Three daggers leave the hooded figures hand and lodge in the space between Bjorn's hand and where the hammer lays. The daggers fly at such speed that no one was has time to react before they have already hit their mark. Bjorn, still enraged, groans as he turns to face the group.
Iver shouts, now impatient. "We don't know if he was a deserter! He could have been captured by an enemy or some other explanation! Let's not jump to groundless conclusions. And seeing how you all woke up in the land of adulterers, liars, and murders, I wouldn't be so quick to judge. Now I don't care what you all did in your lives that got you here, but we need to work together if we want to escape from this place."
Everyone falls silent as the last word rolls off his tongue. Is there really a way out of here? Can we really escape from this place? Iver stands, now finished dressing my wounds. Everyone's eyes fixed on him like a pack of starving wolves, and he has dangled a slab of meat in front of us.
"I've heard stories of three keys lost somewhere in Nifflheim that can grant you access to its gates. We were on our way to that castle in hopes to find one when we stumbled across your group."
Bjorn scorns at his words. "What makes you such an expert? You put your belief on some story fed to you to make you behave? You expect me to fight with you on a foolish story!?"
"I didn't believe it at first. I wandered these shores for weeks looking for a way out, too afraid to venture into the castle on my own. I walked aimlessly. Losing all hope until I decided to put my faith into that story. That's when I encountered Frode and Bo."
His hand gestures to the hooded figure finally giving us a name to the hooded figure.
"Bo isn't his real name, if he is a man, but he hasn't talked since I found him, so I just gave him something off the top of my head." Iver laughs. A half-hearted smile replaces his previous gloomy expression.
I didn't know what to believe. I'm not the belief and faith kind of guy. Being asked to trust the ones deemed untrustworthy by the gods. Would it be foolish to give in to faith?
Haralda leans forward. "Let's say we believe you. All we need to do is just find these three keys and we can be freed from this place?"
"It is never going to be that simple. I don't even know where they are. The castle just seemed to be the only way forward." Iver replies.
"Well, there are four more people here. We can take the time to search. We can be certain that-" I say, trying to grasp even a sliver of hope from the situation, but Iver quickly interrupts.
"Unfortunately, time is a luxury we do not have. This isn't some peaceful journey away from the village. We are meant to suffer here. You will always be hungry, but never need to eat. You will feel pain, suffering, doubt, fear and every fiber of your body will ache as it slowly deteriorates."
Iver removes the armor and cloth covering his right leg. I assumed that in the armors place, a human leg would be revealed. Instead, I'm confronted by decaying flesh rampaging throughout his entire leg. His flesh turned different shades of black and green with pieces of bone visible in the more damaged areas. Everyone is stricken with shock as he rewraps his leg.
"I don't know how long we each have. It could be different for each of us, but all paths eventually lead to this. The cold helps a little though. I think it slows it down enough. The pain is mostly manageable." Iver reassures as he tightens the rags he has replaced on his leg, slightly grunting from the pain.
"What happens... if we die here? Aren't we already supposed to be dead?" Langley stammers, asking the question on all our minds.
"I honestly have no idea. My best guess is your soul gets taken to someplace worse or lost in the void, your body left to be fed on by the Nidhogg. That's probably what it was doing when you guys encountered it. Iver explains, his eyes staring ahead at the castle.
Everyone is silent. Each of us trying to process the words just thrown at us. The little faith inside of me still sparks under the downpour of fear and uncertainty that rushes inside of me.
"I'll put my faith in the story. If we are all doomed here anyways might as well go down swinging." I announce, hoping to ignite faith in them as well.
Bjorn stands up with a shout. "Yeah! Let's make the bastard go hungry!"
Determination fills my companions' faces. Their expressions are like firewood dropping on my spark of faith, igniting it into a staggering flame. We can do this. Amidst the uncertainty and the god's life sentence of suffering, we will do this. Each of us here for our own sinful reasons. To trust in the untrustworthy will be our salvation.
"So, what is the plan?" Haralda urges, her eyes full of fight.
"Let's catch our breath here and make for the castle in a few hours," Iver answers, hope and confidence emanating from him.
*****
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The wind howls as we make our way up the ridge toward the castle. The warmer clothes and thick cloaks make the cold slightly more bearable. The snow beneath us is over a foot high making our journey a gradual one. The cold chips away at the remaining heat I have hoarded in my cloak. By gods, I wish we were back at the fire.
The castle gently creeps into view with each step we take. Its black stone walls tower over us as we approach. No windows obstruct the seamless, firm bricks that stand with a giant wooden door at its center. The only entrance into the horrid depths this castle possesses.
"Being burned alive sounds kind of nice right about now!" Bjorn shouts chuckling to himself.
"You'd probably smell better than you do now!" Frode mocks back. Chuckling from our party follows his remark. The laughter is a short, but pleasant distraction from the cold.
The snow gets deeper as we converge upon the entrance. The wind paired with the snow makes it nearly impossible to trudge forward and my arms feel completely numb up to my elbow. Suddenly, the snow on the ground starts to shift and cave in on itself. Its movement originating from the castle and heading steadily toward us.
"Everyone halt!" Iver hollers, his voice effectively lost in the shrieking wind.
