Reya didn’t understand what was unfolding before her…why did her father have that weapon? Who was this man, this demon that radiated such an aura of darkness that it left her stomach aflutter with nausea? And why did they stare at one another in electric silence as though they were mortal enemies reunited for the last battle…
Reya gulped through a suddenly dry throat and whispered with the most frightened of tones, “P-papa?”
Her quiet voice shattered through the silent standoff like the blaring of a klaxon, and both men surged towards one another with a ferocity of strength and speed that left Reya gasping. She clamped her hands over her ears when metal shrieked through the air with agonising intensity and hot tears spilled freely from her eyes as she became a helpless witness to the violent scene that erupted around her.
Baldur swung the great axe with a terrific bunching of his shoulder muscles, an astonishingly fast strike from such a large man and he roared in challenge at the demon that rushed to meet him. Steel flashed in a blaze of fury as the pair spun and slashed at one another with breathless speed and agility, trading blows in such quick succession that Reya could barely follow them. And when the fence of the horses’ pen exploded from a wild strike from Baldur’s great axe that spewed splinters through the air, the horses tumbled frantically in their unexpected freedom. The demon’s face pulled into a rictus of effort as he raised his own sword into a guard against his foe’s compensatory swing and pushed forward to bring himself closer into Baldur’s circle.
“Stop this!” Reya screamed at the men amid the bolting horses, but they paid no heed as the demon battled Baldur with relentless, dangerous aggression in search of an opening.
Baldur bellowed as he brought his great axe overhead to cleave the demon where he stood, but when the blades descended for the killing strike, the demon spun fluidly and thrust his murderous sword. Reya screamed when her father swiftly pulled back his great axe, thwarting the thrust meant for his stomach with the haft of his mighty weapon and as the demon staggered back against his strength, Baldur lashed out with a powerful kick.
The demon was harshly thrust backwards into the wall of the stable–house and the wooden slats exploded like shattered bones as he was propelled outside with inexorable force. Dark determination flashed in Baldur’s eyes when he followed his nemesis through the hole in a single leap and as he brought the great axe down in a fearsome strike, the demon rolled hastily to escape his death. The haunting echoes of terrified screaming reached Reya’s ears then and she ran outside after her father’s relentless fight, only vaguely aware that some of the townsfolk now fled in all directions in alarm at the sudden calamity the violence had brought. But her eyes narrowed in chilling trepidation as she scoured the cacophony of running and screaming; no…they aren’t running because of the fight, she thought, but something else…
Reya’s mind tumbled calamitously into a muddle of confusion when her eyes picked out the astonishing sight of armoured forms amid the catastrophe that roiled within the market. Horned helms, roaring voices and bloodied weapons raged through the crowd that panicked to get away from the army that thronged terrifyingly among them, every person reduced to frightened rats in a sinking ship. What…what’s happening? Slavers? She thought with a hysterical fear that threatened to bubble over her lips in a maddened scream.
The palpable wave of terror that smashed inescapably through Fieldhaven was as destructive as a tsunami, and all caught within its choking grasp screamed with a mad hysteria that ripped the sanity from every open mouth. She staggered back in shock when a person was propelled through the air with legs and arms wheeling madly, and terrific booms of shattering wood and screams of fear around her heralded the beginnings of an unearthly massacre. More bodies were flung through the air ruthlessly, some crashing into market stalls with brutal force and when some of the screams became cut off with an abrupt finality, a cold clarity thundered into Reya’s mind. Whoever these soldiers were, they had not come to enslave; they had come to lay waste to their once peaceful town.
There were hundreds of them, Reya realised with a sickening lurch of her stomach, lost spinning in the horrendously bloodcurdling violence that spilled around her. So many soldiers that they vastly outnumbered the poor people who lived here, the people that Reya knew so well and had grown up with…hunted like animals by this howling pack of wolves.
She spun towards her father again, suddenly fearful that the fight he was so embroiled with would only bring their deaths and with that thought came the crack in her composure that leaked pure hysteria. “Papa!!” She screamed wildly.
