Down on the ground, Birgitta was running a tight ship. She had managed to stop the villagers from trying to put out the fire, at least the ones that was supposed to whether the Wolves’ charge. There was still plenty of villagers running around like mad, but they were non-combatants and what they did didn’t matter quite as much. She had arranged the defenders they way that Hanna and her had agreed upon, which was a relief for Hanna. Bull-headed was normal for that woman, and when she put her mind to it she could be outright impossible. The first time Hanna had told her the concept of mixed units and fighting in formation, Birgitta had waved her off, rightly protesting that it would make it hard to fight properly when they were bunched up that tightly. She had come around eventually, but Hanna had still feared that she would ignore the plan and do it her own way.

Seeing the almost-neat rows of villagers in front of the gate, it was a thing of beauty, at least given how little time they had to practice. The entire front was just sword and shield, and Hanna recognized a lot of the faces. That meant that Birgitta had put the most experienced fighters there. It was probably a sound tactic, at least if the goal was to keep as many villagers as possible alive. Behind the first line where all spearmen, ready to strike the enemy from the gaps between fighters. Behind them were two more rows of villagers, equipped with whatever weapon they where most proficient with. That was it though. All in all they had maybe fifty villagers that were healthy or trained enough to be of any use in a fight. By Hanna’s quick estimate, that put them at about half the number of the enemy, and she wasn’t exactly betting on most of the villagers to be worth two of the enemy. That was some grim odds, and if they were going to come out alive from this, that difference would have to be compensated somehow.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Birgitta asked once she saw Hanna approaching.

“You are kidding, right? That shit is on fire and going down any minute. I’ve moved the archers away, they can manage on their own”, Hanna said and thrust a thumb towards the palisade. Birgitta looked around until she spotted the archers as they settled on the roof.

“Good call, I guess”, Birgitta admitted.

Hanna leaned in close to Birgitta, lowering her voice. Decreasing moral could be devastating at this point.

“Look”, she said. “They have twice our numbers, this wont work. We need to do something more, and I think I have a plan. Where’s Anders?”

The big oaf was supposed to be in the middle of the defenders, acting as Birgitta’s second, but he had left to sort out the panic that surrounded the burning house. Hanna ran off and physically dragged him away from it. Even if the whole village burned down, it would still be better than letting the Wolves inside. He was quite panicked as well, forcing Hanna had to alternate explaining her plan to him with trying to calm him down. They had some heavy lifting to do, and just Hanna on her own wouldn’t be enough.

While they were away, the gate was struggling on its last leg. The logs hadn’t burned through yet, but the fixture that kept them together was done fore and it would probably fall apart any second. The animated shouts from the Wolves outside made it obvious that they were ready to pounce. Their eager voices stood in sharp contrast to the tense silence among the defenders. Nobody talked. Some had a look of grim determination, but most just seemed filled with confused apathy, as if they couldn’t believe how their quiet village life had turned into this desperate struggle. Birgitta sighed as she noticed their pathetic attitude.

“Oi, fuckers!” She screamed, turning everyone’s head towards her. “Toughen the fuck up! Do you want to die or what?” The defenders looked at her in confusion.

“Believe me, that will happen unless you stop pitying yourselves and do something about this”, she said and pointed towards the gate. Her words had visible effect on the defenders. They straightened up and looked a bit more determined.

“The gate is going down any second now, and when it does, you need to be ready. I want the front line just holding the ground while the second row poke them with your sticks, just like we practiced. Don’t give them an inch and keep an eye on the guys next to you. Try to bunch up on the enemy, kill anyone who is occupied fighting your neighbour. And the rest of you, be on your toes. If one of our own goes down you fill that gap. Understood?” Birgitta asked. The defenders looked rapt and attentive, but nobody answered. That was not what Birgitta was going for.

“Are you ready?” She roared, trying to ignite some attitude and spirit. She got a half-hearted response.

“Oh hell no, you can do better. I asked you, ARE YOU READY?”

The villagers roared in unison, finally a pit pumped-up. Birgitta nodded in satisfied approval.

Hanna heard the villagers shouting from over by the gate. She winced. Birgitta had probably pulled one of those cheesy ‘are you with me’ rallies. Hanna hated those. Grandiose speeches were lame, and she was sick and tired of riled up crowds looking for a fight. She and Anders had gotten what they came for and was on their way back. They were carrying a huge log that had been too big to use in the palisade. The only reason it was even there was that Hanna had thought it fun to show off a bit to the villagers. She could sort of handle it on her own, but Anders definitely helped speeding things up. Back when they were training, he had more or less matched her in strength. She had beefed up a lot since then though and was quite sure that she had left him behind by a wide margin now. Together, they could probably pull off this plan of hers. They would have to, at least if they wanted to survive.

