as he was clear, Belenus dug his heels in, forcing himself to stop the instant he heard the ax-blade strike the bark. He doubled back as just Keith pulled his ax free and let loose with a low, upturned swing faster than Keith could prepare for, catching the taller man in an awkward, backwards leaning stance. This forced the redhead to use both weapons to block him. Belenus applied pressure, pushing up against Keith's defense.
Keith grunted with effort as he fought against Belenus, pushing down to keep the noble's blade at bay. Keith quickly found his footing and began pushing Belenus back, throwing everything into overpowering the smaller man.
"Gotcha."
Belenus suddenly jumped back, causing Keith to lurch forward, nearly losing his balance. The Lassen man swept his blade down and then up in a full loop before driving it deeply into the undead man's heart in all one motion.
Keith's eyes bulged and he froze in place. He looked down and saw Belenus's blade sticking out of his chest. He grimaced in pain, shuddering as the sensation of a freezing burn which came over him as the silver-laced sword did its work. Keith fell back against the side of the tree as Belenus dislodged the blade from him. His features tightened as the pain worsened. He slid down the bark into a sitting position staring ahead, as if in a daze before looking up at his victorious opponent.
"You've just killed us," Keith tried to keep his voice even despite his helpless sorrow. "I had an accord with the knight. If I helped kill you all, he'd set us free."
Belenus wiped off his blade, regarding him almost pitifully.
"Way to go!" Llewelyn began running over to join Belenus.
The Lassen noble nodded to the boy but held up a hand to quiet him. Belenus returned his attention to his fallen foe. He and Keith's stares met. Llewelyn remained quiet as he took a spot next to Belenus.
"The Lich Knight would have never honored such an agreement, Sir Keith," Belenus sheathed his sword. "Behold. He's known the location of the orb this entire time. If he intended to let any of you live, he'd have undone this horrible curse, himself. Instead, he'd meticulously held you all prisoner in this region, whittling away your numbers to increase his own ranks."
Keith hung his head, knowing deep inside it was true. He watched as the outer lairs of his skin began to turn to dust.
"I was just trying to do my duty…" Keith said. "I've lost faith in the gods and our leaders. We've been trapped out here for months with no sign of salvation… I only wanted to… protect them."
"It is over, soldier. Rest," Belenus turned and looked around at the battlefield. "We will handle this and break the curse. But I will remain with you until the end."
Keith looked up at him, shocked by the lack of condemnation, and seemed to find some semblance of peace as he at last crumbled entirely. Belenus bowed his head, giving the fallen man a moment of silence. When it had passed, he lifted his head and turned to Llewelyn.
"Now then," Belenus gave Llewelyn a light clap on the shoulder. "We have a fiend to slay and a cursed to undo."
Both men looked around to find the Lich Knight. In the corner of their eyes, they saw part of the sky turn red.
"What in blazes?" the Lassen lord cried.
Llewelyn whimpered and fought the urge to hide behind the older, taller man.
"By Freya…" Lenneth stepped back cautiously as the sky turned red.
She was unfamiliar with the spell Wylfred had just chanted, which had caused this change in part of the sky. She knew not if she should attack him or keep her distance for the duration of witchcraft, watching her opponent carefully. As soon as the Lich Knight had some space between them, he'd chanted something. Lenneth could feel something powerful coming.
"Scales of Nidhogg!" Wylfred intoned.
From the redness in the sky, several objects appeared, gleaming like fire. With them came a chorus of whistles, which filled the air
"Wait…" Lenneth realized.
She held out a hand, forming a protective shield around her. As the blazing objects rained down in a volley, they beat against her force field, forcing the Valkyrie to her knees. Lenneth was forced to drop her sword to support the shield with both hands in order to maintain it. She had only the power to hold them off until it was over.
At all times, she kept her eyes on the Lich Knight. Wylfred adjusted his grip upon Angel Slayer and his yellow eyes flashed brighter for a second in anticipation. The instant the last scale bounced off the Valkyrie's shield, he practically flew across the snow, kicking up a cloud of white in his wake. Lenneth grabbed her sword and flipped into the air, narrowly avoiding his cross swing.
She raised her sword high and came down, throwing all her weight into it. Wylfred countered with a sweeping overhead swing. The sheer force knocked them both off-balance. Lenneth recovered first and threw herself shoulder first into him. He wheezed as he knocked back and almost fell over, an opening Lenneth was not about to let slip past her. She aimed her blade at his heart and lunged forward, leading with her right leg. As she propelled herself forward with one large step, her left leg stretched out behind her as she leaned over the thigh of the other one.
The Lich Knight saw the stab coming and reacted out of panic. Dark energy burst from Angel Slayer, propelling him backwards and sending himself rolling through the snow. Lenneth jumped back on instinct the instant dark power burst out at her. Wylfred flipped to his feet, mid-roll, and stood back up. The two opponents faced each other about twenty feet apart, ready to engage again as soon as one made a move.
Wylfred started to reach out his hand, but Lenneth wasn't having any of it this time. She zipped up to him and forced him to block, stopping whatever treachery he had in mind. She glared with bared teeth, unwilling to relent. Then their blades broke contact for just a second, and that was when the exchange of blows began. Their strengths and weaknesses became clearer to each other as their fought. Lenneth's skill, experience, and agility outmatched Wylfred's, but his raw physical power and ability to withstand her attacks made Hel's knight an immovable object.
