by Njord Kane
As they continued further up the hill, the smell of decay began filling the air around them. It was a strangely strong and extremely rancid odor. One of the Karls that was carrying a spear was unable to tolerate it and lost his last meal when the smell got even stronger.
Apparently his stomach wasn't as strong as the rest of him.
A couple of the other men had on occasion gagged as well. Rowan wasn't sure if they were getting sick because of the smell alone or because of seeing the other man get sick, or a combination of both.
The smell of decay definitely had their attention. Rowan wasn't as bothered by the smell this time as he was before. He was more bothered by knowing what the smell belonged to. He knew the odor meant that the Dead Walker was near.
A few of the men were starting to get concerned and one of them said to the Housekarl leading the expedition, which Rowan learned was named Hakon. "What if the thrall isn't lying? Are we prepared for what we will find up there?"
Hakon answered, "we're prepared. We will make our stand no matter what is up there."
The rest of the men nodded in agreement, not wanting to reveal their own feelings of apprehension or show any sign of weakness.
They continued trekking up the hill as the smell grew stronger. A few of the men were now trying to cover their mouths in an attempt to not breath in the putrid scent and allow it to sicken them. It was hard for them not to feel like their stomachs weren't about to turn on them at any moment. In fact, Rowan thought the odor was a little bit stronger than it was the last time he'd been through there. Not wanting to alarm them any more than they already were, he kept that observation to himself.
Just as the eyes of some of the men were starting to water from the putrid smell, they reached the thicket brush that led to the cliff where Rowan climbed down when the creature chased him.
"This is where the sheep tracks ended." Rowan explained, "We figured that the sheep probably ran themselves through this bush and ran over the cliff on the other side. The hole through the bushes was much smaller."
He pointed to the now large hole through the bushes. "This is also where I escaped the creature."
The smaller hole Sven and Rowan had original crawled through was gone. The Draug had smashed its way through the bushes and made a large enough hole to walk to the ledge now.
Rowan noticed the rope he used to lower himself down was on the ground by the cliff's edge. He pointed out to the other men.
"There's the rope I used. It's still tied to the base of the bush root when I lowered myself down to escape the creature. It had grabbed the rope and tried to pull me up. That was when I was forced to let go and fall to the edge of a small cliff below."
One of the men picked up the rope and looked at it. After examining it he looked over the side of the cliff below and said, "you were very lucky to have landed on that small ledge."
Rowan agreed.
He turned and looked at the other men and said, "there was no other place to fall except to the rocks below. He was very lucky."
Rowan knew he was lucky, that is, except for now. He didn't feel so lucky anymore having to come back to where the creature was. That fact just dawned on him as he turned to where the brush was torn to the side leading up to the mound.
The thought of facing that creature again turned him pale. He absolutely did not want to go back up there. Especially to go back up there unarmed where the beast was probably waiting for them. But he had no choice. It was do this or face murder charges.
While the men were still examining where Rowan escaped, he turned and pointed to the path torn through the brush that was further up the hill.
"The mound where the creature came at us is through there. It's also where Bjord and Sven's bodies should still be."
"For your sake, you better be right."
"For all our sake, I hope I am wrong."
It was now obvious to the men that Rowan had been telling them the truth in the Jarl's Hall. They could see where the bushes and tree branches were torn away by something that was much larger than a man.
They walked up to where a path was torn through in the bushes and one of the men said to nobody in particular, "a bear perhaps?"
Another man responded by saying, "No, that was no bear."
Rowan pointed through the passageway and said, "the mound where the beast was is right through there, just on the other side of the path."
The men took on a new stance, they raised their shields and had their weapons at the ready for anything that would come through the torn passageway.
Rowan, being unarmed and unwilling, stood behind them.
He hoped the men would be able to successful battle the creature and kill it. But he had much doubt in that. He'd seen the beast in action and knew these men were no threat to it.
The passageway, which was barely wide enough for one man to pass through when Bjord, Sven, and Rowan had originally hacked their way through it, was now wide enough for three men to pass side by side. This was all thanks to the beast crashing its way through when it was chasing after Rowan.
The men grouped up three men wide, making a shield wall with their weapons poised as they carefully began stepping forward through the passage.
The remaining men packed behind them at the ready. The two men with bows each nocked an arrow and had them partially drawn back, ready to fire over the heads of the men in front of them.
Rowan tailed behind them a pace or two. He knew what laid ahead waiting and he was glad he was in the back of everyone. He didn't want to go through, but even though nobody told him to, he knew he had to pass through with them to the other side.
The men got through without incident and took up positions in front of the mound. They were not sure what to expect, except from what Rowan had told them had happened. The body of Bjord still laid where the beast had killed him.
