Teeth & Claws_A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure

by Michael-Scott Earle

  I had twenty-two arrows, and she had ten, but I still didn’t feel like I had any leverage in the fight. My calf was starting to knit back together, and my chest was starting to itch, but my stomach was still pouring blood everywhere, and exhaustion was pressing down on my shoulders.

  I just couldn’t fight against Skuld toe to toe or at a distance. I knew that the plan was to run away from her and hope she ran out of arrows, but I’d taken three hits in exchanged for my single missed shot, and I guessed that she would focus on making her next ten arrows count.

  The bow and twenty-two arrows in my hands might as well have been a rock. Hell, with my superior strength, I probably could have thrown a rock at her with better accuracy and more killing power than the arrows.

  I was desperate, so I actually looked at the ground at my feet to see if there was a rock I could pitch at her.

  Then I saw a flat-looking chest-sized rock, and a new plan hit me in the face.

  I crouched down and studied the rock closer. It was a chunk of limestone that didn’t seem to be buried in the ground. I guessed it must have weighed a hundred kilograms, give or take twenty, and it was about ten centimeters thick. My plan was all kinds of stupid, but it wasn’t as stupid as trying to duel a warrior woman who had spent forty years training with a bow and arrow when I had only spent half a minute. So, I set down my bow and broke the cluster of arrows in my left hand in half.

  I kept the pointed arrow side of two arrows, pushed them into my back pocket, and then moved to grab the flat hunk of stone. It was actually a bit heavier than I thought, but I still managed to yank it out of the ground and set it on my knees as the blood leaked from my stomach.

  There was a thump to my left, and I pivoted on the balls of my feet with the rock clutched to my chest. Skuld’s arrow punched against the rock like a kick from a horse, and I actually staggered back as I tried to gain my footing.

  “Fuuuukkkkkk!” I screamed as I kicked my right heel into the grass and launched myself up to standing. I couldn’t quite see where she was, but I guessed from the sound of her bowstring, and I knew there weren’t any pillars or other blocks of stone in our path.

  So I charged toward her with the big fucking rock as a makeshift shield.

  Her bow thumped, and another arrow kicked against the rock I held over my face and torso. My left hand cradled the bottom of the stone while my right hand held the side, so she didn’t have much of a target there, but she could go after my legs, so I guessed she would try that next.

  I kind of hunched over as I put one foot in front of the other, and my movement caught an arrow that I knew she had intended for my knee. I still couldn’t see her, but her rapid bow shots were giving me a good idea of her location.

  And I knew she only had seven arrows left now.

  I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and I spun myself around to catch another arrow she had tried to get by running to my flank. Skuld’s weapon let out another quick thump, and I felt my right thigh scream.

  Then I pushed the pain down into my stomach with the beast that lived there and forced my battered body to run closer to her.

  Two more arrows kicked against my rock. They both felt close to my right hand, and I guessed she was trying to take my fingers off so I couldn’t hold on anymore.

  Four left.

  Her bow sang again, and I almost tripped over myself mid-stride. She put an arrow through my right foot and pinned me to the ground, but I just kicked my leg forward, snapped it free of the ground, and then continued moving toward her.

  Skuld darted to my side again, and I almost missed blocking her with my rock. The arrow bounced off the side of my makeshift shield, cut open the side of my left shoulder, and then continued on its path.

  Two left.

  I heard her footsteps across the grass and guessed at her intentions a half moment before she shoulder checked my shield. I had just enough time to brace myself, but her hit still knocked me back a bit. I was top heavy with the boulder I carried, and the ligaments in my injured foot tore apart at each of my steps, so I couldn’t quite crouch down as I stepped back. I guessed where her next arrow would land though, and I twisted my left knee away as soon as I heard the thump of her string. I felt the shaft whistle between my legs as I gained stability, and then I figured it was time to end this battle.

  So I chucked my boulder at her.