The demon’s leg flashed out in a vicious arc that connected heavily with the back of Baldur’s leg and Baldur grunted as his knee gave way to the harsh impact. He barely had enough time to raise the haft of his great axe into a hasty guard against the rising, backhanded slash the demon had aimed for his neck and metal screamed again. Baldur’s great biceps tensed like the shifting of mountains as he pushed against the downwards pressure the demon forced upon him and above him, his nemesis grinned in dark triumph.
Baldur’s lips pulled from his teeth when he summoned his strength from within and the demon’s eyes bulged in shock as he watched his eternal foe surge defiantly onto his feet. Baldur’s knee sailed upwards in a punishing blow that powered into the demon’s stomach and even as his stricken opponent reeled terribly, Baldur swung his mighty axe. A serpentine hiss scalded Reya’s ears when the weapon slashed the demon’s chest, but still he stepped forward and brought his sword into a downwards sweep.
“No!” Reya cried when the murderous sword bit into Baldur’s leg and as he staggered back with a grunt of pain, the demon’s face was a feral rictus of triumph. He brought his weapon up for an overhead slice, but Baldur was far from defeated and from his back he brought up a concealed dagger that sought his opponent’s heart.
The demon snarled as he leapt back and hastily swiped his sword down to stop Baldur’s blade from reaching its target, but a new roaring scream brought another enemy that raced forward into the fray with murderous speed. Baldur rammed his shoulder heavily into the dark skinned demon for enough distance that he could deal with this new foe and when the blade of his dagger speared devastatingly through the flesh of the rushing soldier, Reya screamed in horror. It seemed as though she watched from outside herself when her father pulled the dagger free with unflinching ease, the blade and his hands covered in a dark blood that seemed so alien, yet so familiar to her.
Baldur’s gaze flickered towards her then and within those violet eyes, he saw the pain of all her nightmares come true; the scarring violence that had made her scream so terrifyingly shrill from her nightmares made solid before her. Baldur’s soul was heavy then and as he cast his eyes around the ensuing carnage that tore devastatingly through Fieldhaven, he grimaced at the sight of so many soldiers that sought the destruction of so many innocents.
He glanced towards the silver eyed demon that still staggered from the punishing shoulder barge, but instead of pressing his advantage upon his enemy, Baldur rushed to his daughter’s side. His heart was crushed at how desperately Reya clutched her temples, at the wetness that reddened her eyes and as he grasped her shoulders urgently, he balked at the blood he unintentionally anointed her with.
“Reya!” He called to break the stupefied horror his daughter had become mired in, but he could see how hopelessly lost she had become at the sight of such awful violence.
Reya tore her eyes from the body of the soldier that twitched in death at her feet and numbly gazed up into the hard expression of her father’s sweating face. She recognised him then, the man whose eyes she had looked through during so many battles, the warrior that she had come to identify as herself in a way. And the reluctant shame in her father’s eyes spoke of his admission. There was a tremendous pool of confusion within her as she stared into his eyes; those blue depths that should have been so familiar and calming, now strange and disturbing.
“You can’t stay here, Reya,” Baldur said grave
ly through a solid jaw, both aware and stung of the thoughts that roved through her mind, “it’s no longer safe.”
Reya’s mouth worked soundlessly as she turned numbly towards the whooping, bloody carnage that scored a livid gash through the serene town she had grown up in. Incomprehension welled within her so thickly that it felt to her as though her head would burst, until the strong hands upon her shook her abruptly, and she gasped at the harsh insistence of Baldur’s attention.
“Reya!” He shouted, for he was very much aware that the demon had regained his feet and already made his purposeful way towards them. Reya’s eyes snapped back to Baldur’s at the intensity in his voice and it seemed as though the entire world faded away as he whispered soulfully, “My love…”
Reya screamed when her father pushed her away abruptly, for the demon who had tried to befriend her had surged forward in a gambit of attack and his blade was lifted with a roar of anger.
“Run!!” Baldur screamed at Reya as he raised his dagger against the might of the long sword’s murderous edge.
