The unimpressive sound of wind moving beneath them. If circumstances were different this might be a monotanous night. Instead they find themselves flying for their lives. Sweiza hangs on for dear life as Strife makes no attempts to comfort her. This is a rugged mission in an untamed land. For their sake, Strife only pays attention to the trees moving quickly beneath them. She’ll hold her wings behind her as long as she can sustain flight. However, she knows this will not last forever.

Sweiza feels the burning in her lungs finally subside. This was too close in her mind. The events that transpired less than half an hour ago flood her mind. Loki had been a statue and life had been breathed into him. Was his purpose as a statue to avoid the venom? That stands to reason. She knows he is a shapeshifter, but she had no idea his power was so great. But what about the orcs? Up until today, she had only ever heard about them. She had known that certain types of fantastical creatures could turn to stone, but she wasn’t familiar with orcs. Perhaps it has something to do with Loki?

For that matter, in the heat of the moment, they were too busy trying to escape Torres, to ponder what was going on. She only knows the people around her were slowing down as night roamed on. They slowly turned to a scaled type of stone, with weathered clothing… and then those eyes. She shudders at those eyes. They were definitely inhuman. Perhaps they were cursed. Strife had the right idea about leaving the city. Sweiza did not want to turn to stone. That seemed the likely outcome. She wants to ask Strife, but doesn’t want to think about it further. She shakes her head and hears a squawk. She looks over. Sprite’s wings are fluttering hard so he can fly backwards at the same speed they are moving. She doesn’t know how he does it. She doesn’t care. She lets out a nod and he flies between her arms wrapped around Strife’s neck. The movement does get Strife’s attention. She looks down once. She gives a brief smile before her head concentrates forward.

Sweiza jolts when she can hear some kind of low moan in the distance. Rhythmed-like thuds follow. She can feel her heart start to pick up again. Strife’s voice gets her attention.

“Vera. Behind us.”

Sweiza peaks her head around Strife’s shoulders. She can see the tops of trees moving to the left and right of a moving schism between them. It is following them. Sweiza knows by now the giant following them is Loki, but it is an illusion taken form and given life. It is probably made of stone so it is just as deadly, if not worse. In her mind the rumbling is probably the small earthquakes of legend from the snake’s venom, given form to the giant’s quick, but lumbering footsteps. Sweiza turns her head down and away and focuses on her mentor’s direction of travel. They have only one mission now, survive.

“Please get us there in once piece! I’m not willing to die!” Sweiza says it shaking.

As if a mother holding a child, Sweiza feels Strife’s arms shake her two times in rhythmic succession, “A fate far worse than death awaits us.”

The rest of their flight is greeted with silence save for the continuous and rhythmic thuds behind them.

—

“You are in danger, wakeup!”

Sweiza snaps to. She knows the voice as Demi’s. She looks up. He is in the position that Strife should be. He looks down.

“Wake up, now.”

“How? I’m so scared!”

Demi looks down at her with a curious look. He mutters something in a strange language. She sees those strange characters surround them.

—

Sweiza snaps to. She must have passed out. Even in this excitement?

“Strife! We’re in some kind of danger!”

Strife feels Sweiza tug her arms once around the woman. All this commotion even now? Strife can’t believe it. She tries not to shake her head, trying to concentrate.

“You think?!”

While Strife is indeed worried, she doesn’t show that she is also having the time of her life. This kind of thrilling adventure is what she needed from collecting all of those unforetold relics and reading all of those daft and boring books. For a very long time now, she has wanted to see the world. This is the start, and she gets to do it with family. If only Sigurd were here…

Sweiza sees Strife shake her head once. Strife seems preoccupied with something, but the woman seems to be paying attention to what is in front of them. Sweiza hears a squawk. She looks over at Sprite. He points in Strife’s direction of travel. She looks over. The trees suddenly clear. They are descending? Sweiza looks over. She can see the dinghy.

Strife’s wings begin to flap several times as they fade. Her greaves appear. The descent is still too fast and quick for Sweiza’s liking. Fifty feet, then thirty. Strife’s wings give two last flaps before they scatter. It is still about five feet from the ground and they are moving forward quick. Strife’s greaves take the brunt of the fall as she slows their movement with several runs and a jog.

“Off!” Strife’s command is quite to the point. Sweiza takes one look at the woman. Strife’s eyebrows cock up. Sweiza feels Strife’s arms slacken around her. Sweiza makes a simultaneous motion of letting her crouched legs brace for the ground. She is a little shaky still. Sprite hovers briefly in front of Strife. He lets out a chirp of approval. He then flies in front of Sweiza.

