“We’re going to be in trouble when the male comes,” Osvif said as he pointed at the anchor for the harpoon chain. “This one is bent, and I’m almost certain we can’t fix it here. Not without a forge, anvil, and a lot of luck.”

Nodding, Einar ate a second helping of food as he watched the men and women continue to pack barrels with body parts that had been harvested and quickly brought to the woods.

“So we’re down to two… Anything else we can do?”

“We have a backup that will just do damage for each ballista,” Thorodd stated. “We didn’t use them in case the female Leuca ango somehow escaped, and we lost them. Against the male, we will load them immediately and use them to try and make it bleed.”

Nodding, he lifted the wooden bowl to his lips and raked the last bit into his mouth.

Once he had finished, he set the bowl down and moved to what Osvif and Thorodd had wanted him to see.

“The scales should work. Hopefully, we can find an armorsmith who can craft what we want out of them.”

“But it’s going to take time, Einar. Even your friend will tell you that’s not something we have.”

“He’s right,” Osvif said. “Tomorrow, we have to plan on being there each day. With the corpse of the female and that wind, we won’t find a better way to draw out the male. Our only hope is that it doesn’t come and take it during the night.”

“Well then, make sure everyone is rested and healed. We’ve got a plan, and I’ll go all out this time.”

Thorodd laughed and gave Osvif a shove.

“All out, he says… like you or I could have hoped to achieve what he did.”

“Yes… it makes one feel very small… oh wait, I feel that every day.”

All three Vikings grinned as the shortest one there bent his knees and shuffled around a few steps.

“On a serious note, are we certain about wanting to use those other items we brought?” Thorodd asked when Osvif stood up. “I can tell you each warrior is a bit anxious at the thought of them.”

“You two know what this next fight is all about. Had we seen the male first, we would have been vastly unprepared. At least the gods were gracious and sent the female to practice on.”

Einar watched as both Vikings glanced at the other, eyebrows cocked in two different directions.

“I’m not saying I don’t trust you or Osvif but… this is going to be one hell of a story for a skald to tell.”

“Hopefully, you live to tell the story yourself, my friend,” Einar replied. “For now, we will do what must be done. Fight what the gods have put before us and die if need be. Success is all that matters.”

After each grunted, both men nodded and moved on to their assigned tasks.

Looking down at the empty bowl, Einar's stomach growled, and he felt like he could easily eat another two servings. From the corner of his left eye, he barely noticed a shape approaching quietly from his blind spot.

“You’re perceptive,” Lyeneru stated after chuckling slightly when he turned to face her. “Most wouldn’t know I had arrived until I was next to them.”

“I didn’t hear you; the slightest shift of your body against the background was all I caught.”

“Still, I was trying. Now tell me, Einar, when did you get so much stronger, or have you been hiding all your real power since we first met?”

“One cannot show all of their power from the start, can they?”

Rolling her eyes, Lyeneru shrugged as he grinned.

“Tell me, why has my favorite Elven ranger graced me with her presence?”

She started to blush and then stopped, her eyes narrowing as she glared at him.

“I’m not certain if that is a compliment or a slight… you were too specific…”

The frown that had started to appear disappeared as Lyeneru studied him and the smirk that he now wore.

“I know those two spoke to you about the next part of this fight. Just be aware we aren’t sure when the male might come.”

“They informed me of that, but the wrinkles on your nose tell me something else is bothering you.”

She nodded and glanced around before moving a little closer.

“I’m not sure those weapons we brought will work against the creature. The reports from the scouts who have spotted it are anxious. Even if you manage to get the beast to come feast upon the carcass, the female was barely held down by your chains. What will you do if we can’t keep the beast pinned to the ground?”

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“Osvif shared with you our plan?”

“That foolish endeavor?” she asked, frowning the entire time. “I thought he was joking. Surely you can’t be serious!”

“You will have to wait and see. I’m certain most, if not all of us will die. We will do what we can to ensure it dies with us. All I need from you and your people is a chance. Keep its attention, give us a window, and we’ll do the rest.”

He watched as Lyeneru studied him, her eyes scanning his face for anything he wasn’t sharing.

“You Vikings… so willing to die. Tell me, is it because you know there is life after death? Would you fight differently if you knew tomorrow might be your last battle?”

Memories stirred in his mind. So many had been forgotten for so long.

How many times did I willingly go into a fight, knowing it might be my last? Never once did I believe there would be anything after death… Now?

“Einar?”

Her voice brought him back from the myriad of conflicts he had fought in, the last one being the memory of Dawson and Rodriguez, both motionless on the embassy floor.

“Yes. Every battle has a reason. As I told Varitan, death has meaning, even if you only get one life. To fight any other way means we do not truly believe in what we are fighting for. Tell me Lyeneru, do you believe in this fight?”

