Talohna Origins- The Northmen

by J D Franx

  “Is that all?” Drengr quipped.

  “Yes,” Eira answered. “But do not forget that every living thing contains a spark of magic, even your people. You lose control and we will all die.”

  Drengr sneered, glaring at her. “You act like working runes requires no skill or focus.”

  To everyone’s surprise she smiled and blew the wizard a kiss. “If you were any other magic user,” she said, “I would have let you kill me before I helped. You are a runecaster who, as far as we can tell, has been infected with some kind of parasitical magic from the bloodstone rune. Because it was born from rune magic, no other wizard but a runecaster can control it.”

  “What happens if this magic infects someone who isn’t a runecaster?” he asked.

  “I doubt even the Creators could answer that question,” she replied, and another cold shiver slid down Engier’s spine at the thought.

  Drengr merely nodded solemnly and stared at him. “You ready, my lord?” he asked.

  There was no other choice. “Give it a minute, Drengr,” he said before turning to his right. “Brenna, get everyone to the meadow’s far side except for any volunteers willing to build another shield wall. It’s the same strategy, deflection. We’ll never cover everyone, but we can deflect it away from them.”

  The younger Jarl offered a quick bow and used her men to pass the word. In minutes a thirty man shield wall was in place to protect everyone gathered to the western edge.

  Brenna returned to his side. “It’s done,” she said.

  “Whenever you’re ready, Drengr,” Engier said and then quickly made room for Brenna to stand behind the shield wall with him.

  She refused, and instead took the shield from his back before pushing her way into the middle of the shield wall and placing it in front of them. “Together,” she whispered.

  Drengr seemed to ignore them and breathed deep before raising his hands.

  “Remember to focus,” Eira directed. “Warn me if you feel as if you are losing control.”

  Engier noticed Drengr nod to the woman, but it was subtle, as if the wizard was lost in concentration. With no warning, red magic shot from Drengr’s hands. Like bolts of crimson lightning, the energy jumped away and tore into the wall of spikes.

  “Easy,” Eira hissed. “Less energy, and more control.”

  The magic stopped and Drengr dropped to a knee, groaning from the strain. Engier watched helplessly while his wizard shook but was shocked when Eira bent over and helped Drengr to his feet by grabbing his robe, careful to make sure she didn’t come into contact with his flesh.

  “Like a dam holding back the power of a river, yes?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Drengr gasped, clearly still suffering.

  “Slowly,” Eira persisted, taking a step back. “Like using a rune for only the smallest amount of its immense power. Understand?”

  Drengr nodded and raised his hands again. This time the red magic misted out from his palms and flowed slowly outwards until touching the spikes of the massive wall. Drengr’s magic ate its way through the first of the silver spikes it touched, but quickly began spreading out as if infecting the Skeyth magical wall on its own, without his help.

  “That’s it,” Eira said softly, coaching Drengr as a quiet frown of repulsion crept onto her eyebrows. “Let the nature of the parasitic magic do the work for you.”

  The red magic worked fast, easily devouring the wall of spikes like a starving beast making Engier yearn for freedom and the chance to resume the chase to recover their children.

  With Drengr’s magic halfway through the wall, the tremors returned in his muscles and the red magic began eating its way out to the sides, as if opening a door in the wall wide enough for dozens to pass through at once.

  “Easy, Drengr,” Eira whispered. “Easy, if it spreads too much you will lose control of it.”

  The runecaster didn’t seem to hear her and the muscle tremors worsened when the red magic started to spark and hiss its way through the wall.

  “Drengr,” Eira growled. “Slow it down.”

  “I can’t,” he snarled through clenched teeth. Engier pushed his shield in Brenna’s hand aside and rushed forward. Her footsteps told him that she followed. Reaching out for his friend, he nearly knocked Eira to the dirt when she blocked his grasp.

  “Don’t touch him,” she squealed, and Engier shoved her aside.

  “Drengr,” he barked. “You’ve done enough, we’ll cut through the rest by hand.”