“Now what?” He says it with his hands moving in rapid succession. His wings flutter wildly. He is clearly excited, if not a little scared.

“No small talk, help with the dinghy.” Strife points with her left hand at Sweiza and her right hand at the small rowboat.

Sweiza isn’t sure what the woman means at first. She doesn’t have time to think.

“VERA!”

Sweiza quickly follows Strife to the small dinghy. Strife has her hands on the small rowboat and begins pushing it. Sweiza gets the idea and copies suite. They push it hard with all their might. It is soon in the water. Strife is first inside and she pulls Sweiza in by the hand and hard. Sweiza rubs her wrist once, but says nothing. Sprite flies in front of her and lets out an amused expression. Strife interrupts their moment.

“I need your help rowing. Watch my motions and roll in unison with me.”

Sweiza nods. Before it was a simple matter of Strife offering to, and then actually rowing the small dinghy to shore. However, she must be tired, or at least wants double the effort as the two make their way working in some kind of synced unison. It isn’t very good at first, but Sweiza matches the movements after a time. They are about two thousand feet out. The water deeper here. Sweiza starts to let up.

“Vera!”

Sweiza looks over at Strife. Strife shakes her head. Strife points to the shore. There is the giant form of Loki standing there. The giant’s eye sockets glow that familiar red glow. Sweiza’s eyes widen when she sees it start to walk into the water.

Sweiza’s rowing picks up again. They are now out twenty-five hundred feet. The giant’s form sinks to about halfway in the water. Sweiza looks in horror as the giant’s neck is covered with water. She sees it attempting to make some facsimile of swimming. The top of its hair flops to the surface of the water. However, she finally sees it disappear.

“Can’t that thing swim?” She says it worried at Strife.

Strife’s eyebrows crack up, “I would assume not.”

“It is made of stone?” Sweiza tries to lighten up. Her rowing slackens.

“Keep rowing! And I would imagine it is with the way the ground rumbles under it. Even if it wasn’t, its weight must be enormous.”

Up until now Sweiza couldn’t figure out why Strife had been peaking in front of them instead of eyeing the giant that had been at the shore. But she finally chances a glance behind them and sees why. She can see the lantern lights of the ‘Gigas Dura’ in the distance. Could Strife see it that well from shore? Or perhaps she knew of the general location? Sweiza doesn’t know. She has so much to learn from this woman! She wants to have some of these good abilities of perception, they would help so much with her outdoor adventures.

Maybe this counts as an outdoor adventure.

Sweiza shakes her head. She picks up her rowing even faster when Strife does so. They seem to have a rhythm finally, knowing when to speed up or slow down.

Sweiza can start to feel her muscles burn, her lungs are starting to get tired.

The Gigas Dura is still about a mile out.

—

The dinghy is some one hundred feet from the small sloop. The form of Lukas is illuminated by the lantern light. They still have to row a bit, but the dinghy finally bumps against the side of the ship. Lukas throws down several ropes with hooks. They are soon fastened to four metal loops at the far ends of the rowboat. Sweiza can hear repeated clicks. She doesn’t know what they are until the rowboat starts to go up from the water. She sees the small metal ratchet that Lukas is operating.

“Everyone is well? The mission was successful?”

Sweiza lets out a nod. Strife is the first to speak. “Indeed it was. I don’t know where we would be without you Captain.”

Sweiza finds the tone in Strife’s voice unsettling. Is something up? She shakes it off. At this point she is just content to do with getting out of here.

Lukas is already quick to the very front of the ship. He is operating something akin to a small turn wheel with chains to it. Sweiza’s suspicions are proven correct when she looks over the railing just in time to see the ship’s anchor break water. She looks back towards their original direction of travel. She swears she can see two red eyes staring at her, but she dismisses it at her imagination.

“Lukas, do you have any problem with enchantments?”

Sweiza turns over to hear Strife and Lukas talking.

“Not at all Lady Valkyrie. Do as you will!”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Strife’s hand forms into a fist. She holds it upside down, drops it once and then thrusts it into the air with an open hand. There is some kind of blue whispy powder that flies up from it. Strife’s other hand swings up as her sword appears and passes through it. It ignites and suddenly the sails of the ship pull tight towards the direction of the bow. Sweiza feels the ship rumble under her once and she almost falls over.

