Hallowed

I dreamt of blood. It was everywhere. It stained my clothes. Tainted the air filling my lungs. It was what I was walking in. It was what I brought. I brought blood. In my determination to protect those I cared for, I killed dozens. I spilled the blood of dozens. They were not innocent. I knew that, but it didn’t make it any better.

I was a murderer this night.

And it wasn’t even worth it. I couldn’t stop all the Vikings. People still died. Men, women… children. They died because I wasn’t strong enough to stop the Vikings. I could hear them scream. I could hear them scream as the funeral pyres burnt their torn bodies to nothing. The noise deafened me. I shook. I cringed. I tried to push it away, but I couldn’t.

I can’t…

I woke with a start. My body was drenched in a cold sweat. I went to stand, and stopped suddenly. Cassie was passed out on my lap, one of her wrapped around my waist as if to keep me from running off. A good plan considering it was working.

Everyone was still asleep. Helen and Chris were hidden almost entirely under a blanket of fur. Jimmy was laid out close to the fire. Abby rested in a corner, making sure to stay away from everyone. And of course, there was Cass.

Each one was asleep peacefully, though I couldn’t help but wonder if they were having dreams like mine. I shook it off and tried to push the thoughts from my mind. I had to keep cool. They were looking to me for some reason. They thought I had all the answers and knew exactly what to do. I didn’t, but I couldn’t afford to let them know that.

“You can get up if you want,” Cassie whispered. I didn’t know I woke her up.

“Sorry for waking you,” I replied.

She rolled over and looked at me with a brilliant smile. “You can make it up to me later.”

“Looking forward to it,” I admitted.

As gingerly as I could, I slid out from under her head and walked out the cave. The cold air of Norway sent my body into shock. As quick as I left, I turned back inside and grabbed a fur cloak from the bag I got last night. I wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking Norway warm again.
Clipping the bronze clasps together across my chest, I walked outside again, the fur warming my very bones now. From what I could tell, the sun had just risen, and believe you me, the sight of a Norse sunrise was something to behold. The thin sheet of snow was fading in a mist as a the sun struck it. The seemingly endless stretch ocean before me gleamed a rainbow of colors, shifting with every dance of the waves.

“Amazing,” I said under my breath, not wanting to break the peace of the morning.

I know it sounds dumb, but in this moment, I didn’t think being forced to spend my life here to be such a bad thing.

Smiling, I walked to the plateau I teleported everyone to before. I was still astounded at the sheer fact that I was able to do that. I still don’t even know how I did it and knew I wouldn’t manage it twice if the need arose. I’m sure everyone thought the teleportation was planned, but truthfully, I was just looking to scare the Vikings by summoning some lightning. The fact that I did that and got us away was just sheer dumb luck.

The plateau was tinted dark grey from the moisture, but other than that, it was exactly the same as last night. I thought that until I noticed my sword. I’d forgotten all about it. I stabbed it into the stone last night when I drained all my energy on the lightning. I was shocked it was still in the stone.

Even more surprising than that, it was frozen in a block of ice.

“Well that’s strange,” I muttered and then thought about it. “Right. Norway. Magic. Strange is in the territory.”

I walked up to the sword as casual as could be, only to stop when nearing it. Blood was still on the sword. I could see the crimson liquid reflecting through the ice. Blood. It was all around me.
I reached for the sword’s hilt, but stopped. If I picked that blade up again, I knew I’d eventually have to use it again. I’d have to kill. This was Norway. Tales of the bloodshed that occurred here was worse than all three Crusades combined.

Turning from the blood soaked sword, I looked down at the village. I could see it clearly now that the sun was up. It was small, maybe thirty or so huts and a pair of small docks lined with fishing boats. A few people were running about back from the docks to their huts, carrying nets and baskets. I took them to be the fishermen going to work.

I was ready to turn away when I caught sight of something that made me smile. A child, probably five or six, was standing on the docks helping who I’m sure was his father with empty baskets. That child survived last night. He wouldn’t have without me and the others.

That thought reminded of something I read in about Thor back at the college. Thor was a guardian. A lawman of sorts. He spent a lot of his time on Earth protecting mankind from whatever threats plagued it. He protected because he was needed. Now I was that legend. I was Thor, and from what I saw last night, I was needed.

But I had to get better. A lot better.

Determined again, I turned from the sight of the village and walked back to my sword. Gripping the hilt, I looked at the blade. The metal shined bright from the mix of sun and ice.

“You should name it,” I heard Cass say. She somehow snuck up on me and was with Abby.

“Name it?” I asked. Seemed like a strange thing to do.

“Yeah,” Abby agreed with Cass. “Don’t all the old legendary weapons have names?”

“They do, but this is just a sword. Nothing legendary about it.”

Cass smiled at me, “It is your sword. I think that qualifies it as legendary.”

I smirked. “A name? Fine. I’ll give you a name,” I was talking to my sword for some reason. I’d clearly gone insane. I gripped my hand around the black leather wrapped around the hilt and thought. After a second, I spoke again as I pulled on the sword. “I shall call you…”

I watched as the ice didn’t let the sword move. I didn’t let up any. The ice wasn’t normal, or else it would’ve melted by now, and was holding firm to the blade as if it was only there to hold that sword where it was. I smiled at the challenge and pulled at the blade again.

My newfound strength kicked in. My muscles coiled and burned as the first crack appeared in the ice and started zigzagging down the length of the thin three foot sword. Still pulling, I smiled and twisted my body. Without even breaking a sweat, I pulled the sword free in an explosion of ice and held it out in front me, letting the steel reflect the light.

“Verge,” I finished my sentence with the name.

“Guardian,” Cass translated. She was right. I don’t know how, but I knew the Norse word for guardian.

Abby looked at us. “We speak Norwegian?”

Cass laughed, “It’s the least weirdest thing that’s happened so far.”

“True,” Abby admitted.

I shook my head in laughter and stared at Verge. The blood had vanished from it and left it with a perfectly sharpened edge. I didn’t really look at the sword before, but now that I was, I saw just how fine of a sword it was.

Black leather wrapped the iron hilt of the tempered steel blade. The hand guard had two gargoyle like faces stretching from where the base of the blade was, each one looked like ravens of some sort. Two edges with hairline sharpness were formed with expert precision. Even with all the combat it saw yesterday, not a single chip could be found on the blade. It was flawless. A perfect fit and weight to my hand. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it was made specifically for me.

“Ulrich, you coming?” Abby broke into my thoughts.

“Yeah,” I mumbled and slid the blade into the sheath still tucked into the back of my belt. “I am.”