In spite of how the overwhelming sorrow bunched in her throat so painfully, the raw power within her father’s command bade her turn and she fled for her life. Breath ripped from her lungs as she wheeled past clusters of horrendous violence, shrieking terror when an armoured arm swung a deadly blade not two feet from her face. What am I doing?! She thought incredulously through the deafening pounding of her heart and breathless sobs, Papa! I can’t leave you! Her hair was a tangled a web of confusion before her eyes when she looked back in terror at the plight of her father, for she had suddenly realised that he hadn’t followed her tumbling path and she staggered to a stop.
The strength of the demon’s sword was immense against Baldur’s dagger as steel met steel within a furious exchange of whipping blows, until an almighty shriek scored lines of wicked lightning through Reya’s ears. She was helpless as she witnessed the breaking of her father’s dagger and when the horrific long sword sliced deeply across Baldur’s chest, Reya screeched in consuming terror.
Scalding emotion rushed into Reya’s heart and mouth as the swaggering, blood stained soldiers from the market carnage circled her father ominously, and the ash skinned man grinned down at him with something akin to derision. But…they’re not like him! They’re people, just ordinary people! She thought in confusion as her eyes flickered feverishly over the prowling soldiers and gulped terrified sobs as she became flooded with frustrated woe, Why are they doing this?
She wept as they hungrily watched Baldur stagger terribly and she helplessly reached out a trembling hand in anguish, gasping at how heavily her strong father fell onto his knees before his great axe. But still the heartless soldiers constricted slowly around Baldur and as the dark skinned demon glanced across at her, he smiled cruelly at the tears that welled with such heat in her eyes.
Baldur hunched there, heavy of breath as his wound sapped his strength and listened to the dark chuckles of the soldiers that enveloped him hungrily. He then grasped the hilt of his great axe with grim determination; he knew that impossible numbers pressed against him and within that knowledge came the cold realisation that his survival was unlikely. He closed his eyes slowly and within that brief moment of calm came a beautiful vision of his beloved Ana, her arms open in waiting for the reunion of their love that he had longed for with every passing day. He looked up at his daughter then and with the sight of her haloed by the gruesome destruction that blazed behind her, he became seized by a tremendous fury at the terror that filled her face.
All that mattered was Reya…all that had ever mattered was Reya…and when his eyes flashed with fatherly protection, he roared a ferocious war cry that summoned every last ounce of celestial strength his body could muster.
“For Asgard!!” He screamed as he rose in a spiral of metal and death and his great axe exploded devastatingly through the circle of soldiers that swallowed him hungrily.
The fearsome war cry bade Reya’s knees to tremble, and all she could do was watch as her father’s mighty weapon felled soldier after soldier in a terrific display of warrior prowess, weeping with her heart in her mouth. Instead of the revulsion and fear she had felt within her nightmares, Reya was struck with a sorrowful pride as she watched her father’s snarling face, defiant to the last as he fought so valiantly for his daughter’s freedom.
“Reya!!” A voice cried out and she breathlessly spun towards the source with a flare of hope in her heart, gasping in sorrowful joy at the sight of her Uncle Tellan among the tumultuous, rushing crowds.
“Tellan!!” She screamed through a throat that was raw with anguish and even as she ran towards the man who forged breathlessly through the tumbling crowds to reach her, she stretched her hands out desperately.
Tellan’s bastard sword was bloodied in his gauntleted hand and as he tore a deadly line through the soldiers that thwarted his path, Tellan stared hopelessly at the ferocious fight that had all but engulfed Baldur. Even though these soldiers were human, there was a hollow quality to them that had pounded insistently upon Tellan’s instincts from the moment he had met them in battle and the implications behind it left him apprehensive. Within the unnatural silver sheen that flashed dully across every pair of aggressive eyes, it was unmistakable that these soldiers had welcomed the Dark of the Abyss into their souls. He grunted in fear at the sight of his commander; wounded terribly even as he swung his great axe with the incredible wrath of a true Asgardian warrior, his speed and power as uncompromising as it had been all those years ago. But the enemy surrounded him in overwhelming numbers in spite of his fury and Tellan’s stomach sank heavily with the veteran knowledge that he would never reach his commander’s side before he succumbed. Reya turned when Tellan’s grave expression cast a lightning bolt of consternation into her heart and with this unbidden confirmation of what she had refused to accept, she all but tumbled to the ground in a halting stagger.