Lukas lets out a laugh once. “I’ve heard of that. I’ll be in the back cabin. We’ll need some control over this thing.”

Sweiza looks over at the dark water illuminated by the lanterns. The ship appears to be moving, much faster than she thought possible with a ship.

She walks up to Strife, “What was that?”

Strife smiles and her eyebrows cock up, “There are many things in this world that are forbidden and thus unknown to the lands of Midgard. I will make it part of your training. But first, a good meal and then some rest I think.”

Sprite flies over next to Sweiza. They eye each other once. They turn over in unison at Strife. Sweiza lets out a nod and Sprite lets out a chirp of anticipation.

—

“In my travels I had heard about a city of living stone, but I wasn’t expecting Torres. But now that I think about it, it does make sense.”

Lukas hears the tale of the two Valkyrie as they eat. It is fish as usual, but with some fruit. Sweiza doesn’t mind the water. Honey on bread is also part of the order. Sprite is left quite disgruntled every time Strife covers the jar of honey. As their meal comes to a close, Sprite lets out a chirp of approval when Lukas pushes the jar of honey towards him. He dives in head first. No drop will be left!

“Really Captain, should he be allowed to do that?” Strife looks down at the piggish Sprite. Sprite looks up at her and lets out a big grin as he starts licking honey off his body hair. Strife lets out a headshake of disapproval.

“It’s no bother as long as he respects the rest of the honey.” Lukas says it warningly at the Sprite. Sprite licks his hands once and lets out a quizzical chirp. There is laughter amongst the three watching him.

Both of Lukas’s hands come up to the table as he pushes his chair away. “I do believe I have some brandy riding on this little adventure.”

“Of course Captain. But remember our deal.” Strife says it with her arms crossed at him.

“Of course. Where is the next leg of this journey taking us?” Lukas is intrigued at this point. While he isn’t directly on the frontline of this adventure, he is still part of it. He would like to be the one to tell this tale to others when it is over.

“Svarta.” Strife says it standing up and lets out a yawn and then stretches. Sweiza looks up and over at her.

Svarta, the land of the dwarves?

“Are we going to fo…” Sweiza is interrupted by Strife.

“Young ladies should mind their manners!”

Sweiza blinks once. She just wanted to ask about the hammer. The only other persons present are Lukas and Sprite. Is it that big of a deal to talk about it? Maybe Strife knows something.

“Bothnin would be the closest port city. It is about a week and some days from here.” Lukas says it heading towards the steering helm. His attention looks back when Sweiza speaks.

“Doesn’t Bothnin mean Rockbottom?” The word sounds familiar to her.

“Indeed it does. You are familiar with the language?” Lukas seems impressed. His concentration moves back to the helm.

Sweiza feels a hand swat her lightly from behind. She looks behind her and Strife gives a knowingly playful nudge to her. She looks at Strife once; the woman gives a nod. Sweiza’s eyebrows shoot up and she gets the idea.

“Oh, yes. The dwarves were known to come by to help bless the village during the Fertility Festival.”

Lukas lets out a nod of delight. “That sounds like Svavahild’s territory.”

Sweiza’s blinks once, looks from Strife to Lukas, “You know her?”

Lukas looks back, “You could say I’ve had some dealings with her.”

Sweiza looks back to Strife. The woman seems tense for some reason, rather she is holding herself rather stiff.

Strife leans over and whispers into Sweiza’s ear, “Get some sleep, the Captain and I…” Strife looks over at Lukas with a strange look, “…have a few matters to discuss… -alone-.”

Strife says the word ‘alone’ quite sharply at the girl.

Sweiza knows the drill by now. She doesn’t argue. She does as she is told. She excuses herself. While she takes the stairs below deck, she shoots a disgusted look to the back of Strife. Strife approaches Lukas and places an arm around his back. Sweiza cringes. What are they going to do, sleep together?

She finds herself soon under bed covers. She looks around for Sprite once. She doesn’t concern herself with him. For now he seems to be able to take care of himself. She lets out a yawn and turns her body over under the sheets. It has been a long day.

—

Sweiza awakens lying down in a meadow. She looks up and sees dark sky. She hears rustling. She tries to get up, but hears a metallic pop. Several restraints hold her in place around her wrists and ankles. She struggles against them, her head the only real part that can move around. She finally gives up and her body slackens. She looks around, she cant quite hear where the rustling is coming from. Behind!