"To me, my undead," Wylfred mentally commanded the rotting, frostbitten minions surrounding them. "Pin down this witch so I may slay her."
The undead all turned toward Lenneth. Every last one. The Valkyrie noticed this, glancing around while keeping Wylfred in her peripherals. Her einherjar also saw the change in their surrounding enemy. Arngrim and Jelanda, who stood back-to-back, watched as the undead that'd just been focusing on them, slowly turned, all looking towards the same thing. The warrior and the princess exchanged confused looks before following their foes' eyeline as the undead all moved towards a central target: their Valkyrie. She was about a city block's distance from Arngrim and Jelanda.
"Ah! Oh, no! They're all going to attack Lady Valkyrie!" Jelanda cried.
Arngrim's expression became stern as he tightened his grip on Dáinsleif. "Not if I have anything to say about that. Cover me, I'm gonna get their attention back."
With that, Arngrim dashed into the fray, tearing through the distracted undeads as he went.
Jelanda also got to work, aiming the Elemental Scepter at them as Arngrim drew their ire again by flinging one of their own at them. He was turned away, trusting her to have his back.
"Fire Storm!" Jelanda shouted. When the ground erupted into flame, pieces of the knight's half-rotted minions went flying everywhere. A head bounced off Arngrim's back.
"Hey, watch it!" he hollered over to her.
Jelanda stuck out her tongue in return. When she looked around, she saw they had their attention again. One turned towards her, its body flapping limply as it tried to run towards her with a clumsy gait. It let out a guttural moan as it went. Others quickly enough followed its example and began to close in on her.
"Oh, poo! Uh, Mystic Cross!"
"Have at thee, villains!"
As Belenus ran, he cut through the frost-bitten hide of a shuffling undead, killing it. Llewelyn kept in pace behind him, firing shots to the right and left, taking out as many as he could while they sprinted to cover Lenneth. They, too, saw the undead coming for their Valkyrie and were racing to intercept them.
As they raced across the meadow, Belenus mowed down everything in their path. From the left, they saw Arngrim and Jelanda doing the same, and were on their way to join up. Arngrim ran at a slowed pace so Jelanda could keep up, fighting off everything that got too close.
"Fire Lance!" Jelanda unleashed several fireballs, blasting several undeads from their path.
In the final stretch, a trio of the frozen undead tried to bar Arngrim's way, but he just ran through, knocking them away like bowling pins. Jelanda then ran past them. From behind a bush, a Lesser Vampire jumped out and gave chase.
Llewelyn back-stepped away from the other men and aimed.
"Duck!" he shouted.
Jelanda crouched down, covering her head. The bolt zipped over her, lodging itself in the heart of the beast. Two more vampires ran up to replace it, but Jelanda stood and turned, aiming her scepter at them.
"Mystic Cross!"
The flurry of unleashed cleansing bolts annihilated the vampires. Jelanda then scurried up to the others.
"Well met," Belenus greeted.
Then they took off as a unit to back Lenneth up.
"Begone with you!" Lenneth froze another undead in an ice crystal just as it came up behind her.
Wylfred wasted no time in using the temporary distraction to try killing her. Lenneth retaliated by blasting him with an ice shot, too, but he busted through it without stopping. They began another exchange of blows, but the Lich Knight had her on the defensive. With her attention split between him and his wretched minions closing in from all over, it made the fighting more difficult.
She heard something stomp up behind her and flew straight upwards. Before Wylfred could chase her, the frozen undead bumped into him. Hel's knight elbowed the thing away, keeping his eyes on the Valkyrie above.
She dove at him, sword drawn to the side and ready to strike. She hit hard, forcing the knight down on his knee as she flew past. Lenneth landed a short distance away and turned running towards him to attack again. A pack of undead stepped in her way. She responded by leaping over them, just to be met by more of them. She cut them down, and though they went down with one hit, it gave Wylfred an opening. He gathered a ball of dark energy in one of his hands and fired at Lenneth.
The Valkyrie evaded by throwing herself into another slide. It sailed over her as she slid closer to him. Without stopping, she rolled over onto her feet and jumped at him, coming at him with another slash. The air was momentarily filled with another round of metallic clashing before another undead tried to tackle Lenneth. She broke off from Wylfred, running to the side in headlong retreat. She'd strike them down but was unwilling to leave herself open to attack by the knight again. Wylfred ran parallel to her, matching her movements.
"You look troubled, Lenneth," Wilfred mocked.
She scowled back.
"Stop using my name as though you were given permission, human," Lenneth sternly answered.
The two slid to a stop once Lenneth found some suitably open ground, again perfectly parallel to each other. Wylfred looked past her at his legions closing in on her even at a distance. He relished knowing she'd be overrun by them in mere moments no matter where she ran to.
"In a moment or two, dear Lenneth, you will be at my mercy," The Lich Knight boasted.
His glee was interrupted by her einherjar as they came barging in, cutting down every undead minion close to them as they did. Lenneth felt some of the tension leave seeing them returned to her side. The four heroic souls planted themselves between his undead and her, standing in a rank behind her.
"I think not, villain," Belenus shouted at him. "We've come to ensure your duel with her remains fair."
"We got these punks, Valkyrie. Just kill this guy, already!" Arngrim shouted.