  “Can’t sssttt...” the wizard repeated. A second later a scream tore from his throat. “Get back!” Drengr’s back arched and more red energy shot from his hands. It hit the Skeyth wall like a charging bull, and chunks of silver spike exploded into the air. The magic ate its way into the wall almost too fast for Engier’s eyes to follow, leaving him unsure of what to do. Finally, he reached for Drengr again, but Eira’s hand stopped his for a second time. He jammed his axe up under her chin.

  “The magic will kill you if you touch him.” She gasped as the flesh on her throat hissed from his axe blade.

  Lowering his axe, he growled, “Stop him then.”

  “I cannot,” she screamed back. “You will have to kill him, it’s the only way to stop it.”

  He released her and turned to his friend, unsure of what do, and unable to trust the Skeyth wizard after all they’d done.

  “Damn you, Tyr, give me something to work with here,” he cursed, gripping his axe, but the choice was taken away from him when magic exploded out of Drengr’s body and knocked him and Eira to the ground.

  Braced behind Engier’s shield, Brenna slid back several feet from the shockwave that raced passed her and towards the shield wall behind her. She winced in anticipation of the shield wall crumbling under the magical wave of energy.

  Without warning, Eira spun on her knees with her hands full of silver magic. As if sensing Brenna’s anxiety or perhaps by instinct alone, she unleashed her magic and it raced away, crossing the distance to the shield wall in a single heartbeat. She rolled her hands over each other and silver energy struck the shield wall, but to Engier’s amazement the magic spread out across the shield wall, reinforcing it with layer after layer of heavy silver scales. Drengr’s magical shockwave struck the shield wall and began to eat its way through, but Eira’s magic held long enough to deflect the red energy out to the sides. It struck the Skeyth wall and flattened everything in its path while eating through what magic remained standing.

  Drengr screamed in agony and pulled his hands into his sides, wrenching all the red energy back into his body. He turned towards Engier slowly and collapsed unconscious. Brenna raced to his side and touched his throat.

  “He’s alive?” Eira asked and knelt at Drengr’s side. “Holy gods of old, that was close. Far too close.”

  “He’ll be all right?” Brenna asked.

  Eira nodded. “I think so, yes. Though I suspect it will be some time before he wakes, and even longer to recover.”

  Engier glanced around the meadow and saw no traces of the invasive red energy. However, all of the Skeyth wall from the shield wall to the east was gone, eaten to dust by Drengr’s new magic. Without Eira’s help, the outcome would have been far different. As if she heard his thoughts, the Skeyth wizard pulled her remaining magic from the shield wall and let it dissipate on the wind.

  “You are free to go, Jarl Engier,” she said.

  “Why did you help reinforce the shield wall?” he asked her.

  “My life was on the line as well,” she said solemnly. “Eventually it would have touched me. You do not want to see a magic user die in front of you from that red energy, and I certainly do not want to be that wizard.”

  “I would imagine not,” he agreed. With a sigh, he added, “I think it’s more than that though. No?”

  Still kneeling at Drengr’s side, she looked at him and frowned in confusion. “He follows you without question,” she said, tapping Drengr’s robe over his chest. Pointing past him to Brenna, sh
e carried on. “She follows you without question. They all do. You had over a hundred volunteers for the shield wall even though they knew that any magic would hit them first. Why? You are a lord, yet you do not hold it over them, instead you were right here in front with the shield wall. Why?”

  “It’s just our way,” he answered.

  “It’s a whole lot more than that,” Brenna said as she finally stood.

  “I am starting to see that,” Eira said, gesturing to Drengr. “If you have no objections, I would like to stay with him. Perhaps I can help him. Until we catch up to my people of course.”

  Brenna grunted to get his attention. “She could do a lot of damage if she cuts loose with that magic.”