  I didn’t expect to hit the valkyrie, but I did expect her to focus on avoiding the hundred kilogram rock instead of shooting her last arrow at me. I was only partially correct. She did send her last shot out, but she hadn’t expected me to toss the rock at her, so her arrow missed my heart and hit my chest where her earlier arrow had. It tore right through my body like a bullet, and I gasped with shock as numbness filled my muscles.

  Skuld dodged the rock, but she didn’t dodge the flying knee I aimed at her jaw. Her head snapped back when I hit her, and then my weight bore her down to the ground like she was a tree bending against a hurricane.

  She pushed against my chest, but I smacked her hands out of the way with my left arm and then drove my elbow into her face. I felt her jaw break from the impact, and then her nose crumpled when I hit her with my right fist. She surprised me by grabbing my right hand immediately after I hit her, and I felt her hips buck in an attempt to toss me off her. I was ready for the movement, and I leaned back a bit, but she seemed to have actually guessed that I would do that, and she twisted up her right knee and threaded it through my legs with unbelievable speed.

  For half a moment, I worried that I was about to lose my position in the fight. I would have thought that breaking her jaw and her nose would have put the older woman out for the count, but her blue eyes were still alert, and the blood gushing from both our bodies was providing a lubricant which made it hard for me to grab onto her when she bucked beneath me.

  I threw myself forward on my elbows so that I could try to knock them into her head, but she just tried to slither under me in the other direction. She couldn’t get her leg back out from under my chest, but I feared that she would, so I forced more of my weight down on her. This left my face open for half a second, and she stabbed up at my eyes with her nails. I twisted away, but she still slashed across my cheek, and I had to bury my face into my arm to protect myself. This gave Skuld even more space, and she made a quick series of bucks with her hips that allowed her to get her foot up against my chest. The woman was unbelievably talented at grappling, but I should have expected as much from someone who was once the Prime Valkyrie.

  Unfortunately for her, she didn’t realize that I wasn’t human, and most of my wounds were already healed.

  She pushed against my chest with her left foot, and I relaxed my position. Her kick actually threw me up to my feet, but I snagged her foot with my left hand, grabbed one of the broken arrows from my pocket with my right, and then slammed the point into her inside thigh when her leg was fully extended.

  She didn’t scream, but her hiss of agony let me know that she wasn’t going to be moving that leg anytime soon.

  I let go of the limb and then pulled the other arrow out of my back pocket as I circled her. She had pushed herself up on her ass, but the leg I had just shanked was spewing blood.

  “You’ve lost,” I said as I took a feinting step toward her on my non injured foot. “I just stabbed your femoral. You can bleed out here, or you can surrender.”

  “No,” she growled a half-second before she tried to lunge at me.

  I had expected the attack, so I limped backward and her fingers missed my boot with the arrow in it.

  “There is no sense in dying,” I said. “The valkyries need you. There is no way you can beat me in the next ten seconds, and then you’ll be dead.”

  Skuld made another attempt to reach for me, but there was probably two pints of blood on the grass now, and her movement was lethargic.

  “Come on, Skuld,” I hiss under my breath so that the other women observing couldn’t hear me. “There is no honor in dyin
g like this. You fought well, but you lost. I don’t want you to die. I just want Aasne so I can continue with my mission.”

  Her blue eyes met mine, and for half a moment, I saw her anger. This was a woman who may have never been beaten in combat, and she picked a weapon that I was unfamiliar with. Yet here I was, standing over her. Yeah, I was looking like a pincushion, but she was about to die, and I was just limping and wheezing.

  “What are you?” she whispered.

  “I am Odin’s avatar and blessed by Freyja,” I replied.

  She stared at me for another few seconds, and then she nodded.

  “I surrender,” she declared and then she tapped the grass with the palm of her right hand twice before laying on her back.

  The colosseum of women warriors began to whisper to themselves as I bent down to yank the arrow out of my foot. I was still bleeding from my chest, but the wounds were itching like a group of angry ants were tunneling through my torso. The feeling was annoying, but it was much better than being dead, and it wasn’t as bad as the beast screaming in my mind for release. He wanted to kill all these women and felt frustrated that I didn’t shift earlier.