Wylfred growled and put his fingers to the corners of his lips, whistling for his horse. The equine let out a piercing roar of a whinny from across the field as it stormed through the undead, running them over as it returned to the side of its master. Lenneth shot an icy burst at Wylfred, which harmlessly exploded into particles against his sword. However, it momentarily rendered him unable to see through the fog it made as she leapt towards him, swinging her sword center. He partially blocked it, but Lenneth was able to cut him across the side of his neck as she passed by.
Wylfred whirled around, following her movements as he clutched the bleeding wound. His eyes were wide.
"She-she almost took my head!" he realized with genuine fear.
The horse charged towards Lenneth, who was in its path. She burst upwards again to avoid being trampled. As his Clydesdale ran past, Wylfred flipped through the air, landing on its back again. Lenneth dove down, and flew parallel to them on their left, passing above the frozen shuffling minions reaching for her. Wylfred's horse banked towards her. The rider and Valkyrie found themselves locked in combat again as she flew all around him, meeting his relentless strokes with her own. To his left, his right, above, coming in from behind, the battle-maiden did not let up and pounded him from all angles in the air.
Out of desperation, the Lich Knight steered his horse towards the trees. Lenneth swooped to stop them, flying past to cut them off. The horse lowered its head to ram her as it veered toward her, but Lenneth was too quick. She zipped past and the animal almost ran into a tree. Ahead of them, Lenneth turned around and landed under the cover of the trees. With a few seconds to act, Lenneth swung her sword as though attacking, unleashing a wave of energy which spread out and rocked the trees violently. Snow came falling from their branches in droves. The Valkyrie unleashed a series of freezing blasts, forming numerous ice crystals of varying sizes, midair. They came crashing down in the snow, blocking the horse and rider's way as a haphazard blockade of piled crystals.
Lenneth knew they would scale the blockade, but they'd be in closer quarters within the tree canopy where that damnable horse couldn't use its unnatural speed.
Wylfred steered his horse towards the smallest crystal and spurred it into a jump when they got close. The Clydesdale hopped from one to the next until they'd scaled it. They looked down and saw Lenneth, waiting for them in a small opening. With another crack of the reins, the horse leapt down, aiming to land on Lenneth. However, the Valkyrie summoned a great javelin.
"Nibelung Valesti!" she shouted as she threw it.
"Dark Barrier!" Wylfred shouted.
A purple-tinted bubble formed around them. When Lenneth's javelin collided with it, they were pushed off course and sent tumbling into the trees. Lenneth watched almost gleefully as the wicked man and his demon steed cried out as they disappeared into the tops of the trees. However, she knew not to let her guard down and held her sword up defensively. Sure enough, the pounding of hooves echoed out from within and after a moment, the horse and rider burst through a snow-covered bush.
The horse jumped and tried to stomp her again, but Lenneth quickly sidestepped the attack. She stood alongside them. The instant she began swinging her sword, the horse sharply turned and reared up again. While his horse and the Valkyrie fought, Hel's knight built up power in his right hand.
"Wild Dance," he chanted.
He held out all five digits, and sickly purple strands of energy shot out from them. He moved his arm as though wielding a crop, making them snap like a series of bullwhips. When the horse backed off again, Lenneth saw the whiplike energy strands lash out at her. She held up a gauntleted arm, making her armor take the brunt of the punishment. Wylfred's lashed at her again, but this, time, she knocked them away with her sword. Lenneth staring coldly at the horse and rider.
"That is it," she decided, and took to the air. "I will summon my finisher from on high."
Hel's knight halted his steed and watched her ascend. He smiled and took out the black plume.
"Road of darkness pave before us, give my mount flight!"
Black particles gathered around the large hooves of his stallion. The Lich Knight spurred his horse again, and he shot forward at first running through the snow. Then they ascended into the sky, carried by the road of darkness. The Lich Knight cackled as they also took to the air.
Arngrim noticed the now airborne horse, and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"What the…?" he still couldn't believe it.
"That is a new one, I will admit," Belenus concurred.
Above, Lenneth finished her ascent and looked down as she began summoning the first of her spears. She froze upon spotting Wylfred riding his horse through the air and coming right toward her with the speed of the wind. She did not try to dodge. Instead, she held out one of her hands and repurposed the energy she'd poured into the great spear to form a protective shield. She'd raised it none too early, as the knight's horse rammed into it almost at the same time she formed it. The horse and rider began pushing Lenneth through the sky.
"Wild Dance," the knight summoned the whips of dark energy again and began beating them against Lenneth's shield to break it.
It held firm, and the Valkyrie was even beginning to push back, slowing them down. The knight bared his teeth and dropped the reins to cast second spell. Lenneth saw what he was about to do and poured the remaining energy she had welled up into the shield. She mentally pushed back against the horse and rider with everything. Before Wylfred could finish his own spell, the energy Lenneth sent coursing into her shield burst out against them, knocking them back.
Horse and rider were sent tumbling through the skies. Before Wylfred could right his Clydesdale, Lenneth reformed her shield into arrows of light. The knight had just finished halting their fall when he saw Lenneth commanding what looked like a volley of arrows of made of light. They fired spread out at first and then turned to converge on their target.
Wylfred raised his own shield while his horse turned and ran in headlong retreat, but some still got through. His horse let out a wail as it was pierced lightly in the side. Lenneth dispersed the attack and drew her sword again, giving chase. She turned herself horizontal in the air, maximizing her speed as she boosted forward like a rocket after them. The Lich Knight glanced over his shoulder, spotting the Valkyrie coming in swiftly.
