And then the battle began.
PURPLE LIGHTNING lanced from Lokith’s Hel-sword and streaked toward the domed shield of yellow-gold fire that stood between him and the two Witches on the shore.
Huld shouted a word of power. A golden beam of fire from her upraised staff shot through the protective curtain of Witch-fire and struck Lokith’s purple lightning. With a crack of thunder and a shower of gold and purple sparks, the two lethal fire-spells canceled each other out.
Another beam of golden fire shot from Huld’s staff. Lokith turned it away with a shield-spell. The deflected Freya-Fire struck a Hel-warrior near the shore and hurled him blazing and screaming into the crimson warmth. The lake extinguished his flames but then began devouring his flesh, giving rise to new screams, until he sank beneath the surface to be seen and heard no more.
Beside Huld, Guthrun kept up her incantations to disperse clouds. Lokith’s sorcery had so far kept her Hel-magic from working.
“Keep at it, Guthrun!” Huld shouted, “I sense weakness in him, and he didn’t expect me to be this strong!”
Guthrun didn’t reply, concentrating intensely upon her magic.
Another streak of purple lightning shot toward them from Lokith’s black-bladed sword. Huld countered it.
A small gap appeared in the clouds above the lake. A thin beam of sunlight squeezed through and struck one of the Hel-horses. The beast reared screaming in pain and began to crumble into maggot-riddled dust. The Hel-warrior atop the skeletal mare leapt to the ground.
Lokith quickly used some of his magical energy to close the gap in the clouds.
Huld took advantage of the diversion to hurl two fire-beams at him in rapid succession.
Lokith returned his concentration to Huld’s attack in time to get up a hastily conjured shield-spell, but it was not as strong as before, and. when the golden fire-beam struck, not all of the energy was turned away.
His body jerked with pain as the second fire-beam struck, penetrating his shield even further.
Cursing, he turned his Hel-horse and shouted for a retreat.
“We did it!” Guthrun cried excitedly as she saw them riding away.
“But they’ll be back,” Huld noted, swaying unsteadily on her feet, “and I’m almost depleted. As strong as my powers now flow, even they are fast reaching their limit. I put more energy than I should have into those last two fire-beams. I had hoped to slay him with them, not just stun him so that he could renew the attack later on. He can go and rest now, but I must keep the fire-curtain going, for fear he might try a surprise attack from afar. Yes, Guthrun, we made him retreat, but when he comes back?”
“We’ll beat him again. He is still part Vampire, remember? In order to renew his strength, he doesn’t need only rest. He needs fresh blood. I doubt that the blood of Hel-warriors would qualify. Without blood, he’ll stay weaker. We can beat him and keep on beating him. I know we can!”
“Freya grant that you are right,” Huld replied, then went back to concentrating upon the fire-curtain spell, keeping it strong.
From the Crag, still in human form Ulfhild saw Huld and Guthrun standing behind their fire-curtain while Lokith and his men beat a retreat. Ulfhild raised a fist in salute to their victory, then returned to her pacing and worrying about Bloodsong. “I would have sensed her death, but I have not, and therefore, she must still—”
Bloodsong broke the surface of the lake and drew deep breaths of air into her starving lungs.
“I knew you weren’t dead!” Ulfhild cried. “But I was nearly ready to jump in and try to find you. Did you find the Corpse Beast Runes?”
“I found and read them,” Bloodsong answered. “Now we must hurry back to the shore.”
Ulfhild plunged into the blood-lake. “There was a battle over there until just a short time ago, but Huld and Guthrun beat Lokith off.”
“Lokith?”
“That’s who it looked like to me.”
Bloodsong cursed and pushed herself to swim even faster, her thoughts turning to plans to break away from Lokith and make for the frozen wastes to the north. But none of her plans showed much promise. It seemed that their only hope would be if Huld had some new power that could not just hold Lokith off but utterly destroy him.
Bloodsong and Ulfhild swam to where the edge of the dome-shaped shield of yellow-gold fire met the water. Just as Bloodsong had decided that she would have to risk alerting Lokith by yelling at the two Witches, Guthrun saw them, grabbed Huld’s shoulder, and pointed. Huld opened a small portal in the curtain, and they swam through.
