Ragnarok Rising

by D. A. Roberts

  “Not as long as one person remembers my name and that I died with honor,” I replied. “If I fall, will you remember my name?”

  Bergelmir stopped advancing and blinked several times. He seemed almost perplexed as the memories of our last encounters undoubtedly flashed through his head. Then he looked up grimly at me and nodded once.

  “I will remember,” he said, softly.

  “Then, I won’t truly lose,” I said, smiling. “Even if I fall.”

  Bergelmir looked at me with a confused expression and sighed heavily. The others were still advancing and I knew that in mere moments, the fight would begin.

  “But if you win,” muttered Bergelmir, “that would truly be the stuff of legends.”

  With that, the warrior-woman rushed me and swung a vicious slice at my head. I ducked and countered with a back-handed slice towards her left flank. She blocked it with her second sword, and then spun away from me. Before I could turn to follow her, the big warrior stepped in and brought down his massive sword in a crushing blow that would have cut me in half. I had no choice but to dive to the side.

  As soon as the fighting began, Bridgett began making her way towards the bleachers on the far side of the stadium. She was trying to keep an eye on the fighting, but move as fast as she could at the same time. Luckily, the Hrimthurssar were too focused on me to pay attention to her. Without orders, the Stalkers merely sat there like statues awaiting instructions from their masters. I needed to keep their attention on me.

  After rolling to my feet, I dashed to my left to avoid the big leader as he readied his massive sword for another devastating attack. I stole a glance towards the archer and found that he was aiming his bow at Bridgett’s back as she was trying to get away. She would never see the arrow coming.

  Ducking beneath another attack from the Amazon, I sprinted diagonally towards the archer as he released the arrow. It streaked away from the bow and I dove through the air, trying to shield Bridgett with my own body. I was rewarded with a searing pain in my left shoulder as the broad-head tip pierced the muscle and burrowed through the meat, scraping the bone as it passed through. I hit the ground and landed on my right side, barely managing to hang onto my sword.

  I got to my feet with a grimace of pain and glared daggers at the archer. I wanted to rip the arrow out of my wound, but I wasn’t sure how much more damage that would do. Although the wound was oozing blood, removing the arrow would make it bleed a lot more. For now, it was better to leave it in.

  “Fucking coward!” I snarled at the archer. “What kind of piece of shit shoots a girl in the back?”

  At that moment, I wanted to forget about the other three and concentrate on tearing this asshole apart, but that was a luxury that I just didn’t have. The Amazon and the big warrior were heading for me with battle-lust forming in their eyes. They could see the wound in my shoulder and were sensing the kill. It was going to give me a great deal of pleasure to disappoint them.

  “Bergelmir!” bellowed the big warrior. “Either get in this fight or you can die with him!”

  Bergelmir continued to look confused, staring at the sword in his hand. There was a battle raging in front of him, but something held him back. Something kept him fighting with himself instead of joining in the battle. Whatever it was, he was clearly at war with himself.

  “Bergelmir!” screamed the big Amazon. “I will tear your heart out if you don’t get in this fight, right now!”

  I could see the archer was now readying another arrow. This time, his target was not Bridgett, but Bergelmir. His indecision was going to get him killed by his own people.

  “Bergelmir, you coward!” screamed the archer.

  Bergelmir looked up in time to see the archer was now drawing down on him. Anger flashed on his face as he stared at the archer and pointed his sword at him. It was a tense moment, but it was about to get worse. The big warrior and the Amazon had nearly caught up with me. I had only seconds left before our battle would resume.

  Switching my sword to my left hand, I snap drew the big XVR and fired. The massive hollow-point bullet slammed into the chest of the archer, knocking him over backwards. That sent the arrow flying off into the darkness, missing Bergelmir by inches. Bergelmir looked at me, then back at the archer, then at me again. Confusion and anger played across his face in a furious battle, without a sign of which one was winning.