She snorted and shook her head, the braid whipping from side to side.

“Every day, I know the flame of life within me may be gone, sent back to Freyr until he grants me another body. Tell me, Einar, have you ever seen me back down from a fight?”

Laughing, it was his turn to shake his head.

“No, you have never done such a thing. Cautious, yes, but never one to back down. That is why I like you. Perhaps you are part Viking as I am part elf.”

Her laughter carried across the area they were standing in, a light in the darkness of what all knew was about to come.

“It is a good thing Freyr likes you, Einar. Perhaps you will only die once in this battle.”

Shaking his head, he kept smiling.

“Trust me, I have no doubt when the male comes, I shall once again meet the Valkyries.”

***

“It’s day three,” Thorodd muttered quietly from their blind. “That corpse smells worse than a pile of shit in the sun. Do you think this thing will ever come?”

Scrunching his nose, Einar shrugged as he sat in the blind. The wind blew the scent of the rotting flesh in for a few moments before shifting, providing a reprieve until it returned once more with a vengeance.

“There is no other option. You and everyone else know it. We cannot leave even if it takes weeks.”

A grunt was the only reply as Thorodd pinched his nose, shifting from side to side as they took turns standing, holding the front of the blind that would blow over if not held in place.

***

“NOW!”

Einar and the men shouted, doing what they could to confuse the giant Leuca ango that had finally come on day eight.

No one cared about how long they had stood, waiting for this moment. Each Viking was so accustomed to the maggots and scent of rotting flesh that being this close to the corpse didn’t affect them now.

Bones crunched under the massive claws of the male as it fought against the chains that entrapped its feet.

It had swooped down, attempting to grab the corpse and carry it away, now entangled by the chains and hooks that Osvif had lined within the decomposing flesh and bones. Two long chains had been used that wouldn’t be available for the ballistas, holding for just a moment as rocks cracked from the power of the pair of wings that flapped quickly.

A loud roar erupted again, drowning out the Vikings who came toward it, each spinning a grappling hook with metal wire in a loop off their side.

Einar did the same, but the sound of his tool spinning was quickly drowned out by the male's deafening cry.

Two harpoons came from the hidden blinds, one hitting the creature’s side and bouncing off, while the furthest one buried itself in its belly.

Balls of fire erupted against its face, blinding the Leuca ango for a moment as the flames washed over it, doing nothing but pissing it off more and barely singing any feathers where the spells had impacted.

Two hooks flew upward, Thorlief and Skardi being closest to the side that the harpoon had struck true. Each of them appeared to successfully get their hooks to stick.

Gusts of wind buffeted the entire area as each beat of the wings as it twisted, turning and trying to see what was touching it, lifted both Vikings off the ground like leaves in a windstorm, sending them flying in a circle as each man used the cable system Einar and Osvif had built, pulling frantically on the wire, a set of wheels and a pin, keeping the lifeline they were attached to from slipping out from the force they were enduring.

“Blow the horn!” Einar shouted.

Varitan who was nearby, lifted the large metal tube he had been given to his lips, filling the air with a deep rumbling sound that fought against the cry of the Leuca ango.

The elf’s sound drew the beast's attention, and as it approached the warrior, who held his ground, Einar summoned the power for the moment he had been waiting for.

[ Thor’s Blessing ]

The crack and thunderous boom of thunder came after the bolt of lightning descended from the sky and struck the beast in the head, its entire body convulsing from the power assaulting its frame.

Like a rock, the Leuca ango plummeted, outstretched wings slowing its descent as the spell's power stunned it for just a few seconds.

At that moment, eight more hooks flew into the air, five not bouncing off.

Einar noticed that Osvif, Hogni, and Geir were all trying to dodge their falling hooks and reclaim them for another chance, but there wouldn’t be any time for that.

Two powerful flaps of the Leuca ango’s wings sent plumes of dust everywhere, blinding anyone unable to close their eyes fast enough.

He pulled on his wire as did the others, ignoring the jolting of the tension in the wire as the beast stopped its descent and began to fly upward, arcing its head to the sky.

It’s running! Why is it–

A slight pause came as the beast struggled against the tension in the chains of the one harpoon that had struck true before an audible sound of flesh being torn free came, and Einar watched as the leading hook they had employed fell to the ground.

With only the small wires that held its feet in place, it freed itself, wings flapping as Vikings scrambled to climb up their wires, a pair entangled from the shifting bird.

In just a few seconds, Einar was only about fifteen yards from the scales and feathers of the giant Leuca ango that had just freed itself from the final hooks in its feet, climbing into the sky as each beat of its wings left the ground further away.

Jumping out of a plane seems so much easier than this…