Hallowed

Vikings. Man, where did this day go wrong? I woke up this morning in my room next to a stunning cheerleader and was prepped to get my roommate, who was sleeping in the library again, a real girlfriend. But how does that work out for me? Well like I said. Vikings. That’s how it’s working out.

Ulrich was beginning to annoy me too. Ever since we got to this half frozen Norse hell hole, he’d the poster child from calm and collected. Everyone was shaking and flipping out about all this. Even me. But he just stood there, hand gripping the hilt of his sheathed blade resting at the back of his belt. We were waiting in the hut in hopes that the Vikings might just pass us by.

“Dude,” I tried breaking into Ulrich’s thoughts, “how are we supposed to fight these freaking guys? We don’t know how to fight.”

Ulrich sighed and replied, “Figure…” He stopped. His eyes widened suddenly and his grip on his blade tightened. In one fluid motion, Ulrich revealed the thin double sided sword and stuck it through the cloth hanging over the door. To my and probably everyone but Ulrich’s surprise, the blade stayed still where it cut, even after Ulrich let loose of the blade. “It out,” Ulrich continued and took hold of his sword again.

As Ulrich pulled the sword free from its position, Ulrich kicked forward and struck the hidden Viking behind the cloth, sending the burly man flying across the frost tipped grass. I was dumbstruck. I knew Ulrich could fight, but that man had 200 pounds on him. Where did he find the strength? And how did he even know he was there?

Regardless, I followed suit and tightened my grip on my long broadsword. Ulrich was the first to rush out, obviously. I think his only real plan was to be a distraction, because he confronted the first biking he could find and led them from the door. Before I ran off to join him, I looked back at the others, who were stunned in fear.

I took charge as well as I could and called out a play like they were a football team. “Jimmy, read your freaking book fast. If you can make that fire work, do it,” I ordered and then turned to Cass and Helen, the only other two with weapons, “Helen. Cass. Protect Abby and stay behind me. Don’t leave the hut unless you have to. Got it?” Everyone nodded in agreement and I left them.

Don’t ask me how, but I fought. I don’t know where I learned it, yet somehow, I knew exactly what I was doing. When I saw the first Viking charge at me, I quickly reacted and knocked his massive spear aside. Twisting my sword along the shaft of his spear and thrust it into his chest, cleaving right in between the chinks of his armor somehow.

As he fell at my feet, I looked at my sword. Blood was running down the length of the edge. The smell tainted the air. “How did I?” I asked myself. I looked back to the girls still in the hut. Each was looking to me warily. I just killed a man. And I had to keep going. I had to keep the girls safe.

I stabbed behind me without thinking. My blade found a mark somehow. A Viking slid off my sword and fell dead behind me. I didn’t even bother looking at him. I ran forward and met with another Viking. With a block and a twist, I dropped my blade across the red bearded man’s neck.

I was relentless. I didn’t stop. I hacked and slashed my way through a dozen Vikings before I even felt winded. Somehow I managed to look around as I moved. A few of the Vikings pouring out of the ships had found their way to the hut and had confronted the girls, but were dead within seconds of doing so. Whatever was happening to me was happening to them too.

I saw Cassie spin and drop her double bladed spear across a Viking’s neck, his head falling from his shoulders without hesitation. Cass didn’t look at the dead man at her feet, but focused more on the next unlucky person to get near her.

Helen was no different. She was thrusting and swinging her spear with amazing precision, cutting three throats at a time and stabbing through the chinks in the armor. But just like Cass, Helen didn’t look at the bodies. She didn’t want to see what she was being forced to do.

Parrying another blade off my way, I hacked down the nearest Viking and searched for Abby. I couldn’t find her, so I started to worry. As I sliced the legs of another Viking, I moved through the crowd and searched for her. But I was too late. A large man with a sword bigger than my own was closing in on Abby, who was curled into a corner.

I ran as fast as I could manage, but I kept getting stopped by different Viking. Even with them only lasting a few seconds, I wasn’t moving quick enough. And when I finally broke free, I stopped. Abby was standing tall over the Viking, her hands clutching the air around his head. I can’t truly describe what was happening, but what I gathered was Abby was killing the man just by getting near him.

The man seemed to be aging rapidly. His breathing grew raspy and dry as his body shriveled under the weight of his armor. The sword he was holding a minute ago was on the ground, rusted. I stared in amazement as the Viking fell to dust. Abby fell with him. Dropping to her knees, she stared at the dust of the dead Viking. I was about to go console her, but before I could move, Jimmy came running out of the hut without his book.

“Abby!” I screamed out and stirred her back to reality. Abby snapped up and ran to meet me, though she kept her distance. Together we ran to group up with the others. When I go to Jimmy, I asked, “Where’s your book of hocus pocus?”

“It disappeared,” Jimmy answered like it cleared anything up. “I figured it out.”

“The fire?” Helen questioned when she joined us with Cassie.

“Yeah,” Jimmy told us. “Everyone get close, this might go badly.”

Ulrich strode towards us last and replied, “That’s so motivating. You should be a pep coach.”

“So I shouldn’t create fire?”

“Do it!” I roared, watching the Vikings close in on us.

Jimmy extended his arms out wide and screamed. I didn’t know why, but I thought it might have hurt him to do this. For a few agonizing seconds, nothing happened. The Vikings stopped however, yet was still creeping in on us slowly. Then it happened. Jimmy did what I used to call impossible. He made fire from nothing.

The first spark erupted near a Viking’s feet and stopped the man in his tracks. I don’t think they like magic. Jimmy kept screaming and more small flames erupted in random places around us. That’s when all hell broke loose. The dozen or so small flames rose in pillars of fire and built a circle of fire around us. The fire kept going on its own, but Jimmy was spent. Once he stopped yelling, he dropped to his knees and almost passed out.

“Way to go, Jimmy. You’re a magician,” I said sarcastically.

Jimmy laughed, “I should go to Vegas.”

“I think they might consider you a fire hazard,” I admitted and then turned to Ulrich, who was staring at the sky, “We need a way out, man. Fire won’t stop them for long.”

Ulrich smirked, “I’m working on that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just watch.”

And we did. All of us. Each one of turned to Ulrich in wonder. After Jimmy defying the laws of physics, we were ready for anything. Well almost anything.

Ulrich looked to us after a second and spoke, “This might hurt. I’m not sure.”

“What?” Helen asked.

Ulrich just smirked and looked back to the sky. I followed suit. I only really looked at the sky once before now, and then it was a light grey from the clouds, but now. Not it had changed. The grey clouds turned black and were circling overhead. Directly over us.

“Ulrich, what are you doing?” I asked, admittedly frightened by all this.

Ulrich didn’t answer. He looked as if he was in a trance. We all waited in anticipation for what was happening. The wind picked up around us. Electricity filled the air. The Vikings backed even further away by now, from the fire, from everything. I was half expecting them to turn tail and run.

I was really hoping they would. I hoped if they did that I could get Ulrich to stop whatever crazy plan he had going. Yet again, I was too late, because lightning struck. Right down at Ulrich. At us.