  Shoving the pistol back into its holster, I brought up my sword and turned to face the advancing warriors. With Bergelmir still not in the fight, I had slightly improved the odds. Now it was only me against two of the Hrimthurssar. What could possibly go wrong?

  I brought my sword up in time to parry the first blow from the Amazon, knocking her sword wide and away. The second sword stabbed in low, scoring a cut across my right side as I tried to twist out of the way. It wasn’t deep, but it hurt like Hel. At least, I thought it wasn’t deep. I didn’t have time to check.

  Stepping inside her reach, I kicked the warrior-woman in the left knee and heard her grunt in pain. Then I heard steel ring on steel as I heard weapons clash behind me. I turned to see that the big warrior had swung at my back and probably would have killed me had his blade not been parried by an unexpected source. Two Titans stood face to face with their weapons locked together. My life had been saved by Bergelmir.

  “What!” bellowed the giant. “You dare draw steel against me?”

  “This warrior could have killed me,” snarled Bergelmir, “on more than one occasion. He fought with honor and saved my life when I would have left him to die. Then, you threaten my life when I do not agree with your dishonorable attack? Tell me, Grimnir, how can I call this man foe and you friend?”

  “Then you shall die with him, traitor,” hissed Grimnir.

  “Perhaps,” rumbled Bergelmir. “We shall see.”

  With that, the two massive warriors began exchanging blows with the raging fury of two giants of legend. The ringing of steel on steel was so loud it nearly overpowered the sound of my own fighting with the Amazon. As we spun and I parried her blows with as much strength as I had remaining, I couldn’t help but marvel at what Bergelmir had done. The big warrior was full of surprises.

  As the warrior-woman and I locked blades together, she snarled and tossed her hair. It cascaded down around her in a flurry of small braids, bound with silver beads. Had she not been trying to kill me, it might have been striking. The chain connecting the piercings on her nose and ear was flying around her face with the intensity of a hurricane. Her entire face was a mask of rage and fury. The battle-lust in her was intense.

  She spun in a wide arc, swinging both swords in a deadly strike that could have easily cut me in half. I had to place my free hand against the flat of the blade of my own sword to hold them both back. Her blades rang against mine with tremendous power. For all practical purposes, she was a better fighter than I was. Her form was superb, but I had no intention of dying today. I might not be able to out fight her, but I was damned sure going to win. I had to if I planned to survive this.

  With our blades held immobile against each other, she was edging me back slowly. Her height advantage was pushing me off balance. As I twisted to avoid falling down, she shifted her grip on one blade and drove her fist into the arrow in my shoulder. My world exploded in pain as I felt the thick shaft dig deeper into my shoulder, tearing more of my flesh in the process.

  Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, the arrow shaft snapped from the force of the blow. With a shove borne of desperation and pain, I knocked her back and disengaged. I grounded the tip of my sword and left it stuck in the ground. Reaching back, I grabbed the part of the shaft that was protruding from the back of my shoulder and pulled it free.

  It came loose in a searing-hot wave of agony, but I managed to avoid screaming. I grimaced in pain, tossing it aside. Let the blood flow unchecked. It no longer mattered to me. Bridgett had made it to the bleachers and had disappeared inside the stadium. She would warn the others
and hopefully they would be able to escape. I had bought them the time that they needed.

  The Stalkers were still sitting as still as statues, awaiting the instructions of the Hrimthurssar. So long as I kept their attention on Bergelmir and me, the others had a chance. What more could I do? What more needed to be done? It would have to be enough.

  With blood slickened fingers, I grabbed the handle of my sword and brought it up in a defensive stance. The big warrior-woman was eying me speculatively. Her fierce gaze was sweeping me over as she seemed to be trying to figure something out about me. Behind her, I saw something that made me start to lose heart. The archer was already getting up. The odds just got worse.

  To make matters worse, the Stalkers were beginning to edge forward. I was hoping that they wouldn’t run for the stadium before the others had a chance to escape. When they started encircling us, my hopes of our winning began to fade. There were eight of them and three Hrimthurssar against me and Bergelmir. Our chances of winning were now almost non-existent. That didn’t matter though. I would not give up.