"She's a terror to fight and impossible to outmaneuver so long as she can see us coming," he drew the plume again, smiling deviously.
"Cloak of darkness, wrap 'round our enemy," he commanded.
Ahead of her, a black miasma swelled out from the rider. Lenneth stared in astonishment as the entire sky around her was blanketed almost immediately and found herself smothered in the negative energies of this evil fog. The Valkyrie flinched and shrunk into herself as it made contact with her skin, stinging like salt in open cuts against every inch of exposed skin. She looked around but saw only misty darkness. Her second sight did nothing, and all her senses were suppressed by the dark energy.
"Ugh! My power! This dark energy's draining it!" Yet, having no heading, she was hesitant to just start flying in any random direction to escape. Worse, she had no time decide. She heard the horse and rider coming from behind. She spun about and saw a flash of something coming at her. She flew backwards and almost avoided the knight's stroke.
Clang!
Fortune smiled on her. She'd failed to block that attack and was sent spinning through the air, but his blade had only glanced harmlessly off her chest-plate. She stopped and righted herself almost instantly.
"A couple inches higher, though," she pressed her fingers protectively to her neck.
She heard the tell-tale whoosh of air breaking and the 'nay-ing' of a horse coming from her left this time. She roughly estimated where they would attack from in the split second she had and dropped. She felt her hair rustle as something passed over her too close for comfort.
As Wylfred rode through the smog, he looked down, able to see her perfectly through the mist. He scowled at how quickly she adjusted for this new situation. He yanked the reins, bringing his steed around again, and they dove straight for her.
With some effort, Lenneth stopped her fall, but she was still weakening.
"Coming from above," still feeling lost in a pitch-black ocean of smoke, she tried to her best to evade.
They seemed to miss again, but then something hit Lenneth from behind that sent her spiraling uncontrollably before she was grabbed by what felt like many grasping hands or tendrils. She cried out in alarm and even fear as she was drawn into this trap. She landed facing down on what felt a series of level poles. She lied, draped over a large one, with her arms and legs over its sides. She grabbed the surface of the thing she was lying across.
"Tree bark?" her fingers passed over it, feeling the familiar sensation of grooves in the outer shell of a tree. "I flew into a tree?"
It was then she realized she was lying tangled up in its branches. It hadn't been hands grabbing at her at all. She also noticed that the fog was much less thick here. She pushed herself up, turning herself so she sat on the branch she'd ended up landing on. As she tried to get herself loose, she found her skirts and braid caught.
Crunch! Crash! Something had fallen into the branches above and was coming down through them all towards her. Lenneth looked up and saw the Lich Knight had dismounted his horse into the tree's limbs. He was jumping, chopping, and stomping his way down its trunk to get to her.
Lenneth lied back across the large branch going still, calming herself and allowing him to come to her. He hopped onto another thick limb above her and dropped down over the side, coming right for her. Using all her remaining power, Lenneth tore herself free of the branches, ignoring the pain as strips of her hair was yanked out as she pulled loose. Wylfred's eyes bulged in shock when she suddenly zipped away, leaving him to land clumsily next to the branch she'd been on.
Lenneth looped around the trunk, moving swiftly around the branches and threw her full weight into ramming the Lich Knight from behind. Wylfred made a sound that could have been a pained grunt or a moan as he was slammed into the trunk and began falling from the tree. Lenneth also lost her grip and proceeded to fall with him.
"I'm telling you, I heard something big crash into that tree!" Llewelyn pointed to a big Columnar Spruce behind them about the length of two city blocks.
"Don't get too close to it!" Arngrim hollered over his shoulder. "And keep an eye out, there are still undead around."
They had cleared the immediate area of the slow-moving fiends the Lich Knight had conjured up from the snow, but they could still hear them moaning in the distance beyond the edges of the meadow. Sweat formed on Jelanda's brow as she looked around, beginning to become exhausted. The four einherjar stood with their backs to each other.
"What if the more powerful types of undead are out there, too?" she asked.
"No matter what, we only have to hold them as long as it takes Valkyrie to beat that dastardly knight!" Belenus attempted to keep their spirits up.
Crack, crack, crack! Crunch!
This time they all heard it. Four pairs of eyes turned to the spruce as a pair of figures dropped out of its branches, entangled with each other. The larger of the two dropped onto his side while the smaller one landed on her back. Lenneth forced herself to turn over onto her hands and knees, in a jerking, desperate act. As she shakily got up, her legs almost gave out under her, but through sheer force of will, she made herself stand. Beside her, Wylfred also began to stir.
"Lady Valkyrie!" Jelanda's concerned voice rang out.
Now that they had a look at her, Lenneth was a mess, covered in cuts, bruises, the ends of her battle skirts were tattered and her formerly braided hair now blew wildly and freely in the wind. But she was on the one on her feet.
Wylfred propped himself up with one arm and raised the other with its palm facing Lenneth. A ball of dark energy formed, and he shot at it with her. Lenneth's sword swing dispersed the blast into particles in the air. She wobbled for a second, allowing Wylfred to stand and reach up for his sword only to find it was displaced for the moment.
