BTtNR - Book 3 - Chapter 51

Chapter 51

The dwarven outpost sat on a rocky plateau overlooking the volcanic pass. From this vantage point, Einar could see exactly why Voldrak had claimed this territory. Lava flows carved the landscape into a maze of narrow passages and elevated positions, with plumes of steam rising from vents scattered across the blackened stone.

Perfect terrain for an ambush. Perfect terrain for a slaughter.

They'd arrived two days ago, making a show of reinforcing the outpost's walls and stockpiling supplies. Dwarven scouts reported that Voldrak had noticed. The fire giant had been watching from the high ground, his two lesser giants flanking him like hunting dogs waiting for the command to attack.

"He's coming," Thorodd said, appearing at Einar's side. "Scout just returned. Voldrak left his position an hour ago. He's moving toward us with both giants."

He took the bait.

"How long until they reach the killing ground?"

"Maybe two hours. They're not rushing."

Because he's confident. He thinks this will be easy.

"Get everyone into position. Apply the fire-resistant coating now. I want every warrior ready before that giant comes over the ridge."

Thorodd nodded and moved off to relay orders. Einar remained on the overlook, watching the distant plumes of smoke that marked Voldrak's approach.

Thirty feet tall... Custom armor... Volcanic glass blade... Fire magic... And I have to kill him alone. Oh Odin, you've got one heck of a sense of humor.

He looked down at the Gromril Warstriders on his feet, feeling the power humming through them. Borin Ironheart and Grimna Stonehands had died so he could wear these boots. Forty dwarven warriors had fallen to the creature he was about to face.

No pressure.

***

The killing ground was a relatively flat expanse of volcanic rock between the outpost and the pass. No lava flows to trap them, no narrow passages to break their formations. Open terrain where numbers and coordination could matter.

But open terrain also meant room for surprises.

Osvif approached, wiping sweat from his brow. "The ballistae are in position. One hidden in the rocks on the western edge, aimed at where you'll be leading Voldrak. The second is set up on the eastern flank for the lesser giants."

"And the bolts?"

"Loaded and poisoned. We’re finally going to get to see if Orin Mudfoot's work from Mighahm is the quality he proclaimed it was. The last of the poison is loaded also. If even one of those bolts hits, the poison should slow the giant down significantly."

Einar nodded. The High King had said he must defeat Voldrak alone. He hadn't said anything about softening the target first.

Every advantage counts against something like this.

"The tripwire?"

"Set. When you cross the marker stone and Voldrak follows, his weight will trigger the ballista. He won't see it coming." Osvif paused. "Assuming you can lead him to the right spot."

"I'll lead him there. I just need to hope that bolt flies true."

Einar's warriors spread across the field in their assigned positions. Jepi's team of seventeen took the left flank, ready to intercept the first lesser giant. Ragna's team of sixteen held the right, positioned to engage the second. That left Einar alone in the center, standing before a concealed death trap.

Skardi approached, his new dwarven warhammer resting on his shoulder. "You sure about this? Fighting him alone?"

"It's what the High King demanded. I defeat Voldrak myself, or the alliance fails."

"The ballista doesn't count?"

"It's a weapon, same as my axe. The king said no other warriors could help me fight the giant. He didn't say I couldn't use every tool at my disposal."

Skardi grinned. "I like the way you think."

"Just keep those lesser giants off me. Can you do that?"

The massive Viking's jaw tightened, but he nodded. "We'll handle them. You just stay alive long enough to kill that bastard."

"That's the plan."

***

The ground began to tremble.

At first it was subtle, just a faint vibration through the soles of his boots. Then it grew stronger, rhythmic. Footsteps. Massive footsteps approaching from the pass.

Voldrak the Scorched crested the ridge.

Thirty feet of fire giant, covered head to toe in black armor that seemed to drink in the light. Steam rose from the joints where heat escaped, and his eyes burned like twin forges behind his helm. In his right hand, he carried a blade of volcanic glass that was easily twelve feet long, its edge glowing orange with internal heat.