  The archer drew his fighting swords and started towards the fray. As I turned to keep an eye on both the archer and the Amazon, I found myself backing up to Bergelmir. He was breathing heavily and bleeding from numerous cuts on his arms and torso. The big warrior named Grimnir was about ten feet away, in a similar state. The two giants had clashed with unrivaled fury and power. Now they both were bleeding and catching their breath.

  Bergelmir glanced over his shoulder and smiled when he saw me.

  “This is a good battle,” he said with a grim nod. “One worthy of song.”

  “Then let’s make sure we live long enough to sing it,” I replied, grinning.

  “What is your plan?” he asked, quietly.

  “Well, originally, I planned to fight all four of you for as long as I could before you killed me,” I said, chuckling softly.

  “Then I see little need to change it,” he said, shrugging. “We cannot win against such odds.”

  “That’s what I thought the first time I fought you,” I answered, seriously. “Follow my lead and we’ll try to fight our way clear.”

  “Agreed,” he said, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

  Readying ourselves, we set our stances so that we could cover each other’s backs. As the three Hrimthurssar closed on us, I felt my resolve growing stronger. I began to watch their movements and a plan began to form in my head. If we could shift the odds, even a bit, we could force the Stalkers to engage. Adding them to the fight would make it as much or more difficult on them as it would us. There would be too many of them trying to attack at the same time.

  Even if all it accomplished was to force the Hrimthurssar to concentrate on controlling them, it might be enough of a distraction to let us start thinning their numbers. I was willing to take whatever we could get, at this point. Any gain was a good one. So long as Bergelmir and I could remain fighting, there was a chance that we might escape this with our lives.

  The archer lunged at me and I parried his blows with little effort. His skill must have been in the bow because his sword work was not as good as the others. Before I could capitalize on it, however, the big Amazon attacked me from the other direction. Behind me, I could hear the grunt of effort and the ring of steel as Bergelmir engaged Grimnir.

  I parried her blow with significantly more effort than it took to parry the archer’s, but she still managed to cut a nasty gash across my left forearm. It hurt, but not nearly as bad as I had expected, so I ignored it and continued to press back against her blades. With a quick reverse, I shifted my stance and pushed her away from me. She lost her footing and fell to one knee. It would have been the perfect moment to follow through had the archer not chosen that moment to attack again. I had no choice but to parry.

  Kicking out with my right foot, I struck the Amazon in the small of the back and knocked her sprawling into the dirt. That would buy me enough time to give the archer my undivided attention for a few moments. I was going to have to make the most of it, because it wasn’t going to last for long.

  Swinging his swords with all the strength he could muster, the archer tried to get me by bringing the blades in from different directions at the same time. I was expecting him to do something similar, so I dodged to one side and parried the blade on that side, leaving me out of reach of the other blade. He couldn’t strike me with it because his own arm was in the way. Point for me, I suppose.

  Stepping inside his reach, I drove my left fist into his face with enough force that I felt the bones of his nose separate beneath my knuckles. Blood erupted from his nose and mouth and he dropped one of his swords to grab his face. That was the opening I was hoping to create.

  Knocking his blade aside with my blade, I stomped my foot into the side of his right knee and felt it give beneath me. With a sickening crunch, his leg buckled and he dropped to his knees. Not waiting for him to recover, I spun around in a wide arc, screaming with fury as I brought the blade around at blinding speed. It connected at the base of his skull and passed through without resistance. Blood sprayed into the air as his head separated from his shoulders.

  “One down!” I screamed as I spun back towards the Amazon.

  She was looking at me with wide eyes as she regained her footing. I don’t think she had been prepared for the possibility that I might actually be able to kill any of them. Her mouth fell open and she silently mouthed something I couldn’t make out. Whatever it was, I figured it was either a curse or a prayer. Most-likely, it was the former.