“Ulfhild says she saw Lokith,” Bloodsong said as she ran from the shallows onto the shore.
“Yes,” Guthrun responded.
Bloodsong could see from Huld’s strained expression that the Freya-Witch was fast expending her energies. Her hopes faded that Huld’s power might destroy Lokith.
“We have to get to the frozen wastes,” she said. “I can find the lair of the Corpse Beasts now and awaken them.”
“Blackwolf found the Runes somewhere beneath the lake,” Ulfhild remarked.
“Beneath the lake?” Guthrun asked.
“Not really,” Bloodsong answered. “It only seemed that way to Ulfhild. The Crag is hollow. The Runes I needed were on the inside. The beast within me found them, not I. But I’ll explain more later. We have to break out of here, and we have to do it now. Huld, can your stronger Witch-senses tell us where Lokith has stationed his warriors? Do they completely surround us?”
“Yes.”
“If we could wait until after nightfall—” Guthrun began, but Bloodsong cut her off.
“We can’t wait that long. We must start at once.”
“But we can’t, Blackwolf, unless you want to try breaking through their lines. I am ready, if that is what you order.”
Bloodsong cursed. “Meeting our deaths here won’t get us to the frozen wastes. Guthrun, you can, I assume, work the magic to keep black clouds in the sky, as well as disperse them?”
“Yes, but—”
“So, if we had four Hel-horses, you could protect them from the sun.”
“Of course, Mother, but I still don’t see how—”
“I am going out alone,” she said. “I will swim under the surface of the lake to avoid detection, then come ashore and try to outflank Lokith’s men, after which I’ll somehow steal four Hel-horses, bring them back here, and—”
“Better to let me try it, Blackwolf,” Ulfhild said.
“No.”
“You know where to find the Corpse Beasts. I do not. You must not be captured or killed.”
“Nor must you.”
“We’re wasting time, Ropebreaker,” the Berserker said with a grin, then turned and quickly waded back into the lake.
“She’s right, Mother,” Guthrun said. “Let her go.” Ulfhild dived beneath the surface at the edge of the fire-curtain. Huld opened a small portal and then closed it again when Ulfhild had made it through.
“Odin grant you victory, Ulfhild,” Bloodsong said, then turned to the Witches. “What can I do to help?”
“Nothing,” Huld said.
“Rest,” Guthrun urged, “while you can. Huld’s convinced that Lokith will return to attack again.”
“But probably,” Bloodsong noted, “not until after her strength has ebbed so low that she can no longer maintain the protective fire-curtain.”
Neither Witch responded.
“At least I can ready our supplies for a fast departure,” Bloodsong decided, and quickly set to doing just that. She hastily pulled on her clothing and strapped her sword to her back.
“There’s Ulfhild,” Guthrun said a few moments later, looking far in the distance, where a huge red-furred wolf was wading ashore. The Berserker ran for the trees and vanished into the woods.
Long moments passed while Bloodson
g paced back and forth within the dome of yellow-gold fire. Then from somewhere in the woods came a bestial cry of pain.
“Odin’s curse,” Bloodsong said, feeling rage and grief wash through her. “She must have been seen. Now we’ve lost her and are no better off than before. I’m going to try it myself,” she decided, and started to unbuckle her weapon belt in order to strip naked once more. “I’ll swim farther down the shore. Perhaps they won’t be expecting another attempt so soon, and—”
“Mother,” Guthrun said. “Please, don’t.”
Bloodsong quickly embraced Guthrun tightly.
From within the woods came a flash of purple Hel-fire and the agonized screaming of several men. Moments later, as other Hel-fire flashed from within the trees, a naked woman with a wild mane of flaming red hair burst into view, riding at breakneck speed on a Hel-horse and leading three other skeletal steeds in her wake.
“Ulfhild!” Bloodsong cried. She pulled her tunic back into place and grabbed up her weapon belt. “Let the fire-curtain drop and gather the weapons and supplies!” she commanded as more purple lightning crackled in the woods, followed by other men’s screams.