Hakon walked over and investigated the body. The rest of the men looked on, not wanting to turn their backs to the mound. They now believed Rowan's story completely and were visibly shaken now.
Hakon knelt down and looked at Bjord's body, examining it for a few moments before standing back up.
"This was not done by any man. You can tell his body was crushed by something very large."
The Housekarl named Erik walked over by Hakon to inspect Bjord's body himself.
"That was done by something unnatural."
Hakon turned towards Rowan and asked, "where's the body of his son, Sven?"
"The creature threw his body over the side of the cliff." said Rowan as he pointed in the direction of the ledge, which was half concealed by brush.
The two men walked and looked over the side. They nodded at each other in agreement before returning to where the rest of the men were near the mound.
Hakon looked at Rowan and asked, "where did the creature come out from?"
Rowan looked at him and said, "I don't know. He was suddenly there upon us."
Incidentally, just as he said this, a mist began coming out from the burial mound and spreading in the immediate area around them.
"A mist just like this formed before it appeared!" cried Rowan in panic, remembering the mist now. He had forgotten about the mist.
Hakon lifted up his shield and yelled out to the rest of the men, "Shield Wall!"
The men assembled next to each other tightly and formed a shield wall by overlapping their shields together side by side. They held their weapons at the ready above their shields.
Rowan was greatly impressed by witnessing the disciple in their formation. His people were a warfaring folk and trained for battle their entire lives. It wasn't a thrall's place to be armed beyond that of a small ax carried on the belt, which was mainly used for utility reasons, but he's had the opportunity many times to help Sven train and learned how to form a shield wall.
In this case, however, Rowan stood behind his armed escort.
The mist grew thicker around them as did the putrid smell of death and decay in the air. It was
a smell nobody could ever get accustomed to.
The two men with bows pulled back their draw strings, ready to fire their arrows immediately at the first sign of anything.
When the mist grew too thick to see through was when they were startled by the ear piercing screech of the dead walker suddenly appearing behind them.
The men on the shield wall quickly turned around and tried to reform in the opposite direction. They were too late. The massive angry beast, dark blue in the color of decay, charged at them while swinging its massive arms.
One of the swings knocked Rowan to the side, causing him to tumble in the air. He hit the ground hard and nearly rolled off the cliff edge it had previously thrown Sven over just days ago.
The creature knocked both bowmen back as it charged through them and caused them to misfire their bows. Their arrows were sent harmlessly into the air.
With a ferocious charge, it hit the line of men and bashed three of them back several feet onto their backs while they were trying to reform their shield wall.
The creature then turned on one of the men armed with a spear. It grabbed the weapon out of his hands while smashing down on his head with his fist. The injured man's legs gave way and he slumped the ground dead. The creature's strength was unnatural.
While the beast was attacking the man armed with a spear, another man behind it thrust his sword into the monstrosity's back and caused it to roar in pain. As he swung his sword for another hit, the fiend spun around and bashed him to the side with the back of its fist.
The hit caused the man to tumble feebly to the side as another man with an ax swung his weapon down upon the beast, hitting it in the shoulder. The beast angrily punched through that man's shield and caused it the shatter and spray wood splinters in the air. The beast hit him in the chest so powerfully that the man fell a couple feet backward. The ax wielder fell onto his back while spitting blood, dying from his chest being crushed from the powerful hit.
The men who had previously been knocked back, got up from the ground and jumped back into the fight. They swung their weapons, trying to hit the beast while at the same time trying not to get hit by the extremely powerful swings from its arms.
Rowan got up from the ground, being careful not to fall from the cliff he was almost swatted over and took a few steps forward before noticing Bjord's ax on the ground. It was hidden in the tall grass and was the very ax that Rowan sunk into the beast's back before making his escape previously. The creature must have pulled it free and tossed it there. Rowan picked up Bjord's battle ax off the ground and slowly made his way to join the men fighting. He wasn't sure if it was really a good idea to fight in contrast to running.
The men kept getting knocked back as their hits on the beast appeared to be useless. Hakon was knocked back on the ground in front of Rowan. He was hit so hard that he had actually dropped his sword. His shield already had been shattered from one of the creature's strikes and discarded moments before. The Housekarl laid on the ground for a moment choking as he tried to reclaim the breath that had been knocked out of him by the hit.
Rowan stepped around Hakon and raised the ax he retrieved from the ground and began to approach the beast with the intent of striking it with all his might.
He was stopped short of his attack when he felt the Housekarl's hand grab his leg.
"No Thrall, it is useless. Run!"
Rowan lowered the ax and looked at him, not totally believing his words.
Hakon picked up his sword and rose to his feet and yelled, "it's useless men! Run! Run for your very lives!"
And with that retreating command, he lunged forward and grabbed one of the fighting men by the shoulder and yelled, "RUN!"
