Chapter 11
Valka stood perfectly still, waiting for Raska and his males to come to him. They bellowed and growled and made a spectacle of themselves, and still Valka stood perfectly still.
At Valka’s side Katva stood strong, with Oscal beside him. On Valka’s other side Toska and Elkva proudly supported him as well.
As Raska got closer, shouting and screaming, Valka finally showed a little emotion… he smiled. In his element, perfectly at ease, uncaring if he lived or died with honor as he’d hoped to for more than ten years, he smiled broadly. Setting his feet in place, making himself a little more balanced in his stance, he raised his battle-axe over his head and with his other hand waved Raska in, all the while wearing that completely unsettling smile.
Raska’s steps stuttered for just a second as he realized this might not have been such a good idea. But it was too late, he was less than fifteen feet away from Valka and those who stood with him, and Valka had begun his assault, battle-axe drawn, still wearing that bone-chilling smile.
A cacophony of noise made up of bellows and guttural roars from both sides was almost drowned out as the clatter of weapons upon breast-plates and helmets took it to a new pitch.
At the last moment Raska tried to dodge Valka by taking on Katva instead. Raska’s blow glanced off Katva’s arm, leaving him bleeding. But Katva gave as good as he got, fending off Raska’s second blow so hard it knocked Raska’s arm back over his own head.
Valka in the meantime was battling two of Raska’s males, Oscal battled one, Elkva was battling one on his own, and Toska was battling two.
On realizing that Raska was having trouble with Katva, two more of Raska’s force rushed Katva.
Valka saw it as it happened and struck a kill blow at one of his opponents’ heads, and an abdomen slice to the other, sending him to his knees and then face first into the sand. Valka, in a blood-fueled haze, threw his head back and let out a shrill high-pitched trill as excitement raced through his veins. He began to hack away at Raska’s males as they all rushed forward in an attempt to overrun Valka and his males.
“I can’t get through the helmet!” Elkva yelled, trying to fight off an opponent by battering at the helmet he wore.
Valka swung his axe once more slicing into the hip of the closest male to him, then he let the momentum of the axe turn him in a circle so that he ended up facing Elkva and his opponent. He lifted his axe in an arc in the air, circled it above his own head to add more force to the blow, and just barely held onto it as it connected with the male Elkva fought. The male’s body, stood as though suspended in time as his head literally left his body and flew ten feet behind him before it rolled to a stop five feet later. “Remove head!” Valka snarled. “Aggggghhhhhhhhh!” he bellowed in his glory, and jumped back into the melee. He noticed a new wave of males approaching from behind Raska and those who were still fighting beside him and aimed his axe at them. “More come die! It is good day! Ahhahahahahahah!”
Oscal and Toska dealt those they were fighting death blows and charged through the crowd to intercept the new males coming to fight. But an interesting thing happened. The newly approaching males, outfitted with armor and weapons, greeted Oscal and Toska, making it clear they weren’t there to attack. “We are here to support Valka!” the first of them declared. Even more stepped up behind them, showing a solidarity with the one male who’d never fit in with them, who’d never been one of them, but had always been the strongest of them all. “We are here to support Valka!” they began chanting in unison. “We stand with Valka!”
Katva, still fighting beside Valka, slashed his cleaver at the male he battled, planning to slice his mid section open, but the male blocked the blow, then dropped his weapon, raising his hands in the air, begging for mercy as he went to his knees.
Raska made the mistake of looking at the male in disbelief, giving Valka the chance to shatter his shoulder with his axe. Had it not been for the armor Raska wore, his entire arm would have been severed. He held his injured arm close to his gut, valiantly fighting with one arm, while Valka simply toyed with him.
It didn’t take long for Valka to get bored and begin slicing at Raska indiscriminately.
At first Raska tried to fight, but ended up on the ground, begging for mercy as he bled from multiple wounds.
Valka stood over him, his axe in hand. “You go.”
“I am Chieftain here! You can’t banish me!”
Valka glanced up, every male in the village whether they supported Valka or Raska was there, watching, waiting for his decision. He could easily kill Raska. Or he could win the loyalty of all, proving that he was a fair male and a much better leader than Raska ever was. And by so doing, he’d provide a safe home for Delia. “Valka village. Leave Valka village,” Valka said.
