The clattering of metal mixed with the sounds of shifting mail as each side got ready. Ercole and Shani moved together, standing side by side. The two watching as the bandits on the other side formed a shield wall by the edge of their camp. A seemingly impenetrable wall of metal and wood.

“Agrippa, move to the side and get your bow out, see if you can hit their spearmen. You two, stay back but if you get the opportunity, get them! Shani, you’re with me!” Ercole called out.

Hreysti grunted, “This isn’t my first fight.”

“Mine neither. Well then Dyo, shall we try to push?”

“I-I’m not a commander!” he stuttered.

“But you are a demigod that can turn people into thorn bushes! Wherever we can attack or defend is up to if we can take apart that shield wall.”

“Can we flank them!?”

“Not enough of us,” Shani muttered, “And too many of them.”

“That and that black knight is a force in on of himself. Now that I think of it, we might not be able to hold the line against him.” Ercole grunted.

Dyo groaned, gritting his teeth. He didn’t want to use it, he didn’t, he didn’t! But it might be the only choice he would have-

He was interrupted as Hersysti, staring intently at the black knight spoke.

“Ercole?”

“Yes!?”

“Do these Neuhderlanders duel?”

“Wha- Ergh-! The nobles do, yeah! Like everywhere on this continent! Hell, if they’re too far up their own arse with their idea of chivalry they might do it in a battle… You’re not going to-!?”

“Of course I am!” Hreysti snapped, “It distracts him and lets you focus on the rest! Once you have them, then you can finish him off. That is if you’re alright with me breaking a promise Dyonaigus…”

Dyo swallowed as he met Hreysti’s eyes, but-

He nodded. “Do it.”

Ercole looked between the two before letting out a sigh, “Right then, I guess you’re ready to do some magic then Dyo?”

“I- I’ll experiment with something.”

“Alright… Hopefully, our stories won’t end today then! Forwards!”

“Rífa þau í sundur!”

Hreysti’s blood-curdling scream ripped through the air as it echoed around the forest. Its sound rang in the ears of bandits on the other side as some of them seemed to falter a little. The grip on their weapons loosened a little as their minds fought against the sudden shock.

Only to watch the small group of attackers start to move.

Dyo’s mind raced as he ran, trying to focus his mind on the ground below the men’s feet. He tried to push his magic into it, imagining those vines, no matter how much it hurt to. But instead, he imagined them growing from the earth around the men. Strangling their legs and holding them in place.

And as he opened his eyes, he saw it. Thin, rope-like thorned vines rising from the soil around the feet of some of the men. The tendrils growing up and around the men’s feet as he kept feeding his power into them, grasping onto their legs like vices. Those small thorns growing as they slid through the slight gaps in their mail leggings.

They yelped, trying to yank their legs away as others looked with startled eyes at their comrades. Watching those vines slowly engulf their legs and dig into them.

The bandits moved back, their formation weakening as the threat of the charge was supplanted by the fear of vines choking their body.

An arrow slipped through the air, implanting itself into one of the unarmoured bandits as they screamed. Their hands rushed to it as they looked around for their assailant. Only driving them men deeper into disorder as the knight screamed at them to hold.

One of them dropped their spear as they ripped their knife out, bending down to try and cut themselves free. The thorny, gripping vines that scraped against his flesh as they burrowed deeper through their armour-

A bandit screamed as Shani drove her spear through their throat. The force of the charge channelled through the spear in that thrust which pierced through armour and flesh. Blood poured out of the wound as the spear withdrew. The corpse dropping at the foot of the other bandit.

At the same time, Ercole’s bastard sword thrust into another man’s face. The poor soul was too distracted to guard himself. No noise escaped his lips as the blade pierced through his eyeball. The man crumpling onto the floor, the sword withdrawing with small scraps of his brain.

And just as one of them tried to turn to counter the sudden breach of the line, he found himself completely unable to help.

Because Hreysti’s axe had just cleaved their shoulder in half, the edge splintering the bone itself like tinder. The man’s sword arm now completely useless to help, right as the axe withdrew and slammed into his spine. Splinters of bone and chain cascading out in a spurt of blood.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Three bandits were left dead after only a few seconds, soon jumping to four as the man trying to make his escape met his end. His trembling head looking up, only to be met by Shani’s spear.

The tension lingered for a moment- but then it all sped up as the bandits came to their senses.

Their line had been cut into two halves, but that just left their enemy surrounded.

Two men charged Shani. One with a spear, the other a sword. As the spear thrust Shani brought her shield up, the tip bouncing against the bronze as Shani counter-attacked. She thrust. Her spear dived into their face and fractured their skull, killing them in an instant.

At the same time, the swordsman made a swipe at her outstretched arm, the blade slicing through the air- Only to falter as an arrow landed in their thigh, the sword simply glancing off Shani’s mail.

She winced at the pain but shrugged it off. She bashed the man’s arm with her shield, sending them stumbling and finishing them off with another quick jab.

Ercole was facing slightly worse odds as three swordsmen bared down on him.

The first slash came from the one on the left, a quick parry deflecting their blade as Ercole sidestepped, positioning himself beside a tree. That blocked the blow from the man on the right. The tip of their sword catching against the trunk.

Then the blow from the centre man came as he thrust his arming sword into Ercole’s chest. It came just as he sidestepped again, catching him off guard. But as the blade came in, it glanced off his brigand, but not without taking some of the air out of him.