By the gods.

The two lesser giants flanked him, each twenty feet tall and carrying massive clubs studded with volcanic rock. They were unarmored, their skin the color of cooling lava, cracked with lines of orange that pulsed like veins of fire.

Voldrak surveyed the killing ground, his burning gaze moving across the Viking positions. When his eyes found Einar standing alone in the center, the giant's head tilted slightly.

Then he laughed.

The sound was like boulders grinding together, deep and rumbling. "One warrior? They send one warrior to face me?"

His voice carried across the field, and Einar could feel his warriors tense at the sound.

"The dwarves sent forty," Einar called back. "I only need myself."

Voldrak's laughter died. His eyes narrowed, studying Einar more carefully now.

"You are not a dwarf. What are you, little creature?"

"Viking."

"Viking." The giant tested the word. "I have heard of your kind. Warriors from another realm. Touched by your gods." He raised his volcanic blade, pointing it at Einar. "Your gods cannot save you here. This is my domain."

"Then let's see whose domain it is when you're dead."

Voldrak stared at him for a long moment. Then he gestured to his lesser giants.

"Kill the others. The Viking is mine."

The two lesser giants charged toward the flanks, their massive strides eating up the distance with ease. Jepi's team braced on the left. Ragna's team set their shields on the right.

And Voldrak walked toward Einar, each step shaking the earth.

***

Come on. Just a little further.

Einar backed away slowly, drawing the giant toward the marker stone. He could see it in his peripheral vision, a small cairn of rocks that looked natural but marked the tripwire's position.

"Running already?" Voldrak mocked. "I expected more from someone who challenged me."

"Just picking my ground."

He stepped past the marker stone.

Voldrak followed, his massive foot coming down on the concealed tripwire.

The ballista fired.

The bolt was four feet of reinforced steel, thick as a man's arm, tipped with one of Orin Mudfoot's masterwork heads and loaded with enough poison to drop a troll. It flew true, aimed at Voldrak's back.

But Voldrak was fast.

He twisted at the last moment, some instinct warning him of the danger. The bolt that should have buried itself in his spine instead caught him at an angle, tearing through the armor at his shoulder and carving a furrow across his back before spinning away.

A glancing blow. But the poison was in.

Voldrak roared, more in rage than pain. He spun toward the ballista's position, fire already building in his palm, and unleashed a torrent of flame that reduced the hidden weapon to slag.

Then he turned back to Einar, his burning eyes incandescent with fury. "Trickery. You would use trickery against me?"

"I would use everything against you."

The giant snarled and charged.

Einar drew his axe and settled into his stance, feeling the Gromril Warstriders anchor him to the stone beneath his feet. His shield came up, the fire-resistant coating gleaming in the volcanic light.

The volcanic blade came down in a diagonal slash, impossibly fast for something so large. Einar dove to the side, feeling the heat of the blade as it passed within inches of his body. The ground where he'd been standing exploded into molten fragments.

Fast. Even with the poison, he's too fast.

But was he? Einar noticed the giant's movements were just slightly off. The shoulder where the bolt had grazed him wasn't moving as smoothly. The poison was working, seeping into Voldrak's system, slowing him down.

Not enough yet. I need to buy time.

He rolled to his feet and charged, closing the distance before Voldrak could recover. His axe bit into the giant's leg armor, the elven gift striking against the black metal.

It barely scratched the surface.

Voldrak's boot came around in a kick that would have crushed Einar's ribs if it had connected. He threw himself backward, feeling the rush of air as the massive foot swept past.

His armor is too thick. I need more power.

The giant pressed his advantage, the volcanic blade sweeping in horizontal arcs that forced Einar to keep moving. Each swing came closer, the heat searing his exposed skin. His shield arm was already starting to ache from the ambient temperature.

Voldrak raised his free hand, and fire erupted from his palm.

Einar got his shield up just in time. The flames washed over him like a wave, and even with the fire-resistant coating, he could feel the heat trying to cook him inside his armor. The coating bubbled and smoked, burning away in seconds.