“It’s not your village! You don’t belong here! You have never belonged here! You leave!” Raska demanded.
“Valka village now.”
“Go back where you came from!” Raska spat.
“Valka, you lead us,” Katva said.
“I’ll follow Valka,” Oscal added.
“As will I,” Toska said.
“I already follow Valka,” Elkva announced.
“We follow Valka!” multiple voices cried out.
Valka shrugged and lifted his battle-axe in the air again. “Valka village.”
Most of those gathered cheered. The survivors who’d fought with Raska openly defied Valka. “We recognize only one of our own as Chieftain. You have no rights here,” one of them said.
“Do you hear? You are not one of us! I refuse to give my people to you!” Raska shouted.
“Die or go,” Valka demanded, leaving the choice to Raska.
“No! You killed my brother!” Raska screamed angrily, thinking he had a chance to argue his position because a handful of males still vocally supported him.
“Skala hurt mine!” Valka bellowed.
“It’s no excuse to kill him!”
“Go. Take cowards,” Valka said, gesturing toward those few who’d fought with Raska and were still alive.
“I will not give you my village!” Raska said defiantly.
Valka looked down at the male angrily, his patience wearing thin.
“Valka! She’s waking up!” Louise shouted from the edge of Valka’s cliff.
Valka looked at the male lying on the ground at his feet, arguing defiantly despite the severity of his injuries. He knew as long as Raska was alive, even if he were banished, Delia wouldn’t be safe. “Then die,” he said calmly, bringing his heavy axe down on Raska’s neck, severing his head from his body. A gasp went up from several in the crowd. Unaffected, he leaned over and wiped the blood from his axe blade on Raska’s leg before he pointed the axe at Raska’s small loyal following. “Who next?!” he demanded, turning in a slow circle to look each male in the eye, his chest puffed out, his tusks on display.
Those he challenged wouldn’t even look him in the eye in return. They kept their gazes on the ground and their fallen leader.
Valka glared at each of them. “Raska male stay, Raska male die.”
When none responded, with his message delivered, he turned and walked away. No more than ten steps later, he bellowed as loudly as he could. “Valka village.” Valka walked away from everyone gathered there, leaving them all behind to do whatever they decided. Stay or go, he didn’t really care, except for those who’d aligned with Raska — they had to go.
“Valka!” Elkva called. “Wait, there is much to be settled.”
He stopped walking and turned to them. “Valka win!” he said, bewildered that it wasn’t enough.
“It’s your village,” Katva said. “There are rules that must be decided. Punishments doled out.”
“Raska male go,” Valka said, turning his back on them again as he made his way toward his home.
“Valka!” Katva shouted.
“Katva settle!” he shouted without even a glance back.
~~~
Valka wasted no time getting back to Delia. He didn’t hesitate as he quickly ascended the footholds leading up to his cave. Rushing into his cave, he found Louise sitting on his bed holding Delia’s head in her lap as she spoke quietly to her, while Patricia sat beside her holding her hand.
“Delia!” he said, his deep, gravelly voice conveying so much emotion with just the simple pronunciation of her name.
Louise looked up at him. “You see? He’s here. I told you he’d be back.”
Delia tried to nod, but winced at the pain the slight motion caused her.
“Delia,” Valka said again, crawling across the bed furs to her. He leaned over her, holding himself directly in front of her face. “I am Valka!” he said urgently.
Delia rewarded him with a small smile. “I know,” she whispered.
He lifted a hand, being sure to gesture directly in front of her face so she could see it, and indicated herself. “Valka female safe.”
“Okay,” she said softly.
“Valka kill all!” he snarled.
“All?” Louise asked worriedly.
“Not all, all?!” Patricia squeaked.
Delia opened her eyes again and though she was squinting her eyes, she did her best to focus on him again. “All?”
“All bad male. Good male alive.”
“Okay,” she said again. “Don’t kill anyone else for now.”
Valka grinned. “Only bad.”
Delia simply closed her eyes.
“Move!” Valka said, shooing Louise away from where she sat holding Delia.
Louise smiled as she very gently lay Delia’s head down on the furs so she could move out of Valka’s way.
Valka didn’t even wait until she was fully off the bed furs before he was taking Louise’s place and very carefully lifted Delia onto his lap and into his arms.