  Scooping up one of the dead archer’s fighting swords; I hefted the weight in my hand and felt the balance. The weight was good so I thought that it was worth a try. Spinning around, I threw it like a knife and stuck one of the Stalkers through the middle of the forehead.

  “That’s two,” I muttered.

  The big Amazon readied her sword, but this time there was a measured look of either fear or respect on her face. I didn’t know which it was, but it didn’t matter to me. Either way, I was starting to make an impression on her and it might just give me the edge in this fight. If she was worried about losing, she might make a mistake. One was all I needed.

  The muscles in my arms were beginning to burn from the effort. Fighting with swords is a lot of work. The blood oozing from the wound on my shoulder had slowed to a trickle and although it hurt like blazes, I could still use it. I was bloodied but not broken.

  A quick glance at Bergelmir and I could see that he was tiring, too. Despite his unbelievable strength, I could see that Grimnir was stronger. I needed to do something to take the heat off of Bergelmir or he was going to lose to the gigantic warrior. We needed a new plan and we needed it right now.

  Drawing the XVR, I fired at another Stalker, striking it in the forehead. The back of the skull came apart and it collapsed in a heap. This caused the one next to it to snarl in fury and launch itself at me. I fired again, striking it in the chest. My third round took it through the mouth and exploded out the back of its head. The sudden fury and involvement of the Stalker caused the others to break free from their stupor and attack, as well. Without the Hrimthurssar controlling them, they went after anything that was moving.

  The first one leaped at Bergelmir, but he stepped to the side and cut it in half with his sword. It fell twitching to the ground, but was unable to rise. The head was still intact but it had control of only one arm. It continued to struggle but was now out of the fight. We could finish it off later.

  Two of them leapt onto the back of Grimnir and he bellowed in rage. Before he could concentrate enough to regain control of them, I shot him in the knee. His howl of rage turned to pain as he fell to the ground in agony. He might heal faster than me, but that was going to take time. His knee was ruined and that wasn’t going to heal easily.

  The Amazon forgot all about me and ran to help Grimnir. She sliced the head off of the first of the Stalkers but the second one sunk its teeth into his shoulder. Blood eru
pted from the wound as the beast began to rip the flesh apart in an attempt to devour him. I didn’t know if they were immune to the Reaper Virus or not, but that wasn’t going to heal quickly, if at all.

  Bergelmir drove the tip of his blade though the head of the squirming creature on the ground and it stopped its thrashing. Yanking his blade free, he turned to find another target for his battle-lust. He wasn’t going to have to wait for very long. The other Stalkers were circling closer to us, wary after the devastation of their first attack.

  Reaching over his shoulder, Grimnir grabbed the Stalker by the neck and threw it off of him. It twisted in the air and landed in a crouch. Swooning, Grimnir looked like he was close to passing out. Whether from pain, exhaustion, blood loss, or a combination of the three, I’m not sure.

  The big Amazon seized the momentary reprieve to force her will back onto the remaining Stalkers. They all turned as one towards me and Bergelmir, crouching and snarling for an attack. Then she helped Grimnir to his feet and put his arm around her shoulders. With a last glare of hatred at me, she began helping him away from the battle and towards the back gate of the stadium. As much as I wanted to pursue her and finish the job, we now had four of the creatures fanning out around us to contend with.

  Once again, I found myself back to back with Bergelmir. We brought our weapons up in a defensive stance and prepared for the coming attack. We could take them one at a time, but if they came all at once then we were most-likely going to be overwhelmed. We would fall in a flurry of teeth, claws and steel. However, we were not going to fall alone. Around us, the bodies of one of the Hrimthurssar and four of the Stalkers already littered the ground.

  This was a good death. No straw death for me, this time. We would fall as warriors in a battle to rival the legends. Too bad no one would see it and be able to tell the tale. No matter though. I would tell the tale around the tables in Valhalla. Bergelmir had earned his own place there, as well.