The Draugrs looked like statues. They barely moved at all. Maitho would notice movement on a screen out of the corner of his eyes but when he shifted his attention, the creatures would be still. The only signs of life were in the eyes, which held a bright glow and which dissipated wisps of smoke out of their corners. The Draugrs spread across the yard in front of the building. Their numbers were so large that Maitho could hardly see the ground.
“What is all this for?” said Maitho, his arms outstretched towards the monitors like a signboard pointing towards an area of interest. The smile that he received from the woman only meant she was just going to continue with her condescending silence. She began walking towards the monitors, looking pleased with herself as though she had just painted a masterpiece. Her eyes traveled across the various screens, marveling at some majesticity that Maitho could not seem to catch. “This is your home,” he continued. “Are you planning to bring them in here?”
She looked at him. He saw madness in her eyes. The kind that was tempered with a degree of calculation. “Oh, I won’t be doing anything.”
Noticing that the armory wall was left unattended, Maitho moved towards it while keeping his weapon trained on her. He navigated around the sofa so that he wouldn’t accidentally trip on anything. Brigid’s eyebrow rose, but she didn’t say anything. When he reached the weapons, the woman spread her arms. “I don’t need those weapons.” She pointed at the monitors. “I have an army.”
“You have one?” said Maitho in disbelief. “They don’t belong to you. They belong to the Norse pantheon.” He noticed the armor worn by the Draugr and spotted chestpieces, spaulders, faulds and chausses. While the armor remained the same on all of the undead warriors, there were some that seemed as though they fit a woman’s body. But such nuances were unimportant to Maitho. All he could worry about was what would happen next. Was Brigid planning to allow the Draugrs into the base? That was not possible. She might harbor a deep sense of dislike for Maitho, but would she actually go so far as to destroy her home and her friends to gain the upper hand?
It just didn’t seem like her.
“Tonight,” she said. “They are mine.”
Maitho hoped the others were not listening. He hoped that Epona had headed back to her room. If she was unaware of all of this, then perhaps he did have a way to try to talk things out. What did Brigid truly want?
“You don’t need to hand me over to the Norse Guardians,” said Maitho. From the way the conversation was going, there was little chance that she would even heed his words. “There has to be another way. If there isn’t, then let me figure it out on my own.”
Brigid moved alongside the security desk, her fingers trailing its surface. “Do you want to live, Maitho?”
It was a simple question, yet it held to easy answers. At that moment, Maitho didn’t feel he had the capacity to rationalize his response. “I want to make a choice.”
Brigid stopped. She looked at him with her head tilted to one side. “You don’t have a choice. We make the choices for you. You heed. Right now, I sincerely wish you would just accept your fate.”
“You mean your idea of my fate,” countered Maitho.
“Wow,” she said. “Looks like you still have some bite in you.”
“What does it matter?” Maitho’s voice had risen an octave.
“It does,” she said and raised her handgun towards a monitor. “Tell me. How much do you trust your new friends?” She fired. The loud bang reverberated around the room. Maitho flinched and he noticed Brigid had done the same. A screen exploded into the shower of sparks and glass. On its face was a hole, spiderweb tendrils of cracks spreading out from it.
Maitho raised his gun to aim at Brigid’s chest. “Drop the weapon.”
She fired again. This time, she aimed at another monitor. The corner of the screen suffered the damage. Then she leaped to the side. The action was so out of place that it locked Maitho in a brief trance. She disappeared behind the sofa, leaving Maitho with no clear line of sight. Not understanding the situation entirely, he chose to duck behind the sofa on his side. “What are you trying to do?”
“Take the power away from you,” came the response. Maitho had no idea what she meant by that.
He would have loved some time to figure things out, but Epona’s entrance gave him another problem to focus on. He hoped that she wouldn't be a witness to this, but there was no point now. All he could think of was how to communicate with her. Maybe he could just yell out a warning. That might work.
He didn't get a chance to react.
When Brigid spoke, Maitho realized that he was too late to stop her plans. “Get down,” she yelled at Epona. “He grabbed a weapon when I wasn’t looking.”
A second later, Bevan entered the room. Maitho peeked over the sofa to see the wide-eyed and slack-jawed Guardian evaluating the damage in the room. “Can’t you both just have a simple conversation? Preferably with kind words?”
Bevan’s naivete might have been amusing in any other circumstance but at that moment, Maitho’s mind was running at full speed, trying to figure out all possible outcomes to the situation. It was obvious that Brigid was trying to play the victim.
“This is not the time for conversations,” Brigid yelled again. “Get down before you are hurt.”
“What?” said Bevan.
Brigid placed her hand on the top of the sofa with the handgun pointing straight at Maitho. Her face was partly covered by the weapon, with her eyes training down its sights. “Don’t you do it, Maitho.”
“Don’t he do what? What is happening?” Bevan took a step forward.
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“Stay back,” warned Brigid. “I knew there was something wrong with you. I knew I shouldn’t have brought you to our home.”
Epona looked from her leader to the man on the opposite side of the room. Her expression bore confusion, but there was a degree of focus. Maitho tried to speak to her, but Brigid took away any chance he held. “You planned this from the beginning didn’t you? Was that why you wanted to meet Raiden? Even though we were clearly going to win, you stopped the fight. I knew there was something wrong. And for what exactly? Have a conversation with them? Do you think we are stupid?”
“That’s not true,” said Maitho and regretted his response instantly. He made himself sound weak. Desperate. More importantly, he sounded guilty. “Don’t do this Brigid.” It was all he could manage to say, but he realized those were not the best choice of words either, especially after he heard her next response.