Time to use everything I have.

He activated Rune Empower.

Power surged through him. Every stat doubled; his strength, speed, and endurance multiplied in an instant. The world seemed to slow around him as his enhanced perception took in every detail of the battlefield.

One minute. Make it count.

Einar charged.

His enhanced speed let him close the distance before Voldrak could react. His axe found the same joint in the leg armor he'd targeted before, and this time the doubled strength drove it deep. Dark blood, almost black, erupted from the wound.

Voldrak roared and swung his blade down. Einar was already moving, circling behind the giant's wounded leg, striking again at the weakened armor. Another spray of dark blood.

The giant tried to turn, but the poison was taking hold now. His movements were sluggish, his reactions delayed by precious fractions of a second. Fractions that meant the difference between life and death.

Fire erupted from Voldrak's palm again, but Einar was too fast. He gathered his wyrd, using the magic of water and ice that he rarely ever summoned. But here, ice was strength and he covered the head of his axe with it. He dove under the flames and came up inside the giant's guard, his axe finding the gap beneath Voldrak's ankle. The blade sank deep into flesh.

For the first time, the giant screamed.

Voldrak grabbed at him with his free hand, but Einar planted his feet. The Gromril Warstriders activated, anchoring him to the stone. The giant's grip closed around him, but he didn't move.

Einar hacked with his axe, tearing at the flesh that tried to crush and move him. His enhanced stats allowed him to withstand the pressure and each time the ice-covered head met skin, more dark blood sprayed across the volcanic stone.

Thirty seconds left.

Voldrak finally got his grip and lifted Einar off the ground, the stone that was connected to his boots ripped up with him. The giant's fingers began to heat, fire building to burn him alive.

Einar activated Odin's Strike.

This was the first time he had used this new ability and the idea that for thirty seconds, every attack would hit was too much to pass up. Combined with the remaining power of Rune Empower, it made him a force of pure destruction.

He drove his axe into Voldrak's wrist, hitting the exact spot where the armor was thinnest. The blade severed tendons, and the giant's grip failed. Einar dropped to the ground and immediately attacked the wounded leg again.

Strike, slash, hack.

Each blow landed perfectly, finding gaps in the armor, opening new wounds, driving deeper into flesh and muscle. Voldrak tried to defend himself, but under the effect of Odin's Strike, nothing he did could stop the axe that was shredding his ankle.

The giant's leg buckled. He dropped to one knee, bringing him closer to Einar's level.

Rune Empower is fading. Five seconds tops.

Einar leapt onto Voldrak's thigh and drove his axe into the gap beneath the giant's arm, burying it to the haft. The giant howled and grabbed him again, and this time the burning grip closed around his torso.

The Rune Empower ended, and Einar’s strength was halved in an instant, and the pain of the burning grip became unbearable.

But Odin's Strike still had seconds left.

He tore his axe free and swung at the fingers, crushing him. The blade bit through one, then another. Voldrak's grip loosened, and Einar fell to the ground again.

He hit hard, the impact driving the air from his lungs. His armor was smoking, pieces melted against his skin. The pain was unlike anything he'd felt before.

He crushed one of Fotgror's healing runes in his hand.

Magic washed through him, closing the worst of his burns and giving him the strength to stand.

Voldrak was hurt. Badly hurt. One leg was nearly crippled, wounds under an arm, and several fingers were missing from one hand. The poison coursed through his system, slowing him further with every passing moment.

But he was still alive. Still dangerous. And he was furious.

"I will burn everything!" the giant roared. "Your warriors! Your allies! I will reduce this entire field to ash!"

Fire began building around him, not just in his hands but across his entire body. The air itself seemed to ignite as Voldrak gathered power for a devastating attack.

He's going to kill everyone. I have to stop him now.

Einar activated Divine Protection and Blessed Healing.

A golden shield of light formed around him just as Voldrak unleashed his fire. The flames washed over him in a torrent that turned the volcanic rock beneath his feet to liquid. The heat was beyond anything he'd experienced, enough to melt steel, enough to reduce a normal man to cinders.