Lenneth held out her blade, putting it to the Lich Knight's throat. Neither one moved. Lenneth stood before him, putting on as much of a show of strength as she could through her exhausted and weakened state. Her ordeal in the cloud of dark energy had robbed her of much of her strength. Wylfred just stared back at her as he took sharp, angry breaths while glaring hatefully. He seemed almost an animal about to start chomping and barking at her like a mad dog.
The four einherjar breathed easier, thinking the day had been saved. Keeping an eye out for the undead horde in the distance, they began to make their way over to their leader.
"Prepare for oblivion, sinner," Lenneth said.
Wylfred glared back as she pressed the side of her blade to his throat before drawing it to the side in preparation to kill him. Lenneth wanted to this to be a final show of power, but she could not stop the shaking in her exhausted arms, though. Wylfred saw the tremble in her arms, and in the bottom of his vision, he noticed her legs do the same. His glower changed to a smug grin, which just incensed the Valkyrie further.
"Farewell, fiend," Lenneth all but growled.
"Not a chance."
When she thrust came down, his hands flew up blocking her blade with dark magic. While Lenneth drew it back and tried again, Wylfred stuck his fingers into the corners of his lips, whistling again. His horse dropped from the sky, landing beside them. Arngrim's eyes blazed and he sped forward, ahead of the others to get there quickly.
Lenneth turned to beast, aiming to cut its throat. Her movements were too slow, and the horse was able to back up more quickly than she could swing her sword. It took only a shallow cut across its chest. Then it lowered its head to, digging at the snow with its hooves. Seeing its massive head coming at her, Lenneth fell backwards onto the ground. After it missed her again, the horse stood alongside her and raised one of its hind feet to stomp her, but she rolled away onto her hands and knees, just evading it. Lenneth had scarcely pushed herself up when the horse head-rammed her from the side. Lenneth slammed into the snowy earth, clutching her side in agony. Wylfred summoned his sword, grinning triumphantly as it levitated from the snow and back into his hand.
"Alright, my beauty! Stomp her!" he laughed.
In his sadistic glee, he failed to notice Arngrim until it was too late. Without warning, Wylfred was splashed in his horse's blood. He stared in shock as a huge glowing blade erupted through the side of his horse's neck. His black stallion let out something that sounded like a dying whimper before it fell over onto its side dead beside its master.
"You…" Wylfred bristled at Arngrim.
"Mystic Cross!"
Hel's knight lost sight of Arngrim, blinded by the incoming spell and slammed against the trunk of the tree as he endured the brunt of a full bombardment.
"Have at thee!" Belenus leapt into the air, sword raised to the right and brought it down. Wylfred somehow managed to block the attack and sent stumbling away.
"Layer Storm!" Llewelyn unleashed his Soul Crush.
From his arrow flew a volley of yellow energy bolts, which rained down on the Lich Knight. Wylfred tried to protect himself, but he was too slow to raise a protective aura, and they punctured him through the weak points in his armor. Hel's knight let out a strangled cry as he felt his body pierced deeply in many places. Yet he remained on his feet.
"Just die already!" Arngrim charged in with his sword raised over his left shoulder.
Wylfred weakly tried to parry, but Arngrim knocked Angel Slayer from his hand in one stroke. The large warrior slid to a stop beside Hel's knight, and turned Dáinsleif over on its side, slid the blade into the narrow gap between Wylfred's chest and back plates, stabbing him in the side of the stomach. Wylfred let out a shuddering, agonized wheeze and fell to the ground. He grimaced in pain even more as he felt the Dáinsleif slide out of him at a different angle than it'd gone in. Then he dropped onto his back.
As soon as Belenus leapt in, Jelanda turned from the fight, and ran to attend to Lenneth. The Valkyrie was curled into the fetal on her side, clutching the spot where Wylfred's dark horse had butted her. The ex-princess sat on her knees next to Lenneth, holding the Elemental Scepter over her, preparing to heal her.
"No…" Lenneth held up a hand. "Use Cleanse first."
"Cleanse? But that removes curses and ailments," Jelanda looked down at her, confused.
Lenneth pointed up at the unnatural black fog hanging just over the trees.
"Dark energy," the Valkyrie said weakly.
Jelanda looked up at it, and then at the goddess. As realization sunk in, her eyes widened.
"Right! Uh, Cleanse!"
A glowing green mist poured out from the staff, bathing Lenneth. She felt some of the weakness leave her as the negative energy was purged from her system. With this done, Jelanda began working up another spell.
"First Aid!"
Lenneth's body gleamed for a second as many of her wounds were healed and much of the pain left her. Able to move, she sat up.
"Thank you," Lenneth murmured, still clutching her side.
Jelanda smiled at her and bowed before offering her hand.
As the ex-princess helped her Valkyrie to her feet, they heard Arngrim's shout.
"Just die already!"
Both women looked over in time to see Arngrim stab the Lich Knight in the side and the latter fall to the ground helplessly. Lenneth knew this was a golden opportunity they could not pass up.
"Arngrim, finish him at once!" she shouted.
Arngrim first grinned back at her and then flashed that same, toothy, gleeful smile at Wylfred.
"Welp. You heard the Boss," Arngrim brought Dáinsleif up, facing the blade at the ground.
Wylfred pitifully raised a hand he knew wouldn't save him. He'd been beaten. This was it. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see the end. Then from the inside of his eyelids, he saw the grow brighter and he heard something that sounded like a loud crackling. Wylfred felt something tremendously powerful unleashed right over him, like a pressure pushing him down further into the snow.