The snow continues to shift, moving toward Bjorn's feet. Iver quickly knocks back an arrow and shoots at the intended destination of the fluctuating snow. The arrow wisps in the wind, slicing through the snow, and slams into its target with a thud. The movement ceases and Bjorn grabs the arrow lifting the body from underneath the snow. On the end of the arrow sits the head of a snake that is large enough to eat a full-sized pig. Yellow blood oozes from the arrow in the snake's head and gently streams down its white, refined scales.
Haralda turns and hollers to Iver, "Admirable shot!"
"I thought snakes didn't like the cold?" Yells Langley, trying not to be drowned out by the wind.
"Hey!" Shouts Bjorn, trying to get our attention as the snake flails violently in his hands. Its massive jaw snaps toward Bjorn and the snake's fangs get ahold of his arm. Bjorn shouts in pain and drops the snake. Its white body camouflaged as it propels itself through the snow.
Iver knocks back another bow as the rest of us unsheathe our weapons. His arrow flies towards the snake but the snake quickly evades. I race towards the shifting snow and slam my axes down, feeling nothing but steel hitting the ground. The snake continues to advance until it finds its way to Haralda who swings her giant sword that clashes on the ground with the sound of thunder. The movement of the snow fades.
"Did you get it?" Langley asks clearly rattled.
Suddenly, the snow around Haralda erupts into the sky obstructing our vision of her.
"Haralda!" The party shouts.
The snow lazily falls back down exposing the snake's enormous body wrapped around Haralda. Its muscles tightening and flexing as it constricts its forty-foot body. I see Haralda stab and push against the snake with her dagger, trying to refuse to be imprisoned by it.
"A little help would be nice." She chokes out, her face turning slightly purple.
Langley rushes to help her, vaulting through the deep snow. He thrusts his spear into the beast, causing it to release a horrendous screech. The snake quickly retaliates with its tail, crashing it into Langley's chest, sending him flying. I run just fast enough to catch Langley and dampen his collision with the ground
"You breathing?" I urge Langley to answer. He nods and I gently lay him in the snow and take back up my axes. I'll have to leave him there to rest for now while we handle this situation.
Looking back at the snake I see three iron arrows lodged in its body. Each of them perfectly placed as to not harm Haralda. Bo and Bjorn are engaged with the snake, dodging the strikes of its fangs and sweeps of its tail. Bo throws a dagger that drills into the snake's eye. Blood seeps from the wound and Haralda screams as the snake tightens its grip. Bo begins to climb the snake, using the arrows as footholds. He begins using a dagger to cut and saw at the snake's body close to Haralda to alleviate some of the pressure. The snake shrieks and slams its head into Bo knocking him off.
Think. I need to think of a plan to save her. I observe the carved-up body of the snake that seems to not affect the creature. Even Bjorn's strikes with his hammer do next to nothing to change the situation. If the body can't be broken, then we need to get rid of what controls it. I look up at the snake's head, watching it bend and sway seemingly out of reach.
"Throw me!" I shout towards Bjorn.
This isn't much of an idea but it is one way to reach its head. Unfortunately, it means I'll have to depend on Bjorn.
"Piss off!" Bjorn jabs back over his shoulder.
"Just shut up and throw me," I demand as I begin running towards him.
Bjorn shakes his head in frustration and places the head of his hammer in the snow. I position my foot on the hammer and Bjorn grunts as he propels my body into the air. My cloak flaps in the wind as I fly closer to the snake. The creature doesn't seem to notice me as it continues to battle with Bo. I let out a yell as my axes slice into the snake's neck, freeing its head from its body.
I hit the ground and tumble in the snow a few feet from the snake. The snake's head and body plummet to the ground, releasing Haralda from her scaly prison.
I push myself to my feet and head towards Haralda who is being picked up by Iver and Bo, "You alright?"
"Yeah, thank you guys." She coughs, color returning to her face.
Langley approaches us using his spear to prop himself up. "Not that sad of a lot, are we?" He chuckles.
"I guess that makes us even then," I say as I extend my arm to her.
She chuckles as her hand clasps around my forearm while mine clasps around hers. "I think the one I saved you from was bigger."
Steam begins sizzling from the snake's wounds, melting the snow around it. I stare in disbelief as skin and bone start to form where the snake's head used to be. The snake's newly formed eyes stare at us like we are helpless prey. The back of its severed head starts to steam next and a massive body and tail begin to form.
"Shit." I mutter under my breath. "Run!"
I grab Langley and prop him over my shoulder while Bo and Iver carry Haralda. What in the gods is happening? I was so sure that I had slain the beast but now our problems have only doubled.
We reach the large wooden door just as the now two snakes finish forming. Their eyes quickly identify us, and they dive into the snow, rapidly closing in on our location. Bjorn groans as he launches his shoulder repeatedly into the door that barely nudges.
"It would be nice if the door was open right about now." Frode snaps at Bjorn.
"I think it would be nice if you were snake food." Bjorn threatens as he backs up.
His foot slams into the wooden door that cracks and whines as it opens. Everyone rushes inside and thrusts the door closed. We remain pressed against the door, anticipating the impact of the snakes, however, the impact never comes. I let out a sigh of relief as I sink to the floor exhausted.
A symphony of scales, callously rubbing against stone clutters my ears as I peer into the dark castle.