Huld dropped the fire-curtain and Ulfhild rushed through.
Bloodsong and the two Witches each mounted a Hel-horse.
“Ride!” Ulfhild shouted, and they did, mounted on skeletal Hel-horses, riding a moaning shadow-wind while behind them purple lightning continued to sear the air and make Lokith’s warriors scream.
They followed the shoreline a short way, then cut north through the woods, broke into the sea of waving golden grain, crested the lip of the hollow, and sped away toward the icy vastness of the far northern wastes.
Bloodsong looked back. The purple flashes of light had stopped, and she saw a distant group of men now following in pursuit.
“They’re coming after us,” she shouted to the others, “but with Hel-horses of our own they can’t catch us this time, And now, Ulfhild, tell us what happened!”
“I had help,” the Berserker answered. “We heard you cry out with pain.”
“A trick I was trying. But I soon saw that it wasn’t going to work and expected to be feasting in Valhalla this night. Then she appeared.”
“Who?” Bloodsong demanded.
“The one who helped me.” Ulfhild grinned. “It was Thokk,” the Berserker said. “Or at least her ghost.”
“It couldn’t have been Thokk,’” Guthrun protested, “not even her ghost.”
“I killed her,” Huld growled, “and Hel will surely have claimed her soul.”
“It is the truth, Witch,” Ulfhild responded. “I’m no magic-worker. I don’t know how she came back from the grave, but that is who helped us.”
“But why would Thokk help us?” Bloodsong wondered. “I can believe her coming back from the grave easier than I can believe she’d help the ones who ruined her plans and helped kill her, or at least thought we’d killed her.”
“Lokith,” Guthrun said. “It must be because of Lokith. He betrayed Thokk, Mother, before you arrived to rescue me, remember? He told her that he had made new plans, different from the ones to which Thokk had devoted her life.”
“Lokith is leading the men following us,” Huld told them after using her Witch-senses, “but there are now only two Death Riders left, and sixteen Hel-warriors. Thokk, assuming it really was her, killed the rest while we got away.”
“But there’s still too many for us to turn and fight,” Bloodsong replied. “Perhaps Thokk will aid us again and kill a few more.”
“I don’t sense her,” Huld said, “but then, I didn’t sense her before, either.”
On and on the four women rode their emaciated white mares, Bloodsong guiding them farther to the north.
The thin snows beyond the waving grain soon thickened. The air was freezing cold once more, and as the frozen wastes were neared, the air became colder still, so that even Ulfhild joined the others in pulling her shaggy-furred cloak tightly around her, the drooping hood covering her head and protecting her face.
Guthrun struggled harder to maintain her concentration on the spell to keep black clouds over the sun, for with every moment that she drew nearer the Hel-march in the north, the more relentless the darkness within her became. Her head throbbed, and her body reeled with growing agony, exhaustion steadily weakening her and making it ever harder for her to hold on to both the cloud-spell and her soul.
Bloodsong could do nothing to help her daughter but worry, while Huld cast what energizing, protective spells she could in an attempt to aid Guthrun’s struggles, and with the Freya-Witch’s help Guthrun stoically endured, until finally they reached the beginnings of the frozen wastes and galloped on to the north over the vast, icy plains toward their goal.
LOKITH and his remaining men emerged onto the frozen wastes and raced on in pursuit of their prey. Weakened badly by his second battle with Thokk, Lokith swayed unsteadily in his saddle, clinging desperately to his galloping steed. And now a new emotion began to flood through him. Fear.
If he did not find a way to stop her soon, Bloodsong was going to do the very thing Hel had sent him ahead to prevent. What might Hel do to him if that happened? How might she punish him? He thought of the horror she had made Nidhug become and shuddered.
