Chapter 36 #2
Running his hand across his eyes, which burned like he stared into the devil’s pit, his vision cleared from the blur.
The small act of leaning down to make it under the passage then raising up to their full heights made Kollungr and Sv?rn appear almost giants.
Well, the Northern giants were going back below, just not on a ship but straight to hell!
Look at Kollungr’s expression – it was fierce; he would charge next.
He even leads before Sv?rn. Kollungr’s weapon?
Sword. The medallion spun faster than the wind.
Take the sword first. Then lash and flay and rip every bit of skin off Kollungr’s worthless hide in Keirah’s honor. Here, here he comes. Wait…wait…now!
“Scotsman, your death awaits!!” Kollungr promised and charged. “Keirah will be MINE!”
NEVER! The whistle turned deafening from the medallion cutting the rain next to his ear as he picked up speed on the slicing metal through water, the spray misting his face at the force he commanded.
How best to take Kollungr’s weapon? Spin the chain about the sword’s blade then tear it from Kollungr’s grasp.
Will the chain hold or break? It will hold! To wait is risk my Keirah!
A roarrrr tore his throat at the final moment of the falcon’s descent, with a sizzle taking the air when the blade slid across the gold.
Rip the blade from Kollungr’s grip! Aonghus dragged his shoulder low; shite, the Northman was strong.
Strong enough to hold the blade? No! Thump.
The blade hit the deck, ripped clean from Kollungr’s grasp.
The chain slid off the blade’s tip, staying in Aonghus’s grip while the sword washed away into the tides. Finish Kollungr!
Kollungr, eyes wide as the moon, leapt behind Sv?rn, who led in with another sword. Coward!
The same tactic, taking the blade away with the chain, wouldn’t work on Sv?rn.
Shite, Sv?rn was advancing quickly, too quickly.
The younger Northman was clad in mail and armor all the way to his ankles.
Ankles. Look at Sv?rn’s ankles. Only thin leather covered them.
Perfect. He must use Sv?rn’s charging speed to an advantage.
How? Bend a knee at the last moment and sweep Sv?rn’s ankles, knocking the enemy’s feet out from under him.
Sv?rn’s sword. Be careful about the blade, it could possibly swipe his own shoulder at the bold tactic to disarm the Northern warrior.
There was no other way; Aonghus needed to be close to hit the ankles.
Aye, close enough to deliver the blow. Hold the line, hold… hold, now!
The hard deck greeted his knee when Aonghus collapsed onto the joint and bowed low – both at the same moment.
Using the momentum from spinning the medallion, Aonghus aimed right toward the ankles of Sv?rn, who gave a howl which rivaled the wind.
Ankles knocked out from under the enemy!
Sv?rn spun far away with a violent snap and grunt after collapsing onto the deck. Re-engage Kollungr.
What was the warmth on his shoulder? Blood; it oozed down his arm from the shoulder wound Sv?rn inflicted. It doesn’t matter, Kollungr demands all. Aonghus’s fist tightened on the gold chain. Did he still feel the pressure in his grip along with the chain? Aye to both – good.
Aonghus’s foot paused a breath. It wasn’t the sight of Kollungr emerging but what the enemy held.
Vengeance. His sire’s axe was gripped in the Northman’s fist as a sick grin masked his face.
Four times Aonghus had waited for the enemy to advance from that passage; now the time had come to charge. Directly!
Spinning the medallion, Aonghus continued racing, then dropped onto both his knees at the last moment, a mere speck from the enemy. Sliding across the deck, he heard Vengeance whistle the air over his scalp as he sailed past Kollungr.
Turn! Aonghus must punch the backs of Kollungr’s legs to collapse him.
Whack! The chain slammed perfectly onto the joints belonging to the enemy’s knees as Kollungr fell forward faster than the sail off the mast hitting the deck.
Chain around the captor’s neck! Spinning the medallion a final time, Aonghus threw the massive chain over Kollungr’s neck. PULL!!