In that gap Ercole struck back, slashing his sword into their arm. It met their armour with a crack, the blow cutting through the mail and their gambeson. But it gave enough protection to save the swordsman’s now bleeding arm as they recoiled.

But out of the corner of his eye, Ercole could see the black knight start to move.

Now was Hreysti’s chance.

He slammed his axe through the gut of an unarmoured bandit, blood spraying everywhere as the bandit fell. Leaving no opposition for him to intercept the knight.

“You! Stop!”

The knight turned, his head looking down at the small, pale man in front of him. Covered in blood and lacking the muscle any serious fighter would need.

“What is it, commoner!?”

“I am Hreysti, son of lord Ari of the Úlfrung clan and I challenge you to a duel! Deny it if you’re a coward, accept if you can fight a true Northman…”

The knight let out a short, low laugh, “Well then pagan lordling, I, Arendt Von Freiherr Gardun, accept! Prepare yourself!”

The two levelled their weapons, their postures shifting as the clash of steel mere meters away faded in their ears. The two warriors focusing only on each other.

The black knight hefted his bearing sword on his right, the weapon pointing down towards the ground in a rear stance. Hreysti instead held his axe up high, ready to strike down. Both waiting to see how would strike first.

The knight moved.

He swept up with his massive sword, aiming to slice through the vampire in one heavy swing. But Hreysti dodged, sidestepping to the right as the heavy blade ripped through the air beside him.

His eyes flicked up, noticing the shift in the knight’s grip. He was moving to bring it right back down.

Quickly, brought his axe down into a mid-swing, slamming the head down into the knight’s side. Hreysti’s supernatural strength managed to split the solid black plate apart, the axe head continuing through the mail and gambeson and into their flesh, blood pouring through the wound.

The knight roared, bringing his sword down just as Hreysti managed to yank the axe from him. His feet stumbling over roots as he struggled to pull back far enough to not be bisected by that blade. The steel slashing through the space in front of him twice as the orc twirled it through the air.

But another opportunity appeared in a small break between the swings. He stepped forwards, ramming the head of his axe into the man’s chest and pushing him backwards with a heavy clatter.

A small, adrenaline fueled laugh escaped Hreysti’s lips as he yelled, "Hvorfor knæler du ikke for mig? Bange for at det bringer tilbage fortrængte minder?" The chance to gloat in his native language not escaping him in that moment of joy as the adrenaline pumped.

Arendt sneered under his helmet as rage filled his eyes. The bloodlust swelling in his veins, “How the fuck were you able to get through my armour!?”

“Have you not heard of what the members of clan Úlfrung are!?”

“I’ve never concerned myself with the business of pagans! What are you!?”

“All lords of Úlfrung are cursed. Everyone one of them! All of them suffering from vampiric blood! That is how I’m able to get through your armour!”

A low snarl rumbled from the knight’s helmet as his muscles tensed, “A vampire!? This is not a duel any more! I should have been able to tell from your skin… Prepare to die, monster!”

He thrust his sword forwards, swiping across Hreysti’s chest as he did. Hreysti tried to sidestep-

But was too slow.

The blade cut through his clothes as the tip cut across his forearm as the knight’s steel dripped with their blood.

“Some may not see the danger in your kind, but our house always has! We have sneered each time the other lords have tried to turn vampires into their soldiers. All of them are traitors to God by accepting pagan creatures like you into their guards!”

Hreysti’s breath had turned ragged, the pain from the cut searing down his arm as thick, black blood dribbled to the ground. His eyes trembling as he watched the knight approach. The wooden shaft of his axe wouldn’t be able to block a strike from that, that he knew. He needed to bring his axe up to strike!

He hefted it up, the pain screaming through his mind. He knew this pain, he’d fought with an injury like this before, but not again such a large and skilled opponent. He might have heard a scream in the distance, but he wasn’t quite sure. All of his focus still on his opponent.

The knight’s steel started to drop down, the strike heading straight towards his neck-

It stopped as a growling roar echoed from the knight as his sword dropped to the ground. His hand grasping his other arm as he writhed in agony.

And then he saw it.

Thick, blood-soaked briars bending and breaking steel as they ripped themselves out of the orc's arm. Scraps of red and green flesh clung to the thorns as the knight’s forearm turned into a shredded, bleeding mess. Some of the holes in it large enough to see the roots of the vines dug into his bones.

Hreysti hefted his axe up and brought it down on the orc.

It sliced through their armour by his neck with a monstrous sound, sending broken links of chain flying as it dug in. The monstrous blow finally silencing the black knight.

He stumbled for a moment, then fell, falling to the ground with a firm thud.

All that was left was a field of carnage. Bleeding and mutilated bodies everywhere. Shani and Ercole were caked in blood, the two resting on their weapons as they finally realised the battle was over.

And there, staring at the body of the dead knight was Dyo. His eyes trembling as tears rolled down his cheeks.

Hreysti saw him, a small smile forming across his lips as his senses finally opened.

Blood

The scent stung his nose. The scent of blood and flesh. The adrenaline still pumping through his body as a hunger grew in his gut. All as his heartbeat refused to slow.

No

No, no, no!

But he felt it. He felt it grow stronger and stronger. The craving filled his mind as his senses started to cloud, blocking everything else out other than the stench of fresh meat that now surrounded him.

His eyes glanced at the unarmoured bandit he had killed earlier. His gut gaping open.

And he dived right into it.