Until Bloodsong had broken out of his circle of warriors at the lake, it had never occurred to him that she might actually reach the Corpse Beast lair in the frozen waste. He realized now that he had not taken his main task seriously enough. Since leaving Helheim he had thought only of himself, of healing himself with his mother’s and sister’s blood, and of the pleasure of having them helplessly in his power. He should have found the Corpse Beasts himself, first, and destroyed them. But he had been so certain he would win! How could he have thought, he asked himself, that against his sorcery, nine Death Riders, and an army of Hel-warriors, Bloodsong would stand any chance at all? Even given the Berserker and the two Witches, the odds had been so heavily in his favor.
Fear gnawed deeper into him as the chase across the frozen wastes continued on and on. Without expending sorcerous energy he no longer had to spare, he did not know exactly where the Lair of the Corpse Beasts was located. It was possible that at any moment Bloodsong might reach it and set to work awakening the beasts while Huld held him off with magic that in his weakened state he could not overcome,
He had to do something, and now. But what? He didn’t have the strength for any long-range attacks. Then a thought occurred to him and he smiled grimly. He might as well risk it, he decided. Hel was going to find out soon enough, if she didn’t already know, how far Bloodsong had gotten.
I’ll explain about Thokk, he told himself. Perhaps that will take Hel’s attention off of my failures and cause Her to agree to my request. And if she does, I can use the frozen wastes to my advantage. They’re clearly in view across the flat plain and are moving in a straight line, so it should be easy to cast an energy cloud in their path.
His fear now tempered somewhat by his hopes of still stopping Bloodsong, Lokith closed his eyes in concentration and reached out with his mental powers to touch the mind of Hel.
* * *
“Not much farther!” Bloodsong shouted to the others as she led them onward across the frozen wastes, letting the beast within her sense the way to the Lair of the Corpse Beasts. “When we get there, you three will have to hold Lokith at bay while I get into the Lair and awaken the beasts.”
“Agreed,” Ulfhild said, gripping her ax with one hand and her Hel-horse’s reins with the other, now letting her cloak fly wildly about her in the icy, moaning shadow-wind, the heat of a Berserker frenzy for battle building within her.
Bloodsong glanced with concern at Guthrun, who was gripping her reins and clinging determinedly to her saddle.
“Do more to help her!” Bloodsong shouted at Huld.
“Freya’s Teats, Bloodson
g! I’m already sending her all the energy and protection I can!” Huld yelled back. “Don’t you think I’d do more if I could? And because of Lokith’s pursuit, we have to keep taking her nearer the last place on Earth she should go!”
Bloodsong cursed in frustration and said, “Then do something to stop Lokith’s pursuit, Witch!”
“I was just about to try something when you interrupted me. Now that we’re upon the frozen wastes, it just might work.”
“Then try it!”
“I’m going to, curse you! Now be quiet and let me concentrate. I’m not at my strongest after the battle by the lake, but my Witch-senses tell me that neither is Lokith.”
The Freya-witch clung to her galloping Hel-horse and closed her eyes in concentration, then began to chant Runes. Her voice grew louder as she wove energy into the spell. The brass knob atop her Rune-staff began to glow with yellow-gold light and grew brighter.
Huld suddenly opened her eyes, her concentration broken. “Lokith’s stolen new energy from somewhere!” she cried only an instant before a cloud of glowing purple light appeared directly in their path.
“We can’t stop in time!” Bloodsong shouted. “Leap clear!” she ordered, and threw herself from her horse. She hit the ground and rolled to a stop just at the edge of the glowing cloud. Nearby, Ulfhild had done the same. But Huld and Guthrun did not.
“Guthrun!” Bloodsong cried as her daughter entered the cloud of Hel-energy.
Lost in her inner struggle against the darkness pulling at her soul, Guthrun didn’t become aware of the glowing cloud until it surrounded her. She cried out, then fell unconscious from her saddle to the snow as all four Hel-horses screamed and reared and began to crumble to dust.
Chanting desperate Runes of protection, a thin aura of yellow-gold light protecting her from the Hel-cloud, Huld jumped to the ground from her crumbling Hel-horse and raced to Guthrun. The Freya-Witch grabbed the younger woman’s arms and began dragging her out of the glowing cloud.
Bloodsong Hel X 3 Page 67