She looks up and behind her. Demi’s ominous figure looks down at her.

“Demi! I thought we were friends! This wasn’t necessary!”

He hunches down with his hands to his knees as he looks down at her. He tilts his head.

“These shackles represent the danger you are in. You are a slave until you break free. Awaken Sweiza Serif and face your destiny.”

Sweiza can’t understand what he means. She is about to say something when she sees his head coming closer to her. Her face fidgets with panic. She suddenly sees his eyes turn a sharp blue. His teeth turn into several fangs and they jump down at her. She lets out a scream.

—

Sweiza awakens. She instinctively pulls both her wrists up to ‘break’ her shackles. She assumes a sitting position. Her heart beats fast. She breathes fast. It subsides quickly. Did Demi force her to wake up with a nightmare? She’ll have to have a word with him about that later. She hears something from above deck. Her head cocks her left ear up towards the deck. She can hear a man and woman yelling. Lukas and Strife? She hears yelling. It is definitely Strife. The noise stops. Sweiza rips the covers off. She breaks into a run for the stairs. Her armor appears as she does so.

The door to the cabin is thrust open. What Sweiza sees is a horrific sight. There is blood on the ground. Strife is kneeling on the ground offcenter from it. Her hands are to her chest. A knife has been thrust into her waist. Lukas is standing above her. He is holding something. It has something in it. It flashes white and then flashes a purple color. Is it the penchant? Why is Lukas holding it? Sweiza realises she is standing there. She tries to take a step forward. Strife looks up and over to the girl.

“Ve…”

Strife’s words do not finish. She instead lets out a groan as Lukas kicks the woman in the chest. Strife falls backwards. Lukas turns around. Sweiza is already charging him with her sword in her hand. He holds the penchant up with his right hand; his left hand cradles it. Those strange letters surround it. A blue light envelopes her. She suddenly freezes. She tries to move. She can’t. Her sword is midthrust a few feet from Lukas. His eyes glow.

“Behold! I am awash with poise; my moment of glory starts with your sacrifice!” Lukas’s voice is far more maleficent and fanatical than before. He is clearly caught up in the moment.

Sweiza can’t breath. Her whole body feels like the life is draining out of it. She feels herself ready to pass out. This is it. Then she hears it off to the port (left) side of the ship. It sounds like sand scraping sand. It is a voice, it comes out as a low rumble and hiss.

“Allow me to set you free from your desires.”

Lukas looks over towards the starboard, “Begone you fowl bea…”

Lukas is interrupted to a fireball enveloping him. Sweiza only sees it out of the corner of her eye, but the fireball illuminates the shadow of a head with horns and long neck. Is it a leviathan?

The strange letters and blue sphere surrounding her disappear. She lets go of her sword on instinct as she drops forward to her knees; her hands catch her. The wind has been knocked out of her lungs. She lets out several gasps as her chest and lungs struggle to fill themselves with air. She fights, but it feels like no use. Her attention jumps to the illuminated form of Lukas. His body is on fire; his flesh is melting! She sees a giant wooden head. He’s a puppet? The dream! The puppet’s clothing cracks up into smoke and disappears. It lets out several utterances of an unknown language. Another fireball, this time a much more powerful one hits the puppet. It lets out a cry in that unknown language. It lets out a pained scream as its arms claw at its body trying to stop the pain. It looks over to the port (right) side of the ship just past Sweiza. It starts running. One last fireball hits it and knocks it overboard. This time she definitely saw the demonic head. She doesn’t have time to scream. She attempts crawling to Strife. Not like this stupid! She forces herself to her feet and heads to her wounded mentor. She kneels down by her side. She sees Strife hasn’t lost much blood yet, but it is enough to cover a large puddle.

“Are you alright Strife?” For the first time, Sweiza shows absolute concern and some level of respect towards her mentor.

“I do believe I need some bandages for this pain.” Strife says it, her voice shaky and quite weak.

“Strife, what was that thing?” Sweiza looks back towards the starboard side. The long necked, horned-head is gone.

“Surt.” She says it with a small smile. “My…” Strife quickly corrects herself, “…‘our’ insurance.” Strife lets out a weak groan. She feels about ready to pass out.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get those bandages.” Sweiza says it to the point. Strife lets out a nod.