They rounded a corner and could see the gate again. Just seconds later it fell apart in a huge ruckus and the Wolves came rushing in. Hanna shot a glance at the archers on the roof since she didn’t see any arrows raining on the attackers. Her worry was unnecessary, they were just a bit startled and as soon as the shock wore off they began shooting like crazy. Amidst the smoking logs and the general chaos, the attackers were ill prepared for the arrows and they fell by the second. The organised defence and the arrows slowed down the charge and the gate was beginning to bottle-neck. More Wolves pushed in from the back and the ones already inside had no choice but to move forward. They could do little against the wall of spears and shields that closed them in though, and in mere moments the burning remnants of the gate formed a veritable kill zone.

That didn’t last long enough. Once the attackers noticed what was happening they soon organized themselves and stopped charging in madly and begun working together. They were at a disadvantage but with their greater numbers they could afford to lose a few men. It wasn’t long until the two forces balanced up and the attackers stopped dying in droves. The arrows were still striking them mercilessly, but they were fighting the defenders to a standstill, the foothold they had managed was filled to the brim with Wolves.

Hanna and Anders were running like mad now, at least considering the weight of what they were carrying. They were in a rush, sure, but that wasn’t why they were running. Momentum was the key to this plan and they had a ton of it. The log they were carrying weighted at least two hundred kilos and they had worked up quite a lot of speed. The were running along the length of the palisade and were almost at the gate, screaming their lungs out for the villagers to get out of the way. The intense fighting made it hard for the villagers to hear them and for a moment it seemed as if tragedy was imminent. At the last moment a resourceful villager grabbed the defenders that were in the way and tossed them to the side, clearing the way for Hanna and Anders.

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When they were just a couple of armlengths from the fighting, Hanna and Anders stopped as one and heaved the log away with all their might. It sailed for a second in the air, before it crashed into the packed crowd of Wolves, cutting through their ranks like butter. The few that wasn’t smashed aside by the collision was pinned down under its weight. The log ended up pretty much were they had aimed it, across the length of the gate. It wasn’t big enough to stop the attackers from entering, but the log and the surrounding pile of bodies made for an annoying hurdle that slowed down the replenishing troops quite a lot and for a moment isolated the ones that was already inside of the wall.

Birgitta took the initiative and ordered the defenders to press the attack, doing massive damage against the attackers. Hanna drew her sword and joined the fray as well. The guy in front of her was occupied with one of the villagers, his unprotected flank painting a perfect target for her. Once again she felt hesitant to strike. Describing the concept of pushing a few feet of metal into a human torso as ‘icky’ probably didn’t do it justice, but it was how she felt. Now wasn’t the time to be squeamish though. Hanna steeled herself and stabbed her sword into the guy’s lower abdomen. Her sword sank in without resistance, and as she pulled it back she gazed for a moment at the blood that coated it. It was unreal how easy that had been, like skewering some chicken in preparation of a barbeque.

The guy fell down straight away and another one took his place, jumping straight at Hanna with an overhead strike. She batted his sword away, and the force of the blow left him out of balance, giving her ample time to strike again. Hanna gritted her teeth and cut his throat on the backswing. Slicing people up would take some time getting used to, and the sight of a partly severed human throat was something she could live without. Hanna chuckled at the irony when she realized it. She actually couldn’t live without it. Either she cut them up as they came, or they did the same. It was almost comforting, killing tons of people doesn’t count if they are trying to do the same to you, right?

Throwing aside all moral conundrums, Hanna joined the fight once more, relishing in the carnage of it. These guys may or may not be better fighters than her, but that didn’t matter. They were scrubs, and she was probably twice as strong as most of them, if not more. On top of that she had the regeneration of a troll. This was her moment to shine, and they brought this shit upon themselves when they came looking for trouble.

She swung her sword horizontally against the closest enemy with as much strength as possible. He tried to block but wasn’t quick enough, his guts spilling as the blade sliced through his stomach. Hanna kicked his falling body into the mass of attackers and moved on. The kick gave her some breathing room, and she used that to grab the arm of a nearby Wolf, yanking him off balance before she stabbed her sword up inside his ribcage. This was almost too easy, the chaos of the battle meant that she seldomly had to fight more than one or two at the time, leaving her free to cut them down in a whirling dance of blood and gore. It was an intoxicating experience, leaving her with no room to think about anything else than what was happening in the moment. Dodge a blow, kick a groin, spin around and repeat. Every now and then she felt moments of burning pain as someone scored at hit on her. Hanna trusted in her healing and ignored the wounds, pressing forward.