Then the light, sound, and sensation were all gone. Wylfred opened his eyes again, the man named Arngrim was no longer standing over him. Hel's knight looked up, and saw large warrior was now a stone' throw away, picking himself painfully off the ground. There was a groove in the snow starting where he'd just been standing over Wylfred, ending where he was now. Everyone else was too shocked to move.
"What?" Lenneth took a tentative step forward.
She couldn't tell where the attack had come from. The Valkyrie had seen… something, strike Arngrim and then saw him forcefully slide through the snow. Lenneth looked towards the downed knight. Unwilling to let him escape, she broke into a sprint, picking up her sword from the ground along the way as she closed the distance. Wylfred stared on in equal surprise before his expression changed to a smile.
"The Hel?" Arngrim shouted in anger and confusion.
"Who dares take my name in vain?" an unfamiliar feminine voice said from nowhere, and everywhere.
Lenneth stopped abruptly, midstride. She felt a chill not born of the cursed climate. She alone knew that voice. The einherjar turned and looked everywhere, trying to pinpoint the person who'd just spoken to them. Lenneth looked skyward, angrily.
"Hel! You intervene to save your personal agent of sin?" Lenneth demanded.
"Oh, indeed, I do," as the voice spoke again, a phantasmal vision of the corpse goddess appeared in the sky above, so gigantic Hel's encompassed the heavens above.
Her features were as strikingly beautiful as any other goddess and her body was statuesque under her form-fitting green and black regal robes which displayed a liberal amount of cleavage. However, there was no desirable beauty to behold while gazing upon her. Hel's pale skin was so colorless, she looked more like a drowned corpse come back from the frozen depths of the sea than an immortal being who had once dwelt in Asgard. Her violet hair and dark crimson eyes were all the more prominent for her pallor.
Jelanda, Belenus, and Llewelyn all looked on in fear as they realized who they were dealing with. Arngrim's face was grim, but he did not cower as the others did. The Artolia princess gulped and started to back away.
"Valkyrie, what is going to happen?" Jelanda asked.
Before she could answer, Wylfred began laughing, wincing from the wound in his side as he did.
"You fools! Oh, you're in for it now!" he mocked.
Hel looked down on her minion with a displeased frown, eyes as cool as the cursed climate.
"You will be silent while I speak, my puppet," she rebuffed him.
Wylfred looked at her in astonishment and indignant anger. Hel narrowed her eyes sternly. "Know your place, boy. This unwarranted arrogance before Lenneth and her einherjar after such a humiliating defeat is unbecoming, but I will tend to you later, my pet."
"What?" Wylfred shouted.
Hel turned back to Lenneth, looking as displeased with the Valkyrie's presence as she did with Wylfred's outburst.
"And you, Lenneth Valkyrie," a subtle growl was in Hel's voice. "You and your einherjar will pay for this interference."
"Interference? Such nonsense," Lenneth shot back. "'Twas you who has intruded upon the middle realms. Lord Odin and Lady Freya will not stand for this. When they hear of what you have done here…"
Now it was Hel's turn to break out into a round of scoffing laughter. Lenneth bristled, almost shaking with anger under the mockery.
"You dare jeer at one of the Aesir?" Lenneth hollered at the transparent projection.
"Oh, I dare to do so much more than that," Hel boastfully retorted. "You think a little Valkyrie scares me? And your Odin… He won't stand for what my puppet has done at my behest? You will find there is much he stands for these days. He's even allowed his own doom to walk in through the front door."
"Enough of your frivolous prattle. Take your puppet and begone if you do not intend to do battle this day," Lenneth rebuked her. "But be warned, Hel. Your actions upon Midgard will have consequences, regardless of what you think."
Hel answered with a smug grin. The little silvermaned fool would come to lament what she had said in due time. Until then… She turned to Wylfred.
"Come, my pet," she ushered. "This venture has been lost. There will be other opportunities."
Lenneth said no more as she watched Wylfred and the visage of Hel both vanish from the frozen wastes of the cursed wilderness. With them gone, the group's attention returned to the mindless undead wandering about. Some had come out into the open, but with no leader to give them orders, they just started wandering around or laid themselves back down in the snow. None seemed to be coming for them, so Lenneth dared a look towards the gnarled tree with the orb at its base.
She and her einherjar sprinted across the meadow, keeping along the shore, until they were standing over their quarry again.
"Keep watch, the undead could decide to turn on us at any moment, orders or none," Lenneth commanded.
She slowly approached the orb.
Arngrim, Belenus, and Llewelyn each took up different spots facing different directions as they kept watch. Jelanda stood by Lenneth's side as the Valkyrie examined the orb. The former princess couldn't seem to stop herself from staring at her lady. At first, Lenneth gave no indication she noticed, but eventually spoke up.
"Whatever it is on your mind, surely it can wait until I have broken this curse."
Jelanda remained silent, looking almost guiltily.
"Your name's pretty," Jelanda said quietly. "Lenneth. I like it. How come we've never heard it before?"
Lenneth turned to her with a brow raised. That's what was on the girl's mind?
"It is forbidden for humans to know the names of the Valkyries," Lenneth answered. "'Tis also forbidden for you to utter our names even if you happen to learn them."
"…Yes, Lady Valkyrie," Jelanda sounded disappointed.