  “I will do no such thing,” Eira snapped. “My people do not kill without reason and you can be certain, if I do I will die.” She glanced down at Drengr. “He does not need to be awake to kill me.” She slid back on her knees and summoned another of the familiar silver scaled serpents in her palm, but immediately placed it in the dirt, Eira wiggled her fingers and the serpent raced towards Drengr, but before the serpent touched him, red energy leapt from his marks in misty tendrils and slapped the serpent into dust before retreating into his flesh. “It is attracted to magic, should I use it...” The rest was left unsaid, but Engier knew what she meant.

  “Very well,” he said. “Brenna, help her get Drengr to the healer’s tents and then post a two-man guard on her. I’ll get the clan leaders together so we can move out as soon as possible. It looks like the miners and farmers waited for us.” He pointed out past the exit Drengr had created. Davur and several other miners were covered in silver dust and larger shards coated their clothing. They had obviously been trying to cut their way into the wall of spikes from the outside. He waved at Davur and then nodded to Brenna. “Best hurry, we need to get moving as soon as possible.”

  “Right away,” Brenna answered.

  Engier headed to the far side of the meadow. They had a busy day of burials ahead, but even that wouldn’t stop them from catching up to the Skeyth.

  Engier would make damn sure nothing short of the gods themselves would stop them.

  Chapter Seven

  NO MAN’S LAND

  A full day passed while Engier and the clans following him tracked the Skeyth. Progress was slow going and treacherous as they slogged through heavily damaged lands saturated in salt water left behind by the two land masses coming together. The scouts called the muddy flats “no man’s land” and he agreed.

  Engier sighed as mud slid through his toes inside his boots. The muck made tracking the Skeyth trail easier, but it was the only blessing in the gods’ forsaken land he found himself in. Though he didn’t know when it actually happened, he could feel that Sokn had quit moving. When pressed, Eira confirmed it, suggesting that Skeyth magic no longer supported the land to keep it afloat. Instead, she believed the new lands now supported the island.

  “We can’t keep going like this, Engier,” Brenna shouted from further back in the convoy. He held up his right arm, calling for a halt. They needed rest, but the thick quagmire offered no place to set up camp.

  “There’s a rise in the land a mile or two ahead where this quagmire ends,” he said when she reached his side. “Our scouts are returning now, perhaps you and I should go get the lay of the land. We need a safe place to camp and rest.”

  “We should take Drengr,” she suggested.

  “I doubt he’s up to it.”

  “Eira then,” she pressed. “We don’t know what we might come across.”

  “All right,” he said with a nod. “I’ll see to the scouts. Gather what you need.”

  Brenna nodded and slogged away through the mud.

  “Jarl Engier,” the first scout shouted as he drew near.

  “Anything?” he asked.

  “No, my lord,” he said shaking his head as he came to a stop. “Just more muck and salt water. There’s no shortage of food from the sea, plenty of shellfish and such hidden among the mud, but our firewood supply is running low and I didn’t see an end in any direction except that rise to the east.”

  Scratching his chin, Engier nodded. “As I suspected. You and your scouts grab a few hours’ rest on the supply wagons. Brenna and I will check the rise.”

  “As will I, I am told,” Eira murmured, as she approached, her feet squelching in the muck.

  “If you wouldn’t mind?” Engier said, flourishing a mock bow. “You claim this land might have an abundance of magic. If so, having a wizard with us could help.”

  “Of course, Jarl Engier,” she replied, and offered a quick curtsy. He wasn’t sure if she was returning his sarcasm or not.

  “We’ve got a long walk ahead,” he growled when he caught sight of Brenna returning. “Let’s go.”

  The next few hours passed in silence and Engier was grateful for it. The bickering between Eira and Brenna ended early into the trip. Even as they reached the bottom of the rise and left the mud flats behind, neither woman spoke. Pulling his axe from its sheath with his right hand, Engier hefted the shield in his left and started up the hill. Eira followed behind him and Brenna brought up the rear, her twin swords in their sheathes and the new spear in her hands. Making sure not to highlight himself against the rise’s skyline, Engier crouched low and crept his way to the top of the hill at an angle in order to remain undetected from anyone on the far side. He slowed when his eyes settled on the land beyond the steep hill. Coming to a stop on one knee, he could see for miles, but nothing seemed to be moving in the grasslands and prairie ahead of him. At the furthest edge of his sight he could also make out a thick forest and signs of animal life. Even so, plenty of death stared back at him. He exhaled heavily and a low whistle sounded as the air rushed past his teeth.