Before she knew it, she was no longer surrounded by enemies. Hanna took the time to take stock of the battle. The orderly lines of the villagers were broken, the two groups divided into many smaller skirmishes. All around her where people who was dead or not far from it. She didn’t see Birgitta anywhere but knowing her, she was probably where the crowd of enemies were the thickest. It was hard to judge how they were doing, the amount of dead bodies on the ground seemed promising, but there was far too many of them that looked like villagers for Hanna to feel confident in their victory.

The question now was why nobody was attacking her. Looking around she noticed a group of enemies that where keeping their distance, studying her every move. She didn’t know what the hell they were stalling for, arrows were still raining on them and they had nothing to gain by lunging around. The answer came in the form of a clay jug with a burning rag stuck in it, sailing towards her from the corner of her eye. Hanna tried dodging but still got hit on the hip, a huge cloud of flame enveloping her as the jar shattered. At first, the shock was too great for Hanna to feel anything. But then as the seconds went by, the pain grew until it was unbearable. Eventually it all became to much for her mind to process and she fell to the ground, losing consciousness. The last thing she saw before everything went black was the bubbling skin of her hand, caught in a cycle of melting and growing back again.

The fighting by the gate had mutated into a chaotic mess, like larger battles always do. Telling friend from foe was almost as hard as staying alive. Skill only took you so far, a blade to the back took you down no matter how many hours you spent training. That was true for both villagers and Wolves, Birgitta noted as she finished off her last enemy. Dead people littered the area, and regardless if they survived this or not, this was still an absolute tragedy for the village.

Some poor fucker by the palisade had been hit by the same thing that took down the gate, and the still burning remains illuminated the ground in the dark night. There was still a lot of Wolves left, but they had lost their advantage and no more where coming in from the gate. The battle was at last beginning to ebb out. The Wolves around her were hesitant to approach. It was logical and gave her a welcomed pause, but it dragged this fight out longer than was necessary.

In front of her, the crowd of enemies parted. A handsome and tall young man stepped out to challenge her. His eyes were a chocolate brown, unlike the green and blue that could be found in the village. His hair was the same colour but was smeared with blood. That was only a plus in Birgitta’s eyes, and the toned muscle on his arm added to his allure. The only downside to him was the hateful smirk in his face, making it clear to everyone just how full of himself he was. She recognized him all right, it was the same prick that she had sent running in the fight that had costed them Carl and Gudrun.

“Josef, right?”

“You know my name?” He laughed. “You must be a friend of Hanna then. A shame really what happened to her, she put up quite the fight.” He said and motioned towards the burning body on the ground.

Birgitta was shocked. That was Hanna? Grief hit her, which probably shouldn’t come as a surprise. Birgitta liked the girl, she faced her challenges head on and was made of sterner stuff than you’d think from just looking at her. Hanna was a far cry from the traitorous and fragile mess that dared call herself her daughter. Being burned alive was a fucking miserable way to go and Hanna deserved better.

Birgitta glared at Josef. “You better wipe that smirk from your face, boy. You’re dead now.”

Josef kept his smile. “You can try, but don’t blame yourself for losing. I’m unlike anything you’ve faced before.”

Birgitta smirked. This asshole just didn’t know when to quit. A quick throw from her off-hand planted the last of her throwing knives in his throat. Eyes filled with shock, he fell to his knees, his hands holding the wound in confusion. Unwilling to half ass things in case he was like Hanna, she jumped in to finish him off while he was down. Before she got close enough, the remaining Wolves got in the way. No matter, she could cut these losers down in seconds.

“You fucking bitch!” Josef screamed, confirming their suspicion. He could heal all right. Birgitta pushed the dead body of the last Wolf away, clearing the way towards Josef, only to find that the fight was over. Once again, Josef had made a run for it. For all his pride and cockiness, he really wasn’t bothered by fleeing. With him was maybe twenty surviving Wolves. Birgitta sighed. This was a fucking mess. Things would have been so much cleaner if she could have just finished him off. Not much could be done now though. There was still a couple of Wolves in the village, and helping the remaining villagers clear them out could probably save some lives.

With Josef out of the picture, the last fights were soon dealt with. Only a handful of the defenders were still standing, meaning that the village was now effectively without anyone to defend it. It had been a close call. Had they prepared only a little less, they would probably have been done for. Not that this was much of a victory. It was the biggest attack that the village had ever faced, and it had a death count to match it. The ones participating in the defence had been most of the village’s working force, leaving only children and the elderly to pick up the pieces. Forget defending against attackers, they would be hard pressed to even survive the coming winter

Birgitta sat down on the ground next to Hanna’s charred corpse, allowing herself a rare moment of pity. She was getting to old for this shit.