"Got some undead up on that hill starin' right at us," Arngrim said.
"Thank you," Lenneth replied.
Deciding to risk it, the goddess knelt next to the orb, getting a better look.
Her mind was at work the entire time she examined it. "The vampire is gone, first of all. The foolish soldier must have released it. Instead, the orb is… being used as a conduit? How is it doing all this? I can see there is a curse in effect, but where is the sheer power to upset the natural balance coming from?"
Lenneth felt power being pulled up from somewhere beneath through the orb. She looked with her second sight and saw energy being funneled through the orb, syphoned from what looked like a spectral vein running along the ground where it lied. Lenneth realized what it was right away and clasped a hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp.
"Wait… How is this possible? 'Tis one of the roots of Yggdrasil," she exclaimed.
"The orb?" Llewelyn raised a brow.
"No," Lenneth replied. "Somehow, the vampire who dwelt in it has connected this accursed orb to a root of Yggdrasil that runs through this region."
"What root?" Jelanda saw nothing.
"Tis on a shifted plane of reality, invisible and untouchable to all but the gods and other higher beings," Lenneth said. "But it is here, nonetheless. The curst object is pulling raw world-sustaining energy from the root and corrupting it into dark power which fuels the winter storm."
"The vampire in the orb is doing that?" Belenus asked.
"Nay, the vampire is gone," Lenneth said.
"Unless he's that mount in the snow next to ya," Arngrim pointed.
Lenneth followed his gesture and noticed an oddly shaped lump just to the right of the orb. She could almost make out what looked like a torso with arms and legs. She stood and cast a gust of wind, which uncovered the body. Underneath was a frozen, dead young man dressed in the blue and black uniform of Crell Monferaigne's military. He also looked dried out, and there was a large bite mark on his throat with dried blood stained all over him.
"His blood has been sucked from his body," Lenneth confirmed. "This is the work of the vampire."
"So, the fool did let the vampire out of its cage," Arngrim gruffly said. "Hmph."
"I wondered," Lenneth said. "It seems the soldier took pity on the vampire. After he released the captive vampire, it killed him by draining him of all his blood. Then the villain connected the orb to the root of Yggdrasil to blight the entire region."
"How was he able to do that?" Arngrim sounded dubious.
"I know not, but it is troubling the undead have discovered how to use Yggdrasil to their own ends," Lenneth answered. "This cannot be allowed to happen again."
"But where do Lady Hel and the Lich Knight come into play?" Llewelyn asked.
"If I must venture a guess," Belenus walked around the orb, giving it a wide birth, studying it as he moved. "I would say Lady Hel and her knight either took advantage of the situation created by the foolish soldier and the vampire, or…"
He stopped, folding his hands behind his back. "They allowed the item to be taken, and this… Hellish cold was the intended outcome from the beginning."
"Yes," Lenneth nodded. "Whether by happy accident or design, this forest of woe was to be their territory upon Midgard controlled by Hel, populated by the undead her knight created for her, and him acting as an ever-watchful lord of the realm."
As Lenneth spoke, her tone quieted as she became increasingly troubled by the very revelations she relayed.
"A perfect starting point for dominating the middle realms," she muttered.
"How did this slip beneath the notice of Valhalla?" she mentally asked. "This was a clear and present attempt to build an army to march against us. They could have laid siege to the Forest of Spirits and gotten to the Bifrost. The alliance between the Vanir, Jötunns, and Fire Giants would have been irrelevant had Hel succeeded."
Jelanda already looked troubled, but then it turned to fear as another thought hit her. "Lady Hel only seemed annoyed, saying there'd be other opportunities."
Lenneth was already thinking of that, too. Her chest felt tight, and she realized she was experiencing genuine fear and dread.
"This is not an isolated incident," the Valkyrie realized.
She looked on the orb now. "No more pondering. Time to end this madness."
She stood over it, handing out her hands with the palms facing out like she did during meditation.
"Be warned, my einherjar," Lenneth spoke. "Anything could happen once I have undone a curse of this magnitude. The earth may shake, a great storm may tear through these lands. Be ready for anything."
Lenneth then closed her eyes and began. In her mind, she saw the orb floating in a misty gray void, and it roared with evil magic. It was set right into the root. In the physical plane, Lenneth stooped again, placing both hands on the object. She fished deep into the object, twitching in pain as she came into contact with negative energies.
"There!"
She began to straighten up, pulling the orb from the ground, but was met with an invisible resistance by the einherjar's reckoning. The fight was very visible to Lenneth as she drew it from the root. As soon as she had pulled it loose in both the physical and supernatural realms, she let go.
The orb remained suspended in the air. Without opening her eyes, Lenneth drew her sword. To her einherjar, it looked like she sliced through thin air underneath the crystal ball. In truth, she severed the connection, and the effect was instant. The colors and light drained out of the orb, and it began shaking where it floated in the air. A second stroke of Lenneth's sword followed, shattering the orb into pieces. Black smoke spewed out from its hollow inside. Lenneth was forced to look away, shielding her face with her arms as concentrated negative power dispersed.
When it was over, Lenneth looked down at the scattered pieces of on the ground.
"This is what happens when mortal creatures meddle in forces beyond their ken," she spoke aloud, but only to herself.
Arngrim raised a brow at her usage of the term "mortal creatures" but said nothing.
"So, is it over?" Llewelyn asked.