Baldur sank briefly when a sword ripped across his stomach, but still he continued on the fight, for the love he held for his daughter was so strong that it lent his defiance unquenchable strength. As he turned and dispatched the enemy that had bloodied him, another wound was gouged across his back and Baldur sank once more with a grunt. He roared as he pushed back with his great axe and the gore slickened heads claimed yet another foe, in spite of how freely blood poured from both his back and stomach in excruciating tandem. But when an unseen blade raked across his face with searing agony, he staggered terribly and nearly dropped his coveted weapon in his blind distress.
Reya’s hands flew upon her mouth at the sight of her father’s awful wounds, for she knew gravely without explanation that with the last strike that had nearly blinded him, he was now bloodied beyond salvation. His blazing eyes swept up to her from even so far away and as he tightened his grip on his great axe in grim determination, excruciating fire exploded across the backs of his legs with agonising clarity.
The smiling, dark skinned demon had patiently lain in wait until his prey had tired; cruelly raking his long sword across Baldur’s hamstrings like an animal prepared for slaughter. And as Baldur crumpled from the deep cut that tore devastatingly through his ligaments, Reya wept with a consuming sorrow at her father’s impending death.
“Papa!!” She shrieked in helpless hysteria, so entirely enveloped in the horrific sight of her father’s plight that she didn’t even register when Tellan all but tackled her in his protective embrace. Together they stood locked in the face of Baldur’s doom and as Reya struggled against Tellan’s tight grasp in hopeless woe, Tellan’s eyes widened in horror of the moment he had dreaded from the second they had Fallen.
Baldur gripped onto the haft of his great axe with trembling hands to keep himself upright in defiance of the consuming agony that had irreparably crippled him, his eyes ever gazing up at his beautiful daughter. He blinked in calm serenity at how safely she was held in Tellan’s embrace and with the knowledge that she had at least been reunited with her eternal guardian, Ba
ldur resolved himself to the execution that awaited him.
“Reya…” He whispered hoarsely and his eyes were still affixed to his beloved daughter’s, even when the smiling demon brought his murderous long sword down like the scythe of death.
Reya’s scream ripped the sky when Baldur’s head was severed so violently from his neck that she could hear the awful tearing of his flesh, and as his body collapsed lifelessly at the feet of his smiling murderer, she wailed in incoherent distress. Tellan gripped her tightly in shocked anguish, struck down at the sight of his commander’s death as surely as though he had been executed himself. His heart drained with acidic shame at how impotent he had been in preventing this ill-fitting death; that he had failed his duty by not being by Baldur’s side as he ought to have been. Through tortured tears of failure that burned down his cheeks unheedingly, Tellan met the gaze of the demon that had killed his commander and the world disappeared from his stomach in a swallowing, dark recognition.
“Belial…” He whispered in stunned disbelief, incredulous alone at the knowledge that the demon prince stood before him now, in spite of the unshakable belief that he had been killed long ago. Tellan’s soul became enraged with the fire of wrath at the sight of Baldur’s blood upon his demonic long sword and as his jaw clenched in fury, his eyes became clouded with dark revenge.
When Belial raised a finger with ominous intent towards him, Tellan’s soul pounded with the primitive roar of vengeful drums, answering the call into battle with the tattoo of righteous anger as he grimly gripped Reya’s arm. He gravely pushed his niece behind him, but it wasn’t until Tellan registered the hungry glint in Belial’s eye that he realised the demon’s intention was not in fact a challenge for combat, but something else that was far more sinister. Tellan glanced down at Reya in seizing horror then, her head buried deeply against his chest in her inability to accept the violent death of her father, and a deep terror penetrated his heart.
The Fallen Page 6