Sweiza lets Strife out of her hands and then heads for the cabin. She stops when she hears splashing and a cry from from the port side. Isn’t that the side that the wooden puppet ran to? Sweiza shakes it off. She is stopped from focusing back at the task at hand. She hears another splash and then sees a fireball hit something in the sky. She can’t make it out. She hears a much louder splash this time and then hears a crunch and a snap and then another splash. She shakes it off and heads inside the cabin. She has an idea of what has happened at this point. They are safe for the time being, or so she hopes.

She finds the first aid kit. It is metal and looks quite old. She cracks it open with hopeful intent. The supplies look new. Bandages. Lots of them. Thank the Goddess!

She hurries out to the deck and kneels next to Strife.

“You could have taken a little longer dear.” Strife lets out a cough from the pain.

Sweiza doesn’t say anything. She is quick to pull the bandages out. How to work these damn things? Ah, the knife! She looks down at it.

“Strife, this is gonna h…” Sweiza is stupefied at what happens next. In one motion Strife reaches down for the knife and jerks it out. She lets out a wince as she does so. Sweiza cannot believe just how candidly the woman did that! She’s crazy!

“A person could die waiting for you!” Strife says it sharply at the girl and lets out another cough, “Help me put pressure to it!”

Thankfully Sweiza is just glad Strife is still alive. The thought of T’lak’s words fill her head. “The Cult of Loki”. But now isn’t the time to ask. She reaches into the first aid kit and pulls out a cloth. She is about to put it on the wound. Strife’s hand grabs the girl’s wrist.

“Wait.” A strange vial of liquid appears in her hand, she hands it to Sweiza, “Wet the cloth with this.”

“What is it?” Sweiza holds it up and inspects it diligently. It glows a strange light blue from the ship’s deck lanterns.

“Child, your intrigue be damned, just do it!” Strife lets out a grunt as she says it.

Sweiza rolls her eyes. Strife shoots her a scowl and lets out another groan from the pain. Sweiza finally does as instructed and uncorks the vial and dumps the contents onto the cloth. Not dignified, but it works. She pushes the cloth to Strife’s wound. Strife lets out a wince from the pain. Her (Strife’s) hand comes down to the cloth covered wound. Pressure is applied. Diligently, Sweiza wraps the bandage wraps around her mentor’s waist.

“Strife, yo… ‘we’re’ going to be okay, right?” Sweiza says it, her face mere inches from Strife.

Strife lets out a puff of air at the girl’s face, “Your stinky breath aside, yes, I think so, at least for now.”

Sweiza’s face pulls down and her teeth grit behind an unopened mouth. She quickly loosens her edge, now is not the time. “That thing with the neck… a leviathan?”

Strife lets out a chuckled snort, “Dragon.”

Sweiza remembers now. Surt is a dragon. A scary looking one. He was in the water? Wait, he’s -still- in the water? She looks over towards the port side. Her suspicions are probably correct then; Surt probably crushed Lukas… no the wooden puppet, or whatever that thing was, between his jaws. Dragons are man eaters. But she still wonders just what Lukas was exactly.

“Lukas… He was a wooden puppet?” She asks an obvious question.

Strife nods once, “Cult of Loki. They have ambition. But I don’t think this is what they meant when they claim ‘Awash with Poise.’” Strife lets out another snort towards the port side of the ship.

Sweiza stares at her dumbfounded. There is more to this than she knows. She attempts to kneel down with both knees next to Strife. She has her hands on her mentor’s shoulder. She is about to sling her (Strife’s) arm around hers (Sweiza’s). She is stopped.

“Dammit child! Get to the helm, our position is in jeopardy!” Strife yells it at Sweiza.

Sweiza lets out a yelp as she lets go of the woman.

“Now!” Strife yells at her again.

Sweiza nods once. She jumps to her feet, turns around and rushes to the cabin door. She stops just short of the mast. She turns around and lets out a bow towards Strife.

“Valkyrie, I’m glad you are safe.” Sweiza doesn’t wait for her mentor’s answer. She turns around and heads to the door.

Sprite is hovering there. “It seems like you had an adventure.”

Sweiza lowers her voice as she opens the door. “And where were you, you little shit?”

“Observing. You didn’t need me anyway. That… -thing- took care of that other… -thing-.” Sprite cringes and lets out a hiss when he says the first ‘thing’.

“Whatever. Let’s go. We have shit to get done.” Sweiza scoffs at him. She takes a sharp turn past the door and her hands are on the helm. She sees Strife is still sitting. She must still be weak.

There position is stable, but by Sweiza’s reckoning, this will be a long, if not soon to be remembered night.