The remaining men turned and began running down the towards the path that lead them to the mound.
One man wasn't so lucky when the beast grabbed him from behind when he tried to run away.
The man swung feebly at the creature as it raised him above its head. This was enough to make Rowan join the rest of the men and run.
The beast threw the man he held at the group of others that were just now beginning to run and make their way through the passage. The beast managed to throw the man and hit two of the other men simultaneously and cause them to fall forward as they were attempting to run away. The beast was on them instantly before they could get back up on their feet.
Rowan ran with the Housekarl Hakon closely behind him. They had already passed through the bush path and continued to run as fast as they could down the hill.
Glancing back, Rowan could see that the creature already upon two of the last men that remained behind. It was one of the men that had been knocked down by the man that the beast had thrown at them and the man that was actually thrown, whom was miraculously still alive and fighting to the very end.
The other man that was knocked down had managed to get up to his feet and tore off running behind the rest of the men without looking back.
The Draug was beating the two men to death as the rest of the men continued to run down the hill. The man who had managed to get up and run after having being knocked down, still had his bow and turned to fire an arrow at the creature.
It was a solid shot and the arrow hit the beast in the eye. The dead walker roared with the most hideous howl that chilled everything that could hear it miles away right to the bone. Rowan was sure the village could hear it too. The beast's agonizing howl was that loud.
The creature grabbed the arrow that was stuck in its eye and began trying to pull it out. This was different than when he was hit by Sven's arrows. When the creature was hit by Sven's arrows, the dead walker ignored them. The arrow fired by the Karl seemed to really bother the monster and caused it great pain.
The archer fired another arrow into the creature with such great skill that he actually managed to hit the hand the creature was using to pull the first arrow out to his face and pinned its hand to its face. It was an incredible shot.
Both Rowan and Hakon momentarily stopped running to look in amazement.
The marksman's arrow hit made the creature extremely angry and it let out another ear piercing howl. It howled both from pain and from a furious anger never seen before.
It ripped its hand free with great force, leaving the arrow head and part of the shaft in its head with the first arrow still in its eye.
Everyone running had briefly considered turning back to fight the creature now that it appeared to be injured. But that notion was quickly thrown away when they seen the beast roar again and then leap a great distance. The beast landed directly on the archer, crushing him mercilessly.
Seeing the impossible great speed that the creature managed and its ability to leap great distances, even after being wounded, everyone knew they'd best keep running.
Which was what they all did. The remaining men continued to run down the hill with all their speed. This time not one person bothered looking back.
It was all they could do. Already losing most of the men immediately upon meeting this beast, it was clear that they would not be able to take down the beast. It was better to run and live to fight another day.
They continued to run as long as they could until exhaustion had taken over. They stopped running to rest for a moment and see if the beast still gave chase. It had been a few minutes since they heard the beast's howling in the distance.
It was safe to assume that they'd got ahead of it, but more in probably the beast just decided to not give chase. This was more probable due to the fact that the abomination was obviously faster than they were and it had proven: if it wanted to catch them, it could have easily.
They gathered together to catch their breath and see who had survived. There was only four of them left, including Rowan. Five armed veteran men had fallen to the creature and they don't even think they really even hurt it. They all witnessed how it reacted when the weapons struck it. They also knew they hurt it with the arrows as well, but it continued its attack as if unscathed by anything.
There was still the fact that they'd lost over half the expedition, not mentioning finding an acceptable reason why they ran in the eyes of the other men in the village. It was considered a cowardly act to run away from any battle.
They gathered themselves and made one final look back to make sure the dead walker wasn't coming for them. Once satisfied that they weren't being pursued, they made their way back to the village.
Chapter 10 - Property
The expedition's survivors made their way back to the village. Word quickly passed of their arrival and many of the men in the village dropped what they were doing to gather in the Great Hall of the Jarl to find out what had happened. The fact that only four souls returned of the nine that had left, gathered much interest and curiosity.
It was close to dusk and there were already men gathered in the Hall that had been awaiting the return of the expedition. The four defeated men went into the Hall and all inside went quiet.
Silently the survivors walked past everyone as they made their way to the Jarl. Rowan gathered strange looks being that he was not bound and instead was carrying a battle ax. He was carrying Bjord's ax that he recovered near the mound.
Alvis the lawspeaker was already there and seated next to the Jarl.
As soon as they were in front of the Jarl, he questioned them.
"What happened? Where is the rest of the men that went with you?"
The Housekarl Hakon spoke softly stating, "Lord, all that the thrall Rowan had told us was the truth. We met the dead walker and I regret to report that we were defeated in battle. The other men have fallen."
The Hall immediately lit up with the loud voices of men as they demanded to know what had happened and why the Thrall dare enter the Jarl's Hall armed.