  “Three down. Three left,” I said as I walked back to the base of the seats where my friends and the last three of The Six sat. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the white robed women take Skuld away on a stretcher, and even though she had tried to kill me, I hoped that they were able to save her life.

  “You are injured.” Geirskogul’s eyes were hard they focused on my chest.

  “I’m fine,” I said.

  “You have multiple arrow wounds,” she scoffed. “I am surprised you are speaking, let alone walking.”

  “My husband has been sent by Odin and blessed by Freyja,” Madalena said. “You all made a mistake by forcing him to challenge you. He cannot be stopped, and you should have just given Aasne to him.”

  “Your words make me believe that you have betrayed your own sisterhood, Prime Valkyrie,” Gunnr growled.

  “No,” Madalena replied. “But the Nordar are servants of Odin. You fight against his will by resisting.”

  “You three didn’t expect him to make it this far,” Sivaha said. “Don’t let your misguided honor lead to your deaths. He is the king of kings.”

  “It is true,” Geirskogul said as she frowned. “I did not expect your husband to defeat Hildr, let along Skuld, but his wounds are near terminal, and you will not survive my spear. Then we will be done with the matter.”

  “Ugh. Idiot.” Sivaha crossed her arms over her breasts and then shook her head at me.

  “Give me a spear,” I said to Geirskogul, and the brunette nodded before she presented me with a weapon that matched hers. It had a leaf-shaped blade and wood shaft that was a little less than two meters long.

  “To the circle,” she said, and I nodded to Madalena, Sivaha, Lux, and Calisto before turning to walk across the grass. My head was actually swimming a bit as I walked, and I had to take mouthfuls of air in to keep the darkness at the corners of my vision away. I probably needed another ten minutes to finish healing, but it really didn’t matter. I would be put back together as soon as I shifted, and I knew I probably couldn’t beat the spearwoman without changing.

  There were a few women in brown robes moving through the arena. A few of them had arrows in their hands, and they bowed to both of us before retreating back to the outskirts of the grassy field.

  “Face each other!” Madalena said, and I turned to see the remaining two valkyries in the seating area glare at her.

  Geirskogul bowed to me, and I returned the gesture as the tiger screamed for release.

  “Face away from each other!” Madalena shouted, and I turned toward the far side of the arena.

  Then I let the screams of the beast fill my mind and ears as my body ripped apart.

  My spine pushed itself to extend. The discs in my back popped and reformed. My muscles stretched and tore. My limbs grew longer and heavier. My teeth fell out of my mouth, and sharp fangs took their place. The shift was less painful that it normally was, but the spots where I was injured burned like fire for a few moments before the searing agony disappeared.

  Strength and power filled every molecule of my being. Anger replaced what had once been pain, and I fought against the roar that threatened to bellow from my throat.

  The women in the audience gasped.

  Then the chime sounded.

  I must have missed Madalena instruct us to begin at the chime while I was shifting, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that I was now sharing my body with the tiger, and we would tear through anything that stood in our way.

  I spun toward Geirskogul and saw the startled expression on her face. I figured that I’d have a few seconds of initiative while she was trying to figure out what the hell was going on, so I sprinted toward her at my full speed.

  And my full speed in tiger-man form was really fucking fast.

  Her spear was up already, so all she really needed to do was shift the point over to meet my charge, but I covered the distance between us in a second, and the startled expression didn’t leave her face until I had shoved the point of my weapon into her stomach.

  She gasped when my spear tore through her, and the valkyrie tried to bring her own weapon against me as my speed carried me forward into her. I was too close, too fast, and too strong though, and the tip of her weapon missed my big furry head.

  Then I was inside of her guard with my spear almost all the way through her body. I didn’t need the weapon anymore, so I let it go and hooked my clawed fingers over her arms. Part of me didn’t want to kill the woman, but she had entered this arena intending to kill me, Madalena, and Sivaha. The human part of me might have found forgiveness, but the tiger wouldn’t, and I yanked my arms down with enough strength to tear her bones from her sockets.