“Valka Delia. Valka hold,” he said, almost petulantly as he arranged her until she stopped wincing.
“Don’t move too much,” Delia whispered.
“Valka still,” he said, looking down into her face as his fingertips gently stroked the hair he could reach from where they lay against her skin.
Louise went to stand beside Patricia, who’d quickly moved back to the fire pit the moment Valka arrived.
“He’s a good male,” Louise said as though confiding a secret to Patricia.
“He’s covered in blood,” Patricia quickly responded.
“I don’t think it really matters at this point,” Louise said.
“Bad blood only,” Valka clarified, looking Patricia in the eye.
“Okay, that’s good. Bad blood is good,” she rushed out, hurriedly sitting back down where he’d first said she could remain while waiting for Elkva.
Valka went back to staring at Delia, watching her chest rise and fall, feeling the warmth of her body against his, just happy that she was still alive and able to speak to him.
“Excuse me, Valka…” Louise said.
Valka looked up to glare at Louise for interrupting him while he cared for Delia.
“Does Toska happen to still be alive?” she snapped, when she saw his irritation with her.
Surprisingly his glare changed to a wide smile. “Toska great warrior!”
“Is he alive?” Louise pressed.
“Yes! Toska alive. Great warrior. Elkva alive. Brave warrior. No good warrior. Oscal great warrior. Katva great warrior. None dead!”
“Oh, thank God,” Patricia breathed out relieved, as tears started to leak from her eyes.
Valka’s face immediately hardened and his arm shot out to point at the skaevin still roosting on his ledge right outside the cave entrance.
“I’m sorry,” Patricia said hurriedly.
“Skaevin eat cry female,” Valka muttered under his breath.
~~~
It was hours later before they could hear familiar voices getting closer and closer. Patricia was practically bouncing as she tried to remain seated on the log by the fire pit as they waited for the owners of those voices to finally make an appearance.
“Valka!” Toska called from outside the cave.
“Come!” Valka answered.
Toska carefully squeezed himself past the skaevin who’d shifted its position to better see Delia, and Elkva followed closely.
“We have come for our females,” Elkva announced as Patricia jumped up and ran into his arms.
Elkva grinned and held her close with one arm as he clasped his weapon with his other hand.
“Is your female well?” Toska asked as he lifted his free hand toward Louise to silently beckon her to him.
“She wakes,” Valka said.
“She’s hurting, though,” Louise said as she reached Toska’s side. “But she’s awake and she speaking, so that’s good.”
“She is strong. She will survive,” Toska said.
“We have overseen the removal of Raska’s males and their families. Katva is still questioning all remaining on your behalf to make sure all those loyal to Raska are banished.”
“Katva alone?” Valka asked.
“No, Oscal is with him, and several others, too.”
Valka nodded.
“There is relief among our people that you are Chieftain. They look forward to fairness,” Elkva said.
Valka shrugged unconcernedly.
“I think Katva wants to be your second, supporting all your decisions and making sure all adhere to your laws,” Elkva said.
“Valka no care.”
“If you want a safe life for Delia, you must care,” Elkva said.
Valka sat quietly for a few minutes before he decided to speak again. “Katva great warrior. Make law. Toska, Oscal, great warrior. Help Katva. Elkva honorable. Elkva help all.”
Elkva’s chest puffed out a bit at the praise Valka gave him.
“What will you do, Valka. It is your village,” Toska said.
“Valka village gone. Valka only here now.”
“Maybe a long time ago, but now this is your village, so much so that you are Chieftain,” Toska said.
“Valka friend?” Valka asked, looking at Toska. Even Toska recognized the loneliness in Valka’s question.
“Yes,” Toska said. “All of us. It’s why we came to you.”
“Pffht. Valka strong,” Valka said, showing that he knew the reason they came to him was that they were standing with the most likely to win the battle between himself and Raska.
Toska smiled. “Yes, because you are strong, but also because we respect you. We are your friends.”
Valka was looking down at Delia, still resting in his arms. “Valka chief,” he finally said. “Valka friends help.”
Toska and Elkva both agreed enthusiastically. “We’ll keep your laws, and carry out your decisions,” Elkva promised.
“All four of us will,” Toska said.