"Yes, I…" Lenneth was cut off when the ground shook with such force they were all knocked off their feet.
The ice on the lake was broken apart, making a deafening series of thunderous rumbles and even screeches like a million nails on a hundred-thousand chalkboards. The snow was knocked loose from all high places and came down, thumping against the earth. In junction, the wind picked up and the snowy downfall turned into a terrible whiteout. The icy winds stung Lenneth and her einherjar like unnumerable sowing needles raining down on them.
The Valkyrie got up on her knees, gathering herself in preparation to take her einherjar and flee before things got any worse. Then…
All went still. As suddenly as it began, it ended. Lenneth sat perfectly still, arms raised in alarm in case things took another turn for the worse. Jelanda lied, curled up and shaking in fear, eyes wide open as she lightly sobbed. Belenus and Llewelyn lied still, spread out on their backs. Arngrim lied on his side, slowly looking this way and that, before pushing himself into a sitting position with his legs stretched out in front of him, hands resting on his knees.
"Hey, Valkyrie, you think that's… it…" Arngrim trailed off as a ray of light shined down on them.
They all looked upwards to the source and were pleasantly surprised to see the storm clouds above begin to part, and the sun shining through. All through the sky, the clouds thinned and broke apart, and more golden rays began enveloping the land.
Lenneth and her einherjar stood, watching the curse weaken before their very eyes. The Valkyrie reached out with her senses and detected many of the weaker undead held by the curse passing on, as well as the darkness lifting from the land. After doing so, she glanced toward Llewelyn.
"Yes, Llewelyn, it is over," Lenneth finished answering his question from before. "However…"
She looked to the root of Yggdrasil the orb had been joined with and stood over it again. She got down on a knee and touched her hand to the ethereal limb again, and concentrated.
"Good, it is healed. Normal life-sustaining energies flow once more," she thought with relief. "Now then…"
She continued to meditate, seeking out other places of infection upon Midgard. In her mind, she felt a pull towards the far West, but did not know why. Something about the flow of energy just felt off, but nothing distinct enough for her to grasp onto came. Finally, she gave up and stood again.
"Let us go, my einherjar."
"Gothi Sten, look! Sunshine!"
The holy man looked up from tending to a wounded man. The interior of the chapel lied in ruin, with chunks of the ceiling having caved in and the windows broken, covering the survivors in debris. Yet, despite this new problem, Sten found himself speechless at the sight of sunshine streaming in through the broken strain-glass windows.
Sten sinched the bandage he'd been tying for a wounded man tight, and then stood, staring at the warm glimmers of light as though they were rare and wonderous things. Then, without thinking, he dashed for the front door, taking out his keys. He turned it in the lock, and threw open the door wide, running outside. The entire area was bathed in the sun's glow by now, with normal white puffy clouds floating by overhead. Not only that.
"It's… warm," Sten whispered happily.
He threw back his hood, and smiled blissfully, feeling not the piercing icy winds from the last two months, but a normal spring breeze.
Behind Sten, the other survivors also waded out into the open air. Those who were mostly unharmed in the earthquake aided the wounded, providing a shoulder to lean if they did not outright carry them. Behind Sten the congregation let out cheers, sobs of joy, and even simple hums of awe as they also began to shed their winter garb.
A tear ran down Sten's face as he the biggest smile he had ever given spread across his aged face.
"They've saved us. Bless the gods," he quietly said. He bowed his head. "Thank you, Lady Valkyrie."
"Your loss has cost us ground, Wylfred."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Hel slowly paced back and forth in front of her throne, rubbing her chin in consideration. At her feet, a healed Wylfred bowed low on his hands and knees, his forehead touching the floor. After a moment, Hel ceased pacing and then sighed with a shrug. She cast an indifferent eye on Wylfred, gathered up her skirts, and sat down on her throne. Wylfred cringed, knowing this silence could be nothing good.
"You were very reckless," she told him.
"Yes, Milady."
"You did not gather superior forces to back you up as instructed."
"No, My Queen. I underestimated them."
"You allowed yourself to get distracted the instant you gained the upper hand over her. You should have seen the big man with the oversized sword coming. Especially since it was glowing."
"Yes, I admit it, Queen Hel."
"I specifically had that stallion bred for you," now Hel just sounded like a disappointed mother.
Wylfred cringed at that last one. "Yes, my Queen."
"You relied too much on trying to beat her down instead of outmaneuvering her."
"I will not deny it, my Queen."
"That chapel full of survivors should have been rooted out and turned a month ago," Hel said crossly. She tapped his fingers on the arm of her throne in irritation. "Instead, you played with them, allowing them to maintain their haven long enough to tell Lenneth what she needed to know."
Wylfred let out a whimpering wheeze. "…Yes, Milady."
"What am I going to do with you, Wylfred?" she tsked.
He tensed, dreading another week in Helheim. He could already feel the subzero temperatures so cold, it turned his skin brittle.
"In all, there is much room for improvement. You are dismissed. Go to the training grounds. Garm will be there to join you shortly after I have informed her of your lingering shortcomings."
Wylfred looked up at her in surprise that she wasn't going to punish him. Not one to pass up on this mercy, he stood and saluted.
"Yes, My Queen. Right away!" Then he turned and fled from her presence.
As soon as he was gone, Hel sat along, scowling.
"Lenneth. Odin's favorite doll. I must have you removed from my path before you ruin everything."