The Divine Protection held, reducing the damage by half. It still felt like being cooked alive, but he survived. Barely as his flesh healed itself through the torrent of flame.

When the flames died, he was still standing.

Voldrak stared at him in disbelief. "What are you?"

"I told you." Einar's voice was ragged, his body screaming with pain. "Viking."

He reached for his last ability. Thor's Blessing. 

Blessed Healing surged through him. His burns sealed, his strength returned, his body restored to fighting condition in seconds.

Then he called on Thor's Blessing.

Lightning exploded from his body.

The bolt struck Voldrak square in the chest, arcing across his armor and finding every gap, every joint, every wound Einar had opened. The giant convulsed as electricity coursed through him, his fire dying, his body seizing.

Einar charged.

He leapt onto the giant's chest, climbing the smoking armor, his axe raised high. Voldrak's burning eyes met his, and in them Einar saw something he hadn't expected.

Fear.

"For the alliance!" Einar roared. "For Borin and Grimna. For the forty dwarves you killed."

He drove his axe into Voldrak's throat.

The blade cut through armor and flesh and bone. Dark blood erupted from the wound, spraying across Einar's face, and the fire in Voldrak's eyes flickered and died.

The giant shuddered once. Then went still.

***

The battle on the flanks was ending.

Einar slid down from Voldrak's corpse, his legs barely holding him. He turned to see Jepi's team finishing off the first lesser giant, the creature's body covered in wounds from dozens of coordinated strikes. A ballista bolt protruded from its back where the eastern weapon had found its mark. On the other side, Ragna's team had driven the second giant to its knees, Skardi's warhammer delivering the killing blow to its skull.

The three giants were dead.

Thorodd reached him first, his face a mix of relief and concern. "You look like shit."

"Feel like it too." Einar leaned on his friend for support. "Casualties?"

"We lost six. Three on each flank. Another dozen seriously wounded." Thorodd glanced at Voldrak's corpse. "Could have been worse. Could have been all of us."

Six dead. But the binding stone is ready. We can bring them back.

Skardi approached, covered in giant's blood, his warhammer resting on his shoulder. "You actually did it. You killed that thing by yourself."

"Barely. Used everything I had."

"Doesn't matter. You did it." The massive Viking grinned. "The dwarves are going to lose their minds when they hear about the lightning."

Avitue and Jepi joined them, both looking battered but alive. Ragna limped over, blood running from a wound on his scalp.

"The binding stones," Einar said. "Get the dead to the rally point. We resurrect them today."

"Already on it," Jepi said. "Thorve's preparing the ceremony."

Einar nodded and looked back at Voldrak's corpse. Thirty feet of dead fire giant, killed by a single Viking using every weapon and ability at his disposal. The ballista, the poison, the boots, every Gungnir ability he possessed.

And it was still barely enough.

"Someone needs to take proof back to the High King," Osvif said, appearing with a knife. "I'll take something from the giant. Part of the head, maybe."

"Do it,” Einar said. “And someone find me something to sit on before I fall over."

Thorodd helped him to a nearby boulder as the others began the work of collecting their dead and wounded. In the distance, the volcanic pass sat quiet and empty, its master finally defeated.

“I’ll start the gathering as soon as we can,” Avitue said, smiling at him. “I think you deserve a reward.”

Einar sat and looked at the Gromril Warstriders on his feet. The boots were scorched and battered, but still thrumming with power. “I’m pretty sure I already got one.”

Borin. Grimna. I honored your sacrifice. Your boots saved my life.

He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, letting the exhaustion wash over him. They'd won. Against impossible odds, against a creature that had killed forty dwarven warriors, they'd won.

Thor's Blessing won't be available for two weeks. Blessed Healing for three days. Rune Empower for a week. Odin's Strike for a week. Divine Protection for five days.

I used everything. But we're alive, and the alliance is forged.

Now the dwarves will answer when Ragnarok comes.

One alliance down. More to go.

But for now, just for this moment, he let himself rest.

They had earned it.