Vengeance came right at him. Aonghus darted right, then left; both advances missed as Kollungr swung wildly about while being strangled. The chokehold was solid on Kollungr’s throat. Harder, crush the infernal windpipe…Kollungr is struggling less. Almost there…
Keirah’s cry tore stole his attention: “Aonghus!”
Looking up, his eyes doubled at the sight of Keirah. She had untethered herself with her eyes wide from terror. The rope was in her grasp, trailing above her head as she was sliding across the deck on her stomach, headed directly for the waves and death’s gate! Why had she untethered herself?
Releasing Kollungr, who collapsed, Aonghus grabbed Vengeance from the motionless hand then charged for…“Keirah!”
Faster, she is almost to the edge! A wave began to crash on his back.
Use this momentum while sliding on a hip.
There, quicker. Quicker, slide! His eyes darted toward the ship’s edge then to her, calculating the distance along with her pace.
No! He was too far to reach her hand! The rope.
Go for the rope she is holding; get that dangling tail on the rope above her.
“Keirah, keep hold onto the rope!”
He stretched for the rough rope swishing across the deck – shite, it was like trying to catch a snake racing away through the heathers.
Got it! How could he halt the speed built?
A groan vibrated his lips when his shoulder protested as if a pitchfork stabbed his flesh at the wound unleashed by Sv?rn while he swung Vengeance over his head to stab the blade’s corner right into the deck’s wood.
They both snapped to a halt. His ragged breaths sounded in his ears; he glimpsed toward his toes.
She had halted. Safe. She was safe, praise all above.
As he yanked the rope hard, she slid back up the deck, meeting him.
Cough, cough. Her breath rasped against his throat. Why had she cut herself loose?!
CRACK! He threw his arm over her, covering her as a blinding flash seared his gaze.
Hearing a whimper beneath him, a tingling took his bones.
Shite! A lightning bolt had struck the mast. Looking up, he discovered the bolt had sliced the mighty beam she had been tied upon into two.
A groan echoed alongside a thump which rattled the ship when half the mast landed onto the bark ship.
This was why she untied herself; she knew the bolt would have struck her.
The flames on the mast sizzled from the water drops. His eyes narrowed in the downpour. Was that a tidy bridge for them to cross over to the supply ship’s deck made by the mast falling after the lightning strike? Aye.
Keirah shivered. His arm grew tighter. The axe still tethered them onto the deck. “I have you, Cluaran,” he reassured with a voice gruff from salt.
“Aye, Aonghus, ’tis not over,” she declared before lifting her head to scream toward…“Sir Brayden! Step back! Step back right NOW!”
The robust knight battling a pair of Northmen with daggers and oars and ropes and fists in makeshift weaponry jumped rearward at her warning right before another bolt hit the ocean near the top deck, causing the remaining pair of crewmen to be thrown into the water when the ship pitched and the top deck’s wall splintered, falling away.
Buzz! It was as if a bee’s hive had nested in his ears. “Keirah?” he asked through the strange sound.
“Aye, we take the bridge, unto the supply ship,” she spluttered through another dousing wave crashing them. Cough, cough.
He glanced up to find Sir Brayden flopping across the deck toward them, appearing more fish than knight – but…“Kollungr, Sv?rn, where the devil did they vanish to?” Aonghus questioned out loud.
Had a wave taken them, or had they fought their way back into the safe passageway, or were they lurking behind the fallen sail? Only bare deck met his blurred vision where he had last left the collapsed Northmen. Shite.
“Aonghus,” she muttered, hearing his questioning thought. “Leave them.”
“I cannot, Cluaran, they may have been swept overboard but I must check the passage…”
Her grip tightened on his mantle, and he met her determined eyes gazing up at him, red and puffy from the salt’s abuse as well.
“Nae, let the ship and sea have them. Scotland foremost. This is grander than any of us. We must banish all of them from our shores. Supply ship, my knight,” she said, conviction lining her soul.
He continued to lock with her gaze. “Sir Brayden?” he bellowed at the staggering friend in his periphery.
“Aye?”
“Venture for the makeshift bridge before a wave disturbs the connection!”