  “That was one hell of a battle,” Brenna said, breaking the quiet.

  Engier could only nod his agreement. At least a hundred bodies were strewn across the plateau ahead of them. A deep line of trees and heavy bushes lined the plateau to the left and right, indicating the attack might have begun with an ambush. Weapon and scorch marks had torn up the grass and dirt, but the silver scaled magic stood out more than all the other signs. Remnants of Skeyth magic were strewn across the battlefield.

  “Your people ran into something they couldn’t handle,” he pointed out.

  “That’s not comforting, Engier. Shit,” Brenna cursed.

  “Agreed,” he muttered. Not sure whether to search the battlefield for more information or to retreat, he rubbed his forehead in frustration.

  “We must search the area, please,” Eira begged. “Those are my people. Someone might still be alive.”

  “We passed the no return mark this morning, Engier,” Brenna reminded him. “We don’t have the supplies to make it back to the island. Seafood spoils too quickly and most of what we’ve found cannot be eaten raw.”

  “Forward it is then,” he mumbled and started towards the site of the battle. Eira was right. The bodies were definitely Skeyth and some of them had unleashed a serious hellstorm of magic. Silver blades, dead scaled serpents, and spikes like those used against his own people littered the battlefield.

  “Where’s the enemy?” he asked, mostly to himself.

  Within earshot, Brenna exhaled softly, “No enemy bodies.”

  “That’s impossible,” Eira protested, pushing passed them. “My people know how to defend themselves.”

  “I am aware,” he answered, as Brenna drifted by him, clearly looking for more clues. He ignored her and turned to Eira. “This is troubling,” he said. “We need to know who did—”

  “Engier,” Brenna interrupted, so quietly he barely heard her.

  “In a minute, Brenna,” he replied.

  “No, now,” she persisted.

  “Brenna—” he barked, glancing over his shoulder. Her pale face stopped him short, and for the first time in all the years he knew her, he could see real fear in her eyes.

  “By the gods of Ragnarok, Engier..
.” She couldn’t finish and he hurried to her side, arriving as she pulled a dead Skeyth wizard off of... He wasn’t exactly sure.

  The creature could have almost been a Northman, but it was much bigger, at least seven or eight feet in height. The long black hair and beard could have easily been from any number of men from his own clan, except the hair and beard were adorned with bone and metal charms. There, the resemblance ended. The creature’s skin held a shade of pale blue and furious welts of raised scar tissue marred a few spots on its body. Engier’s lip curled in disgust at the brands and spat on the corpse.

  “Jotunn,” he growled. Whirling around, he snatched Eira by her robe. “What is happening here? Have the Skeyth done this? This new world your people want so badly. Is it Utgard? Did your magic carry us through Yggdrasil to the home of the giants?”

  “No,” she wheezed, struggling against him. “It is not a different dimension, Jarl, I promise.”

  “Dammit!” he shouted and let her go. “We need to get back to the clans, now.”

  “Why?” Eira asked, “What has you two so afraid? This is the same world we left, just a different land.”

  “You can’t possibly understand,” Brenna said slowly, as if she couldn’t believe her ears. “Your beliefs are not ours, and that is why more than a hundred of your people lie dead on this hill. The Jotunn are extremely strong and difficult to kill. Most are immune to the magic of mortals. Had we come across them we would have tried to make peace first and would only have fought as a last resort.”

  The Skeyth woman shook her head and Engier suddenly realized that it was a gods’ blessing that the entire Skeyth village hadn’t died right where he stood. “Eira,” he snapped. “How many of your people died when we fought against you?”