“Do what? Tell them the truth? You are not going to shut me. Not you. Not your Draugr army.”
Epona seemed to snap out of whatever thought process she was making. “What Draugr army?”
“Check the camera feed.”
Epona walked towards the monitors. Her eyes went from curiosity to disbelief to denial and then finally landed on shock in a short span of time. Maitho wanted to say something. He wanted to scream his defense, point a finger at Brigid and make her confess. But he didn’t feel confident that he would not inadvertently accuse himself falsely.
“That is not the truth,” said Maitho. “How far are you going to take this?”
“I should be asking you the question Maitho. Or are you going to talk with that handgun you snuck into the base? That was smart of you. Placing the one I gave you and then using the one you picked up at Jennifer’s house. It’s a good thing I am trained as well.”
Maitho looked at the weapon in his hands and considered tossing it away. If only that would help him. The only thing it might do was give Brigid a chance to further her attacks. He decided to hold on to it, if only because he wondered if he might need it later. Perhaps against the Draugr army outside. Perhaps, and he fervently hoped not, against Brigid herself.
“Is this true?” The question came from Epona. She was looking in his direction with dismay.
Her look alone sent him numerous messages. But out of all of them, he could only hone in on the disappointment. She looked at him as though she wanted him to answer everything Brigid had just said.
Knowing that he was just being a passive observer to the entire situation, Maitho raised his arms. “I’m coming out,” he spoke loud enough and slow enough for everyone in the room to hear. Brigid wouldn’t hurt a surrendering enemy, would she? He didn’t know. Bhat would be an act of immortality that Brigid could not afford. If she did attack him, then she might make herself look like the guilty party. At least, that thought process was what Maitho was banking his life upon. He didn't let go of the handgun, but he held it pointed up at the ceiling. All he had was blind faith in human nature, which was something he was beginning to rely on less as time passed. Still, he didn’t have options laid out to him. “You want to ask questions, Brigid? Go ahead. Or are you going to shoot someone in cold blood?”
The woman did not respond to him instantly. That was a good sign. She was considering his reaction. This was something she probably hadn’t expected.
“Good,” she said, surprising Maitho. “I’m glad you are not continuing this. I’m sure we can talk this out. Bevan, handcuff him.”
Maitho couldn’t understand the look that Bevan was giving him. It was a blend of confusion laced with a sense of wariness. It looked so alien on the man’s face that it might as well have been another person inhabiting his skin. He took a step towards Maitho.
“It’s not what you think it is,” said Maitho.
Bevan hesitated. “Don’t listen to him,” said Brigid. “If he is surrendering, then we are here to listen to him. But we cannot take any more risks.”
“Did you call the Draugr?” said Bevan, taking another step forward.
“I didn’t,” said Maitho. He was taken aback by how much he actually meant it.
He noticed Bevan turn his attention to Brigid. “Maybe this is a misunderstanding. He has been with us.”
“And for what purpose?” said Brigid. “Why do you think Raiden left us on the first night? Was it simply because of Charon?”
Bevan shrugged. “What if the answer is that simple?”
“We only have his word on his discussion with Cray," said Brigid, changing tactis. Unfortunately, Bevan didn't seem to be paying attention. His eyebrows furrowed as he began to consider her words. She pressed on, seizing her opportunity. "They just let him live after nearly destroying our base? How is that possible?”
“I don’t know,” said Bevan. Even thouh he had his will, it was slowly coming undone with each passing moment. “Maybe he convinced them.”
“Of what?” said Brigid.
“Explain what is happening here Maitho,” said Epona.
“You seek his word over mine?” said Brigid, pointing four fingers at her chest. She looked at Bevan, her features softening. “If you care about me,” she said, “even if it is a little. Even if it is a fraction of how much I care about you," she let those words hang in the air for a moment as she pursed her lips. Her eyes blinked a few times as though they were trying to prevent tears from leaking out. "You have trusted me this whole time. You should know Bevan. You, of all people, should know that I would never hurt us. Not us.” Her whole body relaxed as she lowered the handgun to her side. “But if you don’t believe me, then I offer myself as a hostage.”
Bevan shifted from one foot to the other. His gaze traveled from Brigid to Maitho and back to his leader. This was his last stand. A futile attempt to stand ground against his feelings. “Why does it have to end like this?”
“Because one of us is going to call in that army standing outside. And I know it’s not me. But do you?”
Epona took a step towards Maitho. “Move away from the armory.” Her hands fanned out besides her, like she was about to break out into a ballet routine. If only it was something as odd as that. "And drop the weapon."
Maitho’s shoulders sagged. He watched as the one person he could rely upon moved closer to him. His confidence began to wane, leaving him searching for something to say. Any combination of words seemed to hold no value or power. They felt hollow.
“Are you going to harm your friend as well, Maitho?” said Brigid. For a brief moment, she bit her lower lip to suppress a smile. Then her face returned to her persona of Brigid the victim.
He wondered about whether he should drop the gun. Would it have been better if he was unarmed? Shouldn’t he be able to defend himself at least? He watched as Epona moved closer. Out of the corner of his eye, Bevan started walking towards him.
“Give me a chance,” said Matiho. He especially looked at Epona. “It’s all I ask.”
“You will get your chance,” said Bevan. He walked as though Maitho was a radioactive substance. “I promise you that. Come on. If you're not guilty, then why not just let go?”
Epona reached one part of the armory as she stood just a few feet away from Maitho. She reached out to grab her crossbow. She turned the weapon on Maitho. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
Maitho noticed that Brigid gripped her handgun tighter. He understood the look in her eyes.
She was going to shoot.