  Geirskogul screamed, but the sound was over as soon as I slashed across her throat and took her head off her shoulders.

  Then I turned toward the last two valkyries and walked toward them.

  “Two left,” I growled. There was screaming in the stands. They were sounds of terror. No one had seen anything like me before, and I had just destroyed one of their most powerful warriors with little effort.

  “By the gods,” Skogul gasped as she pulled her longsword from her belt sheath.

  “He is the avatar of Odin,” Madalena said. “He is blessed by Freyja. Nothing will stop him.”

  I could feel the Prime Valkyrie’s pride flow from her, and it mixed with Sivaha’s matching emotion so that I experienced what was akin to a double shot of adrenaline.

  I was already high on my own power, but their adoration made me want to tear apart the world for them.

  “You,” I growled as I pointed at Gunnr. “Surrender, or fight. Now.”

  Gunnr turned to the arena, and I saw her eyes fall upon Geirskogul’s headless corpse. I could guess what the woman with the axe was thinking since the expression on her face was obvious.

  She knew she was about to die, and a lifetime of training didn’t matter.

  But the woman was once a Skyad, and I had learned from Sivaha that it was hard for her clan to surrender. Most Nordar were proud warriors, especially the ones that became valkyries, so I wasn’t surprised when she handed me an axe and then nodded to the arena.

  “I will face you, avatar of Odin. Today is a good day to die.”

  “You do not need to--” Madalena started to say, but Gunnr shook her head.

  “No,” the axewoman said. “I will kneel to no man, and I have always fought against impossible odds.”

  “Ahhhh, you are an idiot,” Sivaha sighed. “But you are my blood, so I guess I can’t be too mad. Will you surrender if my husband incapacitates you?”

  “No, Queen,” Gunnr said, and then she turned away from me and walked to her circle.

  “Show her no mercy, husband,” Sivaha said, and then the silver-haired woman turned to Skogul. “Perhaps you will make a more intelligent
decision in a minute.”

  “Perhaps I will,” the tall blonde woman with the longsword said.

  I grunted, walked out into the arena with my axe in my hand, and then turned to face Gunnr. We bowed low to each other, and I saw that the fear had fled from her face. Her eyes were hard, her jaw was set, and her hands didn’t shake as she held her weapon.

  “Face away from each other!” Madalena instructed, and I turned to the outside wall.

  “Begin at the chime!”

  I spun toward Gunnr as soon as the chime rang out. The redhead did the same, and we stared at each other in silence for a few moments.

  Then we both raised our axes, screamed, and charged at each other.

  The weapon was a single bladed battle axe. It was almost a toy in my massive hands, and I probably would have been better off just using my claws, but I did have to worry about my opponent’s weapon. I beat Geirskogul with ease because my transformation had startled her. Gunnr knew what she was up against, and I doubted that she would be as easy to kill.

  I’d need every advantage I could get against the powerful valkyrie.

  Fortunately, I had the reach advantage and was able to swing my axe down at her arms before she was able to begin her attack. Unfortunately, she had guessed my intent as soon as I brought my weapon down, and she dodged to the side in mid-run.

  Her movement was exceptionally fast, and I had no trouble believing that she would have surprised me in my human form. In my shifted state the world seemed to move at a snail’s pace. She had expected my attack, but I easily adjusted the angle of my axe in mid-swing, and the edge of the weapon buried into her right arm as she tried to spin away from me.

  The blade cut through her arm as she twisted and then dropped her injured arm away from where she had held her axe with both hands and used her left to slash the weapon at me. Her blade missed my face by a few centimeters as I yanked my head away, and then her leg kicked out to slam into my knee. It probably would have broken had I been a normal man, but the attack didn’t even cause my leg to wobble, and I shoulder checked her face as I yanked my axe from her arm.

  Then the limb fell onto the grass, and blood sprayed out of her bicep.